NOORD brings something different to the table in the world of heavy music

NOORD is a 3-piece metalband from Antwerp, Belgium. They saw the first light of day in 2017. Even in the earlier stages it was clear that this band would not sound like any other band. The roots lies in the metalworld but there are a lot of roads to walk on without losing the roots itself. They combine different elements and styles to form their own. In easy words; NOORD brings something different to the table in the world of heavy music.

UpTheVolume – Hi guys , who are NOORD ?
NOORD: We are 3 piece band from Antwerp, Belgium. Cédric does vocals and guitar our bassplayer Louis and Drummer Stijn. We formed NOORD in 2017 and started writing right away. Playing shows from 2018 and trying to get our music out there. We released one EP called ‘ONE’ a single ‘Defiance’ and then it was time to start recording our album. This would eventually become ‘Cryptosis’.

UpTheVolume – Tell us about your latest single release?
NOORD: For this release we choose the song ‘Agressor’ from our new album ‘Cryptosis’. The song itself can be seen through the eyes of someone who puts his heart and soul in certain things but eventually is beaten down by all what he does. The result of that is a neverending spiral of trying to please and reach for reconition but never be able to get it. Altho in the song it is the road towards stepping away from this toxicity and finding the power to overcome the “agressor” that is of great importance. This eventually will set him free towards a path much brighter then where he began.

UpTheVolume – Can you anticipated something about the album ?
NOORD: Extually a lot! Every song has his own unique character and can be served as a stand-alone track but also paints the bigger picture to the overall album. So if you you listen to one song it can capture you and if yopu listen to the whole album you will get the whole story. In these modern times people often listen to singles and not full albums anymore so we wanted to make sure that every story will count. We can see that Cédric blast albums in full everyday but other band members listen more song by song. So when we started writing ‘Cryptosis’ we wanted to make sure that it would be for everyone. A decent story throughout the songs itself and also that will serve in a bigger picture.

UpTheVolume – What is your favorite song and why?
NOORD: That’s a difficult one to anwser. Every member in the band has his own view on what the best song is. For me (Cédric), I like songs like Lilith and Dead Tide. But see that’s already two. In my opinion I would leap more towards the darker sounding songs on the album. That being said, songs like ‘Agressor’ and ‘Fractured’ are really cool songs to listen to. So, yeah. A difficult one to answer with only one song.

Stijn: My favorite switches every week for the moment so I really can’t pick one. I’m curious if one song will grow to be my favorite over time (and which one it will be then) cause I really can’t predict which one.

Louis: My favorite song is the openingstrack, ‘Fractured’ but also ‘Sepulcrum’. So I continue the path of my other bandmates must say that it is difficult to pick one.

UpTheVolume – Which bands influenced your style?
NOORD: We listen to a lot of bands, bands like Parkway Drive, Trivium and so on are the first who inspired Cédric to play music back in the day. So those elements will always be there. Later on it evolved more into Melo Deathmetal with bands like In Flames, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy. Top this with a good portion of deathcore like Suicide Silence, All Shall Perish and now Lorna Shore and you will get the idea.
But that’s only in the metalscene,The whole band actually, we listen to more then metal alone. Going towards even pop music. This whole combination of genres made what you can here now. Our idea in music and how we adapt that into songwriting goes from a lot of places.

UpTheVolume – How many stile we can listen in your music ?
NOORD: You will find a lot of diffirent aspects in every song on the album. Like mentioned before, we take a lot of inspirations from different types of music and try to blend this in something unique and driven.

UpTheVolume – How do you consider the Metal scene in your country?
NOORD: Great! We have a lot of good bands, places and festivals. Going from smaller festivals to the really big ones like Graspop Metal Meeting. Supporting local bands is important and a lot of people take this in concideration. Which provides cool places to play and meeting awesome people with a heart for the genre and scene.

UpTheVolume – Which musician would you like to put as a guest for a record?
NOORD: Interesting question. I (Cédric) could easily answer with an almost impossible answer like Matt Heafy from Trivium, Bjorn ‘Speed’ Stridd from Soilwork. But those guys are at the top of what they do. What would be cool is to co-op with other bands in Belgium like Slaughter The Giant, When Plagues Collide. Top notch in what they do and good friends, so that would be awesome.

Line up:

Cédric De Graeve – Guitars/Vocals
Louis De Bie – Bass
Stijn Sallets – Drums