Corpus Diavolis (France) 17/01/2014

Those who had listened to them, knew that the beast sometime would attack. The unaware was really surprised after the release of their second full length album. Corpus Diavolis although since when they were formed, they don’t have any label to help and support them, they have achieved with their perseverance, their devoted effort but above all with their love for Black Metal and their talent to spit their venom to more and more people. I talked with the singer, lyricist and leader of the band, Daemonicreator. 2014 begins with a very interesting interview.

1. Hail Daemonicreator, thanks a lot for this interview. First of all I want you to give me some information about Corpus Diavolis. I think you are one of the founding members. Tell me how you met the others and decided to form the band. Are you satisfied by your evolution so far?

Daemonicreator: Hailz DemoN ! We have very similar war names haha, it’s a pleasure to answer your questions! Corpus Diavolis started back in 2008. I used to play guitar with Lord Khaos at the time, we were covering some black metal classics, mostly the fast and technical ones in order to improve our skills. Then some ideas naturally came up, we quickly had enough songs for a live gig and we assembled a band. Analyser is another founding member and a long time mate, we played our first compositions to him and he was totally in. Now we have IX on drums and Funeral on bass, which makes a perfect Corpus team! I’m totally satisfied with the evolution of the band, we have a great creative atmosphere together.

2. You also participate in another band do you want to give me more information about that experience and how it helped you in Corpus Diavolis?

Daemonicreator: Haiku Funeral is a dark duo dedicated to experimental nightmarish poetry. It began almost at the same time as Corpus Diavolis when William Kopecky, an American bass player who recently moved to France, asked me to do some dark-ambient/industrial shit with him. It quickly evolved into a serious project and we have released three albums. Now both bands are totally connected as William Kopecky (aka Funeral) recorded the bass for ‘Entheogenesis’ and did some gigs with us. You can also notice Haiku Funeral elements in some of the ambient/atmospheric interludes or the slow parts. It is always a good experience to enlarge your (dark) horizons, musically and spiritually. Unhealthy Dreams is another project of mine. We just finished our new album and it will soon appear. It is more industrial-oriented black metal in the vein of The Kovenant, but crazier!

3. Just before the ending of 2013 you released “Entheogenesis”, an impressive album in my opinion. Do you want to tell me more about the album (composing, recording and generally giving form to the album).

Daemonicreator: It took us three years to complete this album. Most of the tracks were composed back in 2011 and we had a lot of time to work on the details. Due to line-up changes and a new drummer coming in, things took some time to record. We left IX the time necessary to get into the tracks and band atmosphere. Funeral brought the final touches with his original bass lines. Everything was recorded in 2012 in our studio – Daemonicreation. Then we did the mix and artwork in 2013.

4. You write the band’s lyrics, don’t you? How do you get inspired to write lyrics? Do you write lyrics first and after you write the music over them or the opposite?

Daemonicreator: I wrote most of them but Funeral also participated in ‘Entheogenesis’ with his dark, apocalyptic verses. We create the lyrics as abstract, demented visions, like a Bosch painting. We do the music first, then we listen and translate our sensations into lyrics, sometimes we use texts we already wrote. When needed, we adapt the arrangements to the words. Inspiration comes from personal experiences, philosophy, poetry, literature, movies, Satan…

5. I noticed that you write in Bulgarian apart from English. Is that correct? What is your relation with Bulgaria?

Daemonicreator: Correct! I’m from Bulgaria but moved to France 13 years ago. Inspiration comes in mysterious ways, English or Bulgarian, we have also a bit of French writings. I used to have a band back there – Glades Of Gloom, one of the first Bulgarian black metal bands.

6. How do you compose your music? Is it a result of cooperation of all the band’s members or only one is responsible for music?

Daemonicreator: It’s like an orgy, not masturbation.

