Perpetual Gravity carry death metal in their DNA but refuse stagnation, welding vintage brutality to genre collision, multilingual mythology, and vocal duality. This interview dissects their evolution, worldview, and the weight of tomorrow’s metal.
1. Perpetual Gravity blends 90s death metal roots
with slam, deathcore, stoner, and modern technical elements. How do you balance
old-school homage with forward-thinking experimentation without diluting your
core sound?
We believe
in the concept that ‘the future of music lies in the blending of genres.’ Our
goal is not to make the most original or absurd music possible, but rather to
find a common thread between different styles which, even though they are very
different, share points of connection. If we take stoner and deathcore as an
example, the similarities we want to explore and highlight in our music are the
bass and the low frequencies as an anchoring point.
We think
it’s a shame to have an overly modern sound — doing everything in software, in
a sterile way — as it tends toward a kind of sonic conformism that isn’t
consistent with the very essence of metal music. On the other hand, having an
overly old-school, extremely raw sound doesn’t help intelligibility either. The
challenge is therefore to find the right balance.
2. Gabrielle,
your vocal style shifts between deep, guttural growls and powerful clean
singing. How do you approach these contrasts in the studio and live, and what
emotional or social tension do you aim to express through that duality?
Just like
with blending musical genres, where you have to draw the best from each one, I
think it’s important to use the full range of vocal techniques that singing
offers. Depending on which ones are used, the emotions conveyed are not the
same. For example, I like to use very high fry screams during dramatic moments
or subjects to create a tortured effect, while the low vocals tend to be the
language of the narrative, and clean singing is the melody that makes you want
to hit ‘repeat’ after the song ends.
As for
performing in the studio or live, contrary to what people might think, having a
variety of techniques is actually an advantage for avoiding fatigue, since they
don’t rely on the same muscles or breath placement. The real difficulty is more
on the cardio side — it’s hard to run all over the stage and still keep enough
breath for all of that!
3. Your band name suggests humanity collapsing
under its own weight. What real-world events or personal experiences in recent
years have shaped this worldview and driven the urgency of your lyrics?
I think you
only have to turn on any news channel or social network to immediately
understand the justification behind the band’s name. The topics we address are
indeed rarely positive, because they reflect how we, as a band, feel about the
world and its society. They range from very broad issues, such as the current
uprisings of people against their corrupt governments, and the stupidity of
human actions that make us question whether extinction could even be something
beneficial, to more serious subjects like prostitution, marriage and child
trafficking, which continues to grow with the rise of the internet, or even
more personal topics such as depression and the related
derealization/depersonalization syndrome.
For us,
metal is the perfect kind of music to highlight feelings of anger — so we take
full advantage of that.
4. Each instrument in the band takes a
non-traditional approach to tone and attack. How does this mindset of breaking
conventions influence your writing process and the way songs evolve from idea
to final structure?
Just like
blending genres, mixing techniques allows for a wider palette of possibilities
to express the ideas we want and to get as close as possible to what a song is
meant to convey. Once again, this isn’t about performance for the sake of
performance or an ego battle, but about truly putting yourself at the service
of the music, to make it as intense as possible. If things are done halfway, it
can’t be sincere, and you can feel that in the songs. So challenging yourself
is very important.
5. Your
debut EP Ominous Prophecy features four languages, including Elvish, and mixes
myth with modern reality. How do you decide which language a track will speak,
and what role does linguistic diversity play in defining Perpetual Gravity’s
identity?
Regarding
the EP, it has to be placed in its proper context. Originally, we were a thrash
metal band playing music mainly to drink beers and have fun with friends, but
around the lockdown period we made a 180-degree turn because our musical
tastes, our personalities, and our expectations had evolved. From that starting
point, we created a new formation oriented toward death metal. This EP is
somewhat a reflection of that COVID period and the first draft of this new
collaboration. Unfortunately, in terms of sound, structure, and ideas, it no
longer really represents what we do today. It should be seen as a first
attempt, an experiment.
In this
first version of Perpetual Gravity, when we were still searching for ourselves,
the band’s storytelling concept, driven by Garbielle, was to “tell current
events and denounce their issues through metaphors drawn from tales and
legends.” Since our original thrash band was based on urban legends and
cryptids, this made a good transition between the two worlds. The languages
were therefore chosen according to the origin of the tale or legend — for
example, a song in German to reinterpret Goethe’s *Faust*, Russian for a track
about sirens, and so on.
