1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?
1.Winds of Mayhem, or simply "WOM" (both versions accepted) is a black metal musical project based in Cyprus, formed in the end of 2011. The name is obviously inspired from Bathory's classic "The Wind of Mayhem".
In the early years of existence, WOM released a various numbers of demos, the project being more an experiment, rather than something serious. What I mean with that is that the early releases were totally cave recorded, also in lack of any decent equipment, were 100% programming based songs, in times I knew nothing about programming and especially in times I was impatient (I use to complete one demo release in just a few hours) and the most important thing, I was in a never ending search for the so called desired sound.
Although the releases weren't solid at all, the early times (2011-2013), remains sacred on the path of this project because them made today's WOM sounds more like music than nonsense which also has its own cold and raw originality.
2.Recently you have 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?
2. The "From Abyss, Thy Wrath" record differs a lot from any of my past releases and this fact was mentioned also on my label's official BandCamp site, on the album's description section.
Originally this record was meant to be very similar in aggressiveness with 2015's EP "Summoning the Black Moon", actually it was meant to be an album version of the EP, but the composing process wasn't going at all in that direction, so I came up with more melodic and creepy musical themes in comparison, of course, with the other materials I made, and I could easily delete them and re-write everything, but, strange fact, I actually liked a lot the new instrumentals, I like them so much that I changed the whole album musical concept within a few days.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects you explore with your newer music?
3. Well, first of all, the process I complete a song is the following: I compose and record a sketch of the instrumental in the beginning, I listen to it for a while and after follows the lyrics writing process, in a way to match the essence of the instrumental. I believe it was important to mention these facts first because my new record wasn't an exception for this rule.
As mentioned above, "From Abyss, Thy Wrath", musically speaking, differs a bit from any of my past releases, so implicitly the lyrical theme I found most befitting were a conceptual storyline about the classical transition from good to evil, acceptance and the way society destroys passion and individualism. A storyline dressed in a 15th, 16th century horror style.
4.On some of your older releases you went more into depth on Norse Mythology, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in this topic?
4. From most of the mythologies and cultures I came across in my life, the greatest respect I have for the Norse one, because of the simple fact that they never promoted blinded believing and Christianity-like allegiance, yet they were always putting a huge accent on a life as a warrior, filled with the greatest form of honour possible to exist. Okay, now I'm not a big expert on this topic, honestly, I'd never studied this properly in a special institution or something, so "Northern Sons" (my first full length and only material to have this theme) was more like a tribute album, than anything else, a tribute for their cultures and a trubute for the loss of my grandfather, a loss that actually pushed me to read hundreds of these Norse fairy-tales.
5.I know that the band name means 'Winds Of Mayhem' and it came from a Bathory song, how does this name fit in with the musical style that you play?
5. That's a good question, hahaha. I believe the only reasonable answer will be that my music is really chaotic, "mayhemic", hard to grasp for the majority of the audience, because most of the people who listens to Winds of Mayhem, listens in the same time to really demented stuff, and that's a good thing, I believe, open-mindness is important on this path.
6.With this project you record everything by yourself, have you other thought of working with other musicians?
6. Yes, the answer is yes when comes about this project, from composing, recording, writing lyrics, mixing, mastering, even arranging the cover arts are all done by myself.
Well, it depends a bit what you meant with: "working with other musicians". If we're talking about WOM, to complete the line-up, to become a whole band, the answer would be no, because I want this project to be 100% me. Only, maybe, I'll consider the opposite in a special circumstances if I'll ever decide to go on live and this isn't very likely to happen, especially not in the near future, but nothing is excluded.
Now, when we're talking about me, being a part of a different band or project, the answer is yes. I already been part of another project called "Primitive Sludge", along with a friend of mine, a raw progressive black metal project, where I was performing lead vocals and also released a demo in 2014 entitled "Winter's Moon" and also I tried to recreate a long lost project from 2009, called "Poseidon" with two more friends and we released a demo entitled "Sacrifice" in January 2015, where I was performing guitars and vocals. For the time being, this two projects are on hold but isn't excluded at all to come back in the future, even as full line-up bands.
7.A year back you where a part of a split with 'Whispersorrow', what are your thoughts on the other band that had participated on the recording?
7.Yes, it was exactly one year ago, more specifically 28th of March 2015, a split entitled simply "WW" (which stands for WhispersorrowWOM).
It was a 4-track of each project material, the main themes adopted being depression, inner imperfection, solitude etc. It was in my opinion a really cool matetial because of its diversity of styles and genre's adopted (from classic black metal, until electro ambient and stuff) and I truly enjoyed working along with Psithiros (the mastermind behind Whispersorrow) and the experience, hopefully, will repeat.
About Whispersorrow all I can say is that's a great project, based mostly on programming, but that guy knows how to make music even from the sound of an atomic bomb explosion combined with the sound of massacred pig, hahaha and implicitly working along, improved a bit my programming skills which until than, were kind of lame.
8.The new album was released on Metal Mayhem Records, are you happy with the support that thy have given you so far?
8. Metal Mayhem Records is one of the best record label I ever worked with and I discovered them totally by chance on a primitive Facebook search last year when I craved for a CD release of my EP "Summoning the Black Moon" and they did a truly great job. Absolutely nothing to complain about!
They're are also from that side of the world (Belize) where metal music fans are more open minded for new unheard extreme things, than Europe, in my opinion, I mean 80% of my fans comes from South and Central America and that says a lot. No criticism or discrimination intended here, it's just a true observation of mine and nothing more.
9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
9. In my early years not the best one, honestly, but I can't really blame them, for productions being also lame in the eyes of fans expectancy.
On the other hand, lately with each material I see a better and better maturity and implicitly a better feedback, which is perfect in my opinion, because with each record, there are improvements, improvements which will continue to come and blossom in the future. Even the world's biggest critic, if listens to my early demos and after to my latest album will notice huge differences.
10.Where do you see yourself heading into as a musician in the future?
10. To be honest I don't think a lot about the future, what I mean is that I don't have huge plans as a musician except to make better and better music.
For me music is also that "something" I make for my own satisfaction rather than trying to impress somebody and I like it a lot here in the underground because I can do whatever I want without being dictated by someone else. Things like celebrity or fame are not and I don't believe will ever be in my mind. It's just bullsh*t.
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?
11. My biggest influence comes from early 90's black metal scene and also from ambiental stuff. I still remeber when I was listening for the first time to classics like Mayhen, Darkthrone, Burzum, Bathory etc. and all the feelings they invoked in me with their dark stuff, it was one of the most "eargasmic" experience a man can have, in my opinion.
As a listener, obviously I listen to a lot of obscure black and death metal from the deepest plan of underground scene, but besides this, my musical tastes are kind of vast. I listen also to classical music, dark wave ambient, jazz, even blues, rock'n roll, 70's progressive rock and all that's good for my ears, here there's no such thing as a limit.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
12. First of all, it's been a pleasure to give this interview and thanks OcultBlackMetalZine for all the interest on my project, secondly, a "Thanks" for all those who supported in any way WOM over the years and finally, don't forget to get the new album "From Abyss, Thy Wrath" on Metal Mayhem Records official BandCamp website. All hails!
