Interview mit Ben DMN von Locus Noir

Hey Ben! Thank you very much for taking the time. Let’s start with a classic question. LOCUS NOIR – how did this project come about?
LOCUS NOIR came about mostly out of necessity. Most people knew me through SYBREED and its electro-industrial side, but another part of my musical identity had been there from the beginning. My roots lie just as much in post-punk, gothic rock, and all the darker strains of alternative music that shaped me as a teenager. At some point, I felt the need to let that side emerge more openly.
At first, it was really a solitary experiment. I wanted to write on my own, without outside expectations, and focus on mood, tension, and a more nocturnal sensibility. But very quickly, the material revealed a more organic character than I had expected. It needed real musicians to breathe properly. That is how LOCUS NOIR slowly evolved from a personal laboratory into a band. In many ways, it is both a return to my earliest influences and a new chapter in my life as a musician.

On your debut, you incorporate a wide range of genre influences. Alongside 80s Gothic, there are also elements of Doom Metal and Dark Rock in your sound. Did that happen naturally, or did you intentionally want to pay tribute to certain influences?
Once I found the right artistic key, it happened very naturally. I grew up listening to music connected to all of those worlds, so those influences resurfaced almost by instinct once I began writing for LOCUS NOIR. But I never approached the project as an act of tribute. I was not interested in copying a formula or recreating an era. What mattered was capturing a certain weight and atmosphere. Those genres always had common ground for me, whether in melancholy, tension, space, or sheer emotional pull. If a song needed heavier guitars, they came. If it needed more restraint or a slower pulse, I followed that instinct as well. So yes, my roots formed the canvas, but the aim was always to speak in my own voice.

„Gothic“ is quite a broad term. Musically, it ranges from rock and metal to synthwave and industrial. Beyond that, it has grown into a mindset, even a kind of philosophy. How do you remember your earliest encounter with the genre and the scene itself?
For me, it started with music. I grew up in a small town where there was not really a goth scene, so my first contact with that world was very private. I listened to a lot of New Wave when I was young, and I discovered bands like THE SISTERS OF MERCY, FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM, THE CURE, and DEAD CAN DANCE by browsing through the bins at a local record shop. At that stage, I was not part of any scene. I built my own relationship with that music and its imagery from a distance. It was only later, towards the end of my teenage years, that I started spending time in that environment more directly. Even then, I remained a bit of a maverick, with one foot in different worlds. That probably explains why I still approach the gothic subculture in a very personal way today, less as a fixed code than as a space for projection, symbolism, and refuge.

Since we just mentioned industrial – to what extent do you see your work with SYBREED as relevant to LOCUS NOIR?
It remains relevant, even if the sound is clearly very different. At the core, both projects come from the same need to explore tension and contradiction through music. SYBREED was more confrontational, more outwardly aggressive, and more concerned with the relationship between humanity and technology, alienation, and the violence of modern life. LOCUS NOIR moves toward something more inward, more symbolic, and more nocturnal. But I do not see them as opposites. They are complementary. One expresses a more mechanical and external form of intensity, the other something slower and more interior. In both cases, what matters to me is having a real artistic center and trying to say something beyond the obvious.

Let’s stay with that for a moment. You told me in another conversation that SYBREED have been reactivated. How did that decision come about?
It came about quite naturally over time. There was never a grand strategy to reactivate the band, but after enough years had passed, it became clear that chemistry was still there and that the music still meant something to us and to other people as well. SYBREED never really disappeared in spirit. It remained present in the minds of listeners, and in ours too. At some point, reopening that door simply made sense. But it only made sense if it was done honestly, not out of nostalgia or convenience. If SYBREED moves forward again, it has to be because there is still something worth expressing. I also think we are once again living in a time that corresponds very strongly to the nature of that band, both musically and philosophically.

Where so you see the differences between LOCUS NOIR and SYBREED and what do both bands have in common?
The most obvious difference lies in the language they use. SYBREED is built on confrontation, velocity, impact, and a fairly mechanical kind of tension. LOCUS NOIR is slower, more restrained, more melancholic, and more focused on atmosphere. Vocally as well, they operate very differently. With LOCUS NOIR, I wanted to work in a clearer and more natural register, without relying on extreme techniques. What they share is the deeper intention behind the music. Both projects deal with identity, inner conflict, and the attempt to give shape to certain states of being. The aesthetics differ, but the seriousness of purpose remains the same. In the end, they are just different expressions of the same personality.

Now let’s finally talk about „Shadow Sun“. When did the first ideas for the album begin to take shape?
The first real ideas began to take shape a few years before the album was completed. At first, it was mostly fragments. A bass line, a mood, a title, an image, or sometimes just a lyrical intuition. I had not yet fully found the key that would allow everything to lock into place. Once I did, the process became much more fluid. The title track was especially important in that respect. It helped define the spirit of the whole record and acted almost like a point of crystallization. From there, the rest of the material started forming around an internal logic of its own. I tend to work this way. Slowly at first, then with more momentum once the album begins to reveal its true shape.

How did you approach songwriting? Did the band as a whole have an influence on the debut, or was it mainly in your hands?
The writing itself was mainly in my hands. I needed to define the identity of the project very clearly before opening it up. Most songs began with a mood, a mental image, or a particular atmosphere I wanted to inhabit. I usually compose quite intuitively at first, then become much more analytical once the structure is in place. That said, once the other musicians entered the process, their role was absolutely important. Even if I wrote the material, they gave it body, breath, and a more physical presence. Their interpretation shaped the final result in a very concrete way. So while the songs originate with me, the album would not sound the way it does without the core people who helped bring it to life, namely Drop, Ales, and Ben Marmier.

