1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Sure. Gexerott was born in 2004 in a place called Envigado, near the Antioquia’s capital city (Medellín). At the beginning Gexerott was formed as a three-piece band and we released our first album like that. It's called Grim Arcane Winds and was released in 2007 by the north American label “Blood Ritual Productions”. After a drastically line-up change, in 2013 we released our second album “Into Descensus Impious Ad Gloriam”. This time released by the Colombian label “Tribulación Productions”. Now, after 8 long years we have released our third full-length entitled “Hallucinetic Violet Ignition” in collaboration with the Ecuadorian label “Exhumed Records” and the Russian label “Satanath Records”. We perform Black Metal in a non-traditional way (aesthetically speaking) but keeping alive what has made this musical genre a raw, violent, honest and full of convictions expression of art.
2. Recently you have released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
For us, art is a manifestation of philosophy, spirituality, emotions and experiences. Each one of our albums are a response to a precise portion of time and space. In this album we explore new sounds and new atmospheres where you’ll find songs that combine ambient sounds, violent hypnotic guitar riffs and chorus that are mixed and interact with each other trying to cause a movement in the emotions through a history. Each one of these songs is a history in itself and every song is a complement of the album’s main history in general: The history of a transmutation of the self. It can easily take you through oceans of uncertainty and calm and then be a storm and chaos bringer.
In the hallucination that carries the transmutation of the self a door is open in the perception where it is allowed to be another being in another world. A deconstruction of the self and it’s perceived existence, tearing apart violently its own conceptions and ideas… opening the eyes in the darkness to see.
3.This is also your first release in 8 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during this time frame?
Ok… it looks like a long time but I’m not really sure if it’s that much. Once again, Gexerott had another line-up change: our previous drummer left the band and we start working successfully with a new one. Someone who has bring a lot of discipline and vision to our work. It implies an adaptation time and a reconstruction of the songs that we have already composed and recorded… Oh, yeah… the recording process, another headache. It took us a lot (I mean, a lot) to find someone to talk honestly about it and interested enough about giving us a try. We recorded over and over again in different studios until we found Umbral Studio where we could actually have a long and good conversation with our sound engineer (Felipe Gonzalez… cheers, bro!). In the end that was the place where we recorded our album and it was better than expected...
We rehearsed a lot and played a few shows in Colombia. Some of those shows big enough (De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas tour) and others a bit more private and selective (Exánima Ritual, in its different versions).
We have never had any particular rush to record and release material. We like to take our time to be sure about what we are doing. To be sure that what we are doing will actually be accurate enough to our own visions and expectations. For us, it’s not about to play blast-beats, use corpse paint and record an album per year to be “active” in a scene long dead….
4. A lot of your lyrics deal with Chaos Gnosticism, Enochain, and the Kabbala along with the band name also being rooted in those traditions, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the esoteric and dark arts and also how long have you been practicing this path to enlightenment?
Our interest in these matters comes from years previous the band’s formation and it has evolved through the years in it (but not necessarily thanks to it). As individuals we have experienced what at the beginning feels like a call from something far beyond our everyday life. We have named it in many times and in many different forms but as the time passes by we have feel the need to bring it to our everyday life through practices and spiritual revelations. Of course that we experience it as individuals. None of us lives the same spiritual experiences or understand it in the same exact way at the same exact time and even so, our own individual perceptions revolve around the same core which stands in constant convulsions looking for different and non-traditional manifestations of itself. Those traditions have feed our visions, practices and understanding in many levels of the existence, even in the undervalued daily life (The brighter the light, the darker the shadow is).
Of course that we don’t see each other as occultist, magicians, enlightened wised persons (something really common nowadays, in particular into the Black Metal scene), but it wouldn’t be fair to ignore that thanks to our particular interest and devotion to the beliefs that we have achieved and experienced we have been able to understand the world(s) into a different perspective and express it in our art form.
5.What is it that you feel makes your music stand out from other bands playing occult black metal?
Well, that’s a hard question to answer.
Gexerott has no pretention to be into the “Occult Black Metal” world. Not even into the “Black Metal” world itself. Of course that we all have growing up listening and experiencing Black Metal… hence, we deeply respect its history, ideals and roots… but what we definitely don’t do is walking into our rehearsal room and say “Hey, you know what? I have this riff which express exactly my idea about a particular experience but it’s not black metal enough so I’ll just put it aside and forget it” or like “Hey, we need to write a song that sounds like “X-Band” ”. Not at all. We are here for a total different idea. A different approach. We have spent a lot of years listening and playing Black Metal and we have this need to portray our own interpretation of the ideas and feelings surrounding it. That’s maybe why some people say that our albums have a hard melodic base… or a doom metal vibe… or a post black metal sound… and, you know what? It’s all on them. We don't really care about it.
