Special Joint Interview of EXCARNATED related bands: PERVERTUM OBSCURUM, SANGUINEOUS and THE NIHILISTIC FRONT

Diabolical Conquest (Kunal): I'll begin this interview by asking a question about Excarnated, your involvement in which has mostly made this interview possible (this ought to assuage the bitter feelings if any that had resulted in your time with that band). How would you describe your experience in Excarnated? Do you think it was the right time for the band to call it a day? Was the sound on ‘Purging The Earth' the definitive Excarnated sound?

Pervertum Obscurum (Chris): I think altogether it was a massive learning experience and it was a great way to get some studio and live exposure, not forgetting having releases to promote what we had done worldwide for people to enjoy. Overall being involved from the start of Excarnated it had its ups and downs, but I never regret the experience that being in one single band for 9 years has given me and it has also given me a path for the future bands and projects that I do to this day. I believe that the time was right to end the band when we did as we have had so many line-up changes and with the last two main songwriters leaving the band there was only me and Nick (who was in the band for the last 2 years). It was pointless carrying on trying to get new members again and teaching them the old songs. By that time I needed a break from it all and needed to work on something fresh again. I don't think that our second CD “Purging the earth” was our real sound due to it being rushed, but some of the songs are fantastic and you can see it being an embryonic version of what our later bands would sound like in some ways. From doing that CD I vowed never to record under those circumstances again as it was a total nightmare, but I am surprised about the positive feedback that the CD has received so far so its not all bad. I think that our 2 demo's and our “Where the dead dream EP” was the definitive Excarnated Sound.

Sanguineous (Tony): I guess Purging The Earth defines that incarnation of Excarnated. Excarnated was really a series of different bands baring the same name. I wrote half of PTE and left just under a year before it broke up. It probably should have called it a day when we started writing that stuff, as it was totally different from previous Excarnated material. For them to continue after Rodney called it quits would have meant another drastic change in sound. I reckon disbanding it was the best thing to do!

The Nihilistic Front (Gaz): My time in Excarnated was like a very long episode of Bad News. There is enough material over the decade-long career of the band for Chris to write a book I reckon. I think "Purging the Earth" was an awesome release, although I prefer the sound on the "Genital Gallery" and "Where the Dead Dream" releases. Only Chris can decide if the band should go on, he was there from the beginning and will be there at the end.

Diabolical Conquest: The break up of Excarnated saw the spawning of numerous bands by its one-time members. What is most interesting is that these new bands, perhaps with the exception of Sanguineous, sound distinctly different from the music of Excarnated. It is evident then that the members of Excarnated's always had different ideas. Did it cause creativity problems in Excarnated that escalated into fist fights, smashing of beer bottles on each others heads, and ultimately burning of the cars?

Pervertum Obscurum: Playing death metal in Melbourne when most people want to hear trendy shit created problems with certain members of Excarnated, thus the

revolving door of people. I like that each band sounds different and has something new to offer the listener, but if you listen closely you can hear that we all have come from Excarnated. I think that we have been influenced by that band in some way or another and it's great to keep the tradition going. I think from doing Sanguineous and The Nihilistic Front both Tony and Gary have distinctive styles as they were the main songwriters in Excarnated at different points so their musical influences have carried off into our new incarnations. The problems were mainly from certain members who wanted to change or deviate from doing death metal and I was always staunch about not doing that.

Sanguineous: I gotta case of VB stubbies with Chrisso's name on it! Watch out ya fuggen mongrel!!

The Nihilistic Front: Not when I was in the band (a long time ago), although I always felt Excarnated was capable of expanding their sound to explore other brutal avenues. There was an incident where an ex-drummer had his head smashed into a wall, but he deserved it. The burning of cars and other vehicles occured because we are badasses.

Diabolical Conquest: Is that the main reason behind the notorious revolving door of Excarnated? Does it explain the band's mystifying phenomenon or is there something else? Have any of you guys tried to contact the chaps at the Guinness Book of World Records?

Pervertum Obscurum: I think it was that as well as people loosing interest, moving, turning Christian, getting on drugs, being in a mental institution, not practicing for gigs or recordings, not showing up to gigs, trying to turn us into a pop act, having death threats against us, fuck the list was endless dude. I think that only fuelled the music that we had done. The Guinness book of records told me that Death and Incantation have the most line-up changes, but thanks for trying LOL.

Sanguineous: Chrisso dresses like Uncle Pennybags at rehearsals and barks orders like a filthy capitalist.

