Is The Great Old Ones « The Next Big Thing » ? Interview with Sébastien Lalanne (bass)

The Great Old Ones really surprised me with their first record, Al-Azif. At first sight, this record looked like the typical “first album” coming your way with all the clichés you can imagine: “ the boring concept, the crappy sound, the bad musicality and the feeling that you’re listening to a bunch of teenagers who had nothing better to do than practice their instruments every other rainy weekend”. Of course, these records usually come out on new and elitist labels that thought that THEY would find The Next Big Thing while important labels manage to feed us crap every week claiming it is the real Next Big Thing.

But The Great Old Ones crushed these clichés (that are not always meaningless) in a blink of an eye. This band is formed by very talented and experienced musicians from the French Metal scene. Their first album is ambitious indeed but they managed to do things perfectly right: from the fantastic artwork to the great sound and of course the unique personality they demonstrate all along Al-Azif. The young label doing the best they can to promote their potentially Next Big Thing is just the icing on the cake. Interview with bassist Sébastien Lalanne.

 

The Great Old Ones is a new band on the French Metal scene, could you introduce us to the band members? Especially if they played in other bands before!

Well, Benjamin Guerry handles the guitar, and he used to play in Day Of The Fisherman (HXC band). Xavier Godart also plays the guitar in our band. Léo Isnard is our drummer, and he’s actually a drum teacher, (plus half a dozen very different bands!). Jeff Grimal is our singer, and he is in charge of our artworks as well. He’s played in several bands like Tormenta and Absurd (not the hideous fascist one) and Let Jesus Bleed. As you know I’m Sébastien and I handle the bass, I used to play in My Sovereign and B-Side Box. 

Who was behind the creation of the band, was there a natural leader in the first place?

Yeah, Benjamin wanted to form the band back in 2009. He actually started composing on his own and collecting ideas. When he realized the ideas were pretty strong, he started to imagine this originally personal project as a real band, with specific themes linked to Lovecraft’s stories. And last year, he’d composed 5 complete songs when he came out looking for musicians. That’s when we met and we started out pretty quickly because much of the songs were ready!

And how did you guys meet Les Acteurs de L’Ombre Productions?

We had pre-produced the album and we were looking for a label, Anthiétic Records, Les Acteurs de l’Ombre, and 2-3 other labels contacted us. We knew that LADLO were doing a great job with their other bands and honestly we just had a good feeling and said let’s go! I want to thank Gérald from the label because he immediately gave us his total support and confidence.

I suppose that things are going great so far since all of the feedback on the album is tremendous.

Yes! We are overwhelmed. I mean it’s pretty surprising too since we expected some guys from the “orthodox” Black Metal scene to give us a hard time but so far, everybody seems to like our record.

And what does such a positive feedback induce? More sales? Lots of media solicitations? More touring possibilities?

Well right now, all of this is still too fresh, I can’t really tell, we’re still actually promoting the record. As far as I know, the sales are pretty good, and LADLO are really doing the best they can to give us maximum visibility. As for touring, you probably know how much times are rough, but hey, we’ve done our best and now you gotta cross your fingers and hope some good opportunities will come along!

All right, let’s talk about Al-Azif more specifically. You told me a minute ago that the Lovecraftian theme is completely part of your music.

Yeah, Benjamin literally conceived the band with these stories, and everything is linked to them, even the production of our sound and Jeff’s artwork.

And is there a specific concept linking the songs?

Not really. Each song is about a Lovecraftian character or story. The album name Al-Azif is the name of the famous Necronomicon (the fictive novel imagined by Lovecraft and that is referenced in some of his novels). It’s also the name of the insect sounds you can hear when it’s absolute night in the desert.

And are these specific themes really part of The Great Old Ones? I mean is there a possibility that one day the band composes songs about different subjects?

For now, we are 100% focused on Lovecraft, but I can’t say we’ll NEVER compose about anything else… There are so many fascinating authors out there with a million possibilities we could explore.

Music-wise, how would you describe The Great Old Ones? That one gave me a headache!

(Laughs). I’d say dark and dream metal. Somewhere in between Year Of No Light, Wolves In The Throne Room and Ahab maybe.   

Ok, you’re mentioning Wolves In The Throne room, just like the promo sheet I got, but I think you’re much closer to a band like Lantlôs…

Well that’s a very fine observation as we are definitely fans of Lantlôs. But their intentions are a bit different from ours as their sound is much brighter and not as dark as ours. 

And they are referenced as a Post-Black Metal band, which is also the label you guys are given.

It’s a pretty good label I guess, since we did keep our Black Metal roots, especially when it comes to drums and guitars. And I think we're also close to the “post Metal” scene because we play with the same kind of atmospheres. So yeah, call us “Post-Black Metal”, its totally fine with me!

