hails!!!
hope everyone is having a great weekend? immolith is our latest band to be interviewed/featured.if you have not heard this band and you are a fan of "traditional" black metal you will worship this band and their sound. defintly check these guys out.support the underground!!!
best regards
patrick and winter torment myspace e-zine.
interview w/Isiamon,guitarist,
lyricist for immolith.done by patrick.
1.dark hails my friend! how is your week going so far? please tell the readers a little about yourself.
Ave Patrick. Things are well. I am Isiamon guitarist for Immolith, a black metal band hailing from Central New Jersey.
2.when did you guys form immolith? what is the current line-up? for the readers who have never heard the band how would you describe your sound?
Warhead and I met when we were both involved in another musical project back in the Summer of 2008. I of course was familiar with Warhead from his work with US black metal legends Abazagorath. I presented Warhead with some of the ideas I had for my own black metal project and asked if he would like to work with me, and Immolith was officially born on Friday Oct. 31st 2008. It originally just consisted of the two of us, me on guitar and vocals and Warhead on drums. We recorded our second rehearsal together, and released that as a demo. Since then we’ve added our current bassist, Ahazu. So now, we are now moving ahead as a three piece band, and Warhead now also handles the vocals. We are an old school traditional black metal band.
3.i know the band recently finished writing a new e.p that will be released through the label ziekte.how many tracks will the e.p have on it? any idea when the e.p will see the light of day?
The EP “Hymns to the Countess” should be out in a very short time. As of today, May 29th, I’m just putting the finishing touches on the mastering of the recordings, and should have the master CD in the mail to our Dutch label Ziekte-NL by the end of the week. The EP was intended to have 4 tracks, the title track “Hymns to the Countess,” “Slaughter the Legions,” “The Ghost Tower of Inverness,” and the cover track of Venom’s “Countess Bathory.” I have purchased the rights and paid the royalties to include the Venom cover song on the EP, but as it turns out the license is only valid to CD’s sold in the US. Since Ziekte-NL is a European label, they cannot include the Venom song. So the European release of the EP will contain only the 3 original tracks. The other news, and this is the first time I’m announcing this, is that we’ve signed a pact to have the EP available digitally through Infernus of Gorgoroth’s personal label Forces of Satan Records as an MP3 download! A high honor for us indeed.
4.are you guys happy with how the songs on the e.p turned out? how did you all come in contact with ziekte?
I am quite happy with the way it turned out… It has been such a personal project for me, it is hard to say it is finished. Since I’ve written everything, recorded, mixed and produced the entire EP, which is the first time in my career I’ve ever done all of this, I’m not sure I’ll ever say it is done, merely abandoned. Otherwise I’d still be recording, and tweaking until next year. But for now, it is time to move on to writing our full length, and release what we have so far to the public.
As far as getting in touch with Ziekte, I suppose it comes down to our promo…. We pressed a limited number of copies of our second rehearsal as a promo CD, and the pure old school approach and sound attracted more interest than we ever would have expected. It caught the ear of several underground and not so underground labels…the three European labels we’ve worked with so far Ziekte-NL, Frozen Darkness Productions, and Forces of Satan Records.
5.when the band starts working on a new song.how long does it usually take you all to complete one song?
I come up with some riffs and put a basic structure together, record it and present it to Warhead. Once we get together with that in the rehearsal room, we can usually put a song together in about 1 night of rehearsal. The three songs that appear on the EP were written shortly after we got together in October. In the meantime I’ve built my studio up to the point where we were able to record it personally rather than use a professional studio, and do everything in house. Now that the EP is nearing its release, I hope to have a full length written and recorded by the winter of this year.
6.i know you handle the lyrics for the songs.so i was interested do you usually have lyrics done before the music.or do you wait until the music is done for the song and then write lyrics? what are some subjects/topics you write about?
I generally write titles first, and then lyrics. I find having a title and some idea of the lyrics give me a atmosphere or direction when it comes time to write the music. All 3 songs on the EP were written this way, by starting with the titles. History, evil, darkness, Satanism and the Occult are all themes I write about. To break down the lyrics on the EP I will say this; Hymns to the Countess is written of course about Countess Bathory, the most infamous female sadist. Slaughter the Legions recounts the Battle of Tuetoberg Forest. The battle took place when the Christian Roman Empire was at the height of its power, and they were soundly defeated by the Pagans of Germania. Finally Ghost Tower of Inverness is inspired directly from the Dungeons and Dragons RPG, describing an evil Tower created by an ancient sorcerer as a source of his power.
7.does the band live very often or do you prefer to stay a studio band? Since our inception we’ve only worked in the studio.
