BLAZE OF PERDITION (Eng.)
– Hello, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to?
S: Salutes! Well, we received our copies of “The Hierophant” today, so I’m drinking another beer right now to celebrate it, answering your questions and working in Photoshop. Simultaneously. Let’s say I have attention divisibility.
– First of all, could you please make some history of BLAZE OF PERDITION?
S: Please spare me. This question is useless and uninteresting. Everything can be read in our short bio at Pagan Rec. site.
– How did you come up with the band’s name?
S: It just appeared, you know? Such things just manifest themselves in your mind and you know what to do with them and on what purpose.
S: Yeah, we were inspired by Swedish Black & Death Metal mostly while composing the album and it would be ridiculous to disagree. Necrophobic, Unanimated, two latest Watain albums and above all – DISSECTION. Norwegian sound isn’t that big influence for us, but it may be truth if you do hear a little bit of Norge there, for example in Darkthrone-ish leading riff in “Gospel of the Serpent’s Kin”. Of course it’s not all, we listen to many kinds of music and I’m sure each one had it’s impact on our work. Anyway, our first inspiration is Lucifer, and those bands I mentioned are after him. Never before.
– You have recently released your new «The Hierophant»; how is the feedback going? And what are your expectations with this album?
S: I think it’s a little too early to talk about the feedback, it should become more clear after a couple of weeks/months. As for the expectations, I hope this album shall make the Blaze shine brighter than the brightest star and Perdition become darker than the darkest void. Interpret it as you like.
– For all those who haven’t heard the album yet, I would like you to describe «The Hierophant” in just a few words.
S: I mentioned our musical influences above and non-musical ones can be found in the lyrics, so there’s no need to describe anything more. Let the Devil speak for Himself!
– This is your first record with Pagan Records; right? How is everything going with them so far?
S: Actually, it’s our second opus released via Pagan Records, but first full-length album released in co-operation with them. Everything is fine, we have nothing big to complain about so far, Tomasz really gets the job done.
– As I said before, I think in «The Hierophant» there’s a perfect balance between both Swedish and Norwegian influences. Was this something you were aiming for or is this just how BLAZE OF PERDITION sounds in 2011?
S: I would choose the option number two. We never denied any inspirations, but we also never wanted “to sound like XXX”. It comes naturally from within. This IS how BoP sounds in 2011 and in a year or two it may sound entirely different. There are no laws nor limitations. Remember:
nothing is real, everything is permitted. Chaos is the order.
– I mentioned that Swedish sound, and in fact you have mixed and mastered this effort at great Necromorbus studios with Tore Stjerna. How has everything been? Are you satisfied with the final result? This time production sounds simply superb.
S: Mr. Tore is very professional and bright man. There was no need to fight and explain step by step what we wanted to achieve. We were finished after just a couple of e-mails with our ideas/suggestions and he shaped our music just the way we wanted it to sound. The sound itself is generic and natural, yet very powerful and selective, so we managed to achieve a compromise between modernity and traditionality, which is perfect combination for us. I’m sure we’ll return to him with our third opus.
– Beside the improvement in production terms is quite obvious you have also improved as musicians, providing this time a better musicianship and better compositions. Do you consider this new album a big step forward respect to your previous «Towards the Blaze of Perdition»? How do you now see your evolution has been since your debut album?
S: In fact, I consider “The Hierophant” a light year step forward. I still admire “Towards…”, it was my first full-length album with BoP and I put a lot of emotions there, but as we progress as musicians and even more as people, it obviously has a huge impact on our art, and what can I say? I’m far more experienced and wise than I was just a few years ago when we were creating debut album, so it can be clearly heard and seen through “The Hierophant”.
– How was the songwriting process for «The Hierophant»?
S: Pretty smooth and nothing special, really. XCIII, Golachab & Revenger composed the stuff in a few months, Vizun mastered it in a blink of an eye and we (the vocalists) imbued it with venom that comes straight from our hearts.
– I would also like you to tell us a bit about the artwork; who crafted it, what did you want to reflect with it, etc.
S: The author of this artwork is Andrzej Masianis, excellent polish artist and father of many passionate spiritually-oriented illustrations. I recommend him to everyone, who wants an eerie and deep image on his cover. The artwork itself presents luciferian vision of the tarot card “The Hierophant”, in some decks called “The Pope”. It represents the one, who reached the highest arcanes and passes his invaluable wisdom to others, In our case – both male and female ones, as they are inseparable points, just as Darkness and Light.
– One of your singularities is that in the band there are two singers, something really «original» for this kind of music; how did
you come up with the idea? What does having 2 vocalists instead of just 1 provides to your music?
S: It was an experiment during “In Void and Serpent, the Spirit is One” recording session, which turned out to be succesful and that’s all. It gives us a lot of room for arrangements.
– Metal scene in Poland seems to be quite strong and still growing each day, specially into extreme Metal, and I think the same happens to Europe in general. How do you see these both scenes (Poland in particular and Europe in general)?
S: Poland is full of worthless shit (with a few exceptions). Our scene grows stronger in quantity, but not in quality. I personally can’t stand the most of Polish bands these days. Well, fuck them I’m going back to Celtic Frost.
– And what are now your near-future plans?
S: Despite what I said in other interview, we are going to organise a short tour next year to promote the latest opus, yet it’s nothing but the plans so far. The time will show. If anyone’s interested in inviting us to a decent ceremony, you know how to reach us. And if you’re handicaped and unable to do it, ask uncle Google.
– That’s all, thanks again for your time. If you now want to add some final thoughts, take the last lines.
S: Thanks for the interview, keep track on our activities. AMSG!
