Friday, December 29, 2017

Abhordium Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album?

We've been writing new material and done a lot of promotion by ourselves and we just signed a promotion deal with Grand Sounds PR. We've also finished our music video for the song Obsidian Chamber. Most of the material was filmed in 2016 and the rest was filmed during the summer of 2017. Basically everything except editing was done by ourselves. The editing was done by Guilherme Henriques from Portugal. The music video was released on 6.12.2017.


2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

If you compare to our earlier stuff, the overall sound has greatly improved, but we've also spend a lot of time figuring out what kind of approach we should take with this material and how to get this brutal force into it. We wanted it to have this very aggressive and crushing effect.


3.This is your first album in 6 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?

Actually we already had this album finished a few years ago, but the release was delayed by various reasons. We also faced many issues and setbacks during these six years. Our rehearsal place suffered a huge water damage and soon after the renovation we got kicked out from it in 2013. We didn't find any reasonable place until 2015. Kari was also accepted to a school near Helsinki to study music technology and it took a lot of his time. There were also hardships in some of the members personal lives and thus a lack of motivation also. But still our desire and determination to do this kind of music drove us further.

4.Originally the band was more death metal but over the years have evolved into more of a blackened death metal style, can you tell us a little bit more about going into this musical genre?

Actually most of us have a backround in black metal and it has been the main genre we've been listening since the early days. Some of the members also have/had projects and bands that are/were black metal or some hybrid of it, but in the early stage of Abhordium we were interested in playing death metal, especially because of the technical side of it and we wanted to evolve as musicians like we always do. But later we had the idea that it would be great to include more darker and sinister elements to our music, because of our backround.


5.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer album?

It has views of depravity in our society and declares apocalyptic visions upon mankind, but there's also a side of introspection through exploring the dark and profound areas of consciousness and how to strenghten oneself with the knowledge and wisdom it provides.


6.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Abhordium'?

It is meant to describe a state of mind where someone is feeling abhorrence towards something. We wanted it to have this -ium suffix that appears in various latin and english words so that it would better depict this state of mind. The unknown tends to create fear in man and it can evolve hatred towards it. Fear is of course a primal instinct but hate is an induced emotion which is caused by the conflicts of views, beliefs and values that are taught by our cultures, societies and religions and this combination can of drive people to atrocities. So the name also represents the destructive power of man.


7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
There's few gigs we like to mention from our 2009 european tour, which we did with 6 other bands. Berlin's K-17 club has the biggest stage where we've ever played a gig so it was cool to play in there. The place was also interesting because it had floors dedicated to a different genres of metal. We don't have this kind of place here in Finland. Also a show in Rotterdam's Baroeg metal club has sticked to our minds because the event was during the day and there was the best stage sound that we've had on our gigs at that time. We would also like to mention one private underground gig here in Finland where Kari did fire breathing and it caused a bit of hazzle in this narrow space. One cable caught fire and it was luckily extinquished with beer. Some people have said that our performance is very enthusiastic, nicely controlled chaos and also has this ritualistic feel on the other hand.

8. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?

We have few gigs booked for the next spring in Finland and we are looking to play as many gigs as we can in 2018. Of course we're interested in touring also, since it has been a while. We are actively searching for booking agencies to help us out in this.


9.Currently you are unsigned, are you looking for a label or have received any interest?

We are currently looking for a label and we've also received some interest too, but some of the offers have been either too expensive and we saw that they could not offer us enough efficiency in promoting our stuff, because we know the cost of pressing the album and the other production concerning it.


10.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black and death metal?

The overall response has been very positive which has motivated us to push on and make new material. Of course there's always people who don't like our music, but there has been only a few negative critics concerning this album.


11.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?

Arttu has been a kind of session member in King Akira which is a melodic trash/death metal metal band from Salo, they released their first EP last year. He has also recently helped Ragged Sound ry to play cover gigs in Paimio where he lives nowadays. Kari has been busy with his studio Raja-Audio and he has also a side project and they've just filmed a music video for that too. Markus has been recording with his main project Misanthropic Forest. Tommi is making new material for King Akira and also has been doing Abhordium's pre-pruduction. Henry is the only one who doesn't have any other projects than Abhordium.

12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

The new material we've been writing has been more black metal, but we're going to make some pre-production soon so we get the ideas flowing and continue from there. We'll see...

13.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Like we said earlier black metal has always been close to our hearts, but of course also death & trash metal and many other extreme metal acts, but without saying the most influental bands for making this kind of music come from Sweden, Norway and Poland, but we all tend to listen to almost every kind of music since it's clear that if you want to evolve as a musician you must listen and play a lot of different styles.

14.Can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in rituals and the dark arts?

We've always been interested in the ancient religions and thus also their rituals and ceremonies and the mass hysteria concering them. Many time periods have been very bloody and violent in history. Dark times create dark arts. We are also interested in the introspective notion of these things. One must also delve into the deeper depths of mind to walk the path to greater understanding of oneself and connection to this universe.

15.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Thank you for this interview and to all of those who have supported us during the years, thank you!

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