What was particularly important to you during the creative process – in terms of atmosphere, sound, or composition?
Coherence was probably the most important thing. I wanted „Shadow Sun“ to feel like a complete world, not just a group of songs gathered together. That applied to the writing, the lyrics, the production, and even the visual side. The record had to breathe as a whole. Atmosphere was obviously essential too, but I wanted atmosphere with form, not mood for its own sake. Sonically, I was keen to avoid something too modern or too polished. I wanted warmth, roughness, and a sense of air between the instruments. In terms of composition, I was looking for a balance between immediacy and weight. Songs that could feel memorable and evocative without becoming decorative or trapped in nostalgia.

Your lyrics often explore the feminine as a dominant force over darkness, love, and ultimately even the masculine. When you think about „She Hunts The Night“, „A Dismal Romance“, or „Thicker Than The Darkness Itself“, what inspired you while writing them?
What appears in those songs is less about gender in a literal sense than about archetypal forces. The feminine in LOCUS NOIR often represents something nocturnal, instinctive, magnetic, and transformative. Not necessarily gentle, but powerful and destabilizing. It can be linked to desire, surrender, danger, or revelation. That ambiguity interests me deeply. I am drawn to figures that unsettle fixed identities and challenge rational control. In that sense, the feminine becomes a symbolic force rather than a social category. It is tied to the unknown, to seduction, to dissolution, and sometimes to spiritual trial. Those songs came from that kind of tension, the attraction toward something that can both enchant and undo you.

Right now, the female perspective seems to be gaining more focus, for example in films like „The Substance“, „Gretel & Hansel“, or „The Ugly Stepsister“. Do you see this as a passing trend, or does it represent a long-overdue shift in perspective for you?
Part of it may be cyclical, but I do think there is something deeper happening. For a long time, many cultural narratives were filtered through a fairly narrow perspective. A broader range of viewpoints is not only inevitable, but probably necessary. That said, what interests me most is not fashion or trend, but symbolic depth. The feminine has always carried enormous weight in mythology, religion, literature, and art. If contemporary culture is rediscovering that force in more layered ways, then I see it less as a trend than as a correction. The important thing is that it does not become another form of simplification. What matters is keeping the complexity intact.

On the limited edition of „Shadow Sun“, there’s a cover version of „Marry The Night“, originally by LADY GAGA. Without a doubt, she is a pop-cultural phenomenon. What do you appreciate about her as an artist – whether as a musician or as an actress?
What I appreciate most is that beneath the spectacle there is a real artistic personality. She clearly understands how image, performance, songwriting, and cultural symbolism can work together. That kind of self-awareness is rare in mainstream pop, and it gives her work more substance than people sometimes assume. I also appreciate her versatility. She can move between different artistic contexts without completely losing her center. Whether in music or acting, she seems willing to take risks instead of simply repeating a formula. In a culture that often rewards safety and instant readability, that kind of ambition still means something.

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You also address the growing divide between people quite explicitly, for example on „In Despair We Trust“. How do you feel when you look at the state of the world today?
I think we are living through a period of fragmentation that is both political and psychological. People are increasingly pushed toward simplification, tribal reflexes, and mutual caricature. Technology amplifies this constantly because it rewards speed, outrage, and reduction. That inevitably deepens mistrust. At the same time, history reminds us that crisis and division are nothing new. What changes is the form they take. I try to remain lucid without becoming nihilistic. Despair may be understandable, but it is not particularly fertile if it becomes a posture. The challenge is to preserve discernment, dignity, and a sense of inner orientation in a climate that often rewards the opposite.

On the other hand, is there something positive that „Shadow Sun“ aims to convey to its audience?
Yes, although not in a naive or comforting way. For me, „Shadow Sun“ is not about glorifying darkness, but about moving through contradiction with lucidity. If there is something positive in the record, it lies in the idea that one can confront inner tension without being destroyed by it.
In that sense, the album is less about escape than about integration. About accepting unresolved parts of oneself and still moving forward. If there is hope in it, it is not bright or simplistic. It is something quieter, closer to inner reconciliation.

To what extent are you planning to bring LOCUS NOIR to the stage in the future and what can we expect musically?
Very much so. The live dimension has always been part of the vision. We are currently shaping that side of the project carefully, because I do not want it to feel rushed or merely illustrative. The goal is to preserve the atmosphere of the record while giving it a more physical and immediate form.
Musically, people can expect something faithful to the album’s identity. Heavy, immersive, melodic, and restrained rather than theatrical in an obvious sense. I am more interested in intensity than spectacle. If all goes as planned, LOCUS NOIR should definitely become a real stage presence in the near future.

Ben, thank you very much for your time. To wrap things up, let’s do the traditional Metal1 brainstorming session:
Robert Eggers’ „Nosferatu“: I still haven’t seen it. I’ve postponed it several times, probably because I’m slightly afraid of being disappointed. Eggers is clearly a gifted filmmaker, but vampire „mythology“ is sacred territory.
Folie À Deux: If we’re talking about the film, it’s a clear no for me, mainly because I disliked „Joker“. If we mean the concept, then every true love story contains an element of folie à deux.
Countess Elisabeth Báthory: A fascinating figure. The OG Queen of Darkness. Either a bona fide sadistic killer, or simply a violent aristocrat shaped by her time, in the way elites so often are, as both history and the present continue to remind us.
Andrew Fletcher (DEPECHE MODE): Useless, yet essential?
LOCUS NOIR in 10 years: Hopefully still evolving, with four or five albums behind us, a solid live identity, and a place firmly established in both the gothic and metal scene.

Publiziert am 27. März 2026 von Philipp Sorger