Ilemauzar Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?

We are from Singapore and we play black metal with a little element of death metal. We are formed in 1996 with members of now defunct bands. 

2.Recently the band released their first full length, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the demos you have released in the past?

The sound on the album… that’s a tough one. Basically, we are very inspired by bands like Behemoth, Dark Funeral, Belphegor and even bands like Naglfar. We have many mixed reviews for this album and some said we sound a little thrash. As for the old demo, Pit of Despair, that was probably more influenced by the Greek style black metal in the vein of old Rotting Christ and Varathron. So you can see probably feel how the styles differ between the 90s till now.

3.From 1998 to 2014 there was no new material being released, can you tell us a little bit more about what was going on during that time span?

We did recorded a full length album in 1999 which was scheduled for released with the now defunct label, Dark Artz Releases. But the closure of the recording suite we were using caused us to loss all data done for the whole full length. No release and the band eventually split up in 2000 after 2 live shows supporting Chthonic (TW) and Sigh (JP). And that was during my (Bloodcurse) mandatory military service period. Right after I was done with the army, I decided to put the band back together but it wasn’t easy to get good musicians to commit. And we drifted for years till 2013. That’s the time we got a solid lineup to get things moving.   

4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Lyrical topics mainly involved with a little Goetic magic and anti-religion messages.

5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Ilemauzar'?

Ilemauzar is the name of a familiar of one of the witches during Matthew Hopkins (Witchfinder General) time. During the 1600s, Matthew Hopkins went around hunting for witches and many innocence died during that period as suspected witches. The cause of all these was because Christians think that they are heretics towards Christianity. It’s not really an inspiration as the name was given by one of our ex band member who used to play keyboard for the band before the Pit of Despair demo. And to honor that, we are continuing her legacy with the name. However, we might just write something on the next album regarding this old tale of the Witchfinder General. 


6.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and alsohow would you describe your stage performance?

I guess the best show we ever played was in Surakarta, Indonesia. That was in February 2016. We were invited by our friends from the band Down for Life (Indo Metalcore). It was their annual celebration festival. There were about 15 bands playing. The crowd was totally awesome. About 2000 people. As for our stage performance, I really don’t know how to describe ourselves. You might wanna check out some of our Youtube videos.

7.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We just did our “The Ascension Asia Tour 2016” between October and December 2016. As for future plans, we definitely will be looking at Northern China, Mongolia, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. But we’ll see whatever comes up in the near future.

8.The album was released on Sepsis Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

The boss of Sepsis Records is a good friend of mine. They are a great label to work with and they own a recording suite which has pretty top notch amps and equipment. However, after discussing with the boss, we decided to move on with Transcending Obscurity after the launch of The Ascension to look for more distro opportunities and to reach out to wider audience. 

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and death metal?

It’s been pretty mixed. There are always good and bad feedbacks. There is no way a band will be able to please all their audience at 100%

10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

I never really thought about this but let’s hope we can achieve an EU and US tour in the future and of course with our music going beyond our creativity.

11.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?

Dark Funeral, Behemoth, Belphegor & Naglfar.

I mainly listen to bands like the above mentioned plus I’m going backward nowadays and listen to old albums from bands like Emperor, Throne of Ahaz, Mork Gryning, Zyklon and also Lord Belial.


12.How would you describe your views on Satanism and Occultism?

My views are always open towards both Satanism and occult. I do enjoy reading up on topics and books related to all these but I am definitely not a practitioner. Knowledge is gold.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thanks for the interview and sorry for taking so long to answer them because we were on tour. Keep the flames of metal burning! Horns up! \m/

Bandcamp

Facebook

Myspace

Official website

SoundCloud

Ilemauzar/The Ascension/Sepsis Records/2016 CD Review/

  Ilemauzar  are  a  band  from  Singapore  that  plays  a  mixture  of  black, death  and  thrash  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "The  Ascension"  which  was  released  by  Sepsis  Records.

  Epic  sounding  synths  start  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro  the  music  goes  into  more  of  a  blackened  death  metal  direction  along  with  some  grim  black  metal  screams  and  when  the  music  speeds  up  a  decent  amount  of  blast  beats  can  be  heard  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  When  tremolo  picking  is  utilized  it  gives  the  songs  more  of  a  raw  feeling  and  the  tracks  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  when  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  the  riffs  also  use  a  decent  amount  of  melody  and  there  is  also  an  instrumental  track  that  also  introduces  Asian  style  acoustic  guitars  onto  the  recording  while  the  main  focus  remains  more  on  a  heavier  style  and  the  last  track  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Ilemauzar  plays   a  musical  style  that  is  mostly  rooted  in a   very  aggressive  and  melodic  style  of  black  metal  while  also  mixing  in  influences  of  thrash  and  death  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  Luciferian,  Goetic,  Blasphemy  and  Darkness  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ilemauzar  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  black,  death  and  thrash  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Dessolute  Assumption"  "Doctrine  68"  and  "Reclamation".  8  out  of  10. 

Ilemauzar Official Site

Ilemauzar Bandcamp

Ilemauzar Facebook