Where Darkness Reigns
interview
German PURGATORY clearly belongs to the elder and cult German Death Metal bands. Some of our readers certainly remember the earlier PURGATORY interview, which was published back in the second issue of Hyberned Children's Dreams' horrid zine. After the new "Necromataeon" album has hit me idea to aerate bones of this dark band again, as the new stuff reaches high qualities. There is useless to dissect anything more, everything you will actually learn from the following interview, which was answered by the guitarist René.
Greetings, yeah, PURGATORY was formed in time when Death Metal has expanded into its most monstrous form. Was formation of PURGATORY a reaction to this strong wave?
Hails to you and Necrosphere! PURGATORY wasn't a reaction to this wave as we already played in other bands like MUSICAL MASSACRE and PROCESSION years before PURGATORY. In its beginning, PURGATORY was even just a project. It became a real band in 1993, when Lutz, Uwe and I decided to leave our former bands and take PURGATORY onto a more serious level.
Which bands and musicians influenced you most in your early days? Do you still exactly remember your beginnings? What were your initial ideas and how much they had changed, or transformed till now?
The bands that influenced us in the early days and still do today are bands like IMMOLATION, ASPHYX, INCANTATION and AUTOPSY. So we see ourselves deeply rooted in Old School Death Metal, especially the kind with a morbid and evil atmosphere. This is the music we always wanted to play and nothing changed about that until now. We always went our own way and never gave in to any trends. The time when we started making music was a fucking great time. The scene was very intense, passionate and very close back then as it was quite difficult to get any CDs, LPs, merchandise and so the scene worked more closely together.
Me personally remember your first gig I have seen sometime around the years 1995 - 1996 in Sabinov city (Eastern Slovakia), where you have had support of our domestic bands as KRABATHOR, ERYTROSY, INSEPULTUS ... there you played the cover of ASPHYX - The Rack, do you remember yet this live show? It was absolutely wonderful time...
This is a trip and a show we'll probably never forget. It was a great and weird experience as we were welcomed as if we were officials of the German state haha. We even got a pennant and some official stuff from the mayor and we still have that pennant in our rehearsal room! What we especially remember is that there were a lot of army men that helped at the location. But we got the impression that those guys were pretty happy about helping at a concert instead of staying in their barracks. It was the first time that we've seen something like that. The show itself was great! We had some close contact to the fans there. We took some cool remembrances from this show and this trip is a story that is regularly mentioned!
What is your view at your musical development now? Can you see any difference between the "Psychopathia Sexualis" EP and the latest "Necromantaeon” album?
We evolved ourselves as a band from the first release on step by step from each record to the next record. So the differences aren't that huge. Productionwise, the biggest step was probably the time when we wrote and released the “Luciferianism” record although we didn't really change our style of writing music and approaching music itself. The main changes were our label switch and the cooperation with a producer for the first time.
Personally I evaluate your new product as your top stuff from the musical side through composition to professional sound. How do you personally perceive it?
Yes, we're absolutely satisfied with the outcome of our recent album! “Necromantaeon” is definitely the most mature and darkest album we've ever recorded. We were able to realize every idea we had and we even surpassed our expectations. This was particularly possible because we decided to work with Patrick W. Engel at the “Rape of Harmonies” studio. He made this recording the most relaxed and professional we ever had. We had the chance to talk with him about our ideas and expectations for “Necromantaeon” and his ideas just perfectly matched with ours. He has that feeling for our music as he follows us since many years. The ambience of the studio also contributed to positive outcome of the whole session by the way!
What reactions have you got for the "Necromantaeon”? Are you curious about any review and fans view, or you just play it and nothing else matter?
We can say, that the reactions we got from both press and fans are thoroughly very positive. There are still a lot of reviews incoming, especially from outside of Germany so we just wait for things to come. It is of course always interesting to see how an album gets perceived by the scene and what kind of feedback we will get. Sometimes we get an offer for a gig in reaction to a review and that's great of course.