I also love the fact that your music is extremely visual, like a succession of abstract paintings, very colored but mostly dark.

Well if we managed to make your imagination paint these images, then I suppose we accomplished our mission! Out music is extremely complex and has many sound layers. Each person will perceive different sounds depending on your sensitivity and of course you musical background. Some other reviewer felt our music was like Funeral doom! What the hell, I say why not??

And how did you guys build this complex music? Did you work like traditional Metal bands, based on good ol' guitar riffs?

No, we really consider the songs in their entirety, not just like the addition of different riffs. We specifically try to avoid the classic composing method, like coming up with a riff and building a song around it. The idea is to build sonic-layers that will evolve through the songs, and off course the traditional Metal riffs help us do that, among other elements.

There is an entire Black Metal scene that considers things that way, like obviously Wolves In The Throne Room and Lantlôs. Do you guys feel related to that new way of playing Black Metal?

Of course we are. Just like the bands you mentioned, we have “digested” all the traditional Black Metal influences , and we play outside the usual limits of that scene by integrating elements from other musical styles. And yes a new scene might be emerging, I guess we’re part of it now.

Something really impressed me with Al-Azif: it’s the fact that everything is so professional, the artwork, the awesome sound, and I mean, there are no visible flaws here, everything is so coherent!

Thank you for the compliment, really. The thing is we all had other experiences before joining the Great Old Ones and on the first day we decided that this album was going to be EXACTLY the way we wanted it to be, so that we will not have any regrets. It’s so annoying when you have to put an album out there and immediately start regretting you didn’t invest more time and money because this or that element is not exactly the way you wanted… So frustrating we never want to feel this again. 

What are you upcoming plans ?

Right now we’re working on a possible European tour, and we’ll try to play as many shows as possible in France by the end of 2012. We’ll be playing on June 30^th in Nantes, July 1^st in Paris and on the 29^th of September in Lille.

Otherwise, we also are working on a split CD that should be out in 2013, and guess what, the second LP is already on track! We’ve already composed a bunch of new songs.

Thank you Sébastien and thanks to Ronnie and Gérald from LADLO productions ! !

Yath

http://www.lesacteursdelombre.net/

http://thegreatoldonesband.com/

High On Fire - De Vermis Mysteriis

There is an unbelievable amount of records issued every single day, all over the world; and if you take 10 to 15 minutes every morning to read some webzines or blogs, you’ll notice most of them are “good”, “awesome”, “revolutionary”, “interesting”. At the end of the day, if you have a “wish list”, the thing would be huge, because you’d be adding like 15 new records every week.

Who cares anyway, since people seem to be downloading the music, not buying it, and when it comes to downloading, you can get 15 new records every day if you want!

And that’s when the trouble starts, at least in my opinion: you listen to each record once or twice before switching to the next one. There is no pleasure whatsoever in that, just super fast consumption, which is EVERYTHING Metal bands used to denounce in their lyrics; remember?

Anyways, in that sick system, some bands seem to keep it the old way, totally focused on writing quality songs, the type of music that will stand the test of time, and the California-based power-trio High On Fire definitely are one of these high quality bands.

De Vermis Mysteriis (“Mysteries Of the Worm” in Latin), their new record, is one gem I’ve had for a while now, and one record I’ve been listening to a lot these past months.

High On Fire seems so brutal and "in your face" at first sight, but only to show unbelievable musical sophistication underneath. Look at the concept: some story from H.P. Lovecraft’s Chtulu Mythos about the Christ’s mysterious twin brother. The brother dies at birth to give his life to The Christ and becomes a time traveler. De Vermis Mysteriis is a sort of concept narrating the adventures of that twin.

Musically speaking, same story: the power of Kurt Ballou’s production (member of Converge but also becoming a very highly appreciated producer) and Matt Pike’s caveman voice shouldn’t obscure the fact that these guys are geniuses. Every song is so perfectly balanced, filled with epic melodies, fantastic riffs and UNBELIEAVABLE rhythms. Really, the rhythm section here needs to be highlighted, as I’ve never heard anything like that: so instinctive and yet very technical. “Bloody Knuckles”, “Fertile Green” and “De Vermis Mysteriis” are all about Kensel’s drumming.

Of course, the other thing that needs to be highlighted is Matt Pike’s fantastic performance. His singing just keeps on getting better, more melodic and more diverse. The song “King Of Days” is the perfect illustration of his unbelievable progress and of the infinite possibilities for this band to grow even stronger. And I’m not even going to mention this guy’s guitar technique, as in my opinion he’s one of the best guitarists out there, probably playing the heaviest and most powerful riffs in the world. The “Madness Of an Architect” main riff alone should easily convince you of that fact.

