A few questions - interview with death metal band from Portugal - ARCHAIC TOMB.
Ave, can you introduce your band to our readers? – When was it founded and what style of music do you play , etc.?
Archaic Tomb was founded between 2015-2016 from the catacombs of Lisbon. This is an idea that took actually form more than 15 years ago but due to circunstances of life (and death!) we only managed to summon the forces and inspirations to create and record our music right now. We do not have any intention to limit our creations as long as it sounds obscure. We move around death/black sonorities but doom also plays an important role in our visions. We only seek morbidity and the ways to achieve death.The smells of fetid corpses and the ritualization of death worship is all we need as main inspirations.
Where and under what conditions were you recording the new album? Who was in charge of sound, production and mastering?
The songs were recorded in several places depending on the covenience of our members and on the type of sound we wanted to achieve. Important part of the recording process was made on the Rock n’Raw Studios and other parts were recorded on the Pits of Carnage, in Portugal. All the process of production and mastering was work of our bassist, D.C., who has made a terrific job.
How many copies were released and which medium was used for this new edition (CD, digital, vinyl, cassette)?
‚Congregations for Ancient Rituals‘ was released by our favourite tape label Caligari Records from the US, which vomited the tape and CD versions, limited to 200 and 300 copies, respectively. As the tape edition sold out pretty fast we decided to make a new tape version, for European soil, with an extra song. This song is a Thormenthor cover, from their demo Self-Immolation, which is a quite important band in the Portuguese underground of the 80‘s. The LP will be unleashed as soon as the spirits of the dead are gathered, to be out somewhere late 2018, in a co-release by Duplicate Records and Caverna Abismal Records.
Who is the author of the lyrics and how were they created and about what do the lyrics deal with?
The authors of the lyrics are D.S. (guitars and vocals) and Kepler (an obscure shadow and a great friend). We like to dwell on every ritual related to death and how to achieve it. The magic of a human sacrifice, punishements by religious sects or occult rituals to ancient gods are all interesting subjects to explore and to transmit in our music.
Who created the logo of the band, and who took care of the graphics and the website? What about you and social networks? Do you consider these things important?
The logo was created by Anvil Kvlt, a great logo designer, and also an artist, who also did the logo for example to Caverna Abismal. All the other graphics and designs so far were conceptualized and made by D.S.. Regarding the social networks, we see it as a way to spread the word and to keep contact with whoever may have interest in our activities.
Which label did you choose for releasing your album and why this label? Are you satisfied by how your label represents you and takés care about you?
As said before, the label that released ‚Congregations for Ancient Rituals‘ was Caligari Records, a pretty much respected underground label who actually releases top-notch bands in several styles. We do follow closely their activities and thought to write them in order to show them our music. For our great satisfaction Caligari decided to release our first demo/EP and we couldn’t be happier with the job they did and the due attention given at the time. If you don’t know this label yet I urge you to check it out immediately and discover a fantastic rooster of great bands, mostly of them giving their first steps. This later characteristic is another aspect I would like to emphasize, the great potential of all the bands in such an initial stage.
Which bands do you idolise and where do you get your inspiration?
This is a very difficult question to answer because in truth all of us listen to a wide range of styles. The point here is maybe to highlight only those bands who influenced the feeling we wanted to create in Archaic Tomb. Personally I feel that bands like early-Therion, early-Tiamat and other old acts like Morbid, Nihilist, Thormenthor and early-Decayed have driven us on the type of feeling we wanted to create, but other recent acts evolved into something more thrilling and complex, creating structures much beyond those bands once did. I’m talking about death metal bands like Grave Miasma, Cruciamentum, Dead Congregation, Bölzer, Tribulation, etc, but also bands like Black Crucifixion, Cultes des Ghoules, Urfaust and the likes. And presently, I believe our music is a blend of all that.
Did you send your record to some Labels - which are the labels? How was the response?
I believe this answer could be redirectioned to the previous answer about our label...
How many gigs have you played? Which type of gigs do you prefer, whether it's (clubs or festivals) and which of your performances would you consider as the best?
We have played only once so far, at Masmorra Fest, along amazing bands as Filii Nigrantium Infernalium, Balmog, Martelo Negro, Summon and Flageladör. The experience was quite positive and we are open now to make more dates, specially abroad so, let’s see what the future has reserved to us. Preferably we would play in small places in closed environments as we believe the atmosphere would be more appropriate to our music.
What about your plans for the future? What do you want to achieve with the band?
For now we have planned a split 7‘‘ with a really good band from UK, to be released as soon as possible. Later on we have plans to make our debut full-lenght but that won’t be out before 2019. We are not rushing, we prefer quality over quantity.
How and where can your fans contact you? Can you provide some contact information?
People can contact us via bandcamp or email or through spiritual dementia. The more conventional ways are herein listen: https://archaictomb.bandcamp.com and archaic.tomb@gmail.com. Don’t hesitate in sending us hate emails, we feel confortable with that and will leave no message without an answer!
Thanx for the interview.
Thank You for the interest and support! Leave the shadows embrace your soul! Trevas Sempre!
Recenze/review - ARCHAIC TOMB - Congregations for Ancient Rituals (2018)
Recenze/review - ARCHAIC TOMB - Congregations for Ancient Rituals (2018)
