Archgoat
Known as one of the first barbaric Black Metal bands from Finland, together with Beherit & Belial; then making disciples such as: Diaboli, Horna, Musta Surma, Pest, Warlodge, Azazel. Archgoat is back in business with a brand new album called "The Light-Devouring Darkness" released a while ago under the Drakkar Records banner! Because this year Archgoat is going to celebrate its 20 years of activity, I decided that will be fuckin' interesting to learn more things about this band and here you have what I got for you from Archgoat leader!
Arcana Noctis: Blackest hails! How are you and how are the things going on for you now that the new opus is finally out?
Archgoat: I am busy like always. We are currently rehearsing our set for the live rituals and that is keeping us occupied. So far we are playing 6 live rituals in the States/Mexico next July and one special event in August. Also at the moment we are composing new hymns for a split 10" release with our brother band. This release is aimed to be released in late 2009 or early 2010 if things go right.
Arcana Noctis: You started your band's activity 20 years ago, in 1989, and you chose to play a barbaric Satanic Black Metal in its purest form! I would like that you try to introduce your past to our readers by telling us the most important steps made by Archgoat until you slit up in 1994!
Archgoat: With Archgoat we have always walked our own path and not been interested about who does what and where. We did not choose to play Satanic Metal, but we created our version of playing Metal music, that was tightly knitted to our interests and philosophy. Archgoat was formed under the wings of hell in 1989 to spread the word of the rebel angel by melting all our musical/philosophical influences to one raw nucleus of black energy. The original line-up consisted of Angelslayer (growls of the fullmoon), Ritual Butcherer (Axe of black mass) and Blood Desecrator (bombardment). First demo was unleashed in 1991 being called "Jesus Spawn". In 1992 an unholy alliance was forged between Archgoat and Necropolis Records and in 1993 MLP "Angelcunt (Tales Of Desecration)" was released. The underground became over-ground in 1993/1994 and the amount of Metal scum starting to play Black Metal for the possibilities of label deals and personal glory just repulsed us. We did not want Archgoat to be mentioned among these false prophets and the only opinion we saw was to terminate Archgoat.
Arcana Noctis: As one of the most important bands from the beginning of Black Metal could you please tell us what were your feelings concerning this extreme musical style at that moment back in the beginning of the 90s?
Archgoat: My feeling towards Satanic Metal music was like fire is to the moth. The great unknown and unspoken behind the gates was something that eventually made me open my "gates" to the darkness and to musically celebrate it and all its forms. Music wise we wanted to hammer this message forward with the influences we appreciated in the field of extreme Metal being Carcass, Possessed, Celtic Frost, Sarcofago etc. and the end result was Archgoat.
Arcana Noctis: You started with a demo called "Jesus Spawned" in 1992 and with a live demo "Penis Perversor" in 1993! What could you tell us about your very beginning and what about the feedback that you received after the recording of the 2 materials I've mentioned above?
Archgoat: The first 6 months of the existence we were purely setting the direction and approach of how we wanted to execute our hymns. After trial and error we had a hymn called "Death & Necromancy" ready in 1989/1990 and from that point we were set for this style. "Jesus Spawn" demo got very good response and by this release we got the recording deal with Necropolis Records. "Penis Perversor" live demo was recorded from our Turku/Finland live ritual and recorded to those who mailed a blank cassette and few $'s to us. The sound quality was even by that era standards pretty rough and rugged, but it served well the purpose.
Arcana Noctis: The first official material recorded was a 12" called "Angelcunt (Tales Of Desecration)" and it was released by the U.S. mighty label called Necropolis Records in 1994! How do you see this material after 15 years, and what will be the major difference between this one and the first records I've mentioned above?
Archgoat: Those 5 hymns are among the first ones we wrote in Archgoat and they hold the meaning of what our hymns sounded in 1989 and also how they sound in 2009. The scene and everything in it seems to be on convulsing spasms to change just because of the change itself, not because of controlled evolution to some higher level. With Archgoat we took the time to think our direction before starting anything outside our rehearsal room and we have decided back then that no matter what happens, Archgoat will remain the same and true to our roots. Those "Angelcunt" hymns will be always part of our live ritual set list.
Arcana Noctis: The second material realised under the Necropolis Records banner was a split CD with a much known extreme Metal band called Beherit, and it was released in 1995! Does it brings something new, or you chose to play old songs from your band previous materials?
