Interview with JC Kerioth (guitar) and Ain Soph Aour (vocals and bass) about Necromass, the Italian Black metal band. The latest release of the band was in 2013, “Calix. Utero. Babalon’’ and soon they will release a Split album with Mortuary Drape.
Greetings Ain and JC, how things are going?
Ain Soph Aour: I’m very well, aware of what surrounds me and what I’m doing!
JC: Great things, it’s a very good moment.
Tell me the history of Necromass, when was the band founded.
Ain Soph Aour: Necromass was born in 1992, the band was founded by Charles Blasphemy, the first demo “Connected Body Pentagram” (1992) was out the same year. Tt has been reprinted several times and distributed in thousands of copies. The following year I joined the band on bass and we released our first EP, “His Eyes” (Carnefician Prod., 1993), a raw and wild Black metal work. In 1994 we’ve released the second EP “Bhoma” (Miscarriage Records, 1994) and our first full length “Mysteria Mystica Zothyriana” (Unisound International, 1994 ): a masterpiece of pure hate, pure evil. JC joined the band in October 1994 and contributed very much to the songwriting of the band. Our second album, “Abyss Calls Life” (1996, Dracma Rec.) represents the Black metal evolution into complex forms of hatred: violence is enhanced by melodic and progressive songwriting. Charles Blasphemy left the band after the recording of “Abyss Calls Life” then I was asked to play the role of lead singer as well. Same year, in September, we embarked on the Satanic War Tour I, together with Dark Funeral, we played all over Europe, from Paris to Rotterdam from London to. In 1997, we continued touring extensively, with the Italian Assault Part II, a very successful tour with Sadist and Detestor, which brought them to perform in theaters and sports arenas. A year later, we published the mini-cd “Chrysalis Gold” (1998, recorded at Nadir Studios): an advance from the new material, written for their third unfinished album. A few months later, due to personal problems, we disbanded. After 11 years of silence, the band announced the long-awaited reunion, driven by the re-releases of the first two albums by the German label Funeral Industries and by the inexhaustible support from the fans, who have continued to honor the name of Necromass over the years. The band is three quarters the same one that has performed dozens of concerts (including the tour with Dark Funeral) after the release of “Abyss”: Ain Soph Aour (vocals, bass), John Cordoni, aka JC Chaos (guitar) and Nachzerher Mara (guitar), while Charun replaced Black Wizard (who joined Domine in 2001) on drums.
”Calix. Utero. Babalon” is the last release from 2013. Tell me about it.
Ain Soph Aour: ”Calix. Utero. Babalon” was our return, our rebirth after years of silence; for us it was a new beginning, a very important moment of our existence. As the title of the record suggest, we set our seed and our creative energy into the womb of our highest ambition, putting on it all our inner soul: it is the reflection of our deepest instincts, and never as in this release, we managed to be so direct and powerful! We are very satisfied with our work, but we do not stop now … we go forward, and as perfection doesn’t exists, we always try to improve ourselves and to overcome ourselves, all this implies a great job and dedication as well!
Have you got nice reviews about this album?
JC: Yes, we had very good reviews from magazines such as Metal Hammer, Rock Hard and Terrorizer, just to mention few. Of course we had also bad reviews ahahah!
Are you going to release new materials soon?
Ain Soph Aour: Now we are waiting for the release of “Ordo Nox Equilibrium”, a Split album with Mortuary Drape. I think it will be a long-awaited exit because two bands Italian with our history is a combination that was brought to the bottom and I think for an honor sharing a split with Mortuary Drape, always in the front line to express the feeling occult purely Italian, and enviable elsewhere; I must say that we have an approach that in the future we will mark!
In the band were many changes, both the name of the band and line-up. Can you tell me something about these?
Ain Soph Aour: The first two years of Necromass have been very turbulent, several musicians have been part of the band but the name never changed! Since 1995, we had only two major changes in the line-up as said: Charles Blasphemy left the band in ’96 and Black Wizard was replaced by Charun in 2011. The line up is well defined and we go straight on!
What are the band’s influences?
Ain Soph Aour: Surely our influences are so vast that they cannot be quoted in an interview. We have roots everywhere and we love the music in all its forms, both extreme and not.
Who mainly writes the music for Necromass?
JC: Me, Ain Soph Aour and Nachzerher Mara are the main songwriters of the band. About myself, sometimes I like to write the core of the song alone, then we develop the songs together, and the same thing is done when Ain or Nachzerher Mara write their compositions. Usually everybody is free to add his ideas.
What about shows, any confirmed?
JC: We’ll play on November the 21th at Rock Centrale in Erba (Como), it will be the release party of our new split album and we’ll play together with Mortuary Drape. Then we have gigs confirmed in Padova, Genova, Milan, Brescia, Florence, but I cannot reveal entirely the news right now, you will know the details really soon!
Any other plans for Nercomass in the future?
Ain Soph Aour: We will promote our new split album and in the meantime we will work on the new album. It will take a long time to release it, since we want to have a fucking great work! Besides that, next year will be the 20th anniversary of “Abyss Calls Life”, maybe we will have some surprise about it for our fans.
Do you have a message for the fans?
Ain Soph Aour: Check our new video “Fair of Blasphemy” and spread the blasplemy!
Thank you both for this interview, hails and all the best! Hope to see you soon!
Thank you Carla, Hell the Best!
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