Impure Ziggurat is a band formed in 2012, can you tell how you met and had the idea of forming the band?
Rm and myself (Cdrk) were the originators of the band. We were knowing each other since a decade and shared billions liters of booze over the years. One night, after a significant amount of alcohol, we talked about one of our hobbies : astronomy. To be exact, the occult astronomy, unsolved and horrific mysteries of the deep space, quantum physics and the esoteric link between astronomy and the ancient civilizations that vanished into oblivion.
Back in the days, I was fueled since few years by the reading of tons of “alternative history” books, written by Graham Hancock, Charles Berlitz, Louis-Claude Vincent, Zecharia Sitchin,... dealing with the true origins of mankind, far from the reassuring stories officialy told.
The discover of this disputed litterature was one of the turning point of my life.
After this, we agreed to spread the “gospel” of these books, while at the same time playing a furious Black/Death Metal, sinister and dreadful.
We decided to set our very first rehearsal at the 21th december 2012. Pretty significant date.
Other long-time friends, TerrorReign and Ldvc teamed up with us few months later to complete the line up and brought their own stone to this macabre edifice.
According to you, why create a new death / black metal? Do you still have the same spirit as the old bands and Impure Ziggurat can replicate it in its original way?
We're all fond of Metal, we don't think that “there's too much band” or that the genre is done. There's too many shitty bands, that is not the same thing.
During the early days of extreme Metal, there was already terrible bands, but at least people involved in them were dedicated metalheads, at least while they played their music. Now the scene is polluted by people with attitude such as “We like Metal, but we are not metalheads. Metalheads are retarted teenagers, we are musicians.” I HATE this so much. These guys deserve to be beaten up 'til death.
One way to fight them is to create some good and dedicated band, it does not matter if they're originals or not. We can listen all days to some good copycats of Blasphemy, Sarcofago and Slayer so the sterile quest for originality is not our priority.
I've been able to listen to your demo "Raping the Quantum Womb of the Macrocosm" and your EP "Serenades of Astral Malevolence" they both have a primitive sound, but I believe that there are future possibilities for your music of a further evolution;
Melodies could develop further and not necessarily be so minimal... do you think Impure Ziggurat will develop more complex and articulated music in the future? Or instead you think that the current brutal form alters 100% what the band deeply is?
From the early beginning of the band, the musical direction of the band a clearly engraved in our mind and flesh : hellish drumming, low grunts, simplistic rhythmic guitars and sorrowful guitar leads over it. We have found our way. We won't change it. We won't change anything. We're stubborn people.
Evolution could bring improvement, but it also could bring corruption and alienation.
In various style, Immolation, Revenge, Bolt Thrower, Sadistik Exekution or Motörhead never changed anything in their music and their discographies are flawless.
On the other hand, look at Mayhem, Emperor, Metallica or Manes : they turned to crap when they tried to “evolve” and tuning back to their roots and to their “trademark”.
There are trends in both black and death metal that cross and mix at an ever-increasing rate, from the tendency of dissonances and the abandoning the classical black metal and death sounds to converge to this so-called “avant-garde” sounds ( A very weird definition in my opinion).
The number of bands that develop this “avant-gard” thing is becoming really high, what do you think? And especially what are the groups that are still able to convey a feeling of attraction and involvement without having to adopt such a stylistic change?
In one word : crap.
In two words : fucking crap.
I fucking hate it. All these Icelandic bands who suck the late albums from Deathspell Omega, with boring dissonant guitars, and an anti-Metal attitude, anti-Metal artwork and, to say the least, anti-Metal faces.
Other cesspool of shit, the whole “post-Black Metal” thing. When you add “post” to something, it must be a pretentious turd. Seriously, take a look at the guys of Deafheaven, Sun Worship,... Are these pussies black metallers ? Fuck, they're not even metalheads. Shove their Starbucks coffee mug into their weak ass and throw them to the pigs.
I see that your topics also tend to be based on something that has been written by others.
(I usually do not read lyrics that tell me about things that others have written unless I'm interested in the subject).
Don’t you think that even the way in which certain topics are placed and developed in the lyrics ( sometimes is like reading a book on ancient religions or in other cases a grimorie or boring treats of magic etc without counting the childish non sense about satanic stuff) can bore or be a little redundant sometimes?
In Impure Ziggurat, we have a message : there's an hidden and cyclic plague upon us, a curse cast from the celestial horizons, a threat that will annihilate mankind as it already partially destroyed it in the past, in -11 000 BC. I refer to the great comet, the old Snake made of dust and ice which came from the sky, that hit the Earth at the end of the Pleistocene age, leading to a world cataclysm, a shift of the continents, killing 90% of the population. I am dead serious about it. It happened.
So, we came here to spread one prophecy that could be sumed up in one single word : DEATH.
People interested in these theories can check out the authors quoted prevously in this intie. I can also suggest the works of Colin Wilson, Robert Bauval, Immanuel Velikovsky,... I already said too much about it, I deeply think that knowledge is a Luciferian quest : a hidden and tortuous path you have to walk alone, through the anxious dark and against all, until you reach the enlightment of the truth.