Archgoat: We were supposed to release a LP for Necropolis and had already recorded the material in studio with their funding, but then we got to know that Necropolis had ripped us off and we decided to repay them the favour by keeping the material to ourselves. There was also a talk with Necropolis to release an Archgoat/Barathrum 12" split release, but after Necropolis heard the material of Barathrum, they told us that they are not interested of releasing that kind of material and got Beherit instead. So Mr. Thind decided to just use our 12" MPL for a re-release and the re-release was out. The cover arts (if you can call that shit art) had no approval from our side and I really do not like the whole idea of that split.
Arcana Noctis: Soon after the recording process of your 12" called "Angelcunt (Tales Of Desecration)" you decided to split up the band. What was the major reason to quit the extreme Metal scene? I wrote that a major influence was the great number of the commercial Black Metal bands that have risen in the latest years or so! Is it right?
Archgoat: We saw the underground to become over-ground in 1993/1994 and the amount of Metal scum starting to play Black Metal for the possibilities of label deals and personal glory just repulsed us. We did not want Archgoat to be mentioned among these false prophets and the only opinion we saw was to terminate Archgoat. And so Archgoat was buried on 1994 when the scene was already corrupted by the mass of weak copy cat bands.
Arcana Noctis: So what made you to restart band activity after a long period of silence? Also, tell us if you had some other projects to keep the flame alive?
Archgoat: On the start of the second millennia I started to feel the need to compose hymns the way we had before done and I talked with Angelslayer about this. It took some 3 years before we were in the situation of getting to the rehearsal place to playing them again and felt the raw black energy of the hymns we had crafted on them. Our original drummer Blood Desecrator was unable to join us due to his family reasons and so we looked for a new drummer to continue his works. I even went that far, that I sold all my guitars in late 90s and didn't even play for 6 years. I have never thought about bringing Archgoat back to the scene as Archgoat is to me much more than your average copy pasted weak Black Metal band. Archgoat is Black Metal. There were no other bands for me during these years as I am not interested in playing in bands outside Archgoat. This is not a project for me, but a part of a life long process.
Arcana Noctis: Ten years after you decided to make the long awaited comeback, and here you are, back in business, with a brand new album called "Whore Of Bethlehem"! Could you please try to introduce us in its atmosphere by telling us the most important things that we should know about it?
Archgoat: We basically did everything by ourselves in recording progress from the sound engineering to the final result. "Whore Of Bethlehem" was recorded in our rehearsal dungeon as we wanted to do the recordings as much in our own rehearsal place as possible, because we are talking about a raw underground release and the atmosphere of the recording surroundings is a important factor to us. "Whore Of Bethlehem" was a natural continuity of "Angelcunt". We composed most of the material on 2005/2006, but also used some parts of the unreleased LP recorded on 1993. The result was pleasing and the way we wanted it to be and it was easy to tag the title Archgoat on the cover of the release. I would say that "Whore Of Bethlehem" is bit faster than "Angelcunt", but still very recognizable as a work of ours.
Arcana Noctis: Tell us a few words about the feedback that you received after the recording of this new beginning? And what was your activity after the recording session?
Archgoat: We heard mainly good feedback, but as always with Archgoat releases also very negative. I see this as a good thing, as to release something that creates strong feelings of negativity or positivity is always a counter reaction to a stimulus and means we have made an impact. We did some live rituals after the release in Germany, Finland and in the States before starting a European Tour with Black Witchery in 2007.
Arcana Noctis: 4 years later you decided to record a split CD instead of a new album and you realised "Desecration And Sodomy 2007" with the well known Black Witchery! This material was officially released by Blasphemous Underground Production in 2008. What is all about with this split CD and what was the world wide opinion concerning "Desecration And Sodomy 2007"?
Archgoat: The recordings of the both bands were done without our knowledge and about 6 months after this Bitterfeld Open Air 2007 we got a mail from this guy telling us he recorded the whole live sets via sound board. We got hold of the material like Black Witchery did also and after listening to the material spoke with Black Witchery guys and we all wanted to materialize our tour to black wax and this was how the recordings were decided to be released. The material was released by Blasphemous Underground Productions/Osmose Productions co-operation as an ltd 1000 copies edition and there won't be any CD re-releases for Archgoat material coming.
Arcana Noctis: Just a few weeks ago you realised band's new Satanic attack called "The Light-Devouring Darkness"! Please try to introduce this last opus by telling us the most important details that we should know about it, and don't forget to tell us a few words about the story of each track!
