The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Keegan Kjeldsen of Slumbering Sun and Destroyer of Light

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I think of art as the transformation of our incommunicable emotional states into a form that emotionally moves others. I had the dream of being a touring musician for a long time, and first realized this goal in 2012 with my other band, Destroyer of Light. I’ve kept up touring since then in spite of the mental and emotional (and financial) toll it has taken because traveling around performing live music is perhaps the best feeling I have experienced on this earth.

Describe your first musical memory.

My dad is also a musician, and when I was a very small child, he helped me compose my then-magnum-opus, entitled, “You Can Drink Hot Cocoa”. We sang and played it together, him on guitar, and me adding the percussive elements.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Seeing Sunn O))) perform live forever changed my life and my perception of what music can be or do to an audience. It transcended the purely auditory; it was like an interruption in normal reality, as though the outside world was dissolved and some metaphysical truth were being revealed.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

The few times in my life that I’ve managed to perform in front of a thousand people challenged my deep-seated cynicism and self-doubt. I usually expect that every effort will end in disappointment. I suppose this is another reason why I love playing music, because it has expanded my horizons of what is possible.

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

Hopefully it follows with someone’s personal and psychological development. I am not the same person I was in 2012, or 2015, or 2018, so why would I write the same music? The underlying emotional reality being conveyed is differently so one’s art should manifest in a different way as they grow as a person.

How do you define success?

The ability to feed myself and pay the rent with my art would be nice. This is the success that most of us are looking for, but admittedly that few of us get – so you have to be at peace with never succeeding in this way. Which, I suppose in a Daoist way or something like that, is its own form of success. Whatever it is, over the years I’ve come to appreciate this other form of success more: how the unique experiences and memories, friendships, great performances, and adventures out on the road are themselves the reward for following one’s dreams.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

A lot of gore got shared around on the early internet and it probably scarred me as a child.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I’ve always dreamed of having a series of videos that create a storyline to accompany a concept album with related lyrics, one for every song, so that it’s a film alongside the album. Hopefully a double LP that can play for an hour and a half. The only problem with this is that it’s prohibitively expensive.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

Art is our greatest weapon in humanity’s ongoing war against reality.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

Christmas with my family, up in the forests of Colorado. We’re doing a reunion this year, so the whole extended family should be there. Usually it snows, and there’s nothing like being at the foot of the Rockies, sitting around the fireplace with your loved ones, on a snowy night.

https://www.facebook.com/slumberingsun
https://instagram.com/slumbering_sun
https://slumberingsun.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/destroyeroflight/
http://www.instagram.com/destroyeroflightofficial/
http://destroyeroflight.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/heavyfriendsbooking/
https://www.instagram.com/heavyfriendsrecords/
https://heavyfriendsrecords.bigcartel.com/

Slumbering Sun, The Ever-Living Fire (2023)

Destroyer of Light, Panic (2022)

Touring on the heels of their finest work to-date — that being late 2022’s Panic (review here) — is a decent position for Austin’s Destroyer of Light to be in, and the band who’ve been together for more than a decade now seem to be making the most of it. They’ll do a full run of the East Coast and then some just as Spring begins to show up, and look to personify the doomed spirit of their most recent work while kicking ass as they do on stage. Doable? For them, almost certainly.

They go in the company of fellow Lone Star staters Temptress, and while I’m not sure who else will be on these bills, filing out local opener slots, etc., the one-two is a punch worth taking even before you get to a complete lineup for a given night. I’ll admit, I’ve had a hard time getting back to show-going mode as regards clubs post-pandemic, but if you can make it happen, these are artists for whom your direct support matters. To that end, I’ll remind you that today’s Bandcamp Friday as well, though if your email inbox and notification flood is anything like mine, you don’t need that reminder. There it is anyway.

Dates follow, as per social media:

Hey East Coast friends, remember that tour we had to cancel back in 2020? Well, we are coming back and this time bringing our Texas friends with us, Temptress. Hope to see ya out there. Poster art by Daniel Marschner.

3/22 – Houston, TX – Black Magic Social Club
3/23 – Lafayette, LA – Freetown Boom Boom Room
3/24 – Birmingham, AL- The Nick
3/25 – Atlanta, GA – Boggs
3/26 – Tampa, FL – Brass Mug
3/28 – Miami, FL – Gramps
3/29 – Orlando, FL @ Will’s Pub
3/30 – Savannah, GA @ El Rocko
3/31 – Asheville, NC – Fleetwoods
4/1 – Richmond, VA @ Wonderland
4/2 – Baltimore, MD – The Crown
4/3 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus Bar
4/5 – Pittsburgh, PA – Black Forge Coffee
4/6 – Columbus, OH – Spacebar
4/7 – Detroit, MI – The Sanctuary
4/8 – Kalamazoo, MI – Papa Pete’s
4/9 – Chicago, IL @ WC Social Club
4/11 – Indianapolis, IN – Black Circle
4/12 – Louisville, KY @ Planet of the Tapes
4/13 – Nashville, TN @ Cobra Lounge
4/14 – Memphis, TN @ Growlers
4/15 – Fayetteville, AR @ Smoke & Barrel
4/16 – Tulsa, OK @ Whittier Bar

