SYLVAN REALM is far more underground than you’ll ever get. Sylvan, yes that’s his real name, is a musical prodigy and has pulled together some top notch desolate, melodic, and dark metal with his previous album The Lodge Of Transcendence. Talking openly about the impact David Lynch has on his music and why he doesn’t like being labeled as black metal. Currently working on new material, he indulges the secrets of the new album. In one of the most revealing and detailed interviews, SYLVAN REALM wants the world to know what his band is really about and all comes unraveled in this interview.

Sioux: Greetings Sylvan, you have a new album coming together and word has it your working with death metal legend Dan Swano as well as other guest musicians. Can you tell us about that?
Sylvan: Greetings! Yes indeed a new album is in the works, I go into Nightsky Studio in August with engineer Ron Vento and drummer Evan Madden to start recording the album. As well, bassist Jason Ian-Vaughn Eckert has just been confirmed to play on the album. I contacted Dan Swano about mixing and mastering the album and am excited to have his creative vision behind the production of the album. The new album will be more so focused on influences of doom metal, neo-folk, dark metal, and gothic metal. The vocals will remain the same and once again I will do the artwork for the album with my photography.

SYLVAN REALM will never make the same album twice and is a band that will not repeat history, so this album will have a completely different approach to the song writing, sound, and production. I believe in always moving forward and growing/progressing in life so this album will reflect that as well as further SYLVAN REALM albums. I even bought an entire new arsenal of music equipment, so the amps and guitars will have a different tone as well. In general I put countless hours of research into crafting a unique tone. SYLVAN REALM always strives to bring the listener something fresh and different in approach to explore and craft various styles of music for those listeners with a more sophisticated pallet

Sioux: What about the concept of the new album?
Sylvan: So far the focus of SYLVAN REALM has been a sonic temple to connect to the vast cosmos by projecting energy through sound. That aspect of that concept will always remain in practice. Lyrically, the album will still focus on spiritual enlightenment however the fuel and inspiration behind the lyrics will be different. The year 2011 was by far the worst most tragic year in my life full of death, loss, and pain. Last year completely changed my entire outlook on the world and life in general, except in a very positive manner for what did not kill me only made me stronger! So I will be using that fuel of pain, loss, and death to create my most profound work yet!

Sioux: Your previous album The Lodge Of Transcendence was released last year. Were you satisfied with the way it turned out and the way it was received?
Sylvan: You know creating an album is a lot like giving birth to a child. At 1st your ecstatic and think that this is the most amazing creation in the world, later once the album goes out into the world and the listener adopts it, the album changes and grows up to be its own entity. Something that you kept inside for years, nurtured, gave all your thought, attention, focus, and dedication to comes out and then its not there inside you anymore. Once the album is out the musician then grows and changes too while the album is now out on its own in the world meeting and being adopted by different listeners.

With that being said at first I was 99% satisfied with the album, and it is still one of my favorite albums ever made by anyone. Except like a parent now I think, well if only I did this or that differently my album could have been this or that way. At the end of the day I am very happy with the album, but now through creative criticism and a lot of feedback I see a few things that I may have wanted to change. So instead of being 99% happy with it now that it is out of my body and its own entity I am 90% satisfied with it. So still very happy with it in general.

As far as how the album was received I have an entirely different analogy to make. I have received some great reviews from those with the type of palate who can appreciate and understand what it is that I craft with music. While some completely miss the point and do not have the palate for the music of SYLVAN REALM. I will explain… if you go into a restaurant and you just want a medium well cooked steak, you always eat the same cut, from the same few restaurants, like it cooked same way every time and generally enjoy knowing what your going to get and that it will taste exactly how you expected before you indulge into your meal there is a good chance that you taste buds will say "what the fuck this is not what I ordered" when you hear The Lodge Of Transcendence. However if you like modern infusion cuisine that adds many flavors and approaches, when The Lodge Of Transcendence is served to you and you take the first bite your taste buds will be intrigued and left wanting more. As you start to try the other green, yellow, and orange sauce covered mixtures of meats, seafood, and vegetables on your plate your taste buds will be taken on a journey of different tastes, textures, and aromas created by the chef's many years and dedication to his passion if creating a uniquely delicious dish.