To quote the old DarkThrone song “Quintessence” : “only one single lamp do show me this way and it's the eye of Satan. “
Satan does not want slaves.He does not want people who faithfully bow in front of icons of Him. He leave this to false Gods and their flock of afraid insects. Satan wants his insiders to be strong, to be clever, people with the will and the knowledge to become Masters at his side.
And I have absolutely no problem with regressive satanic lyrics : they are a pillar of the extreme Metal genre and I support the filthy obscenity that emanate from them. My other band Hexen Holocaust mainly deals with this, by the way. I totally prefer a band which deals with Molochian orgies where whores are drunk on goat cum than philosophical wankery about the duality of the soul written by dickheads who think they're so smart and above the pack.
The monotheist plague is still alive and it is a duty to hate it, a duty to to stand against it, a duty to blasphemate it again and again, in the name of reason, in the name of freedom of your mind.
Which bands have most influenced you since you started to play?
One of my main influences was Krieg, from the demos to the Black House album. After this, this band is dead to me.... Other influences can be found in Demoncy, Beherit, Hate Forest, Blood of Kingu, Inquisition, Black Crucifixion, Von, Judas Iscariot, Belial,... We like a lot the 90's american Black Metal scene and the finnish originators of Black/Death sound.
I guess you make reference to Svart Crown, as Ldvc plays in it ?
To be honest, I am not very much interested in their Metal, I'm not into their modern sound and their song-writing. To my taste, it lacks of a filthy atmosphere and bestiality. But Ldvc is one of my older friends, nearly since two decades and a genuine metalhead so I have no problem with that.
On the other hand, we share a lot of values with Necroblood, which is one of the best french bestial band still around nowadays.
Social media do you think them as a tool that has positively transformed the music environment? And how important is it for you?
We have no problem with Internet and the social media.
I guess it's mostly an improvement for the underground gig organizators to promote their activities and for the small bands like us. Thanks to this, we are in touch with maniacs living in Australia, Chile, Singapore, New Zealand,...
You can deal without it but then you have to :
a) Already being a well-known band that reached a critical mass with their fanbase
b)Getting a massive support from your label which is also well-known.
Black Witchery, for instance, can live outside of the social media sphere because they fill these two conditions. It's impossible in our case.
Has your 7 "EP been recorded, mixed, burned and printed all in analog mode?
The advantage of analog sound dynamics according to you is today properly understood?
No, despite it was released on vinyl, it was recorded with digital equipments.
Like most of the vinyl releases nowadays in fact.
We're a small band and we definitely can't afford a fancy studio with such gear.
Everything is homemade. At least, we keep the control upon our work, though Cam Sinclair (Diocletian, Witchrist) did the mixing/mastering job and he did it perfectly.
What do you think has changed in the attitudes of today's bands compared to those of the 1990s?
To talk only about Black Metal, 2O years ago, this music was not just music : it was a way of life. You had to dress in black all year long, to have long hair or bald, to be intolerant and sectarian. I support 100% this. I am sectarian. BM is supposed to stay a nearly-clandestine cult, not another “alternative music” amongst others. We don't want media attention. We don't want some “documentaries” movies to be filmed. We don't want to bring to the gigs your work mates to make them “discover your world”.
Thanks to Internet and to the hipster cockroaches of Vice and Noisey, now Black Metal is just a music. And of course, BM must be compliant to their own ideology : open-minded, respectful of everyone, blahblah.
No misunderstanding : there is still today A LOT of genuine killer bands that keeps the unholy flame of hate alive. Peple who says “Black Metal is dead” are wrong. THEY are dead, at least inside. They lost the inner spark. I can agree that the peak of the genre has been already reached, but there's every single month so many killer releases...
I read that it is not easy for you to play live for various problems (where you live etc.)
What kind of live concert offer would convince you to play live and to what conditions?
Indeed, all the members are scattered around France and TerrorReign even live in the USA since few years, so rehearsing and recording is always a problem. Impure Ziggurat may remain forever a studio-only band. We would not like to provide a half-assed show due to a lack of rehearsing or poor conditions in the venue. Beside this, I like the idea that some bands will never appear on stage, it grant them a shroud of mystery.
Are you playing with other bands at the moment? and/or do you have parallel projects?
TerrorReign is also a part of the savage Black/Death warmachine Necroblood, their first full-length “Collapse of the human race” is out since april. Total bestial attack in the vein of Conqueror, Axis of Advance and Archgoat.
About myself, I also play in Hexen Holocaust, a primitive Black/Death Metal band including some members from Necroblood, Venefixion, Osculum Infame,... Our first MCD “Heretical Dreadful Orgies” is also out since april. Regressive stuff in the vein of Profanatica, Von, Sarcofago, Bestial Summoning,...
Do you listen also to different styles of music?
No. Only extreme Metal prevails. We're stubborn and close-minded people.
What are future next plans for Impure Ziggurat?
We're currently writing the material to appear on a MCD/MLP untitled “Crimson tide from the Pleistocene”. Hopefully it will be recorded late 2017/early 2018 and released... only Satan knows. It was supposed to be a full-length but we're pleased with short-length releases.
Free words say what u like
This planet is doomed. Enjoy your last days, the worst is yet to come.
