Shrine of Depravity
interview
On the occasion of 74th anniversary of Lovecraft's death, the force majeure brings to our site the interview with relatively new Italian LOGIC OF DENIAL Death Metal band, which clearly bears his legacy in his work. Dark, heavy and brutal Death Metal should address primarily the Morbid Angel fans who are eagerly awaiting their new material. "Necrogenesis" debut album from last year, taken me so much I had to send them a few questions, to which drummer Dannyblast gladly answered. In addition, they early go to the first European tour, so there is a chance they may also appear close to our country...
What’s up in Logic of Denial band?
We're fine, thank you! But, in this period, we're overwhelmed by a lot of activities, changes, and stuff like that.. We're so glad to answer your questions, we didn't know Necrosphere and it's a really great site! Thank you for this chance!
Your debut album "Necrogenesis" has been unleashed upon the blood thirsty underground. What is your vision for this album and what are you trying to achieve with it? How much are you now satisfied with the result that came out of the studio?
We could say that Necrogenesis was “aborted” ;) , in april 2009, in a very difficult way; we had some lineup changes, and we had to face some troubles within the band just before the recording sessions; so, a lot of things in this album, in our opinion, could have been better. But we still love it, because it represents a work carried on for several years, and it truly explains what we wanted to express at that time. The recording sessions for Necrogenesis are a thing we're particularly proud of; the sound engineer behind the mixer was a very talented guy, but he was not really into death metal. So, we did the whole job, using his skills just to direct the recordings in the way we liked. And we still like it a lot, even if our musical research is slightly different now.
Who of you writes most of the stuff? Not all equally anyway...? Do you have already prepared some new songs? Do you want to change something in the upcoming material?
Alle (guitars) usually writes all the riff and structures; then, the whole band works on the songs, suggesting better ways to arrange them, changing entire riffs and so on. After all, it's a team work, and we're proud of it. Usually, Matt (vocals) writes all the lyrics, according to a project discussed within the band.
Your solos have their own spirit, and certainly they are not there only to fill the empty space. Who influenced you most on this site?
There are so many guitarists who influenced Alle in his own style. If we have to talk about Logic Of Denial's solos, he's mostly influenced by Karl Sanders and Terrance Hobbs, followed by Trey Azaghtoth and James Murphy.
Why were you forced to change the name from Collapse to Logic of Denial and why just this name?
There were so many factors which induced us to change our first name; we were radically changing our musical style, we were revolutioning our lineup for the first time.. So, we needed a new name to represent a new band :) .. “Logic Of Denial” refers to a reality marked by constant motion, and crossed by contradictions; when we chose that name, we thought about the necessity of man to know and explain those contradictions, and to free himself from his subjugated condition. This journey carried on to know the deep features on man, and the changing reality we live on, is a non-linear path marked by contradictions, by negation, by denial. So, talking about Lovecraft is just one step, of our lyrical field focused on all sides of human existence.
What is the situation in Italy relating to the sale of your CDs, or metal CDs in general? Do not decrease the sales there as well?
The best situation to sell something of your band is the live show, where people can watch your performance, judge your work and decide to support your band buying your stuff.
Metal in Italy cannot have a lot of chance like, for example, many shows or fairs where CDs can be sold; but little labels and promoters exchange with other bands, Used CDs Shops and lot of handrail allows underground metal to survive and expand itself.
What do you think of the opinion that a band can survive purely from live shows and merchandise sales, so that it does not need to sell CDs?
We think that in the metal scene, everywhere, if you are not a GIANT name like Iron Maiden or Cannibal Corpse you’ll never be able to survive with your live shows and merch. We never thought about the chance of living only with our music, we just try to cover some costs selling our stuff. In every situation if you get something you have to pay for it, and the price must be proportional to the quality of the product: so, we think it's right to pay for a CD.
What's your view on the production of Death Metal recordings in general? Development goes ahead; more and more bands want to sound crystal clear. Do you think this is a good development? Or do you prefer dirtier sound?
The important thing is to let the listener completely hear what are you playing, and feel the atmospheres that you want to express. A dirty and brutal sound is part of our musical intentions; it's not a matter of superficiality. We always search a clear sound, but not a false and standard one: we think that a definite and clean production, is a mark of professionality. The most important thing is to find a way to sound raw, powerful and brutal, without losing clarity and precision.
Is it difficult to sign a deal with a larger label for the Italian underground Death Metal band? Or are you satisfied with the Spew Records?
