Black Death Cult Interview

 

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?

Devil’s Paradise was recorded in July 2019. In Nov 2019 we played two gigs, alongside REVENGE in Edmonton and Calgary, Canada. Over the course of the next year we composed music and lyrical concepts for two new releases, a full length and an accompanying EP which we will start recording in March 2021.

2.So far you have released one album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?

The style has been described as “riff oriented black metal” which I think is quite accurate. It has a lot of traditional heavy metal and traditional doom metal influence, as well as some more bizarre and avante garde passages. It’s much closer to Mediterranean and South American Black metal than the typical Scandinavian style. Some have compared it to Italian doom metal acts such as Paul Chain, Black Hole, The Black etc, because along with a heavy Black Sabbath influence there are synths and experimental vocals woven into the straightforward and thundering black metal sections.  

3.A lot of your music also brings back to the 90's occult style of black/death metal, do you feel this side of the genre was seriously overlooked in the 90's era with the more basic Satanic bands getting more attention back then and also do you feel the style that you are playing has made a huge comeback over the years?

I personally don’t draw a distinction between occult and satanic bands. Thematically, and ideologically these things usually overlap. Bands with ideological integrity always come across as better, because having sound ideology is what MAKES them objectively better, they succeed with lyrics, music and graphic presentation BECAUSE they are satanic, and because their interest in the occult leads them down the path toward destruction and creation. If they are doing it right, their band will succeed (though maybe not in the way they expect). In the mainstream funderground, at the bigger concerts, at the shopping malls, non-Scandinavian Black Metal was overlooked. The world-wide perspective of Black Metal is a rich spectrum of styles and most of it DOESN”T sound like mainstream norsecore (generic riffs with only trempicking and blast all the way through, maybe some phoned in limp sounding symphonic elements). More people nowadays have access to the hidden stuff online, so it’s easier to hear music that doesn’t have huge marketing $$ behind it. Thus bands are now more likely to be recognized because of sonic integrity. 

4.Your main lyrical themes focus on Transhumanism and Artificial Intelligence, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in these topics?

The idea we presented in Devil’s Paradise is that Artificial Intelligence was something that travelled back in time to influence the course of humanity on a path toward Transhumanism, which is the eventual point where humanity and machinery become indistinguishable. It is a play on the typical interventionist kind of theory (think ancient aliens) but instead the culprits that bestowed influence on human kind in the ancient past were time-travelling agents of AI from the future. The early monolith building cultures of prehistoric times often exhibit technological feats that seemed to degrade in effectiveness as time passed on. The theme we are dealing with posits that that human culture as we know it was kickstarted in order to be placed on a path that would eventually lead to the creation of computers, A.I., etc – the timeline we are currently in. I’ve always been interested in archaeology, anthropology, and world religions and as a person with an extremely active imagination, have these types of ideas swimming constantly within me. For a slightly more in depth discussion on this topic I would direct readers to the recent interview published online by Bardo Methodology magazine. 

http://www.bardomethodology.com/articles/2020/10/21/black-death-cult-interview

5.You have also mentioned an interest in Aleister Crowley, do you feel his teachings where ahead of his time and also do you feel most of modern Western Occultism would not of been the same with all the modern left hand path and right hand path groups admitting his influence on their orders?

I would say yes I agree with these statements. Crowley had an encyclopedic knowledge of religion and the occult, basically everything along these lines that existed before and during his times were digested and regurgitated in his works. His ideas were a precursor to the huge societal changes in traditions and values that precipitated immediately after his death, beginning in the sixties and continuing to this day.

 

6.What are some of the other forms of occultism do you have an interest in?

I’m interested in all forms of occultism. To me that word means “hidden” and everything in existence has an obvious side and a hidden side. The whole can only be perceived once both exoteric and esoteric are acknowledged.  

7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?

The cover art is an altered copy of Audrey Beardsley’s La Morte D’Arthur. I replaced King Arthur with a feminine form and drew the reptilian body with hemipenes everting and spraying the woman with effulgent sperm. This represents the current of the draconic ego despoiling the anima of the human soul.

8.Can you tell us a little bit more about the masks that you where in the photos and also do they have a symbolic and ritualistic meaning to you?

The masks and costumes we wear give the entire band the impression of the entire band being covered in black shit. It is to simultaneously cast aside the individual human ego, and assume the abject form of the other, strangeness from the opposing side. 

9.Has the band done any live shows or open to the idea?

Yes as previously mentioned we have done two live shows in Canada and are open to any invitation.

10.The main members is also a part of 'Amphisbaena' and  'Antediluvian', what is it that you bring into the music of black Death Cult' that you are not able to do with your other bands?

I am the guitarist/vocalist/lyricist of Antediluvian and Black Death Cult. I do session vocals in Amphisbaena but am not part of the creative process there. The lyrics and music are written by the other band members. While there is some overlap in the form and content of Black Death Cult and Antediluvian, I feel that the place the riffs are coming from within me is very different. The two projects are consciously compartmentalized within me. Black Death Cult allows for many straightforward and even minimalistic layers to be intertwined and for balance between those elements. It has a sleazy and lurching kind of feel that I don’t associate with Antediluvian. Antediluvian is about pushing the limits of aggression and density, heavy speed in intricate patterns that are hard to predict. It is always a challenge to play the songs I write for that project at first, an intentional learning curve. With Black Death Cult it it’s like a disembowelment where the guts just flop out, glistening and perfect as they are. 

11.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black, doom and death metal?

We have received a lot of positive feedback from all over the world.

12.Your album is also going to be re-issued through 'Hells Headbangers' in November, how did you get in contact with this label?

I have had a small record label called SERPENTS HEAD REPRISAL running for many years and been trading releases with Hell’s Headbangers since almost the beginning. They contacted me about doing the CD after hearing the vinyl version that was released on SERPENTS HEAD REPRISAL.

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

The next two releases are very doomy. They plod into even more depraved depths of gloomy atmosphere and counterpoint riffing, with experimental vocals and electronic elements. We will cover some very bleak topics as well. The second album will be called Diaspora and deals with the early wars of prehistoric human species on this planet in a magickal context. The accompanying EP is called Vampyric Qabala and is an expose on the dualistic perspectives the human race still retains which was ingrained from those brutal times of survival, when warring species of humanoids battled for domination on planet earth (hint: it’s still going on today).  As both these releases are fully written and ready to be recorded, we plan to start writing the third album immediately. That will be our most brutal and barbaric compositions to date. 

14.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?

I’m interested in many types of music. Primitivism, ethnomusicology, religious music from the world can be very interesting. Dark ambient, ritual ambient, experimental, early industrial, and of course traditional heavy metal, doom metal and black metal is never neglected. 

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

Thank you for the interview.

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