In this in-depth conversation with Stef Kohler, the mastermind behind the Dutch progressive metal project One Velvet Winter, we dive into the world of Jesus in Dystopia, a sprawling five-disc concept album that challenges the status quo. With over four and a half hours of music spanning genres from classical guitar and psychedelic rock to doom and avant-garde metal, Kohler takes us on a dark and philosophical journey exploring the effects of big data, manipulation, and the growing urge for control in our modern world.
Jesus in Dystopia is a profound reflection of the tumultuous times we live in, fueled by Kohler’s frustration with the global response to the pandemic and the societal shifts it triggered. Drawing inspiration from works by Orwell, Huxley, and Nietzsche, the album blends themes of existential dread with complex musicality. In our conversation, Kohler reveals how his early experiences in power metal bands like Defender, as well as his time in The Emerald Tablet and November, have shaped his approach to composing and creating the unique sound of One Velvet Winter.
What inspired the concept behind Jesus in Dystopia, and how did the themes of big data, manipulation, and control shape the music and lyrics?
I was always interested in religion, although I am not religious myself and the figure of Jesus Christ has always fascinated me. I started working on this project somewhere in 2019 and the working title was ‘When Jesus nearly drowned’. Then in 2020 the so-called ‘pandemic’ broke out and that inspired me to create the concept of Jesus returning to earth to see what the state of mankind was in the 21st century.
From the beginning I was (and still am) very sceptical about the whole Covid narrative, I just was amazed that everyone bought the narrative, and I assumed that after a couple of weeks or months everyone would ‘see through’ the scheme and would ‘wake up’. That didn’t happen and I started to investigate everything involved with Covid, cancel culture, the parties involved and so on. What was happening to the world and the people in it made me sad, frustrated and very angry so I decided to channel all this energy in something creative and the result became ‘Jesus in Dystopia’.
With over four and a half hours of music across five discs, how did you approach structuring such a vast and diverse project to maintain coherence throughout?
With One Velvet Winter most of the time the structure develops from the classical guitar pieces. I write them, practise them for some time, record them and then I built everything else around those pieces. I always try to maintain the balance between tension and release and next to that I make an effort of getting a balance of the musical themes in the classical and electrical pieces. Most of the pieces were written in chronological order and in the end, it was kind of clear where every piece of music would fit.
The album spans a wide range of genres, from classical guitar and psychedelic rock to doom and avant-garde metal. What guided your choices in blending these styles?
My musical tastes are very broad, that’s one of the reasons I decided to create One Velvet Winter. I try to make an amalgam of all the styles of music I like and blend all these influences into what I would like to listen to myself. When I played in bands it was always a bit of a problem to have all the influences in one band because not everyone is into such a diverse approach. With One Velvet Winter I can do whatever I like and ask different people to contribute to a song or a piece.
How did your experience as part of bands like Defender and The Emerald Tablet influence the creation of Jesus in Dystopia?
Well, I guess your past shapes you and these bands were very important influences in one way or another. As a 15-year-old teenager I started playing with Defender and that band was of course very important in my development as a guitarist. In my twenties my musical tastes got more diverse and with a band like The Emerald Tablet we explored a more alternative and melancholic style of music. Both the metal and the alternative/melancholic stuff are widely represented on ‘Jesus in Dystopia’.
Could you walk us through your compositional process for this album? Were there particular moments where you found inspiration in unexpected places?
As I mentioned before, the writing process started from the classical guitar pieces. The inspiration for those pieces came for a huge part from classical pieces by Rachmaninov, Shostakovich and Bach. The themes that inspired me make up a huge part of the classical pieces and from those pieces I got new inspiration and ideas for riffs or songs.
Next to that I started writing more with friends on this album. Two of the other guitar players on ‘Jesus in Dystopia’ are Jos Commandeur and Tim Nijman. They are also close friends and the three of us shared the same sentiments concerning the Covid narrative.
The idea to express our feelings through music started very spontaneously and we just started working on new ideas and the cooperation proved very fruitful for the three of us.
Given the philosophical and absurdist themes of the album, were there specific books, films, or personal experiences that influenced the narrative?
First, there were of course the personal experiences in everyday life like not shaking hands anymore, no hugs, people doing a ‘dance macabre’ when you came too close, that sort of stuff; Then there was the ‘fear porn’ in the media without any room for nuance. Another inspiration were books like ‘1984’ by George Orwell and ‘Brave new world’ by Aldous Huxley both books I read for the second time in 2020. Other books I read during that time were books by Joost Meerloo (‘The rape of the mind, the psychology of thought control, menticide and brainwashing’) and other books on totalitarianism by for example Hannah Arendt. Not all the themes are directly related to Covid but deal more with herd mentality, absurdism (Albert Camus) and (cosmic) nihilism (Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Lovecraft, Ligotti among others). Most of the lyrics were written by vocalists Hans Baaij, Simon Menting and by composer/guitarist Jos Commandeur, they are much better in writing lyrics than I am, I gave them the topics of the songs and I think they wrote brilliant lyrics for them.
There are a couple of ‘Kovid Kvlt’ tracks on the album, most of them written by guitarist Tim Nijman and me, on those tracks we added samples from people in the mainstream media who said the most terrible things about people who didn’t agree with the narrative and who for example refused to wear facemasks or who didn’t want to be injected with an experimental ‘vaccine’.