We simply consider “The Spew records” as one of the best underground death/brutal/grind label so far; Clod's work is awesome, as a musician but also as a label manager. We are completely satisfied with the work he has done with us, and with everything he's doing now. Sure, it's not simple to sign a deal with a larger label; many Italian bands are reaching this target - Hour Of Penance on Prosthetic Records, our friends Septycal Gorge (Brutal Bands) and Antropofagus (Comatose), among others -, but the point is that The Spew is a great deal for us, and our support to Clod's work is total.
How big is your collection of metal T-shirts? Do you have any rarities?
Yeah, we don't have any rarities eheh, but we own some underground and mainstream t-shirt. Just for example, a couple of Septycal Gorge and Sickening (two awesome brutal italian bands), Hour Of Penance (The Vile Conception and the Mark Riddick design); then Nile, Aborted, Cannibal Corpse, Psycroptic, Aeon, Morbid Angel, Misery Index... and stuff like that :)
In April and May you are going to EU tour with Sarcolytic and Septycal Gorge. Will it be your first EU tour? Where do you enjoy most? What are your conditions for concerts organizers?
Yeah, it's an awesome chance for us, to spread our music throughout Europe for the first time; and, obviously, we are so excited about that! If everything will be alright, the conditions will be good; we don't have to pay for slots and accommodations, and that's awesome. But we have to organize our transport. We hope everything will be ok, and also to have the chance to play in your country!
What is the situation in Italy relating to concerts? Do you play live often enough?
We have already mentioned this topic previously, but is important for us underline that many guys continue to organize Metal Nights and Festivals each day less underground and more supported, like Tattoo Death Fest (Milano), Chromium (Crevalcore, Bologna), Twilight (Fabbrico, Reggio Emilia), Agglutination Metal Fest (Sant’Arcangelo, Potenza), and more!
These are the true opportunities for the Underground to extend his bloody and angry scream, and we’ll continue to be grateful to all them strong Staffs.
I can hear you are quite influenced by Morbid Angel. Do you prefer their older creation, or later? Are you glad David Vincent came back?
Yeah, Morbid Angel is one of our influences, but, especially now, it's not the most important for us. However, Alle loves their older works, but also their new ones. Gateways To Annihilation is a huge and magmatic spawn of pure death metal madness, and Heretic influenced him a lot when he had to choose the guitar sounds for Necrogenesis. David Vincent is one of the most important death metal voices of all time; but Steve Tucker did an impressive works on all the tunes he had to sing in.
What role does Lovecraft play in your music? Are all your lyrics influenced by his writings only? Why did you choose just Lovecraft? It is difficult to tune his ideas?
We love Lovecraft and his atmospheres and themes play a very significant role in our songs and lyrics. Necrogenesis certainly would not be the same without Lovecraft's suggestions, so in every single riff and word of this album you can feel the signs of a world dominated by darkness. This is an important objective that we chose to seek during the realization of the plot, in particular to pay tribute to one of the sickest horror's authors in the world, but in future we probably will change the central theme of our lyrics, in order to facing other important parts of human's mystical fears. So stay tuned..!
Sure you have also seen some Lovecraftian movies. Which ones are good to you? Do you prefer horror movies?
Sure, we love horror movies..!! Between Lovecraftian movies in particular “Dagon” is certainly one of the most faithful transposition. But we also think that probably the most part of horror movies takes something from Lovecraft's imaginary, because the atavic fear of the unknown continuing to be a reference point of our concerns. Besides it is important to notice that also videogames's world takes many elements from Lovecraft's works; for example “Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth”, the “Penumbra” saga, “Amnesia: The Dark Descent” or “Darkness within”.. We've played and finished all of them!
Why do you think Lovecraft´s heritage found the largest space just in Death Metal genre? Do you know also creation of Algernon Blackwood writer?
Because Lovecraft is suffocation, fear of the unknown, abandonment between oblivion and insanity.. What type of music but death metal could recreate these feelings..? We think that probably death metal can be considered as Chtulhu's unique voice.
Algernon Blackwood has been another important supernatural writer, and we like so much his works.. Maybe in future we'll talk about him in any of our lyrics, it could be funny.. We'll see..!!
Ok, that would be all from me, thanx for the interview and you have the last words. Can you add your current top 5 albums?
