Doomed Confessionary: Albert, Blaise & Akiva (Adnate)
Adnate is a three-piece atmospheric post-metal band from South-East Queensland, Australia. Their style mixes elements of sludge and black metal, with flourishes of post-rock that help to create a sound that is designed to take the listener on a journey, one that can be described as a flickering sense of hope and spirituality being slowly consumed by a destructive wall of chaos.
Adnate is the result of the organic joining of multiple musical forces. Albert Long (guitar) and Blaise Clement (bass) and their shared passion for post-metal, soundscapes and uninhibited expression through music has helped Adnate form their unique and devastating sound.
Founded in 2009, Adnate consists of Albert Long (guitar), Blaise Clement (bass, vocals) and Akiva Ljungström (drums, vocals).
Can you please say a few words about your band?
Albert: Adnate has had a lot of iterations and variations over the years but quintessentially we’re about being able to express ourselves.
Blaise: Cathartic self-expression.
Akiva: I’ve been appreciating this band through all the lineups over the years, feels great to have the freedom to add into this project. For me, it’s always been about Progression and Atmosphere.
What was the biggest challenge for the band?
Albert: Getting everyone in the same room.
Blaise: Yeah, distance and being time poor makes getting together hard, by far that is the biggest challenge.
Akiva: Besides the obvious distance? Life gets in the way a lot, but we work around it.
What can you be most proud of so far?
Albert: Continuing to always put the most into what we do, being subservient to the process and being able to be vulnerable enough to express ourselves as best we can. We’ve really put everything we can into the next album.
Blaise: Everything we do as a band; we only want to do the best by our music and vision at the end of the day.
Akiva: So far? This new album we’ve been working on. I feel that we’ve really stepped up on this one, it has definitely allowed us to be a lot more creative visually.
What was your biggest regret?
Albert: Looking back on our music I think I could have put more effort into editing some of the compositions before we begin recording. I don’t think I will have that regret with the coming album though, those songs have been in the works for a long time.
Blaise: Ha! Being so time poor, but unfortunately, I had to finish my studies, so onwards and upwards next year.
Akiva: The fact I didn’t take drums seriously for a very long time. My father was a drummer, and I constantly think about the fact he’s no longer around to check out what we’re doing.
What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
Albert: In regard to Adnate, we used to really enjoy playing small local shows that we would organise ourselves, get our mates bands together and have fun.
Bands I’ve seen, Om, Boris and Neurosis have all been stand out performances for me.
Blaise: Heilung, Neurosis, Nick Cave.
Akiva: Best personal concert/tour was up along the east coast when I filled in on bass for some of my good mates.
The best concert I’ve been to recently, Steven Wilson in Brisbane. Quadraphonic live sound was the most amazing thing I’ve experienced yet.
What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
Adnate: We don’t think anything surprises us at this point.
What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Albert: Blood Incantation, Arcturus, Deep Purple, Primitive Man, Chained To The Bottom Of The Ocean, Earth, Witch Club Satan, Carach Angren, Melvins, Swans…
Blaise: Entombed, Erdve, and Dirge.
Akiva: Besides the standards of ISIS, Dirge and Cult Of Luna, Albert’s recently brought YOB to my attention. I’ve also had our new release on heavy rotation, picking out final bits to touch up.
What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
Albert: Practice!
Blaise: If you have to force a riff, it’s not worth it.
Akiva: Learn to play to a click, It makes life a lot easier for everyone.
What are your guilty pleasures?
Albert: Shitloads of sad country music juxtaposed with synth pop.
Blaise: I don’t know, I listen to more folk and country than I do metal at the moment. And I can almost guarantee the Wiggles will outdo any heavy band these last couple of years on my streaming services.
Akiva: A fair bit of heavy EDM always seems to make its way onto my playlists and influences me to dabble here and there with it. I’ve got plenty of unreleased dumb shit I’ve remixed just for the hell of it.
Can you say something more about the current music scene in Queensland?
Albert: Well more regional QLD doesn’t usually have a lot going on. I do my best to make it to any heavy local gig in Toowoomba though.
Necrosonic festival in Brisbane was a good highlight of a lot of great underground Australian bands.
Blaise: There are a lot of great bands around, I just don’t get out to see many shows these days.
Akiva: I’ve been working with our local scene for quite a few years now, they’re doing really well but it’s not a consistent thing you could go out to whenever you wanted.
Where can we see you live soon (concerts/tours)?
Albert: That’s a great question; I can’t wait to find out too.
Blaise: Hopefully somewhere around South-East Queensland.
Akiva: It’ll eventually happen, Once I get over my social anxiety.
What are your plans for the future as a band?
Adnate: Continue to put out our concepts with music and visuals.
Reproduce some older tracks in the studio that were never recorded properly from our 2010-2014 period. Like we did recently with Auspicious Light.
Rehearse and work towards doing some more live performances.
How can people best support your band?
Adnate: You can buy our music on Bandcamp, subscribe to the socials, especially YouTube, we’re making as much visual content as we can to accompany the music.
Share everything so it gets to as many people as possible.
If there’s anything you want to see from us in the future in regard to physical releases or merch lets us know. Enough interest and we’ll have to put it together.
Do you have any message for your listeners?
Adnate: We’re really grateful to the people that listen to our music, and we hope the existing fans enjoy the coming album as much as we do.
For new listeners…
Yes, there are vocals in the music.
Yes, there are heavy riffs.
You just need to let the tracks unfold. Take a moment out of your day to get lost in the atmosphere.
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well