Thursday, June 1, 2017

Amentia 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?
Hi!! The band or better to say the project AMENTIA exists in the virtual world. I continue to compose music and write lyrics. Artyom continues to do everything related to management and all the other stuff. That's actually the backbone of our band starting from the previous album. When we will have enough material we will record the new album, if the circumstances will allow us to do it of course. But we also do not leave attempts to gather a live line-up to perform some shows promoting the new album “Scourge” and actually not only the new one but also the whole discography: “Mind Degradation”, “Burn to Hate”, "Incurable Disease". We have quite a lot of material to play live but unfortunately we couldn’t find the proper musicians in our environment yet, who would have the professional approach to perform this music and to be in the band in general. 

2. Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
This is the first time that I tried myself as a sound engineer and sound producer. I wanted to achieve the sound that would be brutal enough but also legible, with the clear articulation of all instruments. It seems to me that I pretty much succeeded. And two different vocals gave the album more rigidity and anger. This time the vocalists were our good old friends, Dmitry Zubov – ex-vocalist of POSTHUMOUS BLASPHEMER, the fans will definitely recognize his brutal growl, and Valery Zubenko who did all the screaming vocals, this was his debut work and I think quite successful one.

3. This is your first album since 2011, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
Yes, quite a lot of time has passed between the albums. Unfortunately life forces us to adjust our plans and change them. After the release of “Incurable Disease” our country was overwhelmed by the financial crisis and many people including me were forced to search for ways to survive. Our live line-up split up so me and Artyom decided to continue AMENTIA as a studio project.
During this period of time we also have recorded a new album for DEATHBRINGER (Artyom’s band), where I performed the bass parts. And I returned to POSTHUMOUS BLASPHEMER and recorded “Exhumation of Sacred Impurity” album with them in 2014, and we were really active live playing many concerts and taking part in different festivals.
Artyom was also playing with his other bands: WOE UNTO ME, THY DISEASE, DISLOYAL, all of them released albums during these years and had very active concert activity too, WOE UNTO ME released “A Step Into The Waters Of Forgetfulness” in 2014, THY DISEASE – “Costumes Of Technocracy” also in 2014, DISLOYAL – “Godless” in 2015. He also took part in some recordings as a session musician and was pretty busy with his other musical job – as a booking agent and tour manager in Creative Music concert agency from Poland.
So it took a while until we could get back to AMENTIA. The recording of “Scourge” and my first mixing and mastering were also not fast processes. And a lot of time was spent searching for the label; Artyom did a great job in this regard.  

4. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?
The topics are the same. A man and what happens to him, the negative aspects of life and of human consciousness. Philosophical reasoning on these topics. For example the first song “Kill Me” is about a son who kills his own mother to relieve her from anguish, from pain associated with cancer disease. And how the moral side differs from the generally accepted and legal one. Actually in every song there is a some kind of a similar meaning and music emphasizes this meaning.

5. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Amentia'?
The meaning of the word “amentia” can be read in Wikipedia, the medical, the literal understanding. Giving this name to a band I wanted to accentuate that in our music there will always be a piece of insanity, strange musical moves, melodies and passages, a kind of musical madness. And the lyrics are corresponding, about people who act inappropriately, contrary to the public morality.

6. What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Unfortunately in AMENTIA we didn’t have any shows for a long time so we never played live in this line-up. Me and Dmitry Zubov played many gigs with POSTHUMOUS BLASPHEMER, I also played shows with some non-metal bands, more like rock music, Artyom performed a lot of tours and concerts with his bands that I’ve mentioned before and as a session musician. All the bands that we have participated in look different on stage and have absolutely different images, and you have to act there differently, so it’s hard to describe how AMENTIA performance would look like. But I’m sure that insanity and aggression would dominate on stage.

7. Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?
At the present moment we are trying to find a drummer. In Belarus it’s practically impossible, perhaps someone would like to cooperate remotely with us. This is our priority issue for now. We want to perform live but in a complete line-up, so until we find proper musicians there can be no question about it.

8. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of brutal and technical death metal?
There are positive reviews, there are also negative, the main thing is that they are. We are happy about any opinions. In fact, we play this music just like we feel it and we don’t really focus on someone else's opinion. But it’s always interesting to read the reviews. If they are positive – it’s awesome, if not – it will not make us stop writing music or change our direction.

9. Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I compose some new stuff right now, sitting with the guitar or just humming something to the voice recorder in my phone, maybe this will result in a new album in the future, who the hell knows. Hahaha. I always wanted to include orchestral stringed instruments in my music but haven’t found interesting ways to implement this yet. So only time will tell.

10. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influenced on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
The bands that play in my car stereo like Suffocation, Cannibal Corpse, Meshuggah, Gojira, Spawn of Possession, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Blotted Science, Ihsahn – these are the fundamental metal bands for me, the favorite ones. There is also a lighter music like Jamiroquai – my favorite in funk, it’s great to feel this groove and stamp my foot while driving :))). Guthrie Govan is one of my favorite guitar players, Victor Wooten of course – I love his sense of music, rhythm and time signatures. And a bunch of other musical styles, even pop music :)).

11. What are some of your non musical interests?
For me music is more like a hobby which pulls finances. And I need to work hard to get these finances for it. For example I work as a design engineer, I develop various products from metal and not only metal :)). Something akin to making music :)). Dmitry Zubov is a bank employee, as I’ve mentioned before Artyom works in a concert agency as a booking agent and a tour manager, and also sometime as an interpreter, Valery is unemployed. Someone likes to party, to drink, I prefer just to have a rest, to make something with my own hands in the house or to repair my car, which breaks down from time to time, little piece of shit :))).

12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
I want to invoke metal fans to support all the bands that play and compose music. This is not a cheap pleasure and musicians very often sacrifice not only their finances but also their personal lives to record and release their songs and albums. Of course not everyone can like them, but be lenient. Download music for your reference and then buy CDs, write your feedbacks, because these are the main incentives for our music to become more interesting and more qualitative. Stay BRUTAL.

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