1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Mortuum:
R= First of all, thank you for the interest in our music, and also for the interview. Impiedoso is a black metal band from Jaraguá do Sul, a medium sized town located in the south of Brazil. The band was formed in 1998 and it has been in activity since then. We have changed the line-up several times, but the black metal essence has been with us, the philosophy and the music style are still well preserved, even after the genre had become more popular and sort of modernized into some generic stuff.
2.Recently you have released an album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
Mortuum:
R=This is our first album, our first full-length almost 20 years after assembling the band. Obviously, this is a milestone in the life of all of the members, mainly the ones that founded the horde a couple of decades ago. Most of the songs are 15-20 years old, it means that they were polished for years and years, through countless rehearsals throughout all this timeline, and it has finally came out. "Reign In Darkness" is very oriented to the 90's era, when black metal hadn't been refashioned yet. The music is very versatile. It's fast and slow, straight and complex, plenty of obscure references, sullen melodies and riffs often leaning towards death metal.
3.The band has been around since 1998 and while there has done a few demo's released, the first full length did not come out until this year, can you tell us a little bit more about the long wait?
Mortuum:
R= The black metal scene has always been strong around this region in Brazil, but, even if it's considered a very resourceful area (when it comes to good quality of life), back then there was no place to record a decent full-length album. And frankly, it has never meant a big priority for the band. We only started to think about recording a full length in 2013, when the planning began, and we think the result came out exactly as we wanted! The long wait was really worth it.
4.The band formed from the ashes of 'Imperium Tenebrae', what was the cause of splitting the older band to form a new one?
Nahash:
R= Imperium Tenebrae was the first black metal effort in this region around 1994-5, and it featured the few people who were insane about black metal at the time, and had the willingness to compose songs and perform them. There was a conflict of interests at the time, and the group friendly disbanded, forming two different bands oriented towards two different black metal styles, one of those branches came to be Impiedoso in 1998.
5.The lyrics on the album deal with both Occultism and Satanism, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the black arts?
Azoth:
R=Impiedoso's main objectives has always been the preaching of antichristianity, in all of our lyrics, as well as for our personal lives, even though are atheists that follow no religion, preaching satanism is the perfect affront to christians and christianity. By the other hand, we are fascinated by the brilliance of the black arts, and there are many references about occultism in our lyrics.
6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Impiedoso'?
Azoth:
R=Impiedoso translates from the portuguese, meaning "merciless" . The mercilessness is a reference to the band as a group of warriors with no mercy against christianity.
7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Nahash:
R=I think the most remarkable show was one that we played in the city of Curitiba, a city that is around 200 kilometers from our home town, about 14 or 15 years ago. We were playing completely outraged on total fury on the stage, and at some point we looked at the audience and saw hundreds and hundreds of maniacs banging their heads in total sync with our music, just like us on the stage. Their bond with our songs was amazing. It was an insane gig, a night to remember, plenty of moshpits, people screaming and howling, singing the melodies, raising their arms with clenched fists to support the band. It was indeed, something memorable...
8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
Mortuum:
R=Yes. We're scheduling 5 shows, 4 of them together with the old and classic death metal band Chemical Disaster, a band of great friends that has always supported us.
9.Currently the band is unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?
Mortuum:
R=It's not something very clear to us yet. We think it would be nice to have a label for a honest partnership with, and also help us with recording costs (everything from recording equipments, mixing, mastering, CD press and promotions came from our own pockets!) and shows. What we're actually concerned about is being pushed to write music we don't like or don't want to perform.
10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?
Mortuum:
R= Impressive! We were aware that our songs were to be valued by die hard black metal fans, but did not expect that many good comments about how we were able to render the 90's era. We're very happy with the results, and mainly for being able to meet some of the personal taste of the people that support the genre we're labeled upon.
11.What is going on with 'Orthostat' these days, a band that shares a couple of the same members?
Mortuum:
R= Orthostat started at the Impiedoso rehearsals, where me (Mortuum, guitars and vocals) and Aldebaran (drums) used to play some of the riffs of old songs of mine for fun. I used to have a death metal band named "Hellfrost" back in 2005 with 7 or 8 own songs. Since we decided to split, I kept the songs I composed to be recorded someday under a new name. And then Orthostat came to be. We're in the process of recording a full length that will be released soon as well.
12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Mortuum:
R= The band has enough material to record at least another full-length album, with songs more composed 15 to 20 years ago. We also have half a dozen of new songs that will be polished properly before being recorded in a third effort. Impiedoso has it's own characteristic style for a long time and that won't ever change.
13.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?
Mortuum/Nahash:
R=We listen to a lot of old school stuff (as well as some good new stuff that eventually turns up here and there), usually black metal and death metal. Classic stuff like Darkthrone, Master's Hammer, (old) Mayhem, Darkwoods My Betrothed, Songe D'Enfer, Mystifier, Murder Rape, Setherial, Enthroned, Besatt, Desaster, (old) Marduk, Entombed, Morbid Angel, The Chasm, Dead Congregation, Tliltic Tlapoyauak (we highly recommend this project and it's bands), Incantation, Faustcoven, and plenty of other stuff, we could go on forever. We have always been very connected to extreme music, and we still find joy in meeting just for listening to extreme stuff and drinking. At least once a year (for the last 20 years) we drive away from the city and walk deep into the woods, staying there for 2 or 3 days in a row, powered by alcohol and extreme metal. Actually, some of the pictures in the booklet or this album were taken at those meetings, haha!
14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Mortuum:
R= It's hard to be a black metal band nowadays, mainly if you're not investing on some commercial elements in your songs, or make them smaller and accessible. We're not against mp3, or internet sharing, streaming or downloads, but music is not what it was back in the late 90's when we used to listen to the small array of albums that we had through K-7 tapes and Vinyl, which were particularly difficult to find. Also, these current days, music has turned into a second role background ambiance, and no one usually cares about what's playing. Metalheads used to listen metal albums as a whole piece, paying proper attention to it. Nowadays we have a high level of access to anything, anywhere, and there are so many bands that it excels the amount of music that one can be able to listen to. Time has become a fucking disease, and most people don't use to take time to listen to new stuff the way it should be listened. Think about it.
But that's how the extreme metal scene grew to become, and we have nothing to do other than keep doing what we like, and remain merciless!
We also would like to thank everyone that took the time to listen to our work, and we hope you enjoy listening to those songs. Thank you.
- Impiedoso,
jul/27/2017
