Escape into the Avant-Garde with Germ's Boundary-Pushing New Black Metal Album

Black metal has always held a cold distance at its core and it hasn’t been until recent years that many artists have felt it OK to branch out from the blueprints laid down by those that came before. One such project is Germ, the creation of Australia’s Tim Yatras, and an entity that has been pushing the boundaries of what is deemed acceptable in a scene so dominated by tradition.

Germ takes in elements of post rock, dance music (in its earlier works), stunning clean vocals (as well as that recognizable scream), and laces it all with defiant humanity. While Yatras wasn’t keen to completely delve into the personal aspects of his music, when I called him up to talk about his lates endeavor, he was willing to open up about what the band means to him and where he goes from here.

That newest album, Escape (out today on Prophecy Productions) is a delirious concept that speaks of disappearance and of moving on, and it’s an album that shows maturity and expansion and feels far more complete for it. Stream it in full and take a small glimpse into Yatras' world below.

For people who may not know your history, could you talk a little about your previous projects and how those led you to create Germ?
Tim Yatras: I guess some people may know me from Austere, or perhaps the Woods of Desolation album Torn Beyond Reason. I was one half of Austere for the duration of its life; however, actually Germ pre-dates that by several years. Germ was something I started in my late teens, originally just as something on the side to the bands I was playing in at the time. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy collaborating with others, but I liked the idea of having a project where I had complete creative control, where I could do whatever I wanted without having to worry about what someone else might think.

I guess this is why the first album, Wish (2012) and EP Loss (2012) are so "out there"—they were written years before their release, and with the mind-set of "I'm just going to do whatever the fuck I want". Over the years Germ has kinda progressed (regressed?!) on from that—I now view it more as a vehicle to get out very personal thoughts and feelings, as opposed to anything particularly crazy musically. I guess this can be heard over the evolution of the albums.

What other bands are you currently involved in, and how do you find the time for all your current musical endeavors?
At the moment the only other "active" (and I use that term very loosely!) band is Autumn's Dawn, with Matthew Bell of Troldhaugen). I do a bit of session work, and I think sometimes people mistake this for a band I'm actually "in", when in reality it's just a one-off paid job. This was the case with bands like Inclemency recently, and also Ilium in the past—I was never a member, never had anything to do with the band except getting paid to play drums on a couple of albums. Autumn's Dawn, however, is something I'm actually involved in the creative process. We've written a little new material the last year or so, but are nowhere near ready to do another album.

Aside from that, I'm studying sound production this year, and am hoping to set up a business next year producing other bands. So I'm actually very busy at the moment, but not really from playing in bands or anything like that.

Escape feels like the most well-rounded and personal Germ record to date—did you go into the recording of the album with a solid concept, or was it more of an organic development?
It was just what came naturally when I was writing the songs for the album. Actually, the album was written from 2013-2014, and recorded during the second half of 2014, so it's already quite old now, but I remember just wanting to do what felt natural, and not force anything. Actually, the composing and recording processes for the album went very smoothly, it was just mixing that was difficult.

Can you expand on your ideas and themes for Escape? It seems as though you're finally saying what you've been working towards for the first albums.
I don't know if I'd really agree with that… I honestly don't believe there is a "finality' to it at all. I think I'm just saying what I was feeling at the time, if that makes sense? I mean, as always, the lyrics are personal, I don't really know how to do it any other way, but it's not like there's some massive catharsis or anything. It's just a snapshot of a moment in my life.

Maybe I didn’t word this in the best way—I was more aiming towards the songs feeling more well-rounded and that you seem to have found your way and place with the music.
Ah yeah, I know what you mean. I guess I'm sorta just really finding my feet now with Germ. The song writing came really naturally, and I think you can hear that in the album - nothing is forced or overthought.

As far as my life at the time influencing the music, it's just like, if I'm feeling like shit one day and I write some music, it's probably not going to be the happiest thing ever. And I was feeling like shit quite a bit during the period I was writing the album.

The record had been in production for awhile—what was it that slowed things down?

I never rush things with my music, it's always just "it'll take however long it takes", but it wasn't anything like that which slowed down the release of

Escape

. Basically, to break things down for you, as I mentioned above, I finished recording the album toward the end of 2014. I did a couple of mixes with the guy I was working with before Christmas; however I wasn't happy with them. Then of course comes Christmas and the New Year, so everything was put on hold for a few weeks. After another failed attempt I decided to go elsewhere to mix the album, but it took a long time to get all the raw session files, etc. Anyway, this was now eating into the time I had allocated to do the artwork. So, to cut a long story short, everything got pushed back by a few months, I started on the artwork late, and had two months off in the middle of that where I travelled through Europe. When I got home the artwork was finally finished, but then it's already getting toward the end of 2015, so now we have the holidays again! And so that's why we find ourselves in April 2016, 18 months after recording finished!

How did you overcome that frustration? You must have had a clear idea as to how you wanted the record to sound and develop but to then hit a point where you can't work with it any further….did that set you back in terms of your own personal happiness?

100 percent absolutely it did. I had a very clear vision of what I wanted the record to sound like, and to be sitting there mixing the album, and thinking "this is not what I wanted" was literally heart-breaking. I mean, I went through two engineers, countless different mixes, and I'm not appy with any of them—it's hard, and you also start to question yourself. "Am I being pedantic, unrealistic?" Basically I haven't overcome the frustration, I've just learned to live with it—and at the end of the day I'm super proud of the songs on the album, so that matters more than anything else.

There's a definite maturity here and a significant step up in terms of cohesion. If the songs here are somewhat older, what can we expect for new material? Is that already underway, or are you taking a break?
I did take a break for the first 2/3 of 2015. So in the eyes of the public I haven't, but I did. I did some session work, I travelled a lot, and it was good.

But since October last year I have been working on Germ again. I'm actually very involved in the writing of the next album as we speak! It's something completely different for me, but I'm absolutely convinced (and everyone I've showed the demos to seems to agree that) it'll be my best work yet!

You're coming to Europe for Prophecy Fest) later this summer; how does the band work live?
Germ live is an interesting thing for me. I never intended to play live with Germ, but at the same time, when we did the shows in Australia a couple of years ago, they didn't feel "wrong" or anything like that. Because of that, I think I just became a bit more open to the idea of playing live, and so when Prophecy asked Germ to play the fest this year, I was happy to agree.

The way I pick musicians is more to do with if people "get" the music, as opposed to how technically good they are as players. Although I must say, the lineup I have assembled for the Prophecy Fest show is full of very great musicians! I guess I may as well just let you know who I have playing with me. On guitar I have David from the great band Heretoir, as well as Matt from Autumn's Dawn (the only guy who also played the Australian shows in 2013-2014). On bass I have Andreas, who works at Prophecy, and on drums I have Dave Haley from the band Psycroptic, who is known as one of the best metal drummers in the world! Not that he'll need to call on too much of his skill for the Germ songs, though [laughs].

How are you managing to prepare for the festival? Obviously rehearsing is a problem, so how are you overcoming the distance?
We're doing a lot via Skype. We've also got some days lined up in Germany to rehearse as a full band before the show, but yeah, at the moment everything is mostly via Skype.

Is playing live more on the cards?
Oh, I couldn't really say at this point… Maybe?… I don't think Germ will ever be the kind of band that can go and do long tours… maybe just a few more one-off appearances here and there. We'll have to see what the future holds!

Cheryl Carter is escaping on Twitter.