Interviews About Albums: Sweetland - Pariah (2025)

In this new interview, we sat down with the American Psychedelic Doom Metal/Sludge Metal project Sweetland to ask questions about their album, "Pariah".

1. Where did the name Sweetland come from, and what does it represent for the project today?

It's actually my last name. I don't think there are many of us left, so I wear it proudly.

2. How did the original idea for Pariah EP first take shape before its release in 2025?

Honestly, I heard Northern Hammer and decided that I wanted to make something as heavy as that, and decided that I wanted to do it only on a bass vi, drums, and vocals.

3. What made you feel like now was the right time to bring attention back to this record?

Money. I could finally afford to promote it. Thank you, Iron Mike, for pointing me towards MDPR and Zach Moonshine.

4. The EP sits in a very raw and unpolished psychedelic doom space. Was that sound intentional from the start or something that emerged naturally?

I went through several different mixes, but by the end, I had decided I wanted to go with something that sounded like the Melvins' early demos but recorded in a wet basement.

5. What does Pariah mean to you personally, and how does that concept connect to the music itself?

You know, I don't really know what Pariah meant to me while I was writing it. After I finished it, I started to connect all sorts of dots and realized that I was writing about myself. I am Pariah, and each of these songs is shedding light on some part of my psychology for better or worse.

6. You mention the record existing between collapse and clarity. Was there a central idea or emotional state guiding the writing?

The central idea was that I was manic as hell and staying up for days at a time, unable to rest, and I chose to write the record instead. Most of the songs I don't remember writing, and more or less woke up the next day to a finished instrumental that only needed vocals, so I went ahead and wrote them.

7. How do influences like Melvins, Monolord, and Devin Townsend filter into your sound without defining it too directly?

I don't think I do it consciously, but since I have been obsessively listening to those three bands for quite some time, I like to think that I write music in the spirit of Melvins, with the droney, hypnotic heaviness of Monolord and the theatricality and dynamics of Devin Townsend.

8. What role do space and repetition play in how you build atmosphere in your music?

This is going to be a really boring answer, but the repetition comes from me simply wanting to see if I could make a song interesting with repeating guitar parts and chanting vocals with growing harmonies, with really only the drums drastically changing over time before the song finally falls apart and rebuilds itself. I feel like I did that with each of these songs in some way.

9. The production is intentionally raw and immersive. What led you to avoid a more polished or modern sound?

Really, I'm just bad at mixing.

10. How important is it for doom metal to feel “alive” and organic rather than overproduced?

I do think it is possible for “over-produced” doom to still sound good. My personal take is that the more raw and more like a live recording a record sounds, the harder it hits. I took a lot of inspiration from Suicide Silence, The Cleansing. That whole album was recorded live in the studio. I wish I could have done that, but as I'm a solo act, I've only got so many arms and legs.

11. What was the most challenging part of writing or finalizing Pariah EP?

The most challenging part was definitely being happy with a mix and just letting it go.

12. Do you approach psychedelic elements as structure, texture, or atmosphere first?

Most of the time, I will write all of the drums before I even touch the guitar because I want the underlying groove to feel dynamic and tense at times without even incorporating the other instruments. The structure is definitely first, then I would say the texture comes from the actual sounds of the instruments and the atmosphere from the mix.

13. How do you keep long-form or slow music engaging without relying on constant change?

I almost never repeat drum grooves. When I write the drums, even if a guitar riff is repeating or a vocal melody stays the same for a while, the drums are always growing, mutating, and redefining the song.

14. Has your perspective on the EP changed since its original release?

At first, I hated it. Then I loved it. Now I realize it was simply a stepping stone on my path to making the full album that I always wanted to make.

15. What kind of listener do you feel this record connects with most?

The kind that probably smokes a lot of weed and is maybe a little mentally ill.

16. If Pariah EP had a physical or visual form, what would it look like?

I genuinely don't know how to answer that question. I've always had trouble visualizing art. I'm a sound guy. I'm a feeling guy. I'm an emotional guy. Visual art is beyond me, but I suppose I can answer this question in the form of a video that is sure to come out in the next few months.

17. Is there any direction in modern doom or heavy music you deliberately avoid?

I deliberately do not write about most of the topics that most stoner bands write about. I tend to write more about mental health, existentialism, science fantasy and grief. I write a LOT about grief. There is a whole 13-minute song about dealing with grief. From the moment of loss, to the feeling of despair and wanting to let go, and eventually accepting reality and moving forward, stronger.

18. What do you want people to feel when they sit with this record in full?

I want them to think “goddamn, this is too short. I want more.”

19. What’s next for Sweetland after revisiting this release?

My first full album is finished and loaded in the chamber, just waiting for the next time that I can afford to promote it.

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