Ringbearer, the fantasy themed dark ambient project from Vultyrous of Funeral Fornication will be releasing ‘The Way is Shut’ via Tridroid Records in December.
In anticipation of this album, the label provided PM the following short interview with Vultyrous:
Most people who are familiar with you and your music know you for your heavier stuff (In particular Archspire). So, how did it come about that you started up an ambient project like Ringbearer?
“Ringbearer was a project I started years ago out of a love for dark ambient music. Some find that odd, as I am mainly know as a death metal guy, but I have a very broad range of musical tastes. Ringbearer’s inception began, inspired by the music of Uruk-Hai, Summoning, (early) Mortiis, Midnight Syndicate, Le’Rue Delashay, Blakagir, even Lord Wind, save for the politics in that band.
How long have you been doing Ringbearer for and how many releases do you currently have?
“Well Ringbearer began, as I said, years ago. About five to be exact. Sadly however, it didn’t see the light of day until 2013, after my little…sabbatical…in the hospital, but I’m getting ahead of the story. Five years ago, I was working with a label that was going to do a pro CD version of my debut, but it wasn’t until everything was recorded that I discovered the label was associated with white power movements and national socialism. I had to be true to myself above all, so I opted to not work with them. The Ringbearer debut sat on the shelf for five years, and it wasn’t until I came out of the hospital, that a label decided to release the debut.
“Ever since then I’ve been turning out albums at a very fast rate. Just in 2013, I have two full-length CDs, one full-length tape, and 2 split albums, all of which are available to the public. Before New Years I plan to have one more full-length CD, a split trilogy with Uruk-Hai, and a four-way split… and that’s just the Ringbearer stuff. I have a “best of” cassette tape coming out for my black metal solo project Funeral Fornication, as well as a split for this project with Kymatica. I even have a compilation CD that I’m putting together. My power metal solo project [Almuric] will see a CD release in digipack form, but that will be done in 2014.”
You are quite prolific, seeing as you are involved in so many projects. How are you able to create in such high volume?
“It’s amazing what one can do when one does not have a job. I am currently on disability, which gives me a lot of free time to do what I love most…make music. It also helps that I am something of a workaholic when it comes to music.”
Are you involved in any other artistic endeavours other than your music?
“Yes. I am quite prolific with Photoshop and have done album layouts for other bands and compilations. I draw quite often, and I write short stories quite often. I have even had a story and a bunch of my poetry published.”
What does the future hold for Ringbearer? Any more albums on the horizon for this project in the near future?
“At this point I can say Ringbearer’s future is VERY bright. I have several albums on the go and will be done before the year is out, I can only imagine that 2014 will showcase a lot more releases. Already 2014 will see the release of the new Archspire album on Season Of Mist Records, so I’m really excited about that.”
https://www.facebook.com/Ringbearermusic