THE LOSTS

“’Venom Within’ is stunning on the surface but dangerous underneath – like the Amazon rainforest. That clash of light and darkness is the essence of humanity, and the core of our sound.”

“Recording this album was like a theater performance. Every vocal had to become a character: screams, thrash, high-pitched, low – more than 20 tracks per song. Chaos became identity.”

“Doubt isn’t weakness – it’s a tool. By questioning everything, we removed what we loved but sharpened what mattered most.”

“We started with a blank page. White. Anxiety-inducing. Slowly, the songs began to emerge, and that white became a landscape for ‘Venom Within’.”

“Giving up control wasn’t easy. Letting someone else shape promotion, artwork, and production opened the door to a sharper, more focused album.”

“A lonely night drive is the ideal way to experience ‘Venom Within’. No distractions, just the music breathing in your ears.”

“Every lyric on this album owes something to the darkness Stefánsson writes about – human nature revealed starkly, the perfect canvas for The Losts’ mythology.”

“’A Dark Place to Hide’ captured it all. That’s when we knew this was the album’s identity – its musical and vocal essence.”

“If ‘Venom Within’ were a character, it would be a quiet child, observing, learning, aware but hiding. Curious yet fully present.”

“Our music doesn’t just accompany – it guides. If it scored a TV series, it would explore inner turmoil and complex characters, inviting the audience into their unspoken worlds.”

