Your newest CD, 'Iter in obscuritates mentis,'>
In your bio, you explain that the original idea
was to 'play the more
extreme and fastest black metal in Italy.' Do you
feel you've accomplished
this thus far? What bands from your homeland have
inspired you?
I've recently heard that Italy's Opera IX
has broke up, and some
of the members have formed another band called
'Cadaveria.' Your
thoughts on them? What about
Theatres des Vampires or Ordo Equitum Solis, two
other noteworthy Italian bands?
Could you tell us about the topics of your
lyrics?
It states in your bio that you will be releasing
your official debut
'Daemonolatria Hypnotica' very soon. You further
state you will be adding
industrial/electronic elements to your style. How
has this all come about
and has it changed the style of the band a lot?
What is your favorite era in your countries past?
Can you tell us
anything about ancient Italy that interests you
particularly? What about
the ancient gods/goddesses and the culture that
existed before the coming of
Christianity?
Give us your thoughts on the world-society. Do
you think that something
has gone wrong?
If you could meet one person, living or dead, who
would it be and why?
In your perspective, what are some of the things
in life worth living
for, and ultimately, worth dying for?
If you could learn the answer to any one
question, what would the
question be?
Your thoughts on the cosmos and the
possibilities of life elsewhere? Do
you believe Earth could have been visited by alien
life-forms in the past?
How do you feel about the current state of black
metal in the world? Do you
feel it has gotten too mainstream?
What are your future plans with Ars Macabra? How
can those
interested obtain your work?
Please begin with a bio and introduce yourself
and Ars Macabra to
the world.
Ars Macabra was formed in 1998 by Sathor and Nero Baratro respectively on guitar and bass.
The idea was to play the more extreme and fastest black metal music in Italy.
After a whole summer of rehearsing and song writing they found the help of Abyss on drums to complete the songs structure.
After a few weeks Azrael joined the band on vocals and the line up was ready to work on the forthcoming demo.
They went into the studio to record a first rough demo-CD of 7 songs of pure hate and blasphemy during November 1998 but unsatisfied with the sound-production they decided to re-record the demo on a different recording studio, the new opus was conceived during June-July 1999 with the adding of two new tracks, "Iter in obscuritates mentis" was finally released as their official debut demo.
After the realization of "I.I.O.M" Sathor and Nero Baratro remained as the only line up of Ars Macabra.
Ars Macabra held a couple of local gigs in Rome and after the realization of their debut CD they created new songs improving and moving toward a further extreme style of black metal.
In September they had 3 different offers from Italian labels, in the end they took an agreement with Elegy records and in January 2001 they signed a contract for two productions with this same label.
They participated on a compilation "Wild compilation vol.2" with the song "On the art of suffering" out in June 2001
The official debut CD "Daemonolatria Hypnotica" will be out in September and will be around 40 min.long, signing a step forward with a faster and more extreme black metal that no Italian band has been ever able to create.
The new music is introducing new industrial and electronic elements blended with dark and obsessive atmospheres, to challenge new fields and extremities of music, soul and experience.
can you tell us a bit
about this?
"Iter in obscuritates mentis" is our demo CD and was
composed
and arranged with the old line up the ideas were
different
and still reflecting a kind of classical musical
approach.
Well I hope we have created an unique product,
although
we are aware that the classical black metal song
construction and sounds is there.
We had our ideas thinking about a really violent sound
and impact on the listener.
We think we are pretty intense and extreme but this
definition just varies considering
what you define by extreme and intense...
No bands from our homeland have inspired us that's why we
wanted to play something we were
hardly hearing from Italy.
Oh I see...Cadaveria??? I didn't like Opera IX at all
so I am not
even looking to hear... "Cadaveria." I think the guys
from the videos looked pretty funny
though...Theatres de Vampires...a friend of mine gave
me a promo..it reached my trash can in
less than a millisecond, Ordo Equitum Solis.. more...
acceptable band.
They deal with psychotic and human mind
distortions, some are morbid and some
try to express how negative energies surround us and
effect us without us realizing it.
"Daemonolatria Hypnotica" should be released within
October by Elegy records from
Catania, Italy , well it has some elements that can be
defined industrial
but just sound wise actually, the song structure and
music is still traditionally
simply aggressive and grinding black metal, we had
many ideas but we were still
too much linked to a classical approach that
influenced what we have created, but we are on
on a good path and Ars Macabra will follow what we
think is innovative- that will satisfy
our creativity and our music violence and obscurity.
I am fascinated with the ancient roman empire, when
there was so much freedom from
religions especially Christianity. Their gods were more
related to the energy of the earth
and that was more natural and without any dogma later
imposed by Christians, I think
that even if it was an extremely tough life it was more
worthwhile living it.
Living at that time in such a hard and Spartan condition
was good for the soul I think.
I think that world-society is where we have to
suffer in order to realize many things.
Everything goes in a cycle, we will forget and
everything will start once again, the devil is the
devil.....cause he is old!
Mmmm... I dunno really, I would love to meet so many
people but realize that would be just for fun
cause then....what I am gonna ask or talk about with
them...seems
more a kid game to me...
When you contemplate death, what do you
envision... do you see
possibility in a part of us living on, or is this
just a human hope derived
from a fear of death?
Mmmm... I think death is a passage to another
dimension, it is part of existance which means
that nothing really ends when we die, we just evolve
or change physical form...
so I don't contemplate too much about it, I love to
play with the dead and their energy though...
Worth living...a lot since we are here why not have
a lot of sex, eating good food,
experiment with different states of consciousness,
drugs, art, music, nature, sensations
and life in general is a good experience that you and
only you have the keys
to interpret it in the right way. If you don't it
will remain your problem. You can use and channel so much energy that you can't
imagine.
Why?
I think it has and will in the future but the poor
alien guys may be very bored after all.
I don't really care, but probably black metal , as
other music styles, changes during
time and there is always a bad and good side of this
transformation,
some bands will never be mainstream, really, because
their music is too far
distant from what the average listener likes even
within black metal.
So going mainstream means also to change your style
and make it more listenable,
so then you end up playing something that I would
consider different from black metal.
So even if you put on make up, spikes, and write lyrics
about Satan and all that stuff
then you are still playing boring heavy-metal, if you
listen to old 80's bands
you can understand what I am trying to say.
We are just waiting for the debut CD to be printed,
then we will promote it along with the
record company as well, we are starting to write new
stuff and we are looking for new members
for completing our line up.
Now people can get the "Iter in obscuritates mentis"
demo-CD directly from me,
we sell them for 7$ USD and the address is:
Lastly, your final comments and words of wisdom
to the world.
The devil is the devil because he is old!