Archgoat: The concept of the release is a prophecy of times to come. When the raw black kinetic energy reaches the momentum to overcome the unstable dying white light and devours it to be a resource to itself. The cover work of the release is a much simplified interpretation of the title. The obscure rays of darkness... "The Light-Devouring Darkness" is musically the return to the roots of demo era Archgoat. Everything that can be, has been stripped off to obtain the most minimalist and crushing wholeness we wanted. I could say that the release is a "live recording" in every sense but the traditional, as we just hammered the hymns live in our rehearsal room to the tracker and left the raw and uncompromisingly heavy sound as it was without any studio sound adjusting. This is the honest sound of how Archgoat sounds in our rehearsal bunker or on stage. There is no artificial computer or aided sound improvements on this release as not in any of ours. Also this release is a typical Archgoat release with a heavy sound and the tempo changes we have tendency of creating. From my point of view I can easily say, that this release stands for me as the most satisfying release we have done so far and a good milestone to start to draw the main lines of next Archgoat release.
1. "Intro: 3rd Invocation": The very same intro we used for Angelcunt 12" MPL and with additions of 13 bells and chant also on "Whore Of Bethlehem". The intro was decided to be included without any alterations as to mark the return to the roots of Archgoat and to create a link from modern to ancient to those understanding this.
2. "Apotheosis Of Lucifer": including parts of a long lost old Archgoat track from 1992/93 that we had totally forgotten about. I have on tape/VHS/DVD most of 90s Archgoat live rituals and found this old hymn from one of those and immediately grabbed my guitar and studied how the guitar parts were played. After this we only made the structure and the lyrics for the hymn and it was ready to be recorded. A short but sweet glorification to Lucifer. "... Hail Lucifer! The never ending light / The brightest star in the sky."
3. "Tribulation Of The King Of Worms": A hymn we wrote to celebrate the process of crucifying the lord of the Jews and weak white light. The thoughts of Jesus must have thought when witnessing to be left alone to die like a public amusement happening and how the pain and helplessness is increasing by every second and how his mind must have surrendered to this. "...And the sixth hour / The Darkness fell / The time is at hand / Last hour of Jesus Christ".
4. "Goat And The Moon": We had thought for a long time of composing a hymn of only slow parts, but it took us this long to finally finalize this idea. I had few slower parts that I wanted to use for "The Light-Devouring Darkness" but had no expedient hymn and after hearing Angelslayer's guitar riffs we decided to create this slow hymn and see how it would work and were satisfied by the end result. I wrote the lyrics for this hymn to mark my philosophy. "...This is my worship / This is my path / Goat and the moon".
5. "Sodomator Of The Doomed Venus": With this hymn I wanted to create some very traditionally perverse Archgoat lyrics and after a moment of creativeness wrote a hymn to praise the raping of virginal entity in a black mass ritual. Musically this hymn came up in the vein of "Grand Marshall..." from "Whore Of Bethlehem" without any slower parts but still with tempo changes. Hail the grinding blast beats! "...Penetration of the Venus gates / Madonna raped on the black mass lust / Sodomy of the holy prostitute".
6. "The Light-Devouring Darkness": The title hymn was lyrically inspired by the moment of apocalyptic visions of final judgment to end the Christianity as the Antichrist is reborn to devour the light. Musically this hymn is above the "average" tempo of typical Archgoat hymn being mostly composed of grinding speed parts. "...The virgin shall conceive / Him who denies Jesus Christ / Hail the great triumphant one / In his own name he comes".
7. "Blessed In Beast's Blood": We finalized this hymn as the 2nd last on of all "The Light-Devouring Darkness" hymns. I would say that this hymn is the one hymn that is very traditional Archgoat hymn with typical mid tempo to grind tempo changes. In my blood I carry the mark of the beast. "...The sons praising the lord of the night / We ride the chariots of war / For glory of lord Satan.
8. "Worms Born Of Martyrdom": A Mockery hymn to cast the shadow of blasphemy over the philosophy of the weak white light Christians, of how the rats walk behind the blind pauper whose martyrdom created nothing but weakness. Among my favourite hymns of all our creations. "...Herds of sickly Christian tattle / The insane children of ignorance / Staggering after the scarred messiah / The temples of the true mortals tremble".
9. "Fornicated Messiah": A hymn to unveil and spit upon the Christianity's basic teachings and childish ideas of a virginal and non-vaginal birth. The savior was an end result of the lust and thus created from fornication. The musical aspect draws influences from our 1993 un-released LP recordings. "...king of Jews / Of mortal blood / Soon to be scorned / Poor Mary / carried the fruit of lust by the holy ghost".
