Asmodée
Asmodée is a well known name in the French underground, we could say; and the band is back with a new album called "Chlorosis" that saw the daylight at Great Dane Records a while ago! This brand new album was realised 4 years after the previous material entitled "Simulacres", and it contains a few tracks taken from band previous EP and demo! But if you want to know much more things about this subject you should read the interview I've done with Thomas Chassaigne the band leader.
Arcana Noctis: Hi Tom! How are you and what's up out there for your mighty band Asmodée, now that the new opus is out for a while?
Thomas: We're fine. We are searching for gigs all over Europe; we're working on the fourth Asmodée album and on a live EP with some video tracks.
Arcana Noctis: I would like you to tell us what are the most important steps from your career; starting with the year of your creation, if you don't mind!
Thomas: OK. I think the "Errance" MCD was important 'cause it was our first pro recording with a sound engineer etc. And also the first time we had reviews in the Metal press. We didn't realize at the time that there were not so many serious Black Metal bands in France, and for 1999 the songs on "Errance" were amazing and they're still very good. We will surely re-mix it in the future for a pro-CD release...
"Symptômes De Ruine" was important too, as it must be for a first album. It defined the rules of our style and of our lyrical realm in many ways (even if all that was started before on the "Séquelles" demo). We experiment to see what we were able to do... so it's a very creative and open-minded release.
Our new recording, "Chlorosis", is also something important for us, we have a great and stable line-up, great sound, great songs... this is the most challenging album we have made 'cause the experiments are carefully controlled this time.
Arcana Noctis: As I can see you've created the band after the splitting of Necropolis, can you tell us something about this band? Also, in what reason you've founded the new one, considering that it was formed back in '94 (3 years before the foundation of the actual band)?
Thomas: Necropolis played a kind of Satanic Death Metal, with influences such as Deicide, Morbid Angel, Death, Slayer and Pestilence... We were adolescent and not serious at all, but very extreme when it comes to Christianity... We had originally found Asmodée to play some Black Metal in the Norwegians masters way... I'm talking about Emperor, Dark Throne, Satyricon, Mayhem, Immortal, Burzum of the 90s.
Arcana Noctis: Give us a few details about the very first demo and don't forget to mention about your singer's departure. Who was his substitute and how did you managed to create a stable line-up?
Thomas: Tane Crevasse, our first singer had many problems with alcohol and was in depression... so this was really not a stable line-up... He's well now and he's still a good friend, we play sometimes together, he's crafting some guitars. His substitute was Iurar, who already played bass in Necropolis and Asmodée. He naturally took the vocal duties for "Errance" and it was good.
Arcana Noctis: An important step in your career, "Errance", was recorded soon after the departure of your first singer but you've lost Iurar who decided to leave the band because of some personal strange ideas. Try to tell us a few words about each of these 2 moments from your history!
Thomas: The "Errance" tracks were ready for a while, and Crevasse couldn't sing anymore (he played second guitar at that time...), so Iurar did it... After a few gigs, Iurar was tired of playing some brutal Metal, and for him, his psychological problems were linked to Black Metal and so on, so he left the band...
Arcana Noctis: You've found new members such as: Matthieu and Koagul, ex. members of L'Ombre Du Saccage. Can you tell us how did you choose them, and also tell us why Koagul left the band after a few months and introduce us his substitute.
Thomas: Oh, I choose them because I really love the L'Ombre Du Saccage demo "Steckt Wie Ein Nagel", I produced it and sung a bit on it. I know them since a long time, at the time of their previous band Soaks/Deleatur, we were doing parties together and played also, they were based in Charente-Maritime, near us. In addition to that, Matt played bass unusually (with fretless, 5 strings...) and had wonderful compositions ideas. We were listening to the same bands (Emperor, Sadus, Coroner, Immortal...) and discovered together new ones like Dødheimsgard, Ved Buens Ende, Aka Moon, Arcturus and also some Classical music, Debussy, Chopin, Bartok... I first asked him to join us for 2 tracks written by a friend: Sébastien Ancelin. The name of the project was Condamnés à Mort. We recorded that and soon after he accepted to join the band. It was in 2000.