Last superpower High On Fire obviously possesses: the chemistry between the musicians, something really specific to power-trios, established upon years of common live shows. And that naturally gives them, as I just mentioned, lots of possibilities. De Vermis Mysteriis is such a diverse record; it’s 100% Heavy, it’s Metal Music at it’s best, it's so epic and complete, it has the heavy riffs, the melodies and the traditional instrumental song “Samsara” lead by Matz’s wild bass.

"Fertile Green" alone should make you run out and go grab this record. 

Everyone knew High On Fire was a fantastic band, but these guys keep on getting better, and this new record is clearly their best to date. It’s naturally one of 2012’s best releases and probably my favorite this year.

And please, do think about all the records you read about being “awesome”, “fantastic” or I-don’t’-know-what-other-cool-stuff: they stand NO chance at all next to this masterpiece. It’s time to review your standards my friends, because High On Fire have just set a brand-new scale of awesomeness!

Yath - this is a clear 10/10 ! 

http://www.highonfire.net/

http://www.facebook.com/highonfire

Ufomammut – ORO – Opus Primum - I love to get sucked into the Black Hole!

Music is only about energy traffic between the performer and the listener, nothing else. That energy is supposed to transport feelings and emotions.

Most of the time, the performer decides which energy to transmit and how to do it. When you’re listening to a record at home (or anywhere else except on stage) you just receive that energy; it’s a one-way traffic. But some exceptional bands like Ufomammut somehow manage to create two-way emotions traffic, even when you’re listening to their music on CD or vinyl. In fact, it might also be a one-way traffic, only this time around; these guys TAKE your energy and crush it, just as if you were sucked into the ultimate abyss of the Black Hole itself. You can’t do anything about it; they set the rules and you let it go.

And the comparison with outer-space is obviously very opportune as Ufomammut are a psychedelic band overall, even if here and there you can underline some pretty heavy traditional doom elements to bring you back to Earth.

Opus Primum is the first part of a double album initiated by Ufomammut. Once again, the artwork is amazing, which is not surprising coz’ as you probably know, Ufomammut are part of the Malleus Art Collective.  

Artwork is fantastic, and the special LP edition includes a bonus DVD. VERY cool packaging. 

This new record is a blast; Poia (guitars, syncs), Urlo (bass, FX, synths) and Vita (drums) know how to play with your nerves and they master the art of energy traffic I just told you about. Most of the time they suck your energy, all you have to do is sit back and feel it leaving your body, and then suddenly, they'll throw one killer SUPER heavy riff, like on track 2 “Aureum”. 

The thing just fills you back with energy, so it can empty it back a moment later, particularly when the very psychedelic and freaky melody from the opening track comes back and then degenerates into -one more- heavy and deadly riff.

"Irresistible!"

It’s really tough to describe this band's music, as you really need to feel the thing to understand it. What I can tell you however is the way I feel when I listen to it: 

•         First, I wanna press replay.    
•         Second, I wanna go out and buy these guy’s entire discography!

Ufomammut is often labeled as a psychedelic/sludge band. I’d say they are above all a Psychedelic band with a slice of doom, making it a unique energy-devouring entity, the kind of Black Hole you desperately want to be sucked into and resurrected; only to be doomed back into again.   

Yath LOVES this one! 

http://www.malleusdelic.com/

http://www.Ufomammut.com/

http://www.neurotrecordings.com/

http://supernaturalcat.bigcartel.com/

Desultor's Masters Of Hate - Murder Metal??!!

Over the past couple of years, Abyss Records have become one of Metal’s best underground suppliers of new bands. You know, the kind of label that will make you discover  unknown and interesting acts, no matter how much time you spend on reading underground 'zines. And as people seem to be fighting globalization, one must admit that in this particular case, it’s a blessing. What a pleasure to discover a new Stockholm-based band on an American label!

May seem like a detail, but this fine logo immediately made me want to hear that band. 

And obviously the pleasure is even more intense as Desultor are a very promising band. There are 2 guys presented as “permanent” band members here: Markus Joha handles guitars and vocals and Michael Ibrahim takes care of the drums. They describe their music as “Murder Metal”. Could someone please tell them that this label is already used by Macabre – the US funny -but not so good- Death Metal band??!!

Anyways, forget about the damn labels, since describing Desultor’s Metal is one nasty challenge. I often like to look around the web and read reviews for records I listen to; especially when a band is that difficult to characterize, I like to read about other reviewers opinions. 

