Parade/Astral Underground Interview

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your musical projects for those that have never heard you before?

I am the main composer behind the project "parade" and one of the musician of the band "astral underground". Actually Astral Underground has splitted... my mate decided to stop playing black metal for some personal reasons. 

2.How would you describe the musical sound of your projects and how they differ from each other?

Parade remains the mirror of my own views in music; it's not only black metal in essence although the demo "vieilles pierres" is clearly oriented in this way. The next demos, on which i'm currently working will focus on drone, ambient & ethnic elements.

Astral Underground was the result of my encounter with a very special guy, with a very dark and depressive mood. As a result, the music we used to play depicted our own personal problems and mental illnesses.

3.How would you describe the song lyrics you write for your different projects?

The lyrics behind parade' "vieilles pierres" were all about surrealistic poetry.. I was mostly inspired by Maya Deren' Filmography, Lautreamont' "les Chants de Maldoror", and Nerval' "Sylvie". The last track of the demo was sampled from my favorite film "Persona" from I. Bergman.

Astral Underground lyrics are all about mental illness.

All of them are in French.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the names Parade and Astral Underground?

Astral Underground sounded to me very clever in as much as we tried to level up our muddy, dirty, impure... underground minds toward purer, astral levels of sensations. The association of both term was somekind of an oxymoron.

Parade was chosen as my own band name because it sounded to me enough universal. A parade is something in which everything may occur.. just like in my music.. 

5.On both projects you worked solo but managed to make each band sound different, do you feel the music would of not been the way you wanted it if you worked with a full band?

As i've written above, astral underground is the fruit of two guys. Now that it has clearly ended, i think i could not manage to find out someone else to play this music... actually i don't want to find any, it's like the chapter of a book...

For Parade, i would be very interested to find musicians to play live, in particular a drummer. however, the way it's composed make it really unattractive for skilled musicians.. so i guess the line up will remain the same until i manage to compose death metal.

6.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or received any interest?

Not in particular.. what for? everything is possible just with the www now.

7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal?

Unfortunately i really don't know... both demos were only published on a limited number of some black metal blogs and i never really received any feedback.

8.Do you also have any other musical projects that you are involved with?

No

9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

Astral Underground is dead and will remains dead

Parade will evolves toward more ambient music, but with still some influences of black metal.. the mood will explores twin peaks mythology and X-files ufo sighting stuff!

10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

My music is deeply inspired by Burzum' "Filosofem" and "DSEV", Darkspace I, II and III, and bathory.

Nowadays, i'm a lot into krautrock bands, brian eno, mount eerie' Phil Elverum and in sun ra' cosmology.

11.How would you describe your views on Occultism?

No opinions.. i've a phD in physical chemistry so you can guess i'm too much cartesian for that.

12.Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Science, Astronomy (and not "logy"), Books, painting etc...

13.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview? 

maximum volume yields maximum results

https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Parade/3540298641

Astral Underground/Rates/2011 Demo Review

  Astral  Underground  are  a  1  man  band  from  France  and  also  another  project  from  the guy  behind  Parade  with  the  musical  style  being  a  very  ambient  and  depressive  form  of  black  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2011  demo  "Rates".

  "Bacchantes"  starts  off   with  ambient  sounds,  powerful  drums  and  slow,  dark  black  metal  guitar  riffing  and  after  a  minute  the  song  gets  more  powerful  and  the  depressive  black  metal  screams  and  cries  kick  in  and  the  song  is  short.

  "Sielfcle  d'  angoisse"  starts   off  with  some  clean  guitar  playing  and  distorted  effects  which  leads  to  the  drums  and  depressive  screams  kick  in  as  well  as  the  guitars  getting  more  distorted  which  in  return  takes  the  music  into  a  more  primitive  and  atmospheric  direction  as  well  as  mixing  slow  and  fast  parts  together  while  mostly  focusing  on  the  slower  elements  in  the  song.

  "Violon"  starts  off  with  soft  acoustic  guitar  playing  which  uses  both  finger  picking  and  full  chords  along  with  ambient  soundscpaes  in  the  background  and  as  the  song  moves  in  avant  garde  violins  make  their  presence  known  until  the  end.

  "Ratels"  starts  off  with  dark  ambient  soundscapes  and  noise  along  with  some  screams  and  cries  in  the  background  which  leads  to  the  drums,  black  metal  guitar  riffs  and  depressive  screams  and  as  the  song  moves  on  the  music  switches  back  and  forth  between  the  soft  and  heavy  parts  until  it  ends.

  "Mes  cris  dans  l'  escalier"  starts  off  with  ambient  sounds  and  screams  and  as  the  song  moves  on  the  music  goes  into  a  more  avant  garde  direction  before  ending  after  a  couple  of  minutes.

   "L'  ure  du  valet"  starts  off  with  powerful  drumming,  synths  and  ambient  guitar  riffing  which  sets  up  the  mood  for  the  screams  to  kick  in  and  as  the  song  moves  on  the  music  focuses  more  on  the  ambient  elements  as  well  as  mixing  in  some  loud  noises  but  also  keep  the  black  metal sections.

  "Nos  reves  archanes"  starts  off  with  distorted  noises  before  going  into  fast  primitive  black  metal  riffing  and  drums  which  sets  up  the  pace  for  the  vocals  and  blast  beats  before  slowing  down  and  going  into  a  more  depressive  direction  and  also  throwing  variety  into  the  riffing  along  with  heavy  distorted  parts.

  Song  lyrics  are  written  in  French  and  cover  metaphysical  and  depressive  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  dark,  raw  and  primitive  sound  with  the  bass  guitar  being  mixed  down  low  in  the  mix.

  In  my  opinion  Astral  Underground  are  a  very  great  sounding  ambient,  depressive  black  metal  project  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre,  you  can  check  out  their  music  here  http://www.mediafire.com/download/yjngvjtn571oebb/Astral_Underground_-_Rate%CC%81s.zip .  
RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Bacchantes"  and  "Ratels".  RECOMMENDED.