Encabulos
Wywiad przeprowadził Michał Kowalski
Encabulos comes from Australia and plays the old school death metal which I really love! Their debut MCD "Abandoning The Flesh' lasts only 15 minutes, however it's a piece of great music! Besides, the band recorded the cover of Bolt Thrower's classic "Cenotaph", which I think is one of the best death metal songs in the whole world! And that is why I had to talk to them! Steven (guit.) and Adam (dr.) were my respondents.Hello Steven! You play the guitar in Encabulos. Why did you choose this instrument (not e.g. trumpet) and why did you start to play death metal? Wouldn't it be easier to play pop music and have a lot of money (ha, ha)?SH:"Greetings Michal! I can't remember the exact thing that made me want to learn guitar, but I do remember why we wanted to play death metal. It was Deicide, Morbid Angel, Death! It was so much more intense than thrash metal and the heaviness was exactly what we were needing. If I started to write pop music, you can shoot me! Lots of money sounds good though."
Many people say that death metal is very popular now. How famous is Encabulos at the moment? Does every girl in the world want to have your autograph (ha, ha)?SH:"I don't think death metal is very popular, but it seems that many people who stopped listening to death in favour of black metal are now listening to both. Also, there seems to be some of the most intense music in the history of metal coming out recently. Angel Corpse (RIP), Nile, Hate Eternal, Diabolic, plus many more. The death metal trend is long dead, so it's a good time for quality bands to make their work on the scene."
AH:"Now that the fad-of-death is gone, record labels are not signing every shit band they meet. It is the time when only people who truly worship death stay around. The girls don't want our autographs, they want our dicks!"
Please tell me about your earlier years. Was it hard to form the band like this? "In the early years there were quite a few confused people trying to join us. One wanted to be black metal who thought he was a vampire who didn't like lamb. Another wanted to be a fucking 'metallica' band. Our first singer was under the thumb of his girl and turned his back on metal and opened his weak faggot heart to the lord! We did the usual shit-gigs when you start out and don't know what's going on. All this can make you say 'fuck it', but it only made us stronger!"
How did you meet guys from your band? Try to write in one sentence what is the most recognizable thing of each of Encabulos.SH:"Me and Adam have been mates with Michael from eleven years now. We all learnt how to play at the same time. We met our vocalist in '96 when he was in a death grind band called Abhorrent. So when our first vocalist left in Dec'96, we all had a talk and decide that he should join Encabulos. Our first vocalist leaving was a blessing in disguise, because Adam Kelly is tons better! I'll briefly describe each member. Our basist is studying and he's a cricket fan, who plays on weekends, our drummer also plays. Our vocalist just had a baby with his girlfriend. And I just try to keep fit while eating pizza and watching formula one. Beer and bourbon are the favourite beverages of Encabulos. All hail the sacred nectar!"
You are from Australia. It's far from Poland, so tell me what does life look like in your country? And what do you know about Poland? AH:"In our country we love beer and sport. We like getting drunk and playing pool, or visiting our local nude bar. Aussies also dig junk food so a lot of us are fat and not bronzed life guards. Good beers here are: Victoria Bittar, Fosters Lager and Carlton Draft. Our most popular spirit would be bourbon, mainly Jim Beam. All I know about Poland is you like sausages and accidently let Hitler's army invade, thinking it was a good-will parade. Sorry, that's all I know, as I don't get to see many polish sit-coms on TV."
SH:" You guys drink lots of vodka and Vader kicks ass!"
As far as I remember few months ago the Olympics took place in your country. Did you watch all those great events? By the way, do you like sports?AH:"I liked watching the boxing, discus, hammer-throw and weight-lifters. That fuckin riding event is not even a sport, the horse should get the medal, not the rich poof on the horse! Steven is into formula-one and me and Michael play cricket. Adam, our singer, isn't into sport at all."
Let's finally talk about your music. You have recorded two demos: "Encabulos" and "Dark Divinity". What are biggest differences beetween those tapes? Do you still like them?SH:"The biggest difference between our self titled demo'97 and 2nd demo would be the music quality. The first demo had basic arrangments and cheap riffs, not too original. Also the lyrics were uninspired gore, mostly written by our first vocalist, who had just left the band. When we did "Dark Divinity" we were better musicians and had put more effort into the riffs. The lyrics had changed also. We have some regrets about releasing our first demo, but we are all satisfied to have released "Dark Divinity". But to go further and compare the demos to the MCD, the demos only touch about one percent of the aggressive power. We only play one song of our demos in our live set and that is "Shrine Of Souls"."