In their case, Desultor are mostly described as prog’ or technical Death/Thrash Metal. Why not? The thing is, although they seem to be a pretty technical band, their songs are very catchy and built on a very “classic” extreme metal scheme. The best way to describe them is probably to mention 2 other bands: Nevermore and Into Eternity. From Nevermore, take the vocals; as they really remind me of Warrel Dane's style. There’s this intensity and the constant melancholy in the clear singing, and even though Markus doesn’t have Warrel Dane’s untouchable talent, he does a really great job transmitting dark emotions. They big “chunky” riffs also reminded me of Nevermore but the Extreme Metal (meaning very fast riffing and drums) mixed with the melodic singing; has to be credited to Into Eternity, one of the first bands, if not the very first one, to use clean and high-pitched vocals on insane blast-beats. 

However, make no mistake, this very young band has it’s own personality, and definitely displays a huge ambition and talent. There influences may seem obvious, but they really don’t sound like any of the bands cited above.

Masters Of Hate is a brilliant first record from a band that sure is going to shine in the near future. I’m not sure you understood what the music REALLY sounds like, which is a good thing, because it shows how original Desultor are. The best way to discover these guys and to fall for their charm is to click on this link and to listen to some songs online.

Cool cover that perfectly illustrates the music on the album

One last thing I need to mention: there seems to be a concept on Masters Of Hate, something complex and that nicely suits the cover artwork and the band’s image. Some of you guys probably already know how much I LOVE bands that kind of define their own universe or world to explore.

This is clearly the best song on the record & the easiest way to convince you that this band is brilliant.

Yath

SUPERBUTT - Music For (smart) Animals

Hungary isn’t exactly your biggest Metal supplier. However, there are some great bands that have managed to export their good quality Metal, like Ektomorf (did I just say “good quality” Metal??), Wall Of Sleep (did I just say “export” their Metal??). In fact, no, there are VERY few famous Metal bands from Hungary, and Superbutt is probably the most exiting one of them. Their new album, Music For Animals is a damn fine piece of heavy rock that sounds like nothing you’ve heard before. Think Ozzy-like Metal; made of insane heavy riffs and super powerful vocals. Fantastic singer András Vörös tells THE METAL BLOG a little more about Superbutt, it’s new record, and truckloads of other interesting things.

Music For Animals was released a couple of months ago in France, although it’s been out a long time in the rest of Europe, what happened?

Andras: Nothing special, just simple practical reasons. We have a new upcoming label (Sonic Attack) with their headquarters in Berlin, and first they wanted to focus on the territories which they are more familiar with, so it took a couple of month until the physical distribution and promotion could start in other important countries, like France. But then again, does anyone really care about physical distribution in the 21^st century? Whether you can buy Music For Animals at record stores or not, if someone is interested, they can get it through the internet from anywhere around the world anyway, so I guess the official release dates don’t really matter anymore.

How’s the feedback already? I read some pretty nice reviews in Germany for example…

So far, we can’t complain. Indeed, we received some very nice critics from Germany, UK and other countries and it always feels great to find people who appreciate what you are trying to do. These kinds of things prove you that your efforts are not for nothing, and if we can make some people happy when they put our records on, that makes us very happy too.

The record surprised me because it sounds so heavy! Was it something you specifically focused on?

Surprises are always good, aren’t they? On the other hand, no we didn’t focus on anything specifically; this is just what came from us naturally. You probably know that almost the entire line up of the band changed in the last few years, and with the current line up, we sound more complex, more deep and more heavy. It was also a natural development, because ideally, you are constantly moving towards something through your career and life in general. In our case, this move is not towards being more commercial or successful as it sadly happens to many bands, but towards being able to express our feelings in a more and more sophisticated way. This is where we stand right now, and I’m sure it’s still far from the end!

Do you have the same problem understanding that cover?? 

I also noticed the tremendous melodies and your awesome performance András; sounds like a lot of hard work…

Well, thank you very much! I have to mention here, that Adam, our great friend who plays drums on Music For Animals and whom we wrote the album together with helped a lot with vocals. He was there with me at the studio almost all the way and supported me with lots of great ideas, plus did some pretty awesome background vocals himself too. What you hear is the product of our work together and I’m glad that it seems to catch other people’s attention too.

Does this “heaviness” represent something specific as well in the “concept”? Is their any “concept” at all by the way?

If a concept means that we decide in advance that we want to write an album that will sound like this or that, then no, there is no concept. All we focus on is writing music that each of us will like in the end, no matter if it’s a fast paced rock song like Cleaver or a darker, more complex track like The Murder Of Socrates. All that matters if we can all approve and feel good about each number that’s on the album, we don’t care if it fits into a concept or not.

Your music really reminds me of what Ozzy Osbourne likes to compose, very heavy stuff yet with a lot of melodies and cool hard rock songs…

Yes, I think you got a point there! That’s how it all comes together in the end. Our guitar players are into very heavy stuff, Attila is a real black metal guy and even if he listens to something more digestible, it will be still complex like Pink Floyd or Peter Gabriel, while Tomi listens to anything from Lamb Of God to Slayer. They are responsible for the musical background, and I’m trying to put something on top of that, which matches more my own roots, which could be anything from Ozzy to AC/DC or the 90’s rock and metal from Faith No More to Monster Magnet. And Music For Animals is what you get as a result.

