Rockezine.com interview with Arkhon Infaustus on Feb 25, 2003

with 666Torturer on Feb 25, 2003


		My first question is not really spectacular, but for the readers of our ezine it could be interesting. Maybe you can begin with telling me a brief history of the band? The band was born in 1997, existing of D.Deviant and I. We wanted to do something new. We were both playing in many bands, but we wanted to have a band that we could control completely; the music, the image and the lyrics. We did our first recording (In Sperma Infernum) and Mordgrimm released it on MDS. From that day on it all went very fast. We entered the studio and recorded the Dead Cunt Maniac EP and Spikekult Records released it. Soon after that we recorded our first album.
		I also read on your promotion form that there were some line up changes. Can you clarify this for me? The band existed of D.Deviant and me, but we had a lot of people around us. We never really found any people we wanted to play with. We played with people we respected a lot, but they didn’t fit completely in Arkhon Infaustus. We found Toxik.H and for the first time we felt that someone could be a part of Arkhon Infaustus. He joined and he is a full time member now. Just before the ‘Filth Catalyst’ album, we recruited a new drummer. Arkhon Infaustus is band with a solid line up now.
		Who writes the music and the lyrics? In the beginning D.Deviant wrote most of the music and I did most of the lyrics. But now it’s the work of a complete band, it’s a full unity. Everyone writes music, lyrics and all of us put it together.
All of us are interested by violence		The lyrics of Arkhon Infaustus are very extreme. I heard they are about naked chicks, sexual perversion and of course Satan; is this correct? On the new album it’s different from that. It always deals with the various aspects of Satan, but the lyrics come with many more ideas. Nobody can understand the lyrics on the new album at once. Many different aspects of Satan or evil get a chance. The song “Criminal Deities” for example, is about time and about the way evil evolves in time. The lyrics are well considered and they even contain some hidden messages (by reversing sentences). There are a lot of details that can be found in the lyrics.
		Is Satanism and occultism important to you as a person? We are not playing black metal because it’s a hobby, we take it all very seriously. We do not think about Satan, just because we play black metal. We also thought like this before we started playing metal, it is quite normal for us to be engaged with these subjects. All of us are interested by violence and deep and dark theology.
		Are extreme lyrics important to your band? Extreme lyrics are not a goal for us, but we want to put everything of ourselves into the band. Every riff, every sentence and the image are a part of the band and everyone of us. The complete work of art is a whole. The lyrics actually do not really matter, because the music will get you, or not. We try to be an extreme band and extreme lyrics are a part of that. Other aspects are extreme music, acting and image. Good music without any idea behind it, is pointless. But at the same time bad music with good ideas is bad too. You have to make a completion of the music, the lyrics and the image.
		Your new album is called Filth Catalyst. What do you mean with Filth Catalyst? There are a lot of meanings. The most important meaning of Filth Catalyst is the evil that attracts all evil. Every listener that can understand and perceive the music, the lyrics or the image, brings their own evil to the music. This album is the chemical process that joins the listener and us.
		Are you satisfied with they way it was recorded? Every recording we make reflects what we did during that time. The new album is the result, the conclusion, of these two years. We have put everything in it, we played almost every day and we went into the studios with an important bond, because we were on tour and we took all those experiences with us. We also have a new sound engineer (David Decobert, know from Nile, Immortal, Marduk etc.) and he knows how to put our musical ideas into sound. This album is exactly what we wanted to do; we didn’t even chance a single detail.
		And were the reactions good so far on the new album? The new album is released recently, so we don’t know exactly how the reactions will be. But until now most of the reactions have been really great. It is a real victory, a dream becoming reality.
		I must admit that I don’t know Hell Injection, does Filth Catalyst differ much from it? There is a great difference between the two, because there were two years between them. We also try not to make the same record every time, that would be pointless. Hell Injection was the thing we needed to make in order to come to Filth Catalyst. Hell Injection is rawer and Filth Catalyst is more perverse and more violent. Both are two different sides of Arkhon Infaustus, they are different but belong together.
		There is another tour planned. We are doing a tour in April and May. We are going through Europe with Vader and maybe Deranged. Any way, the tour is confirmed and all the dates are checked. We will also visit the Netherlands and this time you will see another vision of Arkhon Infaustus, the first time was hell, but this time it will be even worse.
		Are live gigs important to Arkhon Infaustus? Live gigs are very important to us, because when you are on tour there is nothing more then your music, you only live for that. When we are at home, we rehearse, but it is not the same intensity. When we do a live gig we are playing our own kind of music, the Arkhon Infaustus perversity on stage. On stage there are no limits, no boundaries. I think too many bands are fake playing. They put their make-up and spikes on, but in fact there is not much violence in them. They just wear that kind of disguise to create some fake violence on stage. Arkhon Infaustus is not shitting on people, what they see on stage is what we are, whether you accept it or not. What you see is real.
... the Arkhon Infaustus perversity on stage		The last question is about the French metal scene. Is it alive? In fact, the French metal scene has always been alive. Before it was very hard for a French band to export their music. Maybe this was good for us, because we stayed in an underground situation for a long time and we have felt the hate and the fame. I think that some of the leading French bands are some of the most valuable acts today, because we were kept within the underground.
(Pieke Schoonbrood)