The Nihilistic Front: I won't speak for anyone else. I left in 2001 because I was holding them back from doing gigs. I was only interested in the musical aspect of the band, and they wanted to move on to playing gigs and I guess being more well known in the underground.

Diabolical Conquest: Moving on to your current bands, how did you guys realise the new sound of your band? What kind of music were you guys striving to achieve? How difficult was it to find suitable members for your bands – more difficult than the excruciating pressing of phone buttons?

Pervertum Obscurum: I think all 3 bands have been the easiest ones we have all been in. We never intended to go this or that sound, but only picking up our instruments and see what we come up with. Speaking for Pervertum Obscurum I wanted to play the music that I grew up with so the musical influences come out from that. All three of us agreed that we work well together and to get other members would ruin the chemistry. We all have home studio setups so we can record any time we want and can take the time to make the best recordings that we can. Also all 3 of us were sick of the “band” dynamic having to rehearse weekly and having musical disagreements. In saying all that though anything can happen so expect the unexpected.

Sanguineous: I just continued what I was doing, accentuating the darker elements. We're trying to create vicious dark death metal that is extremely intense and doomy in parts. It's just Chris and me. Sanguineous is a project band and I have no intention of recruiting members and playing the ‘scene' game. In the beginning I had 3 or 4 rehearsals with Chris Volcano on drums. He was intent on recruiting a full line up of black metal metallions, weekly rehearsals, playing gigs etc. Not interested!

The Nihilistic Front: My only goal was to create complete and total Doom to reflect the times we live in. As for other band members, I didn't bother looking for other people as Chris agreed to do vocals in this project before anything was even recorded. True Doom Nihilists wouldn't use telephones, so I must set an example. If we ever play live (which i suspect we will fairly soon) I have a few people in mind to help out on bass and drums (no laptop). I'm not telling you who they are though. You will have to wait and see.

Diabolical Conquest: Are you satisfied with the way your band's music has turned out? Anything you would have liked to change now? Perhaps add some titties or something on the artwork?

Pervertum Obscurum: Titties are always a great thing in my opinion, the bigger the better HA HA!!!. Overall I am satisfied with all of the releases that I have been on in the past year since Excarnated disbanded and there can always be improvements in playing, production, packaging, and our general song writing. I think all 3 releases sound quite professional and stand up to what is being released today. We like raw productions anyway so the people who complain about that then tough shit. Its death metal, not commercial top 40 music.

Sanguineous: I'm happy with the riffs, song and vocal structures and Chrisso's lyrics . The production could have been much better, but oh well. We'll definitely improve our production for future releases!

The Nihilistic Front: I have never been satisfied with anything I have ever released. I have only just begun to like the Antichrist demo Chris and I recorded way back in 1996-1997 (can't remember exactly, I am getting old). Titties would probably help sales though.

Diabolical Conquest: What were the biggest challenges you faced in the creation and recording of your music? Would you like to disclose your song writing process?

Pervertum Obscurum: I think the recording process has been easier as we take our time in the writing, arranging, and mixing process due to not being under the constraints of the studio. It is always interesting when a band decides to record their music themselves on their own equipment as it is more challenging to get good results. For Sanguineous, believe it or not Tony and I don't and have not had a rehearsal. Tony does all of the music and records it all on his home studio and I do the lyrics and vocals at my studio, then we compile our work and mix it all together. The process is the same for The Nihilistic Front other than Gary and I get together once every 6 months to jam before we are preparing for a recording. For Pervertum Obscurum I do everything here at home and I work on riffs and arrangements until I am happy with a song structure, then I do the vocals over the top and do a rough version of the song until it is ready to be recorded properly. I guess it is the same for any 1 person “band”.

Sanguineous: Write riff, program drums, change riff, change drums, put here, put there etc etc… blah blah

The Nihilistic Front: The biggest challenge is satisfying myself which appears to be impossible. And computers. Those infernal machines always seem to misbehave when I start to record. I have been trying to find the right guitar sound for the next release for about 8 weeks now. No to the second question.

Diabolical Conquest: I understand that all of you guys have put out demos/EPs on your own. Even though I'm smart enough know the reason behind your preference of an EP over a full length album, I want you to tell our readers in your own words why you chose that medium. And Pervertum Obsculum, why have you chosen tape as a medium to put out a demo? Why are you trying to inconvenience us poor writers? Or did you really think the tape format was appropriate for a “backward” country like India where I come from?

