– Hello and thanks for your time. Soon before releasing your second album, “Doom of the Occult”, what are you currently up to?
Well, we just started rehearsing for the upcoming shows. Besides that, we’re still busy with work surrounding the album, its vinyl release etc.

– March 11st is the date for its release but, have you already read/heard any feedback? And what are your expectations?
So far, comments have been very positive. Most people see the new album as an improvement over the first one, which it definitely is if you ask me.

– The production sounds, in some way, clearer than in your debut. How has been it’s process this time?
I’m particularly happy about the production. You see, we changed the tuning of the guitars and bass. The guitars are half a step up, but the bass is now a full octave below, which makes the overall sound more massive. Apart from that, “Doom Of The Occult” sounds much more organic than the first album. You’re right, it’s more clear and refined, but it’s not too clean either. Definitely very heavy!

– This seems to bring a more important role to each instrument, as well as a stronger identity. So has anything change during the composition?
The songs are much more varied in pace, and we also employ techniques that we didn’t really use before, like for instance some power chord riffing. The typical single-note riffs are however stiff there of course!

–  Instrumental interludes you have included in your 2 full-length albums are something that, among other things, makes you different from other bands. What inspires you to create them?
Mors Dalos Ra is a classically trained guitar teacher. His interest in oriental music resulted in him setting up two acoustic ensembles, and some of these musicians are also to be heard on the album. We figured that the atmospheres of dark Middle-Eastern music and our kind of Metal complement each other very well. Of course, if you look at the lyrical concept you will notice that it has strong connotations with Egyptian and Middle-Eastern esotericism as well. These elements all fell in place and are different aspects of the entity that is Necros Christos.

– Another thing it seems it’s also quite important for you are the atmospheres. Do you agree with this statement? What could you tell us about them?
Music is all about atmosphere and emotional expression – as hilarious as it sounds, I think this is a fact that is forgotten more often than not. We want to achieve an atmospheric expression that should be as enthralling as possible. That is, by the way, also a reason for the many interludes. We want to create albums that have a constant atmospheric flow to them. “Doom of the Occult” hauls your Sarcophagus to its tomb, from the first note to the last.

– And how important is the occult for you? How did this interest arise?
Speaking for myself, I’ve always been attracted to the mysterious, even as a kid., and I’ve been reading serious esoteric literature since my teens. In the world of today we tend to believe that science/philosophy and religion and are separate concepts. But we forget that all philosophical terms are secularized religious terms, and that all important questions are being asked ever since humanity began.
The main reason for immersing myself into the world of occult thought is to make a connection with concepts and ideas that are thousands of years old and that have fundamental and permanent significance.

– The album was at first set to be released past 2010. What made you delayed it?
We didn’t have a choice, since unfortunately we had to deal with a few obstacles during the recording process. Last summer, when we had just started to record the drum tracks, we lost or rehearsal place/studio, find another location, tear down the old place and build up the new place … I think that alone cost about six months.

– Something that caught my attention was the great cover artwork, and it’s also quite different to the “Triune Impurity Rites” cover. Could you explain us anything about it? The artist, its meaning, etc.
Thanks! The cover illustration is “The Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah” by John Martin, an English Romantic painter. I think the title speaks for itself, haha. We had planned to use one or two of his paintings for the last album already, but they just didn’t fit in well along with the other illustrations. When we started to work on the concept for “Doom Of The Occult” we had different ideas at first. One day I was however going through the material we had collected for the first album, and I came across this picture which I had almost forgotten about, and I just said: Okay, that’s it! It just mirrors the apocalyptic power of the music perfectly.

–  Between you were formed and your debut album you released several demos, splits, etc. Why did you wait all those years to release “Triune Impurity Rites”?
Because when MDR started Necros Christos in 2001, it was a mere one-man sideproject to his former bands Nox Intempesta and later BC Imperator. It was only around the time of the third demo “Grave Damnation” in 2004 that he felt that he could actually pull off an album, and eventually asked me and then-drummer Christhammer to join on a permanent basis. So Necros Christos is in fact only a real band since 2005.
Besides that, we all do have time-consuming lifes besides the band, so everything takes a little longer …

– But after your debut album came out, if I’m not wrong, you didn’t release anything else but this brand new “Doom of the Occult”. What have you been up to during these 3-4 years?
Our old drummer Christhammer quit in late 2007 because he felt that he didn’t have enough time for the band anymore. It took almost a year to find a suitable replacement in Raelin who lives 350 km south of Berlin. Due to this distance we can only rehearse about once a month, so even though things went very smoothly, it still took us about a year to teach him the old songs. Since 2009 were were constantly rehearsing the new songs besides the occasional live shows.

– The band was born 10 years ago, what prompted you to form a band like NECROS CHRISTOS?
I cannot speak for MDR, but he often mentions that he found some sort of current. An inspirational channel from which all of a sudden more and more songs developed. The whole concept lay there before him and he just couldn’t stop, haha.

– What bands have influenced you during these years? Germany seems like has always had a huge Metal scene.
Germany may be a big market for Metal, but since the glory days of German Thrash in the mid-80s there was hardly any good band from over here. However, during the last ten years or so some notable exceptions emerged, like Katharsis, Secrets of the Moon, Mortuus Infradaemoni, Excoriate, Android Empire, Essenz, Spancer, Charon …
As for influences, they are still the old ones I guess! Black Sabbath, Mercyful Fate, Budgie, Samael, Beherit, Master’s Hammer, Pentagram (US), Venom, early Incantation…
Contemporary bands that have impressed me more recently would be Negative Plane, Unearthly Trance, Portal and Teitanblood.

– And finally, what are your near-future plans? Is there any chance of seeing you again in Spain?
We certainly hope so! We will play SWR Metal Fest in Portugal, and hopefully we will also return to Spain this year. It’s been a long time since we played Barcelona!

– That’s all. Thanks for your time and feel free to add any final words.
Thanks
for the interview. Volumen brutal!

2 pensamientos sobre “NECROS CHRISTOS (Eng.)

  1. AWESOME!!! M’ha encantat! M’agrada més llegir-me les en versió original! 😛 Gran treball Tania, t’ho curres mil!

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