I don’t know if we intend ever to really gig on a regular basis, but if we could play occasional black metal bills or festivals at some point that would be something we would consider.
8.who are some bands you all have shared the stage with? if you could set-up a dream show who are some bands you would like to play/tour with?
Warhead and I have played many shows in the underground with other bands we’ve been involved in…Warhead being in Abazagorath, has played in the US and in Europe with bands anywhere from Kult ov Azazel, Black Witchery, to Marduk, and many others. I’ve shared the stage with more death metal/thrash metal bands since most of my former projects were in that genre…. Incantation, Goreaphobia, Hod, Alestorm, etc… The dream show would never happen because that would have been with Dissection, one of my personal favorite bands of all time. But some USBM bands like Absu, Kult ov Azazel, and Blood Storm would be fitting bills for Immolith I believe. In Europe many bands that come to mind of course are huge bands like Gorgoroth, Watain, Immortal, but again that is just wishful thinking…
9.everyone seems to have their own ideas/opinions on what black metal means.so i was interested in your opinion what does "black metal" mean to you?
To me black metal is evil music, written by evil people for evil people…
10.you are the guitarist for the band.when did you become interested in playing guitar? are you self-taught or have you taken lessons?
I started playing guitar in my early teens… I took lessons for a short time, but then just learned on my own for the most part. I got involved early on with bands and just playing original music almost from the start, so that was always my focus, just creating metal on our own like the bands we all listened to. I’m a shitty guitarist technically, but I like playing and writing music. So fuck it.
11.who are some of your influences/favorite guitarists? do you play any other instruments?
My favorite guitarists include Michael Denner of Mercyful Fate, Dave Murray of Iron Maiden, Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection, Chuck Schuldiner of Death, and Mille Petrozza of Kreator. I play bass a bit, and now that I’ve got the home studio built; I’m trying to teach myself to play drums.
12.well man thanks alot for taking the time to fill out this interview.do you have any final comments for the readers?
Thank you for taking the time to help spread the word about Immolith it is most appreciated. I would just ask the readers to check out some of the other great bands on Ziekte-NL’s black legion of bands like Ophidian Forest, Kirkkopalovaroitus, Abalam, and many others. There are some great black metal bands on this young label, show them support of the true underground. Hails!
In Blood, Isiamon ov Immolith!
to contact immolith or to check out a few tracks from the band just check out the "official" band page:
http://www.myspace.com/immolith
hope everyone is having a great weekend? immolith is our latest band to be interviewed/featured.if you have not heard this band and you are a fan of "traditional" black metal you will worship this band and their sound. defintly check these guys out.support the underground!!!
best regards
patrick and winter torment myspace e-zine.
interview w/Isiamon,guitarist,
lyricist for immolith.done by patrick.
1.dark hails my friend! how is your week going so far? please tell the readers a little about yourself.
Ave Patrick. Things are well. I am Isiamon guitarist for Immolith, a black metal band hailing from Central New Jersey.
2.when did you guys form immolith? what is the current line-up? for the readers who have never heard the band how would you describe your sound?
Warhead and I met when we were both involved in another musical project back in the Summer of 2008. I of course was familiar with Warhead from his work with US black metal legends Abazagorath. I presented Warhead with some of the ideas I had for my own black metal project and asked if he would like to work with me, and Immolith was officially born on Friday Oct. 31st 2008. It originally just consisted of the two of us, me on guitar and vocals and Warhead on drums. We recorded our second rehearsal together, and released that as a demo. Since then we’ve added our current bassist, Ahazu. So now, we are now moving ahead as a three piece band, and Warhead now also handles the vocals. We are an old school traditional black metal band.
3.i know the band recently finished writing a new e.p that will be released through the label ziekte.how many tracks will the e.p have on it? any idea when the e.p will see the light of day?
The EP “Hymns to the Countess” should be out in a very short time. As of today, May 29th, I’m just putting the finishing touches on the mastering of the recordings, and should have the master CD in the mail to our Dutch label Ziekte-NL by the end of the week. The EP was intended to have 4 tracks, the title track “Hymns to the Countess,” “Slaughter the Legions,” “The Ghost Tower of Inverness,” and the cover track of Venom’s “Countess Bathory.” I have purchased the rights and paid the royalties to include the Venom cover song on the EP, but as it turns out the license is only valid to CD’s sold in the US. Since Ziekte-NL is a European label, they cannot include the Venom song. So the European release of the EP will contain only the 3 original tracks. The other news, and this is the first time I’m announcing this, is that we’ve signed a pact to have the EP available digitally through Infernus of Gorgoroth’s personal label Forces of Satan Records as an MP3 download! A high honor for us indeed.
4.are you guys happy with how the songs on the e.p turned out? how did you all come in contact with ziekte?
