Copenhagen-based progressive metalcore outfit Nothing Noble provides neck-breaking, bouncy grooves that grow ever heavier and darker with every frustrated yell and growl from the gut of vocalist Cornelius Qvist. Following up on their first single ‘Bond of Blood‘ which featured Brendan Murphy of Counterparts/End, they presented their energetic second single ‘Eternal Change‘ in April. Here’s our interview with the band!

Beginnings:

Cornelius Qvist (vocals): The band’s old bassist Dennis and I had been writing riffs in Guitar Pro for a while and we had a booked show with just the two of us performing with a drum backing track. We randomly met Adam at a bar a month before the show and he instantly stepped in and was up for the job. From there it was a long road to acquiring a vocalist and second guitarist, as I used to only play guitar, but another night of partying and nerding out about music led to Lui gaining interest in the project.

Uzay later joined, though not on account of getting shitfaced and blabbering about sick gear and low tunings.

Behind the name:

Adam Wengel (drums): Formerly the band’s old name “Everything Is Terrible” was created by Cornelius and Dennis as an inside joke. It was accompanied by an over-the-top branchy death metal logo and dark aesthetic – none of which really fit the music, but was a comical gimmick. The gimmick got old pretty quick and we’ve been wanting to change it for several years. We just never really reached anything that sounded cool enough until Uzay came up with Nothing Noble.

Inspiration:

Lui Larsen (guitars): Our initial ideas can come from any place. Any kind of art, movie, song, or just picking up an instrument and going at it for a while. Especially bouncing ideas off each other gets our juices flowing. We don’t really feel like we go to any specific place to get inspiration. It’s more just sitting down and working on an idea that makes it come to life. We could drop a million names, but our main inspirations are probably Meshuggah, Periphery, Norma Jean, The Ocean, Deafheaven, and Cloudkicker. And Danish acts like CABAL, Cold Night for Alligators, EYES, Nordsind, and MØL.

Adam Wengel: The energy from the other guys and the sparring between us when songs get their own life. From melodic atmospheric ideas that set a certain gloomy vibe to groove parts that pull you in for a headbang.

Teamwork:

Cornelius Qvist: For the most part, we all work together on the songs. We usually write a lot using Guitar Pro and then practice it together and go from there. We spend a lot of time going over and discussing new ideas together and trying to work out how to best flesh it out to make it a full, cohesive piece of music. We’re spending increasing amounts of time composing at practice instead of writing in GP.

Even though we’re primarily writing as a unit and everybody contributes their unique way of composing we also have our own areas of expertise.

• Lui and I often start out the new song ideas by dropping some bouncy riffs. Lui is the main lead and composer, while I tend to work out the more atmospheric elements.
• Adam is the main groove engine and does a lot of work on the feeling and rhythm of every part of the songs. He’s also great at keeping an overview of the compositions, though he often asks to add excessive breakdowns.
• Uzay composes all the tasty bass sections and writes many of the layer guitar melodies, even sometimes churning out incredible choruses.

COVID-19:

Uzay Dinc (bass): Our rehearsal space closed down in connection with the lockdown in Denmark, which meant that we couldn’t practice since mid-December. We spent the lockdown working on the practical aspects of being in a band, creating music videos and content, and planning our upcoming album release in cooperation with Prime Collective.

Fun facts:

Lui Larsen: Uzay is a man of few words and is usually more of an observer than a person actively joining in on conversations. One of our favorite moments was the time when we were on the lookout for a new rehearsal space. The owner showed around us and at some point through the tour of the place he just went “Are you a part of the band or something?”