Interviews About Albums: Once Upon The End - Archive 200 (2024)

In this new interview, we sat down with the French Death Metal band Once Upon The End to ask questions about their album "Archive 200".

1. What can you say about this new EP?

This is a transitional EP. It’s a bivouac between our first album and the next one we’re preparing. It’s also a cornerstone marking a line-up change. 3 of the 4 songs are actually re-recorded versions of the first EP we ever recorded back in 2019. We loved the songs but the recording quality wasn’t up to our standards, so the arrival of Ezalyr as our new singer was the right time to record them in a wonderful way!

2. What is the meaning of the EP name?

It’s simple, really. Those songs are from the early days of the band, thus “Archive” was obvious, and “200” because most of them have the same tempo! In the end “Archive 200” also hints at Fallout Vaults.

3. Which one is the composer of the EP?

All songs were composed by our ex-lead guitarist, B0rn, who is actually featured as a guest in “We Are the Dead”! Lyrics were written by Seditius our ex-singer, or Koal who plays rhythm guitar. Loerk, our lead guitarist, is also the one who had the idea to put Oppenheimer at the end of ”Dying Concrete”, and wrote the music behind his speech. In any case, every member brings new ideas to each song for the better, it's real teamwork! Songs would not be the same without Groly’s bass, Tentrom’s drums, and of course Ezalyr’s wonderful voice.

4. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

It’s hard to pick just one, as we think they all deserve to be listened to. But if you must really listen to a single one, pick “The Old Ones” to get a better idea of what we like to mix up and where we are going in the future.

5. Is there a special message in this EP? If there is what it is?

Yes. We believe the future is bleak and humanity is going in the wrong direction. Remember how the future was depicted when we were young? This ain’t going to happen. We try not to be pessimistic, but just looking at the current state of the world (greed, egotism, carelessness, and bigotry all around) makes us want to shout a desperate cry.

6. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

These lyrics of The Old Ones depict how small we are as human beings, so we'd better make the most of it and try to do something good with what's left of us.

“We’re just a scream through the nether

That’s the only truth we’ll ever find

So embrace your life before you die”

7. Which inspirations have been important for this album? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank especially?

The song “We Are the Dead” was not in our initial 2019 EP even if it was written at that time. We wanted to finish and update it so we naturally asked B0rn (who plays now in his own DSBM band called Claustra) to work with us, so he brought his great guitar playing and deep vocals in duo with Ezalyr.

8. Something to add?

Thanks for listening to our music! Even though our situation seems dark, we have much fun doing our thing and trying to transform our own fears into something creative.