Interview with death metal band from Chile - SEPULCRUM.
Answered Nicolás R. Miranda (Voice/Guitar), thank you!
Translated Duzl, thank you!
Questions prepared Jakub Asphyx.
https://www.deadlystormzine.com/2023/03/recenzereview-sepulcrum-lamentation-of.html
Ave SEPULCRUM! Greetings to Chile. I hope everything is fine with you. I was really looking forward to your new album „Lamentation of Immolated Souls“, I have always had a lot of fun with previous records and I was happy to come back to them. How did the new piece come about and why did it actually take so long?
Hey! We really appreciate the interest in the band and the work we do! The album was born in 2020 during the Covid, so we could say that it is a product of confinement. This work was already being carried out even before the official launch of the EP “Corpse dividing Holes” in March 2020, recording the album in January 2021. For different reasons we end up doing the mix and master work with our friend Benjamin Barrantes during 2022, finishing work at the end of the year and finally have this expected launch in March 2023. It has been a long wait, but we are excited to finally have this material to be enjoyed!
I must say that the news literally cut me open. It is dense, massive, dark and at the same time cold as a corpse's hand. That's exactly how I like it! The mix is signed by Benjamin Barrantes. Did you record directly with him or did you just mix the record? How did you feel about going to the studio and how did you manage to get such killer material?
We record the drums and voice at Soundpro Studios here in the south of the country by Cristian Bintrup, while all the string work was recorded by our friend Víctor Villanueva. These recordings are those that were later sent to Benjamin Barrantes in Santiago. We already knew Benjamin's work, so we knew the result was going to be killer! I believe that one of the most important factors of the album and which gave the album a great weight was the reamp of guitars, obtaining a heavy and pointed sound at the same time. In addition, each part of the recording has its detail, it’s what makes it entertaining to the listener. The bass highlights a lot and makes no detail missing!
I always take the recordings as a whole and you underestimated not only the sound but also the cover. Francisco Ramírez is great painters. How did you get together and how did the packaging come about? Did you have any requirements or did you choose from already prepared paintings? And how the cooperation went.
Francisco Ramirez is a great graphic designer, we discovered it when he made the cover of the Corpse dividing Holes EP. He is a friend of Sebastián Zúñiga, our drummer, who saw his work when he made the cover of an album of the band EXINTERATUS, another of his projects. Having worked with him before, we basically ask Francisco to make a cover with the elements that we can see in it: A central landscape surrounded by mutant trees (such as Mortal Kombat forests haha) with a swamp of corpses from which their souls are released and they walked in grief and torment, the lamentation!
Texts are an integral part of the album. It states that you deal with death. So classic death metal themes. What are the lyrics to „Lamentation of Immolated Souls“ about, who is their author? Where did you get your inspiration for?
I like to answer this part of the interviews because I think the lyrical part of the album is solid. I wrote a few lines that explain exactly what the album is about: “A putrid context in which death symbolizes the end of a fleeting and empty cycle like the lives of many people, and how their souls lament having been consumed by life itself. The atrocities and calamities of humanity, always directed by dementia and delirium, the constant suffering and anguish, and this culminating point of flagellation in which torture transcends and continues even after death, prowling through the swamps, creating a dense thickness of agony and torment”. All the lyrics were written by me, except for “Lamentation of Immolated Souls” by Oscar Gibert and “Legion’s Mandate” by Sebastián Zúñiga. I believe that the inspiration was born from many issues, shadows from the past, internal torments, and the constant anxiety and desire to escape from confinement, but always from a destructive and devastating point of view, with strength and not with frustrations.
And what about concerts? What about them in Chile? Do fans go to concerts or do they just sit in front of the internet? I need a club, beer, girls!
People do go to concerts! especially when outside bands come, they love to be there and take off their shirt and go crazy, there are always a lot of bangers at concerts. When the concerts are located in Santiago we can see huge masses of bangers, because they are also joined by those who live in the regions and not only from the central zone.
And what about the underground scene in your country in general? Does it live in Chile? Are you from Puerto Montt, it's a big city, do you meet somewhere for death metal? If I visited the city, where should I go to the concert? And what about the fans? Do bands support?
The underground scene is more varied depending on the location. For example, our city Puerto Montt is an area with many bands, some old and renowned, as well as young and recently emerged, with a lot of variety between death, black, doom, some thrash, some heavy. Peculiarly, something happens here, and that is that the organizers and the bangers have a tendency to support foreign musicians much more than local ones, and I don’t blame them. It’s much more common that the support exists mostly between the bands, and fortunately, we have the support of many people: friends, bangers, members of other bands, organizers, sound engineers, etc. People who have always given us a hand and have been there when we have needed them. If you visit the city you have to go to Bogo’s Bar, that is the place where all they meet, and events are held regularly.