And what are the lyrics about? The “Music For Animals” title sounds very sarcastic…

Yes, it does indeed. We’ve always been sarcastic, I guess that’s justthe way how we are trying to survive the world around us. Other than that, it’s very hard to describe what the lyrics are about. God forbid that I want to compare myself to your great poets, but just for the sake of the example: can you tell what the poems of Rimbaud or Baudelaire are in general? I guess not. Each one is different and each one has its own story. Also, I guess the best is not to try to explain what I was thinking when I wrote the words. I’m just trying to “paint pictures” with my sentences and I hope that they will induce some thoughts in the minds of the audience too.

Is Superbutt a “political” band?

No, we’re not political because we believe in the supremacy of art over politics. As an artist, I resent the idea of wasting our time and energy on getting involved in subtle fights for money and power. Politicians and their parties come and go, music and arts are forever. On the other hand though, there are certain traditional values that we are always proud to stand for, and thus we were happy to play a big anti-racism festival in Budapest two years ago and supported Amnesty International in one of their campaigns too. But I think promoting the cause of “liberté et égalité” should be natural to any civilized human being, so I wouldn’t call ourselves political, just because we do it too sometimes.

Do you think music has the power to change things? I mean on the field?

Yes, it definitely has and that’s why you have to be very careful not to use this very powerful weapon for the wrong purposes! And there’s one more important thing to remember: who are we to tell people what to do or think? What should make us believe that we are the possessors of some kind of truth that we have to preach to people? We’re not prophets (but then again, who is?), we’re observers trying to describe what we see around ourselves, and thus hopefully help people to form their own opinion.

And a brand new video, for your pleasure

What’s going on in Hungary by the way, people here are very concerned about your new government and some of its decisions…

Oh, don’t even ask me, I’m embarrassed enough… Anyway, let’s just say that our politicians are nothing but a shame, but they will soon finish their course because these kind of people are always bound to fail. They will too. But well, like it or not, it’s nothing new in history, sometimes narrow minded and power hungry people get behind the wheel (look at George Bush in the US back in the day for example), but sooner or later they prove how incompetent they really are and they will be forgotten as quickly as they came.

OK, enough said about politics: are you going to play some live shows in France to promote the record?

Yes, hopefully we will. As a matter of fact, we just played tow shows the weekend before I got your questions and we had a great time as always, so we are looking forward to going back as soon as we can.

And how would you describe Superbutt on stage, in 3-4 words?

You see, that’s a very hard question to answer for me, because I can’t see it from the outside… To me, being on stage is the most intense experience that cannot be compared to anything else. I guess “catharsis” is the right word, isn’t it? Well, let’s hope that it comes across the same way to the audience too, but you will have to ask them about this, not me…

Do you think it’s necessary to see the band on stage to fully understand its music?

I certainly do hope that our live shows are more than just simple presentations of the songs you already heard on the albums, so yes, I think we can say that whoever likes our music from the records, won’t regret if they come out to a concert too.

Thanks to Eric and Dirty8 for the interview!

http://www.myspace.com/superbutt

http://sonicattackrecords.com/

COMO MUERTOS – Muertos De Siempre…

One of the ugliest news just hit the french metal scene: extraordinary Death Metal band Como Muertos is no more. After five years of existence, marked by the release of a couple of EPs and a fantastic LP (Cronical Del Dolor, self-released) the band got fed up with the constant struggling and decided to call it quits. A sad yet unfortunately very realistic story... “El Doctor”, the band’s guitarist agreed to answer my questions about the band’s demise and also about it’s last production: an awesome split-LP with their buddies Genital Grinder, a band that’s been on hold for five years and that has decided to reunite earlier this year. Ironic, isn’t it?

Note: French readers can scroll down this page to read the interview in French!

« El Doctor », I want to start with the split CD you guys just released with Genital Grinder on Apathia Records. How did you get involved in that collaboration?

Oh, that’s a very classic story you know… I’ve known BST (vocals, guitars in Genital Grinder, also member of Balrog) for a long time. He used to handle the sound engineering on our shows. In fact, I’ve known this guy for ages. We played a few shows together back in the late 90s, when he used to play in Garwall (a French Black/Death Metal band that’s pretty much disappeared after a good first record, “Black Beast”, released on Holy Records in 2004).  And as he told me he wanted to re-activate Genital Grinder, the split-LP idea came up very naturally. The vinyl format is extremely attractive and it gave us the opportunity to “test” our new line-up because as you know, we’d just replaced Mike (drums) with “El Satanico” and “El Lenador” on guitars.

