When the world began to close down various aspects of the music industry due to the Coronavirus pandemic earlier this year, many bands found themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Without the ability to tour, and with many studios around the world shutting down in an effort to help stop the spread and promote social distancing, countless artists were forced to re-think their 2020 tours and releases. And now, nine months into the height of the virus, several have since called it quits due to financial or physical struggles preventing them from continuing on their musical careers.

But unlike the these bands who have unfortunately fallen apart due to the onset of these hard times, Montreal based metalcore act Eternal Closure are feeling stronger than ever.

Reaching a self described “final form” of sorts, the band have used the past year to focus on creating new music, rearranging their lineup to add new frontwoman Maggy Lefebvre, and releasing their new reimagined album Color of Our Fears: Rediscovered in an effort to showcase their new sound and keep fans engaged.

Though they have faced their share of hardship as well, including the cancellation of some shows, the band are leaving the year feeling optimistic about the future, and we had a chance to chat with them to learn what their hopes are and how the pandemic has been affecting them on a personal and band level.

You can read our full interview with Eternal Closure’s Olivier Boitel below, and be sure to stream their new album Color of Our Fears: Rediscovered out now.

Second Society Report: How are you holding up during this insane year that is 2020? Hopefully your friends and families are staying safe and healthy!

Olivier Boitel: We’ve kept as busy as we can during the pandemic and most of us still worked which helped with the boredom that can come with staying at home. It brought changes in the band’s line-up, and in the end I think those were beneficial. Overall I’d say that we’re ready to go all-in when things come back to normal.

SSR: Did you have any big releases or tours that were put on hold because of the pandemic? How has that affected the band? (could be personally, financially, morale wise, etc.)

Olivier Boitel: We had fun plans in regards to shows but sadly it has all been cancelled of course. The biggest one was a pretty big festival with all the best bands from Quebec’s metal scene. We’ve played there twice and the third time seemed like it was going to be the best one yet. 

SSR: How have you been spending your newfound “downtime” while the world has been essentially shut down?

Olivier Boitel: Personally, I don’t have that much more free time to be honest. I’ve worked from home the whole time and still do. However, being pretty much confined to my home forced me to write some new material. The new songs are really strong in my opinion. 

SSR: Have you picked up any new hobbies while quarantining that you’d like to share?

Olivier Boitel: Weirdly enough, I’m starting to get into photography a bit. I’m still not great at it, but I like experimenting with it. When I can move around a bit more, I’ll definitely take pictures in more interesting places than in my apartment haha.

SSR: Have you worked on any new releases during this time? Any that are already out or that we can get a sneak peak of?

Olivier Boitel: As far as releases go, we still released our special edition called Color of Our Fears: Rediscovered along with the music video for “The Slave or the Owner”. It took a bit longer to release than anticipated but overall it didn’t hinder that too much. As mentioned before, new material is coming relatively soon, but we have nothing to show people at the moment.

SSR: What was the inspiration for the release? Have you written any songs specifically about the state of the world right now?

Olivier Boitel: The songs were written in 2017-18 so not really. It’s an album about fear and how to deal with it. As far as the music goes, it’s a focus on the more progressive elements that were present on “Screaming in Silence.” It’s still melodic metalcore but the songs are pretty long and the song structures more creative. 

SSR: How has it been being an artist in a time when you cannot tour? How have you been working to promote your music and expand your reach?

Olivier Boitel: We have learned quite a bit in the last year or two regarding how the music industry works. We’re using what we know now to better promote ourselves. We had no real plans of touring so that didn’t affect things much in that regard.

SSR: Do you have any words of advice for fans that are feeling particularly bummed out about the live music world coming to a halt?

Olivier Boitel: Be grateful when it comes back and go to as many shows as you can! You never know what you have until you lose it, you know? For now, I have no magic recipe for you sadly. Listen to Color of Our Fears: Rediscovered while petting your cat/dog/lizard/plushie. Seems like a pretty decent way to pass the time hehe.

SSR: When the world returns to a safer spot and we are able to (hopefully) attend live shows again- say in 2021- what do you hope to achieve?

Olivier Boitel: Finally being able to play our first show with Maggy would be a great start! When all of this finally sorts itself out completely, we may or may not have new material released, so that would be a pretty nice timing to promote both the comeback and the album at the same time. For now, we’re looking to maybe do a live stream like a lot of bands have done. We just need to figure out the best way to do it and organize everything.

SSR: Is there anything you wish your fans would know about you or about the current state of the music world?

Olivier Boitel: I think we covered quite a bit overall. I’d just want to add that Eternal Closure is stronger than ever, even with the whole situation we’re in. We won’t go down like, sadly, many bands have done this year. We feel like after all these years, we’ve finally reached some kind of “final form.” Stay tuned for what we have in store and stay safe everyone!

You can catch up with Eternal Closure via the social media links below and be sure to stream Color of Our Fears: Rediscovered, out now.

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