I am quite happy with the way it turned out… It has been such a personal project for me, it is hard to say it is finished. Since I’ve written everything, recorded, mixed and produced the entire EP, which is the first time in my career I’ve ever done all of this, I’m not sure I’ll ever say it is done, merely abandoned. Otherwise I’d still be recording, and tweaking until next year. But for now, it is time to move on to writing our full length, and release what we have so far to the public.
As far as getting in touch with Ziekte, I suppose it comes down to our promo…. We pressed a limited number of copies of our second rehearsal as a promo CD, and the pure old school approach and sound attracted more interest than we ever would have expected. It caught the ear of several underground and not so underground labels…the three European labels we’ve worked with so far Ziekte-NL, Frozen Darkness Productions, and Forces of Satan Records.
5.when the band starts working on a new song.how long does it usually take you all to complete one song?
I come up with some riffs and put a basic structure together, record it and present it to Warhead. Once we get together with that in the rehearsal room, we can usually put a song together in about 1 night of rehearsal. The three songs that appear on the EP were written shortly after we got together in October. In the meantime I’ve built my studio up to the point where we were able to record it personally rather than use a professional studio, and do everything in house. Now that the EP is nearing its release, I hope to have a full length written and recorded by the winter of this year.
6.i know you handle the lyrics for the songs.so i was interested do you usually have lyrics done before the music.or do you wait until the music is done for the song and then write lyrics? what are some subjects/topics you write about?
I generally write titles first, and then lyrics. I find having a title and some idea of the lyrics give me a atmosphere or direction when it comes time to write the music. All 3 songs on the EP were written this way, by starting with the titles. History, evil, darkness, Satanism and the Occult are all themes I write about. To break down the lyrics on the EP I will say this; Hymns to the Countess is written of course about Countess Bathory, the most infamous female sadist. Slaughter the Legions recounts the Battle of Tuetoberg Forest. The battle took place when the Christian Roman Empire was at the height of its power, and they were soundly defeated by the Pagans of Germania. Finally Ghost Tower of Inverness is inspired directly from the Dungeons and Dragons RPG, describing an evil Tower created by an ancient sorcerer as a source of his power.
7.does the band live very often or do you prefer to stay a studio band? Since our inception we’ve only worked in the studio.
I don’t know if we intend ever to really gig on a regular basis, but if we could play occasional black metal bills or festivals at some point that would be something we would consider.
8.who are some bands you all have shared the stage with? if you could set-up a dream show who are some bands you would like to play/tour with?
Warhead and I have played many shows in the underground with other bands we’ve been involved in…Warhead being in Abazagorath, has played in the US and in Europe with bands anywhere from Kult ov Azazel, Black Witchery, to Marduk, and many others. I’ve shared the stage with more death metal/thrash metal bands since most of my former projects were in that genre…. Incantation, Goreaphobia, Hod, Alestorm, etc… The dream show would never happen because that would have been with Dissection, one of my personal favorite bands of all time. But some USBM bands like Absu, Kult ov Azazel, and Blood Storm would be fitting bills for Immolith I believe. In Europe many bands that come to mind of course are huge bands like Gorgoroth, Watain, Immortal, but again that is just wishful thinking…
9.everyone seems to have their own ideas/opinions on what black metal means.so i was interested in your opinion what does "black metal" mean to you?
To me black metal is evil music, written by evil people for evil people…
10.you are the guitarist for the band.when did you become interested in playing guitar? are you self-taught or have you taken lessons?
I started playing guitar in my early teens… I took lessons for a short time, but then just learned on my own for the most part. I got involved early on with bands and just playing original music almost from the start, so that was always my focus, just creating metal on our own like the bands we all listened to. I’m a shitty guitarist technically, but I like playing and writing music. So fuck it.
11.who are some of your influences/favorite guitarists? do you play any other instruments?
My favorite guitarists include Michael Denner of Mercyful Fate, Dave Murray of Iron Maiden, Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection, Chuck Schuldiner of Death, and Mille Petrozza of Kreator. I play bass a bit, and now that I’ve got the home studio built; I’m trying to teach myself to play drums.
12.well man thanks alot for taking the time to fill out this interview.do you have any final comments for the readers?
Thank you for taking the time to help spread the word about Immolith it is most appreciated. I would just ask the readers to check out some of the other great bands on Ziekte-NL’s black legion of bands like Ophidian Forest, Kirkkopalovaroitus, Abalam, and many others. There are some great black metal bands on this young label, show them support of the true underground. Hails!
In Blood, Isiamon ov Immolith!
to contact immolith or to check out a few tracks from the band just check out the "official" band page:
http://www.myspace.com/immolith
