It's my first contact with a Croatian metal band, I must admit my incompetence about naming any bands from this country, and AVICULARIA is an amazing discovery believe me. AVICULARIA is a death metal band, with a high technical level and able to create great epic tunes. Fans of MORBID ANGEL, NILE, CRYPTOPSY and GORGUTS shall check it right now!-Hi Domagoj, hope you're doing well. Let's talk about your band AVICULARIA where you handle the guitar. You created the band with the help of your friend Kreso (drums) in 2003 and then later you recruited the other musicians Igor (guitar) Sergej (bass) and so AVICULARIA could spread its web! What is your musical background? Did you play in other bands before? What led you to extreme music?
Kreso, my younger brother, and I wanted to play some brutal music...at that point we were listening bands like Immolation, Nile, Gorguts, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Kataklysm, Immortal, Cradle of filth etc., so we naturally started to play in death/black metal style. Of course, we never wanted to limit ourselves, musically speaking, we were always open minded and liked other kinds of music, but at that point death metal was our main focus. It took some time to find right bass player and guitarist, few people passed through band. In late 2007 lineup was stable, and we started to play live. It is interesting to mention that band named „Avicularia” already existed somewhere from 1999 till 2002. It was a high school Metallica/Slayer/Sepultura cover band where Kreso & Igor (guitar) played. After band broke up, Kreso played drums with Blackthorn (thrash metal) and Malformed – legendary death metal band from Zagreb. Myself played only in one band before Avicularia, that was Serpent Sun from Osijek, Croatia (melodic DM in style of At The Gates and early In Flames) and in 2003. I left the band to form „new“ Avicularia with my bro.
When talking about extreme music, Kreso and I discovered that passion together. I remember Carcass „Heartwork“, Deicide „Serpents of the light“ as our first discoveries and fascinations. I can't tell why, I think it was natural progression from Metallica/Sepultura/Slayer/Pantera/Machine Head stuff to something more extreme, more intense. I liked the speed and complexity in that music, it was interesting to me as musician. I would repeat songs over and over until I could remember every note.
-AVICULARIA plays some kind of technical death metal where I distinguish 2 prominent influences like NILE and GORGUTS. Of course, as mentioned in your biography one can also find some diverse touches of CRYPTOPSY, IMMOLATION or MORBID ANGEL. Your music is quite technical but it remains quite listenable and not boring (at least if you are into technical stuff). You kept a good balance between technical aspect and some more atmospheric parts. Was it a clear idea at the early beginnings of the band to play this complex music? The band started in 2003, but your first album is just released in 2009, why such a delay? Did you record any demos before?
No, we had no demos. Now, looking back I think that was mistake because in 2005. we already finished 4 songs. But somehow, brother and I were never quite satisfied how they sounded, so the songs and lyrics changed quite a bit until January 2008 when we entered the studio. You are right, the songs weren't so much complex in the beginning. Since I had no songwriting experienced before Avicularia so it was quite new territory to me. Also, during past 5 years we changed a lot as persons, so naturally the music changed.
-You chose a curious moniker AVICULARIA which is the name of a species of tarantula if i'm right. Why such an uncommon band name? What is the link with your music/lyrics? Never think of using a moniker like MORBID CORPSE or CANNIBAL ANGEL, ahaha!! Seriously, is it a way to take distance with the "common" death metal scene? Why such an obsession for this spider?
Yeah, we wanted to play uncommon music so we needed uncommon name to make the point. Kreso came with the name, as it perfectly describes music we wanted to create. Avicularia is Latin name for one exotic animal, that is often misunderstood by many people. It is actually very gentle creature and is not aggressive at all. It also has its unique beauty, looks strange, has impressive body structure and physical abilities, almost like an alien creature. Also, the word „Avicularia“sounded exotic, strong and intelligent at the same time. I still like saying that name up loud, it always gives me that feel.
When talking of obsession with an spiders, Kreso used to have one Brachypelma Albopilosum, and our bass player Sergej still keeps few of different species in his bedroom.
-Your musical approach is a bit similar to bands like YATTERING or SHADOWS LAND who combines technical and brutal music with some more avant-garde ones. Do you feel belonging to this today wave of technical death metal bands? The problem is that some bands like BRAINDRILL for example mistakes brutality, speediness and boredom. You listen to them but at the end you cannot remember anything. What's your point of view concerning extreme music and its technical aspect? Don't you think some bands forget to compose a track but they only gather riffs without real coherence?
