Satanochio
Wywiad przeprowadził Wouter Roemers
One of Romania's most eclectic metal acts is probably Satanochio. Despite having never performed live or unveiled details about its members the band has established a rabid cult following in its hometown Bucarest and beyond its national borders. After releasing the promising "Vagrant Matter Heritage" EP and "Dark Visions From the Fog" DVD to critical acclaim last year, Satanochio haven't rested. Instead they wrote and recorded material for what was to become their current album "From Beyond". The album was recently released by Poland's Diachell Musik. Masterful Magazine recently had a chat with Satanochio's eponymous leader about their new album, how he perceives the metal scene in general and chatted a bit about Romanian history and culture.
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 Satanochio right now?
Hails. Thank you for your interest in our art. We are working on a cover song right now, that will appear on the new Running Wild tribute album. I know, it's quite strange for a band like ours, but it will be a pleasant surprise in the end. We like to have a little fun at this moment, after so intense work on the new album.
Since this is your first interview for Masterful Magazine. Can you give our readers a brief introduction to the band, for those who are unfamiliar with Satanochio. How it all got started, that kind of thing?
I started the band back in 2004, together with a crazy drummer, called Satan Imparat. He got lost in the world after the debut demo, "First Strike Of The Possessed" and at the moment of "The Naughty Nightfall Massacre" Satanochio got into that weird one-man-band statute. After few months I met Grui Sanger and after few rehearsals he joined the band. Together we recorded the Daemon E.P. (2005), the debut full-length album "I Am Satanochio" in 2006 and the single "Heihaiheihei Caini" in 2007. We introduce Nimenea, the new and the third member to our fans on the "Dark Visions From The Fog" DVD and we released the first material as a trio on 1 December 2007. It's name was "Vagrant Matter Heritage". on 1 December 2008 we released our second full lenght album, called "From Beyond" plus a long subtitle that explains the main idea of the album. This is the first album we released as a label outside our country. So, I must say thanks to the guys from Diachell Musik for their support.
I must applaud you for not resting on your laurels. This new album "From Beyond" (released in December 2008) comes a year after your stunning "Vagrant Matter Heritage" EP and "Dark Visions From the Fog" DVD, both released in 2007. Satanochio is continually creating and honing its art, I suppose?
Yeah, I guess we are some quite fucked up people. We don't have anything to do with the actual metal scene. We are not evolve like an usual band, we are not playing usual metal, we are not appear on usual stages. We will have tones of rest after death, so... Really, I love to discover, to progress, to experiment, to go further in my exploring process. Maybe we are obsessed about that, maybe not, but our history shows the truth about this band: we never lay for rest. I hope that we will be able to breathe and build at the same time many years from now, like we did in the past.
Congratulations with yet another great album! The album sounds a little darker and heavier as its predecessor "Vagrant Matter Heritage". Was this sound something you specifically looked for during the writing process or was it more or less something that came up during the recording process?
If "I Am Satanochio" was recorded in madness, with very cheap equipment, during the recording sessions for "Vagrant Matter Heritage" we learned a lot of things. This was our first material recorded with the sound engineer Marius Costache, and he opened an entire world to our knowledge. When we recorded "From Beyond", again with him behind the desk, we all knew what to do, to increase the sound quality. And I must confess, during the recording sessions for "From Beyond" we learned much more that in the past. I think I must mention that we have some kind of 3 demos before we recorded the final tracks. One for the main ideas, one for basic structures and basic vocal lines and the last for the sound. So, after all, the truth seems to be somewhere in the middle of the story. We had something prepared for the final recordings but we changed also a lot of things during the final sessions...
"From Beyond" continues on the path taken with the "Vagrant Matter Heritage" EP. It is a dense mix of hulking death metal, progressive jams and avant-garde black metal like (later) Emperor with a dash of horror inspired theatrics and drama. I guess you must be proud, the album is absolutely killer and totally original!
Hehe, thanx a lot man. Yeah, we are very proud of "From Beyond". I know it is damn good, but I think the main secret that pushed the album so high is the fact that the feelings behind the tracks are very strong. You know, it's nothing stronger than to try to translate into music your own feelings, regarding some very deep happenings from your real life...
The new album is a major leap forwards from "Vagrant Matter Heritage". What are the points of progress that the band is most proud of?
I know that we evolved a lot around more experiments, which is a way I'm totally in love with. You can hear tones of ways of interpretations on this album, and I think you can hear at least all the metallic music styles, in a way of another. It's so much unity in this album, it's like we all 3 became one major entity that can express itself much stronger than before.
Producing this record was Marius Costache once again, who also handled mixing and mastering. How did you get in touch with him, how was it to work with him? Truth be told, I never heard of either this studio or producer/engineer Marius Costache. Is he well-known in the Romanian scene?
