I’ve been listening to the Afar album on Bandcamp a lot lately. So I need to know more about Afar. Here’s the interview with main man IK.
* So you’re a one man project? How did this come about – were you inspired by other 1 man black metal bands Burzum, Xasthur, Leviathan etc or after doing the whole “democratic” band thing you prefer to work alone?
A long time ago, I started a black metal project Necrofog that didn’t quite take off. It was a side project of mine, and I kept writing little by little for it. Over time the genres I was focused on also evolved, until I started another personal project – both (https://both.bandcamp.com/) – which was dedicated to electronic, shoegaze, and post-rock styles. For quite a while my black metal project was inactive, until one night (10/12/2013) when Abazagorath, Dethroned Emperor, and Bible Thumper played in New Brunswick and I realized I have been disconnected from my black metal roots far too long! At that show was also Pete Lloyd, who agreed right there to record my new album at his studio – One Stone Recording & Mastering (http://onestonerecording.com/). Afar is currently still my personal project, but I wouldn’t be opposed to involving more people in the future to collaborate and play shows with!
* Since you have done both which do you prefer and why?
I don’t know if I could say I prefer one-man projects or group bands, since you really get different things out of them. With full bands, I love playing shows and interacting with the other members and the audience. Live shows have such a powerful energy that cannot be compared! At the same time, recording music that is completely written by you is very rewarding as well. You never have to consider running a particular “troubling” riff by the other members – you just do it. And you are sort of forced to fix any issues you have with a song on your own – really connecting with the music through the process. I could never say “this part here will be fine for now, [other member] will come up with something better later”. Some songs on Selfless were written as early as 2006, so I cannot stress how satisfying it is to finally release them.
* What was the recording process like for you with Selfless?
When Pete and I decided to start recording Selfless, I knew I was in the right hands. I felt right at home recording drums, guitar, bass, vocals… Pete really understood what I was going for stylistically and knew how I wanted each instrument to sound – even when I couldn’t explain it myself! This way I was able to focus more on performance and let him make it shine. The recording process took over two years, mostly because at the time I just started my Master’s program while working full time, so finding time for music got much harder. Later on, I was also offered to join Windfaerer on guitar – truly an honor. Although it took a while to put the album together, I wouldn’t change a thing!
* Did you start start with specific riffs and guitar licks or was it more trying to create separate moods / soundscapes?
For me, the writing process did vary slightly between songs and over time. In the past, I wrote an entire song over 1-2 nights on guitar, then wrote lyrics that fit the mood of the song – of imagery that came to me while listening to the instrumental track. However, when I wrote “Healing”, I was first inspired to write the lyrics and then the guitar parts came naturally afterwards. For every piece of Selfless, I let the inspiration flow whenever it did. If I didn’t feel a particular song one day, I set it aside until it felt right. I never wanted to force the music together because it wouldn’t be as intimate and true if it was just a collection of riffs.
* Does the name Afar have any special meaning?
Afar, besides meaning “from a distance”, in Hebrew it also means “ashes”. It is the notion of spiritual and physical distance, and a general disconnect. You could interpret that it is the balance between what is and isn’t there. I feel that the name carries the deeper meaning and dark undertone that fits the music well.
* Misanthropy Legion was a band that covered Occult themes and Northern Myst covered more “back to Nature” themes – what themes do you tackle with Afar?
In Afar, I take a personal approach to the lyrical themes, including tragic loss of family, self-doubt and insanity, sense of loss of friendship, loneliness of immigration, and mourning and acceptance of failed relationships. I would also like to make a side note that despite the direct occult themes in Misanthropy Legion, it was a very personal project lyrically, and carries the same deeper meaning as Afar.
* Tsalmaveth is the Hebrew word for darkness OR death – how do you use it in the song of the same name?
Correct, Tsalmaveth means “shadow of death”. Tsalmaveth is a “nod” to Necrofog, as a kind of acknowledgement and farewell to my older self. The song itself plays with the theme of survival versus death, and equates it to ignorance versus awareness. It is about how sometimes we prefer to ignore facts in order to stay happy and “survive”.
* Did you do much touring in your previous bands? and do you have any plans to play live as Afar?
With Misanthropy Legion, we mostly played locally in New Jersey and New York in smaller venues. When Joe and I started Burden, Tom joined us and we started playing quite a bit in the basements of New Brunswick – those were some of the best shows I ever played! The most touring I have done so far has been with Windfaerer – from New York to Maryland and everywhere in between. We plan to keep touring and go even farther in 2017 – I can’t wait hit the road with my boys! With Afar, I currently have no plans of touring, but I know I have an amazing crew of session members available once it happens! I would love to see an Afar tour happen someday.
* What future plans do you have for the Project? further albums? lives shows? alone with backing tracks or a full band?
