I think we have to be honest and say that when we think of black metal, Spain is not somewhere that immediately springs to mind. Nahemah, Teitanblood, Hrizg, are just a few that have made a solid name for themselves but there are countless great musicians and artists coming from this corner of Europe. One of those that have really caught my attention this year is Délirant. This is raw black metal with a stranglehold on the human psyche and the psychedelic. We take a step into the creation of their new record, “Thoughteater” and find out what it means to lay this level of complex emotion into music.
Délirant interview (with Zero, April 2025)
Lets start by celebrating “Thoughteater”. This is a fucking great listen. There’s a lot going on with this, it doesn’t quite sit comfortably here or there. I’m finding that quite addictive, I’ve found myself going back again and again to this one. How have you found the initial release and reaction to this?
Thanks for the words and glad you like the album! Reception has been pretty good. Although to be honest, the acceptance of the first album was so unexpectedly massive that it makes this one feel a bit disappointing in comparison. Can’t complain though, most of the reviews and feedback I’ve read have been positive so far.
As mentioned, there’s a lot going on with “Thoughteater”. There’s this dense, chaotic, dissonant sound, almost even a psychedelic edge. One of the key words I’ve got written in my notes here is “pandaemonium”, I thought that fit the feeling of the album pretty well. What are your primary inspirations for this quite unique sound? Are there specific thoughts or ideas you want to portray with your music?
The primary “inspiration” is my own journey through depression and anxiety, and a close relative going through a psychotic breakdown. Both things happening around the same time and leaving me with some sense of fear and confusion, and lots of anxiety for a long time. Which is, to some degree, what I try to portray with Délirant: Insanity, a state of mental imbalance.
Were there any influences outside of the musical side for this album in particular? Any movies, literature etc?
Not really, mostly musical which is inevitable when you listen to music regularly. And for the lyrics, they are mostly inspired by dreams, nightmares and personal experiences, rather than external sources.
The artwork, the visuals between both Délirant and Thoughteater are really striking. The black and yellow fucking jumps out at you and then the “portrait” that you’ve sent to us, they really add to the whole atmosphere of the music. What were the thoughts and ideas behind them? Was this a conscious decision?
So, the yellow color was kind of unintentional at first. When I presented the S/T album to Mystískaos, I didn’t have any artwork for it, and it took some time to figure that out. I was talking to Hafsteinn (Wormlust) and he shared some ideas/concepts for the general artwork, possible logo/symbol, etc., which I ended up manipulating into what you now know as the cover art and the sun symbol. In one of the files he sent, I noticed there was a hidden color layer that made me question whether I wanted to keep the artwork B&W or not, and after going back and forth on the idea, it ended up being yellow (probably inspired by the sun symbol itself).
The artwork for Thoughteater was done using a technique called suminagashi, which is basically ink on water transferred to paper. For the most part, it’s a random, trial-and-error method because you don’t have that much control over it. I started experimenting with this technique just for fun, without any intention to create artwork, but at some point, I realized that one of the pieces was fitting perfectly with the album title, and that was it.
As for the “band photo”, I tend to dislike most band photos because they rarely fit their music and usually feel pointless. So, my only intention whenever I think about having a visual identity for any of my projects is to do something that reflects the music and atmosphere. This one was just a self-portrait taken in darkness with the light of a candle.
This new album arrives six years after your debut, (I see on bandcamp) recorded between 2018-19, vocals weren’t added until later and then February 2025 is when we see it released. What contributed to this extended period between releases, and how do you feel this time has shaped the new album? What made this the right time to release Thoughteater?
Well there was a bunch of different factors contributing to that. The main reason was that I could not envision what kind of vocal style and production I wanted, they were not clear in my mind and I ended leaving the album aside to focus on different things. I was also not comfortable doing vocals and was already planning on “cleaning up” the production, which made me hate how the first couple of vocal tests sounded in those mixes. So yeah, the gap between recordings was way too long and the production went through multiple changes over these years before reaching its final form.
What made this the right time? it felt more complete than ever and I was starting to feel like if I didn’t release it now, it would never happen at all.
Were the concepts and ideas behind the music the easy enough to get back into when it came to the vocal recording? Was there any changes made to the initial sound?
In this case, the concepts behind the music were slightly different than the ones behind the lyrics, since those were written by a friend and not by me (except some changes, structuring and corrections here and there). So there was no “going back” to them, the lyrics came later in the process and that’s when everything started to take shape.
A lot of what I’m seeing and reading online is listeners commenting on the growth and evolution in “Thoughteater” compared to your previous recording. How do you perceive your own artistic progression over this time? Has this time played a part in the sound we have for Thoughteater compared to what was recorded on Délirant?
I guess partially yes. During this time I processed and accepted the thought that I wouldn’t be able to match the strange, obscure atmosphere of Délirant. So I decided to take a step sideways into a slightly different direction with Thoughteater, instead of following the exact same steps of the first album and/or try to improve it.
There’s an involvement with Hässlig and Negativa (2 more bands that people should be checking out) Do you think it’s important to have these other outlets for creativity?
At least for me, it is. Back when I started making music (as Negativa) my thoughts were more like “I have one project. This is where I put my efforts and creativity. No need for different names”. But after finishing Délirant’s self-titled, my thoughts shifted completely as it felt like a very different entity and expression, different themes and atmosphere that didn’t fit what I already had. Hässlig came later on, and for obvious reasons it needed a new name as well, but this time the difference in sound and style was intentional.
I would say if you are constant in writing music, and specially if you are open to writing different styles of music/riffs, there will be a point where you will need to have multiple outlets for them. Unless you want to create a messy, multi-genre, crappy project where everything sounds different. Terrible idea if you ask me.
Délirant hails from Spain, a country not always immediately associated with black metal, though there are some great bands coming out of the country. Could you tell us about any Spanish black metal scene and how it has helped with your music? Is there a supportive scene, plenty of venues etc?
I don’t know much about the spanish “scene” other than a few bands and individuals I follow and respect. Never felt like I belonged to a scene.
The place where I used to live (Alicante) doesn’t have many venues and the ones that are still active are too big for organizing black metal gigs to rent them and break even, so there were barely any interesting bands going there. For those things you had to travel to the bigger cities and it was rarely worth the hassle.
And finally, I ask everyone as it helps expand the scene, are there any books, movies, albums, artists, musicians that we should be checking out, what are we missing?
I haven’t watched any movies in a while but I can totally recommend some series I enjoyed recently and some favorites (other than the classics): Severance, The Snow Girl, The Bear, Euphoria, You, The White Lotus…
For books I would recommend Palahniuk, Ryu Murakami (the other Murakami too), Sade…
And for new albums: Decline of the I and Teitanblood are so far at the top this year.
So there we have it, I would obviously encourage everyone to get on board with Délirant and check out not only “Thoughteater” but also their first record “Délirant”. Spanish black metal is not one for fucking around and this is another great example of raw emotion, raw art and raw black metal.
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