Nefarium

May 4, 2010

Interviewer: Chris

Chris: Greetings, and thanks for the interview. First off, being a black metal band from Italy were you ever influenced by local bands like Bulldozer and Death SS, or did you see the Scandinavian scene as a larger inspiration?

Nefarium: Death SS, Bulldozer and also Italian Mortuary Drape are considered cult bands here and we really appreciate their music and their professionalism even if the style we propose is quite different.  In Italy there are not a lot of well-known fast black metal bands, so when we gave birth to the Nefarium thirteen-years ago we moved our first steps under the influences of Scandinavian bands like Marduk or Dodheimsgard only to have an explicit way to follow, but we don’t emulate them.  During our carrier we always tried to obtain a personal and more original sound, gaining experience after every recording and after every live show.  Today we’re proud because when we started to work on “Ad Disciplum”, we absolutely wanted to follow our own way and we think with this new album, we have finally found a precise Nefarium sound.

Chris: How did the tour go with Dark Funeral and Carach Angren? You seemed to hit every European county on this one. Are you fans of those guys? Carach Angren is particularly great.

Nefarium: We usually like to play live shows and we feel good when we are on stage, spreading rage and aggression and even if after forty-two gigs we feel now quite tired. We can’t wait for the time to start another tour.  The experience with Dark Funeral has been really good; we played in good venues through Europe and the crowd seemed to appreciate Nefarium’s concerts, showing good support during our exhibitions and also after the show. We invite to take a look to "http://www.myspace.com/nefarium" to check some live show photos.  Carach Angren is a good band on stage and kind guys “without face-painting.” We spent (some) good times drinking beers and talking about extreme music and porn movies. [laughs] They are crazy friends.  Even we don’t like very much keyboards in black metal; we think Carach Angren are able to create a particular and sick atmosphere during live shows and we appreciate also their last album.

Chris: This is your third release, which is also a fine effort in line with your first two. What has been your inspiration to play black metal music? Is it the antichristian ideology you agree with?

Nefarium: In all the albums Nefarium mainly speak about religion, focusing on those Catholic episodes that influence everyday life like pedophilia or psychological attempts to [make a] fragile society. We live in a country where the Vatican has a massive control over schools, media, work and music of course, so who could better know the worst side of its religion than the people that live in foreign country? Since we were very young and at school, the education about religion gave us the opportunity to study the bible, and we feel lucky because If you want to be against something, you have to know every details about it. With Ad Discipulum, we simply created a statement against the church and Jesus Christ’s words through priests’ speeches and Vatican prayers. The Bible is our main inspiration, although we don't believe in the truthfulness of the book and in the effectiveness of the relevant teachings. The parables handed tell stories of victims and victors and errors often paid with their lives through the same ultra-mundane punishment and somehow this fascinates us.

Chris: Do you have any plans to tour the U.S.? I know the scene out here isn’t close to what it is in Europe, and we’re sorry about that! We do have dedicated black metal legions out here. Would you like to play out here someday?

Nefarium: We are trying to play more and more concerts basically outside Italy where the local bands are poorly supported and the organisers are often not up to (par). We are working now on new, particular details and backgrounds to bring on stage a visual introduction precise and capable of directing the listener from the first approach to the band. We love playing live, and every time we are on a stage we could feel a particular sensation, and the contact with fans is very important.  We really hope to spread soon our music also in your country, but the cost of flight tickets is quite expensive and we need to work more to be better known and to finally find some good agency that could bring Nefarium to US. A tour there should be great!

Chris: The new album was mixed by Andy Larocque, most noted for his work with King Diamond. How was that experience? Did he bring something new to the table in terms of advice or guidance? Are you pleased with his mix? I think it sounds great!

Nefarium: When Nefarium discussed for the first time about Ad Discipulum’s sound, wishing to obtain something new, we decided we should have moved to Swedish Sonic Train Studios and to collaborate with a non black metal producer, basically to remark the dynamic and natural style of Garghuf’s drumming.  We choose to avoid an artificial sound of the drum due to the current tendency of using exaggerated triggers, risking obtaining less precise tom feels, but surely more natural. We marked a global style more original in front of our previous releases. We think that Ad Discipulum’s songs are easier to be assimilated by the listeners, even if the whole album is really fast and aggressive.  Andy Larocque gave us good suggestions about the final production and we really appreciated his professional way to work on studio; he’s a good technician and a good friend and we spent good time together with him visiting the town and talking about music and, of course, King Diamond!