Arcana Noctis: You recorded a promo CD, "Sequelles" with Thomas Chassaigne on vocals, and I would like you to tell us a few things about the new material and in which purpose you've recorded?
Thomas: It was a new area for the band, we didn't play anymore only linear Black Metal but a kind of hybrid style mixing Techno Death influences like Atheist, Cynic, Death, Coroner and cold Black Metal...
Arcana Noctis: We are in October 2002 when you've released the first album under the name Asmodée and you called it "Symptômes De Ruine". Try to introduce us this opus by giving us the technical details we need to know.
Thomas: I remember recording all guitars in December or January 2002 in our rehearsal room, very bad weather, very cold... It was very fast and difficult to play. Bass was done the same way. (For guys interested in sound etc. All guitars: 7 strings RG-7620 GK with sh6 in boss equa for bass in Marshall JCM 900 in 1960A cabinet / Bass: 5 strings fretless / Tobias recorded in the line in of the recorder / all the album was recorded with a Roland 16 tracks digital recorder). The vocals were recorded a first time by Crevasse and me, 'cause I sung some parts (it was a bad idea...) but it didn't fit the songs at all, and we had not enough time to do it well... And last but not the least, Sacral Productions didn't like these vocals... So in April or May, I re-recorded all the vocals, and that's the ones you can find on the released version...
Arcana Noctis: I saw something, I could say, very interesting about the number of the copies you made: 1789. If I'm not wrong this is the year of the French revolution and I'd like you to tell us what is the reason for doing that!?
Thomas: Oh, we hadn't decided this! This is due to the label Sacral Productions. I think that the 1789 copies were never pressed, but I'm sure that it was pressed 2 times (1 X 800, 1 X 500 I guess...) Apart from that, I really like this period of France history and the literature made about it (Hugo's "93" and parts of Chateaubriand's "Mémoires D'Outre-Tombe" for example...)
Arcana Noctis: Soon after the recording sessions, you've been joined by Cyril and N.M. (ex. Arcana Dementia), the first one being fired one year later because he didn't fit the band. It seems that you had serious line-up problems across the years, am I right?
Thomas: Yes, the guitar parts and vocal duties on "Symptômes De Ruine" were too complicated to be played together... So we decided to recruit a singer. Cyril "Shyrith" was not bad, but we didn't have the same tastes. He tried to copy my voice, but retrospectively, I think this was the wrong way...
Arcana Noctis: The musical style is a melting of brutal Metal styles under the shape of a melancholic Black Metal. Could we call it Avant-garde extreme Metal? Are you satisfied with the feedback received across the years?
Thomas: Yes this is it. Not "Avant-garde" all the time, but often can we say... You know, you can never be satisfied of the feedback! But we do something rather special... difficult to apprehend... Since the first album, we always had dedicated fans and they are still interested in the band for many of them. The difference now is that there's guys from U.S.A., England, Spain... it's truly great! Mentalities evolved these last years, and the response for "Chlorosis" is better than it could have been 10 years ago I guess, extreme Metal fans are more open-minded than before internet and pear-to-pear area... Now everyone has the opportunity to listen to everything...
Arcana Noctis: The second album was recorded in 2004 and it is calling "Simulacres"! Introduce us the album and tell us why Thomas Chassaigne plays now both guitar and vocals on it! Don't forget to mention about the lyrical concept and of course about the cover artwork.