In your early days you were playing more rhythmic old school Death Metal, but sometime from the "Blessed with Flames of Hate" album, you have started to penetrate into dark Satanic chaotic dimensions...
Firstly, we have to mention that we are not an occult satanic band. But the musical and lyrical background of PURGATORY has always been blasphemous, obscure and sinister and this basic attitude always stayed the same. We just approached that background again and again from different angles. Obviously, we also evolved ourselves throughout all those years and increasingly tried to push both music and lyrics into more extreme and darker realms. And we think, that “Necromantaeon” marks the pinnacle of that evolution.
How can you see your band in terms of the German scene? Certainly you deserve a high post, along with legends as ATROCITY, MORGOTH, PROTECTOR, FLESHCARWL, GOLEM, KADATH, OBSCENITY, TORCHURE or ETERNAL DIRGE...
We cannot objectively judge our position in that scene. And who could really do something like that? Who would seriously place his band above or underneath another band? We see ourselves as a band whose members are fans making music for the fans. So on whatever position someone may put us, we still play 100% pure Death fuckin' Metal. And some people surely value this consistency. In the end, are there even any factors by which any position could be judged? We think that the listeners themselves should have their own opinion about that.
Are you interested also in today's younger German scene? Could you recommend some cool bands? Do you know maniacs as NECROS CHRISTOS, PHILOSOPHER, DROWNED, or HATESPAWN?
Of course we are! In the end, we're just metal fans as well! And we think that the German scene grew a lot in quality in the last years. There are quite a lot of bands that can definitely compete with international names. Next to the ones you mentioned we would add DIABOLICAL IMPERIUM and NEBUDKADNEZAR. POSTMORTEM can also be mentioned here as they have quite a lot of success at the moment although they already exist for many years.
What is your biggest spiritual inspiration for creating music today?
I'd say it's that fire within us that burns for Death Metal itself that makes us dedicate our lives to it. Therefore we are still passionate about both listening and writing this music and of course spreading it from the stage!
Till now you have gone through several labels, currently you are under the wing of War Anthem Rec. How did you get to them and how are you satisfied with their work?
Until the “Blessed With Flames Of Hate” album, we were signed at Perverted Taste Records and switched to Animate Records with the following “Luciferianism” record. War Anthem Rec. already offered us a deal for “Necromantaeons” predecessor “Cultus Luciferi - The Splendour of Chaos”. Back then, they were responsible for the LP of the album, while Animate were still our main label. In the last years Animate Rec. then increasingly focused on releasing licensed vinyl versions and left their path of being a typical label. Furthermore War Anthem grew a lot internally. We then realized that we could go a step further in the evolution of this band if we'd make a switch to War Anthem Records. Besides, we know the whole War Anthem crew since many years so we're already used to the way they work. Nevertheless, we are still working together with Animate Records. They release the vinyl version of “Necromantaeon” by the way!
After two years it will be 20 years of your existence on the scene, it is a very significant anniversary for death metal band, only for that you have withstand and didn’t give up your style, just on the contrary! Are you going to do something special for the anniversary?
We have a few ideas on our minds and we'll see which one of these will be put into realization. Maybe we'll release a special CD or LP and we'll probably do a special show but nothing's fixed yet. This anniversary is a very important date of course and we surely won't let it slip by. But at the moment our focus lies purely on promoting “Necromantaeon” as good as we can, so our anniversary will be dealt with later.
Your new album came also in the form of picture LP; probably you are big fans of this medium, do you prefer LP more than normal CDs?
We're total vinyl freaks! Therefore all our albums are also available as LP! “Necromantaeon” even came in three different versions: as black vinyl (lim. to 300 copies), coloured vinyl ((lim. to 100 copies) and as PictureLP (lim. to 100 copies). A CD is of course quite practical and easy to use, but it can't compete with the feeling of having a LP in your hands. And it seems as if we are not the only ones thinking this way, as many people within the metal scene still value a good old LP.
Do you think Death Metal is still such a strong as it was in the early 90's?
