1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
1. Hello! First of all, we (both personally and as a band) would like to thank you for having published the album review time ago and for giving us more presence again with this interview!
Well, as a band we’re born by the end of 2013. Back then I already had a lot of the material that eventually ended up being in Blasting The Void recorded in my studio, so I decided to call Taccio to let him hear it and ask him if he would’ve liked to be part of the band. After his approval we began looking for other members: M° joined us basically straightaway and, after having tried a few drummers, LKT jumped on board too. I’d say that everyone in the band is a founding member. We get along really well and each one of us has got a particular feature that complements the others’ lackings.
We all come from different backgrounds and experiences in other bands, since we’ve been around since more than twenty years now… some of us have an hardcore background, like Taccio with The Nerds Rock Inferno, some were in thrash environments like M° and his old band Flytrap. LKT is the youngest member but he’s already been involved in various projects with different bands and genres, like in grind with the newborn but very good Abbinormal or his trademark beast: Splattergoat. Lastly, there’s myself… I’ve got a strong doom background because of the band Malasangre, but I’ve also played more experimental stuff like in Viscera/// and rawer, faster music in the hardcore punk band Collateral Damage (which is still going)…
Four months have passed from finding the perfect line-up to playing our first actual gig. And here we are by the end of 2014… from here, it’s all been a succession of rehearsals, gigs and recording times!
2.In 2018 you had released your first full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording?
2. Regarding our style, our background as a band goes from the death and black metal classics from the late ‘80s up until the mid ‘90s and more contemporary stuff like MGLA, Arkhon Infaustus, Teitanblood, Abyssal and the likes…
This is just a few practical examples to let you understand our influences, but of course the most beautiful thing is to hear our fans’ opinions because they always come up with different influences which you didn’t even think about! But if we’re talking about background and we connect it with the songwriting process, I’m not used to directly replicating styles or thinking of any particular influence. When I sit down and play it’s because the idea has matured already beforehand and this is because I firmly believe that the overall ‘’sound’’ (intended as style/songwriting) isn’t only about musical influences, but mostly the different inputs and perceptions that I’m subject to during every moment of the day. So, instead of musical influences, I’d like to refer to the attempt of recreating an atmosphere, a feeling… a soundtrack that could describe (or match) one particular mood, sensory input and so on.
There are experiences which subconsciously process inside the individual that (if not ignored) inevitably generate some kind of input that, first of all, needs to be assimilated and then trasposed into any kind of output (or ‘’outburst’’ in our case!) that we can choose to be through an instrument, be a painting, written words of any kind or a behaviour…
Here we can divide it further into two types of reaction/influence, like a coin: one is the effect that this outburst will have on the ‘’user’’ and the other side of this is the artist’s perspective. Maybe the artist will never get out of this phase/mood, maybe he will. One thing is for sure: he could (or should) never deny of having been there.
Somehow, this argument leads to all of us being some kind of artists, because indeed everyone converts experiences from a side of perception to the other, be it on canvas, photos, poems, songs, a pattern of behaviours, etc.
But I’ve just started rambling… hahaha!
3.The band has been around since 2013 but waited until 2018 to release an album, can you tell us a little bit more about the earlier years?
3. Well, yes, we took it pretty easy… but in life you don’t need stress!
Anyway, when we started playing live, the writing of a few songs wasn’t completed yet and gigs are always good and fun, because you can keep testing how faithfully you’re able to reproduce your idea of the record in a live situation and that is VERY important for us.
So we did some gigs as benchmarks and we took the chance to have some fun as well…
Afterwards we started the recording process and we completely went DIY in my studio and Taccio’ studio, also because he isn’t just a musician but also a sound engineer with a great background.
On the other hand, the mixing and mastering part was handled by ‘’Christ’’, another great friend of ours and symbol of the underground, at his Downstairs Studios.
By working this way you have the chance to experiment with many different solutions but at the expense of the actual studio time increasing more and more, as the rising numbers of beers and nights out for dinners were as well! We took our time with ease but eventually we were very satisfied of the work we’ve done, even without getting any liver cirrhosis or whatever! Hahaha!
