Adder's Fork

Who are you, and where are you from?

My name is Marko Köfler, I'm the head behind the Gothic metal project Adder's Fork, born in Vienna and currently living in St. Pölten, Lower Austria.

When and why did you start playing music?

My formative youth was a tough time. In the late 90s and early 2000s I was facing repression and hostility on every corner, due to just having a differing mentality compared to the people around me. Born on the other side of the country, I had to fight a lot to earn some respect and being introduced to „angry“ music did a lot to help me through dark days. Like many guys of my generation, the uprising of nu metal and its close relatives helped getting me into all kinds of extreme metal soon after. The deeper I dug into the meat of the genre, the more I wanted to be able to play that stuff myself and that's how buying an electric guitar came into consideration.

Why did you start "Shores of Sheol" and later progress to "Adder's Fork"? The genres of these two bands are not even close to each other.

Shores of Sheol began in my novice days of playing guitar, and its earliest incarnation was just me trying to put my extreme ideas into some kind of order. The better I got, the more I could transfer these ideas into a sound that closely resembled Greek black metal, which was my favourite music subgenre at the time. But I locked myself into this shtick way too hard and after a while all I got was diminishing returns, due to my unwillingness to expand my musical horizons. I stopped playing instruments altogether, sold all my equipment around 2010 and laid SoS to rest. It took a few years of radio silence (and rediscovery of music as a whole) and a new mindset towards composition to revert into “musician mode”. I ended up loving tons of early 80s goth music which I ultimately wanted to create myself, but slowly the metal elements were creeping back into the writing, but they were no longer restricting, but substantially enhancing my ability to compose.

What would be behind your band name? Why did you pick it?

I remember it jumping at me while throwing a glance at Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth. It left a lasting impression and I thought it would be a perfectly suitable name for what I was going for.

Speaking of genres, why have you switched over to "Heavy/Gothic Metal"? You were forced or threatened, right?

Shifting taste and the wish for change after my musical break...it just happened, no further actions were necessary to convince me, sorry – no gun violence either.

What bands have influenced you and have an influence on you right now?

Megadeth, Rotting Christ and Annihilator were those most important early influences that made me want to play guitar like they did. Later, I learned how Robert Smith of The Cure constructed his songs and the impactful minimalism of The Sisters of Mercy's music was another reminder of how a decent amount of repetition can lead to fruitful results. Also, Paradise Lost are way up there when it comes to telling great stories in concise runtimes, with great atmospheric traits. For more subdued instrumentals, I like to dabble in the early Danzig discography - what a great way to combine stunning vocals and bluesy heaviness.

Can you guide the reader a little bit through Adder's Fork releases and their musical differences?

Well, the first steps of Adder's Fork were almost 100% non-metal, since the “The Joys of Solitude” demo really only has very few distorted guitars and actual riffs, it was mostly traditional chord-/arpeggio-based groundwork - very barebones - with subdued vocals because I wasn't really confident about singing yet, just really wanted it to be a clean expression of what was haunting me personally at the time. With each subsequent release (and a few singing lessons at a later date) the vocals became more prominent in the mix, simply because it felt a lot better recording them. While the debut album “A Farewell to Expectations” still sounds a bit like a more “metalized” version of the demo days with more varied songwriting, “The Individualist” is really the first EP where I felt “yeah, this is what Adder's Fork is about”. Guitars and bass were heavier and tighter, the complexity of the compositions two steps above everything I'd done before and even some harsh vocals came back into the picture. Though less of a spotlight on the oldschool goth influence, it did enhance the darker and more aggressive emotions on that EP. “The Fatalist” did the opposite, turning down the attack a little bit, displaying more fragile and cleaner material with a more professional production package coming along with it. Soon after, Austrian label “Running Wild Productions” would pick me up and get Adder's Fork a lot more recognized in the local scene - my participation on the 4-way split album “A Gathering of Four” turned out a wise move, despite only having one new track and a few remasters from my previous EPs on it. With the label's support, my current “Apparitions” EP received a lot more attention than any previous Adder's Fork release in the past. I'm glad that this mini album is the one people picked up, because it's certainly the culmination of everything that's been Adder's Fork prior, but with an extra layer of professionalism, great guest singers and the widest musical range so far, having female soprano vocals, an actual ballad plus one or two doom/death metal riffs on the same record without feeling disjointed at all. Proud of this one, really.