Destroyer of Light:
Steve Colca – Vocals/Guitars
Keegan Kjeldsen – Guitars
Nick Coffman – Bass
Kelly Turner – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/destroyeroflight/
http://www.instagram.com/destroyeroflightofficial/
http://destroyeroflight.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/heavyfriendsbooking/
https://www.instagram.com/heavyfriendsrecords/
https://heavyfriendsrecords.bigcartel.com/

Destroyer of Light, Panic (2022)

Now a decade removed from their debut album, Austin, Texas’ Destroyer of Light remain persistent outliers in doom, and that seems to suit them just fine. Panic, recorded by Matt Meli — with whom they’ve worked since that self-titled first record — and topped off with Samantha Muljat cover art that hints toward the sonic depths contained in the songs, their fourth full-length is aptly-titled Panic, self-released, and continues the progression that’s been a linear thread through their work all along.

As they’ve matured, Destroyer of Light — the returning four-piece of guitarist/vocalist Steve Colca (also synth), guitarist Keegan Kjeldsen (also piano, harsh vocals, acoustic guitar), bassist Nick Coffman and drummer Kelly “Penny” Turner — have unfurled an increasingly melodic approach, and if their intent in Panic is to encapsulate some measure of the pandemic-born anxiety of the last several years since the release of 2019’s third record, Mors Aeterna (review here), then the tension of not only the title but songs like “Contagion,” the highlight centerpiece “Before You Die” and the concluding “Nightmares Come True” do so with a surety born of a group who know their craft. This comes through regardless of the turns any of the individual seven inclusions is making at a given stretch, as the band draw together varied material that hits all its marks stylistically while maintaining an overarching flow that feels like classic doom despite a more modern style. That is to say, at a tightly-packed 38 minutes, Panic is more methodical, more thought-out and more carefully put together than the title might lead one to believe.

Alongside the opening distorted strums of “Darkshimmer” at the album’s outset is, almost inevitably, an echoing air raid siren. It almost gets buried by the ensuing things-are-about-to-get-lurchy feedback, but it’s there, and by the time what becomes the central riff of the song starts just before a minute into its total 7:14 — opener and longest track (immediate points) — the atmosphere is set. Tonal largesse, rolling groove, a layer of lead guitar all seem to welcome the listener into the unfolding terrain as the chug of the verse emerges, and “Darkshimmer” becomes the first installment of a side-A-spanning trilogy marked by Kjeldsen joining Colca on vocals, adding deathly growls and rasp to the clean-sung verses and hooks. This takes place on “Darkshimmer” and “Contagion,” with side A rounded out by “The Midnight Sun,” and that feels as purposeful as it obviously is.

“Darkshimmer” teases a false ending before picking up in its last minute, and beginning with piano playing its chorus progression, “Contagion” — which Colca maintains was written before covid and follows not the only sci-fi narrative lyrically — is a standout hook for Panic as a whole; Colca‘s self-harmonies among the band’s catchiest. That it too gives over to a more brutal approach, specifically toward the end, brings a cast of sludge to the proceedings, and that fits Destroyer of Light well. I’m not sure I’d give up the penchant for melody that’s taken hold in their sound gradually over the last 10 years and especially over the last six or so, but in adding to the existential weight that carries across Panic, those flashes of brutality only give more breadth to this material and thus only make it stronger, allowing for the fluid transition to cleans-only as “The Midnight Sun” arrives with a sample and lays out a speedier push at first and an especially spacious solo later on — the plodding bass and drums in that back half deserve specific mention; you feel that slog — emblematic of the focus on side B to come.

Both halves of Panic — the first with three songs, the second with four shorter on average — organize themselves going from their longest to shortest tracks. That’s a two-second difference as the aforementioned “Before You Die” (5:24) gives over to “Cold Air I” (5:22), but true nonetheless. More crucial perhaps is the abiding mournfulness of the guitar that begins “Before You Die” and the lumbering that ensues, vocals soaring upward from the deeper places in the mix, an emotive doom metal that has become Destroyer of Light‘s own over time blossoming in misery. “Cold Air I” rolls out in more active fashion but holds firm to the heft, and expands the arrangement of backing vocals in the chorus, an example of the band trying new ideas and a theme that will continue into the acoustic-led “Cold Air II.”