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored so far with the music?
4. The record deals with one single theme: how humans can become extremely dangerous for themselves and those around them.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Aufbruch'?
5. The term is a word coined in Germany around the first half of the 1920s and it describes german people’s moods back in those days. A vast majority of the germans saw ‘’aufbruch’’ as something that represented a parting from the shattered world of the past, in favour of a future based on new revolutionary concepts and principles of social and cultural nature. From my perspective, you can feel this type of mindset here where I live as well, lately… or at least that’s how I see it.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
6. Well, I tried using images that would’ve fitted in with the lyrics in the best way possible (or anyway with the album themes) and this has been a result of the sensations and moods that I was going through during that part of the process as well, so that the whole work would’ve been as coherent and consistent as possible. Some are photos I made during trips or visits to places that I hold dear, others are scans taken from books of a ‘’traditional’’ kind, in order to let everything make perfect sense with the rest. It’s almost like saying that we could just try to listen to nature’s lessons and take example and inspiration from that, with the purpose of avoiding trouble and the disgraces we’re forced to assist to daily (by the way, nature tried to teach us these lessons even before we were born).
7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
7. We usually play in clubs or medium-sized venues. Sometimes in pubs or even in a few peculiar situations, like when we opened for the canadian band AHNA: we played in a quite singular and pleasant garden, surrounded by a few small rivers… I’m sure you already noticed that we’re pretty down to earth and we don’t surround ourselves with nonsense boundaries about ‘’where’’ or ‘’how’’ to play… what really matters is a good vibe, a friendly environment and maybe some good food and drinks! With these premises nothing can go wrong! Hahaha!
On a practical level we don’t rely on any kind of external support… we’ve got the classic banner with the band logo, we’re working on setting up some portable lighting system to bring with us in case the venue hasn’t got enough or hasn’t got them at all (as it happens from time to time, but that’s alright!) and also, I’d like to create some visuals to project during the show, somewhen in the future… but I did it already in other occasions and I know it’s a pretty laborious task so I’m not really sure about whether we’re gonna succeed or not, on that one… so far, we’re just trying to do what we’re capable of delivering to the 110%: taking care of our sound and playing tight and with the right synergy, so that we sound as in your face and as heavy as possible, but keeping a loose attitude nonetheless, to fully enjoy the evening’s mood! This is all it is!
8.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
8. We’ve got dates until September. I think we’re gonna play a few gigs in Winter as well, possibly some abroad too, for sure, but we also want to sit down for a moment and listen carefully to the new material that we’ve created so far and start working on it more seriously. It’s something that takes a lot of time, patience and inspiration, so you need to relax and find the time to catch the right moment.
9.Currently the band is signed to 'Mourning Light Records', can you tell us a little bit more about the label?
9. When I contacted him I found an available and reliable person, but what immediately impressed me has been his professional transparency and honesty.
Jeffrey made us feel at ease from the very beginning, understanding immediately what kind of people he was dealing with and what were we looking for. Since then, he worked with us in perfect synergy, VERY patiently and with strong dedication, succeeding in all the goals we set for the band.
Furthermore, I'm pleased to keep hearing great things said about Mourning Light Records! We're really satisfied and grateful for having been part of his rooster and we'd like to take this opportunity to thank him publicly!
10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black and death metal?
10. Well, the audiences’ reactions for this album have been pretty mixed.
We received positive feedback from enthusiasts of all the more or less related genres to what we play and we’ve been pleasantly surprised by that. Also, we’ve noticed that sometimes we’ve been called to play at gigs with bands that played fairly different genres from ours, but I think that it was, indeed, because of this blurred, indefinite character in our music that some organizers thought we could’ve fit in those bills… and so far we did: we’ve been received pretty well from crowds that weren’t really used to these kind of sounds, but they all got into that mood. Everyone, from crowds to organizers and even venues, with which we’re still on good terms. This regards our global hospitality.