Thomas: We tried to find a suitable singer, but all in all, it was too difficult... To find a singer who likes Dødheimsgard, Emperor and Death Metal and could do both clean voices and harsh ones, in this area of France in 2002/2003, was not as easier as one can think... So we decided that I will do both guitar and vocals duties. About the lyrics, "Void World" is a Byron poem that describes an apocalyptic vision, "Ether" is based upon a poem by Jean Joseph Rabearivelo, a Malagasy writer. I imagine his dreams when he took drugs, all tinted with Malagasy Folklore... "Vargtimmen" is based upon an Ingmar Bergman movie with the same title and an Artur Lundkvist poem... Some parts are sung in Swedish language ...And I write the other lyrics... The album title comes from a Philip K. Dick novel, but not the overall album concept (if there is an overall album concept...), however, "Simulacres" means that the whole reality in which we are living is a lie, an artifice... for the suicidal writer of "Ether" as for the painter of "Vargtimmen"... On the cover, you can find the same sculpture that appears on "Symptômes De Ruine", it's a real photo of a sculpture made by Anne Brunet.
Arcana Noctis: After this album your activity was a little bit strange I could say! You recorded a demo CD and also an EP. Try to tell us more about each one and tell me why did you record 2 materials instead a full length?!
Thomas: In fact the material on the EP was part of the demo/promo CD. All these songs are on the new CD "Chlorosis" in different versions from the Promo 2007 except "Own Life Code" and "Le Naufrage De L'espoir" that appeared only on the EP.
Arcana Noctis: You're back in business with a new label and a new opus also. "Chlorosis" was recorded under the banner of Great Dane Records and I would like you to tell us more details about the new album and don't forget to add a few words about your deal with the label.
Thomas: "Chlorosis" was meant to be released by Appease Me (the label of Vinsdal of Blut Aus Nord...) in the winter of 2008. But unfortunately, they suddenly stopped their activities in September 2008 for financial reasons. Great Dane Records get in touch with us in October and their proposition was better than others. They work with Season Of Mist for France and Code666 for Benelux and it's good for us. You can find all our releases in a shop called "Le Furet Du Nord" in Lille, near the Belgium frontier with France, and also in Virgin Megastores, FNAC, Goethie Exhumation Distro, Legion Of Death Records (Shaxul's label), and O'RIFFS. Here is Great Dane website address: www.greatdanerecs.com. All our material is also available on Mankind's Demise Records website in Canada (and in dollars): www.mankindsdemise.com. We are searching for serious distributors outside these countries.
Arcana Noctis: The new opus takes again a few songs from your demo recorded in 2006 and also from "Black Drop Journey" the EP recorded 2 years ago. Why?
Thomas: There's only one song from the EP and it was re-recorded... The other songs were not released before, only labels had it.
Arcana Noctis: We could say that easily you've changed your musical style from the beginning of your career into something more technical and precisely filled with a Groove Metal attitude. Is that a natural step in your activity as a musician? Also tell us if you've changed the lyrical concept compared to the previous materials!
Thomas: "Chlorosis" is the name of an illness of the XIXth century that touches the young women, a kind of Anemia. For me, it represents the "decadent " spirit that I love in the French literature of the end of the XIXth century, subtle, exquisite, but sick... This title is also linked with the artwork and with purpose of the lyrics, illnesses etc. The first four pieces of the album are parts of a concept based upon the book "Ici, Poddema". Poddema is an imaginary land created by the French surrealist poet Henri Michaux. During his travelogue, he offers his sentiments report, shows people morals and manners and sometimes takes part himself in social habits. Using genetic manipulations, people of Poddema create some species that they call "Poddemaïs". They are bred to become their slaves and can also be used for decoration. They grow in jars, where they can stay all their life along. They are branded like cattle with their master's coat of arms or with prophetic and religious symbols.
Here are some introductions to the lyrics of 2 tracks of "Chlorosis":
"Discomfort Scale": There are five pains registers in Poddema. Every single illness or intimate pain is classified. People are subject to these various pain degrees. It develops their knowledge on the subject of pain and happiness boundaries. Without this experience, they consider themselves "outside humanity" and being not a true human individual. The narrator tells us his several months stay in the discomforts room.
"Angle Noir/Hanging Eyes": The eyes of Errimane Poddemaïs are used for jewellery and embellishments. Women wear them as pendants and adorn their home with. Alas! Their eyes don't grow again. The processes of eyes extraction and its aftermaths over the subject are really horrible. Another species of Poddemaïs is used, because their eyes can grow again three times... Unfortunately, they're very small and less beautiful than the Errimane Poddemaïs eyes. During the song, we must introduce ourselves in the thoughts of a Poddemaïs during the extraction...