Certainly they’ve had quieter stretches on records before — 2017’s Chamber of Horrors (review here) had atmospheric intros to its two sides, etc. — but “Cold Air II” is distinguished in its form and embraces the pairing of acoustics and synth in a way that feels legitimately new from them. What’s more, there are vocals, and amid the vague impressions from “Planet Caravan” as they explore that contemplative guitar line before the keyboard sweeps in to lead the way instrumentally through the last two-plus minutes, there’s a sense of completion that is resonant and no less immersive than was the rawer heaviness of “Darkshimmer” or “Contagion.” At four and a half minutes and directly fed into by the ending of “Cold Air I,” as one might expect, “Cold Air II” lays claim to new ground with an unquestionable confidence.

It’s not the first flash of Candlemassian vibe on Panic, but “Nightmares Come True” feels particularly drawn from that classic, epic doom mindset. No complaints. It’s a deceptively quick undulating riff in the verse, opening in the chorus, and it re-grounds the album at the finish after “Cold Air II,” summarizing the reach of side B with a return of the thud and straightforward take that marked side A. That’s a lot to ask of a four-minute song, but Destroyer of Light cap by emphasizing urgency, and so recapture some of that initial tension. They remain pervasively grim in perspective, and familiar comparisons to the likes of Pallbearer persist — because, well, when you’re this sad and this heavy, someone’s gonna make that connection — but this comes even as they offer some of their most gleaming melodicism, and as they have all along, they refuse to stagnate creatively, each of Panic‘s well-defined halves marked by elements that increase their range on the whole. One would expect or hope for nothing so much as for them to continue to flourish as they do here.

Destroyer of Light, Panic (2022)

Destroyer of Light on Facebook

Destroyer of Light on Instagram

Destroyer of Light on Bandcamp

Heavy Friends Records on Facebook

Heavy Friends Records on Instagram

Heavy Friends Records store

When Destroyer of Light are done — and hopefully that’s not for a long time and many more riffs from now — there’s gonna be a whole lot of people who will be sorry they never got to see them in-person, and there’s going to be a whole lot of people who will be really glad they did. Now, I’ve been on both ends of that equation, and I firmly believe the former is a bummer and the latter is the stuff of glorious revelry, but you can go ahead and figure out which said of this particular fence you want to be on. Me, I’m glad as hell to have seen this band. I wouldn’t mind doing so again at some point.

The band’s new album, Panic, will be released on Nov. 11, and they’ve got the single “Contagion” streaming now, putting the sorrowful chug of Pallbearer to their own apocalyptic and atmospheric use. It hasn’t been that long in actual-time since their Spring 2019 LP, Mors Aeterna (review here), even if it seems like it, but it seems their sound is particularly suited to uncertain times, and one need not look far to apply the metaphor to “Contagion,” even as guitarist/vocalist Steve Colca informs it was written before covid happened.

They’ll be out doing shows when the album is issued, playing in Dallas that night. I would expect more dates to follow as well, but here’s these in the meantime, from social media with a quote from Colca about “Contagion” hoisted off the PR wire:

To celebrate the release of Panic in November, we have some shows lined up. Mark it in your calendar and come hang with us. Artwork by Samantha Muljat.

Nov. 3rd – Lafayette LA @ Freetown Boom Boom Room
Nov. 4th – Bryan TX @ The 101
Nov. 5th – Austin TX @ Kickbutt Coffee

Nov. 9th – Tulsa OK @ Whittier Bar
Nov. 10th – Fayetteville AR @ Nomad’s
Nov. 11th – Dallas TX @ Cheapsteaks
Nov. 12th – San Antonio TX @ Faust

“Thematically, the ‘PANIC’ album deals with natural disasters and people losing their minds as a result,” Steve Colca tells us. “They become selfish in panicked situations. This song, ‘Contagion,’ is about a virus that is causing people to go crazy and turn on each other. End-of-the-world type paranoia and chaos-type mania. Ironically, I wrote this song — the music and lyrics — prior to the pandemic. There’s some moments of calm in the song, but ultimately it becomes heavingly heavy.”

Destroyer of Light on ‘Panic’:
Steve Colca – vocals, guitars, and synth
Keegan Kjeldsen – Guitars, Acoustic, Piano, Backing screams and vocals on Darkshimmer, Contagion, and The Midnight Sun.

Destroyer of Light:
Steve Colca – Vocals/Guitars
Keegan Kjeldsen – Guitars
Nick Coffman – Bass
Kelly Turner – Drums

https://www.facebook.com/destroyeroflight/
http://www.instagram.com/destroyeroflightofficial/
http://destroyeroflight.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/heavyfriendsbooking/
https://www.instagram.com/heavyfriendsrecords/
https://heavyfriendsrecords.bigcartel.com/

Destroyer of Light, Panic (2022)