10. "The Dawn Of The Antichrist": An old 1992 composed hymn with the original parts we used later for our hymn "Penis Perversor". We thought about including this hymn and decided to release it as it was originally composed. The lyrics hail the coming of pure darkness to prophecy the might of Lucifer. "...The storm of the black triangle closing and rising / The beast dwells in the eye of the storm of damnation / Eve of dead souls, the black moon reels over the horizon".
Arcana Noctis: How do you see this album compared to your previous material called "Whore Of Bethlehem"? Should we take it as a normal continuation of your material recorded in 2004?
Archgoat: All our releases are of natural continuity from the previous ones. I could add that there is not much deviation but still a minor controlled difference in the hymns. "Whore Of Bethlehem" was so far the fastest release we have composed and we wanted to take bit of the speed away and to replace it with crushing heaviness. There is always the same core in all of our releases, but some superficial alterations are stronger on some release compared to other.
Arcana Noctis: If I'm not wrong the lyrical content is the same that you used across the years, but what could you tell us about the title you used! Is it a little bit more human compared to the previous album called "Whore Of Bethlehem" or to your first official release "Angelcunt (Tales Of Desecration)"?
Archgoat: There is no mellowing or softening in our lyrical approach or there ever will be. Archgoat was created to be a Satanic Black Metal orchestra and we will walk under this banner till the end. There can be seen two different lyrical themes in our concept one being the traditional Satanism and the other the blasphemous and insulting approach. I have started to write new lyrics for the next release and the lyrical approach seem to be concentrated more to this perverse and insulting theme this time. The words are kind of writing themselves through me I could say.
Arcana Noctis: Who is the main responsible for the cover artwork, and tell us if you think that it fits perfectly with the musical content and with the lyrical themes?
Archgoat: There is nothing happening with Archgoat that we haven't planned and agreed upon. Chris Moyen did our arts like always and we gave him a very strictly detailed list of things we wanted to be included in the arts as a starting point. He followed these details magnificently and mailed along few sketches for our approval to proceed till the arts were finished. The whole concept of the cover arts was based upon the thematic of this release; there would not have been any other way. The arts are an essential part of a release and deserve careful planning and execution to make the whole comprehensiveness a solid pure Black Metal release.
Arcana Noctis: Tell us if you received some good reviews concerning this "The Light-Devouring Darkness" and what is the major opinion?
Archgoat: To a die-hard Black Metal maniacs Archgoat offers a breeze from the days when Black Metal was true and honest. Satanic Raw Black Metal from the abyss of the graves and the reviews from those people have been very good with "The Light-Devouring Darkness". But on the other hand the "friends" of more melodic Black Metal probably find our hymns/releases to cause them involuntary defecation and vomiting as our works are not directed to them and this comes out as bad reviews. To me these reviews do not mean anything as there are only 3 persons to whom our musical offering is responsible to; the members of Archgoat. I have seen how the scene changes and the opinions change to reflect the overall trends of the scene; "friends" become back stabbers and back stabbers become "friends"... This game does not include us, since our creation Archgoat is like timeless stone in this ever-changing flow.
Arcana Noctis: As one of the most important persons in the extreme Metal scene for almost 20 years, could you please tell us how do you see the present scene of the Black Metal compared to that one when you started to play?
Archgoat: Thank you for the good laughs. To me Black Metal is not self promoting but the promotion of the true darkness. Scene wise the biggest difference is the amount of everything compared to the late 80s and early 90s. Today there are so many bands, labels, distros and promoters, that it is quite hard to think this music remaining true to it's original meaning of being and staying an underground genre. Also I dislike this modern tendency of trying to make a living from an underground genre like Black Metal. To sell more releases to achieve this status you need commerciality and for commerciality you need compromises. True Black Metal is not about compromises.
Arcana Noctis: Are you going to tour to promote the new album? And where Archgoat fans could see you live this year?
Archgoat: This wretched year 2009 means the 20th anniversary year for us and we have some special live rituals to be announced soon. There is about a 4 live ritual mini tour to happen in the States and maybe few others in Mexico and probably at least one appearance in Europe in August. The best and most honest promotion we can do to our release is to stand on the stage and let the audience experience an assault of unholyness the way Black Metal should be played.
Arcana Noctis: Because we are closing to the end, I would like you to tell us what are your future plans concerning Archgoat! I assume that you're going to play in the same manner as you do from almost 20 years; and no other elements won't alterate your soul and way of playing! What's your point of view?
Archgoat: Why repair something that is not broken I might ask? We will continue our work like we have since 1989. Too late to change something.
Arcana Noctis: My friend that will be all for now! I thank you for your time and I wish you another 20 years of extreme Metal activity! Keep the burning flame alive!!!