I think the biggest common mistake that keeps getting made about SYLVAN REALM is that many people seem to expect us or want us to be a "USBM" band or simply an American black metal band. Don't get me wrong for black metal is a big influence on SYLVAN REALM. I grew up listening to black metal and it is the style that primarily influences my vocals and a decent amount of my guitar playing. However since day one I made it a point to call SYLVAN REALM an eclectic dark metal band. Yet for some reason people keep labeling us as black metal and expecting yet another USBM act from us. I feel that everything that can be said or done in black metal has been said and done already and wanted to do something fresh and different. Sure there are experimental or progressive black metal bands out there that do a great job of infusing different aspects into black metal, but at the end of the day they are still under the general law and category of black metal. Don't get me wrong I am by no means knocking black metal, there are still some bands that continue to make great black metal albums, but I feel that for the most part the territory of black metal has been fully explored and I am seeking to find a new frontier for SYLVAN REALM. At the end of the day SYLVAN REALM is a band without boundaries or barriers in sound and style.

The primary goal behind The Lodge Of Transcendence album was to incorporate all the various styles of music that I listen to into a extreme eclectic dark metal style with a very live old school production mixing both old and new tones styles and ideas. The production is the other debated misunderstood aspect of the album by some reviewers. I wanted to sound raw and live but in a studio setting so the music could truly speak for its self. I did not want a production to change the mood of the raw songs and wanted them to sound more live and natural. That was the goal and idea behind the production and I feel that I nailed it. However some reviews have expected a modern or polished production and label it as being too raw. Then again SYLVAN REALM is not for everyone!

Sioux: The concept of The Lodge Of The Transcendence seemed to have an underlying theme pertaining to David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. Can you tell us how that came to be?
Sylvan: I have always been a David Lynch enthusiast and fan in general. Twin Peaks the series is my favorite work by him and while writing The Lodge Of Transcendence I often liked to go into the head space of that series. For whatever reason it helped me create, gave me ideas and inspiration for writing music. In the series there are two lodges, the white lodge and the black lodge. Since Twin Peaks was tragically short lived, only spanning two seasons, they only ever found the black lodge at the end of season two. So I thought why not make my own metal version of the white lodge in music! Of course this is one of the inspirations and elements behind the album. The Lodge Of Transcendence is not a Twin Peaks theme album. Yet since I often watched that series for ideas and inspiration I figured why not add some Lynchian flavor to the album. David Lynch is originally from Montana and Montana is a very special, beautiful, and mysteriously isolated place. I was living in Montana while writing the album and for some reason the nature and isolation in Montana paired with Twin Peaks fueled much of my creative input into the album.

Sioux: Are David Lynch movies a big influence in your writing?
Sylvan: Yes, Lynch films use to be a big influence on my writing and also influenced the writing behind my first band Reverie. However, in recent years I have changed and so has my sources of inspiration. I had gotten involved with a girl who was a lot like Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks and for a while felt like I was living in the series. After that crashed and burned and the crazy ride came to an end I figured it was time to find new inspiration from different sources!

Sioux: What else inspires your writing and music?
Sylvan: A ton! I try to incorporate every non mundane aspect of life into creativity and music. When I am not at work I am listing to music for endless hours, playing guitar, writing lyrics, thinking of vocal patterns, sampling tones and textures from different guitars and amps and so on. I have chosen instead of living a status quo life where I work to maintain a family and house hold, to instead live as a free sprit and let music and creativity act as my offspring. I love my life and am very happy not having children and dealing with the mundane stressors of material maintenance and gain that so many people adopt as what life is suppose to be about. Instead I chose life to be an exciting adventure where I am always trying to advance myself as a person, living life as a spiritual and enlightening journey. That is a never ending source of inspiration in itself.

I like to travel and enjoy hiking/camping something about traveling and exploring new places is also a large source of creativity. There was a point in time were specific interests and themes were what I drew upon for inspiration but always found them to be limiting. So I try to make life, nature, the cosmos, and the world around me to be my main source of creativity and inspiration and it works well, writers block does not exist in my life for life in its self is an endless source of inspiration.