In our opinion, there have always been qualitatively strong bands. But when it comes to the quantity of bands there were moments in time when Death Metal wasn't so “popular” and the really good bands prevailed even in those times! In the last years there have been more and more bands that decided to play some good old Death Metal and among those younger bands, there are a lot of good ones as well. In contrary to the past, typical Death Metal has been categorized more and more and mixed with other styles which isn't really our cup of tea. So its quite hard to compare the 90's with today.
Your new CD has very hilarious and dark cover artwork, can you reveal something more about its author, and if the theme has been designed specifically for you?
The cover was done by Jumali (Metal Artist) from Singapur. He seems to be quite new to the metal scene as an artist but he does some great artwork! Ours wasn't specifically designed for us but when we saw the artwork we immediately knew it was just made to be the cover of “Necromantaeon”! We still changed a few details together with him and we also worked on the whole layout together. The cover artwork represents the blasphemous and morbid atmosphere of the album and the necromantic act of summoning an infernal, all-consuming darkness, bringing ultimate death - a lyrical theme that is found in the lyrics of “Necromantaeon”.
Ok, it would be all on my part, if I forgot something, you have the space, thank you for answering my questions and finally you can add also some of your current top albums, have a cool time!
First of all, we'd like to thank you for the interview and your support! There's still to mention, that we will release a SplitEP together with the German Black Metal commando DARKENED NOCTURN SLAUGHTERCULT in the near future. In summer, we'll play a few festival shows like the Barroselas Metal Fest in Portugal, the Metal Fest in Dessau/Germany and a few other festival shows. We also plan to realize a European tour in autumn, but nothing's fixed yet. Check out “Necromantaeon! We hope to see you freaks out there! Hail Darkness! Hail Chaos! Hail Death!
Upcoming shows:
24.04.2011 Leipzig - Moritzbastei
30.04.-01.05.2011 Barroselas (P) - XIV Barroselas Metalfest
21.05.2011 Ettlingen (bei Karlsruhe) - Juze "Specht"
27.-29.05.2011 Dessau - Metalfest 2011
17.-19.06.2011 Protzen - Protzen Open Air
07.-09.07.2011 Torgau - In Flammen Open Air
09.-10.09.2011 Barleben - Metal Embrace Festival 2011
myspace
René 10. 4. 2011 Mortuary
Greetings, yeah, PURGATORY was formed in time when Death Metal has expanded into its most monstrous form. Was formation of PURGATORY a reaction to this strong wave?
Hails to you and Necrosphere! PURGATORY wasn't a reaction to this wave as we already played in other bands like MUSICAL MASSACRE and PROCESSION years before PURGATORY. In its beginning, PURGATORY was even just a project. It became a real band in 1993, when Lutz, Uwe and I decided to leave our former bands and take PURGATORY onto a more serious level.
Which bands and musicians influenced you most in your early days? Do you still exactly remember your beginnings? What were your initial ideas and how much they had changed, or transformed till now?
The bands that influenced us in the early days and still do today are bands like IMMOLATION, ASPHYX, INCANTATION and AUTOPSY. So we see ourselves deeply rooted in Old School Death Metal, especially the kind with a morbid and evil atmosphere. This is the music we always wanted to play and nothing changed about that until now. We always went our own way and never gave in to any trends. The time when we started making music was a fucking great time. The scene was very intense, passionate and very close back then as it was quite difficult to get any CDs, LPs, merchandise and so the scene worked more closely together.
Me personally remember your first gig I have seen sometime around the years 1995 - 1996 in Sabinov city (Eastern Slovakia), where you have had support of our domestic bands as KRABATHOR, ERYTROSY, INSEPULTUS ... there you played the cover of ASPHYX - The Rack, do you remember yet this live show? It was absolutely wonderful time...
This is a trip and a show we'll probably never forget. It was a great and weird experience as we were welcomed as if we were officials of the German state haha. We even got a pennant and some official stuff from the mayor and we still have that pennant in our rehearsal room! What we especially remember is that there were a lot of army men that helped at the location. But we got the impression that those guys were pretty happy about helping at a concert instead of staying in their barracks. It was the first time that we've seen something like that. The show itself was great! We had some close contact to the fans there. We took some cool remembrances from this show and this trip is a story that is regularly mentioned!
