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BACK
 PENANCE
Doomed to Heaviness
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
The thing I most enjoy about any new album by Pennsylvania doomsters
Penance is the devotion and care that goes into each recording.
The atmosphere, the emotions and the musically arrangements all
speak of something wonderful and honest, far from the slick and
almost predictable sounds emanating from today’s modern metal
music scene. Oh, and it’s heavy too.
Spiritualnatural (on Martyr Music) is the latest album by the quintet
(singer Brian Balich, bassist Mary Bielich, drummer Mike Smail and
guitarists Dave Roman and Matt Tuite) and easily one of my faves
by them next to the heavy-set ways of 2001’s Alpha & Omega.
The band continues to doom on…
"The preparation and actual recording of Spiritualnatural was
unlike any I’ve experienced before. We started writing the
material for this album after Alpha & Omega had been released.
It actually was coming a bit more slowly than I thought it would,"
says Balich. "Things got a bit stagnant, in part because we
were having some problems getting a solid rehearsal schedule together
and in part because [guitarist] Terry Weston was losing his interest
in being a part of Penance. After a few talks within the band we
decided to at least finish the album because we loved the songs
we had so far and felt we could come up with some more great ones.
To help with the recording we brought in a friend of the band, Dave
Roman. Dave’s playing style and tone fit perfectly. It was
hard to lose Terry because he was important not only as a songwriter
and player but his sound, as well, was something that was an integral
part of the band. I think his tone is unique and I knew we couldn’t
match it exactly, but Roman’s playing and tone has worked in
very, very well."
I bet you’re glad to have that recording ordeal behind you.
"Yeah," says the singer. "I’m not sure if I’d
want to do an album in this way again. It seemed like an odd way
to go about it. It was a band effort and yet a more individual type
effort where everything ended up tying together nicely, like a happy
accident. It was a great experience though…a very creative,
ambient, breathing kind of thing.
"Our main goal on this album was really to write the best songs
we could and see where it went. We liked that we wrote strong songs
that could stand on their own but were enhanced by the extra stuff.
We never want to get boxed in as a band that only plays super heavy,
slowwww songs," the singer explains. "We all love the
doom riffs, but we have other influences. We’re fans of heavy
’70s rock—bands like Sabbath, Deep Purple, The James Gang,
Bang—stuff that was heavy but had hooks and grooves amongst
the riffing. I think we managed to bring the doominess to the table
yet give it a bit more energy and groove and catchiness than we
did in the past, and I think we did it without sacrificing the heaviness
we’re known for."
People say being creative is the best way to soothe the soul—how
does your music affect you at the end of the day?
"I think it serves two purposes for me. One—it allows
me to use my creative side. I’ve always been interested in
music, art, acting. I’m really not any good with art and HBO
hasn’t cast me for The Sopranos yet, so music allows me to
use a part of my brain other than the one I use all day at work.
Aside from sheer stimulation it also absolutely soothes my soul.
It lets me work out, through music, problems I’m having, fears
I carry, pain inside me, what I see in the world…and it lets
me share that with others who may feel the same way. It makes me
feel like I’m not so alone when someone says, ‘Hey, those
words really hit home for me.’ It’s a cathartic thing
to write lyrics and get up on stage and sing them. It’s like
wrapping my voice around the demons inside me and strangling them
with my words…self-exorcism (cue Tubular Bells)."
After doing this for so many years, how do you stay focused on Penance
and keeping the creativity going? A lot of bands that have been
in this industry as long as you have faded away or changed their
styles and so on.
"It is difficult sometimes. Especially as we get older, have
more responsibilities. I have a wife and daughter at home with twins
on the way… We all have bills to pay and we’re not in
the same position a group of 20-something upstarts would be in.
So we have to juggle home life, work, et cetera with the band, and
that is very difficult, but we make it work because music is not
an option for us—it’s a part of our lives. It is woven
into our genetic code. This is my passion—I need it like I
need air. We also all have tremendous confidence in the quality
of our music and talent in our band. We’d throw in the towel
if we didn’t.
"We’re fans of our stuff as much as anyone—that’s
important. There’s no point in writing music you don’t
dig. It isn’t honest unless you write for you first. So as
long as we have things to say that we’d want to hear, we’ll
keep doing so."
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