"A bittersweet blend of desire, loss and devotion"

Zora, your new album „A Thousand Little Deaths“ is about to be released – how does it feel to finally open this new chapter?
Zora: Yes! Only a couple of days while I am writing this. I usually get really nervous before going on stage or anything like that, and that’s pretty much the same with releasing new music. The only difference is that I can be nervous while being alone, haha! Yet, it’s always a very good mixture of feeling very excited about it as well.

Is there a particular emotion that captures the essence of the album for you?
Zora: For me, the essence of A Thousand Little Deaths lies in longing, that bittersweet mix of desire, loss, and devotion. There’s melancholy woven through the songs, but also beauty in surrendering to those emotions instead of resisting them. I think that’s why the album feels so intimate; it mirrors the little deaths we all go through.

The title itself sounds deeply melancholic and poetic – what does the phrase „A Thousand Little Deaths“ mean to you personally?
Zora: For me, A Thousand Little Deaths symbolizes all the fragile, fleeting moments where something inside of you changes forever. It captures all the small moments of loss, heartbreak, and transformation that shape who we are. Experiences in life and love, every goodbye, every heartbreak,  they feel like tiny deaths, but also shape who you become.

You often dive into dark, fairytale-like worlds. Which stories, images, or symbols inspired you most during the writing process?
Zora: For this album, I think what inspired me the most is Emily Dickinson, and more specifically, her personal, intimate letters to a woman named Sue. Other stories you can hear back in the lyrics that inspired me are The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the fairytale of Bluebeard, Sleeping Beauty, and mythological figures like the Harpy, Pandora, and Psyche. Some songs were inspired by real-life tragedies I came across, like Legally Dead, the 19th-century journal of Marcia Hamilcar, who was forced into a mental institution against her will. But perhaps most of all, the album is inspired by the little tragedies of my own life. The Taxus tree appears more than once; it symbolizes immortality and death, which I felt was extraordinarily fitting for this album.

You’ve described „A Last Sigh of Bliss“ as “sultry, seductive, and euphoric” – what makes this song so special to you?
Zora: A Last Sigh of Bliss feels special to me because it captures a side of Blackbriar that’s more uplifting, sexy, and sultry than anything we’ve done before. I remember I started writing the lyrics for this one two years ago, while being on the Euphonic Downfall tour, and while I was lying in my sleeping bunk on the tourbus after a show. That means that A Last Sigh of Bliss is officially the first song I started working on for this new album. I got inspired by the scent of honeysuckle, which I smell every night during summertime in my garden, and later on, I found inspiration in the last scene of our stand-alone single Moonflower.

You remain true to your signature blend of gothic, symphonic metal, and dark romance – yet the new material feels even more intense and mature. How do you think it differs musically and emotionally from „The Cause of Shipwreck“ or „A Dark Euphony“?
Zora: I never go into an album with a fixed idea of how it should sound. I just let inspiration come and see where it takes me. That’s how I’ve approached every record so far, including this one. In terms of writing, we didn’t really change our process, because we’ve found the way that works best for us: I start with lyrics and vocals, and then the music grows around that. For this album, we did have our first writers camp with the whole band, but mainly to refine songs René and I had already started. There was one exception, though, ‘The Hermit and the Lover’, where René got stuck, and the band really came together to build the music from a blank page around my lyrics and vocals.

So musically and emotionally, the difference isn’t about changing who we are, but about new inspirations, new personal experiences, and the natural growth that comes from writing more albums. We love the world we’ve created with Blackbriar, and with every record, we find new ways to expand it while staying true to ourselves.

Your lyrics often feel like poems – whimsical, morbid, and longing. Do you write intuitively, or do you approach your lyrics in a more conceptual way?
Zora: I’d say it’s a mix of both. I usually start very intuitively, when inspiration strikes or when I’ve gone through something in my own life that I need to express. But once I have that spark, I often dive deep into research to bring the idea to life in the most authentic and layered way possible. So the emotion comes first, and then I shape it into something more conceptual if the song calls for it.

Your voice is incredibly versatile – ranging from fragile softness to powerful presence. Are there certain emotions or images you especially enjoy channeling when you sing?
Zora: Thank you for the compliment! And yes, channeling emotions and images really helps me, especially with stage fright, haha. When I’m on stage, I try to truly live inside the song I’m performing, to embody its story and feelings. And just before stepping on stage, when I am really nervous, I sometimes pretend to be an artist I look up to, borrowing their confidence and power until it starts to feel like my own.