A new Afar album is most definitely in the works. I intend on writing it through mid-2017 and hopefully start recording later that year. I plan on getting more session members involved for the next album, and possibly adding full members for writing and recording as well. I will say, I am so grateful for the responses I received for Selfless so far – they are definitely adding fuel to my fire!
Any shout outs or final words?
I just wanted to thank you for listening to my album, and for taking the time to learn more about me and the project! I love the blog, there are tons of excellent bands featured here – I’m honored to be one of them. Looking forward to seeing Bruder Des Lichts grow!
Selfless was written and recorded by I.K.
Guest vocals on Beckoned Into Fog by J. Aversario and M. Goncalves.
Engineered and mastered by Peter Lloyd in One Stone Recording & Mastering 2014-2016.
Cover photography by Peter Lloyd, design & layout by M. Goncalves,
inside cover art by Eden Lustig.
Photography for this site by Peter Lloyd.
I have seen Throaat play out in NYC a bunch of times in the last few years mainly at St Vitus and Lucky 13 and they never disappoint. I wanted to know more about the band and spoke with singer Impurifier Vilethroaat to get the down lo. Here we go
* So you guys have been going for a couple of years now – how did the band come about?
Around November 2012 I started writing songs for a new project. I
wanted to be doing music much more raw and primitive than what I had
been doing before. So I started looking for people to play with by
placing some Craigslist ads because I didnt want to play with anyone I
already knew. It only sort of ended up that way, but those were the
beginnings.
* Growing up what were your musical influences? (I am guessing someone is a huge Hellhammer fan)
At some point, maybe I was 6 or 7, I inherited my older brother’s
Black Sabbath Paranoid/Iron Maiden Number of the Beast cassette tape.
I was transfixed! Especially by the Sabbath side. Every instrument and
lyric seemed to speak to me, or even make me feel like I was in a
trance. Really powerful shit!
I was a little kid when 80’s heavy metal was blowing up, so I feel
fortunate to have been exposed to it during those formulative years.
I think I first heard black metal in the early or mid 90’s, I had this
compilation that had all second wave bands. In the 90’s I was also
getting into a lot of avant garde and “world” music. Stuff that had
nothing to do with metal but that has had a really lasting influence
on how I perceive sound.
Around 1994 I started getting very deeply into Mercyful Fate. In 1998
I even saw them play once while on LSD! In the late 90’s I got heavily
into Celtic Frost (To Mega Therion was first for me, then Morbid
Tales). When I first heard it I felt like I could really relate to it,
in that they were pulling off sounds that I was searching for in my
own material, but they were doing it so damn well, it was a real eye
opener. And yeah around that time I first heard Hellhammer as well, I
got the Apocalyptic Raids cd and heard a few other things. I thought
it was great but to me nothing could touch Frost, especially To Mega
Therion!
I’m into a lot of other kinds of music like psych, punk, goth, death
rock, krautrock, prog etc but that’s my deal growing up with metal.
Nowadays I also spend a lot of time seeking out unfamiliar or obscure
music, Im always trying to find some hidden perpective on sound that
might open up my mind in some way.
* Have you always been a drummer/singer – I imagine its got to be pretty hard especially for the style of metal you play – was there ever any plans to have some one else drum for you?
I started playing music a long time ago but drums are the instrument
I’ve played the least in my life. I never really played drums before
Throaat, just a little bit of tapping around on the kit when the real
drummer in whatever band it was went out to take a leak or sell some
weed to someone. I always played guitar or bass. I had taken some
piano and voice lessons during high school. I figure as long as you
understand rhythm and can produce a sound on an instrument, like how
to make the different notes, it’s not too hard to get into playing it.
I mean, you don’t have to know EVERYTHING about an instrument to just
make up some wicked parts for a song right? So when Throaat started to
come together, I knew I wanted to do the vocals and figured the
fastest way to becoming a “real band” was to pick up the drums; so
there would be a drummer from the start, however amateurish or
primitive it might be. I wanted to do something new and in an
unsophisticated style so it seemed like the way to go.
Throaat has seen some lineup changes recently, and each time there was
a change, the question comes up about whether or not I should switch
to another instrument. I really like playing drums though so I’m going
to stick with it. Also I think it would change the sound of the band
pretty drastically with a different drummer, unless he happened to
play with the same shitty pizzazz as I do, but that would be hard to
find! If there were an ad it would have to say something like SHITTY
DRUMMER WANTED. BUT NOT TOO SHITTY!
We did do a one-off show not too long ago where I played bass and did
the vocals, our bass player at that time played the drums and our
guitar player did his guitar thing. We called it Taorrh. There was a
booking conflict so we decided to switch it up for that one night. Our
friends from the killer band Conqueror Worm were in town on tour and
played that night as well.
