Guitarist and vocalist Yuko Morino and drummer Chia Shiraishi present their second album as the psychedelic doom metal project BlackLab. The pair continue with their explorations into the dark side of the human psyche – the title Abyss referring to a vision of a dark forest that came to Morino after reflecting on the record's sounds, mood and references. Lyricist Morino answered a few questions about the album's dark matter and recording processes over email.

How did you arrive at the album's dark psychological themes?

I'm impulsive and sometimes lose myself when I get angry. So, sometimes I can't control my feelings. And, I'm fascinated by the mysterious and abstract world rather than material things. These personality traits and interests influence my creativity especially when it comes to lyrics. Rather than create along the theme, I feel that the theme follows the creation.

The album was recorded in three days. Does improvisation come into your songwriting, or do you arrive at the studio with a strong sense of what you're about to do?

Rarely we may adopt phrases or riffs that are played just for fun during a session. But we almost never improvise. I compose songs based on the riff I have in my stock pile, finish it, then Chia adds the drum phrases and that’s it. I often write lyrics after that. We created the songs on Abyss this way at the pace of about one song a month. When recording, we played the songs we'd completed earnestly.

Your band name is a combination of Black Sabbath and Stereolab. What are you taking from each of these bands sonically?

The bassist who was in the band at the time of forming the band was a bossa nova singer-songwriter, so I named it with the intention of fusing her delicate personality and Sabbath. Many will not think that the musical elements of Stereolab are included in the band, but it does have a little influence on the melodic vocal lines. On the other hand, the influence of Sabbath is ... as you heard.

Abyss is released digitally by New Heavy Sounds 8 May, CD/LP 29 May