I think it is hard to compare Avicularia to any of these bands. I never considered Avicularia as technical band; we really aren't that good technicians like guys from Brain Drill, Spawn of Possesion, Necrophagist or Origin. I can agree with you there are some bands that go to unlistenable extremes. By forcing speed and technicality music looses dynamics, there are no easy, moody or slower parts, so listener can rest a second or enjoy some catchy groove. At some point technique looses its meaning. In my opinion, point of music is to express emotions, about how you feel in your heart, not about how fast and insanely you can play. From my point of view that term „extreme metal“ is not only about extreme technique but rather extreme variations between fast, technical, brutal and slower, more mellow parts within a song. It is that we are trying to make interesting music that can challenge listener and ourselves as musicians.
-Who wrote AVICULARIA's lyrics? Are they linked together to form a kind of story or theme, if so, can you sum up it please, as I'm afraid I didn't fully understand it because some parts are quite obscure concerning interpretation?
No, this is not conceptual album. Every song has its own story. The lyrics were written by three of us and have different thematic. Just to make a few quick notes about the lyrics to get the point: Kreso wrote „Born to be vile“ that is a song about a way of life that is basically an ode to individuality. Igor wrote „Succubus“, a funny brutal song about evil succubus whatever that meant to him; basic and kick ass lyrics for a kick ass song! He also wrote „Spiraling Doom“ that is ecological song about world's insanity and men’s obsession with power and destruction. I wrote „Anthem to arms“ that is anti war song but also includes anti religion ideas, „Confrontation“ talks about a man confronting with himself, with his demons & final „Requiem for ego“ is a hymn about the evil side of human ego and what we truly are when our ego diminishes.
-AVICULARIA is a Croatian band. If I mention this, it's because your scene is almost unknown to me. Can you raise the veil on the Croatian metal scene and recommend us some good bands? Do you have some veteran bands into heavy, death or black metal? Is foreign metal music popular in Croatia? Do you also have to bear this terrible wave of deathcore/neodeath/emoshit bands?
Yeah, sure! When talking generally about history of Croatian metal bands, there were many of them but only few international successful like Anesthesia, Ashes You Leave, Forlorn Legacy, Father... I would recommend to listen to „Ultimate Croatian Metal“that is collection of 5 CD you can download for free here: http://rapidshare.com/users/GY8F1V . And yes we have lots of deathcore/emo crap as everywhere. In my opinion some of the finest underground metal acts that still exist are: USUD (www.myspace.com/kultkrvi), INSOLITVS (www.myspace.com/insolitvs) , TRUE (www.myspace.com/truezrud), DRAMA (www.myspace.com/dramadoom), CZAAR (www.myspace.com/bandczaar), EXCUSE FOR PAIN (www.myspace.com/excuseforpain), INFERNAL TENEBRA (www.myspace.com/infernaltenebra).
-Do you have good equipment and rehearsal places for music in Croatia? How is considered extreme music out there? Is this considered as something marginal or is it accepted as any kind of music?
Metal music is not well accepted in Croatia. We are still very traditional country, people mostly listen to national folk music and MTV crap, so you can imagine how people react on extreme metal music. In capital Zagreb situation is a bit better, just like in every big city there is decent number of rehearsal places and about 4-5 clubs and 2 big venues where you can hear metal music. In last 5 years we had acts like Nile, Suffocation, Necrophagist, Sepultura, Iron Maiden, Machine Head...etc. This year was extremely filled with metal concerts so I guess situation is getting better. I think metal will always stay marginal music in our society. You know it is not easy to be musician here, it is very expensive sport. I was saving money for years to get some decent amp and guitars; we are really on our own.
-Looking at some pictures on your MySpace page you guys seem really to have fun playing together. You play brutal and complex music but don't take yourself too seriously. You don't hesitate to distort or deformed your faces, taking funny pictures, etc...Why don't you play the tough guys with spikes and evil poses in the snow at night? Is it a way to piss the evil dudes off because they don't consider you as "true" if you see what I mean ahah!!
