Australian blackened death metal force Project: Ultimate Satan unleashes their ambitious debut album The Opus Satanas. Blending symphonic grandeur with crushing brutality, the band delves into mystic themes and groundbreaking soundscapes.
1.
Congratulations on the upcoming release of The Opus Satanas! Can you tell us a bit
about the album's concept and the journey that led to its creation?
The Opus
has been a very long time coming and I’m super glad to finally be able to discuss
it with you and your readers.
Conceptually
the album follows many different ideas and to its namesake ’the opus’ is a large
collection of works, ‘Satanas’ Satan or in this case ourselves.
The album
and the band from their foundations represent an exploration into our songwriting
and musicianship. Mixing symphonic and black metal elements with technical
death, death, grind and death-core. Ideologically blending eldritch and anti-abrahamic
cymbals and sigilism with stoicism and other positive philosophical elements
promoting positive growth within ourselves and as musicians.
The album
itself is made up of two movements with three figures/songs a piece. The first movement,
named ‘Malleus Maleficarum’ or the hammer of the witches, in reference to the
book written by the church, to persecute witches in the 1400s.
The second
movement, named ‘Lex Talionis’ translates to the law of retaliation. Or eye for
an eye, tooth for a tooth and in the modern justice system is the idea that the
punishment should fit the crime.
2. With
the band being formed during the turbulent times of 2019 and tarrying past through
the fires and plagues of 2020 and 2021, how did these challenging years shape
the sound and themes of the album?
2019 was
set to be an incredible year with our founding members JDecay, Ash and Dazferatu
forming a symphonic writing project under the newly formed Eschatonic Records
banner.
From what I
understand whilst J was putting final touches production wise on what would be
Black Mountains debut album, Auld’s debut EP and Reign of Terrors - Beer Metal
EP, he was also auditioning new lead guitarists for his band Inhuman Remnants.
Astounded with Daz’s interpretation (on keys) of a then unreleased ‘Nocturne
Immortalas’ J and Ash pushed Daz to have the band be fleshed out and realized
as more than just a writing project.
It was
Heathen Fest 2019, J officially asked Calcifur and I to join, mentioning that
he had begun working with Amorasche from Black Mountain and Zoe from Vertigo
Complex.
But the
bushfires of 2020 would put a large pause on works due to the beginning or travel
restriction and works on damages to properties etc. Zoe would have to depart
from the band for QLD in mid-2020. Jem would join late 2020 however the first
Covid lockdown pushed hard on record dates.
I was stuck
in the bay, Ash stuck in Sydney and Cal stuck in Goulburn. However we managed
to push through. Gibb put the final touches on the master in August 2021. Eschatonic
ended up showcasing it at their launch party along with the debut of the aforementioned
works that J had finished. But as you can see, we have held the release until
we had the budget and touring power to adequately perform, promote and tour the
album.
3. Your
music includes strong symphonic and orchestral elements, giving a unique twist
to blackened death metal. What inspired this integration of classical components
into your sound?
J and Daz
have been working hard to learn and implement our symphonic accompaniments. As
well as the implementation of this into our live performances has been a
testament to their persistence and passion for the project.
But from
what I understand they are also pushing new ground not only mixing traditional symphonic
compositions into death metal but inversely pushing the death and grind elements
back into more classical instrumentation.
I hear a
bunch of bands sticking to the more traditional routes, but their approaches seem
to be working and making some very interesting and new sounding tunes.
4. The
Opus Satanas includes a mix of contributors from bands like Inhuman Remnants
and Terravorous. How did these collaborations influence the final product, and
what was it like working with such an eclectic mix of musicians?
Ahh the
pedigree. Jamming with the Inhuman Remnants and Black Mountain boys has been a
blast and to have them ask me to join their new project was an offer too good
to refuse.
We haven’t
wrapped up with the Terravourus camp either and I’m looking forward to coming
back and filling you in on all things Terra soon.
Collaboration
wise though on the album, we have solos by Nick from Vargamore, ex-Inhuman
Remnants, Punishment and Unholy Vendetta amazing bands and an amazing solo on
Nocturne. The whole solo was recorded in one take, completely on the fly, holy
shit that dudes a menace on the guitar.
Having
access to amazing talent kind of comes with the territory. Ash and J's label
has some great musicians record and release there and just hanging out at J’s
studio, though it may be a small space it’s always got different people coming
through.
I also had
some help working on breathing techniques and exercises with Heath from Tsunami
Puncher enabling me to get my speed up for Humanity’s Last Breath or as the P:US
guys call it Scottie’s Last Breath.
