Epistulum is a melodic death metal band from Leiden, Netherlands, with other influences running through it. The songs lean hard on harmony, with a touch of avant-garde in the writing. That approach comes into full focus on Cantiga Psychotica, the band’s independently released full-length, out on 24 October 2025. Lyrically, frontman Thijs Ronteltap digs into suffering and its causes through mythology and analogy, leaving room for uncomfortable self-inquiry. He frames the album as a set of “schizophrenic portraits”, circling themes of psychosis, mental illness, and the stories we tell ourselves when things start to fracture. The title nods to the idea of a medieval “cantiga” and pulls it into a darker headspace. Across 12 tracks, it opens with the short “Prologue (Hel)”, stretches out on “The Pathless Wrath”, and keeps the mood synth-tinged and melodic without losing the bite.
When did the phrase “Cantiga Psychotica” show up, and why did it feel like the right title for this record?
Thijs Ronteltap: I originally wanted to be a classically trained pianist, which pulled me towards older music. Bach, Händel, Palestrina, Ockeghem, and bard music too, from the early Renaissance through the peak of the Baroque era. That was a time when harmony was really being perfected, compared to the often more simplistic polytonality in earlier centuries. It felt like a kind of crystalline figure unfolding, so I combined “cantiga”, a religious or love song of Spanish and Portuguese origin, with “psychotica”. That second word made sense because I’d been wanting to write an album with lyrics themed around psychosis.
“It’s like writing a horror film, and filling it with your own abominations.”
You describe the album as a set of “schizophrenic portraits”. What’s a “portrait” in your writing process?
A portrait, in this case, is a scene or short story based on what you might find in nightmares when you start investigating psychotic experiences more deeply. I’ve never been truly psychotic myself, but from a mythological point of view I could get into the groove of it. It’s like writing a horror film, and filling it with your own abominations.
How did you approach themes like psychosis and mental illness with care, without sanding the edges off the music?
I think you have to respect the whole phenomenon, otherwise you sink into the sadness of it. That creates frustration, because you start feeling trapped in it, like you want to peel off your own skin. A certain detachment from that emotion is important, so you can see what the feeling is actually representing. That respect, and that space, gave us the clarity to write what we wrote, through all the pomp and circumstance. I think we made something that can be interesting, story-wise, and maybe it makes the listener reflect on these concepts too. It’s a strange experience.
“the vocals can become a guide for the listener to find their way back into the song.”
Your vocals have to sit on top of a lot of movement. What usually decides the vocal character of a song?
Mostly the phonetics, and the percussive elements that sit well on top of the groove underneath. Since the instrumentals often carry a lot of information, the vocals can become a guide for the listener to find their way back into the song. It gives structure, and it also gives the lyrics their own kind of poetic structure. I usually base the lyrics on the song title, and I always have a few titles lying around. From there it’s mind-mapping the theme until it fits the phonetics and the rhythm I want it to have.
Why did you want a short opener like “Prologue (Hel)”? What’s it setting up for you?
Short songs can have power because there’s more space around them, and you can reflect on them. For me it sets the altar for what the rest of the album is about. The idea was to open up to the psychotic themes that follow, almost like an occult prayer that opens a ritual. For me, that felt like a poetic way to start the album. [he laughs]
“The Pathless Wrath” is the longest track on the album. What was the first idea that started that song?
After I wrote “Scars of Coition” on the album before, I started to get the hang of writing longer songs. So I thought it would be cool to do a longer one for Cantiga Psychotica too. It gives you extra depth as a writer, I think. I wanted that track to be the final dissolution of the album’s themes, so that by the time you reach the end, it feels like a reflection of the whole journey. The title points to those perpetual frustrations we sometimes get stuck in. Because the album is already “psychotic”, I saw it as a lingering beast that tries to deceive us into depression, and it had to be slain with a final invocation to its demise.
“Buddhism and Hinduism were good starting points for me, because so much of it is based on practices like meditation and self-inquiry.”
Titles like “Eye of Dukkha” and “Jungian Armageddon” point to psychology and philosophy. What were you pulling from while you were writing?
Various sources. Carl Jung’s psychology, of course, and the Eastern philosophies he also wrote about. Buddhism and Hinduism were good starting points for me, because so much of it is based on practices like meditation and self-inquiry. Those techniques can open you up to what’s happening in front of you in life, and they’re often used to invoke certain archetypes within yourself, and then fuel the collective. Any human faculty, like strength, focus, creativity, intelligence, can be cultivated, so they grow within you and become stronger parts of the whole.
What’s one small moment on the album you’re quietly proud of, even if most people won’t notice it?
Jean-Paul Sartre’s line from Huis Clos at the end of “Prologue (Hel)”. It’s masked beneath a lot of atmosphere and chanting, but it’s there. “De Hel, dat zijn de anderen”, meaning “hell is other people”. For us, it meant dropping the need to cling to what’s commonly accepted, and opening ourselves up to the album’s primal revolution, lyrically speaking. We wanted the listener to step into that headspace.
Which track fought you the most, and what was the sticking point?
“Voidwalker” was the hardest for us to finish. The structure stayed a bit of an enigma for a while. We had so many ideas for how to bring in the chorus that I got lost writing eighth-note double guitar lead passages for about two hours, and it still didn’t fit. You can ask our drummer, he was there shaking his head at the idea. Once we finally had a breakthrough, we found a solid pre-chorus to work with, and that became the bridge before the solos kick in. Looking back, the archetype of the Voidwalker feels connected to that process. You don’t really know what you’re doing, and somehow you still land where you want to be. Confusing little bugger. It ended up being one of my favourites. It’s catchy, but it has a weird twist, and it feels like its own creature on the album. It later became the second single too, which still makes me smile.
“it made me think of a psychotic bard song, like a court musician in a medieval castle unravelling his “fictional” monstrosities for the entertainment of someone high-born.”
The title uses the Portuguese word “cantiga”. Were you thinking at all about Portuguese-speaking worlds outside Europe, including in Africa, when you chose it?
Not necessarily. But I’m sure our friends in Spain, Portugal and Brazil might be happy that their language is appreciated enough to be featured in the title of a Dutch melodic death metal album. For me, it had the medieval touch I wanted, and it hinted at spiritual themes too. I chose it because it made me think of a psychotic bard song, like a court musician in a medieval castle unravelling his “fictional” monstrosities for the entertainment of someone high-born. A schizophrenic horror story, and a commentary on the state of things, roughly speaking.
You’re putting this out independently. What kind of support from listeners actually makes a difference for the band right now?
Listening to our stuff on Spotify, checking us out on YouTube, and getting in touch with us. We always love meeting new people, and building networks to play wherever we can. Aggression is perfected, and perfection is denied!
Grab Cantiga Psychotica (and the rest of Epistulum’s catalogue) on Bandcamp.