No, we don't really give a damn. We enjoy doing our music and don't care about how people will react. Like us, hate us – it is same to me. Avicularia is not the kind of band that is trying to look true on stage, although I think stage presence is very important. It is just, when playing live we are more concentrated on our musical performance than on stage acting. Talking about goofy faces, I'm usually the most serious guy in the band – blame it on other three hahaha!!!
-I would keep talking about the Eastern metal scene, which is more known for the grindcore stream (mostly from Czech Rep) with for example CARNAL DIAFRAGMA, MALIGNANT TUMOUR, MINCING FURY, PIGSTY and hundreds more. The death metal is less represented with bands like DESTROYING DIVINITY (Czech), ENTHRALLMENT (Bulgaria), ARHONT (Macedonia), DAGGERSPAWN (Serbia), etc... According to you why death metal is less represented in Eastern countries? Is this a less popular style beside grindcore? I think things are changing because bands find labels to release their music.
I really don't know why is grindcore more accepted in Eastern Europe than death metal. I guess people like to jump around and get wild on it. Maybe it is because grind is all about few guys jumping on the stage and making noise. Many of these countries still have bad post transition difficulties, especially when talking about economy. Socialist regime repressed people for so many years, and then brutal neo-capitalism came…I guess it is the way for people to say „fuck the system“! Since grind derivates from punk and punk by its nature is all about rebellion...I think this makes sense. I think death metal is more introverted music style, it is the music you want to listen alone in your bedroom, and grindcore is more social, more like drinking music when you hang out with your crew. Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it is just the way the people are.
-"Born to be vile" is released by Croatia Records. Who are the people involved in this label? How is the promotion working? How people can get your album and merchandising? Do you find any distributors worldwide? How is the feedback about "Born to be vile"?
Croatia Records is major label in Croatia that usually does not distribute metal music. We got studio to record this album and limited edition of CDs, but not promotion and distribution. We still do these things on our own and currently are looking for an international label that is willing to distribute merch and promote us. Right now you can buy album and t-shirts directly from us on our email: avicularia.band@gmail.com . We sent CDs to numerous webzines and magazines and so far reactions are very positive all-around. I think we shall have no problem finding the right label.
-Do you still believe in the physical musical format, that is to say vinyl, tape or CD? We can see today bands selling their music on mp3 platforms like I-tunes or things like that. Personally even if the mp3 quality increases quite well sound wise, I can't limit myself getting a virtual release. I like looking at the CD booklet or LP layout. What do you think about all of this?
MP3 format is extremely practical, you can carry great amount of music with you, access to huge amount of different music you otherwise would never hear and the most important - it is free. I know that most of them are not legal, I know all about the authors’ rights, hell I am one of them now! So, if you google phrase “Avicularia torrent” you’ll get at least 30 direct links to download our album. And you can’t stop it, and I don’t want to stop it because it is the way for people around the world to hear our music. And some people, who liked it, send us mail and order CDs and t-shirts. I personally like having CDs but don’t buy them much because of two practical reasons: First, I don’t have anymore free time to sit down in front of some nice Hi-Fi and enjoy the music, and second - it is expensive. Like it or not you can’t change this. And don’t get me wrong, I used to be that kid that spent his last money on brand new CD rather than going to pub with friends. But physical format will survive for sure, you have to have a CD, especially at live shows.
-How many shows did AVICULARIA play? Do you share the stages with foreign bands? Is it easy to organize concerts and festivals and how is usually the people affluence at gigs? Are the metalheads supportive?
As I said previously, Croatia has very small metal scene. Our state has only about 4,5 million inhabitants, so it is natural to go internationally it is the only way. So far we played only in Croatia, and this fall/winter some international gigs are coming. We shared stage with some names you might know like Quo Vadis(Can), Disinfect(DE), Distaste(A), and some local “bigger” names like Stonebride, The Rite of Retaliation, Usud, Inciter…There are bunch of people, I could say fans, that attend our show regularly and are very supportive – they make us feel worthy and proud of music we do. As Far as I know, Avicularia is the only band in Croatia doing this kind of extreme metal music.