The split LP with Genital Grinders is out now on Apathia Records!

That’s precisely why I love the split-LP format: it gives the bands the possibility to “test” new things or to release some songs that didn’t fit on any of their albums.

This is exactly how we saw things as well. For instance, it gave us the opportunity to compose a pretty different song, “Sangre De Mi Sangre”, that is a lot slower and “heavier” than our usual stuff. The rest of the songs are new, but they sound like other Como Muertos songs you know: heavy as hell and in your face! The “LP” format is also very cool, I love the sound quality and it has a very developed artwork.

Tell me a little bit more about the other songs you guys wrote for this split.

The first song we wrote was "La Furia Del Verdugo", and we’d started working on it before the split-LP thing. It’s a lot faster than our usual stuuf and that is due to the fact that we’d just changed our drummer. The remaing songs were composed specifically for the split and they sound like pure Como Muertos!

Allright, about that Como Muertos sound, our readers need to know that your band has 2 important specificities: the Spanish vocals and the Gore/horror movies-inspired lyrics.

The Spanish vocals thing came up very naturally: our singer, “El Maestro” is Spanish and he’d been willing to use his mother tongue forever. When we tried that on our songs, it sounded really awesome, so we went on with it! As for the lyrics, we love the 80s and 90s horror movies and our songs are all about horror, sick medical stories, black magic… All of that nasty stuff.

Cronical Del Dolor, one of my favorite Death Metal records!

What I LOVE about the music also is the HXC and punk influences you guys have, really fits the Spanish vocals, the result sounds unbelievably furious and angry!

Well thank you very much, I take this as a compliment because this is precisely what we’ve been trying to sound like. I love the raw energy that you can find in rock, punk or HXC music. No need for crazy technical riffs or whatever some bands do, I love in-your-ace angry music! Our biggest influence is without a doubt Entombed, I think you can tell that when you listen to Como Muertos!

And so you guys quit just after the release of the Split LP. How come?

Well, I’m gonna try to make a long story short, because I could discuss this decision for ages and try to justify it… The thing is, when you start trying to be an extreme Metal musician, you have plenty of dreams and a huge ambition; I mean what’s more gratifying that being an artist and living out of your passion? The problem is that the more you do this, the more you realize it’s a long hard road, no matter how motivated and how many sacrifices you’re ready to make. I think we did everything we could to create something with the band and to be able to find a proper record deal that would give us the possibility to make things the way we’d ambitioned. And from the very beginning I kind of decided there would be a deadline, the idea was to give it a shot with maximum energy and sacrifices for a few years: if it works, hooray, if it doesn’t, we quit. And after 5 years of intense and crazy efforts, I think we did a good job with some cool releases and shows, but nothing really happened “businesswise” and we had no possibilities to take things a significant step further. I think with such a nice “final” release, it was the right time to stop Como Muertos. All in all, I’d say I was personally fed up with the constant struggling and my patience was completely exceeded.

Does it leave you bitter? Or just satisfied and proud? Because no matter what, the band had a very nice reputation, and everyone who’s listened to your LP was pretty much impressed…

Not bitter. But I do have some regrets, because I still believe this band had a fantastic potential…

When things don’t work out very well in their own country, some French bands try to work on the European market. Did you try that? I mean the Spanish vocals could’ve helped…

You know, when it comes to Extreme Metal, you have to be honest; lyrics don’t matter that much. But we actually did have some international offers; weather for tours or even record deals. But again, the offers weren’t worth it, at some points, it’s easier to stay independent…

I also feel that you guys didn’t get to tour that much…

You’re right, we didn’t. Although we did play some pretty nice shows, like the Metal Ride Festival in Nancy, The Chaulne Metal Fest or the mighty Inferno Festival in Norway. We also played a superb show with Loudblast... We generally tried to play well-organized and “valuable” shows. We didn’t accept shows that cost us money or that happened in crappy conditions. What’s the point of doing that anyway?

Why Como Muertos rule, reason n°1

Not easy to start a Death Metal band in France nowadays…

Well starting it is pretty easy my friend, but making it last is a whole other deal!

And now what?

Personally, I’ll take some time off before starting another band. I’m going to focus on my sound-engineer job. It’s an alternative way to keep on “making” music. The other guys have other projects: Gorio still plays for Ritualization, and they’re starting to be succeful you know, El Satanico’s still with Impureza and Veloce Hystoria, El Lenador plays in a tribute band and El Maestro’s just started a 70’s influenced rock band.

Why Como Muertos rule, reason n°2

El Doctor, what would you say to close this interview?