Pervertum Obscurum: Because all of these bands are new we thought it would be a good idea to give people an introduction to our bands before we went ahead like most bands these days and worked straight away on a full length. This gives us time to work our way into the underground so once a full length is ready we have a label and a fanbase who already know our music. Luke (Evilspeaks Records) and I thought it would be cool to come up with a tape as it is a rare thing these days instead of giving out a CD-R and a hand written demo cover. I am carrying on the tradition of Excarnated who put out two demo cassettes before doing our full length. Hey I think that's great that India and Asia still do cassettes and it shows that you have a strong underground. Only Analogue is real LOL!!!! Maybe we will put it out on Grammaphone next and record it on a 2 track mono cassette deck to be KVLT.

Sanguineous: Didn't have the songs for a full length album. It's probably better to spread your sound and band name in the underground before releasing a full length anyway.

The Nihilistic Front: I don't consider "Four Seasons" to be an EP. Two tracks = 40 minutes. What more do you want? Don't be fucken greedy. I reckon thats good enough to let people know what we are all about. And tapes are like, totally kvlt right now. Totally. A full length will appear within the net 12 months if all goes to plan.

Diabolical Conquest: I believe all your bands have tremendous potential and I'm willing to justify the same even in court. But why hasn't any label thought so, at least the Australian ones? Is it too soon now? Or are they just too busy forcibly signing every group that unwittingly utters the word goregrind?

Pervertum Obscurum: Well speaking for all of the bands there has been some interest when we record again and Pervertum Obscurum tape was done with a label. More than likely it will be an overseas label that will pick up Sanguineous and The Nihilistic Front. Fuck I am sick of Goregrind. Most of them just rip off Cock and Ball Torture or Gut, have slam riffs and shitty frog and pitch shifted vocals all the way through. I think most of it is garbage to be brutally honest. But I hail bands like The Meat Shits, Napalm Death, Repulsion, Impetigo, Terrorizer, and much more. That's real grind. It's never too soon to be offered shit loads of cash, booze, groupies and copious amounts of cocaine LOL.

Sanguineous: Thanks! I didn't even try approaching labels to release the MCD, and none have shown interest in releasing future recordings so far, Australian or otherwise. If none do for a full length, I'll just release it myself again. As far as the Australian grind labels, I guess it's their genre. There is a strong grind scene here. There is no Death Metal ‘scene' to speak of in Australia!

The Nihilistic Front: No idea. We have had interest from smaller labels, a few of them we will definitely work with in the future. We are currently recording something for a small NZ label, so I don't want to commit to any other label until I have finished what I have already promised. I have plans for another 2 recordings after that, most likely to be self-released (unless a label is willing to do a better job than me). If any labels are interested, get in touch.

Diabolical Conquest: How's the live scene all the way down there? Do your bands get to play together or are they callously separated by the organisers because of the music difference? Do you guys weep in each others' memory then or play more aggressively?

Pervertum Obscurum: Well that question is easy as all 3 bands don't play live as there is not really a demand for it and most gig “promoters” are assholes. At the moment there is not really much of a live scene here and most bands that play live come from overseas. We are getting swamped in international bands and the last 4 years have been crazy with the amount of bands that have come to our distant shores. Hopefully it will get more local bands to get their acts together and do more shows. Believe me its not exciting playing as a 2 piece as we have done it before in Excarnated when our ex-bassist did not show up to play. It was quite funny looking back at it now.

The Nihilistic Front: I don't go to gigs much these days, but there a quite a few bands around. The metal scene in general (especially in Oz) during the mid 90's was better by far. Maybe I am just getting too old and bitter. Damn kids and their tight jeans and makeup. What they need is a boot up the arse, a mullet and some Bon Scott records. When I look through "metal" mags these days I am truly disgusted with a lot of what I see.

Diabolical Conquest: What does your band stand for conceptually and lyrically?

Pervertum Obscurum: For PO it is more war, death, satan, blood, spikes, metal, sluts, booze type of shit that inspired me when I started to listen to metal when I was 14 so the lyrics are simple and self explanatory. For Sang it is more about apocalyptic themes and religious denouncement. Finally for The Nihilistic Front it is more “stream of consciousness” rantings with a deeper meaning. I explore insanity and depression with this one.

Diabolical Conquest: The Nihilistic Front have coined a term to describe their music (Extreme Fuckin' Doom). Do you other guys have any cool terms like that for your band's music?

