ZERO TOLERANCE SEPT/OCT 2006

 

The Belonging’s debut album, Setting the Scene, is an eclectic and imaginative collection of songs, full of creative ideas and musical dexterity. I got in touch with guitarist Paul Zaborowski for an insight as to what makes this impressive new band tick.

“Musically we are heavily into death and black metal which is, of course the main style of the band. I’d describe our music as fast, melodic, black/death metal with some progressive elements thrown in to keep things varied. I think our songs prove that we can blast with the best of ‘em but we can also actually play our instruments to a high standard too. We approach each song as a new project and try to give it its own identity when writing riffs and melodies. We like to challenge ourselves to try and write something fresh each time.”

It’s been over a year now since Setting the Scene was recorded and the band remain very happy with what they achieved. “When we were recording Setting the Scene we knew they were a strong bunch of songs that were full of the best riffs and melodies we could come up with. We put 100% into making each song the best we could make it.” The response from the metal media and worldwide scene shows that all that hard work has clearly been recognised. “The reaction to the album has been unbelievable really,” says Paul happily. “Virtually all the reviews have been around the 8 or 9/10 mark with most saying we sound similar to Dissection and other bands that we look up to, which is a massive compliment! Obviously, this makes all the hard work we put into writing and recording it worth while. The album also got us on the Koria Roll festival in Finland,” the guitarist continues. “So we have achieved more than we expected we would.” The Belonging were actually the very first non-Finnish band to play at the Koria Roll festival and they clearly enjoyed the trip. “Playing in Finland was an amazing experience. Playing in a foreign country, on an outdoor stage is something that most bands our size don’t get to do. The whole vibe was different to a normal gig. It was a bit weird playing in the hot sun but we managed to pull it off.”

The tremendously effective artwork that adorns Setting the Scene is another thing that sets the band apart from their competitors. “Levi [Tubman, bass] designed all of the album artwork,” Paul reveals. “He’s a keen photographer and he wanted to use the local area where we live as the visual backdrop for the album. He took hundreds of photos in the countryside of various views and objects and the ones that we chose for the album artwork really have a dark atmosphere that compliments the music and suits the title.” With plenty of gigs lined up and writing for the second album well under way 2006 should be a busy year.

 

Interviewed by Chris Kee.