Italian metallic grunge rockers Hot Sunday Blood have released their new album, Kein Licht in December (order here), which takes the listener on a psychological journey on a young girl’s battle with depression. We caught up with the group right before the world became on lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak. 

What is the meaning behind Kein Licht?

Kein Licht is literally the absence of light. This can be the loss of interest towards life but also it can be referred to feelings, people or material things. The album mainly talks about feelings and circumstances.

What was the overall process like to create the new album?

We wrote a lot of riffs and we had a lot of written parts of the songs. Then we’ve decided to put the tracks with common feelings together.

Can you discuss more about the psychological theme of the record?

The whole album is mostly based around a girl, who passed her life fighting against sad feelings. She sewed her wings many times as everyone and her struggles within formed a tragic void where she could swim, feeding black waters with her tears. Other songs talk about mental sickness and the lack of something.

What was the experience like to create the video for “The Long Winter’s Embrace?”

It was very cool! We had a general idea about the result, but we didn’t know how to create the right obsessed atmosphere. The choice of black and white made a strange vibe as if we were trapped inside an insane brain. We aren’t good actors, but we tried to do our best to create this depressive mood related to the lyrics.

What plans do you have for later this year?

We had a lot of dates in our city and close by and we had organized a mini-tour in Greece, but now we have to wait with the increase of Coronavirus alert. Then we’ll start to record Kein Licht pt 2. I hope in July but it depends on this emergency situation.

For those who are unfamiliar, can you talk more about yourselves?

We are mainly a heavy-rock band with many different musical tastes. I love to define our music as dark grunge with a touch of depressive rock mood. We started in Turin in 2013 and in the first release ( Someone left behind / 2015 ) we were mostly influenced by bands such Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots.  Then we tried to mix dark and new wave influences with New Omega ( 2017 ) and with the latest release ( Kein Licht / 2019 ) we’ve created a Pandora’s box with dark rock elements. Katatonia, Paradise Lost, Sentenced, and The Mission have influenced us!

How do you think the coronavirus will affect festival season?

Totally. It’s a beast out of control and Europe is not prepared to face a pandemic situation. Festivals, dates, and bands are totally fucked for months.

Is there anything else you want to say or add?

Thanks for the interview! Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and listen to Kein Licht on music platforms (Spotify, iTunes, Deezer, Google Play, Amazon)