Chris: Garghuf from Gorgoroth is amazing on this album for you. You also had Wildness Perversion from Mortuary Drape and Archaon from 1349 make appearances. Were you pleased with their individual contribution and is Garghuf a full-time member now?
 
Nefarium: The choice to call these guest members to participate in the recordings of "Ad Discipulum" has honored ourselves and has tried to bring Nefarium conceptually closer to those bands that contributed to the development of the extreme metal scene.  When we recorded the new album we were just looking for good musicians in bands that we have supported for a long time. Archaon guitar solos gave Nefarium’s new album a good “trash metal” touch and the vocal participation of Wildness Perversion emphasized the dark atmosphere thanks to the Latin speeches. Both the musicians have appreciated our work and from there a good friendship and relationship was born that led us to cooperate in Ad Discipulum records.  Garghuf is now official drummer of Enthroned (Belgium) and he will be a session musician for Gorgoroth during their next tour, so in the future we have to carefully plan our concerts.  Anyway, we really like that guy and his extremely strong passion about drums is impressive.  Garghuf is full-time member of Nefarium. We can’t wait to see the time to record Nefarium’s next album with the current drummer.

Chris: A lot of black metal bands are turning more to the gothic sound with a lot of keyboards and ethereal sounds. It seems the old school ways of black metal are not as strong as they used to be for many bands. Do you see that as a problem in the scene or does it affect you at all?

Nefarium: We usually like to listen to every kind of extreme metal and we don't have prejudgments towards keyboards or synthesizers. With Nefarium we want to join the borders of the coldness and the brutality and some atmosphere produced by certain instruments’ sound, except for electric guitars and drums that are not adapted to describe what we are looking for. I don't think that in our albums listeners could find keyboards; they are often used in order to create "easier to listen to" riffs and we prefer to compose melodies  through the use of guitars, joining the same goal through a deep study and the engagement to play this instrument in a good way.  Each man has the faculty to create and develop a personal hell through his choices and in the same way we are trying to read our own thoughts to understand what we are. Black metal is the spiritual bridge to join that and it could exist in every person so that he could walk on it.

Chris: What is the one thing you hope to achieve with the album Ad Discipulum? Do you write albums with a set goal in mind aside from, of course, selling records?

Nefarium: When we compose and work hard to record album like AD DISCIPULUM we hope that our music could be listened to and considered as simple and good black metal. (It should be) able to give to listeners particular feelings of violence that are slowly coming in many bands.
Every recorded album represents a strong and personal experience and it contains thoughts, wishes and hopes that all Nefarium’s members kept in mind up to the recording sessions.
Nefarium would like to be able to better develop their skills through a constant engagement and even more than that we would like a place in the international scene as a solid and convincing reality.

Chris: So far the reviews for the album have been really positive. It truly is a great album all around. 

Nefarium: People who like fast extreme black metal are appreciating our releases through the NEFARIUM attitude, so we are very satisfied and we hope to continue to play as we have done today.  Comments and reviews we've received to today are positive and this is pushing the band to work on the tracks for our next album with hard engagement and total devotion.  We would like to underline the importance of people like you who support black metal, through areas devoted to bands of popularity or indifferent talents.

Chris: Is there anything you’d like to say in closing to the fans both here in America and abroad? Thanks for the time and the interview! 

Nefarium: In an apathetic and driven world, powered by hypocrisy, the members of Nefarium seek their personal illumination and to give the most adequate voice to their own ideals where the darkness is greatest, to avoid limits and pre-conceptions, and to grow spiritually towards a single and univocal truth.  [We enjoy] going beyond all questions and all answers. We invite all those who love black metal to listen to Nefarium and try to grab our message in its clearest expression of anger and hatred.

REGE SATHANAS!

Carnifex
NEFARIUM

TO THE TOP

*Comments:

*By clicking "Submit" you agree to the following Terms of Use. You agree not to post any material that is obscene, slanderous, or threatening, or that may violate any law of your country of origin or the United States or of international law. Should you wish to restrict viewing of your email address by third parties, you must select "Hide My Email." You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Metal Psalter from any claims, actions, suits, damages, or other costs arising out of any breach of these Terms of Use.

Check out Chris' review of Nefarium's Ad Discipulum here

Carnifex:  Guitar & Vocals
Adventor:  Guitar
Vexator:  Bass
Garghuf:  Drums

Formed: 1997
St. Christophe, Aosta, Italy
Label: Agonia Records
Genre: Black Metal

CURRENT LINE-UP:

DISCOGRAPHY:

Praesidium (2005)
Haeretichristus (2008)
Ad Discipulum (2010)