With their third studio album ‘Venom Within‘, French heavy metal band The Losts dive deeper into darkness, mythology, and sonic experimentation.
Known for blending theatrical vocals, melodic intensity, and concept-driven narratives, the band has evolved into a force that challenges both themselves and their listeners.
We sat down with the members to explore the album’s creative process, emotional depth, and the world they’ve built within their music.
If your new album were a location on a map, what kind of place would it be – and what dangers or revelations would a traveler encounter there?
“‘Venom Within’ could be the hostile and vibrant Amazon rainforest. Beautiful on the surface and dangerous underneath. Venom is everywhere in this place: in the air, in the soil, in every choice you make. What is dangerous is also attractive and captivating.”
“A traveler would face both wonder and darkness. That clash between light and shadow is the essence of humanity … and the core of our sound.”
What element of your sound proved the most challenging to evolve on this third record – the melodies, the intensity, or the storytelling?
“I would say the vocals. We treated the sessions like a theater performance, switching constantly between characters: deep or high pitch voices, black metal screams, thrash attacks, even female vocals.”
“Phil Renalter, our producer, had to bring all these personalities together and had to manage more than 20 voice tracks per song. Mixing it was a war for him, but it shaped the album’s identity.”
When writing this album, what belief or habit from your earlier years did you deliberately decide to abandon?
“We let go of some of our freedom. This time, we accepted more direction from Phil. During the pre-production and production stages, he proposed many modifications of our initial creations, giving the songs a harsher, more cutting impact. We also stepped aside from the usual graphic design approach of DGC and let Alek Vladski create the entire booklet. And instead of self-releasing, we entrusted The Losts’ image and promotion to the label Inverse Records.”
“Giving up control was a choice, so we could deliver a more focused and professional album.”
Heavy metal thrives on emotion. Which emotion did you find yourselves unexpectedly embracing this time?
“Doubt.”
“By delegating promotion, artwork, and parts of the production, we stepped out of our comfort zone. We weren’t fully in control anymore, and that’s unsettling.”
“But doubt pushed us forward; it forced us to question everything and sharpen the record. We also had to get rid of some music parts that we loved, which could be frustrating, but for the better at the end.”
If a listener wanted to fully absorb the spirit of the album, what would be the ideal setting to experience it – a crowded venue, a lonely night drive, or something stranger?
“The ideal setting to experience the album would be somewhere quiet, where nothing gets in the way of the details of our music. ‘Venom Within’ demands several focused listens to truly uncover all the album’s subtleties.”
“A lonely night drive is perfect. No distractions, just the road, the dark, and the music breathing in your ears.”
What is the most unusual or non-musical source that influenced a song on this album – a book, a place, a conversation, a dream?
“The writing of the lyrics for this album happened in parallel with my reading of Jón Kalman Stefánsson’s masterpiece ‘Your Absence Is Darkness’. In its pages, there’s a line that struck me deeply: ‘You told me there was no better place than hell to learn how to write, for it is there that human nature reveals itself most starkly…'”
“Those words reaffirmed my desire to continue expanding the mythology of The Losts. In a way, every lyric on the album benefited from that reading experience.”
Some bands become heavier with time, others become more melodic. What ‘direction’ did this third album push you toward – and was it intentional?
“‘Venom Within’ further amplifies the shift that began with ‘Mystery of Depths’, our previous album, moving toward a sound that’s a little less heavy but more direct and darker. When we rehearse our older songs, we can now clearly feel the difference in the writing, the impact, and the atmosphere. It’s actually quite shocking for us, we all noticed it while preparing for the Release Party happening in two weeks.”
If you had to describe the album using only sensory impressions – a color, a smell, a texture – what would they be?
“I feel that ‘Venom Within’ is a white album, much like its artwork; a pure, immaculate white that gradually gives way to a multitude of grey and black details. This white also echoes the genesis of the composition: after ‘Mystery of Depths’ (2021), we had no material left. We were truly starting from a completely blank page… a slightly anxiety-inducing one. I can almost still hear it slipping under my fingers.”
“Then we began scribbling onto that white page, eventually shaping this new collection of songs. Perhaps that’s why ‘Venom Within’, while still unmistakably The Losts, has its own face, somewhat removed from our previous work.”
What was the moment during the recording process when you realized, ‘Yes, this is the identity of the new album’?
“I would say that moment emerged during pre-production, when we were recording the demos for the new tracks. For this album, we began composing all the instrumental parts first. The vocal lines, the voices, the lyrics came later, especially during that pre-production phase, where I took the time to carve out space for the full vocal spectrum.”
“I think it was after finishing ‘A Dark Place To Hide’ that I said to myself, ‘There it is. This is The Losts!’ At that moment, musically and vocally, we were holding the essence of everything the album would become. That’s also why we chose that song as the first single and as the album opener.”
Imagine THE LOSTS composing the soundtrack for a TV series. What enre would the show be, and what role would your music play in its atmosphere?
“That would be awesome! The concept of The Losts already provides a eady-made storyline 😉”
“The series would definitely need a psychological dimension, a perspective turned toward the inner turmoil of the soul. We would follow complex characters searching for elevation, sometimes against themselves, sometimes against their environment, caught in storms within and deep personal questioning. The music would invite the audience into the unspoken erceptions and inner worlds of the protagonists.”
What aspect of the French metal scene has had the greatest impact on your development – whether as inspiration or as a challenge to overcome?
“Unfortunately, one of the main challenges of the French metal scene is the lack of places to play. A lot of venues in France but also in Belgium have been closing for years. Ten years ago, the underground was alive with many bars and small stages. Now it’s a struggle to find a room for a show. You have either to pay the rent of the room or to be stuck on a long waiting list in the remaining places.”
“It’s frustrating, but it forces us to push harder.”
You are now three albums into your journey. What question about THE LOSTS do you feel people never ask – but should?
“I think this one is pretty good: ‘What question about THE LOSTS do you feel people never ask – but should?’, even if that question has already come up once now 😉”
If this album were a character in your own mythology, what would its personality be like? How would it speak, fight, or dream?
“In our previous album ‘Mystery of Depths’, the song ‘Tattoo the Child’ uses the image of a ‘child out of control’. I’m quite fond of that idea, a kind of wild, disorderly, wayward innocence that doesn’t quite march in line. ‘Venom Within’ could be that child, quietly observing while hiding from the constant currents of its world.”
‘Venom Within‘ is not just an album – it’s a journey into shadow, mythology, and human nature.
The Losts have created a work that balances theatrical vocals, intricate storytelling, and emotional intensity.
Each listen reveals new layers, making it clear that this is a band embracing evolution while staying true to the dark, melodic core that defines them.
“Giving up control was a choice, so we could deliver a more focused and professional album. Doubt pushed us forward and sharpened everything.”
fok ‘bs’