-Please react or say something about the following records:
-ATHEIST "Elements": One awesome album! Man I should listen that old stuff more often, you just reminded me on time when I intensively enjoined bands like Cynic, Death, Pestilence and I always put Atheist there. Amazing concept in general, musicianship and AN IDEA, one of the most amazing jazz/death metal fusions. Album is very fluid and dynamic and this is the same thing I want to happen with our music in the future.
-DEATH "The sound of perseverance": It was always hard for me to pick the favorite Death album, but their last masterpiece is the real crown of Chuck’s work. Most technical album to me, also the first Death album I’ve ever hearted back in 1998, and album I’ve listened many, many times. It instantly reminds me on Chuck and his tragic fate and what kind of genious stuff would we listen from Death today if he was still around. These are the last words of the father of death metal – it is a Bible to me!
-AGHORA "Aghora": Awesome fusion of prog/thrash metal with oriental/ambient stuff. I always get the trills from guitar work of Santiago Dobles on that album. This guy is one of the most impressive players I’ve ever heard and other musicians follow him tightly. But I never liked the way the vocals were done. I would like to hear her screaming from her guts on heavier parts. To me her vocal lacks dynamics and it gets me bored when listening a while. But Santiago, he is the man!
-GORGUTS "Obscura": First when I heard this album it took me some time to digest it, to understand it. Very complex and original album, definitely on my top 10 list. It inspired me to take different approach to playing and was and still is great influence on Avicularia’s music. There is a song “Clouded” that lasts for almost 10 minutes and when I come to that song it feels like it lasts an hour! It is that sick and disturbing, like everlasting agony. It makes me nervous sometimes…hahahah
-CRYPTOPSY "the unspoken king": After that album people started to call them Craptopsy but it is not that bad. I’ve listened many times and liked it like every Cryptopsy album. New vocal style was quite the shock, but hey, Cryptopsy was always about innovations and this is the reason I’ve been following them for years. This band has no two same albums; every one has different vibe and is original. For a long time they were my favorite band and if I had to pick the worst album it would be “Once was not”. To me golden era ended with “...And than you’ll beg” when Jon left the band. That is the last masterpiece of Cryptopsy, and I hope they’ll get on that road again with next album.
-SUFFOCATION "Blood oath": The best production Suffocation ever had, but not my favorite album. It is funny that I can’t tell why, but album after 15-20 minutes of playing becomes boring. It lacks something but I can’t tell what, it sounds so perfect but does not give me that thrills like “Despise the sun” does.
-PORTAL "Outre": Man, I haven’t heard of this guys until now(God bless mp3). Interesting post/black metal stuff! On first listening it instantly reminded me on Mayhem “Ordo ab Chao” because its atmosphere and Lo-Fi production. Not bad indeed, but I’ll give them a few more listenings for better insight.
-Let us know about your recent musical purchases. What records would you recommend to our narrow-minded readers? On the contrary what's the most terrible stuff you have heard recently and we should avoid?
Recently I’m intensively listening to local demo bands and there are lots of great talents, so have a listen to some of than I recommended. Lately, beside metal, I’m listening lots of post rock and experimental stuff, instrumental stuff like Terry Bozzio, Frank Gambale. There are some impressive bands your readers might find interesting like King Crimson. They have been great inspiration to me. It is one of the most amazing bands in music generally and everyone should give them a chance. I suggest to start with albums “Red” and “Power to believe”. If you like instrumental acoustic guitar try to anything from “Miroslav Tadic & Vlatko Stefanovski”, there are virtuosos from Serbia and Macedonia that can easily be compared with guitar greats like Al DiMeola, Paco DeLucia, Joe Satriani…etc. Talking about new metal releases I hope everyone heard “Ulcerate – Everything is fire”. If not, this one is a must! I think they are Immolation of new era, the most intense and original death metal band I’ve heard in years. “Obscura – Cosmogenesics”is also awesome, “Augury - Fragmentary_Evidence”, “Gorod - Process of a new decline”, of course new Nile album…dude, there are too many of them. Stuff I don’t like I usually don’t remember, so – none!
-It's over now, thank you very much for your kind cooperation answering my questions. Let us know what we can expect from AVICULARIA in a near future. You also can end this chat the way you want. Keep on being vile!
