Abysmal Grief doesn’t need any introduction – Italian funeral mafia serves best burial rituals for about 18 years, and it’s name is a mark of qualitative and true doom, a true personification of Death and Misfortune. Moreover, there’s no another Abysmal Grief in our mortal world, and as you know these are not some shallow words. The band has a new full-length album “Feretri” (“Coffins”) through Terror From Hell Records and it’s one of first questions which I’ve asked to honorable Regen Graves of Abysmal Grief.
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Hail Regen! Abysmal Grief once again breaks a mourning of it’s congregation with new release. Another headstone on the way of the band is full-length album “Feretri”, what are main motives of your new work?
The new album deals again with the topic of Necromancy, no more in a individualistic way as it happened with the previous "Misfortune", but returning to a more ritualistic and detailed concept. Both the lyrics and the sound are more raw and heavy than before, and it was our main purpose, in order to express deeper the malignance of the whole work.
Once I had heard Abysmal Grief fast tempo track “Creatures From the Grave” it seems quite untypical for me because the band is more famous with its triumphant funeral march step. But now we have Ep “Celebrate What They Fear” which has one more fast track, and there’s “Hidden in the Graveyard” and “The Gaze of the Owl” onto “Feretri” album which are quiet fast too. Can you name other changes which did happen in band’s sound for a last year?
Well, I think Abysmal Grief shouldn't be considered as a "slow" band at all! We always mixed our Doom influences with a more Heavy and Dark sound, really not circumscribed in the typical Doom Metal scene. And our shows can openly demonstrate it, as we never played slow setlists! Certainly you're true when you say that our music reminds you of a solemn funeral march...this is what we want to communicate to our listeners, but we don't like to do it in a narrow way.
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Hm, I understand that you’re meaning, so by the way do you have any covers in your set-lists? And how often do you usually play with other bands? Do you usually share the stage with such old bands as the Black or maybe with new ones as Black Oath?
We use to conclude our shows with the cover of "Chains of Death" by Death SS. It's our personal way to give homage to this band, which represents the whole legendary italian Dark Sound. We shared the stage with both The Black and Black Oath, who are good friends. Usually we don't need to play so much on stage, but it depends on the situation, and we prefer to decide time by time...
Do you have any plans to really big tour in Europe? What kind of obstacles may prevent it? Abysmal Grief is famous in a doom world but such glory sometimes isn’t enough to take a long road with a lot of gigs.
We never cared about tours. Our shows are quite particular and as detailed as possible, and this wouldn't be possible to get inside a long tour, unless we don't have a lot of money to invest in. But be sure that we will never become trendy or famous, so our concerts will be always something little and intimate, if you know what i mean...
Abysmal Grief - Crypt of Horror
How do you see a way of Abysmal Grief current and future evolution? True to say I’m thinking that it will be enough if Abysmal Grief records an album per some period continuing to do that it does the best for last few years. Really… you do your job great, so it would be enough for most of us. But I’m sure that you understand me that it’s not easy to compose songs about Death, graveyard and rituals of funereal through a whole life, isn’t it?
You hit perfectly the mark when you say that we will go on playing the same music as now. I really don't take into consideration the idea of stylistic evolutions both in my way of composing or arranging our songs. Sometimes I listen our first demotapes, and I cannot find any difference between Abysmal Grief from 1996 to 2013, and this is probably our best quality, when it comes about "coherence". Of course someone can argue that it could become boring, but we don't care, as I can assure that we're not able to play any other kind of music than OUR music. When my songs will lose their fascination, I will simply end this experience and start something else.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that Abysmal Grief enriches it's charm with more aggressive touches, did your vision of band’s conception shift? And well… Abysmal Grief was formed in 1996 and it’s conception doens’t change, is an image of Death still attractive to you? Why?
The image of Death is a part of my daily life, honestly speaking. I really cannot imagine some form of Art coming out from me without any reference with it. And yes, probably we became a little more agressive growing older... I think this is quite natural when you spend your life in a world and society which spit their failures and contradictions in your face every fucking day.
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Regen I would like to ask you also about image of “Misfortune” in your songs, because most of listeners interpret it only as “bad luck”, is it only this?
