Special Report By Mark Gromen

Latvia is not renown for metallic contributions. In fact, even North Americans who know of the Baltic nation, would be hard pressed to speak on any cultural aspect. Yet metal is alive, well and in some respects thriving, in the shadow of the once Iron Curtain. The Death-meets-keyboards styling of Neglected Fields, dating back a decade, has graced three releases (Mephisto Lettonica out through Italy’s Scarlet, in ’03) with little fanfare. Unfortunately! Despite the seemingly dire situation, guitarist/vocalist Sergey has kept a sense of humour. “I consider it a tragedy,” he laughs, when mentioning Latvia. “People in this business have told me many times that our country of origin is the biggest problem. Why should a label sign a band from a country of two million, without a local market to support the band?”

But certainly the smaller production cost must be a benefit? “You’re right. The average studio budget of Latvian metal band is about 1000 USD, but we’re happily the exception. From the start, we paid attention to recording quality, so our albums are recorded abroad, mostly in Scandinavia. It takes a mountain of money for a Latvian band to record in Abyss, but it’s not possible to do this music with poor sound. We started using keyboards because we felt there was a lack of atmosphere. Being big fans of classical music, it was logical for us. You can also hear, we sample some instruments, but in an unusual way.”

We know the fierce loyalty and dedication amongst metalheads, but some of the stories garnered from overseas are heart-wrenching, if not completely insane! Sergey explains how bad it used to be, under the USSR. Imagine these hurdles in hearing new music, let alone owning it. “We dealt mostly with tapes, as each original vinyl LP from Europe cost about 100-150 rubles, the same amount of money you made working in a factory for a whole month! Every Sunday, we gathered at 12 PM, in the forest, about 200-300, to exchange tapes and record something new. In ‘91, I saw my first CD, Human, by Death. The price was astronomical, so I got a copy of it on tape. By ’95 (and the fall of Soviet empire) CDs and original tapes were not a problem; every music store was full of them, just a few months later than the rest of Europe. During those days Neglected Fields was strongly influenced by Death, Cynic, Deicide and Entombed. You can hear it on the first CD (Synthinity).”

Economics improved, the situation’s still eye-opening. “I guess in Latvia, metalheads are hungry. We have some tours, but not many, maybe one or two a month and it could be years before your favourite band shows up. This leads to enthusiastic crowds. Exodus played (capital city) Riga and voted it the best show of their European tour. When it comes to CDs and merchandise, the prices are too high, comparing to monthly salaries. It’s quite hard to pick many CDs if (the average Latvian) only gets 3-400 Euros for working the whole month.”

Irregardless of the odds, Sergey and Neglected Fields recorded Splenetic, eight new tracks of unique death. “It’s been six years, and we’ve had the first line-up change and suffered something of a creative crisis, not wanting to repeat ourselves. It was really frustrating. When the album was finally finished, I realized it’s really fresh. The label describes it as a link between latter-day Death and Emperor. That’s the easiest way to describe it, without falling into a poetic abyss of stupid sentences.”

Burned by lack of promotion, bypassed by others, Neglected Fields took matters into their own hands. “The album was recorded in ‘05 and we spent a year trying to get a deal. Labels told me how good it was, but they wouldn’t sign us, which made me think about releasing it ourselves. When it comes to CD sales, I’m experienced, having worked as a distributor for different labels here, in Latvia. I hope (Aghast) will help showcase some worthy bands from the Baltic states. Thus far we’ve established decent overseas distribution, so let’s see what’ll happen.”

Whatever the results, Neglected Fields has already succeeded, in the truest sense of the word. “This is my first interview from your part of the world, so I hope I’m a better guitar player than speaker.” Rest assured Sergey, you speak volumes, on both fronts.