Lithuania. This is the place from where this guys are from. I have been researching a lot in this months about the underground scene in the countries of Eastern Europe and I have found out that there exists a big scene in there, mainly of metal bands. Shadowdances is one of the main exponents of that style in this country. We talked with drummer and vocalist Baronas Juodas about the band.

Which process lead to the changing of name of the band from Conscious Rot to Shadowdances?

First of all hello and thank you for your interest in our band, which is finally reborn after a pause which lasted 4 years. Well, the name was changed mainly because the music started to change and get further from the initial death metal genre. CONSCIOUS ROT was a death metal band, and the natural intention was to create and play a more dark/emotional/deep kinda thing. I don't like the idea when the band changes the music completely, but the old name stays. Now it's different musically and lyrically than it was back then. It wasn't easy to come up with the name. I tried to imagine my band with several, but nothing would stick to it. Then I remembered a word from one of my new lyrics (at the time). It was Shadowdances. I liked it right on, so we became SHADOWDANCES.

Well, actually, no, I'm not satisfied with it at all. It was a terrible mistake to go to the studio absolutely unprepared. I must say I feel that the music is quite good, and the emotions are right, but the sound and the performance really suxx. That was our fault, and it was the first time when I stood in front of the microphone without actually growling and had to do some decent singing. Of course, I blew it up. But you have to start somwhere, and that's where we started. As I said, we feel that the material is quite decent though, so we'll try to re-record some of the songs later on. Especially it comes to the songs "Till Windows Light" and "Silent".

Well, we're in the studio right now, recording the new material. It's almost ready - we have just a few touches left - and then to mix it. Hopefully we're gonna finish it soon (perhaps in a few weeks), then we'll start searching for a label to put it out. I have to tell, that for some it might be a total surprise, cause the music really changed to the better. And the best part this time is that we rehearsed all the songs properly. We put lots of hopes that there will be some labels interested to release it. The new record is gonna be named "The River of Lost", it's gonna be a long one - about 70 minutes probably, consisting of 10 to 12 dark and emotional songs, we haven't decided which ones are to appear on the CD, cause we have recorded more songs to choose from. The other ones hopefully are gonna be released later, as an EP or so.

How did you end signing with Dangus Productions?
Well, we're not signed to Dangus Prod. The thing is that Ugnius Lioge, the chief of Dangus, released our "Burning Swodahs" as an MC in Lithuania, and that's it. As a Mini CD it was released through spanish Abstract Emotions Rec. The only difference is that on the MC there are two more tracks that are not included on the Mini CD. It's two more death oriented songs, more in the CONSCIOUS ROT veins, but more emotional.

What do you think of "Paranoia in the evening", now, more than seven years later?
I haven't listened to it for probably seven years now, or close to it. I think it was a good start. It's really nice to remember those days, though it was very tough. The demo was put out on the right time, cause at that time there was no known lithuanian death metal acts around. We were one of the first ones and definitely the heaviest. Hurrayyyy!

What does the term atmospheric guitar means when refering to Grafas Lokys guitar playing?
The atmospheric guitar we call the more emotional and melodic parts played on the top of the rhythm guitar. It gives the song an atmospheric feel, that's why we call it so. Now they're all played by another guitarist, Raima.

How important are the keys of Lady Amial for Shadowdance´s music?
You can say that they're essential. It's one of the key things that make SHADOWDANCES SHADOWDANCES. SHADOWDANCES (ha ha). You have to hear our new music to believe how beautiful and deep those keyboard licks are.

Is Shadowdances music meant to play on stage? Or are there some changes that have to be made in other to do it?
Definitely, yeah. It's ment to be played on stage. Though some of the songs are almost impossible to play. The difficult thing is that i'm doing the vocals, plus playing drums. For most of the songs it goes nicely, but they're those few which are too difficult to play. The other ones are the most dark/slow ones, which, we feel, are too slow to play live. They're ment to listen to at home and hear all the small things that you're unable to hear at the concert. But we'll try to have at least a couple of slower songs ready for the gigs after the new CD is out, to represent all of our music, not only a part of it.

What does the term "atmospheric shadow metal" mean when it is used to describe your music?
I don't know, actually. It's the term that Ugnius Lioge (Dangus prod.) produced after he listened to our "Burning Swodahs" Mini CD. Well, we are quite happy with this term, cause i truely think it would be difficult to name our music a certain name, apart from if someone thinks it suxx (ha ha!). I think it means that it's atmospheric and that it's shady, am I right or am I right? ;-)

Do you think that melodies are what sets Shadowdances apart from the other bands?
I think yeah, it's definitely one of the things. At least from lithuanian underground bands. I think that we're quite unique now, because of our melodies, harmonies and emotions.

Are there any plans of touring to support the new material? Do you feel part of the Lithuanian metal scene?
We hope that there we'll be some invitations to tour, go to some other countries than Lithuania. We'll try hard to promote the new material and serch for distributors, agencies and clubs, so that it would be possible to play some gigs this summer.

Interviewed by Federico Marongiu

"Paranoia in the Evening" - demo (as Conscious Rot) (1992)

Promo Tape 1993 - (as Conscious Rot) (1993)

Congenital Passivity - demo (as Conscious Rot) (1993)

"The Soil" (as Conscious Rot) - CD (1994)