Interview with SPORAE AUTEM YUGGOTH

Hi there! Congratulations on the release of your debut album, “However It Still Moves.” Can you tell us a little bit about the writing and recording process for the album?
Hello friends of Antichrist Magazine! First of all we want to thank you for this space, we are happy to participate in this round of questions. The process of composing the songs for the new album began in a turbulent 2020 for us, at a time of many social crises, which eventually led to the pandemic that affected the whole world. The curfews and quarantines affected the creative workshop dynamics that we had been bringing from the previous production, this instance forced us to create and compose riffs separately and assemble the songs remotely with all that this implies. The whole process was much slower and somewhat exhausting, but as time went by we were able to shape the songs for the album and we recorded each instrument little by little based on the demos previously worked on separately.

The recording was much more controlled, as there was not much movement of presentations, we only dedicated ourselves to that, to record in our rehearsal room quietly, we took the opportunity to polish and generate details that could be interesting when it came to the final shape of each song. The recordings were also very long and exhaustive, but with each recorded part finished, we felt we were on the right track.

Can you talk about the different moods and emotions that influenced the album’s sound?
Ugh! That was an issue at the time ahaha, we were emotionally affected mainly by the effects of the pandemic, the confinements, which truncated our work dynamics a bit, we started this whole process with one member less, who stepped aside, which was a problem at the time. To approach this new production as a quartet was a challenge, there was a lot of anxiety and initial frustration, also each one of us had problems to deal with during that time, which in fact were going to affect the mood of the songs as they were coming out, there is a lot of darkness in the composition of the songs, also melancholy, anger and gloom, typical of those cursed years, in one way or another we were exorcising all these emotions through the music and the lyrics we were creating.

Your band’s name is inspired by Lovecraftian horror. How has this influenced your approach to songwriting and creating atmospheric soundscapes?
There is a clear inspiration, the way of creating his writing is what mainly influences us, and we believe that this is noticeable in the way we write and compose our songs as well, there is a parallelism between our way of composing, of creating music and the author’s writing, his way of describing madness and horrors resonate in our way of composing, sometimes more chaotic but grandiloquent, other times darkly overpowering; Lovecraft is always there in some way, either in the way we relate our songs, or in the same music composed, through dark or chaotic passages that could well describe the nightmares and cosmic horrors told through his genius, without resorting to his stories and poems in such a literal way, but rather in the methodical way of his writing.

The pandemic has impacted the way many musicians create and record music. Can you talk about how it affected the making of “However It Still Moves?”
As we told you before, the curfews and quarantines affected the creative dynamics of the band, going from a joint workshop based on improvisations and jams to a much more individual method, working from a distance, composing from home, with a lot of back and forth of demos and riffs, as feedback. It was a very slow work despite the good will of all of us who composed to reach a definitive material, the ideas were revised, polished, revised again and polished again, many things were discarded in the search for those closings, which ultimately lengthened the process much more, a little by the self-demand and to reach a common point where we were all satisfied with the material. I think that was the most dense point of work, so to speak, to change the way of working and keep moving forward.

To record was a little less complex, we had already self-produced our first EP, so on the one hand the path was already a little more familiar, however as we told you before, it was a long recording process, where we took the opportunity to polish things and try last minute ideas, which were pretty good in our opinion, we were able to work with the studio concept as another tool in the search for the sound.

The album features the inclusion of keyboards and synthesizers. Can you discuss the decision to incorporate these elements into your sound and how it affected the overall outcome of the album?
The inclusion of keyboards was always a topic that was discussed within the band, how it would affect the sound already achieved or how it would make us evolve towards other horizons in the near future. Proof of this was when we recorded a cover of the band Dream Death, in which we decided to incorporate these new textures and see how we could channel these layers to the sound already gained by the band. After that result, it was almost natural for us to include these sonic textures, gaining space but at the same time, also density, our gloomy compositions were enhanced even more with the inclusion of keyboards and synthesizers, taking them to another level, which also allows us to experiment and enrich the compositions even more. Incidentally, we gained a new and talented member, which renewed a bit the airs, becoming a quintet again.

Your previous release, “The Plague of the Aeons,” EP was digitally released in early 2020, and a tape version was released later that year. How has the reception been for that release, and did it influence the creation of “However It Still Moves” in any way?
In addition to the tape version released by Necrolatry Records from Malaysia, there is the CD version, released by Personal Records from Mexico some time later. Undoubtedly the efforts of Personal Rec. and Necrolatry Rec. made us have physical presence of our material in many countries, which is an important achievement for us, we appeared from nothing, we received many good reviews and reviews, which for a new band like us at that time became something gratifying, we are very grateful for the good reception that “The Plague..” had.

Regarding if it influenced “However…” and its creation, we thought of rescuing the idea of the sound, a bit rough but organic that the EP has, following that sonic path that we have been building, but enhancing and polishing it over time. Two of the songs on the new album had been in the works since the time of the EP, so in a way, more than influencing, the EP is the beginning of the evolutionary and sonic path we have reached so far with “…However It Still Moves”.