You can consider it as Bad luck, but also "fear of Death". Italy (and all the countries of the Mediterranean area) has very superstitious culture and traditions, mostly caused by the catholic fear of punishment and other shit promulgated by the terrible christian church, so we decided to use this topic to attack and mock in a more subtle way all the assholes who follow like sheep the catholic hipocrisy.
Which song of Abysmal Grief does represent the band better than others and which one make you really proud of it?
Probably we like to consider "Exsequia Occulta" as the more complete song from us, but we're proud of every song, otherwise we would never record it.
Oh, I was expecting “Sepulchre of Misfortune” because it’s the song after which I became a true and zealous follower of Abysmal Grief cult. So what is about this song? How often do you play it? And do you remember how it was composed?
"Exsequia Occulta" is a 13 minutes song which describes a necromantic rite in details. I composed it at the end of 1997, during the rehearsal sessions before recording the "Funereal" demotape, and we played it live in that period, but then we decided to record it only in 2000, for our first single. At the moment we don't play it on stage anymore, so as "Sepulchre of Misfortune", but maybe some day it will return to be part of the set list, as many people still like it very much...
Abysmal Grief - Sepulchure of Misfortune
By the way how much have changed in your vision of songs writing? How does the process of song writing and recording go in Abysmal Grief?
I can tell you honestly that our process of composition is exactly the same since 1997! I use to compose all the riffs, and build the structure of the song, then Labes C.Necrothytus adds all the keyboard lines. Then, when the music is ready, I take my time to compose all the lyrics (usually this is the longest part of the process) and finally we meet all together to rehearse it. This is how an Abysmal Grief songs born and develop, and I'm sure it's the only way we could work.
Indeed I didn’t know that but I’ve checked metal-archives and found that you have another voiceman onto your very first demo “Funereal”: as Labes Necrothytus played only keyboard, Garian was vocalist. Who is Garian? And where does he sing now? It seems nearly impossible that someone else besides Labes sang in Abysmal Grief!
Garian stopped every musical activity after his experience with Abysmal Grief. He is a good friend of mine, even if our lives faded apart, as it always happens, and we don't meet often. At the beginning Labes was only the keyboard player in Abysmal Grief, but we decided to give him more space as the artistic direction of the band was supposed to be kept within the limits of the Gothic style, and his voice was fitting perfectly with the vision of the band I had in that period. My choice was good, after all.....
Regen, somehow most of us know you as a songwriter of Abysmal Grief, Labes C. Necrophytus is a famous “voice from the grave” but you also have a bass player Lord Alastair who’s in the band since very beginning. What can you tell us about him?
He's a part of our funeral orchestra, even if he doesn't take part in the compositions. Usually he prefers to take part in the recording and mixing process. So you can see that everyone of the 3 of us is a basic element for the complete realization of our esoteric message.
And there’s a hooded figure on some Abysmal Grief photos. Who is it? You know – some people can think that it’s one of nameless Ghouls of popular occult rock band Ghost…
The hooded figure in some old photos (besides Lord Alastair) was one of our old drummers. The only official hooded man in Abysmal Grief is Lord Alastarir, and he doesn't need to hide his name to improve his attractiveness, as some trendy posers...
I’m not sure but it seems to me that once Mario “The Black” Di Donato took part helping you with record of some song – does my brain betray me or is it a real fact?
You're true, my friend. He was appearing as special guest preacher in a song of our first album. It was suggested us from the guys of Black Widow Rec, and I immediately loved the idea. And he was very friendly and honoured to appear in our album, as we opened one of his concerts here in Genova many years before, and we were in touch. I'm still very honoured of that appearence.
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I’ve seen one of live videos of Abysmal Grief and I just wonder – Labes looks bloody respectable on the stage! You know – that suit and tie… I have three assumptions: he works in government; he works in morgue; he works in mafia. Which one is closer to the truth? :-)
Hehe, well, I'm sure he would be much more proud to work in a morgue than in government or mafia (which are the same thing here in Italy!!!). Anyway we try to be very respectable on stage, and in our normal daily life we're not so much different from what you perceive on our shows, even if we don't wear the same clothes, of course....