"The Caïnist" is influenced by Hermann Hesse Demian. "Penitence" is written by using automatic writing, invented by the Surrealistic movement...
Arcana Noctis: Did you promote the album by doing some concerts or you're waiting for the summer festivals? The reviews that you've received are encouraging and what about Great Dane Records work concerning the promotion of "Chlorosis"?
Thomas: We play in France. We played in Bordeaux (29.01.2009) with Gorod, and we played near Toulouse with The Bottle Doom Lazy Band on the 07.03.2009. Concerning the summer festivals, you can vote to offer us the opportunity to play at the Legacy Festival in Germany and the Metalcamp in Slovenia (in the "Voting" sections). We have projects about doing shows in Spain with Bloodoline, in England with Skaldic Curse and in Germany with Akrival. Great Dane send promo CDs to radio, press etc. and they will organize a date in Lille in the near future.
Arcana Noctis: As a person very involved in the French extreme Metal scene can you tell us what interesting bands you've saw in the latest years and where do you think you are in the present scene as a band and as a Metal scene in comparison with the actual European extreme Metal scene?
Thomas: There are interesting bands in France. Our scene starts to get audience all over the world and it's a good thing. We toured with Reverence in the end of 2008, it's a great band. I like also Blut Aus Nord, Sael, Scarve, Solekahn, Belenos and the Franco-English band Decrepit Spectre. The local scene in south-west of France is also interesting, there's Funeraille, Annthennath, Diskarial, Lucido, The Bottle Doom Lazy Band, Gorod, Dominant Obscurity, Ossuaire, Acarus Sarcopt, Withdrawn, Offending. All these bands deserve support.
Arcana Noctis: In the end tell us what your future plans are and tell us also if you started to compose the next album and what to expect from it?
Thomas: Yes, we start to compose it, we have 2 tracks by now... It will be very special I think.
Arcana Noctis: That would be all for now, thank you a lot my friend and if you have something to add in the end you have the final word.
Thomas: Thanks you for this long but interesting interview!
Arcana Noctis: Hi Tom! How are you and what's up out there for your mighty band Asmodée, now that the new opus is out for a while?
Thomas: We're fine. We are searching for gigs all over Europe; we're working on the fourth Asmodée album and on a live EP with some video tracks.Arcana Noctis: I would like you to tell us what are the most important steps from your career; starting with the year of your creation, if you don't mind!
Thomas: OK. I think the "Errance" MCD was important 'cause it was our first pro recording with a sound engineer etc. And also the first time we had reviews in the Metal press. We didn't realize at the time that there were not so many serious Black Metal bands in France, and for 1999 the songs on "Errance" were amazing and they're still very good. We will surely re-mix it in the future for a pro-CD release...
"Symptômes De Ruine" was important too, as it must be for a first album. It defined the rules of our style and of our lyrical realm in many ways (even if all that was started before on the "Séquelles" demo). We experiment to see what we were able to do... so it's a very creative and open-minded release.
Our new recording, "Chlorosis", is also something important for us, we have a great and stable line-up, great sound, great songs... this is the most challenging album we have made 'cause the experiments are carefully controlled this time.
Arcana Noctis: As I can see you've created the band after the splitting of Necropolis, can you tell us something about this band? Also, in what reason you've founded the new one, considering that it was formed back in '94 (3 years before the foundation of the actual band)?
Thomas: Necropolis played a kind of Satanic Death Metal, with influences such as Deicide, Morbid Angel, Death, Slayer and Pestilence... We were adolescent and not serious at all, but very extreme when it comes to Christianity... We had originally found Asmodée to play some Black Metal in the Norwegians masters way... I'm talking about Emperor, Dark Throne, Satyricon, Mayhem, Immortal, Burzum of the 90s.
