ANTROPOFAGO Interview - French brutal death

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INDEX INTERVIEWS GUESTBOOK
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1. Hello! Let's go, it's the beginning, so tell us what kind of nice things happened in the womb of ATROPOFAGO lately!

Melmoth: Hi, and thanks for the interview! Lately, we did some good gigs with several bands such as Ulcerate, Otargos, Hate, Vesania, Insain, Nefarium, and Svart Crown. We promote our first album on stage, and work on the second one.

2. Your first album was released some months ago. If you were forced by Russian mafiozis, knife under throat, to introduce it an original and very personal way, what would be your very appealing words?

Melmoth: It would just sound like: Ť arglgl arglgl ť, wich means Ť This is simply the best album ever since Fiona Apple's 'When the Pawn Hits the Conflicts He Thinks Like a King What He Knows Throws the Blows When He Goes to the Fight and He'll Win the Whole Thing 'Fore He Enters the Ring There's No Body to Batter When Your Mind Is Your Might So When You Go Solo, You Hold Your Own Hand and Remember That Depth Is the Greatest of Heights and If You Know Where You Stand, Then You'll Know Where to Land and If You Fall It Won't Matter, Cuz You Know That You're Right' ť. Yeah, our album is slightly better.

3. Do you make a difference between Death metal and brutal death? Depending on the epoch, country, trends, these words could have quite different meanings... So what's your own personal definition of "Death metal"? (And "Brutal death" if you wish). How would you place ANTROPOFAGO on the Death metal/ Brutal death spectrum?

Gordon: Personally I would say the difference basically lies in the drums. I personally think that the difference would basically be in the drums stuff. Death Metal uses binary as a main pattern, while for Brutal death it's blast beat. Then for the guitars, it depends on each musician. I think I don't overload our tracks with technicity. Antropofago can be defined as Technical brutal death, but I make sure to have relatively cool moments in each song. For there shall be intensity, there shall be variations of rhythm.

Melmoth: All those labels seem so pointless to me. Some of our songs sound more Industrial Metal, Scandinavian nu Metal, Vegetarian Progressive Grincore, Black Metal, Super Black Metal, and Lounge. We just do Death Metal. Rather brutal, rather technical, but that remains Death Metal. That's all.

4. If these Russian mafiozis tried hard to steal every gains from your sales of records and merchandising, what kind of nice expensive hardware could they acquire?

Gordon: Mmmmmmmmmm... A flat screen. Not a too expensive one.

Melmoth: ...second hand. Broken.

5. Tappings and "melodic" touches tended to disappear from brutal death metal the last years, the style was always becoming more brutal, brutal, brutal (And brutal), and sometimes we weren't so far from harsh noise, very complicated noise, or something like that... I think some of your tappings and more "melodic" guitar touches give a quite old styled brutal death touch, while it leads us back to the previous century, it also helps to create a nice little atmosphere... For you, what's important with these aspects? Do you think we have reached the limits of "gore noise" ultra brutality, or simply feel closer to something more musical?

Gordon: This is THE important question for me!!! Melodies are the point I paid the most attention to. I hate bands whi play on the same 3 hard to hear notes. There will always be riffs that can be Ť sung ť in Antropofago. Remain on the catchy riffs, even if it means being less technical. Technicity shall serve the song, it's a main value in Antropofago!!

6. I feel the atmosphere of this album is quite dark, somewhere between the red and dark red... What kind of colors do you think would fit your music the best? Would you avoid using some riffs you found because it doesn't have the right color, or it's about other matters? (Do you think colorless music can exist?)

Gordon: I didn't think in terms of color... But indeed, red or dark red seem to fit ourselves. After reflexion the artwork of our demo had the best color possible!! Than I rather think in terms of Ť atmosphere ť than color, but it's quite close. You sumed it up very well.

7. On this album, your drummer is a machine... Why didn't you insert more electronic patterns such as groovy techno beats, gothic Saturday night grooves... (After all MORBID ANGEL isn't so far from that in 2011)... You could even rename your band as ACID-TROPOFAGO or TRANSE-TROPOFAGO and get more vaginal rewards! Interested?