How has your sound evolved since “The Plague of the Aeons,” and what new elements did you bring to the table for “However It Still Moves?”
We have tried to evolve to a more spacious sound, without losing the brutality, intensity and density that we had already achieved in the first instance, expand even more those characteristics; continue to approach a more analog and organic sound is something we wanted to maintain and enhance within the sound of the band, for this is the inclusion of keyboards and synthesizers, which were occupied to grow the sound of the new songs, expand the sound space of the band. We also used a lot of reverbs and delays in the effects chains of the string instruments, just to keep creating that sense of space, there are also many dynamics that we wanted to include, ranging from quieter passages to more dramatic situations, so that the music felt alive and impactful.

Your band hails from Talagante, Chile. How has the local music scene influenced your sound and approach to creating music?
The local scene is small but intense, there are young bands as well as others with a lot of experience and excellent albums released, I think the main characteristic is to share with all those bands the sense of periphery that the area has, we are close to Santiago but we are not part of the scene of the capital, at least we are in that situation a little ambiguous. In Talagante’s local scene there is a lot of Thrash and its derivatives, Death/Thrash, Black/Thrash, etc. The bands are very powerful and have a pretty strong sense of community, many of those bands share a generational factor as well, which makes us a bit distant from them. We are older in comparison and we are probably the only band in the area doing death/doom, so in very few opportunities we have been really immersed in the Talagante scene, so basically there is not much influence of the scene on us, except for the peripheral factor we share between all of us, maybe there is a common sonic factor there. In broad strokes, we have cultivated our influences by ourselves.

“However It Still Moves” marks your debut album. What kind of message do you want to convey to your listeners through this release?
We do not seek to convey a particular message, only that people can enjoy the album, our music, as much as we enjoy creating it. Just infinite gratitude if this album resonates with people who are fans of this kind of music, may they enjoy it as intensely as they want.

Sporae Autem Yuggoth has been described as a cultist of old-school death-doom metal. Can you talk about the influences that helped shape your sound and style?
In the beginning, we focused a lot on the influence of the old Cathedral, Tiamat or Paradise Lost albums as a base or starting point, they were our references when we were young and somehow it was logical for us to start from there. The idea was to recreate a bit of that dark, raw, primitive and visceral sound, but on top of that we also wanted to make interesting arrangements in the music, we wanted that old school approach but with the intention of giving it an identity that resonated with our different musical interests.

Outside of classic Scandinavian and British doom and death metal bands, 70s progressive rock has also influenced our approach to creating, Genesis and King Crimson to name a few have had a strong influence on us as musicians. We also try to add incidentality in our music influenced by the old horror movies of the 60s and 70s, in general we drink from many styles, we mix many and varied influences, and that mix is what is developing and nurturing as our own style.

The album artwork for “However It Still Moves” is quite ominous. Can you discuss the inspiration behind the artwork and how it ties into the album’s overall theme?
The painting is the work of Chilean painter José Tapia Villalobos, who has already worked with other bands, his works are very impressive and of tremendous visual strength. When we found his work we were impressed by this particular work, the way the painting is constructed and what it transmitted to us, the dark and cold vibe of the image echoed our own musical work, for us it was like recognizing in the painting a bit of our music and vice versa, it was almost natural to choose it. After reaching an agreement among all of us, we chose the title based on Galileo’s famous phrase: “Eppur si muove”. Once the concept was chosen, we wanted to give it our own interpretation based on the image, and this is that everything ends on the day of your death, however, things continue to happen, they continue to move, even after death, the decomposition of the flesh feeds other beings and the earth itself. Everything around continues in movement, it is an act of nature.

What can fans expect from a live Sporae Autem Yuggoth performance, and are there any plans for live shows in support of the new album?
A lot of musicality! We hope to provide a great sonic experience, particularly in this period, with this new album where there are many sonic textures to discover and that we think can be as interesting for the listener as they are for us when we play them, there is a lot of intensity and dynamics both enveloping and explosive and that’s what we want to deliver, a good time full of darkness, heaviness and rawness and also spatial and atmospheric nuances, that the listener is enveloped by our music.

We have a few important presentations as a band, one of them is the national doom festival, celebrating the 30 years of Poema Arcanus, iconic and classic band of Chilean doom metal, a great date that will be held in June, another important presentation is the one we will have in September, playing with Lucifer’s Children from Paraguay, in those two dates we will be sharing the stage with important bands of Chilean doom metal, within that period of time we hope to continue scheduling dates to promote the album and make an official release.

What’s next for Sporae Autem Yuggoth? Are there any plans for future releases or collaborations with other artists? Thank you!
At the moment we continue to schedule dates to show the album, preparing intensely for these important presentations, without leaving aside the composition of new material, in which we are already working for a next production. It would be fun to do some collaboration with other artists, we are not closed in the musical field and perhaps in these new compositions we can schedule some interesting collaborations.

We want to thank you for this round of questions, it has been great to share this experience, greetings from Chile and thank you very much! Stay doomed!