* Right now the NYC metal scene is pretty concentrated in Brooklyn – any thoughts on why Brooklyn and not say Queens or the Bronx?
Seems to me there are a ton of bands in Queens and the Bronx. I
recognize some typical aesthetic differences between bands from
Brooklyn vs other parts of NYC but I’m not sure I could elucidate what
those differences are without turning into a grumpy bastard.
* What’s your favorite place to play in NYC? Lucky 13? Vitus?
We’ve done plenty of shows at both places. Lately we’ve been playing
at Lucky 13 more, I love that place. Vitus is great too. We also
played at The Acheron a lot before it closed. I also like playing at
The Gutter.
* Is everyone born and raised in Brooklyn? if not where are they from?
I was but the other folks in the band (both past and present) come
from other locales. Native Brooklynites are somewhat rare in the music
scene here.
* You guys have done a bunch of demos and EPs – any plans for a full length?
Yeah in fact we have a full length LP called Reflections in Darkness
that was completed not too long ago. We’re figuring out a label
situation now but for some reason I’ve been extremely lazy about
making it happen. I think I got a little bit of burnout when finishing
off the record and needed a break. The business part of music isnt
exactly fun.
Since then we also finished a split 7” EP with a band from Lexington,
KY called Apocryphal Revelation. We each have about 7 minutes, for us
it’s two songs (“The Tannery” and “Purify Salem’s Lot”) and for them
it’s one song (“Graveyard Torment”). We are seeking a label for that
right now too.
* What’s been the best show you guys have played to date?
HMMM good question. I think maybe my favorite Throaat show ever was at
the September 2015 Wings of Metal Festival in Montreal. Another
favorite was opening for Venom, Inc. at Saint Vitus not too long ago.
They were amazing, really exactly what you’d want to see in a Venom
show.
* Have you done much touring in the USA? If not are there plans to for the future?
We have been around a bit, and we absolutely have plans to continue
that. I’d like to get out to the west coast in 2017, we havent been
there as a band yet. Same deal with Europe, with some luck maybe we
can make it happen.
* What’s the best part of being in a metal band from NYC?
I find it really tricky being in a band here. The scene is probably
much more cutthroat (no pun intended) than many cities. Also everyone
has to work insane hours to make ends meet or is just broke all the
time.
On a positive (and music fan-based) note, something I enjoy about
being here is that so many great bands come here to play shows. Like
Manila Road. Or Nifelheim. Those were two of the greatest shows I’ve
ever seen.
* As a metal fan what’s your favorite format – for me day time at work its Spotify/bandcamp/youtube and vinyl at night
I would say my listening habits are similar. When I want to feel what
I’m listening to it’ll need to be on vinyl. Cassette would work for
that too but my only cassette player is my trusty 4 track recorder.
I first heard of these guys via the good people at Broken Limbs Records – I loved their sound and wanted to know more about the band and what they were all about. Big thanks to Mattia and Chad for the interview.
* Does the band name have any meaning – who came up with the band name?
Chad: Atrament is completely black, the blackest black, none more black. I think Mattia found the word and then we all decided it would be the best fit.
Mattia: yeah I can’t recall where I heard it but when I did it stuck. It was evil sounding in my head. I did some more research on its meaning and found out it also actually means ‘blackener’ – or anything that turns things black, like a die or black stain. The word ‘atrocity’ also comes from the word ‘atrament’. So, we all thought it stuck with the band’s reckless ‘mission’ pretty well.
* You guys do the perfect mix of dbeat and black metal – Were you guys crusty kids who got into metal or metal guys who discovered Discharge?
Chad: Crust to Metal
Mattia: Tough question, I’ve always liked punk and metal equally for as long as I can recall. I’ve known Iron Maiden longer than I have Discharge, so I guess metal to punk…
* What would you say are your biggest musical influences?
Chad: Pete Sandoval during the early years of Morbid Angel. His drumming on Terrorizer’s World Downfall is untouchable. The Ramones, Discharge
Mattia: Filthy and heavy as fuck punk. The brutal stuff. Bands like Discharge, GISM, and Doom. The ‘metal’ sounds coming out of the music is just the inevitable consequence of just wanting to provoke widespread terror. That’s where stuff like Darkthrone, Beherit, Extreme Noise Terror, early Napalm Death and Dismember also play their precious role.
* There seems to be so many great bands coming out of the whole Bay Area these days – why do you think that is?
Chad: Who knows…
Mattia: Perhaps a close knit community of musicians who share ideas and inspire and influence each other in positive ways….
* I know Chad used to drum for Vastum – anybody else have any bands outside of Atrament
Mattia: I’m aso in Abstracter. James, our guitarist, also plays bass in Abstracter. He used to be in Black September and Moral Void when he was still living in Chicago.
