Holokauston Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before,can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?
1) Holokauston is a solo project, originating from India. This project focuses  on the concepts of Misanthropy greatly. I depict this by creating an early Greek drama within the lyrical structure. I discuss high philoshpical concepts thought over by controversial philosophers in the past. I also value Omnicide greatly. It's horrifying and interesting to me on a personal level. Such topics aren't seriously discussed in black metal. I have internally reached above religion. I expect the listener to be mature enough to have done so too. I am not ranting about Jesus and god. We discuss something of higher significance here. I started making music around the age of 13, I used to play early Slayer, Metallica and jam to all of these tracks alone. I am a quick learner. I couldn't afford recording equipment until I was 15, once I had all equipment it took me around a year to figure out mixing techniques. I got into heavier music because of the second wave of black metal. I eventually started out with bathory.

2.So far you have released a demo, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
2) My demo definitely aims for the raw sound, I believe demos are supposed to be raw rather the genre should remain raw. Black metal hasn't been as it was supposed to. I aim to introduce the listener to the roots again. I consider my riffing techniques quite unique. I have equipment capable to record very high quality over produced music, but I choose not to go for that sound. I am still a rebellion. I am in for ambient and clean guitar parts too. I prefer atmosphere in my songs as well as heavy riffing. The riffs in the demo definitely have a dual nature, they shift between atmosphere and solid bathory like fast paced power chords...
Coming to the lyrical themes, I mainly potray my internal sadness here. It's not some petty dsbm. This sadness is scaled to a nihilistic level. I had developed all this hate and aggression in an early age. I have always lived away from my native land, making me isolated in India's diverse land population and culture. This isolation forced me to think alot, I became a very internal person.... I focused on philosophy greatly. Nietzche had become my friend as I hit 15. Hence the lyrics demand some comprehension skills by the listener.


3.Your lyrics cover Greek Tragedy, Philosophy, Nihilism, and Omnicide, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?
3) When I started out reading some Western philosophy, let's say The birth of tragedy by Friedrich Nietzche. I learnt about several concepts which include The Oedipus Rex(After some research on Greeks Plays.), Hellinism, Nihilism, Übermensch etc Pessimistic philosophy hit me hard. Songs like 'Baptism of an Unknown Corpse' talk about leaving and sacrificing our mortal beliefs and moving over to something greater, of higher construct and value. I talk about the paradoxical ethics mortality gives us. Using some stereotype terms like Baptism makes this very ironic in a religion point of view.
I start out the demo with the track Creation, An Omnicide. Here I talk about the burden of life. The philosophy of this song is derived from the Hindu Concept of life origin. The birth in human form apparently is the lightest burden a mortal being has. Hence one should collect good karma to be reborn in human form. Accumulation of good karma eventually leads to moksha or enlightenment, which puts an end to the burden of life. But later the song gets darker. I talk about accumulating bad karma and creating an eternal series of lives. This is just hypothetical, but forces one to think.  An Omnicide gives you partial immortality, since you can't escape the constraints of your karma.
This might sound complex to the listener at first or maybe not. But I am sure it take the listener on a journey of thoughts. At least he/she is forced to think.



4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Holokauston'?
4) The word "holocaust" originally derived from the Greek word Holokauston,
meaning "a completely (holos) burnt (kaustos) sacrificial offering," or "a burnt sacrifice offered to a god." So this name has relevance to me since I want the modern man to sacrifice his mortal thoughts. He shall get above all of the blatant lies we are told. To rise above ethics. To work towards the enlightenment. He shall sacrifice religion, externalism, materialism and get above everything that pulls us back from using ourselves to the best of potential. I feel our society can reach a higher point this way. I embrace Misanthropy until mankind comprehends such.

5.With this project you record everything by yourself, are you open to working with other musicains?
5) Yes I do record by myself. In India I was abandoned by the metal scene. My ideas are too non-metal to these people. I think my concepts are very dark on a greater scale since this music isn't for everyone to comprehend.  I learnt recording techniques by myself after some online research.
I currently am a member of Deeper Vileness, but that doesn't make me a very compatible musician. I find the former member of the band to be very similar to me. He shares the same ideas and is very talented. He has a gift in music. Previously I have been kicked out from all bands since I was 13 so I decided to go solo.


6.On the demo you had done a cover of Darkthrone's "Transylvanian Hunger', what was the decision behind doing your own version of this song?
6)  I personally credit Darkthrone alot for my likeness of the genre, it's more of a tribute than a personal liking. The song in general is very grim. I like the atmosphere to this song. I had been recording for 20 hours straight when I felt about recording this track..... It was time consuming because of the repetitive nature of the riffing but it was worth it.  I kinda boosted the tempo of the track, it gives it a more grim feel in my opinion.

7.The demo was released on 'The Dark Thursday', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
7) This is a re-release of my demo, previously I released it with Dark Thursday. Because I didn't know anyone else in the scenes. Jacob Levesque is the owner of this online label. This kind of helped me. Around 500 people heard my demo. I also used black metal promotion on YouTube to get my earlier version of the demo. I got around 600 views there.
This time I released it on my own behalf. It's independent. People can get it for free on my Bandcamp. I got signed to Funeral Silence Productions though. My future releases will not be independent.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
😎 To be honest, not many people have heard my demo. Mostly I am regarded for heavy riffing and psychedelic acoustic parts.... I am not in this for the money, so sales don't matter to me. Most probably 1000 people have heard my demo worldwide. I am here to send a message which isn't easy to contemplate, but yeah. I am sure this will work out someday.


9.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?
9)  I am definitely going to scale my audience up in future. I will also release a full-length which many promotion pages will feel stupid about. Since my music has been rejected by them. I am glad someone I hold in high regard understands my thought process. I envy Kadesh from Deeper  Vileness and hold him at high regard. I am sure we will help each other out on a personal level as well as a commercial level, he is kind of the only friend I have too. We plan to release an EP soon. Which will later lead to a full length record.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
10) The Intro and Outro tracks of my demo are influenced from classical music. I love listening to Richard Wagner. Also punk and prog rock are my non-metal influences. When it comes to metal music, I keep Slayer   as one of my greatest influences apart from extreme metal. Bands like Morbid Angel, Monstrosity, Immolation were really influential earlier. Later I heard first wave of black metal. I don't find Venom appealing. I sure am a Bathory fan. In second wave I consider Emperor one of my main influences. Other than them I would definitely go for Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Darkthrone and Burzum.... I also like bands like Moonblood. One of my greatest influences is Azhubham Haani, a German black and blasphemic death metal band as he prefers to call it.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
11) Apart from music I am a school student. Mathematics really interests me. I am mostly out of practice but it's one of my favorite subjects apart from philosophy (not taught at school) and physics. I have been detached from studies for a while because of music, I also failed at school because of misbehavior. I have questioned the Indian education system at several points which as lead the teachers to have a grudge against me. Lately I have been topping my class.
I am an art fanatic, I draw alot. Even though I am not exceptionally good. I have my style. I drew logos for a few metal bands online to earn money for some equipment. My logo page on Facebook is called Rotten Papyrus Illustrations.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
12)The one's in illusion, I call out.
I was once a parasite like you.
A corpse with no identity, is what we become.

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