Interviews About Albums: Alleviate - DMNS (2024)

In this new interview, we sat down with the German Metalcore/Post-Hardcore band Alleviate to ask questions about their album, "DMNS".

1. Congratulations on your debut album "DMNS"! Can you tell us about the creative process behind this album? How long has it been in the making?

Ramon: First of all, thank you so much. For the last 4 years, we have been continuously writing on this album. We felt like we really wanted to push ourselves to create the best music we could create at this moment, so it took many songs to come to this point. We’ve written around 25 songs and we strongly believe that these 10 songs on the album are the songs that ‘’Alleviate’’ stands for.

All of our members live far away from each other and I live in a different country. So when it comes to writing our songs and our creative process, the majority of it is being done online and by sending over recordings to each other.

I write most of our first instrumental demos and send them to our WhatsApp group, I try to create the songs as finished as possible before sending them over so there is already a vibe and structure in the demos for us all to work with. When everyone likes the demo, I will upload the session to a shared drive so everyone can open the song and overwork it.

Timo always overwork our demos, making additions and making the necessary changes. He also creates our lyrics and vocal melodies. Because of his profession as a producer and his experiences with other bands, he always knows what a song needs and pushes our songs forward to get the best out of our songs. His vocal melodies create a real open vibe and his melodies move people.

Marc has great ideas about the riffs and breaks that are the extra push to our songs to make them even heavier.

Marius joins in to record his heavy vocals. Marius' screams are really unique and create the heavyweight that our songs need. He and Timo overwork the lyrics and vocal timings together to make sure that the meaning and message behind the song are being portrayed as intended.

Yunus' drums are always super creative and bring the song the last details it really needs. He really has the great ability to completely change a vibe with just his amazing drum grooves and every time he sends over his drum tracks we are all ecstatic about all the little details and grooves he creates.

2. What were some of the biggest inspirations, both musically and lyrically, for the tracks on "DMNS"?

Marius: That's a tough question! Each of us brings our own musical taste into the recordings and into our respective instruments or vocal styles. I think that's what makes our band "Alleviate" unique. We try to bring everything together and create something new in the end.

My biggest influences came around 2010 through "Whitechapel" and "Suicide Silence." My greatest inspiration was Elliot from "Beneath the Massacre," and then it became very technical.

3. "DMNS" combines elements from various subgenres like metalcore, deathcore, djent, and post-hardcore. How do you manage to blend these styles seamlessly in your music?

Ramón: That is actually something we don’t really think about. When we started the band we talked about creating music in the style of I Prevail, Chelsea Grin, and Wage War combined, but along the way, I think ‘’Alleviate’’ really found its own style and face. All of our members get really inspired from each other so our songs come together naturally.

4. Can you share any particular themes or messages that "DMNS" aims to convey to its listeners?

Ramon & Marius: We think the most important message that we want to bring to our listeners is that we truly understand them and that the listener is not alone. Our songs are about mental health issues and hard times in life. All of our members have experienced or are still experiencing mental health issues. We want our listeners to feel understood, feel heard, and know that we see them. We want them to know that they are being loved. Most of our songs also have a positive message written in them for anyone to interpret as to how they relate to it. We want our music to help them with these hard times and topics. Having people let us help them with our music and that they relate to our music is the greatest gift of all.

5. How did the experience of recording "DMNS" differ from your previous work, especially considering the band's relatively recent formation in 2020?

Ramon: Working together on ‘DMNS’’ has been a full band effort. All of our members from the start have the same goals with what we want to achieve with this band. Because of this the vibes between all of us are really chill and there are not a lot of discussions. Everything flows pretty easily.

6. The album features several tracks that have already been released, like "Gravity," "Die For Me," "Broken," "Better," and "Alive." How do these songs fit into the overall narrative or theme of the album?

Ramon & Marius: From the moment we wrote ‘’Die For Me’’ we all knew that we wanted “DMNS’’ to be about personal experiences with mental health issues and hard-hitting times as the theme of our music. It is a topic that almost anyone can relate to and we all stand behind breaking the stigma around these topics. All of these songs have this as a base foundation. It is important that these topics are getting talked about and that our listeners know that it is okay to not be okay.

7. "Gravity" features the debut vocal performance of Nik Nocturnal. How did this collaboration come about and how do you think it enhances the album?

