1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?
Basically we play more melodic black metal with lots of influent from progressive, folk and ambient elements. Our lyrics have mythology, legend and pagan culture of our ancestors. All of these started from 2004, which develop our music into a more mature and developed one like our music now.
2.In 2013 you had released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
In 2013 we released our first 巫峽 Dynasty single and then we continue with full album creation with same title which was completed in mid 2014. Since we want our first single fully developed, we absorbed many influence from eminent international black metal artists, who are not too far from our characteristic. Also we put a little bit progressive material here because those dynamics are very fun (as uniqueness is our trait), clear, modern, melodic sound ambience play a huge role in the chord harmonization, obviously with rapid drum tempo and the dynamics which makes the listeners’ ears as pleasant as possible enjoying journeys in our world.
3.The band has been around since 2004 and so far have only released one album, can you tell us a little bit more about the first 9 years?
In early 2004 when we first started, we were still young and inexperienced, that time we were still in university in self discovery phase. As campus band that time we had full formation (5 members) and drove us to be more eager on doing live performance. Gigs after gigs we did from within our city to some very far cities. Making connections on the scenes was something we considered important that time. We started with playing our idols covers and started to create our own new songs. Numerous member changes were unavoidable because of vision and integrity differences which impacted on delays in recording process.
Since early 2012 we decided to go duo (Dedi Sadikin as the vocalist and Derick Prawira as the drummer). We had thought to have a break and stop the band for a while, as we were separated by provinces which discouraged us to see each other. Progress in technology and the supports from our new friends on the scene are the integral factor which motivated us to keep going through with FROMHELL.
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
The lyrics tell about dark realm, magic, myth creatures, wars mixed with oriental tradition and culture. The sole purpose to explore this music is to take the listeners to an enigmatic dark dimension full with magic, wars and very strong culture mission, where fundamentally people are not far from their ancestors influence and should reflect on them.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'From Hell'?
We, in deed, did not really focus on the meaning and the philosophy aspects the time we chose the band name. We just thought that name sounds cool for a metal band. That name was originated from a movie title From Hell (starred by Johnny Depp), a dark and horror movie about a mysterious killer Jack The Ripper. That was how we agreed to use the name.
But then we realized that name is an important aspect of band identity and we had a thought to change it. But we didn’t do it because we felt that we have a name which was authentic. We have already had that name for 9 years. There are many bands called from hell, even the latest Paul Bostaph’s (Slayer) have the same name as ours.
6.Currently there are only 2 members in the band are you planning on expanding the line up in the future or do you chose to remain a duo?
In the future we are open to possibility to add new members, who clearly have to have the same vision and integrity as us, as these far the problem is the difficulties in finding those characteristics. But for now we are quite comfortable with this condition, where we can pour out really original ideas and limitlessly explore.
7.Recently Naturmacht Productions have re-issued your 2013 album, what are your thoughts on the final product?
We think Naturmacht has been very well in composing every release, start from their artists, time management and very neat production quality and professionalism. We believe the result is not disappointing. One attribute we value is Naturmacht has marketing strategy which we think very well and objective, everything is handled equivalently.
saya rasa naturmacht sudah dengan sangat bagus dalam mengemas setiap rilisannya, mulai dari penanganan artis-artisnya, manajemen waktu, kualitas produksi yang rapih dan professional, dan saya yakin hasilnya tidak mengecewakan, satu hal Naturmacht memiliki strategi penjualan yg menurut kami cukup baik, dan tidak memihak, semua ditangani secara merata.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
So far we had wonderful feedback, just like the listener responses who wrote to us asking many things about FROMHELL, several international webzine who have gave us positive review with alright rank/score, which help us in spreading the information about and promoting this album, as well as a number of interview from blogs we received. One thing that surprised us is when the album is listed in progressive metal category in a prog web scene we found.
9.When can we expect new material and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We have a grasp on a number of materials and new inspirations. Perhaps we will start the recording process in mid 2015. We hope they can be released during mid 2016. We are not in haste in this because in our norm, creating developed piece of work is fundamental. In the future maybe we will keep experimenting and adventuring. Maybe the black metal characteristic will be deepened in our future works.
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?
We listened to many genre of music, not only metal. Some world/folk music are really inspiring for us, such as Huun-Huur-Tu a group of throat singing from Tuva -russia, and we will certainly keep exploring Asian oriental melodic in the future. But basically we, still, are inspired by internationally well known black metal group from ulver, windir, until Heimdal Wacht, and even progressive groups from Marillion until Pagans Mind.
11.What are some of your non musical interests?
Something mythical, culture, history/ legend, and philosophy related will always be intriguing for us. We like to surf on local pre-historical to look into and grasp the aura behind, other than information technology stuffs which we engaged with daily in here.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
We would like to thank you for this interview opportunity and to Naturmacht production, as well as everyone who has listened to and buy our first album. We hope you guys can listen and feel what we want to convey. Thank you.
https://naturmachtproductions.bandcamp.com/album/dynasty-np054
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