Doomed Confessionary: Morten Søbyskogen (Death Of Giants)

Death Of Giants is the Norwegian doom metal project by Morten Søbyskogen (Frail Grounds, Funeral (live)). The debut album »Ventesorg« was released on May 12th, 2023.

This concept album is built on a semi-chronological narrative, detailing the journey of Morten and his wife, Sandra, from ther cancer diagnosis to her tragic death. »Ventesorg« is the Norwegian word for anticipatory grief, and the title describes accurately what the album portraits through its melancholic gothic doom atmosphere.

The music draws influences from gothic, funeral and death/doom metal, but also incorporating a broad range of other references (heavy metal, prog, ambient, black).

Can you say a few words about your band?
Death Of Giants is a musical project from Oslo, Norway, rooted in melancholic doom metal, but also incorporating other elements, ranging from death/funeral doom, heavy metal, progressive and ambient/atmospheric music. Some of these inspirations might be subtle, but it all adds up to the total sound. The band started as a personal testament to the journey my wife, Sandra, and I travelled as she got diagnosed with brain cancer until her passing 3.5 years later, and this resulted in the debut album »Ventesorg«. After the release of the album and the following release concert, my good friends and musicians who took part in this concert wanted to continue the journey with me, and currently new material is written along with hopefully more concerts in 2025.

What was the biggest challenge for the band?
After the release of the album and the debut concert in 2023, I feel the biggest challenge has been, and is, to find further opportunities to present it live. Festivals are usually booked one year ahead, and most metal festivals prioritize different genres of metal so the eye of the needle is extremely small. And understandably, organizers put much stakes into a festival (or tours) with rising costs of everything, so underground bands are not prioritized in favor of more known acts that are certain to draw a crowd. It is understandable and I have no problem with it, but it is a challenge in the current landscape. The most important is still for me to focus on the music, and let it speak for itself, and if enough people want to see us perform live it will happen.

What can you be most proud of so far?
Finishing an album (»Ventesorg«) being of such a personal importance and journey, getting the songs and lyrics to feel honest and right, was challenging, but as it stands I am very proud of it. I wish Sandra could hear it too. But one of the songs, »Distance«, was actually a rerecording of an old song I wrote specifically to her in 2010. So in its own way, she has heard parts of what she was to inspire 8 years later, through her own passing.

Photo: Anine Desire Photography

What was your biggest regret?
I have many regrets in life, but musically I cant see how much I could have done differently the last years. Maybe spent even more time on music, but I have other hobbies which gives my life value. It has been a year where much focus was on joining Funeral as a guitarist, learning a hell of a lot of songs and playing a festival in Croatia and a release gig in Oslo, and in addition to that I have wrapped up the new Frail Grounds album, after a 6 year long process. So things are coming to an end, things are starting, and next year will be very exciting.

What was the best concert/tour so far and why?
As we haven’t played that many concerts yet, I would have to say that the release concert, also being a memorial concert with family and friends from Austria and Norway present, was a very important and cathartic concert experience for me. In addition to the songs on »Ventesorg«, we played some cover songs of personal importance, and for me ending the concert with »And There Will Your Heart Be Also«, by Fields Of The Nephilim, is something that was deeply emotional to me. We have a live recording of it here if you want to check it out HERE.

What was the biggest surprise on the music scene for you?
There is a swiss band called Schammasch which I have listened to for some years, especially their 2019 release »Hearts Of No Light«. They have a unique way to invoke atmosphere and intense fury, I dont know how they do it, but it stuck with me since I discovered them. It was youtube on an algorithm-frenzy which suddenly showed their video »A Paradigm Of Beauty«, immediately it gave me Fields Of The Nephilim vibes.

But I am digressing; They released a new album this year, »The Maldoror Chants: Old Ocean«, and holy fucking fuck! It is so amazing. Check it out! Looking forward to see them at Inferno Festival 2025 in Oslo!

What is currently in your heavy musical rotation?
Currently Schammasch, Hamferd, Saor, Funeral (needed to learn guitars for their release gig) and, admittedly, my other project Frail Grounds, as we have been mixing the new album,so it has been countless listens these last months. And a fair dose of Witcher soundtracks while reading the books.

What was the best advice you’ve ever been given as a musician?
A simple yet very important advice I got way back: “Make the music that YOU want to listen to and believe in, because if you don’t believe in it, why would someone else?”

What are your guilty pleasures?
I stand by all music I listen to which invokes some emotional state in me, but some of music further from metal which I frequently listen to is retro/synthwave, like Midnight, Mitch Murder, Arcis etc.
Also a fair dose of 3 hour atmospheric ambient music from Witcher 3 and Deus Ex: Human Revolution 🙂

Can you say something more about current music scene in Oslo / Norway?
Norway is not surprisingly famous for extreme and black metal, and I think in Norway as a while this is still an overhanging arch of the norwegian music scene. There is also a section of good melodic prog bands like Circus Maximus and Pagans Mind. In Oslo there is a good underground for metalcore and post, and with regards to doom Oslo has a big stoner doom scene. Høstsabbat is a festival organized every autumn which focuses on this quite specific subgenre. I hope with time the melancholic/funeral doom scene will expand though, with more outlets and festivals for these kind of bands. I am sure many people actually like this genre, it is just not any festival or similar outlet established.
In addition to us in Death Of Giants, there are bands like Dwaal, Miserate and Gloombound I would like to mention. And of course, Funeral, but they are not in the underground.

Where can we see you live this year (concerts/tours)?
You tell me, haha! We need to look outside Norway, and are trying to make something happen in Germany and Austria later this year, but it is just in an initial phase at this point. We have sold quite alot CDs to Europe, including Germany, Austria, Italy etc, and I see there is a much bigger scene for the doom subgenre we are in here. Ahab, Fvneral Fvck, Officium Triste, Shores Of Null, Saturnus, Pantheist, Invernoir and more. Many more festivals focus on melancholic doom than here in Scandinavia.

What are your plans for the future as a band?
The focus right now is working on new music. It is a solemn and straining process, despite being something I cherish doing. A whole lot of ideas, both musically and thematically, in addition to sadness and thoughts I want to materialize into something which is worthy of following up »Ventesorg«. We will also start rehearsing and hopefully getting some more gigs this year, to present our live melancholy and make memories. Thats all I want, to make memories and help people get in touch with their underlying sadness which we all carry, through the music I write and sing.

How can people best support your band?
The most effective way to support Death Of Giants is to share our music with your friends, play our songs when you are out, recommend local organizers to check us out and book us. And meet up when we come to play in your town 🙂
Secondary, supporting us by buying t shirts, physical and digital releases is always much more helpful than streaming. The digipak of »Ventesorg« is currently out of stock, but even buying the album as digital download from Bandcamp is very helpful!

Do you have any message for your listeners?
Thanks for listening, staying there, and keep on spreading the doom and melancholy.
And if you are struggling, hang in there and reach out!

Links:
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well