Arcana Noctis: Give us a few details about the very first demo and don't forget to mention about your singer's departure. Who was his substitute and how did you managed to create a stable line-up?
Thomas: Tane Crevasse, our first singer had many problems with alcohol and was in depression... so this was really not a stable line-up... He's well now and he's still a good friend, we play sometimes together, he's crafting some guitars. His substitute was Iurar, who already played bass in Necropolis and Asmodée. He naturally took the vocal duties for "Errance" and it was good.
Arcana Noctis: An important step in your career, "Errance", was recorded soon after the departure of your first singer but you've lost Iurar who decided to leave the band because of some personal strange ideas. Try to tell us a few words about each of these 2 moments from your history!
Thomas: The "Errance" tracks were ready for a while, and Crevasse couldn't sing anymore (he played second guitar at that time...), so Iurar did it... After a few gigs, Iurar was tired of playing some brutal Metal, and for him, his psychological problems were linked to Black Metal and so on, so he left the band...
Arcana Noctis: You've found new members such as: Matthieu and Koagul, ex. members of L'Ombre Du Saccage. Can you tell us how did you choose them, and also tell us why Koagul left the band after a few months and introduce us his substitute.
Thomas: Oh, I choose them because I really love the L'Ombre Du Saccage demo "Steckt Wie Ein Nagel", I produced it and sung a bit on it. I know them since a long time, at the time of their previous band Soaks/Deleatur, we were doing parties together and played also, they were based in Charente-Maritime, near us. In addition to that, Matt played bass unusually (with fretless, 5 strings...) and had wonderful compositions ideas. We were listening to the same bands (Emperor, Sadus, Coroner, Immortal...) and discovered together new ones like Dødheimsgard, Ved Buens Ende, Aka Moon, Arcturus and also some Classical music, Debussy, Chopin, Bartok... I first asked him to join us for 2 tracks written by a friend: Sébastien Ancelin. The name of the project was Condamnés à Mort. We recorded that and soon after he accepted to join the band. It was in 2000.
Arcana Noctis: You recorded a promo CD, "Sequelles" with Thomas Chassaigne on vocals, and I would like you to tell us a few things about the new material and in which purpose you've recorded?
Thomas: It was a new area for the band, we didn't play anymore only linear Black Metal but a kind of hybrid style mixing Techno Death influences like Atheist, Cynic, Death, Coroner and cold Black Metal...
Arcana Noctis: We are in October 2002 when you've released the first album under the name Asmodée and you called it "Symptômes De Ruine". Try to introduce us this opus by giving us the technical details we need to know.
Thomas: I remember recording all guitars in December or January 2002 in our rehearsal room, very bad weather, very cold... It was very fast and difficult to play. Bass was done the same way. (For guys interested in sound etc. All guitars: 7 strings RG-7620 GK with sh6 in boss equa for bass in Marshall JCM 900 in 1960A cabinet / Bass: 5 strings fretless / Tobias recorded in the line in of the recorder / all the album was recorded with a Roland 16 tracks digital recorder). The vocals were recorded a first time by Crevasse and me, 'cause I sung some parts (it was a bad idea...) but it didn't fit the songs at all, and we had not enough time to do it well... And last but not the least, Sacral Productions didn't like these vocals... So in April or May, I re-recorded all the vocals, and that's the ones you can find on the released version...
Arcana Noctis: I saw something, I could say, very interesting about the number of the copies you made: 1789. If I'm not wrong this is the year of the French revolution and I'd like you to tell us what is the reason for doing that!?
Thomas: Oh, we hadn't decided this! This is due to the label Sacral Productions. I think that the 1789 copies were never pressed, but I'm sure that it was pressed 2 times (1 X 800, 1 X 500 I guess...) Apart from that, I really like this period of France history and the literature made about it (Hugo's "93" and parts of Chateaubriand's "Mémoires D'Outre-Tombe" for example...)
Arcana Noctis: Soon after the recording sessions, you've been joined by Cyril and N.M. (ex. Arcana Dementia), the first one being fired one year later because he didn't fit the band. It seems that you had serious line-up problems across the years, am I right?