Lastly,
working with Gibb was also amazing. That dude has some amazing hardware, knows
how to use it and his ear IQ is crazy. We all learnt so much, such a nice dude.
It’s been a
very natural collaboration between all the band members, with everyone bringing
their own unique sound. In saying that, this album is like nothing we’ve
recorded before. The Opus Satanas has a very mystic and spiritual sound as much
as is devastating and crushing.
5. The
album’s single, "Symphony Es Infernus," is dedicated to Lilith
Liftoach. Could you share more about the inspiration behind this song and what
Lilith represents in your music?
When we
were starting to audition ideas for writing concepts for dual and multi vocal
for the album we had the idea to explore two different peoples perspectives of
an evocation of Lilith, writing from both masculine and feminine perspectives.
In some
literature, Lilith is known as the guardian of the undying flame and the source
of satanic knowledge. In modern times she has become somewhat of a patron saint
for women's rights and suffrage.
To us an
evocation is somewhat of self-affirmation of sorts. Have you ever assembled a dream
board or goals board? If you imagine it and ritualize it, then it becomes real
for you. You breathe life into your own creation through intent and
perseverance.
6.
You’ve released three singles leading up to the album launch: "Symphony Es
Infernus," "The Infallible Void," and "Nocturne
Immortalis." How do these tracks capture the essence of The Opus Satanas,
and why did you choose them as previews for the album?
Symphony Es
Infernus was always going to be a single for the album. We even played with the
idea of it as a potential album name. But we wanted something a little more grandiose
and inline with our thematic.
Nocturne
Immortalis was also an easy pick, being our most evolved piece to date and best
representation of the band and our abilities as a whole. Initially we had
planned to shoot it as a live action clip however life-intervened and this
needed to be postponed and we wanted to use the song in the final PR push for
the launch, so we commissioned the lyric video instead.
Whereas we
were a little indifferent around Infallible VOid being very repetitive and
quite different from our other offering we thought showing diversity might gain
further engagement and interest in what is to come.
7. Given
the dark and introspective themes you explore, especially with songs like "The
Infallible Void" focusing on the darkness within, how do you approach songwriting
and lyric development as a band?
There is no
light without darkness, there is no growth without introspection and void worship
is an accent practice.
Theology is
a pretty common topic of conversation within our band and we really wanted a no
holds barred approach to more personal topics for the album.
We used a
bunch of different writing techniques and we tested and trialled many different
approaches, themes and styles.
Working
collaboratively with the band to come up with some amazing stories and a full range
of views and perspectives gives birth to things like I’ve previously mentioned
in Symphony Es.
8. Your
live performances are described as ‘live rituals.’ How do you create the right atmosphere
for these performances, and how does the band prepare to bring such a powerful
sound to the stage?
Is a seven
piece symphonic technical blackened death metal band performing their live satanic
ritual not enough?
Each song
is either a spell, affirmation, incantation or evocation. the performance is a ritual,
its theatrical. its epic.
9. The
album artwork and emblem were crafted by Dis-Art Design and Wappenschmied. How
important are the visual elements of The Opus Satanas, and how do they tie into
the themes of the album?
The album
consists of 6 pieces, The 4 main album artworks were created by Ben Wrigley
from Third Eye Visuals.
Each piece
is a different skull either on an altar or a wreath. If you look closely you
will notice that Satan's skulls are repaired with gold. This is called
Kintsugi, a Japanese metaphor for accepting yourself and building upon yourself
creating something better than long the human skulls represent the human
frailties and the human skull with daemon horns representing satanic
ascendance.
Dis-art’s
borders and design layout in addition to Wappenshmied’s pieces demonstrate and
represent our mix between the Eldritch and traditional satanic imagery.
Exploring a more true to what we think daemon imagery would look like.
10.
Finally, with the album’s release on November 29, what are your plans for 2024?
Will fans outside of Canberra and the South Coast have a chance to experience Project:
Ultimate Satan live?
We are
heading south for two shows just before the end of the year hitting Melbourne and
Adilade on the 27th and 28th of December as part of our summer vigil.
Next year
is starting to book up fast and we are planning to go north asap but can’t confirm
anything official at this point.
2025 is
looking to be a very big year for us, as we finish off the recording of album
two and move into full swing promotion for The Opus Satanas.
Also if you
liked the album or any of the singles and would like us to come to your town, hit
up your local promoter to book us, or contact us at bookings@eschatonicrecords.com.
Post a Comment