Lozmodial: All Instruments, Harsh
                      and spoken Vocals
Rami Manson: Screams And
                             Harsh Vocals
Divine Mo'rabe: Session guitars

Formed: 2009
Amman, Jordon
Label: Rigorism Pro./Thorn
Laceration
Genre: Depressive Black Metal

CURRENT LINE-UP:

Forgive Me's Lozmodial

March 27, 2010

Interviewer: Chris

DISCOGRAPHY:

Into the Shroud (Single - 2009)
Last Drop of Life (2010)

Chris: Hello Lozmodial. Congratulations on a fine CD. May I ask what got you interested in metal music?

Lozmodial: Thanks a lot my friend. The only thing that got me into this music was the honesty of expressing all kinds of emotions that the human can feel, from love to hate, from happiness to depression. It’s the only music that can express everything we feel. My older brother was the one who pulled me down to this hellish music, and Metallica was the first band that caught my mind.

Chris: Are there specific bands that influence you and your music?

Lozmodial: Sure. The teachers of my music are everywhere and I will always still be learning. In my melodic doom metal project, Lord Azmo, I was influenced by some great bands such as Katatonia, My Dying Bride, and Saturnus, while in my DBM [depressive black metal] band, Forgive Me, I was influenced by some great bands like Xasthur, Thy Light, Silencer and Nyktalgia.

Chris: Does being from the Middle East have an effect on your music? I would think that with all of the war and terror seen out there on a daily basis there are some very real emotions of depression and sadness overall.

Lozmodial: Yeah, sure, the hard situations that the Middle Eastern people live in would be an inspiration for them all to be creative, so there are a lot of great singers, great painters, great writers, and great musicians. And sure, being in the Middle East has a huge effect on our musical development, because a lot of people would judge the music without even giving it a fine listen.

Chris: How has the reaction to your band and the CD been so far?

Lozmodial: The reactions are amazing! Many depressive black metal fans like the album, and the fanatic black metal bands were against it. I get a lot of emails every day from people who want to thank me for this music, and many are asking me about the inspiration for my music. I am really happy with this achievement, and I really hope I won’t disappoint anyone that liked the Last Drop of Life album in the future.

Chris: Your other band Lord Azmo is also a very fine band, though the sound is much more in the vein of traditional doom metal as opposed to depressive metal. Is there a particular style you'd prefer to stick with in the future or are you going to try to do both for now?

Lozmodial: I prefer both styles. Lord Azmo's style is slow and deep; it can express the flowing, calm emotions of grief and sadness, and Forgive Me can express the flowing, eruptive emotions of depression and anger. Every style has its own emotions and stories, and I hope the listeners can understand that.

Chris: Your CD is to be re-released in a limited DVD-case release soon. Are you looking to distribute it in larger quantities than 150 at some point or are you keeping it limited for another reason?

Lozmodial: I am keeping it limited these months just to see how many fans would be interested to buy the CDs. There are plans to re-release it again later, limited to 500 CDs, in the future, but right now I am just watching how many fans would buy the CD these days, and the band is still fresh. Even though it’s only four-months old, the reactions are too amazing.

Chris: I am a very big fan of the depressive metal that evokes pure sadness and despair, and I truly feel that your CD has captured that essence nicely. Is there a certain mood you have to be in to create such sorrowful music or does it come easily at any given time?

Lozmodial: Of course there is a certain mood. Nothing can come from nowhere, and LIFE is the only revelation to create such music. The listeners can feel the music and the lyrics only if the listener has true emotions of sadness and despair inside them. The happy and impassible humans won’t ever understand this kind of depressive music.

Chris: Is the band still in Jordan? I noticed at one point some members relocated to Dubai and I'm wondering if the metal scene might be different in either country?

Lozmodial: Metal is getting better every day in the Arabian countries. I am now in Jordan and the second member is in Egypt. The session guitar player is in Jordan too. Some of the members of my ex-project, Lost Lust, as well as Lord Azmo have moved to Dubai, I guess. They would stay there for some time, but that doesn’t mean that we would stop. We can work even if there are millions of miles between the members.

Chris: Is it difficult to be a metal musician in the Middle East? The band Acrassicauda had a well-documented story of their battle to play metal there. I am wondering if you find the same difficulties as a musician.

Lozmodial: Sure, every metal musician faces a lot of difficulties here. The first difficulty is the first impression and many people in the world would refuse to give us some time to listen to our music, because they believe that the Middle East can’t produce good music due to the lack of experience and lack of professional recordings. The second difficulty is the "devil worshipping’ accusation. Many people here always consider us devil worshippers because they believe that metal music is only for the devil. Sometimes we can convince them that we are not like that, but still there are a lot of people that we can’t argue with due to their closed-minds.

And I really have to admit that Acrassicauda is one of the best bands in the Arabian countries.

Chris: What do you hope will be the future of Forgive Me? Do you see it releasing more music over time or would this be an experiment in a different area of metal?

Lozmodial: In my personal opinion, I see Forgive Me is a great experiment, and I don’t think that I would stop this project in the future. Many people know the band now and they will be so disappointed if we stopped the project. I hope that Forgive Me will catch more attention in the future, and I hope I would get more support from the DBM fans around the world.

And I really want to thank you for this interview, for supporting the underground Middle Eastern metal bands is a wonderful thing. All the Middle Eastern musicians appreciate that.

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Check out Chris' review of Last Drop of Life here