* How did the band come together?
Chad: Mattia was responsible for getting everyone to jam. The first practice was pretty cool. The music naturally formed and we kept meeting up to practice.
Mattia: I wanted to play in a really angry and heavy punk band that played in the d-beat style, so I put an ad on Craigslist. James had just moved here to the Bay Area from Chicago and of course had to quit Moral Void to relocate, so was looking to also play hardcore in the darker vein as was Moral Void. He replied to my ad and sent me his recorded riffs. I thought he had some killer stuff going on. We immediately realized we were on the same page, so we set out to find a rhythm section. Chad is a friend from great Bay Area bands like Necrot etc. and a sick drummer. I knew was also into D-beat and crust punk, so it was a no brainer decision to try to ‘lure’ him into Atrament. I sent him James’ ideas and asked him if he’d be down to drum for the new project and he was down. Sam once jammed with my other band Abstracter, and although then he could not join full time I was very impressed with this skills, so when Atrament needed a bass player he was the number choice on my mind, so I invited him to play bass for us. Thankfully, this time around he had more free time on his plate. So here we are.
* I got my vinyl from the label Broken Limbs – how did that deal come about?
Mattia: I liked Pete’s releases by Krieg, Cara Heir, Unsacred, Venowl, Lithotome, Human Bodies etc, so I sent him the record when it was done and asked if he’d be interested, and I guess he was! At the same time we asked Mike from Argento Records in the Netherlands if he’d like to handle a European version and he was down as well, so ‘Eternal Downfall’ turned out to be a co-release between Broken Limbs and Argento.
* You guys recorded the album at the infamous Earhammer studios – how was the whole recording process for you guys?
Chad: The recording went well. Got the drums tracked in five hours. We were definitely ready to record. It was one of the quickest recording sessions I have done.
* What’s been the biggest gig you guys have played to date?
Chad: I think it was our first show at the old Oakland Metro. Pale Chalice, False, and Gloam.
* Have you done much touring and if not was that intentional or are plans still in the works?
Chad: We are all so busy in other bands and we work full time so it’s hard for our schedules to sync up. We definitely want to tour. Most likely when we finish writing the second record we will do a west coast tour.
* Have any of the band played NYC before? If so how does the scene compare to Oakland?
Chad: I played NYC in May. I have a few friends out there (Trenchgrinder, Skullshitter). The night Necrot played it was Mother’s Day so only a handful of people showed up to The Acheron. Everyone in NYC i met during my stay was really cool! Cheers!
Mattia: I’ve toured Europe and the Southeastern United States with Abstracter, but never on the East Coast. One day hopefully!
* Any shout outs to friends? families? bands?
Chad: Thank you to my friends and family for their continued support throughout the years. Slayer
Mattia: Our friends at Ghost Town Brewing for letting us rehearse at their warehouse for free!
In over twenty years Einherjer has carried out their vision.
They were there when Norwegian extreme metal grew forth and took shape as an enormous cultural export. They played far and wide. At home and abroad. They were part of something new. Something special and innovative. They were there when Norwegian metal gathered and inspired thousands. They were there and swung the hammer when Viking metal was forged as a unique expression that later inspired countless bands, worldwide.
Now the horns of war sound again. And Einherjer is there.
Behind them, they have an array of albums – some of which stand as milestones in a genre of explosive growth. And now comes the re-recording of the 1996 album ‘Dragons Of The North’.
DRAGONS OF THE NORTH XX
OUT NOW on LP, CD & Digital!
“2016 demo of this Anti-Islamic Black Metal Legion.. Mogh is Persian/Israeli/German extreme black metal Project,influenced by Nihilism/Oriental Thelema & Occultism / Middle Eastern Rituals. Trance-Modern Conceptual.
from the album- Kirshah Khutai Kirkhoda
Tracklist
1. Wisdom of Ordeal
2. Puraithoi Eyes of Kappadocia
3. Eblis Abr E Siyah
4. Angra Mainyu
5. Sarghashteh
6. Alamihtra Mithra Mesr
7. Thirsty for Anunnaki Royal Blood
8. Amartad Mord
THIS IS NOT AN EP
time is eleastic. length is subjective. don’t discriminate.
recorded july 2016 by Colin Marston
at Menegroth, The Thousand Cavesartwork by Terry Grow
music by Marston feb 2011 – oct 2013
solos by Lerner
thanks:
Weasel Walter and Lille Gruber for also playing some of this music,
Mick Barr at Hathenter Records A&R and Justina for saving arctopus,
my name is Eliane at “Only Hits” corp,
Kevin, Jeff, Luc, Pat, Masterblaster, the fans, the idiots, fieldy
credits
released November 8, 2016
Colin Marston: warr guitar
Mike Lerner: guitar guitar
Jason Bauers: drums