In my opinion, Marius Costache is the only true sound engineer from our country. Really, somebody who has so complex and raffinate musical tastes, somebody that admire your own creation just if it's original and strong based on feelings, really. He is a human in a real sense of the word, which means he is superior to any sound engineer involved in Romanian metal scene, that can be a part just of something reduced at one style. He likes also to experiment, he joined us from the demos to the final result, like a real producer and he give me a real help during recording the vocals. Lyrics are so important on this record and he knew all the aspects and stories behind them. I remember him keep screaming at me: "What the fuck is that? This is not your kinda scream, this is not your voice, I need more power, just scream goddamn! Just get into the fucking lyrics you are telling about. Wait a minute...give me the paper....Pfaaaa! Look at this line? Why the fuck you are not screaming like you wrote? Hahahah!" And I was getting mad and I begin to record the vocals at such high level of intensity and volume. Hahaha, it was funny. Sometimes I scarred him, sometimes he didn't had any reason to comment something...you know, if I had "a good day" of recording.
The band was formed in 2004. That year Romania, Post-Cold War, developed closer ties with Western Europe, eventually joining NATO in 2004. Have you or the band experienced the fall out from Romania's well-documented Communist past with leader Nicolae Ceauşescu and the hardships of the autarchic regime which he introduced?
I really don't know what "image" has Ceausescu now in the big West, but let me tell you something. In 1989 we had no obligations to any country from outside and more than that, we even had very good economical relationships with the countries around. Some Arab countries even had some important sums that they must give us back then... In this situation we became a bad example to any country in the world. And as the globalisation process was at its beginning, they create this supposed to be revolution and they killed Ceausescu. Back in that days the Romanian people had enough of so much "economy" and Ceasusescu and his drastic rules. But this people is very calm and they never could build something like this revolution by their own. I can assure you on that matter. Now, after so many year I'm looking around...and what can I see? The Romanian people learned the worst things from the "free" West, they never realize that all these aspects are in this world with a precise purpose. They just took all the bad influences of this so called "liberty" and now this people is just a swallow machine. Perfect consumers. Lame like sheep, with no personality and they have no guts to solve the gipsy problems, the free dogs all around the city, the fucking bastards that steals everything and so on...I'm not a communist, but I'm not very happy with the actual situation of my country either.
Romania and Bucarest have a rich history and culture. Bucharest's cultural life has, especially since the early 1990s, become colourful and worldly. Traditional Romanian culture, however, continues to have a major influence in arts such as theatre, film and music. In what sense has your national and traditional heritage influenced the band's music?
Yes, you're right with all this. This is the most probably the single good part we get after the so called revolution back in 1989. But, regarding national heritage and culture I'm afraid I must to say a big fucking "No". I hate most of this popular culture, and our music has nothing in common with that kind of influence. I don't like the popular music from here, sounds very stupid and very happy, and these two ways of feelings are really not my type. What I'm glad to be a part of is this exponential growing of the artistic events around my city. I like artistic acts that breathe the year I'm living in. I don't like classicism, in any kind or mode. We must search and evolve.
You hail from Bucarest, Romania. The city is the most prosperous in Romania and is one of the main industrial centres and transportation hubs of Eastern Europe. Has this shaped Satanochio or its members in any way or form, you think?
Yeah, maybe. Maybe because here in this city we are closer with all technology and other aspects to the West, maybe that's why we evolved to a higher level than the bands from other cities. But I think this is not very good example, because in Bucharest are living a lot of people from other cities, and they can bring with them at home what they learned here... I really don't know what can I say.
The city has a thriving jazz – and blues scene. Bucharest's jazz profile has especially risen since 2002, with the presence of two thriving venues, Green Hours and Art Jazz, as well as an American presence alongside established Romanians. Heavy metal and punk are also increasing in popularity, a large concentration of rock clubs can be found in the Lipscani area, the old part of the city, in the vicinity of Piata Unirii. I guess this is more than a fertile breeding ground for a band such as yourselves?
I see you know quite much about my town, thanx man, I really appreciate this. Yes, you're right with all these affirmations. In this town I guess we have the biggest number of metal bands, punk also is living in its own way...and hell yeah, I really love jazz (more of its experimental genre related to this) and I really love to drink a coffee or a wine around Green Hours. It's a damn good place, with good sound and most of the time, with very good music. I was at all of their jazz festivals. One of my dreams is to see Virus live in that club, with good acoustics and a very old red wine in my glass.
So, where did the band's name original from? It's an obvious combination of Satan, the metaphor for all things evil and dark and Pinocchio, the allegorical children's tale written by Italian writer Carlo Collodi. Can you elaborate a bit on the band's name and its meaning?
At the first view, yes, it's a trivial combination between these names. In reality, the combination it's between their meanings. Satan means the opposer, the one who is against and Pinocchio is the puppet who wants to became human. So, after all this madness, Satanochio means something like "fighting through darkness I shall become human". Just look at all these losers around, all this perfect consumers, all these puppets that are playing with god and all these bullshit.
The stunning artwork of "From Beyond" is courtesy of resident Satanochio artist Costin Alex Chioreanu, who also doubles as the band's manager. Did he manage to translate your ideas, themes and concepts to the canvas? What in particular has drawn you to the art of Chioreanu?