It was my pleasure answering your questions that were precise and interesting. I am happy that you gave us a chance for promotion in France and I’m sure we’ll manage to make few live gigs around your country. It is very nice to see international interest for our music, thank you for your attention and best wishes to keep Putrefactive Effect active and strong! And to all you metalheads: metal up you ass and keep the metal faith alive! Haha…No, this is too much cliché…Listen to Avicularia at www.myspace.com/aviculariaband and if you dig us, ordering our album. Thank you all!
Kreso, my younger brother, and I wanted to play some brutal music...at that point we were listening bands like Immolation, Nile, Gorguts, Deicide, Morbid Angel, Kataklysm, Immortal, Cradle of filth etc., so we naturally started to play in death/black metal style. Of course, we never wanted to limit ourselves, musically speaking, we were always open minded and liked other kinds of music, but at that point death metal was our main focus. It took some time to find right bass player and guitarist, few people passed through band. In late 2007 lineup was stable, and we started to play live. It is interesting to mention that band named „Avicularia” already existed somewhere from 1999 till 2002. It was a high school Metallica/Slayer/Sepultura cover band where Kreso & Igor (guitar) played. After band broke up, Kreso played drums with Blackthorn (thrash metal) and Malformed – legendary death metal band from Zagreb. Myself played only in one band before Avicularia, that was Serpent Sun from Osijek, Croatia (melodic DM in style of At The Gates and early In Flames) and in 2003. I left the band to form „new“ Avicularia with my bro.
When talking about extreme music, Kreso and I discovered that passion together. I remember Carcass „Heartwork“, Deicide „Serpents of the light“ as our first discoveries and fascinations. I can't tell why, I think it was natural progression from Metallica/Sepultura/Slayer/Pantera/Machine Head stuff to something more extreme, more intense. I liked the speed and complexity in that music, it was interesting to me as musician. I would repeat songs over and over until I could remember every note.
-AVICULARIA plays some kind of technical death metal where I distinguish 2 prominent influences like NILE and GORGUTS. Of course, as mentioned in your biography one can also find some diverse touches of CRYPTOPSY, IMMOLATION or MORBID ANGEL. Your music is quite technical but it remains quite listenable and not boring (at least if you are into technical stuff). You kept a good balance between technical aspect and some more atmospheric parts. Was it a clear idea at the early beginnings of the band to play this complex music? The band started in 2003, but your first album is just released in 2009, why such a delay? Did you record any demos before?
No, we had no demos. Now, looking back I think that was mistake because in 2005. we already finished 4 songs. But somehow, brother and I were never quite satisfied how they sounded, so the songs and lyrics changed quite a bit until January 2008 when we entered the studio. You are right, the songs weren't so much complex in the beginning. Since I had no songwriting experienced before Avicularia so it was quite new territory to me. Also, during past 5 years we changed a lot as persons, so naturally the music changed.
-You chose a curious moniker AVICULARIA which is the name of a species of tarantula if i'm right. Why such an uncommon band name? What is the link with your music/lyrics? Never think of using a moniker like MORBID CORPSE or CANNIBAL ANGEL, ahaha!! Seriously, is it a way to take distance with the "common" death metal scene? Why such an obsession for this spider?
Yeah, we wanted to play uncommon music so we needed uncommon name to make the point. Kreso came with the name, as it perfectly describes music we wanted to create. Avicularia is Latin name for one exotic animal, that is often misunderstood by many people. It is actually very gentle creature and is not aggressive at all. It also has its unique beauty, looks strange, has impressive body structure and physical abilities, almost like an alien creature. Also, the word „Avicularia“sounded exotic, strong and intelligent at the same time. I still like saying that name up loud, it always gives me that feel.
When talking of obsession with an spiders, Kreso used to have one Brachypelma Albopilosum, and our bass player Sergej still keeps few of different species in his bedroom.
-Your musical approach is a bit similar to bands like YATTERING or SHADOWS LAND who combines technical and brutal music with some more avant-garde ones. Do you feel belonging to this today wave of technical death metal bands? The problem is that some bands like BRAINDRILL for example mistakes brutality, speediness and boredom. You listen to them but at the end you cannot remember anything. What's your point of view concerning extreme music and its technical aspect? Don't you think some bands forget to compose a track but they only gather riffs without real coherence?