Honesty was the primal seed for the golden age of Black Metal and we think that that’s the main reason for what we do. To be honest. Our spiritual experiences are there. Our personal convictions are there. There’s a mystical manifestation behind that and sometimes it’s a pure manifestation of Darkness… sometimes it’s a raged and violently destructive vision…. sometimes it’s an ocean of uncertainty and melancholy… sometimes it’s a hypnotical trance of vibrations and emotions and that’s what we’re up to. It results that Black Metal is the banner that better describes our art manifestation, but playing Black Metal it’s not our main intention. We’re not interested in to sound like Mayhem or being a new tribute to the old good days of Thorns or Dissection (even when we appreciate and respect their work, of course).
6.Originally the band was called 'Somber Solium', what was the cause of the name change?
It was at the very beginning of Gexerott, when the band was a two-piece band. At that moment, their members were very young with things not that clear… the band’s name change happened while the concept behind the band was constructed. There’s no much to say about it, to be honest.
7.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
Well, this has been a work done by our vocalist Kinetic XI around some ideas presented by all of us. The idea was worked for almost 4 years and have passed through uncountable modifications, but we feel satisfied with the final result. It’s a collage of pictorial techniques over wood with photography and digital post-production. The intention is that it works as a “window” to see through a mind that experiments a hallucinatory state, visions from another time and space that awaken a sense of higher will, the dissolution of the self in that state of hallucinatory ecstasy.
8.Has the band had any opportunities to do live shows and if so, how would you describe your stage performance?
Yes. We have played live a couple times. Most of them in a private event called Exánima along with prominent Colombian bands like G.O.C, Nyxtahar, Theurgia, Ignis Haereticum, Enter Hell etc. This event is organized by ourselves in company of other people from the aforementioned bands.
But we have been invited to play a couple times with foreigner bands. In 2016 we play in Bogotá as guest to Mayhem’s “De Mysteriis Dom. Sathanas” tour and in 2017 we shared stage with the North American band Uada in their date in Medellín.
We try to always keep in mind what kind of event is inviting us to participate in and according to that we may or may not present a particular “performance”. We try to focus all our effort into Exánima since it allows us to express the real essence of our work.
9.The new album was released on 'Satanath Records', how would you compare working with this label to other labels that you have been a part of in the past?
Well, so far it has been great. We have seen that our album has been well promoted in other countries (something that we didn’t see before. At least not in that level). We got a good deal with them and with Exhumed Records (from Ecuador). At this point (07/05/2021) we haven’t receiver the physical copies of our album but it’s totally understandable since shipping is a complete disaster due to Covid-19 restrictions and the actual Colombian social situation (some fucked up things are happening right now). We are planning to release a limited edition of the album. Just like we did a couple years ago with “Into Descensus Impious Ad Gloriam”.
10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?
To be honest, I haven’t been too much into that. Of course I’ve been notified about a couple of reviews of the album and it seems to have a good feedback. Most of them understand quite right that it’s not a traditional Black Metal album but it’s a positive thing since, as I said earlier, it’s part of our own intention. They seem to be a bit surprised that it’s an album that has very little similarities with our two previous albums, but for what I can see… it just worked as a plus.
11.What is going on with 'Nyxtar' these days which also shares a couple of the same band members?
I’m not really sure how dead Nyxtahar is now, but the project has been on hold for a couple years. Their bass player has been a bit far from playing Black Metal. He’s a great guy tho, but that’s the reality. Their vocalist shares the same history. But what is true is that they had amazing material and the rest of the band (the ones who keep playing and sharing with us) are not willing to give up. We shared great experiences and built something strong and powerful. I guess that the band will be active with new people, but I’m not really sure about when that will be done. We have talked a lot about release something together (and I’m sure that we will) but as you can imagine, we have no rush about it. Neither do they.
12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Well, we have been working hard into new material. There is a project that has keeping our creativity busy. For the moment, I can tell you that is a split album. A conceptual work that we have been constructed with friends and brothers from a local band that will be announced at the right time.
Our aim is to get connected with more people that feels attracted to our musical and conceptual work. To our art. It may help us to reach new levels of both aspects which is very important for us as a band and as individuals.
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?
That’s a hard question. We are very different among us and it’s something that you can find even in our own musical tastes and influences. We feel attracted to violent (even dark, if you want) artistic manifestations that are full of mysticism and emotions. Each one of us look for inspiration in literature, photography, painting, spiritual traditions and music, of course (ironically not that much into metal music). I’m talking about those things that may influence our work in Gexerott.
As for what I’ve been listening lately… well, I’ve to say that I’m kinda old fashioned nostalgic that still finding an invaluable and deep darkness in the classic albums that shaped Black and Death metal and its roots into more contemporary bands and even in genres no directly related with metal at all.
14.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I’d like to thank you for the patience for the reply to this conversation and the interest in our artistic work and of course to thank those who have taken enough time to read it. Keep your eyes open. There will be some good announcements soon.
Solve Et Coagula!
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