Well, I wouldn’t like to torture you with questions about your and Labes real occupation, let us keep that in secret or at least we’ll try to reveal it our next interview ;-) And as it’s too early to asking about future album of Abysmal Grief let us finish this interview – thanks for your time and patience Regen! Good luck!
I think there are some aspects that should be kept hidden, and not everyone is so curious to know so deeply about us, I think. Anyway we wouldn't reveal too much. So about our future works, even if I can tell you that we're already working on new songs... Anyway, I thank you for this interview, and I wish you good and satisfying nightmares. In Death. R.G.
Interview By Aleks
Official Website
Facebook
Elektroplasma Musik
The new album deals again with the topic of Necromancy, no more in a individualistic way as it happened with the previous "Misfortune", but returning to a more ritualistic and detailed concept. Both the lyrics and the sound are more raw and heavy than before, and it was our main purpose, in order to express deeper the malignance of the whole work.
Once I had heard Abysmal Grief fast tempo track “Creatures From the Grave” it seems quite untypical for me because the band is more famous with its triumphant funeral march step. But now we have Ep “Celebrate What They Fear” which has one more fast track, and there’s “Hidden in the Graveyard” and “The Gaze of the Owl” onto “Feretri” album which are quiet fast too. Can you name other changes which did happen in band’s sound for a last year?
Well, I think Abysmal Grief shouldn't be considered as a "slow" band at all! We always mixed our Doom influences with a more Heavy and Dark sound, really not circumscribed in the typical Doom Metal scene. And our shows can openly demonstrate it, as we never played slow setlists! Certainly you're true when you say that our music reminds you of a solemn funeral march...this is what we want to communicate to our listeners, but we don't like to do it in a narrow way.
We use to conclude our shows with the cover of "Chains of Death" by Death SS. It's our personal way to give homage to this band, which represents the whole legendary italian Dark Sound. We shared the stage with both The Black and Black Oath, who are good friends. Usually we don't need to play so much on stage, but it depends on the situation, and we prefer to decide time by time...
Do you have any plans to really big tour in Europe? What kind of obstacles may prevent it? Abysmal Grief is famous in a doom world but such glory sometimes isn’t enough to take a long road with a lot of gigs.
We never cared about tours. Our shows are quite particular and as detailed as possible, and this wouldn't be possible to get inside a long tour, unless we don't have a lot of money to invest in. But be sure that we will never become trendy or famous, so our concerts will be always something little and intimate, if you know what i mean...
How do you see a way of Abysmal Grief current and future evolution? True to say I’m thinking that it will be enough if Abysmal Grief records an album per some period continuing to do that it does the best for last few years. Really… you do your job great, so it would be enough for most of us. But I’m sure that you understand me that it’s not easy to compose songs about Death, graveyard and rituals of funereal through a whole life, isn’t it?
You hit perfectly the mark when you say that we will go on playing the same music as now. I really don't take into consideration the idea of stylistic evolutions both in my way of composing or arranging our songs. Sometimes I listen our first demotapes, and I cannot find any difference between Abysmal Grief from 1996 to 2013, and this is probably our best quality, when it comes about "coherence". Of course someone can argue that it could become boring, but we don't care, as I can assure that we're not able to play any other kind of music than OUR music. When my songs will lose their fascination, I will simply end this experience and start something else.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that Abysmal Grief enriches it's charm with more aggressive touches, did your vision of band’s conception shift? And well… Abysmal Grief was formed in 1996 and it’s conception doens’t change, is an image of Death still attractive to you? Why?
The image of Death is a part of my daily life, honestly speaking. I really cannot imagine some form of Art coming out from me without any reference with it. And yes, probably we became a little more agressive growing older... I think this is quite natural when you spend your life in a world and society which spit their failures and contradictions in your face every fucking day.
You can consider it as Bad luck, but also "fear of Death". Italy (and all the countries of the Mediterranean area) has very superstitious culture and traditions, mostly caused by the catholic fear of punishment and other shit promulgated by the terrible christian church, so we decided to use this topic to attack and mock in a more subtle way all the assholes who follow like sheep the catholic hipocrisy.
Which song of Abysmal Grief does represent the band better than others and which one make you really proud of it?
Probably we like to consider "Exsequia Occulta" as the more complete song from us, but we're proud of every song, otherwise we would never record it.