Regarding the death/black scene, by the way, I believe that the average listener has got a greatly open mind and often a very wide taste in music, probably thanks to a genuine curiosity and a relentless urge for more music. I also think that death metal fans also listen to black metal and the other way around. In our record, of course, you can definitely hear some old-school black metal kind of sounds (given the average age of the band members), but also an abrasive death metal vibe that can often recall and easily fit in with the evil atmospheres that are more commonly associated with black metal. With the exception of Breeding Pestilence, solos never get too melodic but, even when they could, I feel like they’re trying to hide some kind of anguish, some kind of soreness and that’s probably what made them still enjoyable even to the more extreme-oriented listeners. The whole lot is enriched by some prominent noise influences that further define the record’s vibe, but furtherly blurring the boundaries of the genre. That’s all I have to say. I always found it very hard to properly label or distinguish genres and I don’t even enjoy much doing it. From now on, we can safely say that listening to the record can surely speak to you more than what I’m able to do with my own words. Music is made to be heard, not to be described or catalogued.
11.Are any of the band members currently involved with any other bands or musical projects these days?
11. When we have time, three of the four of us are also involved in other projects. Taccio have always been a fan of hardcore punk so he plays in a band called Razorboy. LKT is in two other bands: Splattergoat (his sick creation) and the newborn Abbinormal, but we also play together in a hardcore band named Collateral Damage. Apart from that, I wish I could record some doom/noise things that I put together with some old friends and plus… you never know what Malasangre is up to, so that is still open and there might be something boiling. So, basically this is it, but of course it has to fit into the classic 24 hours of the day and that’s why we take all of this really easy and stress-free!
12.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
12. I can barely tell you where we come from! Although the most interesting thing is always to hear that from our listeners… hahaha!
Anyway, for us this is a channel through which we express ourselves and I also think that life is a huge cauldron in which an infinite number of things boil and these things have the power to bring you wherever they want: slumbers, nights awake and ‘’places’’ that you would’ve never expected of experimenting… what’s important is to always react to this stimulus (the inputs I was talking about earlier) and to translate these feelings into something… and to generate a reaction of confrontation, even just with oneself… putting there anything, of any kind, anything that can be ‘’read’’ and interpreted…
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 I said already, the most relevant influences come from the early years of thrash, death and black metal and also from newer scenes like for example MGLA, Arkhon Infaustus, Teitanblood and the likes. I can tell you for sure that I NEVER pick up the guitar without having a rough idea already, an idea that might have been born during any moment of the day, when I was doing something completely different and, even before that, it surely have grown inside me for days and days… the same happens when I create the synth backgrounds, etc.
I like seeing what I play as the soundtrack that I want to hear in my visions. Everything always comes together in the most natural and spontaneous way, because of that. It comes from an atmosphere or a particular perception that needs a soundtrack and not from a riff that would stay better here or there. I don’t like copy-paste songwriting styles, I’m more fond of smoother situations, overall.
At times I might stay away from the guitar or the synth for long periods of time, because indeed I would’ve had no sensory input and I very likely would play something that leaves me indifferent if I’d try playing a few riffs. It’s a matter of waiting, trusting and listening… who knows for sure?
During the day I’m lucky to be able to listen to musicians that really have got a lot to say, both inside and outside of the metal scene… of course when I see a new release that’s particularly right up my alley (death, doom, black or noise) it gains immediately my attention. Lately I looked at the Mourning Light Records roaster and I have to say there’s a few pretty interesting listens there, as well, like Untamed Land or Hecate. I found them to be really enjoyable.
About the rest of the band, there’s a healthy curiosity and everyone has always got something to recommend… from more ‘’refined’’ death metal to the most brutal stuff in the vein of Obscene Extreme…
We don’t miss anything, then!
14.What are some of your non musical interests?
14. On a daily basis we do our best to survive with some sports, studying and jobs… nothing fancy, but we’re always busy.
15.Before we wrap up thi interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
15. I want to thank you for the space you gave us and for the interest and trust that you showed us since the album was reviewed! I hope we’ll keep in touch and talk again soon, maybe about some news regarding AufbrucH! Who knows?
Thanks again and CHEERS to you and all your readers!
O.L.S. and AufbrucH
