Drawing influence from the crushing likes of Candlemass, Cult of Luna and Nails, Copenhagen, Denmark–based doom-death upstarts Konvent are set to release their debut album, Puritan Masochism, on January 24th via Napalm Records. (You can pick up a copy here). “During the process of the songwriting, we were inspired musically by both death, black and doom metal, as we aimed to give this album a broader sound than our demo back in 2017,” the band members said of the LP in a joint statement. “The lyrics are inspired by the fight of regaining control when surrounded by chaos of different forms, which everyone may be affected by at some point in your life.”
Considering Konvent’s wide range of influences, we caught up with vocalist Rikke Emilie List ahead of Puritan Masochism’s release to discuss the albums that changed her life. She had some surprising picks.
Spice Girls – Spice
I was 10 years old when this album hit and the Spice Girls blew up all over the world. My girlfriends from school and I definitely fit straight into their target group and we were obsessed with them. But looking back, I think my obsession was more about the community around them than the actual music. [Laughs]
Red Hot Chili Peppers – Californication
When the single “Otherside” was released and I heard it on the radio, it was like listening to music for the first time and the Spice Girls went straight out the window. I loved that song and was so envious of my classmates who had MTV and could see the music video at home. I knew I had to get the album, and when I did, I listened to it all the time in my room. It was the first album I owned where I didn’t want to skip any of the songs because they were all so good.
Rammstein – Mutter
The first time I heard this album was in 2002 and I didn’t actually pay attention to it. One of my classmates from high school was throwing a party and it was playing in the background. At that time I had never even heard of Rammstein. But the next day, one of the riffs from the song “Mutter” was stuck in my head. I ended up borrowing the album from another classmate who was a Rammstein fan — oh, the days of borrowing CDs — and I fell in love with the album and went straight out and bought it myself. This channeled a year-long obsession with Rammstein. I saw them live for the first time in 2004 and managed to stand in the front row. That was the best night of my life. [Laughs]
Illdisposed – 1-800 Vindication
I think I discovered Illdisposed when I created a MySpace account and looked for Danish metal bands there. This album was on heavy rotation on my iPod Nano and was my gateway drug into old-school death metal.
Origin – Antithesis
Since 2008, this has been my No. 1 “therapy album” for when my mind is racing too fast. All their other albums are great, too, though! I remember when I saw Origin live for the first time around 2008, just when Jason Keyser had joined the band. They started playing and my jaw dropped to the floor — and stayed there for the rest of the show. Even if you aren’t into tech death or tech grind, whatever you want to call it, do yourself a favor and see this band live!