7. What inspires you to write music and what do you want to express through it?

Daemonicreator: I am full of music, it just wants to be unleashed. Imagination is the greatest inspiration! Playing extreme metal makes us feel fully alive. Most people of our age make babies, we make blasting black metal! Elaborating and then performing music is an experience of a higher state of existence! It’s the ritual.

8. Your music is influenced by the Scandinavian scene regarding your fast and violent riffs but also by the French scene regarding your slower parts. Which bands or music style do you think that have influenced your music?

Daemonicreator: The Scandinavian ‘classics’ from the 90’s I guess, Emperor, Immortal, Marduk, Mayhem… But also other European bands like Abigor, Enthroned, Belphegor and some recent acts like 1349, Dark Fortress… I mention a few French bands below.

9. How was the reaction of the fans and the press towards “Entheogenesis”? Are you satisfied so far?

Daemonicreator: It’s too early to say… You are the one that published the very first review, highly positive though. We are curious to hear what the others say, but satisfaction is already achieved in ourselves.

10. Another thing that is impressive about “Entheogenesis” is the level of professionalism that is exhibited by the album considering though that you are not supported by any label. How do you manage to produce such a professional result with, I guess, little money?

Daemonicreator: Thank you! For us, sound recording and graphic design are very important parts of the whole creative process. I spent a lot of time shaping the sound production in our studio and drummer IX did a great job on the cover layout. If you have the passion you don’t really need a lot of money to make a good black metal album; a too-expensive and polished production can ruin it. Labels are important for promotion and touring, now we are looking for one to spread our word.

11. Another thing that must be mentioned is that you spit your venom also by your own video clips. Professionalism characterizes the videos too. Give me some information about those offerings.

Daemonicreator: We did our first video “Anteros Antigod” by ourselves and only passion and sincerity saved it from being too amateurish, no budget, just a friend with a camera and the things we like – forests, fire, caves, ruins, corpse paint… For “Primordial Chaos Reinvoked” I called a good friend of mine, Steeve Calvo, who is a professional and who works on documentaries but is also fascinated by horror movies and extreme music. We did a great job together, with no budget again. The girl in the video is a model and our guitarist’s sister, she did great too, it was very occult and intense experience to perform and make this video.

12. You have played in some gigs in France, haven’t you? Have you ever played outside of France? Have you planned any live shows for the promotion of the new album?

Daemonicreator: We did some gigs since we started the band. Our biggest achievement was the opening for Inquisition here in Marseille. We have also played with Loudblast and Svart Crown. Last year we did two shows in Switzerland, that was our first time abroad. We have two gigs booked for 2014 so far and we are looking for more, so if you know some good black metal festivals or gig organizers in Greece let us know :-)

13. I know that it is too soon, but have you begun composing material for a future release? When do you plan to have your next release ready? Will it be another full length or something different?

Daemonicreator: Oh yes we have a lot of material already, we are experimenting on a new approach in composition and it’s working great. It took us a long time to complete Entheogenesis but we are planning to do the next one much faster. If everything goes fine we’ll start the recording of another full length at the end of the year.

14. The French underground scene is huge. Do you consider yourself part of that scene? What do you think about the quality and evolution of the scene since the 90s? Are you in contact or do you cooperate with any other band or musician from the scene?

Daemonicreator: My personal opinion is that there is a clear evolution in quality. The black metal scene in the 90’s and early 2000’s was dominated by the Scandinavians. Now there’s not much happening in the North but more and more French bands emerge with brilliant albums: Glorior Belli, Deathspell Omega, Reverence, to mention a few of my favorites. We know the guys from Ad Hominem and Maleficum Orgia, they live in our city. You have to check out KARNE, good friends and excellent musicians, they are currently recording their first album. Necroverdose is a great death metal band, their singer Martial did some vocals on Entheogenesis. I guess all bands can be considered as part of the scene, but Corpus Diavolis is not following a French black metal style or something similar.

15. Do you want to sum up your near future plans and add anything for conclusion?

Daemonicreator: HAIL SATAN!

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