I think it is hard to compare Avicularia to any of these bands. I never considered Avicularia as technical band; we really aren't that good technicians like guys from Brain Drill, Spawn of Possesion, Necrophagist or Origin. I can agree with you there are some bands that go to unlistenable extremes. By forcing speed and technicality music looses dynamics, there are no easy, moody or slower parts, so listener can rest a second or enjoy some catchy groove. At some point technique looses its meaning. In my opinion, point of music is to express emotions, about how you feel in your heart, not about how fast and insanely you can play. From my point of view that term „extreme metal“ is not only about extreme technique but rather extreme variations between fast, technical, brutal and slower, more mellow parts within a song. It is that we are trying to make interesting music that can challenge listener and ourselves as musicians.
-Who wrote AVICULARIA's lyrics? Are they linked together to form a kind of story or theme, if so, can you sum up it please, as I'm afraid I didn't fully understand it because some parts are quite obscure concerning interpretation?No, this is not conceptual album. Every song has its own story. The lyrics were written by three of us and have different thematic. Just to make a few quick notes about the lyrics to get the point: Kreso wrote „Born to be vile“ that is a song about a way of life that is basically an ode to individuality. Igor wrote „Succubus“, a funny brutal song about evil succubus whatever that meant to him; basic and kick ass lyrics for a kick ass song! He also wrote „Spiraling Doom“ that is ecological song about world's insanity and men’s obsession with power and destruction. I wrote „Anthem to arms“ that is anti war song but also includes anti religion ideas, „Confrontation“ talks about a man confronting with himself, with his demons & final „Requiem for ego“ is a hymn about the evil side of human ego and what we truly are when our ego diminishes.
-AVICULARIA is a Croatian band. If I mention this, it's because your scene is almost unknown to me. Can you raise the veil on the Croatian metal scene and recommend us some good bands? Do you have some veteran bands into heavy, death or black metal? Is foreign metal music popular in Croatia? Do you also have to bear this terrible wave of deathcore/neodeath/emoshit bands?
Yeah, sure! When talking generally about history of Croatian metal bands, there were many of them but only few international successful like Anesthesia, Ashes You Leave, Forlorn Legacy, Father... I would recommend to listen to „Ultimate Croatian Metal“that is collection of 5 CD you can download for free here: http://rapidshare.com/users/GY8F1V . And yes we have lots of deathcore/emo crap as everywhere. In my opinion some of the finest underground metal acts that still exist are: USUD (www.myspace.com/kultkrvi), INSOLITVS (www.myspace.com/insolitvs) , TRUE (www.myspace.com/truezrud), DRAMA (www.myspace.com/dramadoom), CZAAR (www.myspace.com/bandczaar), EXCUSE FOR PAIN (www.myspace.com/excuseforpain), INFERNAL TENEBRA (www.myspace.com/infernaltenebra).
-Do you have good equipment and rehearsal places for music in Croatia? How is considered extreme music out there? Is this considered as something marginal or is it accepted as any kind of music?
Metal music is not well accepted in Croatia. We are still very traditional country, people mostly listen to national folk music and MTV crap, so you can imagine how people react on extreme metal music. In capital Zagreb situation is a bit better, just like in every big city there is decent number of rehearsal places and about 4-5 clubs and 2 big venues where you can hear metal music. In last 5 years we had acts like Nile, Suffocation, Necrophagist, Sepultura, Iron Maiden, Machine Head...etc. This year was extremely filled with metal concerts so I guess situation is getting better. I think metal will always stay marginal music in our society. You know it is not easy to be musician here, it is very expensive sport. I was saving money for years to get some decent amp and guitars; we are really on our own.
-Looking at some pictures on your MySpace page you guys seem really to have fun playing together. You play brutal and complex music but don't take yourself too seriously. You don't hesitate to distort or deformed your faces, taking funny pictures, etc...Why don't you play the tough guys with spikes and evil poses in the snow at night? Is it a way to piss the evil dudes off because they don't consider you as "true" if you see what I mean ahah!!
No, we don't really give a damn. We enjoy doing our music and don't care about how people will react. Like us, hate us – it is same to me. Avicularia is not the kind of band that is trying to look true on stage, although I think stage presence is very important. It is just, when playing live we are more concentrated on our musical performance than on stage acting. Talking about goofy faces, I'm usually the most serious guy in the band – blame it on other three hahaha!!!
-I would keep talking about the Eastern metal scene, which is more known for the grindcore stream (mostly from Czech Rep) with for example CARNAL DIAFRAGMA, MALIGNANT TUMOUR, MINCING FURY, PIGSTY and hundreds more. The death metal is less represented with bands like DESTROYING DIVINITY (Czech), ENTHRALLMENT (Bulgaria), ARHONT (Macedonia), DAGGERSPAWN (Serbia), etc... According to you why death metal is less represented in Eastern countries? Is this a less popular style beside grindcore? I think things are changing because bands find labels to release their music.
I really don't know why is grindcore more accepted in Eastern Europe than death metal. I guess people like to jump around and get wild on it. Maybe it is because grind is all about few guys jumping on the stage and making noise. Many of these countries still have bad post transition difficulties, especially when talking about economy. Socialist regime repressed people for so many years, and then brutal neo-capitalism came…I guess it is the way for people to say „fuck the system“! Since grind derivates from punk and punk by its nature is all about rebellion...I think this makes sense. I think death metal is more introverted music style, it is the music you want to listen alone in your bedroom, and grindcore is more social, more like drinking music when you hang out with your crew. Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it is just the way the people are.
-"Born to be vile" is released by Croatia Records. Who are the people involved in this label? How is the promotion working? How people can get your album and merchandising? Do you find any distributors worldwide? How is the feedback about "Born to be vile"?
Croatia Records is major label in Croatia that usually does not distribute metal music. We got studio to record this album and limited edition of CDs, but not promotion and distribution. We still do these things on our own and currently are looking for an international label that is willing to distribute merch and promote us. Right now you can buy album and t-shirts directly from us on our email: avicularia.band@gmail.com . We sent CDs to numerous webzines and magazines and so far reactions are very positive all-around. I think we shall have no problem finding the right label.
-Do you still believe in the physical musical format, that is to say vinyl, tape or CD? We can see today bands selling their music on mp3 platforms like I-tunes or things like that. Personally even if the mp3 quality increases quite well sound wise, I can't limit myself getting a virtual release. I like looking at the CD booklet or LP layout. What do you think about all of this?
MP3 format is extremely practical, you can carry great amount of music with you, access to huge amount of different music you otherwise would never hear and the most important - it is free. I know that most of them are not legal, I know all about the authors’ rights, hell I am one of them now! So, if you google phrase “Avicularia torrent” you’ll get at least 30 direct links to download our album. And you can’t stop it, and I don’t want to stop it because it is the way for people around the world to hear our music. And some people, who liked it, send us mail and order CDs and t-shirts. I personally like having CDs but don’t buy them much because of two practical reasons: First, I don’t have anymore free time to sit down in front of some nice Hi-Fi and enjoy the music, and second - it is expensive. Like it or not you can’t change this. And don’t get me wrong, I used to be that kid that spent his last money on brand new CD rather than going to pub with friends. But physical format will survive for sure, you have to have a CD, especially at live shows.
-How many shows did AVICULARIA play? Do you share the stages with foreign bands? Is it easy to organize concerts and festivals and how is usually the people affluence at gigs? Are the metalheads supportive?As I said previously, Croatia has very small metal scene. Our state has only about 4,5 million inhabitants, so it is natural to go internationally it is the only way. So far we played only in Croatia, and this fall/winter some international gigs are coming. We shared stage with some names you might know like Quo Vadis(Can), Disinfect(DE), Distaste(A), and some local “bigger” names like Stonebride, The Rite of Retaliation, Usud, Inciter…There are bunch of people, I could say fans, that attend our show regularly and are very supportive – they make us feel worthy and proud of music we do. As Far as I know, Avicularia is the only band in Croatia doing this kind of extreme metal music.
-Please react or say something about the following records:
-ATHEIST "Elements": One awesome album! Man I should listen that old stuff more often, you just reminded me on time when I intensively enjoined bands like Cynic, Death, Pestilence and I always put Atheist there. Amazing concept in general, musicianship and AN IDEA, one of the most amazing jazz/death metal fusions. Album is very fluid and dynamic and this is the same thing I want to happen with our music in the future.