Thomas: Yes, the guitar parts and vocal duties on "Symptômes De Ruine" were too complicated to be played together... So we decided to recruit a singer. Cyril "Shyrith" was not bad, but we didn't have the same tastes. He tried to copy my voice, but retrospectively, I think this was the wrong way...
Arcana Noctis: The musical style is a melting of brutal Metal styles under the shape of a melancholic Black Metal. Could we call it Avant-garde extreme Metal? Are you satisfied with the feedback received across the years?
Thomas: Yes this is it. Not "Avant-garde" all the time, but often can we say... You know, you can never be satisfied of the feedback! But we do something rather special... difficult to apprehend... Since the first album, we always had dedicated fans and they are still interested in the band for many of them. The difference now is that there's guys from U.S.A., England, Spain... it's truly great! Mentalities evolved these last years, and the response for "Chlorosis" is better than it could have been 10 years ago I guess, extreme Metal fans are more open-minded than before internet and pear-to-pear area... Now everyone has the opportunity to listen to everything...
Arcana Noctis: The second album was recorded in 2004 and it is calling "Simulacres"! Introduce us the album and tell us why Thomas Chassaigne plays now both guitar and vocals on it! Don't forget to mention about the lyrical concept and of course about the cover artwork.
Thomas: We tried to find a suitable singer, but all in all, it was too difficult... To find a singer who likes Dødheimsgard, Emperor and Death Metal and could do both clean voices and harsh ones, in this area of France in 2002/2003, was not as easier as one can think... So we decided that I will do both guitar and vocals duties. About the lyrics, "Void World" is a Byron poem that describes an apocalyptic vision, "Ether" is based upon a poem by Jean Joseph Rabearivelo, a Malagasy writer. I imagine his dreams when he took drugs, all tinted with Malagasy Folklore... "Vargtimmen" is based upon an Ingmar Bergman movie with the same title and an Artur Lundkvist poem... Some parts are sung in Swedish language ...And I write the other lyrics... The album title comes from a Philip K. Dick novel, but not the overall album concept (if there is an overall album concept...), however, "Simulacres" means that the whole reality in which we are living is a lie, an artifice... for the suicidal writer of "Ether" as for the painter of "Vargtimmen"... On the cover, you can find the same sculpture that appears on "Symptômes De Ruine", it's a real photo of a sculpture made by Anne Brunet.
Arcana Noctis: After this album your activity was a little bit strange I could say! You recorded a demo CD and also an EP. Try to tell us more about each one and tell me why did you record 2 materials instead a full length?!
Thomas: In fact the material on the EP was part of the demo/promo CD. All these songs are on the new CD "Chlorosis" in different versions from the Promo 2007 except "Own Life Code" and "Le Naufrage De L'espoir" that appeared only on the EP.
Arcana Noctis: You're back in business with a new label and a new opus also. "Chlorosis" was recorded under the banner of Great Dane Records and I would like you to tell us more details about the new album and don't forget to add a few words about your deal with the label.
Thomas: "Chlorosis" was meant to be released by Appease Me (the label of Vinsdal of Blut Aus Nord...) in the winter of 2008. But unfortunately, they suddenly stopped their activities in September 2008 for financial reasons. Great Dane Records get in touch with us in October and their proposition was better than others. They work with Season Of Mist for France and Code666 for Benelux and it's good for us. You can find all our releases in a shop called "Le Furet Du Nord" in Lille, near the Belgium frontier with France, and also in Virgin Megastores, FNAC, Goethie Exhumation Distro, Legion Of Death Records (Shaxul's label), and O'RIFFS. Here is Great Dane website address: www.greatdanerecs.com. All our material is also available on Mankind's Demise Records website in Canada (and in dollars): www.mankindsdemise.com. We are searching for serious distributors outside these countries.
Arcana Noctis: The new opus takes again a few songs from your demo recorded in 2006 and also from "Black Drop Journey" the EP recorded 2 years ago. Why?
