UK masked Black Metal mavericks The Infernal Sea talk to Paul Castles about touring, plans for the new album and the mysterious Agents of Satan…
How did the UK tour with Abigail Williams go last year?
It was a really good tour and we had a great response every night. It was really good fun and we’ve been fans of Abigail Williams for a long time. It was really for us the last stages of the Great Mortality Tour.
The Great Mortality album explored the theme of the plague in medieval times. Will you stick with this period of history for the next album or have you other plans?
Well, yes we will be staying on the Dark Ages medieval theme. But I think every album going forward will potentially be themed around events that happened during that time. There’s so much history you can just write about it for years to come. Lots of horrible things happened back then and we can probably write about it for years to come, just exploring different themes. It’s really looking at how mankind acts in situations of ultimate despair, and how when times turn bad they turn into horrible people.
Does it concern you that in some places religion still has a hold over people in the way it did during medieval times?
Religion doesn’t have the vicelike grip it used to but is still very controlling, especially in the United States. Mankind still makes the same mistakes and you realise most people don’t give a shit about anyone else and are just there to help themselves. I don’t think we’re nasty people but the theme challenges the music. You can see parallels in today’s society and we look to channel that hate into our music. It’s actually scary how much of what we’ve written about in the past transposes to today’s society.
At Damnation Fest in Leeds, UK you were joined on stage by some very statuesque figures. Who were they?
Ah, they are our Agents of Satan. The lantern bearers joined us on stage for a gruelling 30 minutes. It’s not a nice job for them but we suffer for it and so they have to suffer as well!
How is the experience of playing a festival such as Damnation differ from your own headline tour?
Obviously at a festival we usually have a shorter set so have to change things a bit compared to a headline show when you’re waiting around all day to play. The great thing is with a headline show you know everyone there has come to see you. With a festival they’re there to see lots of bands and to enjoy the day as a whole. If they haven’t seen you before then they are intrigued to know what you’re about and you want to bring them into the cult too. But you have to think about what songs to play, maybe ones that are not too punishing!
Where do things stand in term of the next album?
Well it’s finished and should be out early in the year. There’s a definite progression to the sound with the new record. In many ways it is a bit more like the Agents of Satan 7-inch. It still retains that sound but with a bit more of a punkier edge. It’s black n roll! There’ll be some stuff that surprises people but it’s the next step up for us. This album had a lot of hurdles we had to jump over, with real life sometimes getting in the way. We all have issues we have to get past but it made us stronger and more focused and gave us more fire.
What shows have you got coming up?
We recently performed our satanic sermons at Warhorns Winterfest in Sheffield. We’re playing the Black Death Plague Festival in London on February 29 and 1 March and then there should be an extensive UK tour around the time of the new album release. We’d like to take it to Europe too although it depends what’s going on following Brexit. We’ve heard you could end up having to pay a permit each time you drive into a different country it’s going to get difficult. That could be hard on bands and it could make things difficult.
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