Black Flame Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?
Actually we just started the live activity in support of the new album, and we are planning more live dates.

2.You have a new album coming out in the end of March, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
It might sound obvious at this point, but we are very proud of how “The Origin of Fire” sounds, I think more complete and in a certain way more mature than the oldreleases. In the two previous releases “Septem” (2011) and “Imperivm” (2008) we noticed that some aspects of our songwriting were leaving a certain incomplete feeling while listening the songs for a while, like not withstanding completely the test of time. So, for this new release we worked more on the “melodic” aspect of each track, adding more guitar layers and creating more variations, which transformed our sounds in something wider and deeper.

3.This is the first album to be released in 4 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
We played many gigs and we faced our first line-up change since the foundation of the Band in 1998, changing a bass player and including the live session guitarist in the permanent line-up, so this took a few time to be properly settled.

4.Your lyrics cover a great amount of Occult topics, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the Black Arts?
Black Flame have always been a Band with a deep and personal lyrical path. All our releases have been always enriched with lyrics inspired by our experiences and our philosophy, and “The Origin of Fire” is no exception in this. The new album is lyrically inspired by the cosmic creations which have been created by humans in order to search for a sort of divine self-elevation: the controversial relationship with Death celebrated through cursed cults forged in fire and blood. This thing could be seen as a direct metaphor of how we live and we conceive this Band : we summon Death and the destruction of all the demiurgic cosmic creations. We chant about instincts, we chant about lust, about fire, about ashes and destruction and our music in the altar upon which we sacrifice our human barriers so we can ride wild and unchained in the sonic realm we create.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Black Flame'?
The Black Flame is the primordial fire, the origin of the realm of the black shadows.

6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
We would always remember the mini-tour we made in Norway in late 2007, while supporting the “Conquering Purity” album. Norway has been always seen as a crucial land for Black Metal, and the bands coming from there have been widely praised and acclaimed, so for us it was a very important moment to bring our music in that land. The response from the audience was positively unexpected in all the gigs and it was a sort of a eye-opener for us, a sort of boost which gave us a big energy and confidence, which at that time resulted in the recording of “Imperivm”.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
Yes, we already have 6/7 gigs planned between Italy and Switzerland and more will come.

8.On the album you had done a cover of Kenneth Anger's "Lucifer Rising", what was the decision behind doing your own version of this song?
Kenneth Anger has always been a controversial figure, and many aspects behind the creation of the soundtrack for “Lucifer Rising” were and still are a mystery. Originally, Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin was recruited for the soundtrack writing and it looks like that some of the parts were completed by Page at the Boleskine House, during his most intense period of involvement in Black Magic practices. However, it looks like that his tracks were never used, and the soundtrack was credited to Bobby Beausoleil, which was a Charles Manson associate and that is serving a lifetime sentence for homicide in prison. This Luciferian cocktail of Occult practices, controversy, drugs, is perfectly captured in the track “Lucifer Rising”, which features some guitar patterns which, in the original version, are unmistakably the touch of Jimmy Page…. even though Bobby Beausoleil was officially credit. Who knows the truth can’t and won’t speak now, and we decided to tribute all this.

9.Also on the new album you had PK of Abigor and Iscariah of Dead to This world quest on a couple of your songs, can you tell us a little bit more about their contributions to the recording?
They are both long time friends, since PK already wrote some music for Black Flame in 2004/5. His contribution in “My Temple of Flesh” and “On the Trail of the Serpent” is exactly a tribute to the ten years of the first collaboration.
I played drums in the Norwegian band Dead To This World from 2008 to 2015, so it was very easy and natural to invite Iscariah for some vocals in the track “On the Trail of the Serpent”. They both had a clear vision of their ideas and the way to make them working in our style, I’m very pleased about the final outcome.

10.Over the years how has the feedback been to your music by fans of both black and death metal?
To be honest, during the years we’ve been more interested to get people attracted to us and develop our personal style, trying to avoid sonic speculations in order to gain more audience.

11.What is going on with some of the other musical projects or bands these days that some of the band members are a part off?
I’m currently drumming for the cult band Opera IX and for Janvs, while Tiorad is playing guitars for Adversam and our bass player Gnosis is the mainman of Mystical Fullmoon.
All this bands are active and on fire with new albums out or in the process of being released.

12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We’re not interested in ambitious dreams of fame, I see this band as a constant and sonic expression of our personal paths, so until we will be clear and focused enough to materialize our visions in music, this Band will exist.

13.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
We listened to so many music that it is really impossible for me to point out at something, and when we write new music we have no other reference but ourselves.

14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thank you for this space and for the interest. Dare yourselves to discover what is “The Origin of Fire” ! Serpens Vigil Est !

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