1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
Hello!. First of all Thanks for the interview!
We are currently preparing some gigs in our country and trying some events in Europe.
Meanwhile we are working in our next album that will be recorded maybe in this year, we hope. Music and lyrics is something that we are developing currently and we can tell that this album will be in the same despairing and negative way!
2.Recently you where a part of a split, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on your side of the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
Well, the truth is that this split you mention is the split with Animus Mortis (band from Chile) which was released in LP in 2010 so, it´s been 5 years since it was released. It has been re-released in Tape format by Nebular Carcoma from Spain in 2015.
This split was a cooperation between both bands. The music in there were songs that were recorded in the times when “The last breath of my mortal despair” was recorded. They were songs we recorded but they were not included in that album so, these songs were saved for this split and we think it was a good idea.
Our part of the split consists of 2 songs. 1 is a fast Black Metal song like the ones in “the last breath ..” and the other one is more acoustic and with an oppressive atmosphere, in fact a video was made of this song (the most silent of all hours) that can be checked in you tube.
Not to mention that tracks from the other part of Animus Mortis were really good and worth to take a listen. We are really satisfied about this cooperation with our mates Animus Mortis.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with your newer music?
Etica Profana Negativa is the birth of the new negativity treatise which I came up with other Spanish writers about a concept of “Anticosmos” and about the figure of great thinkers like Cioran, Hense and Phillip Mainlander. This last one, through his work “The philosophy of redemption” created a new concept in which he concluded that Non Existence is better than existence… He brought this meaning to practice and committed suicide when he just received the book from the printing house.
We see ourselves as heralds of the negativity, so for this album we have joined the literary concept and musical at once. You can see me reflected like the photo of the cover. Writing fatal negativity treatises in an old dark crypt.
I , personally collaborated in the introduction for a book of philosophy released by a fan of the band. It was released in parallel with the album. If you want to dive a little more, you can read the lyrics of Empty album of the book that I was talking about before. The Author is Jacobo Morais and the title is “Ontofobia y voluntad de muerte“ (Ontophobia and will of death)
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Empty'?
The philosophy of Empty consists in reflecting the most negative side of real life in our music and lyrics. A label that fits quite good would be that “Life is full of bad moments, Empty is the soundtrack of all these moments” Those feelings of Death, despair, Anguish, bitterness, wrath, sadness, solitude…. Are shown in our music. We exorcise all our internal dramas through our albums. In all of them there something transcribed from our lives. For me, life in its major part has been and will be torment. I can´t explain how the lights faded and how I reached this dementia state. I think that life, doesn´t make us bigger , on the contrary it is negative and painfull… only in the absence of this we can discern small line of hope. Personally I use my music as a shock treatment in order to be able to live day by day this repugnant life. For me, Death sicken me as much as life and I think that the best we can do is to make a legacy of negativity for human race. Many people write to tell us that they feel identified with our music and our lyrics. It helps to reflect their bad moments in their lives. Many times this has been what forced me to keep on with this torment , each release of the band…
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?
Empty music is not for everyone, it´s negative music and maybe there is no a lot of people who attends to a gig in order to feel bad… on the contrary the fun and the party in “metal” is surrounding the scene nowadays… decreasing the dark feeling of BM scene. We will never make big tours, just exclusive shows where the ambient and atmosphere is suitable to reflect our dark and negative art. These conditions are not usual, just in few occasions… this is why for us is better to perform this way than in tons of festivals or shows… On the contrary the vision and essence of the band would be distorted … which is not friendly and positive. We must keep this negative essence over all things.
We try to keep the sound of Empty in concerts, so It should be Suitable conditions of acoustics and proper lights in a stage help a lot to be able to transmit what you want. We have played in all kind of places and we will still keep on doing it. Anyway the better are the ambient conditions, the better we can perform our personal music. We prefer not so many lights, moreover we don´t need a lot of paraphernalia or something like that. Our stage image is quite cadaveric and the most cemetery aura possible… we pursue to reflect an atmosphere of despair, desolation, anguish… all negative feelings of humankind.
Probably one of the best shows we performed was in Under The Black Sun, back in 2006. The festival is in the middle of the trees, the atmosphere was great… a really Black Metal event.
In Porto (Portugal) we played in The Black Boat. It was really a boat and it was amazing because the night and conditions were really dark that night… All of us were immersed in a negative and oppressive aura.
In every concert we make we try to evoke the blackest of feelings. One of our latest shows was made with all the lights off… it was only darkness and our music surrounding the venue….
6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
Well.. we are currently on conversations with several bands and festivals in order to play in 2016. There´s a positive feedback so we will do some gigs in the future.
Although we are not a band that play so much, as I mentioned previously, some shows for next year are planned and we will try the best to create the negative and oppressive aura our music evokes.
7.The band has been around since 1995, what is it that keeps you motivated to play black metal after 20 years?