It's not a simple question to answer :) .. We'll tell you a couple of album we cannot live without:
Nile: Black Seeds Of Vengeance - Those Whom The Gods Detest
At The Gates: Slaughter Of The Soul
Morbid Angel: Gateways To Annihilation
Behemoth: Evangelion - The Apostasy
Suffocation: Pierced From Within
Spawn Of Possession: Cabinet - Noctambulant
Deicide - The Stench Of Redemption
http://www.myspace.com/logicofdenial
Dannyblast 9. 3. 2011 Storm
What’s up in Logic of Denial band?
We're fine, thank you! But, in this period, we're overwhelmed by a lot of activities, changes, and stuff like that.. We're so glad to answer your questions, we didn't know Necrosphere and it's a really great site! Thank you for this chance!
Your debut album "Necrogenesis" has been unleashed upon the blood thirsty underground. What is your vision for this album and what are you trying to achieve with it? How much are you now satisfied with the result that came out of the studio?
We could say that Necrogenesis was “aborted” ;) , in april 2009, in a very difficult way; we had some lineup changes, and we had to face some troubles within the band just before the recording sessions; so, a lot of things in this album, in our opinion, could have been better. But we still love it, because it represents a work carried on for several years, and it truly explains what we wanted to express at that time. The recording sessions for Necrogenesis are a thing we're particularly proud of; the sound engineer behind the mixer was a very talented guy, but he was not really into death metal. So, we did the whole job, using his skills just to direct the recordings in the way we liked. And we still like it a lot, even if our musical research is slightly different now.
Who of you writes most of the stuff? Not all equally anyway...? Do you have already prepared some new songs? Do you want to change something in the upcoming material?
Alle (guitars) usually writes all the riff and structures; then, the whole band works on the songs, suggesting better ways to arrange them, changing entire riffs and so on. After all, it's a team work, and we're proud of it. Usually, Matt (vocals) writes all the lyrics, according to a project discussed within the band.
Your solos have their own spirit, and certainly they are not there only to fill the empty space. Who influenced you most on this site?
There are so many guitarists who influenced Alle in his own style. If we have to talk about Logic Of Denial's solos, he's mostly influenced by Karl Sanders and Terrance Hobbs, followed by Trey Azaghtoth and James Murphy.
Why were you forced to change the name from Collapse to Logic of Denial and why just this name?
There were so many factors which induced us to change our first name; we were radically changing our musical style, we were revolutioning our lineup for the first time.. So, we needed a new name to represent a new band :) .. “Logic Of Denial” refers to a reality marked by constant motion, and crossed by contradictions; when we chose that name, we thought about the necessity of man to know and explain those contradictions, and to free himself from his subjugated condition. This journey carried on to know the deep features on man, and the changing reality we live on, is a non-linear path marked by contradictions, by negation, by denial. So, talking about Lovecraft is just one step, of our lyrical field focused on all sides of human existence.
What is the situation in Italy relating to the sale of your CDs, or metal CDs in general? Do not decrease the sales there as well?
The best situation to sell something of your band is the live show, where people can watch your performance, judge your work and decide to support your band buying your stuff.
Metal in Italy cannot have a lot of chance like, for example, many shows or fairs where CDs can be sold; but little labels and promoters exchange with other bands, Used CDs Shops and lot of handrail allows underground metal to survive and expand itself.
What do you think of the opinion that a band can survive purely from live shows and merchandise sales, so that it does not need to sell CDs?
We think that in the metal scene, everywhere, if you are not a GIANT name like Iron Maiden or Cannibal Corpse you’ll never be able to survive with your live shows and merch. We never thought about the chance of living only with our music, we just try to cover some costs selling our stuff. In every situation if you get something you have to pay for it, and the price must be proportional to the quality of the product: so, we think it's right to pay for a CD.
What's your view on the production of Death Metal recordings in general? Development goes ahead; more and more bands want to sound crystal clear. Do you think this is a good development? Or do you prefer dirtier sound?
The important thing is to let the listener completely hear what are you playing, and feel the atmospheres that you want to express. A dirty and brutal sound is part of our musical intentions; it's not a matter of superficiality. We always search a clear sound, but not a false and standard one: we think that a definite and clean production, is a mark of professionality. The most important thing is to find a way to sound raw, powerful and brutal, without losing clarity and precision.
Is it difficult to sign a deal with a larger label for the Italian underground Death Metal band? Or are you satisfied with the Spew Records?
We simply consider “The Spew records” as one of the best underground death/brutal/grind label so far; Clod's work is awesome, as a musician but also as a label manager. We are completely satisfied with the work he has done with us, and with everything he's doing now. Sure, it's not simple to sign a deal with a larger label; many Italian bands are reaching this target - Hour Of Penance on Prosthetic Records, our friends Septycal Gorge (Brutal Bands) and Antropofagus (Comatose), among others -, but the point is that The Spew is a great deal for us, and our support to Clod's work is total.