Gordon: The electronic drums were mainly a tool to released the album, an not an artistic choice. We can't wait to have real drums on the second album! Concerning electro in Metal... I think it's as wise as a big rock to open an oyster. Morbid Angel clearly shew the example not to follow...

8. Now ANTROPOFAGO was reviewed on a lot of French metal webzines, it could be the right moment to ask you about the feedbacks and how nicely peoples reacted to this album, but it would be a quite too usual question and I'm begging for a little more of originality... So what were the strangest reactions to this record? Something amazing such as "Random noise" or "Grinding glamcore"? Did some peoples compare your music to other bands who have nothing in common?

Gordon: The feedback was rather good, in spite of the quite cheap production. We received some quite cult stuffs such as the label Ť Symphonic Black Metal ť (In french magazine Metallian), or a review done by a guy who never listened to metal of his whole life. It was quite funny, we had a good laugh on his website.

9. In which extent the fact of having a little baby influences you when composing brutal death metal? To wake up several times every night, could it be a brutal influence? (After all the vilest riffs are said to appear very late at night...)

Gordon: My baby is an angel... He sleeps 13 hours a night, has been really ill only once in 11 months, so he doesn't prevent me from sleeping. My job does.

10. Maybe you tried to play some songs of ANTROPOFAGO to your little baby, if so what where his reactions? There's a video on Youtube where a father plays black metal to his crying baby who then suddenly calms down... I'm not sure if it's the nicest thing to do (At this very early age, the baby shouldn't understand much of the meaning and could feel all this hatred is directed towards him, that's why he shuts down...)

Gordon: He goes through Antropofago since I play and record the songs in front of him. It amuses him, he comes eating the knobs of my guitar... Custom guitars, you imagine it delights me at the higher level!!!! He loves music, it's a good thing... But considering his mother's tastes, Antropofago's succession is not a sure thing, believe me!

11. Are you aware peoples in Philippines, Australia or New Zealand live on the other side of the globe, and would see any text from your CD inside out? So they would read the band OGAFOPORTNA released an album entitled "Aibohp dnoyeb"... (Hopefully this record wasn't released on TCIDDA MUC or even SINEP EVOL I records!) What did you do to solve this problem? Maybe the Australian export will come with "Turn-everything-inside-out" glasses while the Philippino one would come with special green stuff?

Melmoth: Yeah, that's a real problem. That's why we are going to change our name into something palindromic, like Ť Rotator ť, or Ť Spacecaps ť, and our new album should be titled Ť Rats Live On No Evil Star ť. That should definitely solve the problem.

12. Now the French singer Patricia Kaas is quite appreciated in Russia, you should be quite proud to have quite close relations with the local mafia... Or not?

Melmoth: Hmmmmm... Not. She's a whore.

13. If you were lucky enough to be able to come back in time, and play with one of these bands (For a recording or just for some gigs), which one would it be (And which year would you choose?): SEPULTURA, NILE, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES, NECROPHAGIST, MACHINE HEAD, SUFFOCATION, PANTERA, HATE ETERNAL... (If you want you can choose more bands and tell us why!)

Gordon: There are so many... Arise of Sepultura, Master Of Puppets of Metallica, I Monarch of Hate Eternal, Those Whom The Gods Detest of Nile, the two Necrophagist albums... and mostly Symbolic of Death! It's the perfect album on a melodic point of view. Those are albums that inspired me, traumatized me for some, and I think it's a part of my guitar playing. The technical/ distry side of Hate Eternal, the thrash riffs of Arise and Master... The atmospheres of Nile (Even if we use it a different way). And the cold/ technical side of Necrophagist. And the melodies of Death...

14. This is the final question, so the flow of words and ideas will have to decrease. Tell us more about your forthcoming projects, and feel free to conclude.

Gordon: The second album will be released in 2013, and until then we will release unpublished songs, some bonus stuffs, one or two videos... We have a lot of stuffs to be busy!!!

Website: http://www.antropofago.net