We are friends since childhood, so our relationship is quite old. He is perfect for us, what can I say? He is a sharp mind, with darkest ideas, a judge of the present human decay, the best artist and designer that Romania exported lately... We never had any bad remark over his artwork build for us. Never. He knows our dreams and ideas, he just paint them. Everything is perfect. And who other was possibly better for the manager job?
"From Beyond" was released by Polish label Diachell Musik. Are you happy the way they handled the record, regarding distribution, marketing and promotion? How has the label been accommodating the band's needs?
The guys from Diachell Musik did an fucking great job with our album. I admire and salute their great effort to release this album in 2 special editions, so well published and done. The band is quite happy working with them, we have a very good friend relationship, very good deals and we are also friends with one of their bands, called Aeon. It's a fucking blast-brilliant mad piece of art!!! I hope we will stay together for long time, because we are not searching big labels and shit. We always need just someone who is able to understand us, to be close to our ideas and to help us in real mode.
From a lyrical perspective what song on the album do you feel most satisfied with?
'Lethe'. It's a track I wrote when I was very sad. It's a track about our past, our present and our death.
How long was the process of putting the album together, as far as writing the music, the concept and arrangements is concerned?
We started to work on "From Beyond" in late January 2008. Somewhere in August the album was finished, recorded and at that moment we searched for a label to release it.
Musically you sound more mature and accessible now with "From Beyond". Have you done anything differently with regards to writing or is it just a result of natural progression?
I started to compose the first riffs in December 2007, just sketches, just ideas. In the rehearsal room everything became more complex, we worked together quite much and every member could develop his own ideas on this album. So, I guess it's all about working together, working hard, experiment quite much, keeping what's good from wrong and of course, some natural progression.
The last cut of the album 'I'm Not Me But Tomorrow I Can Be' features the wailing monk chants of former Dødheimsgard vocalist Kvohst (real name: Mat McNerney). How did this collaboration come about?
We just asked him if he wants to do this, because his voices fits perfectly to that song, and because he was a friend with Costin, he accepted. I know like very much our music and I guess everything worked out very well, hehe. Kvohst is a damn good vocalist and if you have any doubt after the brilliant "Supervillian Outcast", just check out the new Code album...which is damn fucking killer man, I never heard that kind of lines in black metal in my entire life. Absolutely fantastic! I hope that we will meet again somewhere in this world to drink and have a good time...and who knows? maybe to play together?! Hahaha. Check out also his brand new band called Decrepit Spectre - www.myspace.com/decrepitspectre - they just came up with a damn good debut EP on Paradigms Recordings!
Did guest vocalist Kvohst also add something to his song, or was his participation limited to singing the lines you had put on paper for him?
The lyrics are mine, but he did the vocals after his own ideas. We had no reason to tell him what to do. I just told him what is his part and what is mine, and he send us a demo and after that the final takes. The result is killer, and I think the track became very strong after.
From the top of my head I can only name one Romanian metal band. Negură Bunget, a black metal band from Timişoara. Generally speaking, how is the metal scene in Bucarest, Romania and how has calling Bucarest home helped or hindered the band's development to this point in your career?
I know everyone knows Negura Bunget. We have also other bands, less black metal, bands like Taine, Cap De Craniu, Avatar, Necrovile, Protest Urban, MG42 which are more focused on death metal or other metal related genres than black metal or subgenres around. These are not all from Bucharest and if someone has a metal - related band in this town doesn't mean that he is also promoted well outside.
If someone is searching for something dark and well done from Romania or maybe especially from Bucharest, they can check out Grui Sanger's projects - Grui Sanger Band www.myspace.com/gruisangersband
According to your press leaflets Satanochio is one of most revered bands in Romania, despite having never performed live or revealing any details about its line-up. Why and when was it decided to keep the band's identity a secret and wear these theatrical outfits?
Because the world is full of other bands and because this is our path. We are not an usual band, we are a mirror that reflect the human horror. This is all about Satanochio. If someday we will appear on the stage will mean that we transformed our path in a commercial one, and we don't need that. We have a lot of fans around the world that respect our ideas and understand us so I guess this is the way we will die too.
What are your nearest future plans?
We just released in Mexico a split cd using the tracks from our "Vagrant Matter Heritage" EP The split cd is called "Pandemonium" and is released with the band Benatnash from Mexico and produced by Cytheron Prods. We will record a cover version of Running Wild's 'Siberian Winter' for the ReUnation tribute album, which will be released in this fall. Maybe in Autumn we will begin to work on a new material. Now we are really fucked up promoting our "From Beyond" album around the world, hehe.
That's about it for me, I think. Thanks for the interview! Good luck with all your future endeavours. I would like to extend my praise for a killer second album. The last words are yours.
Thank you very much man for this great interview and also for your truly support. In the end I want to salute all the fans from Poland, our friends from Diachell Musik and Aeon guys! As the soul is an endangered species we shall keep it alive!
Info: www.satanochio.com / dhell.ovh.or