Pervertum Obscurum: I guess Tony calls Sanguineous “Extreme dark death metal” and I call PO “Primitive and barbaric death metal” so that gives people an idea on what we do.

Diabolical Conquest: I have my reasons for loving the omnipresent vocalist Chris, but why do you guys love him so much? All of you that too? Don't you get jealous when Chris does vocals for a band other than yours? Chris, what is the secret behind your vocal charisma?

Pervertum Obscurum: It's true I love myself LOL!!! Now where are my roadies, groupies and microphone technicians when I need them? Seriously it has just been heaps of practice over the years. I don't sing with my throat (that technique destroys it) and when I am about to sing I drink heaps of warm tea and honey. I also know what my style and limitations are and keep on improving on my limitations. I think the other guys would get angry if I was doing a nu-metal band or something, but that would never happen.

Sanguineous: I could think of no other vocalist for Sanguineous. His gutteral vocals and lyrics are perfect for the band. I curl up in the foetal position and cry for weeks on end when he records for the other projects.

The Nihilistic Front: Nearly every band I have been in (since 1993) has had Chris on vocals. He also gets out more than me and has plenty of scene gossip when we get together which is a bonus. I get very jealous when he spends time with Tony and Sanguineous. When they record I usually stalk outside the studio in the pouring rain, holding a ghetto blaster above my head begging Chris to come back to my studio instead. I also get furious when I see Sanguineous is higher in his Myspace Friends list.

Diabolical Conquest: So what's the Aussie life for you guys like? I guess you guys are too old to skate around, so what do you do then? Kvlt jobs, families, etc? How much of a bearing do they have on the band activities?

Pervertum Obscurum: Aussie life is the best. Heaps of booze n barbies LOL!!! Like most people I have to work so when I am not doing that I am seeing bands, doing stuff around the house, catching up with friends and so forth. I would say that the band is a serious hobby and is done in the spare time that I have. It's not like we rehearse every weekend so the time I spend on the band is doing mail, e-mail, myspace, interviews, writing music, lyrics and recording the stuff.

Sanguineous: I'm a Boilermaker. Telly, Flicks, guitar, console and pc games, bargearse….. all pretty boring really.

The Nihilistic Front: Everything in my life conspires to keep me from music, including my very kvlt job as a cubicle dweller. It helps to keep me depressed, although it does such a good job at making me unhappy that i collapse in a heap every night instead of writing music. True story. That is the essence of Extreme Fucking Doom.

Diabolical Conquest: What future plans do you have for your band? Are you conspiring to shock us with a musical progression as drastic as Excarnated (that almost resulted in my demise)? Any upcoming releases that we should expect with great trepidation?

Pervertum Obscurum: For PO I have been writing songs and getting ready to record a full length CD so that will be finished next year. I think there will be more variation in the new songs as well as being heavier with better arrangements. It's been a big improvement on the demo so far. For the others ask Tony and Gary.

Sanguineous: No drastic musical progression! We'll release a full length sometime in the distant future.

The Nihilistic Front: More experimentation. More Death Metal. More Doom. A limited lathe cut vinyl 8" out late 2007. An EP and a full length album are also in early stages as well, both should be out in 2008. Maybe all three will be out next year. Its hard to tell as after the next release we are changing the way we operate. There will be more collaboration between the two of us, and recordings will largely take place in a live/rehearsal environment. There may even be guest musicians or something. I don't know. The mighty wheels of The Nihilistic Front move very slowly.

Diabolical Conquest: Now don't break into a brawl yet. Are there any plans of an Excarnated reunion? Or are you guys just too pleased with the music of your respective bands?

Pervertum Obscurum: Never !!!!!! What is done has been done. I am too happy with what we have been doing now to even bother getting Ex back together. I think the new bands stand up well anyway and with me being in 3 new “bands” it gives me heaps of diversity with my vocals and I never get bored so why turn back.

Sanguineous: Hahaha… all ex members at once. No one really gave a fuck in the first place, so I wouldn't see the point of it.

Diabolical Conquest: Okay, I've amassed far too much information now. I wish your bands all the best and fervently hope they don't break up and create 20 other bands, which will give me a serious headache if I ever wanted to interview them. Your emotional parting words go here.

Pervertum Obscurum: Cheers Kunal for the support and for taking interest in our music. It would be hard to break up PO as there is only me LOL. To all the readers go out and check out our bands.