What is your view at your musical development now? Can you see any difference between the "Psychopathia Sexualis" EP and the latest "Necromantaeon” album?
We evolved ourselves as a band from the first release on step by step from each record to the next record. So the differences aren't that huge. Productionwise, the biggest step was probably the time when we wrote and released the “Luciferianism” record although we didn't really change our style of writing music and approaching music itself. The main changes were our label switch and the cooperation with a producer for the first time.
Personally I evaluate your new product as your top stuff from the musical side through composition to professional sound. How do you personally perceive it?
Yes, we're absolutely satisfied with the outcome of our recent album! “Necromantaeon” is definitely the most mature and darkest album we've ever recorded. We were able to realize every idea we had and we even surpassed our expectations. This was particularly possible because we decided to work with Patrick W. Engel at the “Rape of Harmonies” studio. He made this recording the most relaxed and professional we ever had. We had the chance to talk with him about our ideas and expectations for “Necromantaeon” and his ideas just perfectly matched with ours. He has that feeling for our music as he follows us since many years. The ambience of the studio also contributed to positive outcome of the whole session by the way!
What reactions have you got for the "Necromantaeon”? Are you curious about any review and fans view, or you just play it and nothing else matter?
We can say, that the reactions we got from both press and fans are thoroughly very positive. There are still a lot of reviews incoming, especially from outside of Germany so we just wait for things to come. It is of course always interesting to see how an album gets perceived by the scene and what kind of feedback we will get. Sometimes we get an offer for a gig in reaction to a review and that's great of course.
In your early days you were playing more rhythmic old school Death Metal, but sometime from the "Blessed with Flames of Hate" album, you have started to penetrate into dark Satanic chaotic dimensions...
Firstly, we have to mention that we are not an occult satanic band. But the musical and lyrical background of PURGATORY has always been blasphemous, obscure and sinister and this basic attitude always stayed the same. We just approached that background again and again from different angles. Obviously, we also evolved ourselves throughout all those years and increasingly tried to push both music and lyrics into more extreme and darker realms. And we think, that “Necromantaeon” marks the pinnacle of that evolution.
How can you see your band in terms of the German scene? Certainly you deserve a high post, along with legends as ATROCITY, MORGOTH, PROTECTOR, FLESHCARWL, GOLEM, KADATH, OBSCENITY, TORCHURE or ETERNAL DIRGE...
We cannot objectively judge our position in that scene. And who could really do something like that? Who would seriously place his band above or underneath another band? We see ourselves as a band whose members are fans making music for the fans. So on whatever position someone may put us, we still play 100% pure Death fuckin' Metal. And some people surely value this consistency. In the end, are there even any factors by which any position could be judged? We think that the listeners themselves should have their own opinion about that.
Are you interested also in today's younger German scene? Could you recommend some cool bands? Do you know maniacs as NECROS CHRISTOS, PHILOSOPHER, DROWNED, or HATESPAWN?
Of course we are! In the end, we're just metal fans as well! And we think that the German scene grew a lot in quality in the last years. There are quite a lot of bands that can definitely compete with international names. Next to the ones you mentioned we would add DIABOLICAL IMPERIUM and NEBUDKADNEZAR. POSTMORTEM can also be mentioned here as they have quite a lot of success at the moment although they already exist for many years.
What is your biggest spiritual inspiration for creating music today?
I'd say it's that fire within us that burns for Death Metal itself that makes us dedicate our lives to it. Therefore we are still passionate about both listening and writing this music and of course spreading it from the stage!
Till now you have gone through several labels, currently you are under the wing of War Anthem Rec. How did you get to them and how are you satisfied with their work?