...which was featured at the Razorback Rec. compilation CD. Where else could I find your songs?SH:"There is a track of the MCD on the Metal Mafia'zine compilation and there is more on the few others. People making compilations, get in touch now!!! The more we can get on, the better! If you found one of our demos for sale now, you would be very lucky. We only sold about 100 of our first demo before we decided to stop and do something better. But we got rid of 500 copies od "Dark Divinity" in 12 months before we decided to work on the MCD recording."
Your first MCD "Abandoning The Flesh" was released by Venomous Rec. Are you satisfied with the job this label does for you? What are other releases of Venomous Records?SH:"So far all is well between Encabulos and Venomous. With the recent release of the new Misery album out on Venomous Records, the future looks good for the label. His next release will be a re-print of the first two Misery Cds in one package, with new artwork and remastered. Then it will propably be an album by Decayed Divinity. Also, Encabulos and Misery t-shirts are being made now. Mark, (owner of Venomous) seems to have made a comitment to himself that everything he deals with will be of the highest quality. I think that's a good decision."
You've recorded the killer version of Bolt Thrower's "Cenotaph". In my opinion it's the best song on "Abandoning..."! Do you agree with me?SH:"No, we don't agree!!! But thanks for the compliment. My favourite track is "Inside The Inferno". The lyrics fit in perfectly with the music. A true triumph of blasphemy. "Cenotaph" came out better than we had hoped. It has heaps of power in it. It's a good one to end the MCD. We'll be returning to the same studio to record the album."
What's the biggest advantage of "Abandoning..." MCD? Are you proud of creating this mini album?SH:"Of course we're proud! It's everything we wanted and more. The production is awesome, packaging is great and we haven't received a bad review. It's a ballistic slab of death, that wll satisfy all listeners of heavy death metal. I think that its biggest advantage would be the fact that there are no boring songs on it. I hate it when you're listening to a kick ass CD and then all of a sudden a shity song starts. It can destroy the flow!"
"...I'm the demigod of damnation...", "...inside the inferno there is no god...", "...in malevolent blasphemy I'm reborn..." - these are only few quotations from Adam's lyrics. Do you identify with Adam's words? What's more important in Encabulos: music, or lyrics?SH:"Without music there could be no lyrics, so the music is more important. But that doesn't mean lyrics don't matter! Great lyrics are the perfect compliment to great music. Could you imagine "Reign In Blood" with shit glam metal lyrics? It would fuck it all up. The lyrics to the MCD are blasphemous and diabolic. The new stuff is in the same vein, but with a bit more violent aggression."
I think giving concerts is the best way to prove how much the band really cares. So how often do you play live? What''s the reaction of metal maniax watching your shows?SH:"We play live about 9 or 10 times a year. Sometimes more. But the distances between cities in Australia is about 1000km. This means that in a place like Europe you could do maybe 15 or so shows in that distance, but in Australia only aboul 2. The true metal maniax prepare for war when we play, because we take no prisoners! But seriously, we get our best crowds in Adelaide and Sydney. The Melbourne scene kicks ass, but I don't think we play there often enough. The last gig we did was in Canberra. I had a bad hangover! But the power of metal cured me ha, ha..."
I think you've already answered my questions regarding to the past. Let's talk about your band's future now. When will you record your first full-lenght debut and what it will look like?SH:"The album will be recorded in about April'01. No boring tracks, or gay vampire shit! Just pure extreme death that will destroy the ears of the weak. It's too early to talk about art work, but I'm sure we'll get something good. We're all looking forward to the album, because so far, the new material is extra heavy. There seems to be an evil atmosphere to the music too. This is achieved without keyboards or other non-metal instruments. The way a band like Vital Remains use keyboards is OK, because it's seldom used and doesn't spoil the heaviness. A full time keyboardist in a brutal death band is useless. But everyone has their own opinion."
OK my friend, that's all for now. Thanx fo doing this interview! Any closing words to Encabulos fans?SH & AH:"Thanks Michal for the support! Also thanks to everyone in Poland who has supported Encabulos. Hail Metal! When we visit Europe one day, we will be sure to go to Poland and you guys can teach us how to drink vodka. Drink for Satan!
Encabulos, P.O.Box 1648, Geelong Vic, 3220 Australia
encabulos@hotmail.com, www.venomousrecords.com, mark@venomousrecords.com
