A few questions - interview with black death metal band from Poland - SARMAT.
Ave, can you introduce your band to our readers? – When was it founded and what style of music do you play etc.?
Hello! The band was founded in 2018 by two co-founders (both of them are guitarists): Daniel Szymanowicz and Krzysztof Kopczeński. SARMAT music is a mixture of death metal (the main style) and black metal. It is not dedicated to the one genre only. It is too „hot“ (for pure black metal surely) to call it blackened death metal (if You know what I mean), but it has a little of the northern mood into it.
Where and under what conditions were you recording the new album? Who was in charge of sound, production and mastering?
Most of the parts were recorded in a separate way. Guitars, bass, VST instruments were recorded in home recording process. The drum parts were recorded by the session musician Krzysztof Klingbein in his own rehearsal & recording room. The vocal parts were recorded at Invent Sound Studio in Bydgoszcz, Poland with Szymon Grodzki as the recording engineer. After all of these processes mentioned the whole stuff was placed at Santa Studio in Warszawa, Poland, where the sound engenieer Arkadiusz „Malta“ Malczewski put all things together and made the final mix and mastering.
How many copies were released and which medium was used for this new edition (CD, digital, vinyl, cassette)?
The digital version of SARMAT „RS-28“ debut full length album was published on March 19th 2021 on Badcamp. On March 20th 2021 it arrived on our Bandcamp site (the previous one was on the label site – we have finished co-operation with them before it even started), but the 19th of March 2021 is the exact premiere date. The CD version is ordered in the number of 500 copies and it should be available by the end of May. Next the vinyls will be. Next week I am going to set details and order them. I don‘t know how many copies yet, but this format should be available in the middle of the summer. And we are not planning to release the cassette format for „RS-28“.
Who is the author of the lyrics and how were they created and about what do the lyrics deal with?
The colleague of ours. I am not able to name you his personals (due to his request – his daily work is connected with public position). I joined the band when the lyrics were ready and I am not suitable person for describing the creation process. But I know that the guy had the songs and was working with prepared music. When I‘ve started my part of work, I had to change some of them a little (for example split the „Blackout“, which was the one lyric in the beginning). The arrangements are mine. As for the lyrical themes, what are You expecting, the friend of mine? It‘s metal music, so they have to describe hell, devils, blood, guts and dead bodies. It‘s obvious :-).
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 is Arkadiusz Stasiak piece – that‘s the guy I may name for You :-). He is also responsible for band‘s name concept taken from the Russian ballistic missile RS-28 SARMAT, but the lyrics are not his work. Front cover graphic project has been created by Lord K. (the next one who wants to be anonymous more or less). The final layout for the CD format was created by Piotr Szafraniec. This man will prepare the graphic layout for the vinyl format too. As for the website, the band does not use one. We have a few band‘s profiles in social media (on Facebook and Instagram; we have band‘s channel on YouTube and the profile on SoundCloud). And we use Bandcamp site for the sale of our stuff and to help people to get to know what we really are. I think all these things are helpful, but it takes a lot of time to control them and to make them interesting for the people using them. And we don‘t use Twitter or the Russian Vk . Maybe we should… Anyway, after a few weeks of intense contacting with the world using this stuff I am simply tired.
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?
We chose the German Rising Nemesis Records and this choice was completely, definitely and absolutely wrong. It could be a suicide if we hadn‘t realized that there was nothing to wait for and we should do everything on our own. The label owner seemed to be a pleasant and helpful guy. We have negotiated the terms of co-operation and were happy to release our album by his label. But everything has changed quickly. There is nothing to talk about, because we have wasted too much time for him and his incompetence.
Which bands do you idolise and where do you get your inspiration?
I can‘t speak for the rest of guys. I am a death metal fan personally. I prefer the technical and brutal forms than the classic old school ones of the genre. I dont‘t have a favourite band or bands. I buy a lot of CDs and meet unique bands each month. As for the inspiration, I think that metal music is the biggest. It‘s not the best way to keep Yourself and Your creativity unique, but it is, as it is.
Did you send your record to some Labels - which are the labels? How was the response?
I don‘t want to name them specifically. I can tell You only that none of the Polish labels I have contacted with was interested in releasing our „RS-28“ debut album. We got two propositions from overseas labels, we picked one of them and you know the rest of the story.
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?
This is the question I like very much, because people are rather suprised, when I answer them that SARMAT band has never played live yet :-). Each of us has played in other bands before and we are use to perform live, but we have never did it with SARMAT. The line-up has evolved and got the present form during the pandemic time, when all live performances were suspended, so we were not able to do it. I haven‘t performed live on festivals to often, so I can‘t compare this two forms of gigs. For me the contact with the audience is the most important. If there it‘s not, the whole reminds playing the rehearsal rather.
What about your plans for the future? What do you want to achieve with the band?
The plans for the next month are:
- to get the CD format of „RS-28“ album and start the sale of it. It should be available by the end of May.
- to order the vinyl format of our debut album. We will try to make them available in the middle of the summer.
- to consider and finalise the subject of SARMAT presence on streaming platforms. I am working on it.
- increase our presence in world media connected with metal music with the use of suitable actions. We have the lyric video for the title track „RS-28“ ready. We are waiting only for the CDs to come to put the video on the web. And I am trying to get in touch with people running webzines, radio shows, web blogs and so on all the time.
As for plans for the far future, we are composing music for the next release. It will be a shorter form this time (EP or MCD/MLP). We are also preparing our merchandise to become more attractive. We want to improve it by offering T-shirts with different images on them.
The goal to achieve with the band is to get to the level where You don‘t have to do all this things mentioned above beside composing and recording music :-)!
How and where can your fans contact you? Can you provide some contact information?
All people who want to contact with SARMAT band may send messages to sarmatdeath@gmail.com or use our social media communicators (Messenger of Facebook and the other of Instagram). You may also use Bandcamp to send us messages. If You want to get in touch with me directly, send a note to mahlupuki@wp.pl, please.
Thanx for the interview.
I do thank You, Brother-in-Metal! It was a pleasure to answer Your questions. Each interview is something for a band such as SARMAT. Take care and stay healthy! And for The Reader of the words above - check our „RS-28“ debut album out. It should make a mess in Your head if You are into death/black metal.
Greetings from Poland!
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