Filled with blackened and psyched-out droning Doom, this self-titled five tracks has an additional local touch that makes it terribly addictive for fans of (italian) Doomed sounds. But was that the simple and pretty classical Sleepian riffage or the supposedly classical psyched-out vapours or simply the "distracting" presence of Necromass members as guests ??? I must admit that I was underestimating the firm identity and vision of those hellhounds... Thanx Gianluca for opening my red eyes to this - as wide as my ears were already to your sound ! F.o.t.M is a rising force that will count in the future, so be present from now on at their sides, support them, check out the album and/or the 7'' !!!
Your bio says it took more than a year to the band to have a steady line-up but in fact this didn’t last too long as Acid King Khanjia your singer/guitarist left the band a couple of months ago… how did this happen at about the same moment of the album release ? it looks like you’re more satisfied with the work of guitarist Amp Zilla who took the place instead, how do his vocals differ and fit better with the band’s music ?
Acid had to leave because it
was harder and harder to make our schedules work. No quarrel or differing
musical goals: just the evidence that it was better for both to part ways. He
stays a good friend of ours and nothing has changed, for that matter. One could
consider that "bad timing" for the band, but it was just a
combination. You can't always plan everything and everyone's priorities may
change from one day to the next, so it's really nobody's fault. It just
happened. Personally, I like Amp Zilla's previous experiences as a singer too,
and that's the reason why he quickly got used to the idea of singing in this
band too. He was reluctant at first, but after all it was on behalf of songs he
wrote, so I guess everything came out naturally for him, in the end. His voice
may be a bit less harsh than Acid, but he has a wider range and knows a few
tricks too, trust me.
Where the Album includes only
4 proper songs, I was a bit surprised that one of them ‘I drink your blood’ is
released as a 7’’ EP … was it also self-released and seen as a kind of nice
accomplishment or maybe a special
opportunity you couldn’t refuse ?
I would consider all five
tracks: the fact that one is an unplugged instrumental doesn't put it
necessarily on a level of a twenty second intro. Either way, the ‘I drink your
blood’ you hear on the CD is not the same you hear on the 7" (same goes
with the B side). We self-released it separately because we had two versions
for the song: the one on the single, shorter and only played by us, and the one
you find on the CD, which is a longer edit and features Necromass. The song was
ready to go before we planned to include any special guest, but once we
involved Necromass we just thought it would be cool to have both versions
available, and in two different formats. And we love vinyl, so why not? CDs in
general do not sell already, while vinyl is performing quite well lately,
especially in some "circles", and if you ask people like me you'll
always be answered that vinyl is almost the "only" real format for
music, no matter what selling trends say. Plus, it's colored! Hahahah.
Firenze is one of the most wellknown places for Italian Renaissance arts, have any of you in some way been influenced by this cultural and historical legacy ? am I wrong or is there a lot more Stoner/doom bands in the north of Italy than in the South ?
Not into Renaissance so much,
as a specific interest, personally. But in general all people from Florence and
Tuscany may show a slightly deeper dedication to whatever is artistic and
creative. This is not stating that we're all painters, sculptors or architects.
It's just a more naturally artistic approach to things than I see in other
parts of our Country. It's maybe a Renaissance "leftover" that we all
grow up with, even without noticing it. Luckily, as long as the school system
keeps working, there is always someone who reminds us, as we grow up, about our
noble and "enlightening" predecessors. Present day is so grey and dry
here, that sometimes the only way out is to find shelter in a past grandeur of
intellectuals, artists and men of thought, trying not to let it all go forever.
Southern Italy has good bands too, though, but it's the entire scene there (not
only stoner or doom) that is necessarily more underground: lack of structures,
venues and opportunities, not good will or ideas.
This song ‘I drink..’ has a very special
touch, could be seen as black metal meets Sleep or something… I don’t see any references to Black Metal in
your bio or previous experiences mentioned, so is that the presence of
Necromass member which gives it this texture ?
what do black and violet sounds
of Italian legends like Death SS, Paul Chain, Mortuary Drape, Necromass … represent
for you guys ?
There are no black metal
references in our bio because we simply never played black metal. That's also
the reason why the contribution of real black metal musicians could add
something different to that song. The vocal lines of Ain Soph Aour make it more
aggressive and diverse than it would have been otherwise. If you have a chance
to listen to the 7 inch version too, you'll notice the difference. Mortuary
Drape and Necromass are our generation peers and I feel very close to the
latter, also for geographical proximity reasons. I remember their early days as
a time of great enthusiasm and commitment for both fans and the emerging black
metal scene: I still have Necromass first two singles, both signed by the ex-singer
(and founder of the band), a school mate of mine played the guitar in their
first demo tape ("Connected Body Pentagram") and I went to see them
live on numerous occasions in the early nineties. They really opened the doors
to this subgenre in Italy, setting up their name in the international
underground circuit with tape trading, contacts with fanzines from everywhere
in the world and an iron will that you don't see often in today's small acts.