Sioux: You are a big fan of Woods Of Ypres and even have a member of that band play on your previous album. How did it effect you when you heard the news of founding member David Gold’s death this past year? Such a tragic loss for metal.
Sylvan: I am a big fan of Wood's first EP and first album but could never get into his other stuff. I remember when the first Wood's EP came out, a friend of mine telling me it would be right up my alley, and it was! After that I waited to see what would come next and Pursuit Of The Sun and Allure Of The Earth was a brilliant masterpiece, that album will always be one of my favorites.

Evan Madden was on the Green Album by Wood's and did a lot of touring with Wood's. He is a brilliant drummer and I had an awesome experience having him on my last album, so he will return to the band and will be doing drums on the up coming SYLVAN REALM album!

The loss of David Gold was indeed very tragic and a big loss for metal in general, I never knew him but will always remember him primarily by the first Woods full length album, and that album will always live on forever as a timeless masterpiece.

Sioux: SYLVAN REALM was formerly called Reverie, which existed 6 years prior to SYLVAN REALM. Why the name change? Even though you are the sole member, was the music just going in a different direction?
Sylvan: I changed the name to SYLVAN REALM because I wanted something more personal and felt that I had done and expressed everything that I wanted to with Reverie. It was time to shed old skins and to start something new. The music was indeed taking a new direction plus I had grown and changed a lot not only as a musician but as a person and felt like Reverie were the old days and that SYLVAN REALM would be the future.

Sioux: You also relocated across the country, did that influence your writing/music in anyway?
Sylvan: Yes, I did move from Montana to Maryland, but it did not make an impact on my music because I am originally from Maryland. In general I move and travel a lot and haven't stuck around in one place for too long. However living in Montana was very special. Being out there in the vast isolated mountainous landscapes was extremely inspiring to me.

Sioux: What about playing live, will we ever get a SYLVAN REALM tour?
Sylvan: At some point I would love to play live and have always wanted to at least do a local show. However I am not sure when that will happen. For now I am satisfied and content with creating and recording music. My goal for playing live is at some point to play Maryland Death Fest since after all I am a native Marylander and never thought the countries largest metal fest would end up right in my back yard.

Sioux: What are your future plans for SYLVAN REALM?
Sylvan: For now I am working on finding a interested label to co release The Lodge Of Transcendence with me on Vinyl Record, as well am heading into the studio to start recording the new album this summer. So for now that’s my primary focus for the band. I have endless ideas for other albums, playing live, etc, but to be 100% realistic I take each step at a time and like to keep focused on a few goals until they are accomplished before I move onto more goals and plans.

Sioux: I thank you for your time Sylvan, and I shall leave the last words for you to speak to the masses.
Sylvan: Thank you for the interview, as for the masses: Live life with passion and never for a second think, you can’t make your dreams come true and make this world into a utopia. It all starts with empowering each other and bettering ourselves as people and rising above our fears and greed. The world economy crisis is due to mans greed and large corporate companies enslaving the masses trying to convince people that happiness and good quality in life can be bought as a cup of coffee, phone, or pair of sunglasses. All it’s doing is making people focus on materialism and living to work instead of working to live. Its a sad sight but we can overcome it and there is hope.

Don't let life and the magic of this life be about greed, fear, materialism and money. If you don't like your life, this world, Society, etc. get out there and make a change and quit hiding behind your computer. Go face your fears and make contact with people in person and make a difference in their lives, you will see in return it will make a difference in your life as well. Don't like society? Good, then don’t buy into what TV., radio, and commercials are trying to market you as happiness… live life the way you want to and find your own true happiness from within because true happiness and content in life comes from within. It does not come from money, fame, or sex. There is an amazing, wonderful life out there to explore. Don’t waste it away alone behind a computer eating a cheeseburger on your phone unhappy with regret. Also, if you can’t afford my album, then go steal it from the internet and enjoy it!

06/2012 © Sioux Mullins • Sylvan Realm •