1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?
Antares: we have released Code on CD format. I took all the effort tomake the artwork 100% linked to the album. Each song has a special sigil created from key words, to match it's meaning. There are some more
surprises to discover, but I'll leave that to the purchaser.
2.In October you had released a new album, 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?
A: The sound is just our own patented mixture of things we like. The best thing you can do, is try to create a record which you yourself would like to hear, but doesn't exist. You try to fill sort of a gap, so to speak. The more different stuff you listen to, the more original this mixture will be. How good you mix all the elements is key. This new record isn't that much different from the first two Eps at it's musicalroots. All the basic ideas were already there, we just expanded them.
Previously, especially on the first Ep, I was trying to limit some of our music so it could fit a raw particular style. This time there weren't any limits. We just pushed ourselves and our abilities to write and play. Some of the songs went a long way to their final version, since we started writing for this album in 2009. Almost all the songs from the Magnum Coeptum compilation were finished by 2008, maybe except the lyrics part. So we had a lot of time to focus on the new material.
This was way back, when Erthun was still our rhythm guitarist. As for the production and mixing, me and Mjolnir took things in our own hands.
After all the work we have done, I can't imagine any other way of producing records. It would be impossible using a hired stuido. We would be fucking broke. I walked in at 5pm on friday, and walked out saturday
7 am. Listened to the mix a couple of times on the way home, sleep for 3 hour, return for our rehearsal, then mix again. We were going ape shit to make the album sound exactly the way we wanted. At one point we just decided that we hit a wall when it comes to our possibilites with producing the album, and we decided it was time to unleash it into the world.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
A: The album is continuing the story started by the first two Eps. A man finds himself at a turning point in his life, which leads him into isolation. This isolation results in a delusional state, where he can't quite distinguish fiction from reality, and enters an altered state of mind. Ars Sathanae I and II were about insanity, depression and maltheism, rejecting everything that could be described as a life in daylight. It marked the beginning of a search for forces and powers beyond this realm. Imagine you have two parallel streams of your own
self. Something happens, and your second self leaves somewhere. Then it returns, and you have to rebuild your own world with all the new knowledge the process brought. That's where Code comes in. It's the
Coagula part. It's also very personal for me in that it's linked with how I was writing our album.
4.On your past releases you had covered some satanic and anti christian themes, do any of the band members still have any interest in those topics?
A: That's actually a really interesting and important question. All that satanic and anti christian stuff was good in the beginning, but it's something you have to process into something more. You can't keep negating something over and over without progressing, evolving. Negation is not a goal in itself, it's a tool for moving forward. The new record has nothing to do with demons or christianity, it covers an eniterily new level of problems. Once you cut yourself away from the herd, it's time to build your own temple, your own monolith. I consider this to be a much more important direction.
5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
A: In one word: ferocious. There were a lot of shows, especially here in Tricity area. We played the best ones when we traveled deeper into Poland though. Summer 2014 we played a small tour of 6 shows across the country to promote Code, one of them in Warsaw. That has to be the best one yet. I couldn't even say anything between songs, becuase the crowd was so fucking loud. We played as the main act. It was an amazing show.
6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
A: No tours planned at this moment. One release party for the physical release of Code, where we will play the album live in it's entirety.
We're not much of a touring band to be honest. Maybe it will change in the future.
7.The new album was self released, are you open to working with a label again in the future or do you prefer the DIY method?
A: We are only open to propositions if a label will still let us have full control of every single thing. And by that, I mean every single fucking thing. From the compositions, mixing and production, to the album artwork and control of the printing process. Everything has to be done right, no errors or mistakes allowed. We take our music extremely serious.
8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to the new album by fans of black metal?
A: I have heard only positive things about the album from people that were into all sorts of different genres, thrash/progressive/black metal.
Which is pretty amazing. The general feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so far.
9.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
A: I'm still recording different solo stuff, which I don't plan releasing. Mjolnir is the guitarist in Cyanide Kiss, a band we made a whole tour with this summer. Vulpus plays in a band called Earthfall.
Check our website's band section for more details.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
A: That's a really difficult thing for me to foresee now. We are all really satisfied with Code. I can't say which direction we will take in the future. This is the first time since I founded Iubaris, when I don't have any idea or plans for further developing our music. When the time comes, I'll have to take all my new riffs, all the new riffs and beats the guys will send to me, and find a new formula. Then me and Mjolnir will have to sit and think about how we want to record everything. Music is a sort of alchemy for me, so I'll keep smithing that fucking metal till we'll a perfect alloy once again.
11.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?
A: I don't listen to 'regular' metal at all. 90% of it is too mechanical for me. Maybe except bands that really have their own flow and style, like Opeth for example. They had a big impact on this album. Some of the
other bands that had a heavy influence on Code, mainly in how we blended and mixed all the instruments together, were grunge bands from thenineties, like Alice In Chains, Pearl Jam. One of the amazing things
that I discovered, since I started using only open strings for all the main riffs and guitar parts in our music, was how classic rock guitar can easily blend with the black metal guitar style, and with folk.
Viking era Bathory was still a big influence, mainly for the sound.
Music wise not as much as for our first two Eps. Also the classic death metal Behemoth, from albums Zos Kia Cultus and Demigod, which was what got me into oriental scales. My personal guitar heroes are Billy
Howerdel and Lindsey Buckingham. You can hear a great A Perfect Circle inspiration on both clean and lead guitar on Code, mainly from their first album, Mer De Noms. There were a lot of vocal inspirations, too
many to count, though I still mark Quorthon and Fernando Ribeiro as the highest two on my list. Which again, isn't that black metal at all.
12.What are some of your non musical interests?
A: Fishing. We are all maniacs of fishing.. just kidding. I'm involved with graphic design and writing lyrics, traveling, photography.
Also some of the more weirder topics, like spiritualism and occultism.
Mjolnir is interested in geocaching, hiking and road cycling. Vulpus likes classic pen and paper rpg games and martial arts. Hipnagog has similar interests to mine, besides that him and Vulpus are real party
animals.
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
A: Cheers! Thanks for the interview!
| Bandcamp |
| Last.FM |
| Myspace |
| Official website |
| SoundCloud |
| YouTube |
.jpg)
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment