Nefastus Dies
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
Montréal, Canada-based modern black metallers Nefastus Dies recently released their impressive debut "Urban Cancer" through Siege Of Amida/Candelight Records. The album deals with the decay and ills of modern life in the big city. Not only does this band diverge from usual genre subjects in their lyrics, also musically Nefastus Dies draws influences from a wider palette. Masterful Magazine recently caught up with Sébastien Painchaud (vocals) to talk about the band's formation, the concept of this debut album and the band's general struggle to get the album in stores.First off, I'd like to thank you for taking time to speak with me today. What is presently going on with the band? What new things are happening for Nefastus Dies right now?
We just came home from a one week tour with Norther and were working on some new songs.
Since this is your first interview for Masterful Magazine, could you provide us with a brief history of the band up till now?
Nefastus Dies started as a pretty typical black metal band. After 2-3 years and only a handful of local shows, they went through a line up change which is when me and the drummer came in. The material started shifting, becoming more brutal, and we slowly grew out of the typical black metal imagery to create our own look and sound. At that point we record "Urban Cancer", which is material we had written in that year after throwing out 2 albums worth of songs. After shopping around for 2 years we finally struck a deal with Siege Of Amida Records who went through Candlelight USA for an American release for the album.
Where did the name Nefastus Dies originate from and is there a special meaning to it, according to you?
It's a Latin term which roughly translates to "a day that is bad for you" at first it had mythological meanings dating to Roman times, but now to us it just means a really fucking shitty day. Nefastus Dies is simply a vehicle through which we vent our frustrations with everyday life.
How long was the process of putting the album together, as far as writing the music, the concept and arrangements is concerned?
From when we started over from scratch to when we had enough material to record, I'd say 1 year. We were inspired by our new musical direction and ideas just kept coming to us. Concept-wise it just kind of came about by itself, we just started writing lyrics and finding titles that seemed to fit together. The album name is the last thing that came to us, and at first it was the title for the song ‘Cost Effective Mergers' but we decided it was the perfect album title instead.
Tell us something about the concept and the meaning of the title from this debut album, "Urban Cancer"?
It's simply about how living in a big city eats away at you and makes you more and more bitter and distrustful of others. I'm sure country life has its drawbacks at well, but like I said earlier, this band is there for us to vent about our everyday frustrations. One of the main sources of these is the big city: its ugly scenery and dirty hobos annoying you on every street corner.
While the band deals with philosophical and socio-critical subjects in its lyrics, the more approachable image (no spikes, bullet belts, corpse paint, etc) the majority of the band does still use the expected ridiculous black metal stage names. Why is that?
Leftovers from the band's beginning. We've stopped using them since the album and just go with our full names. We realised how ridiculous it was when we went in for radio interviews and the interviewer would refer to us using those names.
You have utilised famed producer Yannick St. Amand and his Victor Studios in Canada to record this new album. Alan Douches at West West Side Music in New Windsor, New York has mastered the album. Any particular reasons why these particular people and their studio facilities and expertise fit so well for Nefastus Dies?
It was actually recorded in Yannick's own studio, not Victor (which is located in Montreal while Yannick is now in Rouyn Noranda, 7 hours up north from here). We knew from the start we wanted to work with him to get a really solid sound instead of the typical badly recorded paper thing sound most black metal bands go for. As far as Douches goes, Yannick is the one who highly recommended him.
In my opinion you've achieved an earthy and organic warm sound that fits the music perfectly. Did you exactly know what kind of sound you wanted or did this sort of materialize along the way?
We knew what we wanted. Of course it's never exactly like you imagined once you get into the studio, but it's pretty damn close to what we had in mind.
Musically, "Urban Cancer" contains a lot of diversity and the album is quite engaging. I like the balance that the band has between intensity and aggression but with an emphasis on progressive leanings and technical finesse. How difficult is it to find that balance?
It's not that hard because it seems like every band member has his own "job" when we compose. I usually tend to favour complex arrangements while one of the guitarists makes sure I don't overdo it. The drummer makes sure we keep it brutal, while the second guitarist ensures we have enough mid-paced riffs etc. In the end, when someone tries to go off too much in one direction, there's always another band member to stop him and keep it all balanced.
The progressive leanings in the guitar - and drum work sound really different than what is commonly accepted in black metal. Will these progressive sections be expanded upon in future material?
Yes and no. We will pick and choose our spots for the progressive parts a bit more, we want to avoid the long 7+ minute songs in the future.
I couldn't help but notice how prominent drummer Scythrawl features in the music. His drumming is quite impressive. His drumming reminded me of people like Tony Laureano (ex-Angelcorpse), Pete Hammoura (ex-Nile), Jade Simonetto (Hate Eternal) and Martin Maurais (Dechrist, ex-Kataklysm).
I'm sure he'll consider it a great honour to be compared to these guys when I tell him. Jade is a friend of the band as well since he is native from Montreal and used to play for our good buddies The Plasma Rifle
How would you describe your musical progress from the demo to now? What do you think about the progression your band is taking?
The demo shows the first 2 songs the band wrote after changing their style and line up. I wasn't even featured on it or a band member then (Scythrawl provided vocals when their old singer proved inadequate for the new material) so of course me coming in with my more progressive ideas expanded the band's new sound even more. We're progressing even more now (remember that "Urban Cancer" was recorded at the beginning of 2006 we've been writing new songs for 2 years now) and we feel like we've finally found the sound we want. But we're hard to satisfy, I'm convinced that in a couple of months we'll have newer songs and we will once again be convinced we have finally found our sound. We'll always be changing simply because we are never satisfied 100%
When working on this new album, were there any elements from your sole demo that you wanted to keep and were there any particular things you were looking to improve?
Well, the demo was just us testing the new "sound" and we liked it, we wanted to keep on the same path and push it further, and of course a better sound quality for the full length album, which I personally think we achieved
"Urban Cancer" has had a troubled release history. It was initially released by American death metal label Deepsend Records, but that deal went sour. Now it is being released by Siege Of Amida/Candlelight Records.
Yes, it is now out through Candlelight USA and available throughout America. So, make sure to pick it up, and boycott Deepsend Records for fucking stealing 100 CDs from us and illegally distributing them in stores.
Thanks for the interview, and good luck with all your future endeavours. Feel free to add anything you want...
Visit www.myspace.com/nefastusdies for 3 tracks off the CD and keep checking for updates on the band.
Booking: www.siegeofamida.net
Site: www.myspace.com/nefastusdies