Until the “Blessed With Flames Of Hate” album, we were signed at Perverted Taste Records and switched to Animate Records with the following “Luciferianism” record. War Anthem Rec. already offered us a deal for “Necromantaeons” predecessor “Cultus Luciferi - The Splendour of Chaos”. Back then, they were responsible for the LP of the album, while Animate were still our main label. In the last years Animate Rec. then increasingly focused on releasing licensed vinyl versions and left their path of being a typical label. Furthermore War Anthem grew a lot internally. We then realized that we could go a step further in the evolution of this band if we'd make a switch to War Anthem Records. Besides, we know the whole War Anthem crew since many years so we're already used to the way they work. Nevertheless, we are still working together with Animate Records. They release the vinyl version of “Necromantaeon” by the way!
After two years it will be 20 years of your existence on the scene, it is a very significant anniversary for death metal band, only for that you have withstand and didn’t give up your style, just on the contrary! Are you going to do something special for the anniversary?
We have a few ideas on our minds and we'll see which one of these will be put into realization. Maybe we'll release a special CD or LP and we'll probably do a special show but nothing's fixed yet. This anniversary is a very important date of course and we surely won't let it slip by. But at the moment our focus lies purely on promoting “Necromantaeon” as good as we can, so our anniversary will be dealt with later.
Your new album came also in the form of picture LP; probably you are big fans of this medium, do you prefer LP more than normal CDs?
We're total vinyl freaks! Therefore all our albums are also available as LP! “Necromantaeon” even came in three different versions: as black vinyl (lim. to 300 copies), coloured vinyl ((lim. to 100 copies) and as PictureLP (lim. to 100 copies). A CD is of course quite practical and easy to use, but it can't compete with the feeling of having a LP in your hands. And it seems as if we are not the only ones thinking this way, as many people within the metal scene still value a good old LP.
Do you think Death Metal is still such a strong as it was in the early 90's?
In our opinion, there have always been qualitatively strong bands. But when it comes to the quantity of bands there were moments in time when Death Metal wasn't so “popular” and the really good bands prevailed even in those times! In the last years there have been more and more bands that decided to play some good old Death Metal and among those younger bands, there are a lot of good ones as well. In contrary to the past, typical Death Metal has been categorized more and more and mixed with other styles which isn't really our cup of tea. So its quite hard to compare the 90's with today.
Your new CD has very hilarious and dark cover artwork, can you reveal something more about its author, and if the theme has been designed specifically for you?
The cover was done by Jumali (Metal Artist) from Singapur. He seems to be quite new to the metal scene as an artist but he does some great artwork! Ours wasn't specifically designed for us but when we saw the artwork we immediately knew it was just made to be the cover of “Necromantaeon”! We still changed a few details together with him and we also worked on the whole layout together. The cover artwork represents the blasphemous and morbid atmosphere of the album and the necromantic act of summoning an infernal, all-consuming darkness, bringing ultimate death - a lyrical theme that is found in the lyrics of “Necromantaeon”.
Ok, it would be all on my part, if I forgot something, you have the space, thank you for answering my questions and finally you can add also some of your current top albums, have a cool time!
First of all, we'd like to thank you for the interview and your support! There's still to mention, that we will release a SplitEP together with the German Black Metal commando DARKENED NOCTURN SLAUGHTERCULT in the near future. In summer, we'll play a few festival shows like the Barroselas Metal Fest in Portugal, the Metal Fest in Dessau/Germany and a few other festival shows. We also plan to realize a European tour in autumn, but nothing's fixed yet. Check out “Necromantaeon! We hope to see you freaks out there! Hail Darkness! Hail Chaos! Hail Death!
Upcoming shows:
24.04.2011 Leipzig - Moritzbastei
30.04.-01.05.2011 Barroselas (P) - XIV Barroselas Metalfest
21.05.2011 Ettlingen (bei Karlsruhe) - Juze "Specht"
27.-29.05.2011 Dessau - Metalfest 2011
17.-19.06.2011 Protzen - Protzen Open Air
07.-09.07.2011 Torgau - In Flammen Open Air
09.-10.09.2011 Barleben - Metal Embrace Festival 2011
myspace
René 10. 4. 2011 Mortuary