Thomas: There's only one song from the EP and it was re-recorded... The other songs were not released before, only labels had it.
Arcana Noctis: We could say that easily you've changed your musical style from the beginning of your career into something more technical and precisely filled with a Groove Metal attitude. Is that a natural step in your activity as a musician? Also tell us if you've changed the lyrical concept compared to the previous materials!
Thomas: "Chlorosis" is the name of an illness of the XIXth century that touches the young women, a kind of Anemia. For me, it represents the "decadent " spirit that I love in the French literature of the end of the XIXth century, subtle, exquisite, but sick... This title is also linked with the artwork and with purpose of the lyrics, illnesses etc. The first four pieces of the album are parts of a concept based upon the book "Ici, Poddema". Poddema is an imaginary land created by the French surrealist poet Henri Michaux. During his travelogue, he offers his sentiments report, shows people morals and manners and sometimes takes part himself in social habits. Using genetic manipulations, people of Poddema create some species that they call "Poddemaïs". They are bred to become their slaves and can also be used for decoration. They grow in jars, where they can stay all their life along. They are branded like cattle with their master's coat of arms or with prophetic and religious symbols.
Here are some introductions to the lyrics of 2 tracks of "Chlorosis":
"Discomfort Scale": There are five pains registers in Poddema. Every single illness or intimate pain is classified. People are subject to these various pain degrees. It develops their knowledge on the subject of pain and happiness boundaries. Without this experience, they consider themselves "outside humanity" and being not a true human individual. The narrator tells us his several months stay in the discomforts room.
"Angle Noir/Hanging Eyes": The eyes of Errimane Poddemaïs are used for jewellery and embellishments. Women wear them as pendants and adorn their home with. Alas! Their eyes don't grow again. The processes of eyes extraction and its aftermaths over the subject are really horrible. Another species of Poddemaïs is used, because their eyes can grow again three times... Unfortunately, they're very small and less beautiful than the Errimane Poddemaïs eyes. During the song, we must introduce ourselves in the thoughts of a Poddemaïs during the extraction...
"The Caïnist" is influenced by Hermann Hesse Demian. "Penitence" is written by using automatic writing, invented by the Surrealistic movement...
Arcana Noctis: Did you promote the album by doing some concerts or you're waiting for the summer festivals? The reviews that you've received are encouraging and what about Great Dane Records work concerning the promotion of "Chlorosis"?
Thomas: We play in France. We played in Bordeaux (29.01.2009) with Gorod, and we played near Toulouse with The Bottle Doom Lazy Band on the 07.03.2009. Concerning the summer festivals, you can vote to offer us the opportunity to play at the Legacy Festival in Germany and the Metalcamp in Slovenia (in the "Voting" sections). We have projects about doing shows in Spain with Bloodoline, in England with Skaldic Curse and in Germany with Akrival. Great Dane send promo CDs to radio, press etc. and they will organize a date in Lille in the near future.
Arcana Noctis: As a person very involved in the French extreme Metal scene can you tell us what interesting bands you've saw in the latest years and where do you think you are in the present scene as a band and as a Metal scene in comparison with the actual European extreme Metal scene?
Thomas: There are interesting bands in France. Our scene starts to get audience all over the world and it's a good thing. We toured with Reverence in the end of 2008, it's a great band. I like also Blut Aus Nord, Sael, Scarve, Solekahn, Belenos and the Franco-English band Decrepit Spectre. The local scene in south-west of France is also interesting, there's Funeraille, Annthennath, Diskarial, Lucido, The Bottle Doom Lazy Band, Gorod, Dominant Obscurity, Ossuaire, Acarus Sarcopt, Withdrawn, Offending. All these bands deserve support.
Arcana Noctis: In the end tell us what your future plans are and tell us also if you started to compose the next album and what to expect from it?
Thomas: Yes, we start to compose it, we have 2 tracks by now... It will be very special I think.
Arcana Noctis: That would be all for now, thank you a lot my friend and if you have something to add in the end you have the final word.
Thomas: Thanks you for this long but interesting interview!