Oh, I was expecting “Sepulchre of Misfortune” because it’s the song after which I became a true and zealous follower of Abysmal Grief cult. So what is about this song? How often do you play it? And do you remember how it was composed?
"Exsequia Occulta" is a 13 minutes song which describes a necromantic rite in details. I composed it at the end of 1997, during the rehearsal sessions before recording the "Funereal" demotape, and we played it live in that period, but then we decided to record it only in 2000, for our first single. At the moment we don't play it on stage anymore, so as "Sepulchre of Misfortune", but maybe some day it will return to be part of the set list, as many people still like it very much...
By the way how much have changed in your vision of songs writing? How does the process of song writing and recording go in Abysmal Grief?
I can tell you honestly that our process of composition is exactly the same since 1997! I use to compose all the riffs, and build the structure of the song, then Labes C.Necrothytus adds all the keyboard lines. Then, when the music is ready, I take my time to compose all the lyrics (usually this is the longest part of the process) and finally we meet all together to rehearse it. This is how an Abysmal Grief songs born and develop, and I'm sure it's the only way we could work.
Indeed I didn’t know that but I’ve checked metal-archives and found that you have another voiceman onto your very first demo “Funereal”: as Labes Necrothytus played only keyboard, Garian was vocalist. Who is Garian? And where does he sing now? It seems nearly impossible that someone else besides Labes sang in Abysmal Grief!
Garian stopped every musical activity after his experience with Abysmal Grief. He is a good friend of mine, even if our lives faded apart, as it always happens, and we don't meet often. At the beginning Labes was only the keyboard player in Abysmal Grief, but we decided to give him more space as the artistic direction of the band was supposed to be kept within the limits of the Gothic style, and his voice was fitting perfectly with the vision of the band I had in that period. My choice was good, after all.....
Regen, somehow most of us know you as a songwriter of Abysmal Grief, Labes C. Necrophytus is a famous “voice from the grave” but you also have a bass player Lord Alastair who’s in the band since very beginning. What can you tell us about him?
He's a part of our funeral orchestra, even if he doesn't take part in the compositions. Usually he prefers to take part in the recording and mixing process. So you can see that everyone of the 3 of us is a basic element for the complete realization of our esoteric message.
And there’s a hooded figure on some Abysmal Grief photos. Who is it? You know – some people can think that it’s one of nameless Ghouls of popular occult rock band Ghost…
The hooded figure in some old photos (besides Lord Alastair) was one of our old drummers. The only official hooded man in Abysmal Grief is Lord Alastarir, and he doesn't need to hide his name to improve his attractiveness, as some trendy posers...
I’m not sure but it seems to me that once Mario “The Black” Di Donato took part helping you with record of some song – does my brain betray me or is it a real fact?
You're true, my friend. He was appearing as special guest preacher in a song of our first album. It was suggested us from the guys of Black Widow Rec, and I immediately loved the idea. And he was very friendly and honoured to appear in our album, as we opened one of his concerts here in Genova many years before, and we were in touch. I'm still very honoured of that appearence.
I’ve seen one of live videos of Abysmal Grief and I just wonder – Labes looks bloody respectable on the stage! You know – that suit and tie… I have three assumptions: he works in government; he works in morgue; he works in mafia. Which one is closer to the truth? :-)
Hehe, well, I'm sure he would be much more proud to work in a morgue than in government or mafia (which are the same thing here in Italy!!!). Anyway we try to be very respectable on stage, and in our normal daily life we're not so much different from what you perceive on our shows, even if we don't wear the same clothes, of course....
Well, I wouldn’t like to torture you with questions about your and Labes real occupation, let us keep that in secret or at least we’ll try to reveal it our next interview ;-) And as it’s too early to asking about future album of Abysmal Grief let us finish this interview – thanks for your time and patience Regen! Good luck!
I think there are some aspects that should be kept hidden, and not everyone is so curious to know so deeply about us, I think. Anyway we wouldn't reveal too much. So about our future works, even if I can tell you that we're already working on new songs... Anyway, I thank you for this interview, and I wish you good and satisfying nightmares. In Death. R.G.
Interview By Aleks
Official Website
Elektroplasma Musik