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The Distrolution / Distrolution Merch team had the chance to participate in the Hellfest Festival from June 19 to 26, 2022. On the program: concerts, meetings... and several interviews, which you can find each week in FR version on Distrolution Merch and in EN version on Distrolution ! Discover without further delay our interview with the French band Fractal Universe !
Photo: L'Oeil de Verre
Hi Fractal Universe. Would it be possible, to start this interview, for you to introduce yourselves and your band?
Hugo: Yes, of course! So I'm Hugo, I play guitar and do backing vocals in Fractal Universe. Do you want me to introduce the band after, or...?
You can!
Hugo: Fractal Universe is progressive death metal, so. We come from North-East France. We formed in late 2014. We released a first EP in 2015 and since then, there have been three albums. We released our third one about a year ago. Actually, a year ago today. Exactly a year ago today with Metal Blade Records. We like to play quite technical metal and at the same time, it will bring influences from all over: jazz, classical music, prog rock obviously... Colours that we don't necessarily see often in metal, which is still quite codified, and that's it!
Thank you! So, I'll let the other members introduce themselves.
Val: I'm Val and I'm the bassist of Fractal Universe and I also do backing vocals.
Vince: I'm Vince, so guitar, vocals and saxophone.
Clément: I'm Clément and I'm all about drums!
We find ourselves in this legendary venue that is the Hellfest Festival. How does it feel to play in such an iconic festival?
Hugo: It was so great! (laughs) It was really great! We played yesterday, at 12:15 on the Altar and honestly we didn't expect... We were surprised to see so many people in front of us, who hadn't just come to pass by. They had come for us, they were excited, you know! It was extraordinary! The audience was very responsive, very warm and even after the set, lots of positive feedback from different people saying it was very good, great sound. And the concert itself... Well, great! The welcome from Hellfest and the team on the Altar was really great, very efficient and very nice people too, so it was comfortable, not stressful at all and there you go. Very good, great experience!
Discovering the full line-up of the second weekend, was there a band you absolutely didn't want to miss?
Clément: Yeah, Katatonia, I'm gutted! (laughs) They cancelled yesterday, so... it sucks!
Vince: For me, there are so many, but there's one I've never had the chance to see and I'll see tomorrow, it's Metallica! Not very original, I know, but I've been a fan since the beginning of my teenage years and I've never had the chance to see them. It will be the perfect opportunity!
Val: For me, there's Igorrr that I'm really looking forward to, because it's a band I've been following for quite a few years and now, with all the lineup changes, I'm curious to see what it will be like! There's also Myrkur, who is much more mellow, but I've never seen her and I love what she does, so I'm excited to see what it's like live!
Hugo: For me, there was Obscura who played last night, also, it was their concert with their new lineup, at least in Europe. Unfortunately they had some issues, but I was still happy to see their new musicians, their new old musicians for those who follow the story, except for the drummer, but I was able to see this concert, so I was quite happy. And otherwise today, yeah, I really want to see Igorrr. And Nine Inch Nails who played last night too, which was a discovery for me and a huge impact! Incredible experience!
You mentioned it earlier, during the band's introduction. You're signed to Metal Blade Records. How did you attract the attention of such a big foreign label and how did this collaboration come about?
Clément: There was a person working there who knew us. We wrote to him a bit out of the blue on Twitter and it happened like that! It's true! (laughs) I sent him a private message and he replied that he wanted to hear the second album. He listened and said, "I'm going to talk to the label about it", then we had a call with you, Hugo, and him to discuss, and it happened like that!
And what does such a big label bring to your daily life?
Clément: More visibility! We have a view of our statistics and we also have more credibility, I think. And beyond that, they have always supported us in trying to find tours. The tour we're going to do with Evergrey, the impulse came from them.
Hugo: It's true, I think it gives credibility, additional weight. "Look, this band is signed". "Oh yeah!" That's also what, I think, helps us a lot in our daily lives.
Let's talk about your latest album which, as you said, was released exactly a year ago. Can you explain your composition process for this album? Does each of you have a predefined role or is it a real teamwork?
Vince: Let's say that composition is mainly my responsibility. What I do is I compose demos, I record them at home, there you go, and I send them to the others, we fine-tune the details and all that. And only then, once it's more or less set, we bring the thing to rehearsal to see it all together and polish it. Finally, that's how we've proceeded since the first album, there's not much that has changed on this one, except that for the recording, well for the first time we did everything in our own studios. Clément has a professional studio at his home, the Boundless Production Studio, where we recorded the drums, and then everything related to vocals, mixing and all that, was done by the team that has been following us since the beginning, by Flavien Morel.
And so, all of this was done... The recording took place during the pandemic and it allowed us to really focus on that, not having concerts falling on weekends, or not having to interrupt the process, as had been the case previously.
Clément: After all, we'd prefer to have concerts anyway, I think!
Vince: Yeah, that's it! (laughs)
Clément: It was tough I think for the drum takes, we were struggling because there was a curfew or it was a bit... We were coming out of the second lockdown I think, I'm not sure!
Vince: Yeah, we were coming out of the second lockdown. You were sending me pre-productions!
Clément: We couldn't actually see each other. Usually, we spend a lot of time together fine-tuning the drum parts to make them match, and there... Even for the recording, we barely made it, it was a close call. Even though I was at home, Fabien and Vince needed to be able to come and it wasn't a sure thing!
Vince: Even for shooting all the music videos, we fell into the window where there was no curfew or anything (laughs). But shortly after, it was back on! We managed to do everything despite all that!