Blackbriar’s visuals and music videos are almost cinematic. How involved are you personally in shaping that visual storytelling?
Zora: Making music videos has really become our second passion. We started doing it ourselves years ago out of necessity, because we didn’t have the budget to hire anyone, but over time, we learned so much that it grew into something much bigger for us. We now even create videos for other artists as well! I’m very involved in our visual storytelling. Usually, I already get the idea for a music video at a very early stage, while I’m writing the lyrics. In fact, we often choose our singles based on those ideas. It’s less about asking “Which song would work best as a single?” and more “This song already has a strong visual world in my head, so it has to be a single.”

From there, René, Robin, and I do everything together: arranging, location scouting, preparing the shoot, filming (unless we all need to appear on camera), and the lighting. And I personally do the video editing, which I absolutely love.

When approaching a new song – what comes first for you: the mood, the story, or the sound?
Zora: For me, the story always comes first. Our writing process usually begins with me writing the lyrics, and once I feel they’re finished, I turn on my mic and start recording melodies. I’ll often sing the whole song as I envision it, sometimes even layering in backing vocals. Then I send it over to René, who builds the music around my vocals and ideas. That way, the emotion and narrative lead the way, and I have complete freedom to bring to life whatever comes to mind.

You're often seen as a gothic metal icon – yet you come across as very grounded in interviews. How do you navigate that outside perception?
Zora: For me, there isn’t really a separation. On stage and in our music, I love exploring the gothic, darkly romantic world we’ve created, but I don’t see that side as another character. The songs come from a very personal place, and all the topics I write and sing about are drawn from my own interests and personal experiences. That’s why performing them feels so natural; it’s simply an extension of who I am. In real life, I’m actually very shy and quite secluded, but I think that also fits into the kind of songwriting I do. The only real challenge is that being on stage as a shy person can be difficult at times, but I try to embrace my social awkwardness as part of the performance, because it’s simply who I am.

What advice would you give to young women trying to find their place in the metal scene?
Zora: I’d tell them to stay true to themselves. Follow the things that genuinely excite and inspire you, even if it’s not what others around you are doing. It’s so easy to get caught up in comparisons, but your uniqueness is what makes your art meaningful. If you create from that honest place, the right listeners will find you.

Your big European headlining tour starts in October – what are you most excited about?
Zora: Yes, and it’s our first headline tour! I’m very excited about getting to perform all of these new songs. We’ll try to play as many as possible with a mixture of older favorites, and I can’t wait for it. We’ll bring special guest Forever Still, which is a band we’ve been looking up to from the very beginning of Blackbriar, so that’s something I am really excited about as well. And of course, knowing that every person in the room bought a ticket just to see us perform and celebrate the new album with us is the most unreal and rewarding feeling, and I am mostly looking forward to seeing everyone who’ll be there.

Are there any songs from the new album you're particularly curious or excited to perform live?
Zora: Yes, I think for now I am mostly curious about ‘The Catastrophe That Is Us’ and ‘Bluebeard’s Chamber’. I think these songs will be awesome to perform live, and I hope I am right about that, haha!

Your fanbase keeps growing – over 71 million YouTube views speak for themselves. How do you experience that kind of support? Does it ever feel surreal?
Zora: Honestly, it has felt surreal ever since our single Until Eternity started reaching so many people, and it still hasn’t stopped feeling that way. Our fans have been the driving force behind everything we’ve achieved. I remember when we launched the crowdfunding for our debut album; we were so nervous about asking for that much support, but the goal was reached in less than 24 hours. Moments like that remind me just how much our listeners believe in us.

On a personal level, I get to spend my days doing what I love because of my Patrons, and I’m grateful for that every single day. In the end, that’s what we do this for, the incredible feeling of knowing people listen to our music, find comfort in it, or even cry with it. That connection is the most rewarding part of all.

Finally: If you had to describe A Thousand Little Deaths with a single image – what would it look like?
Zora: That’s actually the very question I had to ask myself when deciding on the artwork for ‘A Thousand Little Deaths’. I imagined a girl on a swing in a graveyard, the contrast of innocence and death. Above her, vultures are watching, drawn to her because she’s died a thousand little deaths already; parts of her are gone, and they’re waiting for the rest. That contrast felt like the perfect representation of the album’s themes. So in the end, the image we chose as the artwork is exactly what comes to mind when I think of ‘A Thousand Little Deaths’.

Thank you for talking to us, Zora – and good luck with your new album and upcoming tour!