Blissen Revives the Raw Spirit of '90s Grunge on Debut Album 'Seeds In Tar'

Grunge rock outfit Blissen introduces their debut album, 'Seeds In Tar,' a seven-track release exploring the complexities of growing up, navigating trauma, and finding individuality in a world that often works against it.

Drawing inspiration from '90s alternative rock icons Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, the band channels the genre's emotional intensity into a project rooted in personal experiences and difficult realities.

Originally formed as a two-person project, Blissen evolved into a four-piece featuring bassist Tim Gierlinger, drummer Mike Schnorr, rhythm guitarist Matt Kuberski, and lead guitarist and vocalist Josh Ruszkowski.

Throughout 'Seeds In Tar,' Blissen confronts the pressures of modern society through emotionally charged storytelling. The title track examines the complicated relationship between personal ambition and outside expectations, particularly when parents and peers who claim to offer support ultimately stand in the way of someone's dreams.

Meanwhile, "Mad Tree" explores the devastating consequences of isolation and rejection, telling the story of an individual whose overwhelming loneliness leads to suicide. The album also features "Estranged," "Tinfoil and Tequila," "Younger Sister," "Virgin Native Mind," and "Velvet," completing a debut that embraces grunge's tradition of confronting uncomfortable truths.

"We hope people can gain a love for our sound, and we hope that we can help people get through similar issues to the subject matter in the songs," the band shares. 'Seeds In Tar' is available now on streaming platforms, with vinyl editions available through Blissen's label, Pure Severe Records.

'Seeds In Tar' explores the challenges of growing up in today's society. What personal experiences or observations inspired you to build your debut album around these themes?

Just seeing the news is something that made us want to make the album. You see so much shit on TV that just makes you feel hopeless and want to die. Another thing that inspired us to write is just how some parents are just undeserving of kids. It seems like there are so many parents who just love their kids out of what the kid can provide for them, rather than who their kid actually is. 

The title track examines how the people who claim to support us can sometimes become our biggest obstacles. Was there a particular experience that inspired "Seeds In Tar"?

It’s really a collection of shared experiences we all have had. To pinpoint any specific experience would be pretty hard. It’s entirely based on more personal experiences, so we like to leave it up to the listener to interpret an experience they’ve had themselves. 

"Mad Tree" tackles isolation, rejection, and suicide through a particularly heavy narrative.

What was the creative process behind writing such an emotionally difficult song?

We wrote the instrumental to Mad Tree before any lyrics. Writing the instrumental first helped us figure out what vibe we needed to go for when writing this. Suicide was a big issue we wanted to cover because of personal experiences, and because it’s a big issue we don’t think is talked about enough. 

Alice in Chains and Soundgarden are major influences on Blissen. How do you balance your appreciation for the classic '90s grunge sound with creating something that feels distinctly your own?

I think what helps develop our sound is that we all have different kinds of music we like. I think that’s a good thing because it helps us put multiple influences together to make our own thing. We never were aiming to be a grunge band in the beginning; we kinda all just liked the same kind of music and put it together to make stuff like Mad Tree and Estranged. Then as we started growing as a band and as people, we all had our own separate ideas, and that’s how we made songs like Tinfoil And Tequila or Virgin native mind. 

Blissen began as a two-person project before evolving into a four-piece. How has that growth shaped the band's creative chemistry, and where do you hope to take your sound next?

It’s allowed us to dig deeper into our musical crevasses and pull out more unique riffs/parts. As for the sound, we want to make ourselves more recognizable. Rather than sounding like some specific artist, i.e., Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, etc., we want to build our own sound outside of our influences and make our own thing. We hope that we can mature our sound and continue to make music that’s us.