And in terms of management, how did you manage your time and your band during this pandemic?
Vince: We're often in contact. We're quite organised for remote work, given that Valentin, you live 3 hours away by car. So there are many things we already do remotely. I think we weren't starting from scratch on this. We were able to organise ourselves even better so that things could progress despite all this!
It's a concept album that addresses the theme of death. Why did you choose this particular subject?
Vince: Actually, the theme of the album is quite vast, it deals with death from different angles. For example, we touch on the theme of spirituality, how man comes to spirituality through the fear of death, well, questions we all ask ourselves. And so, as I was saying, these are questions we all ask ourselves in one way or another and it's interesting to address it, really, from different angles. And here, the album addresses all these facets. I think it's also reflected in the music, in the diversity of the album's music in general, which reflects these points of diversity, well, all these questions.
As a music fan, I personally attach particular importance to artwork. A beautiful cover makes me want to see what's behind it, and I find that your covers are very well-crafted.
If I'm not mistaken, you've used the same artist since the very beginning?
Hugo: Yes, that's right, out of the 4 records we've made, he's done all 4 covers. The artist's name is Shad, Shad Paintings, you can find him on social media. I actually met him in high school and after high school, he went to art school in Nantes, I believe. For the first EP, we needed a cover and I was like, "You, you draw. Do you want to do the cover?" and he did this thing that we really liked and it went well with everyone, so we chose to continue collaborating with him for the other releases as well.
We really like his very organic style, you can feel the brush strokes in the covers and even more globally, the vision he has as well. In fact, when we ask him to provide us with a cover, we obviously give him the music, the lyrics, the album title and that's it. Maybe some questions about colours, more orangey, more green and then, he has free rein. Sometimes he provides us with several proposals, then we choose and then he develops that proposal. I think for the last one, Horizon, there was only one proposal in the end?
Vince: No, there have been several, but this one was unanimously approved. He has free rein, but he draws inspiration from everything, and that's what makes it match so well with the music.
Hugo: Sometimes a line of text in a song, he'll try to incorporate it into the album cover, it can happen, it's true!
Artwork: Shad
You're going to join the band Evergrey for their European tour and you're going to play almost one concert a day for over a month.
How do you prepare for such an intensive tour?
Clément: In my head, I tell myself that we've already done 23, we're going to add 13 more, and personally, I'm going to the gym a bit to train for unloading the trailer, because I think it's harder to do the unloading and setup, you know, because it's not comfortable at all. Playing every night is cool, we already play every day so it won't change much for us. But yeah, it's going to be tough to do a month and a half like this.
Vince: I found that on the longer tours we had done so far, we caught the rhythm pretty quickly, actually. At first, you might feel the impact of having to change your rhythm, going to bed at 3am, waking up at 2pm (laughs). But eventually, you really quickly get into the groove and it becomes your routine, you know!
Hugo: Yeah, the body gets used to it. The first three days, even for concerts, I feel it. But after about three or four days, almost without warming up, we can perform on stage without feeling much the next day, so that's cool. Of course, too much excess every day in terms of partying, alcohol and all that doesn't help. But if we're relatively sensible, it goes smoothly! We're also lucky to be in a tour bus, which means that when the concert is over, we pack up the gear, the bus starts, we go to bed and we wake up the next day in another city. We don't have to... It's a driver, so we don't have to stay up all night to go from one city to another. We did that before... That's tough! But the tour bus is relatively comfortable actually. So it goes quite well, even when doing many concerts every day.
I imagine that fatigue must still be felt at some point. It's a rhythm, let's face it, that is relatively intensive!
Hugo: Personally, I didn't feel it that much during the last tour, two years ago!
Clément: There are more complicated things as Hugo said, where we were driving the van ourselves. And sometimes, we had routes that meant... Well, there was a night team that arrived exhausted at the next concert, who had to do the day, then we'd leave again. Once we left from Lithuania, we drove for 22 hours having slept only 2 hours, because we had partied...
Hugo: Yeah, we did push it a bit, yeah!
Clément: Now, it's complicated! Now, you really feel the impact when you get back! (laughs)
Is there a concert that particularly marked you during your career?
Vince: Well, yesterday's! (laughs)
Val: Yesterday's! (laughs)
Vince: I think it's worth highlighting, it was quite an incredible experience. But beyond that, there have been quite a few. Well, there were also the Metal Days! In 2017... 2016? And on the last tour with Obscura, the one that impressed me the most was the concert in Belgrade, Serbia. Because again, we were surprised to see how much people knew us. We had never played in this country, or even in a nearby country. There were people in the audience who knew the lyrics and everything, so it was a great surprise!
Clément: We played at Hellfest 4 years ago, but on the Hellstage. It's funny to think "4 years ago, we were on that stage over there and today, we're playing at noon on the Altar".
Maybe the main stage, one day!
Clément: Well, in 4 years, normally, if we follow the cycle (laughs)
Can we talk about your future projects?
Hugo: Yes, some festivals this summer, the tour we talked about... This summer, a fourth album is coming. We're working on it, no release date yet. So, a few concerts...
That was my last question. I'll let you have the final word for our readers!
Hugo: Thank you for being interested in Fractal Universe if you're reading this! And if you like the band, don't hesitate to check out a little bit of everything we do, we're very active on social networks, the internet, all that. If we're playing near you, come see us, say hello, and tell your friends about us! (laughs)
Clément: We have 4 French dates on the tour with Evergrey. We're going to play in Paris, Toulouse, Colmar and Lyon.