Well, I want to thank all of our fans, regardless of all the shit I’ve been telling you about, these five years have been very much fun. And to those who don’t know Como Muertos, it’s never too late, you guys can check us out on the net, I’m sure you’ll still find all the info you need!

www.myspace.com/comomuertos

www.comomuertos.com          

http://www.apathiarecords.com/

VERSION FRANÇAISE

Une fois n’est pas coutume, une interview en Français sur le Metal Blog. Et il ne s’agit pas de n’importe quelle interview, puisque c’est « El Doctor » guitariste des géniaux Como Muertos qui a bien voulu répondre à mes questions.

Vous le savez peut-être déjà, le sujet principal de cette interview concerne malheureusement le split du groupe, qui a décidé de jeter l’éponge après 5 années de bons et loyaux services. 5 années d’efforts surtout pour faire décoller le groupe. Les temps sont durs pour les musiciens ; mais en ce qui concerne Como Muertos, ça ne les empêche pas de tirer leur révérence sur un superbe split LP avec les revenants de Genital Grinder. Ni de répondre à un énorme fan de leur musique, totalement séduit par ce putain d’album qu’est « Cronica Del Dolor », véritable MUST pour tout amateur de Death Metal qui se respecte. Bref, tout ce qu’on a envie de dire, c’est MERCI !

« El Doctor », parlons en premier de ce split LP avec Genital Grinder. Comment cette idée est-elle née ?

L'idée du split est arrivée assez simplement en fait. BST (chant guitares, également Balrog) faisait le son pour nos concerts et du coup, nous parlions assez souvent de nos projets respectifs, et au fil des discussions, il m'a dit vouloir relancer Genital Grinder et que partager une galette ensemble pour se faire un bon petit split en format vinyl lui plairait bien. Nous avons bien évidemment de suite été tenté par le projet et cela nous permettait en plus de tester le groupe avec ses nouveaux membres puisque El Satanico est arrivé en remplacement de Mike après l'album ainsi que El Lenador à la deuxième gratte.

LE split LP avec Genital Grinders vient de sortir chez Apathia Records!

Vous connaissiez Genital Grinder et leur musique avant ?

En fait, je connais BST depuis un bail, cela date de mon premier groupe ou nous partagions une date commune avec un de ses anciens groupes, notamment Garwall, cela doit nous faire revenir vers 98, 99... Et j'ai donc par la suite suivi un peu ce qu'il faisait avec Genital et ses autres projets.

Personnellement j’adore ce format qui met en valeur 2 groupes et qui leur permet de tenter des choses différentes ou de proposer des morceaux alternatifs…Comment avez-vous approché ce split justement ?

Un peu comme tu viens de l'expliquer. C'est vraiment un très beau format, avec une bonne qualité de son, et qui met beaucoup plus en valeur le travail du graphisme qu'un simple cd. Ce split fut aussi l'occasion pour nous de composer un titre un peu différent de ce que nous avions l'habitude de faire, et cela donne le titre Sangre de mi Sangre qui est bien plus lent et lourd  tout en gardant cette volonté de riffs catchy avec quelques passages un peu plus « ambiants ». Après, l'ensemble reste quand même du pur Como Muertos, simple, efficace et dans ta gueule!

Et les morceaux présentés ont-ils été composé spécialement pour ce split ?

En grosse partie, oui. Le premier titre que nous avons composé fut La Furia del Verdugo, et nous l'avions commencé bien avant que l'idée du split arrive. C'est d'ailleurs le titre le plus brutal et speed de nos 4 titres, un peu en opposition avec les compos du premier album, et dû aussi au  fait qu'entre l'album et le split, nous avons changé de batteur, ce qui amène toujours un peu de neuf, et dans ce cas là, c'était une énergie  plus extrême. Et en ce qui concerne les autres titres, ils ont été entièrement composés pour ce split.

Vous avez tout de suite opté pour 2 particularités : le chant en espagnol et les thèmes de vos paroles : pourquoi ces 2 choix ?

Cela s'est fait plus que naturellement puisque El Maestro est Espagnol, et il avait  envie depuis longtemps de chanter dans sa langue natale, et très franchement, quand il a fait les premiers essais, ça a de suite plus que bien fonctionné. Et pour ce qui est des thèmes de nos paroles, ce sont à chaque fois de petites histoires mélangeant le gore, l'horreur, la médecine, la magie noire, les zombies etc etc.... enfin tout ce que l'on peut trouver dans les films d'horreur des années 80,90.

Cronical Del Dolor, un des albums de Death préférés!

Dans vos influences, j’ai noté également pas mal de punk, j’adore ce côté punk et fou mélangé aux refrains en espagnol !

Merci à toi, car c'est vraiment ce que nous voulions faire, mélanger  du metal extrême avec des influences plus punk, ou même rock. J'aime beaucoup cette énergie que l'on peut retrouver dans ces différents styles, c'est en général très épuré, et cela va droit au but sans non plus tomber dans la surenchère de tempo ou de technique. Mais je pense que l'influence principale de Como Muertos nous vient du  groupe suédois Entombed car j'adore ce groupe, et je pense qu'on le ressent un peu dans ma façon de composer....après, j'essaye d'y apporter ma petite touche personnelle afin de ne pas juste faire un copié collé de mes influences.