Archgoat: Thank you for the very interesting interview, the pleasure was all mine. I doubt there will be another 2 decades, but we will push this creation with the same uncompromised non-tolerated attitude as we have done this far. See you on the road...
Arcana Noctis: Blackest hails! How are you and how are the things going on for you now that the new opus is finally out?
Archgoat: I am busy like always. We are currently rehearsing our set for the live rituals and that is keeping us occupied. So far we are playing 6 live rituals in the States/Mexico next July and one special event in August. Also at the moment we are composing new hymns for a split 10" release with our brother band. This release is aimed to be released in late 2009 or early 2010 if things go right.Arcana Noctis: You started your band's activity 20 years ago, in 1989, and you chose to play a barbaric Satanic Black Metal in its purest form! I would like that you try to introduce your past to our readers by telling us the most important steps made by Archgoat until you slit up in 1994!
Archgoat: With Archgoat we have always walked our own path and not been interested about who does what and where. We did not choose to play Satanic Metal, but we created our version of playing Metal music, that was tightly knitted to our interests and philosophy. Archgoat was formed under the wings of hell in 1989 to spread the word of the rebel angel by melting all our musical/philosophical influences to one raw nucleus of black energy. The original line-up consisted of Angelslayer (growls of the fullmoon), Ritual Butcherer (Axe of black mass) and Blood Desecrator (bombardment). First demo was unleashed in 1991 being called "Jesus Spawn". In 1992 an unholy alliance was forged between Archgoat and Necropolis Records and in 1993 MLP "Angelcunt (Tales Of Desecration)" was released. The underground became over-ground in 1993/1994 and the amount of Metal scum starting to play Black Metal for the possibilities of label deals and personal glory just repulsed us. We did not want Archgoat to be mentioned among these false prophets and the only opinion we saw was to terminate Archgoat.
Arcana Noctis: As one of the most important bands from the beginning of Black Metal could you please tell us what were your feelings concerning this extreme musical style at that moment back in the beginning of the 90s?
Archgoat: My feeling towards Satanic Metal music was like fire is to the moth. The great unknown and unspoken behind the gates was something that eventually made me open my "gates" to the darkness and to musically celebrate it and all its forms. Music wise we wanted to hammer this message forward with the influences we appreciated in the field of extreme Metal being Carcass, Possessed, Celtic Frost, Sarcofago etc. and the end result was Archgoat.
Arcana Noctis: You started with a demo called "Jesus Spawned" in 1992 and with a live demo "Penis Perversor" in 1993! What could you tell us about your very beginning and what about the feedback that you received after the recording of the 2 materials I've mentioned above?
Archgoat: The first 6 months of the existence we were purely setting the direction and approach of how we wanted to execute our hymns. After trial and error we had a hymn called "Death & Necromancy" ready in 1989/1990 and from that point we were set for this style. "Jesus Spawn" demo got very good response and by this release we got the recording deal with Necropolis Records. "Penis Perversor" live demo was recorded from our Turku/Finland live ritual and recorded to those who mailed a blank cassette and few $'s to us. The sound quality was even by that era standards pretty rough and rugged, but it served well the purpose.
Arcana Noctis: The first official material recorded was a 12" called "Angelcunt (Tales Of Desecration)" and it was released by the U.S. mighty label called Necropolis Records in 1994! How do you see this material after 15 years, and what will be the major difference between this one and the first records I've mentioned above?
Archgoat: Those 5 hymns are among the first ones we wrote in Archgoat and they hold the meaning of what our hymns sounded in 1989 and also how they sound in 2009. The scene and everything in it seems to be on convulsing spasms to change just because of the change itself, not because of controlled evolution to some higher level. With Archgoat we took the time to think our direction before starting anything outside our rehearsal room and we have decided back then that no matter what happens, Archgoat will remain the same and true to our roots. Those "Angelcunt" hymns will be always part of our live ritual set list.
Arcana Noctis: The second material realised under the Necropolis Records banner was a split CD with a much known extreme Metal band called Beherit, and it was released in 1995! Does it brings something new, or you chose to play old songs from your band previous materials?
Archgoat: We were supposed to release a LP for Necropolis and had already recorded the material in studio with their funding, but then we got to know that Necropolis had ripped us off and we decided to repay them the favour by keeping the material to ourselves. There was also a talk with Necropolis to release an Archgoat/Barathrum 12" split release, but after Necropolis heard the material of Barathrum, they told us that they are not interested of releasing that kind of material and got Beherit instead. So Mr. Thind decided to just use our 12" MPL for a re-release and the re-release was out. The cover arts (if you can call that shit art) had no approval from our side and I really do not like the whole idea of that split.