-DEATH "The sound of perseverance": It was always hard for me to pick the favorite Death album, but their last masterpiece is the real crown of Chuck’s work. Most technical album to me, also the first Death album I’ve ever hearted back in 1998, and album I’ve listened many, many times. It instantly reminds me on Chuck and his tragic fate and what kind of genious stuff would we listen from Death today if he was still around. These are the last words of the father of death metal – it is a Bible to me!
-AGHORA "Aghora": Awesome fusion of prog/thrash metal with oriental/ambient stuff. I always get the trills from guitar work of Santiago Dobles on that album. This guy is one of the most impressive players I’ve ever heard and other musicians follow him tightly. But I never liked the way the vocals were done. I would like to hear her screaming from her guts on heavier parts. To me her vocal lacks dynamics and it gets me bored when listening a while. But Santiago, he is the man!
-GORGUTS "Obscura": First when I heard this album it took me some time to digest it, to understand it. Very complex and original album, definitely on my top 10 list. It inspired me to take different approach to playing and was and still is great influence on Avicularia’s music. There is a song “Clouded” that lasts for almost 10 minutes and when I come to that song it feels like it lasts an hour! It is that sick and disturbing, like everlasting agony. It makes me nervous sometimes…hahahah
-CRYPTOPSY "the unspoken king": After that album people started to call them Craptopsy but it is not that bad. I’ve listened many times and liked it like every Cryptopsy album. New vocal style was quite the shock, but hey, Cryptopsy was always about innovations and this is the reason I’ve been following them for years. This band has no two same albums; every one has different vibe and is original. For a long time they were my favorite band and if I had to pick the worst album it would be “Once was not”. To me golden era ended with “...And than you’ll beg” when Jon left the band. That is the last masterpiece of Cryptopsy, and I hope they’ll get on that road again with next album.
-SUFFOCATION "Blood oath": The best production Suffocation ever had, but not my favorite album. It is funny that I can’t tell why, but album after 15-20 minutes of playing becomes boring. It lacks something but I can’t tell what, it sounds so perfect but does not give me that thrills like “Despise the sun” does.
-PORTAL "Outre": Man, I haven’t heard of this guys until now(God bless mp3). Interesting post/black metal stuff! On first listening it instantly reminded me on Mayhem “Ordo ab Chao” because its atmosphere and Lo-Fi production. Not bad indeed, but I’ll give them a few more listenings for better insight.
-Let us know about your recent musical purchases. What records would you recommend to our narrow-minded readers? On the contrary what's the most terrible stuff you have heard recently and we should avoid?
Recently I’m intensively listening to local demo bands and there are lots of great talents, so have a listen to some of than I recommended. Lately, beside metal, I’m listening lots of post rock and experimental stuff, instrumental stuff like Terry Bozzio, Frank Gambale. There are some impressive bands your readers might find interesting like King Crimson. They have been great inspiration to me. It is one of the most amazing bands in music generally and everyone should give them a chance. I suggest to start with albums “Red” and “Power to believe”. If you like instrumental acoustic guitar try to anything from “Miroslav Tadic & Vlatko Stefanovski”, there are virtuosos from Serbia and Macedonia that can easily be compared with guitar greats like Al DiMeola, Paco DeLucia, Joe Satriani…etc. Talking about new metal releases I hope everyone heard “Ulcerate – Everything is fire”. If not, this one is a must! I think they are Immolation of new era, the most intense and original death metal band I’ve heard in years. “Obscura – Cosmogenesics”is also awesome, “Augury - Fragmentary_Evidence”, “Gorod - Process of a new decline”, of course new Nile album…dude, there are too many of them. Stuff I don’t like I usually don’t remember, so – none!
-It's over now, thank you very much for your kind cooperation answering my questions. Let us know what we can expect from AVICULARIA in a near future. You also can end this chat the way you want. Keep on being vile!
It was my pleasure answering your questions that were precise and interesting. I am happy that you gave us a chance for promotion in France and I’m sure we’ll manage to make few live gigs around your country. It is very nice to see international interest for our music, thank you for your attention and best wishes to keep Putrefactive Effect active and strong! And to all you metalheads: metal up you ass and keep the metal faith alive! Haha…No, this is too much cliché…Listen to Avicularia at www.myspace.com/aviculariaband and if you dig us, ordering our album. Thank you all!
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire