I’m Midnight Furie, the OG Midnight Furie, and I created, produce and present ‘The Midnight Hour’ and ‘Midnight’s Metal Grinder’ radio shows on Radio TFSC.
I first came across husband and wife team Sophie and John of Hand of Kalliach in 2020. I can’t remember how that happened but I’m so happy that it did. After listening to their gorgeous Debut EP ‘Shade Beyond’, released 8th December 2020, I invited them to be my Band of the Month for January 2021 on The Midnight Hour and asked if they’d like to co-host January 2021 MMG with me; featuring ‘Shade Beyond’ on both shows.
To my absolute delight and joy, they said ‘Yes’ and the rest is history. I’ve followed their inspiring musical career with interest and you can hear their distinctive sound carried forward from ‘Shade Beyond’ to their Debut Al. ‘Samhainn’ (released 22nd October 2021) and now onto their sophomore Album ‘Corryvreckan’. Hand of Kalliach’s music never fails to delight, excite and deliver relentless pounding MeloDeath with touches of delicious folk and Celtic highlights.
‘Corryvreckan’ was released on 23rd February 2024, and in honour of St. David’s Day and Bandcamp Friday on 1st March, I asked Sophie and John a few questions about how it’s all going.
Q1: I’ve listened to and read all your reviews so far and it’s obvious that the build up to the release of ‘Corryvreckan’ on 23rd February was intense. What’s the response been like since the release?
Sophie: It definitely was intense! I think it’s fair to say we have been really blown away with the response. Getting such an incredible volume of kind reviews from both the underground and mainstream metal press has been genuinely stunning. We are incredibly humbled and grateful for it.
John: Yeah having Prosthetic Records in our corner has been pretty game-changing for us in terms of exposure, and thankfully there’s been a really positive response there. Getting good reviews and ‘best new track’ features in Metal Hammer, Decibel and Revolver has been unreal, not to mention all the phenomenal continued support from the underground.
Q2: Hand of Kalliach’s sophomore album ‘Corryvreckan’ was released on 23rd February and it’s Bandcamp Friday on 1st March. My personal favourite track is ‘Of Twilight and the Pyre’. What’s the best selling track on the album so far?
John: Nice, that’s my favourite also! It always feels a little indulgent going for a mega-atmospheric seven minute finisher, but it was a lot of fun for us to write and record.
Sophie: Our best selling and most streamed track is our lead single, ‘Fell Reigns’, but since the full album dropped there’s been no clear winner amongst listeners or stats, with quite a range of favourites being mentioned. Mine is ‘Cirein-cròin’ as I just love the chorus which is actually a Gaelic nursery rhyme we put a melody to. But ‘Deathless’ has proved a bit of a popular one too.
Q3: For most people, music is often associated with a certain food or drink. Personally I don’t do well with food so how about what drink would you enjoy with each track on ‘Corryvreckan’, and why that drink? I’ll be enjoying ‘Of Twilight and the Pyre’ with a wee dram of 15-year-old sherry and oak casked Glenfiddich.
John: Fine choice! It may come as no surprise I’m a big whisky fan, and there happens [to be] an Ardbeg single malt named after the Corryvreckan which is glorious. So I’d probably be enjoying that through the whole album really, except for Dìoghaltas, that’s probably something heavily caffeinated…
Sophie: Yeah, I’m partial to a wine myself, so probably a couple of glasses of Chianti, and maybe an Amaretto if I can drink all that in 40 minutes…!
Q4: What’s one thing that you absolutely loved about the whole process of creating and releasing ‘Corryvreckan’, and what’s one thing that you really disliked about the whole thing?
Sophie: I think one thing we really enjoy is jumping into all the mythology when we’re writing, and this was no exception. There’s such a fantastic range of tales, legends and beasts that are not readily known of, and it’s really engrossing going down the rabbit holes when looking for track inspiration. We’ve definitely stumbled on the odd unfamiliar mythological name, gone on a research deep-dive and only surfaced hours later with a folder full of bookmarks and snippets!
John: I guess the hardest bit was sitting on the album for a few months while the promotional work-up was going on – it’s clearly a very important part of the release, but once we had the mastered tracks back from Wynter at Sphynx Studios we just wanted to get them out straight away really! But we’re extremely grateful for all the efforts that Wil, Becky and Steve at Prosthetic put in on the PR side, couldn’t be happier with the results.
Q5: I’m totally blown away by your video for ‘Fell Reigns’, and I understand it took 6 straight hours of filming plus a very icy bath to get it so ridiculously atmospheric and gorgeous. Would you do another one and if so, which song is next? BTW John, is that kilt in your clan tartan?!
Sophie: Thank you, delighted you rated it! There’s been a lot of love for the video which we’re ecstatic with, a huge credit to the directors David and James at Cineoteric who scouted the locations, found our ‘crone’ actor Vivienne and had a phenomenal vision for what they were going to shoot over those pretty intense 6 hours as you say. The setting was perfect on the day too, there was this low cloud hanging over the hills dropping a misty rain, which just added so much to the atmosphere. We couldn’t have asked for a better day for it.
John: Well… As the guy in the loch when it was 5 degrees out, I could probably have asked for better weather! The kilt in the video is just a plain black one, so not my clan tartan which stays nicely in the wardrobe at home, and not in a loch. But in seriousness, glad you liked the video, it turned out brilliantly. And yeah, such skills from the directors. We definitely would love to do another one but the logistics are massive in pulling it all together, not to mention the costs, so might not be another for this album. But never say never! In the meantime we have released a slightly abstract lyric video for ‘Cirein-cròin’ which I think has really captured those Lovecraftian elements of the sea monster the song takes it’s name from. It’s been very enjoyable putting these visual elements into our tracks for this release.
Thank you so much Sophie and John for taking the time to answer a few questions about your sophomore album ‘Corryvreckan’, which will be The Midnight Hour Band of the Month for March 2024. It’s been an honour and a pleasure.
BTW, … John’s real one [kilt] is a ‘Fraser Hunting Ancient’, blue and green with a smidge of red! I do love a bit of tartan, so I do.
Midnight Furie.
You can find more information here:
Hand of Kalliach
Twitter: @HKalliach
Bandcamp: Hand of Kalliach
Prosthetic Records
Twitter: @ProstheticRcds
Midnight Furie
Twitter: @Midnight_Furie
Radio TFSC