Arcana Noctis: Soon after the recording process of your 12" called "Angelcunt (Tales Of Desecration)" you decided to split up the band. What was the major reason to quit the extreme Metal scene? I wrote that a major influence was the great number of the commercial Black Metal bands that have risen in the latest years or so! Is it right?
Archgoat: We saw the underground to become over-ground in 1993/1994 and the amount of Metal scum starting to play Black Metal for the possibilities of label deals and personal glory just repulsed us. We did not want Archgoat to be mentioned among these false prophets and the only opinion we saw was to terminate Archgoat. And so Archgoat was buried on 1994 when the scene was already corrupted by the mass of weak copy cat bands.
Arcana Noctis: So what made you to restart band activity after a long period of silence? Also, tell us if you had some other projects to keep the flame alive?
Archgoat: On the start of the second millennia I started to feel the need to compose hymns the way we had before done and I talked with Angelslayer about this. It took some 3 years before we were in the situation of getting to the rehearsal place to playing them again and felt the raw black energy of the hymns we had crafted on them. Our original drummer Blood Desecrator was unable to join us due to his family reasons and so we looked for a new drummer to continue his works. I even went that far, that I sold all my guitars in late 90s and didn't even play for 6 years. I have never thought about bringing Archgoat back to the scene as Archgoat is to me much more than your average copy pasted weak Black Metal band. Archgoat is Black Metal. There were no other bands for me during these years as I am not interested in playing in bands outside Archgoat. This is not a project for me, but a part of a life long process.
Arcana Noctis: Ten years after you decided to make the long awaited comeback, and here you are, back in business, with a brand new album called "Whore Of Bethlehem"! Could you please try to introduce us in its atmosphere by telling us the most important things that we should know about it?
Archgoat: We basically did everything by ourselves in recording progress from the sound engineering to the final result. "Whore Of Bethlehem" was recorded in our rehearsal dungeon as we wanted to do the recordings as much in our own rehearsal place as possible, because we are talking about a raw underground release and the atmosphere of the recording surroundings is a important factor to us. "Whore Of Bethlehem" was a natural continuity of "Angelcunt". We composed most of the material on 2005/2006, but also used some parts of the unreleased LP recorded on 1993. The result was pleasing and the way we wanted it to be and it was easy to tag the title Archgoat on the cover of the release. I would say that "Whore Of Bethlehem" is bit faster than "Angelcunt", but still very recognizable as a work of ours.
Arcana Noctis: Tell us a few words about the feedback that you received after the recording of this new beginning? And what was your activity after the recording session?
Archgoat: We heard mainly good feedback, but as always with Archgoat releases also very negative. I see this as a good thing, as to release something that creates strong feelings of negativity or positivity is always a counter reaction to a stimulus and means we have made an impact. We did some live rituals after the release in Germany, Finland and in the States before starting a European Tour with Black Witchery in 2007.
Arcana Noctis: 4 years later you decided to record a split CD instead of a new album and you realised "Desecration And Sodomy 2007" with the well known Black Witchery! This material was officially released by Blasphemous Underground Production in 2008. What is all about with this split CD and what was the world wide opinion concerning "Desecration And Sodomy 2007"?
Archgoat: The recordings of the both bands were done without our knowledge and about 6 months after this Bitterfeld Open Air 2007 we got a mail from this guy telling us he recorded the whole live sets via sound board. We got hold of the material like Black Witchery did also and after listening to the material spoke with Black Witchery guys and we all wanted to materialize our tour to black wax and this was how the recordings were decided to be released. The material was released by Blasphemous Underground Productions/Osmose Productions co-operation as an ltd 1000 copies edition and there won't be any CD re-releases for Archgoat material coming.
Arcana Noctis: Just a few weeks ago you realised band's new Satanic attack called "The Light-Devouring Darkness"! Please try to introduce this last opus by telling us the most important details that we should know about it, and don't forget to tell us a few words about the story of each track!
