Saturday, December 24, 2016

INTERVIEW WITH GARGOYLE!!!


Ladies and gentlemen,
today it's Christmas Eve, so all we must be good and gentle for this time...but don't you think that a demo called "Reborn in Blasphemy" could be a fantastic gift? In any case, here you are the very nice interview to the Calabrians Gargoyle, an emergent doom metal band reviewed by me some days ago with a very good 73/100.
 
ENJOY THE READ!

 
You are a very young band since, if I am not mistaken, you started in the early 2016. So, what are the roots of the band? And what is the goal of Gargoyle?
 
Actually, everything started in 2015 when there were just 2 of us and the other members joined gradually. Our first purposes didn’t match our current atmospheres, we just wanted to play "slow metal". After some months we got some songs ready, and we felt our traits were shaping with horrific and occult themes, so much strictly linked to the Italian scene… the so-called "Dark Sound". So, only now in 2016 we can show you our ultimate form. We are a bunch of friends who have played together for years and Gargoyle is our main project. Our mission is to play our shit, drink a lot of beer and bow to Satan.  Our actual goal, in addition to enjoying the pure metal-nerd fun, is to organize gigs and unleash our occult arts. Furthermore, we would like to become a landmark for the followers of the so-called "weird cult", who are those few ones interested in stuff that is normally feared and repelled by the common people!

I’ve always been fascinated about the way the bands choices their own monikers. In particular, the gargoyles, ignoring their architectural purpose, are those monsters erected on the Christian cathedrals to defend them from the demons. So, why did you choices a name like Gargoyle? And who proposed it?
We have loved gargoyles since before we started to play together. We admire how mighty and strong those figures appear and how you feel anguished while you look at them. It's just what we want you to feel while you are at one of our gigs.

You were fast to realize your first demo since it was released on March 2016. Were the songs more or less ready to be recorded before the band’s foundation? How do you compose your songs?
The demo’s songs have been done in a few months, they came from jam sessions or as an evolution and combination of riffs made at home by one of us.

How and where was recorded “Reborn in Blasphemy”?
We wanted a raw sound and, being poor devils, we opted for a live-recording with a single microphone placed in the middle of the rehearsal room. So… technically speaking, we've simply recorded our usual rehearsals, which take place in a building between some public houses of our city, where little old women live surrounded by "holy images" and curse us behind the dirty glass of their windows… ah, such a typical and perfect Italian atmosphere!

But is it true that the title “Reborn in Blasphemy” pays an homage to the homonym demo of the early Dismember or is it just a simple fortuity?
The truth is in the middle of both answers… One of us proposed exactly "Reborn in Blasphemy" as a title, simply because it sounded good. Then he remembered that it was the same name that Dismember gave to their demo release in 1990 and also to the homonymous track in "Indecent & Obscene". In the end, despite having no real intention to copy from Dismember, we thought there was still no big problem in using it and, most of all, it's perfectly fine if people look at it as an homage to the Swedish band, since we are big fans of them!

What are the themes of your lyrics? Surely they aren’t about happy things!
We usually turn up our noses when a band starts talking about happy things hahah! We are in the middle between being realists and being pessimists, we can't stand anyone speaking of "everyday life" and all its shit as an happy good thing; it reminds us of the catechism, when the nuns say you that "god is love" and such bullshits. Our lyrics are linked to the funereal and mournful dimension of a typical Italian cemetery, which we plunge ourselves in. Everything started some years ago in the night time: we were passing in front of a cemetery gate and we saw a white isolated figure in the middle of the main path, which seemed so alive that he drove us totally mad. We could say that our funereal obsessions are born thanks to this little "trauma", which influenced our lyrics a lot. Anyway the tracks "The Lord of the Tentaculars" and "The Whisperer in Darkness" have been inspired by Lovecraft's stories, which we love to read… He is the true essence of the "weird cult"!

Why has been added a fourth track called “The Whisperer in the Darkness”  into the tape version edited by the Shadow Kingdom Records?
The day we released our demo, an important American underground label contacted us. The guy behind it wanted to print our demo in tape format but he also wanted it a bit longer and a little bit different from the CD version. So we've added another track, by recording "The Whisperer in Darkness". Unfortunately some misunderstandings brought the agreement to nothing. After another failed agreement with another American label, which has had serious financial issues, we have received a great proposal by Shadow Kingdom, which we have gladly accepted, keeping the extra track for their release as well.

Speaking about “The Whisperer…”, I must say that it is the more particular and draining track of the entire demo. What do you tell us more about this song?
This track has been made exactly like the other ones, maybe its weakening essence derives from a particular period of cosmic pessimism haha! We can tell you that it was originally excluded from the demo because of its length, but we added it in the tape version for the reasons we explained in the previous reply.

A demo re-released by a US label isn’t a thing for everyone, especially for a debut production-band like you. Ergo, how was possible the re-release of “Reborn in Blasphemy” even by a US label as the Shadow Kingdom Records? Do you have the intentions to continue the collaboration with it?
We didn't expect a proposal by Shadow Kingdom and we have been really excited in receiving it! Also, it was S.K. who contacted us, we hadn’t sent them any promo. It has been so fucking old school! We are currently finishing the last new songs for a full-lenght and we will contact S.K. when they'll be ready, since we both intend to work together again in future.

Your doom metal is so dark to possess a damned black metal aura. So, what are your influences?
Even if we listen to a lot of common bands, each one of us is particularly in love with some musical genres or bands and brings his own ideas into Gargoyle. Our intention is to create a certain type of sensations and our influences are an instrument to reach this goal. We can mix  Darkthrone, Abysmal Grief, Cathedral, Manowar, Mayhem, Death SS, Bathory and many other bands, as long as it creates the atmosphere we desire. Our music is also influenced by Lovecraft's and R.E. Howard's stories, as well as by old horror Z-series movies and Italy's cemeterial landscapes. We are a mix of all this!

How was born your participation to the free compilation of the Doomed and Stoned?
Mari Knox Knox, who works for Doomed & Stoned and Doom Charts, contacted us for this proposal. We've of course accepted it and the next month the Compilation has been released. We are much grateful to her, and she'll be very welcome should she ever want to do an "occult tour" of Southern Italy haha!

You will participate to the 11th edition of the Calabrian Metal Inferno Fest scheduled for this 28th December, sharing the stage with other compatriots acts like Electrocution (from Bologna) and the Romans Corpsefucking Art. What do you expect from this fest and, normally, how is a live concert of yours?
Our participation to the Calabrian Metal Inferno was totally unexpected! For several years now we joined this annual event and it has always been a great opportunity to meet lot of nerds from whole Calabria! Each year, it is an indispensable appointment for any Calabrian metalhead! We saw Abysmal Grief last year and we took a direct inspiration from them in creating a certain atmosphere while playing. We want the audience to imagine being inside a cemetery, among crosses and bats that fly above the chapels' marmoreal cusps!

Ok, it’s all guys! Now you can ends the interview as you want and see you next time!
First of all, thanks for the interview! Now go to listen to Bunker 66, Fangtooth, Abysmal Grief, Tony Tears, Bretus, Night Gaunt, early Death SS and Black Hole, obviously! Hail to the Dark Sound, hail to the Weird Cult!

"Sacra alla religione dei sepolcri inauguravasi questa necropoli"
BandCamp: http://gargoylehorror.bandcamp.com/
FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/gargoylehorror/

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