"Well, I formed Sear Bliss in 1993. Before that I played the guitar in a death metal band but it was nothing serious. Our guitar player also played in a death metal band quite well-known in Hungary, called Extreme Defomity. Our other guitar player played in a Motörhead tribute band and the drummer played in several bands. Our trombone player was a member of a wind-band for many years. That's all I could tell about our musical background. As for Sear Bliss, we recorded our first and only demo titled "The Pagan Winter" in 1995. It was a success for us as we sold more than 800 copies in a really short period of time. We got some offers from a couple of labels and then we signed to Mascot/Two Moons records. They released our first album titled "Phantoms" in 1996. Later they put out "The Pagan Winter" with a 12 minutes epic bonus track. Then we toured Europe together with Marduk. It was a great experience for us. After that we recorded our second full- lenght entitled "The Haunting" in Holland and Mascot released it in 1998. Then we toured again and recorded "Grand Destiny" in 2000. It was released by Nephilim Records but soon we signed to Red Stream and they re- released it this year. This is a short story of the band."

"I would recommend Sear Bliss to everyone interested in hearing something a bit outside the norm. The music we play is very dark, cruel and powerful but there's definitely a certain bombastic classical touch in it as we use instruments unusual in Black Metal like trumpet and trombone. It gives a fresh flavour to this type of music. The coldness of Black Metal and the bombastic sound of the brass instruments give a special balance in our songs.

"Yes, the responses were positive mostly. Grand Destiny got some very good reviews. I'm glad however I don't care that much. We write, record and play the music we love and if there are people who like it, that's great. But if there are only a few people into it, it's not a problem either."

"We use trumpet since the very beginning of the band. I always wanted to try some special things in metal, that's why we included the trumpet. I had a friend of mine since my childhood who played in a wind band and in the symphony orchestra in our town. Once he invited me to see their concert. It was in a large hall. I was totally amazed. It was truly impressive. The sound was really clear but very powerful at the same time. It is still a special memory for me. I felt right away that I have to combine (black) metal with brass instruments. I knew it would fit well. I formed Sear Bliss at that time so I asked this guy if he was interested in trying to put trumpet in our songs. He said OK and he came to our rehearsal. We had only one song and we tried him out. It turned out so great that we asked him immediately to join Sear Bliss. Later we started using trombone and barytone too to get a more powerful sound. You can express so much with those instruments..."

"Sure. On our new album we used tuba too. The sound of this instrument is extremly low and it fitted very well at some parts in two new songs. You can hardly hear it because it's too low but it gives a really bombastic touch to the sound."

"Actually the new album is almost out! We recorded it during March and April and mixed it in May. The lay-out of the CD is also ready, so the manufacturing will start soon and Red Stream will release it in September, I guess. This album is 63 minutes long and it's entitled "Forsaken Symphony". We even started working on our fifth album as we have written three new songs so far. Also I have written a coulpe of new lyrics. It's quite unusual for me as always I write my lyrics when we are ready with the songs but now I got a lot of inspiration, really negative ones actually. I had some experiences and I felt that I have to express them. These experiences inspired me so much?"

"Actually all our albums differ from each other. The new album will be rather in the vein of our first album "Phantoms". Of course it will contain some elements of Grand Desiny as well but this time the songs and the sound too are a lot more mystical. It is much deeper both musically and lyrically. There is a strange atmosphere or aura that surrounds the new album. At least this is what I feel when I'm listening to it. I think we really got the right feeling this time."

"I think it's not that strong compared to the scene of the early and mid ninties.Many bands changed their style, splitted up or disappeared. Fortunately there are still a couple of very good black metal bands but sometimes you have to explore to find them. Now there are not that many black metal bands but I think there is a cycle in the presence of the genres. I mean, in five years black metal will be very popular again. There will be many bands playing black metal. I don't care this anyway. We will always play what we love regardless of the actual trends."

"I listen to Black Metal mostly but there are some other styles I like. I'm into some old electronic music like Skinny Puppy, GGFH, Klaus Schulze, etc. It is a really weird music too."

"Huh?.Good question. Let's see? I think I would bring "Winter Circle" from Forest Silence. This CD is created by our former keyboard-player Winter. I would bring it because it's so close to me. I could not be bored with this music. It is timeless, that's why I would bring that one. I feel time and space lose their meaning when I'm listening to this CD."

"I could not name a band that influences us directly as we are so different in the band. Sear Bliss has six different personalities with different influences. I think our main and common influence is our longing for the dark side of life."

"I found the phrase "Sear Bliss" in one of the poems of Charles Baudleaire. Since I'm a fan of his poems and poetry in general, I thought such a name would fit well to my band. It doesn't have a certain or exact meaning. It's rather an express of the feeling I felt at the time when I formed the band. There were so many brainless bandnames at that time, so I decided to look for an original one."

"My lyrics are a product of my imagination. Usually we write the music first and then I listen to the songs and try to feel the atmosphere and mood those songs have and I write down what comes to my mind. So my lyrics serve like an instrument. If you only read them, their meaning may seem vague. But together with the music you can understand what I felt and why I wrote these lines. I write stream-of-consciousness-type lyrics but of course real meanings can be found in them. I use my imagination and my longing for the dark side can be found here too. This is my philosophy and yes, there are messages among the lines I write."

"This is one of our biggest dreams to go to Canada with Sear Bliss. I hope it will happen one day! We heard a lot of great things of your country. Canada has always been a special country for me. Also I heard the audience in Montreal is really fanatic (for example when Satyricon played over there). Also there are many unique bands from Canada."

"Thank you for your interest in Sear Bliss. Thanks for your interesting questions, I enjoyed answering them. "Forsaken Symphony" will be out soon. Check out www.searbliss.hu for more details. Also I have a project called Wind. We play a really strange kind of Black Metal with majestic melodies. We will make a promo recording in autumn. We are looking forward to playing in Canada with Sear Bliss in the near future. I hope to see you guys over there!"

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