This idea
was somewhat abandoned as the band evolved over time because it tended to limit
accessibility and ease of listening. However, French, our mother tongue, can
still appear, as well as Japanese, a language closely tied to our 90s geek
childhood and Gabrielle's favorite.
6. The EP was recorded and produced by Clemx,
whose work connects with the industrial and alternative metal scene. How did
this collaboration expand your sonic vision and impact your approach to
production?
To be
completely honest, the choice of Clemx was somewhat influenced by the fact that
at the time she was Gabrielle’s bass teacher. During one of her lessons, she
played one of her productions she was proud of, and we immediately liked it,
because the band she had recorded and mixed in her Paris studio had that same
distinctive feature of combining clean and distorted vocals. We therefore
quickly felt that the trust already established, combined with how well her
sound matched the spirit we were looking for, made it a perfect fit.
Since then,
the band has also evolved in terms of the sound we are aiming for, but this
collaboration remains a good memory as a first step.
7. You’ve already played notable venues across
the Paris suburbs and the city itself. Which show stands out the most so far,
and what made that moment significant for the band’s evolution?
I think the
most important show since the relaunch of the project was the one with our new
guitarist. It sealed this new alliance and marked our entry into a new era —
more brutal and more effective on stage. That was where we were able to truly
see each other’s potential and prove to ourselves that this new lineup was
exactly what we had been missing for a long time.
In
rehearsals or in the studio, the stakes, challenges, and playing conditions are
not the same; on stage, that’s really where team cohesion is put to the test —
it’s a bit of all or nothing.
8. A
lineup shift in June 2025 marked a turning point. How did that transition
reshape your ambitions, internal chemistry, and the collective energy that now
defines the new Perpetual Gravity era?
As
mentioned in the previous question, this lineup change allowed us to broaden
the field of possibilities. By staying with the same team from the beginning,
especially on guitar, we started to feel the limits of our progression. Some
desires for evolution — like adding more technical or ambitious riffs, or
bringing in a wider range of musical influences — were unfortunately not
possible with our former guitarist. We felt we were hitting a wall, that a lack
of motivation was starting to show, that we were going in circles
composition-wise, and that, even if it was brutal, only a real shake-up could
change things.
So rather
than an unhappy marriage ending in divorce, we chose a blended family — and
it’s working better than we hoped. Thanks to this change, we’ve been able both
to push everyone’s limits, which had never really been questioned before, and
to bring each other what was missing. Since then, the band has truly become a
unified project, coherent with its ambitions, rather than a mismatched set of
puzzle pieces.
9. Hikikomori
is the first single from the new formation. Sonically and conceptually, what
separates this track from your earlier material, and why was it the right song
to launch this chapter?
Hikikomori
is actually just the beginning of our new era. While it is more modern and
professional in terms of pure sound production, it still carries a lot of riffs
from our former guitarist. Its main purpose was to serve as a sort of ‘business
card,’ showing what the band is capable of. It should be seen as a versatile
track, a transition between the two Perpetual Gravity phases: the more
conventional style of our former guitarist and the more ambitious approach of
our new one.
Since its
release, thanks to the inspiration and cohesion of the new lineup, many new,
more complex and technical compositions have been created. Upcoming tracks on
the album notably feature stoner, technical death, and even cold wave
influences, composed entirely by the new guitarist rather than as a duo.
10. With a live guitarist recruitment, a debut
album planned for February 2026, and festival outreach for 2026, what does the
next 12 months look like for Perpetual Gravity—and how do you envision your
sound and message evolving?
It’s going
to be very busy but also very rewarding! First, recording the album will allow
us to bring to life our so-called ‘new era tracks,’ which are very diverse in
terms of influences and sound, and to cement all this work to truly launch the
project on a solid foundation. It’s hard at the moment to promote the band with
an EP whose songs are no longer even played live!
Once the
album is completed, we’ll follow the usual pattern: music video, communication,
single, promotion, outreach, etc.
The goal is to make our music known, convey our messages, and do even better on the next album, for which we already have ideas! Once the creative machine is running, in a climate of cohesion that encourages idea generation, it’s hard to stop it.
Post a Comment