Archgoat: The concept of the release is a prophecy of times to come. When the raw black kinetic energy reaches the momentum to overcome the unstable dying white light and devours it to be a resource to itself. The cover work of the release is a much simplified interpretation of the title. The obscure rays of darkness... "The Light-Devouring Darkness" is musically the return to the roots of demo era Archgoat. Everything that can be, has been stripped off to obtain the most minimalist and crushing wholeness we wanted. I could say that the release is a "live recording" in every sense but the traditional, as we just hammered the hymns live in our rehearsal room to the tracker and left the raw and uncompromisingly heavy sound as it was without any studio sound adjusting. This is the honest sound of how Archgoat sounds in our rehearsal bunker or on stage. There is no artificial computer or aided sound improvements on this release as not in any of ours. Also this release is a typical Archgoat release with a heavy sound and the tempo changes we have tendency of creating. From my point of view I can easily say, that this release stands for me as the most satisfying release we have done so far and a good milestone to start to draw the main lines of next Archgoat release.
1. "Intro: 3rd Invocation": The very same intro we used for Angelcunt 12" MPL and with additions of 13 bells and chant also on "Whore Of Bethlehem". The intro was decided to be included without any alterations as to mark the return to the roots of Archgoat and to create a link from modern to ancient to those understanding this.
2. "Apotheosis Of Lucifer": including parts of a long lost old Archgoat track from 1992/93 that we had totally forgotten about. I have on tape/VHS/DVD most of 90s Archgoat live rituals and found this old hymn from one of those and immediately grabbed my guitar and studied how the guitar parts were played. After this we only made the structure and the lyrics for the hymn and it was ready to be recorded. A short but sweet glorification to Lucifer. "... Hail Lucifer! The never ending light / The brightest star in the sky."
3. "Tribulation Of The King Of Worms": A hymn we wrote to celebrate the process of crucifying the lord of the Jews and weak white light. The thoughts of Jesus must have thought when witnessing to be left alone to die like a public amusement happening and how the pain and helplessness is increasing by every second and how his mind must have surrendered to this. "...And the sixth hour / The Darkness fell / The time is at hand / Last hour of Jesus Christ".
4. "Goat And The Moon": We had thought for a long time of composing a hymn of only slow parts, but it took us this long to finally finalize this idea. I had few slower parts that I wanted to use for "The Light-Devouring Darkness" but had no expedient hymn and after hearing Angelslayer's guitar riffs we decided to create this slow hymn and see how it would work and were satisfied by the end result. I wrote the lyrics for this hymn to mark my philosophy. "...This is my worship / This is my path / Goat and the moon".
5. "Sodomator Of The Doomed Venus": With this hymn I wanted to create some very traditionally perverse Archgoat lyrics and after a moment of creativeness wrote a hymn to praise the raping of virginal entity in a black mass ritual. Musically this hymn came up in the vein of "Grand Marshall..." from "Whore Of Bethlehem" without any slower parts but still with tempo changes. Hail the grinding blast beats! "...Penetration of the Venus gates / Madonna raped on the black mass lust / Sodomy of the holy prostitute".
6. "The Light-Devouring Darkness": The title hymn was lyrically inspired by the moment of apocalyptic visions of final judgment to end the Christianity as the Antichrist is reborn to devour the light. Musically this hymn is above the "average" tempo of typical Archgoat hymn being mostly composed of grinding speed parts. "...The virgin shall conceive / Him who denies Jesus Christ / Hail the great triumphant one / In his own name he comes".
7. "Blessed In Beast's Blood": We finalized this hymn as the 2nd last on of all "The Light-Devouring Darkness" hymns. I would say that this hymn is the one hymn that is very traditional Archgoat hymn with typical mid tempo to grind tempo changes. In my blood I carry the mark of the beast. "...The sons praising the lord of the night / We ride the chariots of war / For glory of lord Satan.
8. "Worms Born Of Martyrdom": A Mockery hymn to cast the shadow of blasphemy over the philosophy of the weak white light Christians, of how the rats walk behind the blind pauper whose martyrdom created nothing but weakness. Among my favourite hymns of all our creations. "...Herds of sickly Christian tattle / The insane children of ignorance / Staggering after the scarred messiah / The temples of the true mortals tremble".
9. "Fornicated Messiah": A hymn to unveil and spit upon the Christianity's basic teachings and childish ideas of a virginal and non-vaginal birth. The savior was an end result of the lust and thus created from fornication. The musical aspect draws influences from our 1993 un-released LP recordings. "...king of Jews / Of mortal blood / Soon to be scorned / Poor Mary / carried the fruit of lust by the holy ghost".
10. "The Dawn Of The Antichrist": An old 1992 composed hymn with the original parts we used later for our hymn "Penis Perversor". We thought about including this hymn and decided to release it as it was originally composed. The lyrics hail the coming of pure darkness to prophecy the might of Lucifer. "...The storm of the black triangle closing and rising / The beast dwells in the eye of the storm of damnation / Eve of dead souls, the black moon reels over the horizon".