How big is your collection of metal T-shirts? Do you have any rarities?
Yeah, we don't have any rarities eheh, but we own some underground and mainstream t-shirt. Just for example, a couple of Septycal Gorge and Sickening (two awesome brutal italian bands), Hour Of Penance (The Vile Conception and the Mark Riddick design); then Nile, Aborted, Cannibal Corpse, Psycroptic, Aeon, Morbid Angel, Misery Index... and stuff like that :)
In April and May you are going to EU tour with Sarcolytic and Septycal Gorge. Will it be your first EU tour? Where do you enjoy most? What are your conditions for concerts organizers?
Yeah, it's an awesome chance for us, to spread our music throughout Europe for the first time; and, obviously, we are so excited about that! If everything will be alright, the conditions will be good; we don't have to pay for slots and accommodations, and that's awesome. But we have to organize our transport. We hope everything will be ok, and also to have the chance to play in your country!
What is the situation in Italy relating to concerts? Do you play live often enough?
We have already mentioned this topic previously, but is important for us underline that many guys continue to organize Metal Nights and Festivals each day less underground and more supported, like Tattoo Death Fest (Milano), Chromium (Crevalcore, Bologna), Twilight (Fabbrico, Reggio Emilia), Agglutination Metal Fest (Sant’Arcangelo, Potenza), and more!
These are the true opportunities for the Underground to extend his bloody and angry scream, and we’ll continue to be grateful to all them strong Staffs.
I can hear you are quite influenced by Morbid Angel. Do you prefer their older creation, or later? Are you glad David Vincent came back?
Yeah, Morbid Angel is one of our influences, but, especially now, it's not the most important for us. However, Alle loves their older works, but also their new ones. Gateways To Annihilation is a huge and magmatic spawn of pure death metal madness, and Heretic influenced him a lot when he had to choose the guitar sounds for Necrogenesis. David Vincent is one of the most important death metal voices of all time; but Steve Tucker did an impressive works on all the tunes he had to sing in.
What role does Lovecraft play in your music? Are all your lyrics influenced by his writings only? Why did you choose just Lovecraft? It is difficult to tune his ideas?
We love Lovecraft and his atmospheres and themes play a very significant role in our songs and lyrics. Necrogenesis certainly would not be the same without Lovecraft's suggestions, so in every single riff and word of this album you can feel the signs of a world dominated by darkness. This is an important objective that we chose to seek during the realization of the plot, in particular to pay tribute to one of the sickest horror's authors in the world, but in future we probably will change the central theme of our lyrics, in order to facing other important parts of human's mystical fears. So stay tuned..!
Sure you have also seen some Lovecraftian movies. Which ones are good to you? Do you prefer horror movies?
Sure, we love horror movies..!! Between Lovecraftian movies in particular “Dagon” is certainly one of the most faithful transposition. But we also think that probably the most part of horror movies takes something from Lovecraft's imaginary, because the atavic fear of the unknown continuing to be a reference point of our concerns. Besides it is important to notice that also videogames's world takes many elements from Lovecraft's works; for example “Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of The Earth”, the “Penumbra” saga, “Amnesia: The Dark Descent” or “Darkness within”.. We've played and finished all of them!
Why do you think Lovecraft´s heritage found the largest space just in Death Metal genre? Do you know also creation of Algernon Blackwood writer?
Because Lovecraft is suffocation, fear of the unknown, abandonment between oblivion and insanity.. What type of music but death metal could recreate these feelings..? We think that probably death metal can be considered as Chtulhu's unique voice.
Algernon Blackwood has been another important supernatural writer, and we like so much his works.. Maybe in future we'll talk about him in any of our lyrics, it could be funny.. We'll see..!!
Ok, that would be all from me, thanx for the interview and you have the last words. Can you add your current top 5 albums?
It's not a simple question to answer :) .. We'll tell you a couple of album we cannot live without:
Nile: Black Seeds Of Vengeance - Those Whom The Gods Detest
At The Gates: Slaughter Of The Soul
Morbid Angel: Gateways To Annihilation
Behemoth: Evangelion - The Apostasy
Suffocation: Pierced From Within
Spawn Of Possession: Cabinet - Noctambulant
Deicide - The Stench Of Redemption
http://www.myspace.com/logicofdenial
Dannyblast 9. 3. 2011 Storm