Music wise, we undoubtedly feel our sound is closer to Paul Chain and classic
doom/psych metal. Paul and Steve (the two main souls of early Death SS) are an
undeniable point of pride for any Italian band that plays something slow, dark
and heavy, that's for sure. My favorite of Chain's albums is "Detaching
from Satan": in just a few tracks you have all the different dimensions
that doom metal can take: it's aggressive but also atmospheric, slow but also
catchy, very solid but it also indulges in improvisation parts. Not least: it's
not long and boring as many people think a doom record should be: it's not by
making the listener sleep that you earn his respect, but trying to compress the
best of what you do in something that makes him want to listen to it, again and
again. The perfect record, I'd say. As for Death SS, after Chain's departures
there were many highs and lows, and more than once the band seemed to lose its
identity a little bit, trying to "refresh" the original formula in
ways that not all die-hard fans appreciated at times. Their current line-up
anyway is top notch, and it really seems they are living their "second
childhood" now.
The presence of Necromass members on two songs indeed really
adds something, but don’t you think that the affiliation with this black metal
band could make some fans of Sleep and Electric Wizard miss your band thinking
you’re NOT stoner/Doom ?
I don't think it is an issue
to have special guests from different genres. Having a black metal guest
musician doesn't make your record a black metal one. If one misses a record he
might like because he sees a guest name on the cover he doesn't know or like I
am sorry, but I can't help to think that that guy has some preconception, and I
can't do anything to change it. The presence of Attila Csihar on a Sunn O)))
record, for instance, doesn't "make it" a black metal record: it may add
a black vein, approach or sensibility, but that's it, and missing (just to name
one) a masterpiece like "Monoliths & Dimensions" just because
you're not into black metal would be just a crime! Moreover, people see our CD
reviewed online, or on sale at gigs, and in both cases they have a chance to
either listen to or understand what we play before they decide, so there is not
room for misunderstandings. Necromass is also a highly respected name over
here, beyond the genre they play, so it was an honor and an opportunity for us
to do this collaboration.
You played with Caronte,
Electric Taurus, Funeral Marmoori, Witche's Brew…. It looks like the scene is pretty active in your area, could
you speak about it please and let us know how do your songs evolute on stage
through certainly pretty long jams ?
We also supported Mondo
Generator at Musica W Festival in Castellina, last august. There is a scene anyway.
Quite underground though, and the few big foreign names that happen to visit
our land once in a while give local bands a great chance to give their music
some exposure. Together with the bands you mentioned there are also other good
acts, like the ones under Lo-Fi Creatures (the label), then Doomraiser (very
good) and Stoner Kebab. As for the "evolution" of the songs once
played live, it depends on our mood and the time we are given: if possible, we
stretch things sometimes and let some parts of some songs go ahead a bit more
than on record, improvising jam style or just repeating parts but moving from
"piano" to "forte" (intensity, loudness, crunch), back and
forth. Nothing groundbreaking, to be honest: it's quite normal in this genre,
but that may sometimes sound unusual to die-hard (orthodox) metal audiences,
that are more used to hear on stage the exact same stuff they heard on the CD.
Of course four lyrics don't make a career, and there
are other songs (both from the past and the ones we are currently working on).
That's why you don't find all of those "influences" on our debut. The
original inspiration for ‘I Drink your Blood’ was the same name movie (a 70's
horror flick), then my lyrics were changed by Acid. But "influence"
doesn't simply mean that you explicitly and literally name the topics, people
and events that inspire you in the lyrics. If I were a satanist I wouldn't probably
write "praise Satan" in a song. That's not what would make it
"satanic". An influence should model your music (and the mood it
creates) and its lyrics in a way that is more than just a caption to it. So
sometimes I agree that there are clichés (‘Cult of the Witch Goddess’), but some
other times even just the intentional repetition of one word (‘Caligula’) makes
sense, because that is the mood that the influence led us to: obsession, insanity,
ineluctable decay. Trust me, it is harder to evoke the myth of Caligula that
way, rather than just by listing dates and occurrences, like in a school paper,
or in an Iced Earth song about Gettysburg (band that I fully respect, but it
was needed as a term for comparison). Furthermore, Amp Zilla's lyrics will necessarily
be different from Acid's, so we will see what happens.
You did a filmed interview for Rec Rock which is
pretty amazing with visual effects on your cosmic gestures, is that stuff you
enjoy to do, I mean work on images and/or gestures ?
Nothing rehearsed. That was just an improvised thing
we quickly did for a rock club. Sincerely, we didn't really know what to do, as
all we knew was that it had to be a short promo. So we just did it that way,
and it was quite funny. It would be cool to plan something similar, but also do
it a bit better!
Did you reach your goals for the band in 2013 ? what
can we expect from you guys in 2014 ? Tell us what merchandise is actually
available ?
Yes. Self produced CD, one vinyl (that was the main
achievement for me!), some gigs here and there, one support date for Mondo
Generator and -finally- we started writing new material. I think we're all
set! In 2014 it would be great to find a
deal for re-releasing the CD in vinyl (we are in contact with a few labels and
hopefully we'll make it) while we finalize the new tracks, so that we can soon
be ready to book some new gigs with a longer set and play something different
too. As for the merchandise, we have of course CDs (only regular edition in
slipcase, since the first hand-numbered edition in black PVC bag, with handmade
stencil symbol, is sold out), seven inch singles, badges and pins. Stickers and
T-shirts are just a matter of time.
Thanx for your time, all the best to you guys !
Thank you, and don't let this
site die... I found out so many amazing bands through it, so hold tight and doom
on! The scene needs committed people like you, really.
Count J. Vendetta
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