Do you have any dreams with the band? In the underground you have a good name, but you want to move somewhere higher? I mean, are you attracted to a tour with a big name, to play at a big festival, to release another record at a well-known label? What dreams and vision do SEPULCRUM have?
The dreams we have as a band are mainly to go out and play internationally, at festivals, tours and with other great bands. A strong purpose is to continue recording albums, to continue improving in aspects of musical composition as well as interpretation, these two being the most important factors for us within music. I think releasing an album on a big label should come naturally, not be forced. If they like our music and want to release our records, we will be proud of our work and we will continue making music. I personally have no desire to give SEPULCRUM some pauses. My desires are hungry for composition, and I will not stop pleasing them!
What does death metal mean to you? Why did you choose this style? How did you get to it and what kind of musicians were your role models when you started? Do you perceive death metal "only" as music or is it also a lifestyle for you? You can look at this page philosophically.
Death metal means a powerful expression that expels the inner self of whoever plays it, I think it’s a direct connection between the subconscious and reality, because we can manifest all the chaos that lives in our inner being in a conceptual or direct way, really in the way that we want it, because it has this dynamism and versatility of building it as the composer has it in his mind. The best thing is that you can combine your demons with those of your bandmates when you compose together. We choose this style because we are addicted to the sound of Death Metal, nothing could better represent a twisted mind than this devastating sound. Personally, one of the best examples of a musician was Chuck Schuldiner, he was a genius, a visionary, and he made amazing music, and I did not try to imitate him, that was not his message, but some of the ideas he developed are pure gold. We understand death metal life as the one who enjoys music, supports it and in the best of cases has the ability to create it, things are not about who has more material, or who has seen more bands, or who plays faster or who is more brutal, things are not a competition. I still don't understand what is the obsession with trying to be superior to the rest, trying to put the foot on the other, this is music, not a coliseum. Anyways, I don’t want to imply that we are the most purists in what I am saying, we are human and we all make mistakes, this is more of a reflection, hopefully not utopian. Who are we to change the ideas of the rest, I prefer to concentrate on our work without looking back and let the music prevail above all!
Do you have a band in your area that you would recommend to us? And what are people going to see when they are going to clubs in Chile?
I would like first to name the other bands in which we participate: Nicolás Espinoza, our bassist, also plays bass in DISHARMONIC, Death Metal which also had its debut album this year. Oscar Gibert sings and plays guitar in HALLUXVALGUS, Death Metal band in which I made the recording of voices of his full-length album Reflections of Distant Dreams. He also plays guitar at MORNING DEAD, a Death/Doom project with members of EXINTERATUS, Brutal Death Metal band in which our drummer Sebastián Zúñiga plays. To finish the count, I play as Vocal/Guitar of HORRIFYING since May 2021. This is a Death Metal band with more than 10 years of experience and finally this year the first Full-length will be recorded. As a bonus, Oscar, Nicolás and I are working on a black/death metal project with our friend Víctor Villanueva as drummer (we played together with Nicolás and Víctor at CAVERNAL in the recording of the album Nigrescent), so prepare for surprises this year!
Some incredible bands that we can highlight from the Chilean Death Metal scene are: EXANIMATVM, this is a really killer band, and catches you with the density and darkness that it emanates, especially in their latest album Sollvm Ipsa Mor. Another band that gives a lot to talk about is SUPPRESSION, with the release of their album The Sorrow of Soul Through Flesh they have already forged their destiny and soon they will participate in an Eurotour, what a good sound they achieved on this recording! And one more band to add would be MORTIFY with their latest album Fragments at The Edge of Sorrow, what a good level of composition these guys have, killer stuff right here!
What can we look forward to from SEPULCRUM in the upcoming months? Aren't you going to release „Lamentation of Immolated Souls“ on vinyl also?
We are at the gates of the release of our first full-length, the CD and cassette will be released through Burning Coffin Recs and Canometal Recs here in Chile and internationally, while in Mexico the CD will be released by Chaos Recs. If you are interested in the material, don’t hesitate to purchase it through one of these labels for shipping! Chaos Recs will release the vinyl in a few months, so we look forward to getting this material in our hands. We also hope that with this release opportunities will open up for us to go out and play internationally, it’s our greatest wish! Meanwhile we owe a visit to Santiago, place where the album launch event will take place!
Thank you so much for the interview. I'm going to play the new „Lamentation of Immolated Souls“ again. It's great! Good luck and I hope that we will meet somewhere at the concert and have a beer together!
Thanks to you again, and I am very glad that you are enjoying the album, it’s really a big part of our effort and dedication. I hope we can meet at some concert and share! Greetings from each member of SEPULCRUM and stay completely fucking sick!!!
- Nicolás R. Miranda
Voice/Guitar of SEPULCRUM
Recenze/review - SEPULCRUM - Lamentation of Immolated Souls (2023):
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