Vous avez donc décidé d’arrêter aujourd’hui : qu’est-ce qui a motivé cette décision ?

Alors je  vais essayer de faire cour car je pense que je pourrai tourner en rond pendant des heures pour justifier cet arrêt...

Quand tu débutes dans la musique, tu es plein d'idées, de motivation et d'espoir, mais plus les années passent, plus tu te rends compte que c'est quand même une belle galère de vivre sa passion même si tu es plus que motivé, prêt à faire des sacrifices, et à te donner à 200%.  Franchement, je pense que nous avons fait le max pour faire tourner le nom du groupe et nous faire remarquer par un label digne de ce nom, mais ça n'a pas pris... Et dès la création du groupe, je m'étais dit que je mettrai tout dans ce projet mais que la galère ne devait pas durer trop longtemps et qu'il fallait rapidement trouver un bon label avec un peu de moyen pour que nous puissions faire les choses comme nous les imaginions. Cinq années après, il s'est passé plein de choses, on a réalisé de super concerts et quelques bonnes galettes, mais bon, le groupe n'a pas réussi à décoller comme on le voulait, et c'était donc le bon moment avec cette dernière petite sortie. Pour résumer, ras le bol de galérer et peut être un manque de patience, en ce qui me concerne.

Est-ce qu’elle vous laisse de l’amertume ou la sensation de satisfaction d’avoir tout tenté ?

Très sincèrement, aucune amertume mais un petit regret quand même, car avec un peu de recul, on se dit qu'il y avait quelque chose à faire avec ce projet.

Avec vos choix justement, notamment celui du chant en espagnol, vous auriez pu tenter l’aventure à l’étranger…

Tu sais, que tu chantes en espagnol ou en anglais, je ne pense pas que cela change grand chose dans le metal, et surtout dans l'extrême. Après, nous avons quand même eu des contacts à l'étranger, que ce soit pour des concerts ou des labels, mais pour ces derniers, ce qu'ils proposaient pour la plupart ne valait pas la peine, autant rester en autoprod’, et faire le boulot soit même car au moins, tu sais comment il sera fait.

Avez-vous eu l’occasion de tourner aussi ? Je n’ai pas l’impression que vous ayez fait beaucoup de dates, mais je me trompe peut-être !

En effet, nous n'avons pas fait des tonnes de live, mais nous avons quand même participer à des dates bien sympathiques comme le Metal ride à Nancy, l'Inferno festival en Norvège, le Chaulnes metal Fest ou le Divan du monde avec Loudblast. Et il y en a bien évidemment eu d'autres, parfois bien cool, et parfois bien galères, mais ce qui est sûr, c'est que nous avons tenté de privilégier les bonnes dates, avec une bonne orga et un minimum de budget, car au bout d'un moment, jouer à tout pris même quand tu sais d'avance que cela ne va pas être rentable financièrement ni même positif pour le groupe, cela ne sert à rien.

Facile aujourd’hui de lancer un groupe de Death Metal en France ?

Oui, c'est très facile de lancer un groupe de metal en France, après, le faire durer, c'est une autre paire de manches!

Et maintenant ? Allez-vous remettre ça avec un autre groupe par exemple ? Est-ce que d’autres styles de musique vous attirent ?

Personnellement, j'attends un peu avant de me remettre à la musique en tant que musicien, je me concentre plus sur mon taf d'ingé-son dans mon petit studio, c'est une autre manière de continuer à participer et à créer dans la musique. En ce qui concerne les autres de Como Muertos, Gorio joue toujours dans Ritualization, qui commence d'ailleurs à bien cartonner, El Satanico poursuit sa route avec Impureza et Veloce Hystoria,  El Lenador joue dans un groupe de reprises des classiques du rock, metal, et El Maestro vient de lancer son nouveau projet plutôt orienté rock, hard rock 70s.

Un dernier mot pour nos lecteurs ? Peut-être pour convaincre les novices de se pencher sur votre album et sur ce split LP ?

Et bien juste un grand merci à ceux qui nous ont soutenu pendant ces quelques années, ce fut quand même malgré toutes les conneries que je raconte bien sympathique!! Et pour ceux qui ne nous connaissent pas encore, il est toujours temps de bien faire les choses, passez sur notre myspace si vous voulez découvrir le groupe, et je suis sûr qu'en cherchant un peu, vous trouverez tout ce qu'il faut sur le net!

www.myspace.com/comomuertos

www.comomuertos.com          

http://www.apathiarecords.com/