Arcana Noctis: How do you see this album compared to your previous material called "Whore Of Bethlehem"? Should we take it as a normal continuation of your material recorded in 2004?Archgoat: All our releases are of natural continuity from the previous ones. I could add that there is not much deviation but still a minor controlled difference in the hymns. "Whore Of Bethlehem" was so far the fastest release we have composed and we wanted to take bit of the speed away and to replace it with crushing heaviness. There is always the same core in all of our releases, but some superficial alterations are stronger on some release compared to other.
Arcana Noctis: If I'm not wrong the lyrical content is the same that you used across the years, but what could you tell us about the title you used! Is it a little bit more human compared to the previous album called "Whore Of Bethlehem" or to your first official release "Angelcunt (Tales Of Desecration)"?
Archgoat: There is no mellowing or softening in our lyrical approach or there ever will be. Archgoat was created to be a Satanic Black Metal orchestra and we will walk under this banner till the end. There can be seen two different lyrical themes in our concept one being the traditional Satanism and the other the blasphemous and insulting approach. I have started to write new lyrics for the next release and the lyrical approach seem to be concentrated more to this perverse and insulting theme this time. The words are kind of writing themselves through me I could say.
Arcana Noctis: Who is the main responsible for the cover artwork, and tell us if you think that it fits perfectly with the musical content and with the lyrical themes?
Archgoat: There is nothing happening with Archgoat that we haven't planned and agreed upon. Chris Moyen did our arts like always and we gave him a very strictly detailed list of things we wanted to be included in the arts as a starting point. He followed these details magnificently and mailed along few sketches for our approval to proceed till the arts were finished. The whole concept of the cover arts was based upon the thematic of this release; there would not have been any other way. The arts are an essential part of a release and deserve careful planning and execution to make the whole comprehensiveness a solid pure Black Metal release.
Arcana Noctis: Tell us if you received some good reviews concerning this "The Light-Devouring Darkness" and what is the major opinion?
Archgoat: To a die-hard Black Metal maniacs Archgoat offers a breeze from the days when Black Metal was true and honest. Satanic Raw Black Metal from the abyss of the graves and the reviews from those people have been very good with "The Light-Devouring Darkness". But on the other hand the "friends" of more melodic Black Metal probably find our hymns/releases to cause them involuntary defecation and vomiting as our works are not directed to them and this comes out as bad reviews. To me these reviews do not mean anything as there are only 3 persons to whom our musical offering is responsible to; the members of Archgoat. I have seen how the scene changes and the opinions change to reflect the overall trends of the scene; "friends" become back stabbers and back stabbers become "friends"... This game does not include us, since our creation Archgoat is like timeless stone in this ever-changing flow.
Arcana Noctis: As one of the most important persons in the extreme Metal scene for almost 20 years, could you please tell us how do you see the present scene of the Black Metal compared to that one when you started to play?
Archgoat: Thank you for the good laughs. To me Black Metal is not self promoting but the promotion of the true darkness. Scene wise the biggest difference is the amount of everything compared to the late 80s and early 90s. Today there are so many bands, labels, distros and promoters, that it is quite hard to think this music remaining true to it's original meaning of being and staying an underground genre. Also I dislike this modern tendency of trying to make a living from an underground genre like Black Metal. To sell more releases to achieve this status you need commerciality and for commerciality you need compromises. True Black Metal is not about compromises.
Arcana Noctis: Are you going to tour to promote the new album? And where Archgoat fans could see you live this year?
Archgoat: This wretched year 2009 means the 20th anniversary year for us and we have some special live rituals to be announced soon. There is about a 4 live ritual mini tour to happen in the States and maybe few others in Mexico and probably at least one appearance in Europe in August. The best and most honest promotion we can do to our release is to stand on the stage and let the audience experience an assault of unholyness the way Black Metal should be played.
Arcana Noctis: Because we are closing to the end, I would like you to tell us what are your future plans concerning Archgoat! I assume that you're going to play in the same manner as you do from almost 20 years; and no other elements won't alterate your soul and way of playing! What's your point of view?
Archgoat: Why repair something that is not broken I might ask? We will continue our work like we have since 1989. Too late to change something.
Arcana Noctis: My friend that will be all for now! I thank you for your time and I wish you another 20 years of extreme Metal activity! Keep the burning flame alive!!!
Archgoat: Thank you for the very interesting interview, the pleasure was all mine. I doubt there will be another 2 decades, but we will push this creation with the same uncompromised non-tolerated attitude as we have done this far. See you on the road...