What, if any, is the difference in terms of approaching the music and crafting it, compared with your earlier music and what you do now?

Most of the change comes down to using more music theory when constructing songs. I've just recently started learning the piano and let's just say that quite a few things make a lot more sense to me now when composing.

I wrote a review about the 2020 "The Fatalist" release, but quite some time has passed since it has seen the light of day, and one can clearly hear the evolution and progress you made in the music. Leaving a new-found heaviness aside, the songs have more facets and elements, which makes it an interesting experience to listen to. What are the characteristics of your music, and how do you see the development?

Yeah, I remember that fondly. Thanks, the main characteristic has always been a varying balance between heavy metal and gothic rock tantrums and every release sees a differing dosage of each coming together, with a drive to add a little more complexity and depth to the music with each new release. I have no ambitions of being a technical wizard on any of my instruments, so I need a certain push to improve my abilities as a musician, this being the prospect of writing better, more advanced songs on the next CD.

Somehow the music does not sound very modern. It is rather a kind of 80s Heavy Metal meets Gothic metal. What are your influences in terms of bands and their albums?

Indeed. While I do somewhat keep track on modern music, it's mostly the 80s and 90s influences that make me thrive. Let me throw the following albums out there for reference: Paradise Lost – Draconian Times, Danzig – The Lost Tracks of Danzig, The Sound – From the Lions Mouth; in terms of production and atmosphere, “Draconian Times” is still a benchmark for the ideal mix between rawness and clarity in Gothic metal, Danzig's set of rare and unreleased material - though released way past his prime - contains some of his best bluesy and toned down material, a great influence in both vocals and balladesque instrumentation; The Sound's second album is among the greatest achievements in post-punk as it emits this absolutely depressing atmosphere without any need for even a pinch of aggression.

How much time do you spend on making music in a week? Roughly and on average would be enough.

This varies greatly. Can be between one and 15 hours a week. Mostly around 2 to 3 hours on average under normal 9 to 5 job conditions.

On your Bandcamp page, you write about the album that "[...

I do think that Covid gave some of my lyrics a different edge, but it mostly just shortened the production period of “The Fatalist” back in 2020 due to the lockdowns and being able to work in the studio more frequently. The early drafts of “Apparitions” were indeed created while still being affected by the pandemic and I do have some shelved ideas roaming about, but I don't think these would be actual songs even without the pandemic. Shelved for a reason.

What would be your plans for 2025?

Writing songs (already happening) and perhaps continuing my “Adder's Fork plays:” cover video series on YouTube. I started doing cover versions back in 2021 and I publish them on my channel. Puts me in a different mindset and it's always interesting and instructive to dive deeper into material that someone else wrote.

Considering your username at the Metal Archive (MA), CannibalCorpse, why do you not play some more intense kind of music?

Haha, I can see where this is going! Well, I did play in a death metal cover band (“Coffinfeeder”) 20 years ago, around the time I created my Metal Archives account! Times are changin', huh?

How does your MA profile relate to your current musical taste?

The column “favourite metal genres” reads “Various” and I guess that's still true. I still don't like many power, -core, stoner and brutal death metal bands, but I'm willing to listen to almost anything people throw at me. Outside of metal, there's of course a wide range of 80s synth-pop, gothic/post-punk and wave music, early electronica and hard rock to be enjoyed. With some oldschool hip hop/rap from the 80s/early 90s on top, when people still told intriguing stories over hard beats.

Are you still active at the MA?

Yes! Not terribly so, but it's the only forum I still visit regularly. Great place for recommendations. I'm still reviewing albums, by the way!

Closing comments

Thank you for reaching out and conducting this interview. Always glad to talk about the progress I'm making with Adder's Fork and it's still utterly invigorating that people care about it. See you next time!