Ciao! “Udug-Hul Incantation” is the second single from your forthcoming album, Xul. Can you tell us a little bit about the inspiration behind the song?
Udug-Hul Incantation it’s the second song that I wrote in 2020 for Xul during the pandemic quarantine here in Italy, and I think it’s one of the best songs I’ve ever written for Devangelic, it’s a very intense and evocative track but brutal at the same time despite the slow tempo. I wanted to create something groovy on this track. As many listeners told us, and they are right, the song is mainly inspired by the slow tracks from Nile and Morbid Angel, plus I wanted to include some dissonant arpeggios. In addition, the symbolism of the number “3” has always fascinated me, so I kept that position in the tracklist reserved for a slow song. I used the same formula on our second album, Phlegethon, where track #3 (“Of Maggots ..”) is the album’s slow track.
You mentioned that “Udug-Hul Incantation” is the slowest song on the album. How does it fit into the overall sound and theme of Xul?
When I started to compose the first riffs and dissonances for ‘Udug-Hul,’ I already had in mind to write a song that dealt with an ancient exorcism, and I started to imagine the evolution of the whole story. So let’s say it is a song that was born and evolved almost spontaneously, both as a slow progression and as disturbing and dissonant melodies. There are in fact some compositional solutions that I had never used on any other tracks.
The lyrics of “Udug-Hul Incantation” are inspired by a book on ancient exorcism. Can you expand on that and how it ties into the concept of the album?
The text is inspired by the book Healing Magic and Evil Demons by Markham J. Geller. It details an ancient exorcism that ends in the worst way, one in which all the participants end up possessed by the spirit of Evil Udug, rather than being released from possession. With this epilogue I wanted to give a representation of man’s perfidy, which has characterized human beings since Earth’s beginnings. Man is faced with his own inner demons: evil as a representation of ‘darkness’ and the duality of man, as one tries to exorcise negative emotions. But as history teaches us, the negative almost always prevails over human efforts to the contrary. It is an evil that still emerges today, as numerous recent events demonstrate.
Xul is your fourth album, and you’ve described it as your best material to date. What sets it apart from your previous releases?
Xul’s songwriting is definitely the most mature compared to the previous 3 albums and we are really satisfied with the quality of the final product.
Initially there was only one musical interlude, a piece specially written by Massimiliano Cirelli to which I then added samples and atmospheric parts to enrich it, then listening to the complete pre-productions I felt that something was still missing so I opted to add “Famine” in which I used several samples and various samples, I deviated in composing a particular instrumental piece, certainly obscure that we will certainly also use live, I think just as a real intro to our next concerts. Yes, the idea of inserting 2 short instrumental interludes to give the entire album some breathing space was a choice that was also appreciated by our label. Let’s say that with Xul the “new” musical direction of Devangelic seems to go towards typical sounds of Nile, Hate Eternal, Hour Of Penance.
The album’s concept focuses on the theme of evil and the duality of man. How did you approach writing the lyrics and music to reflect this concept?
Looking around for some interesting readings I’ve discovered that the name”Xul” was originally a Sumerian word used to denote the “Evil” and I’ve started to think about to use this name/topic on the new album’s concept. How I wrote on the official press release the main concept is basically an introspective journey in which the human being, since his appearance on Earth, is forced to face his own inner demons; evil seen as a representation of the “darkness” and the duality of man, who tries to exorcise his own negative emotions. But, as history teaches us, the negative almost always prevails in a battle against human weakness. You can listen in part of this “duality” mainly on the vocals of the album, there are 2 kinds of vocal patterns on all the songs, like a conversation between good and evil.
The album artwork for Xul was created by Nick Keller. Can you explain the concept behind the artwork and how it ties into the theme of the album?
We’ve worked once again with Nick Keller for this album cover as we did with our previous album Ersetu.
He captured perfectly the concept we wanted and brought our ideas to life in an outstanding piece of artwork. You can see the giant demon holding a human figure, indicating that human beings can’t overcome their weaknesses; their inner demons will always prevail over them. For this artwork we worked together to put out ideas, talking a lot via email, sending some videos to each other where some ancient demons were described, and this process was cool because the topic of the album was not so easy to replicate. The main giant demon is inspired by a Mesopotamian mythological divinity named Humbaba, the one who causes earthquakes and is represented with dragon’s teeth and a repulsive face made of entrails. VERY BRUTAL!
How did the COVID-19 pandemic impact the creation and recording of Xul?
I started to compose the first drafts of the songs around March 2020 when our previous album Ersetu was not released yet. I had very clear what I wanted with the new album and where to go. The writing process lasted about a couple of years between music, lyrics and various arrangements, everything went very smoothly and natural. To write a song depends on several factors, you can have ideas all together that allow you to have a song written in a few days or it can even last a few months to have a song ready.
You worked with producer Stefano Morabito at 16th Cellar Studio on Xul. What was it like working with him, and how did he help bring your vision for the album to life?
Stefano is a true professional, he works meticulously and we have always been satisfied with his recordings and editing work! The relationship we have with him is very good since the beginning which makes working together much easier and smoother. We’ve recorded with him our debut album Resurrection Denied in full + produced the previous Ersetu but with Xul I think we’ve surpassed ourselves. We had a preliminary meeting before entering the studio with him, we listened to the pre-productions together and exchanged ideas and suggestions on which path we wanted to take for the final production. The process was very natural and constructive.
Xul is set to be released on April 7th. What are your plans for promoting the album and how excited are you for your fans to hear it?
We will continue to promote the album as much as possible on the various social platforms and we can’t wait for it to officially come out and be heard by the public. I hope it’s a record that appeals not only to the most extremist Death Metal lovers but that can open the doors of our music to a wider audience.
What’s next for Devangelic after the release of Xul? Do you have any plans for touring or new music in the works?
Definitely continue the online promotion of the new album, also having practically two albums to promote we have different situations in the works, first of all for the first time we will have quite a few dates in Italy, then helped by our new Booking (Grave Sin Booking) we are trying to organize a European tour for September and some side festivals. In May we will go to South America for the first time, and precisely to Colombia for the Bogotà Grind Death Fest where we will be headlining on Saturday. We already have some interesting proposals for 2024 too which we will be working on after the summer, in the meantime we will dedicate ourselves to promoting the new release in the best possible way.
Thank you!
Thanks to you for having me! Listen to XUL on all platforms and see you on the road!
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