1.Hello please introduce yourselves to the readers?
Hi. I’m Joe from the legendary Rigor Sardonicous. Who and what the hell is that, you ask? Read on to find out and click the 4 links below to listen.
2.When did you first discover Metal music? Who were the first bands and artists that you listened to?
The song God Of Thunder by KISS is what we credit as our primary mover into this territory. It was slow, dark, and heavy and we heard it before Black Sabbath. As time went on we learned the heavier and darker the music the more we liked it. At that time there was a lot of oldies, disco, and light rock as some of it came to be known. But then the 80’s came in and bands got better.
3.When did you first discover doom and funeral doom music and what is it about this genre that drew you in? Who are your all-time favorite doom metal bands?
Our region of Long Island can be credited as the styles first true forays as Winter, Sorrow, even Type O Negative are from here. Nearby there was Symphony Of Grief and Incantation. We were not into grooves, though I moshed often at shows and had some scars to show for it, but the mood that came from such dreary, slow, and heavy parts is what called to us. Obituary, Autopsy, Black Sabbath, Confessor, Cathedrals debut album were among the primary initial influences. Tyranny is great and Skepticism is one of the best bands around and I am grateful that nobody has tried to emulate their sound and style.
4.Rigor Sardonicous was started back in 1988 what gave you the idea to start this band? Are you satisfied with how things have gone over the years?
Glenn started the band then and it went on hiatus in 1990 when he joined a death metal band called Abhorrence. I later joined that band and it faltered. In 1992 he decided to put Rigor Sardonicous back together and I joined and we eventually codified our style. We released our demo in 1994 and then 2 albums throughout the decade that we promoted on our own since we didn’t have money nor a label. We knew we were in a niche genre that was the underground of the underground and we are proud of the fact that we do sound like ourselves and not a clone of other bands.
5.Who would you say are the bands biggest influences and have they remained the same over the years? For the readers who have never heard Rigor Sardonicous how would you best describe the music?
When we started people compared us to Disembowelment but we had not known them nor of Thergothon at the time. We do not sound like Slayer but they have always been one of our favorite bands, though they later sounded like a run-on sentence. Mercyful Fate, Autopsy, Bathory have remained at the core of our favorite bands.
We are known as Funeral Death/Doom but people like to gripe over labels and it has changed during our career based on what others insist on labeling it. Our sound is raw and dense with existential dread. It is mood music and not something you can dance to or find grooves. We think of it as slowed down death metal primarily since our sound is not clean. If one is not comfortable with themselves being still and deeply emotional while feeling rage then we might not be for them. The only way to know is to listen to a song or two and decide and people should do so.
6.Diatriba Deorum is the newest full length how long did it take to write the music for this release? Do you both work on the music together? How long would you say it usually takes to write one song?
Diatriba Deorum, released by Meuse Music Records from Belgium, Remorseless Records from USA, and Lecons des Tenebres Productions from Columbia, is our 8th album and it came together rather quickly. It was completed in 6 months. It was not planned but events occurred that left some strong energies that needed to be focused and thus writing new Rigor Sardonicous music was the easiest thing for me onto grasp onto at that time.
We used to work together a lot at the start of the band but over time we focused on our own simply because life happens.
Usually songs come together somewhat quickly, the opening track Caelum Ardere Vidistis of our previous album Praeparet Bellum was completed in less than 15 minutes. If a song takes too long to build then it might not be worth following through with.
7.Where does the band draw inspiration for the lyrics and what are some subjects written about on the new release?
Life in general provides all the miserable inspiration for what we write about. This latest album Diatriba Deorum subject matter is anti-god. It is not Satanic, Luciferian, nor occultic. It expresses rage felt at human life and since man is said made in gods image then god was the subject of vile contempt and human futility.
8.Has the band ever made a music video for any of your songs? If you had the opportunity to make a video for one song off the new release which song would you like to see made into a music video?
Yes we have 3 videos for the latest album, With God’s Love, Commandment, and Death Cult as well as a few others from prior releases. Check them out on our channel https://www.youtube.com/@demortua.
9.I know the band is a duo but do you ever hire session musicians to do live concerts or do you prefer to work in the studio only?
Initially it was the drummers idea to get Rigor Sardonicous back together but he quickly backed off. We got the Boss DR-660 drum machine to do demos for the songs but since we were stuck without a drummer we determined to move forward with the machine and it soon became integral to our sound.
10.If the band has performed live how was the concert? Are there any shows planned for this year or next?
At first we did do some shows but that was never the overall plan. Glenn hated doing them so after some time I did have a session bassist who used to be with Evoken and we played a few shows. Glenn and I decided to make a live album, Viviscere Exitium, which can be freely downloaded at http://www.smilingdeath.com/RigorSardonicous/media.php and was also released on cassette by Witch Sermon Productions. I used to do sound for free at that place so I asked them to let us play on an off time so we could make the record and we had a fun crowd.
11.When not working on new music what do you like to do in your free time?
I love to hike and get lost in nature though we are true hermits at the same time.
12.Thank you for taking the time to fill this interview out do you have anything that you would like to add?
Thank you for this time to talk to whoever is reading this interview and to you, Patrick, for keeping this zine alive! Please check us out at the links that follow so you can determine for yourselves how much we suck. Take care.
https://rigorsardonicous1.bandcamp.com/
https://ampwall.com/a/rigorsardonicous https://www.facebook.com/RigorSardonicous.Official