Fossilization Interview (Thiago Oliveira V)

Fossilization is a Brazilian band that burst onto the scene in 2023 with their debut album, "Leprous Daylight". Many labeled them Death/Doom Metal based solely on perceived influences from Incantation or Disma. However, the Doom Metal label was more for those unfamiliar with the genre, as the album was pure, unadulterated Death Metal at its heaviest and most brutal. But those who apply such labels, or who only hear two seconds of heavy riffs in over 30 minutes, are right, not someone who was around when the genre exploded. What do we know?... Anyway, after three years, this Brazilian band presents their second studio album, "Advent of Wounds", once again released by Everlasting Spew Records.

Para leer la entrevista en español: Entrevista a Fossilization

Metallerium: Welcome to the Metallerium website and thank you for taking the time for this interview. How are you and the band? How are you feeling now that "Advent of Wounds” is completely done?

Fossilization: Hi Javier, thanks a lot for the interest. We’re doing great. Now that the album is finally out, we’ve been focusing on rehearsals, refining the setlist, and getting everything ready for our European tour later this year. It feels good to have the record completed and out in the world.

Metallerium: The term "Fossilization" implies a slow, crushing process of preservation through decay. How does this biological concept translate into your songwriting process?

Fossilization: Very little, to be honest. Even though I have a clear vision of the band’s concept and what the name represents, I don’t like to force that idea into the songwriting. I prefer to let the riff guide the process naturally. I’m not a guitarist in the traditional sense, so I work within my limitations to translate whatever is coming from my head. That approach gives the music a more primal and uncontrolled energy, which feels essential to Fossilization.

Metallerium: Your sound is often described as "cavernous." How do you achieve that balance in the studio where the atmosphere is massive and echoing, yet the riffs remain distinct and heavy?

Fossilization: I think people can describe our music however they want, that doesn’t really bother me. I’m not interested in fitting neatly into any genre or following a predefined path. I just make music, and what you hear is the result of that process. Fossilization is a death metal band, but my range of references is very broad, and that inevitably bleeds into the sound. You can hear black metal moments, early ’90s doom influences, and other elements if you pay close attention. That mix of influences naturally shapes the atmosphere in the studio, and we focus on preserving that raw, cavernous feel while keeping the riffs clear and heavy. That balance comes from staying true to what feels honest for the band, rather than chasing a specific production formula.

Metallerium: The term "cavernous death metal" is frequently used by critics to describe your sound. Do you find this label restrictive, or do you embrace it as a shortcut for listeners to understand your sonic territory?

Fossilization: I don’t feel restricted by the term. If it works as a shorthand for listeners to approach the band, that’s fine, but I don’t write or think in terms of labels.  

Metallerium: Are there any non-musical influences—such as specific horror literature, architecture, or films—that help shape the "suffocating" feeling of your songs?

Fossilization: I think that for anyone involved in any form of art, what they create is ultimately a byproduct of what they experience. Literature, architecture, films, even landscapes and non-traditional music, all play a role. For example, I listen to a lot of dark ambient music throughout the day because it helps me focus. I also rewatched Stalker the other day and was completely overwhelmed by the atmosphere and tension Tarkovsky creates in every single scene. It feels unsettling, oppressive, and suffocating, even when the characters are outdoors in broad daylight. That’s exactly the kind of feeling I want to translate into our music.

Metallerium: Your music bridges the gap between the murkiness of 90s Finnish death metal and the modern dissonant movement. Which era do you feel a stronger spiritual connection to?

Fossilization: I get your point, but for me those eras are deeply connected. I started listening to death metal when I was around 12 or 13, in the early ’90s, and not long after I discovered the Finnish scene, especially Demilich, which is still one of the most dissonant acts to this day. I obviously love many modern dissonant bands, but for me Voivod remains the true epitome of dissonance in metal. Piggy was pushing boundaries when almost no one else was going that far. The same goes for bands like Gorguts and Immolation, among many others. In the end, I feel connected to all of them.

Metallerium: You often use dissonance to create tension. How do you decide when a riff should be "melodic" (in a dark sense) versus when it should be pure harmonic chaos?

Fossilization: That’s not really a rational decision in the end. It feels more like the riff itself leads me toward that balance between tension and release. When there’s a natural creative flow happening while I’m working on a new song, that contrast between dark melody and harmonic chaos just emerges on its own.

Metallerium: In many death/doom bands, the bass gets lost in the wall of sound. In Fossilization, it provides a massive "ground." How do you approach your bass tone to ensure it adds weight without muddying the guitars?

Fossilization: That’s a very tough balance to achieve, both in the studio and during the mixing process. I record the bass as filthy as possible, but you inevitably must make some concessions to ensure the album works. For me, the goal is always to find a middle ground between Cannibal Corpse’s bass tone and Regurgitate's, for instance, heavy and aggressive, but still clear enough to support the guitars without turning everything into mud.

Metallerium: Do your songs usually start with a specific drum rhythm provided by P., or do they emerge from a guitar melody that Vakka brings to the rehearsal room?

Fossilization: It usually starts with the riff. While I’m writing it, I also begin shaping the drum ideas, and then we further develop and refine the drums together based on that initial concept.

Metallerium: Many of your lyrics deal with the passage of time and the eventual fossilization of all things. Do you view this as a nihilistic perspective, or is there a strange beauty in the permanence of stone and bone?

Fossilization: It’s not meant to be taken literally as stone, bones, or a biological process. It’s about loss — aging, forgetting, and the way time erodes the value of things that once defined us. Places, relationships, people you loved who are gone, or simply faded away. You remember a place from your past, and when you finally return, it’s abandoned. A childhood home, an old family photograph album. To me, that quiet erosion is far more brutal than the idea of bones fossilizing over centuries. And that tension, between memory and disappearance, is often the core of what I’m trying to express.

Metallerium: When a listener finish playing a Fossilization record for the first time, what is the specific emotion or "state of mind" you hope they are left with?

Fossilization: A feeling that they can finally breathe again.

Metallerium: Thank you for the interview; it was a pleasure speaking with you. Congratulations on this new album "Advent of Wounds”. Perhaps you'd like to add something for your Latin American fans and Metallerium followers? 

Fossilization: Thank you very much for the good questions. It was a pleasure to answer them. Thank you all for the support!