Haemoth (France) 01/09/2011

Haemoth come from France and they are active already since 1999. My first contact with their music was Vice, Suffering and Destruction album in 2004. Immediately they caught my attention with their special style and their obscure sound. After the release of the compilation album Mortuales Delecti (The Demonik Prophecies) I wanted to contact Haemoth, composer, guitar and bass player and singer of the band in order to ask him about any new material and more details on that. On this occasion we talked about much more.

1. Hail Haemoth thanks a lot for the interview. Do you want to give me some information about Haemoth (creation, members etc)?

Haemoth: Well I created Haemoth in 1999 as a solo project, and Syht joined this project for the first album “Satanik Terrorism” in 2002/2003, the line up is still the same, Syht and I…

2. Your music is full of hatred and gives me feelings of complete disappointment. What do you want to express through Haemoth and what inspires you to write music and lyrics?

Haemoth: Things are simple, the hatred of human being is the nerve of Haemoth, in that case you will understand there are a lot of inspiration to write lyrics and music. Haemoth is the expression of our hatred.

3. Six years have passed since your last release of new material. Are you working on new material all this time? When do you plan to release something new?

Haemoth: The Haemoth recordings are done really fast, we do not work for month to prepare a recording. During these years, we recorded a 7ep in 2008, two tracks are recorded, but we’re not satisfied with it, so we decided not to release it, may be I’ll re-work these two tracks in the future, not sure about that… I also released the Inpestae “cold & dead” mcd, the Spektr “mescalyne” mcd in 2006/2007. For now the new Spektr album “Cypher” is ready, it took a long time to be done, we’re speaking with some labels for the release. About Haemoth, the new album is totally composed, things should be fast, it should be released for the end of the year, depends of the label we’ll choose and when they could release it…

4. What does Haemoth mean and what does it represent for you?

Haemoth: In occultism Haemoth is the name of a demon from the 7th circle, different orthography exist for Him… He is the voice in your head that tells “do it”…

5. If i don't make a mistake Haemoth don't perform live. Is that happening because you are only two members in the band or it is your attitude not to play live?

Haemoth: This is a choice, we’re not interested in and we already refused a lot of concerts, we don’t want to play for people. As we’re not interested in doing money or travels with Haemoth, no need to play live, and that’s perfect.

6. After "Satanik terrorism" you changed your sound a little. Apart from the trucks that became more chaotic and faster with less mid tempo parts you changed the mix so that the guitars and drums are so much higher. Why you did that?

Haemoth: We didn’t think about it, that was natural. Our choices are done like that, we don’t plan anything before a recording, we just do the things as it comes. The main reason for the sound change is that Satanik Terrorism were recorded on a dirty drum and recorded on a tape 4-tracks, so all the mix is different. Anyway, I think there’s a link between the sound of Kontamination and the Haemoth demos tapes, that kind of dirty fuzz sound on the guitars, but the drum brings another render of it for sure, I think it’s the main reason for the sound differences.

7. I have heard from many people that they can't stand that mix although they like your music. What do you say about that?

Haemoth: I don’t have any problem with this, our mix is dirt, I understand some people don’t like it, but this is our project, and this is our choice, as far as we like it, this is the most important, we do things for none else than us.

8. I think that in your later material that mix adds a noise touch to your music that it fits very well with your style. Can you tell me which bands or music styles are your influences?

Haemoth: We’ve been influenced by a lot of bands, such as Mysticum, Thorns, Dodheimsgard, Mayhem, Atrax Morgue and many others…

9. Your two full length albums were released by a Greek label (iso666). Was the cooperation with them what you expected? Were you satisfied by the promotion or their general attitude towards Haemoth?

Haemoth: ISO666 released our second album in CD only (the first album were released by Broken Wings Productions), I don’t have anything to say about that except that he fucked us, our deal was to print only 1000 copies of this album, and he pressed really more of it, we didn’t receive anything for that, if I have the chance to meet this shemale, I’ll cut his throat like we do for the pigs... The LP version were release by WTC, and they did a good job.

10. What kind of music do you listen to?

Haemoth: Black Metal, Indus/Ambient, Noise, most of the Underground kind of music, as far as it’s dark.

11. What is your occupation apart from music?

Haemoth: I repair musical instruments, and I like art in all his extreme forms, I also have other entertainments, no need to speak about it there...

12. What do you think about the Black Metal scene of France? Are there any bands that you respect or you want to suggest me?

Haemoth: Most of the French bands are shit, like everywhere… But some of the latest releases during the last years were great, from bands like DSO, BAN, Hell Militia, their vocalist is excellent, the last Aosoth album is a good work to my mind, and the “Blood libels” from Antaeus is also a good album I can listen sometimes. I also listened the new Dark Opus mcd that should be released soon, it’s a great recording for sure. I didn’t hear the last Temple of Baal album yet but I’m really curious about it, I keep a good memory of some recordings they did in the past.

13. I think that you have some satanic references in your lyrics. What is Satanism for you?

Haemoth: Satanism is a way of life, a philosophy, no moral, just your own spirit and your own laws. Lucifer was the only angel to think by himself saying “no” to god… : I am Lucifer. Most of the pseudo “satanic” guys I met are just clowns with an inverted cross… Satanism can be lived in different ways, this is a personal research, something complex and I don’t have any lesson to give about that, I live with my own demon, that’s all.

14. What do you think about "religion" in general?

Haemoth: I spit on that. Nobody has to tell me how I have to be, this is, to my opinion, a way to access Satanism as a philosophy. The orthodox movement has an interesting point of view about religion and I respect that, but I don’t live the things like that.

15. Recently I've been searching about "Les Legions Noires". Do you want to tell me your opinion about that?

Haemoth: I have some demos of “les legions noires”, some demos are really good, some others are just shit for me, but I think they were searching for that in a way, this is interesting.

16. Do you know and like any Greek band?

Haemoth: I like Zemial, Dead Congregation, Ravencult…. The Greek scene is to my opinion like the French scene, some really good bands and a lot of bad. The Greek Underground scene seems to be really active, I like that, I’m in touch with some great Greek bands from the Underground, I have some good contacts there.

17. I like very much Sortilege. Do you like them? I think that French Heavy Metal scene of the 80's was very good but much underrated. What is your opinion?

Haemoth: I do not like Sortilege, in the 80’s there was a lot of good French heavy metal bands, but I don’t like very much the vocals of that style. Anyway I think you’re right, the 80’s French scene were underrated.

18. Tell me about your near future plans and if you want to add anything for a conclusion.

Haemoth: For now, future plans are the release of the new Spektr and Haemoth albums, a Demonium release is also on the way, I probably won’t be on vocals for that release, but nothing is done yet for that.

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