1. Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
Delgrast: Our new album, Liber DCLXVI, is coming out on the 30th of April as a digital release. A physical release will be available in June, via Wraith Productions. We spent two years working and focusing on this album, writing, recording and mixing. We consider it a real step forward in our style, towards a symphonic, chaotic version of avant-garde black metal. Don’t miss it!
Besides that, Abbey ov Thelema is hibernating at the moment, due to our other duties. I, Delgrast, will be finishing the second album with my other band, Nevaloth, and Quadrun is busy playing as a live member with various polish jazz bands. But I think that this summer we will again get together to work on new songs for the Abbey.
2. How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how it differs from previous releases?
D: We label our new musical style as “Transcendental khaoblack metal” (TKM). Transcendental because of the supernatural, superhuman, spiritual atmosphere we try to invoke with our music. “Khao” because of the apparent chaos in our music, and “black” because it’s based in black metal. Liber DCLXVI is not our first release which we label this way: our previous 2012 promo demo, “Prelude to Apocalypse”, was our first release in this new style.
Our first album “A Fragment ov the Great Work” was actually made of mostly Nevaloth leftovers, which I decided to record with the Abbey. With Liber DCLXVI we no longer held to this approach, for we were writing all songs directly for the Abbey, and foreseeing that they would be a part of a great, 80-minutes long conceptual album. I’d say that our first album is very melodic, avant-garde; even, I’d say, optimistic: a little Arcturus-like. Our new material is more chaotic, aggressive, insane, disharmonic, arythmic and dark. A great inspiration for us was Deathspell Omega.
3. I know form the band name and songs the music covers alot on Crowley Left hand Path and Occultism, can you tell us a bit more about in your interests in these fields?
D: Crowley’s system of Thelema doesn’t necessary have to be Left-Hand Path (that means, using techniques which are considered heterodox, or immoral by mainstream society) – although in our interpretation it is, we see it as only one valid interpretation among many.
Thelema is based on the Law “Do What Thou Wilt”, which actually is not a call for limitless anarchy without consequences – it is a challenge to discover you inner, spiritual True Will, and to do that. This True Will is unique to every individual and therefore everyone in Thelema has to take this spiritual journey on their own. It’s like another ancient axiom known to everyone, “Be yourself,” your True self, free from the bonds of ego – that is the profane personality with all it’s false desires which do not spring from the heart of the individual, but rather from social requirements. Therefore, in our interpretation, Thelema is a form of a supreme individualistic, aristocratic spirituality.
As you can see, we are deeply interested in such occult fields. In my late teenage years I was a regular atheistic Satanist. Somehow I just didn’t find it satisfactory, mostly because Satanism is terminologically and philosophically dependent on Christianity, or other forms of Abrahamic religions, while Thelema breaks these bonds thoroughly. Thelema actually brought me and Quadrun together. But besides this, we are still both atheists, whence atheism id perfectly compatible with Thelema.
4. I know that the band started out as being more ambient, what was the decision behind going into a more black metal direction?
D: Around late 2010 I grew a little sick of ambient and I was not interested in doing it anymore. I decided to finish the “Major Arcana” demo and to turn Abbey ov Thelema into a metal project afterwards. As I said before, I already had some Nevaloth leftovers prepared, so with the help of Vilozof, our first guitarist and also a member of Nevaloth, we recorded the first album.
5. Has the band played any shows or is this a studio project?
D: So far it’s only a studio project. I tried to find live members, but the new songs are so technical, and also so unusual for many listeners as well as musicians, that I gave it up - for now.
6. The new album came out on Wraith Productions, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support they have given you so far?
D: We contacted many labels after releasing the “Prelude to Apocalypse” promo in August 2012. Wraith Productions offered us the best deal, a digipak and a booklet of 16 pages, which we find as corresponding and necessary to such a great conceptual work as Liber DCLXVI is. We are proud and honored to work with a company that has such respect for our art.
7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your newer music by fans of black metal and ambient?
D: Mostly positive, but as when any band changes, there are some people who liked “the old Abbey” more. Luckily even our first album was avant-garde enough to attract mostly listeners open to change, progress, and experimentation, so people complaining about the switch to “Transcendental Khaoblack metal” were more of a rarity.
As for fans of ambient, our first ambient demos were distributed only among a small circle of friends, therefore the Abbey has except a few of my friends no “ambient era” fans.
8. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
D: I think we will stick to our TKM approach. I think that by now we developed our very own and unique style, and we’d like to stick to that. It’s like if we reached a new, yet undiscovered land. We could try to find another undiscovered land, and perhaps one day we’ll move to that – but right now we want to explore this new transcendental khaoblack territory more deeply, because, I believe, there is still much to discover here.
Of course we’ll try not to stagnate, but there will be no more dramatic changes like between the previous “Fragment” album, and the new Liber DCLXVI. I also think that the new material will be a little less technical, so it will be easier to find possible live members in the future.
9. Are there any other musical projects going on these days?
D: As already stated, I play also in Nevaloth, another black metal band. Quadrun also has many projects outside the metal scene, but since it’s his desire to stay anonymous, I can’t give you any name.
I’d also like to recommend everyone 777 Babalon, a great Slovak dark ambient project.
10. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
D: My personal favorite black metal bands include Blut aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, Cloak of Altering, Dimmu Borgir, Satyricon. But that’s just the top of the iceberg: the bands I listen to are too numerous to mention all. I also listen to many bands outside of the black metal genre, or even metal itself. I love Marilyn Manson, Sunn O))), Psyclon Nine, and many other non-metal acts… I think they all influence me.
On the other hand, Quadrun plays a lot of jazz and electrojazz music, but he tries not to let such influences in Abbey ov Thelema to be heard at all. But if you listen carefully to certain parts of “Prelude to Apocalypse”, I think you can hear them.
11. Outside of music what are some of your interests?
D: For me it’s reading books, both esoteric and philosophical, or any other if they’re interesting. My favorite writes include Friedrich Nietzsche, Max Stirner and Julius Evola. I also do some body-building.
12. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
D: Thanks for the opportunity of doing this interview! Be sure to follow Abbey ov Thelema, there is much more to come in the future!
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