Marius & Ramon: Timo and Nik have known each other since Timo's time with his previous band "Forever in Combat." Since then, they have kept in touch and helped each other out. Nik is a really good musician and a great guy. He has been reacting to our videos from the beginning and always featured our new songs in his streams. One day, just for fun, Timo asked him if he'd like to do vocals with us, and he immediately agreed! Moreover, the two had already collaborated on "Granny in the Club," which was a huge success!

8. What has been the biggest challenge you faced while working on "DMNS"?

Marius: The biggest challenge for us was the great distance between where we lived and the personal struggles of some of our members. For me, it was mostly the limited time I had, for example, while studying for my state exams.

Ramon lives in Holland, Yunus, Timo, and Marc live in western Germany, and I live all the way in the south, in Bavaria. We could only rehearse together a few days before our first gigs, but despite that, everything worked out amazingly well.

9. Which track on the album are you most excited for fans to hear and why?

Marius: My personal favorites are "DMNS" and "My Demise." The best comes last! That means waiting for me and the fans, but I believe it's worth the wait. I'm very excited to see the listeners' reactions.

In "DMNS," there's definitely a breakdown that is introduced in a really special way. "My Demise" gives me goosebumps when I listen to it. For me, it's the best song on the album. Once again, it perfectly combines heaviness and melody!

10. How did working with Arising Empire influence the production and promotion of "DMNS"?

Ramon: Working with Arising Empire truly is a dream come true. Without them having trust in us at such an early stage and providing the platform for our music we wouldn’t be able to achieve the success that we are having at the moment.

The people of Arising Empire are really great and we can discuss everything with them. If we need something they are always there to help us. They gave us all the time we needed to finish ‘’DMNS’’.

Because of the messages behind our songs we wanted to be able to give every song the attention it deserves. Their influence on the release strategy really pushes every single song forward. We are deeply thankful to them for giving us this opportunity

11. Can you tell us about any unique or experimental techniques you used during the recording of "DMNS"?

Marius: In fact, for me, every song is an experiment! We usually have the lyrics and a rough vocal demo that Timo records for timing ideas. How I end up doing it later is still up in the air.

I have the standard techniques that I use when recording, but we also experiment a lot. The recording sessions are always a lot of fun because I often make a lot of funny noises in between. Timo often says, "Can you do that again? That was awesome!"

I recorded “Alive” at home in my room with Timo on Discord. We were quite satisfied with what we had done. Later, I went back and reworked some parts on my own that I wasn't personally happy with, and in the process, I created one of Timo's favorite parts of my vocals (Alive, 1:40 “Standing at the edge, staring into the abyss…”)

I tried to let my emotions run free there, and the result was this part with much more of my normal voice.

12. What do you hope listeners take away from the album after hearing it in its entirety?

Ramon & Marius: As said before, We think the most important message that we want to bring to our listeners is that we truly understand them and that the listener is not alone.

Our songs are about mental health issues and hard times in life. All of our members have experienced or are still experiencing mental health issues. We want our listeners to feel understood, feel heard, and know that we see them. We want them to know that they are being loved. Most of our songs also have a positive message written in them for anyone to interpret as to how they relate to it.

We want our music to help them with these hard times and topics. Having people let us help them with our music and that they relate to our music is the greatest gift of all.

13. Are there any particular tracks on "DMNS" that you feel pushed the band’s musical boundaries?

Ramon: For me personally I think that has to be ‘’My Demise’’.

This song in my opinion features everything ‘’Alleviate’’ has to offer.

It has great dynamics between the heavy and the clean parts.

During the song, the vibe switches completely and I love how we fit every piece together as a whole.

14. What are your plans for promoting "DMNS" once it's released? Any upcoming tours or special events?

Marius: We will continue to promote the album on social media platforms with strong support from Arising Empire. And there will be another music video coming soon for one of our personal favorites! We are going to do Shows which are not announced yet so keep an eye open for that!

15. To finish with this interview, do you have something more to add?

Marius & Ramon: Absolutely, We're incredibly grateful for every one of you who listens to our music, attends our shows, supports us, and shares our journey.

Thank you for making all of this possible. We can't wait to share more music and experiences with you! We love all of you - Alleviate