How did you assemble such a diverse group of musicians for this project, and what did each member contribute to the sound of Jesus in Dystopia?
Over the years I got to know many musicians who also became good friends, so it was easy to ask them to add a contribution on a specific song. Depending on the mood or style of the song I would ask different people if they were willing to participate and of course their contributions form a huge influence on the sound of ‘Jesus in Dystopia’.
The album is described as a journey with meditative interludes and heavy, epic tracks. How do you envision listeners experiencing the full project?
I think the best way to approach ‘Jesus in Dystopia’ is like when you are listening to a lengthy piece of classical music or an opera. If you undergo it in one go you might lose focus, or you’ll get overwhelmed. One or two cd’s at a time might be the best way to experience the music, that way you can dive deep, hear all the recurring themes, focus on the lyrics and get immersed in the music. And I guess ‘Jesus in Dystopia’ is not an album you can just play in the background; your focus has to be there otherwise it probably annoys the hell out of you 😉
What role does improvisation play in your music, particularly with the experimental elements on this release?
Improvisation plays a huge role in especially the experimental pieces, I just try different sounds and see where it takes me, sometimes it works and that will make it on the album, sometimes it doesn’t and then of course it won’t make it. Especially on the longer tracks like ‘Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia’, ‘Church of Menticide’, ‘When Jesus nearly drowned’ and ‘The Kali Yuga’ I improvised and experimented a lot with different sounds and layers. The same goes for some of the guitar solos on the album.
Having previously released The Leftovers of Hope, how does Jesus in Dystopia differ both musically and conceptually from that project?
Of course there are a lot of elements that overlap, like the classical guitar pieces, the electronic experimentation and the doomy vibe. The concept of ‘The Leftovers of Hope’ dealt more with depression and anxiety as where ‘Jesus in Dystopia’ has more political and nihilistic themes. ‘Jesus in Dystopia’ is a more progressive (doom) metal related album while ‘The Leftovers of Hope’ has a lot more atmospheric and classical stuff going on.
You’ve been part of the Dutch metal and progressive scene since the 1980s. How has the music landscape changed, and how has that influenced your work with One Velvet Winter?
In the 1980s the scene was of course very different here in the Netherlands, most of the bands here all played a more traditional style of Hardrock or heavy metal, it was a lively scene with bands like Jewel, Highway Chile, Martyr, LWS and lots of other bands. In the 1990s the scene changed with the more popular trends of the time like grunge, alternative and death metal. In the 2000s the scene changed even more; it was harder to get gigs with original music so a lot of venues only programmed cover bands. I guess nowadays there is a huge metal resurgence with a lot of bands from the 80s and 90s getting back together again and of course a lot of new bands and a healthy progressive and black metal scene. Getting older and getting exposed and interested in different styles of music has of course influenced me quite a lot. From the 90s and onwards I got really interested in classical music, jazz, experimental music, alternative, slowcore, Indian and psychedelic music and I think you can find all those influences in the music of One Velvet Winter
The eight-panel digipack and full-colour booklet suggest a strong visual component to the release. How important is the visual presentation in conveying the album’s themes?
Very important, the artwork must fully complement the atmosphere of the music on the album. I spent a lot of time in designing the box and the booklet and even if I say so myself, I think it suits the music perfectly.
Are there particular tracks on Jesus in Dystopia that hold a special significance for you?
All the title tracks of the five CDs have a very special place in my heart for me. They are the pieces that took the most effort and the process of creating them with friends was just a lot of fun to do. And of course, the classical guitar pieces, I really enjoy writing, playing and of course recording them. For me they are kind of the glue that holds everything together.
With the extensive scope of this project, were there any creative challenges you faced during its production?
Sometimes it took a lot of time with mixing and getting every part right, especially in the longer and experimental pieces. Some pieces took months before I was satisfied… But those are challenges that I really enjoy, I hope it helps me become a better engineer and writer.
Do you see Jesus in Dystopia as the culmination of a specific creative chapter, or is it a stepping stone toward even more ambitious projects?
That’s a good question, ‘Jesus in Dystopia’ and the first album ‘The Leftovers of Hope’ are both sets with 5 discs. I don’t know if there would be any point in making even longer albums ha-ha… But you never know… ‘Jesus in Dystopia’ was definitely a way to deal with all the frustrations of that specific era, so in that sense it was definitely a very cathartic process. The next album will probably be one LP and one CD, so it will be a lot shorter, it is almost finished, and I hope to release it somewhere next year. Currently I am also writing and practising new classical guitar pieces that will form the foundation of a new project, but I am not sure if I will release it in one go or that it will be different sets.
What do you hope listeners take away from the journey that Jesus in Dystopia offers?
I hope that people can enjoy the amalgam of different styles and atmospheres that ‘Jesus in Dystopia’ offers. I think it is a very diverse and multifaceted boxset, and I hope that people who will listen really take the time to get immersed in it all…
And maybe, as a bonus they will start thinking a little more critical about what our governments present as ‘the truth’…
Check out Jesus in Dystopia on Bandcamp. Follow One Velvet Winter on Facebook.