Empty is a band active since 95. Those members left the band remaining me as the only member carrying the band since 97. The band was not really active until 99, when we started to play gigs and record a live tape distributed in the very underground. It was called live in blood because our singer back then made up his face with the blood from his cut arms.
From this demo, we released MCD Eternal cycle of decay by ourselves and little by little we caught the attention of the UG scene. As the years passed by we turned into a more negative and despairing band. The sound of the band was defined in this workcreating mortuary feelings and a unique personality in the scene. Empty was raised as an entity with his own path not following any trend or musical label. It´s only a representation of the negative and dark side of each individual who feels identifies with our music… his terrors, anguish, tragedies…. All those moments are reflected in Empty… It helps them to exorcize his demons and so we do with this necro art.
After replacing the old drummer , the band went a step further because it began to work more profesionally. The maturity and the thematic of the band took the attention of the great label Osmose prod, which has been supporting our proposal. We think Osmose will arrive to those people who can´t listen to our music among tons of releases existing in the scene, web, etc… Our own internal needs of releasing our black flame and negative feelings have been the force that pushed us to keep on paying homage to the unique and only truth in this world, Death.
8.Recently you where a part of a split with Animus Mortis, what are your thoughts on the other band that had participate on the recording?
Resuming the question 2 of this intie… We listened “Thresholds of Insalinity” of AM and were amazed about their Black Metal, so we decided to contact them. They liked our music too, so we proposed them the idea of releasing a split vinyl together.
We think the cooperation was fruitful and the result is really good.
We liked their music since we think they are quite original and offers a unique Black Metal. We salute them!
9.The last full length was released on Osmose Productions, do you feel having an album on this legendary label has done a lot to get your music out there heard?
I had never contacted with them , but I had their email address in our account. I just asked them if he were interested in receiving a promo and the answer from Hervé was yes. Two hours later sent us an email telling us that he loved our music and he wanted to release it! Of course it was a pure rush of adrenaline for the band. Osmose signs those bands which they like. Sure it´s not for money because otherwise they wouldn´t sign Empty from Spain which a music proposal besides trends. This is really worth mentioning.
We think we are going to grow up with this label, since so far we had not a professional support as now we have.
The truth is that we feel very privileged to be in Osmose. When we think that first legendary of Black Metal which we grew with, it´s fucking great!
Yes, of course to be in a label like Osmose gives the band a kind of prestige and obviously more people will listen to our music than previously, but we don’t care much about it because we have always made what we felt from our dark hearts. The thing is that we are very satisfied to have one CD and one Vinyl which in the back it appears Osmose productions. It´s an honor.
10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
Since the beginning of the band, we were having feedback from many countries all around the world. Even before the internet explosion, when every contact were via ordinary mail.
I remember writing letters by hand. Those envelopes full of flyers that were really useful to find out new bands, it was exciting. Now with internet all that magic is lost, but of course the contact now is really fast, so the feedback we have currently is even more.
We receive feedback from Europe of course, South America, North America, Asia, even middle East… Black Metal is worldwide.
We remember when we received a serious offer from Blackened Moon from USA. It was great because a foreign label offered us to release our music which was great! We have to thank to Chas Schoals who supported the band with the releases of “A source of hollow essence” and “the last breath of my mortal despair”…
After all these more than 15 years of activity, we were contacted by Hervé from Osmose prod. Which released our last album “Etica profana negativa”. It took the band to another level.
11.When can we expect another full length and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
As we commented before, we expect to record a new album during this year. It will be in the same vein that Etica Profana Negativa. We have already composed the tracks, but we have still to make arrangments, lyrics and so on in order to give shape to the new release.
We always try to progress and improve musically in every album, but always from a dark perspective, which is the main concept of the band. The music of Empty have been always more focused on the atmosphere created as a whole more than skill playing. So, we will continue in the same vein since we understand the band was created to reflect our deepest negative feelings inside this moribund world… We will keep on walking our way meanwhile others can feel attracted to tendencies… We will keep the black flame burning in the skies!
12.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?
We have been always influenced by the early 90´s Black Metal. You know, all those treasures from Emperor, Mayhem, Isvind, Satyricon….
After that the albums released by Selbtmord were really a shock for us… Krohm, Shining, Leviathan, Ondskapt, etc… The black feeling was prevailing again the scene after tons of melodic releases back then. We think those albums, bands like Graven, Xasthur, first Deathspell Omega, Blut Aus Nord discovering of Black Legions, etc… were a guide for us and understood which the true feeling had to be.
The truth is that nowadays it´s getting harder to find out bands with the true feeling, but if ones search for properly, you will find true gems… Lorn, Aosoth, Tukaaria, Volahn, Nightbringer, Cosmic Church, Vetala, Black Howling, …. There are still really good bands out there that still brings dark and death to this decaying world…
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? Thanks for the interview!
We were born under the sign of a moribund star. From the deepest void the funeral songs will be sung in the terrifying lucidity of the wakefulness…. And also Misery
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