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INDEX
INTERVIEWS
GUESTBOOK
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OBSCURE
DEATH/ DOOM
WITH
AN EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
1. Hello, before all can you write a little introduction to the band? Epitaphe plays death doom... But is you style closer to death or doom? And can we find an usual and orthodox musical approach?
PBFK : We are
called Epitaphe. The band was formed in 2009 while we were still
teenagers. We began with covers of classic songs (Slayer, Mortician,
Immortal, Obituary), but shortly we started with composition and
the style was fast and old school death metal, it was almost grindcore.
In the course of years, and due to personal and musical maturity,
we tuned our guitars much lower and we started to play a much slower,
monolithic and experimental kind of Death metal as we began to work
on real atmospheres.
Finally we are at border of doom and death
metal, but we like to remember we come from a Death metal aesthetic,
might it be the riffing, the stage presence, or simply because this
is the first kind of extreme music we embraced.
2. The first time I heard about Epitaphe dates back to a couple of years, perhaps 5 years or more. But you only release your first recording in 2018. Are you rather perfectionists, or was it your beginnings as musicians?
PBFK : As we said before the band is active since several years. We took so much time to release the first recording because there were some aborted attempts, schedule problems, and as you said some kind of perfectionism... But the machine is now moving and the following will come up quite soon.
3. Your music evolves between death and doom, with a little black metal touch, sometimes one can feel the obscure side from the fields of INCANTATION, but your style is different, more destructured, experimental, unexpected in the structures, and sometimes with a little ambient touch... Would you say you practice some kind of quite intellectual post death doom? Some convoluted obscure death destined to library rats that live exclusively in a world of twisted concepts and never see the light of the day? AhAh. Are you really as white as cadavers? :)
PBFK : Aha
these are good sticker ideas. I only hope "post death"
will be more interesting than post black... To be more serious,
we rarely wonder about musical stickers, we are more concerned with
how to compose a music that can be extreme, singular and express
our influences and personalities in the right way. This said, peoples
tell us more and more often we would play "Funeral death metal",
something between the atmosphere of funeral doom and the violence
of death metal.
4. This is a classical question, but it remains informative: Which bands would you quote as your main influences? I could quote formations such as IMMOLATION (Rather end 90's, beginning 00's), INCANTATION, BLOODY SIGN, maybe GRAVE MIASMA or also INFESTER, all these for the death and doom approaches, but concerning the more experimental aspects I'm not sure, I'm not that familiar...
PBFK : Indeed all of these bands more or less influenced us with their compositions, their attitude. We could add Dead Congregation but also Chaos Echoes, The Ruins of Beverast; or even Full of Hell that works on progressions and sound textures we took inspiration from.
5. Do you replicate the ambient parts live and during rehearsals, or was it mostly for the recording? It could be interesting to reinforce this aspect.
PBFK : We reproduce it, and one can even say we add some. During live, these ambient and noise moments take all of their meanings, and totally express our sometimes mystical and sometimes chaotic sides.
6. If you were a doctor, what would you prescribe to your patients so that they can listen to EPITAPHE in the best conditions? Rather something stimulating, relaxing, or something more psychotic? :)
PBFK : Probably something psychotic. It would fit the slow, repetitive and sometimes psychedelic sides of our music.
7. Why did you add the "E" letter at the end of your name? Was something missing so that the logo could look balanced?
PBFK : We found
it sounded better with an E at the end indeed ahah.
In fact this
change comes from a discussion with Makoto of Weird Truth Productions.
There already were many older and more famous bands with this moniker,
such as the Swedish death metal one, the Italian doom one etc. So
we decided to frenchify the name, it was also an opportunity to
draw a line with what we played before.
8. You inhabit close to the Alps, you apparently live close to the mountains, listening to your compositions I would say you enjoy exploring the hidden places, dark and wet caves, or perhaps the disquieting cracks could be your pleasure... Did this natural environment influence your imagination? It could be an interesting landscape for a videoclip... Do you enjoy to be suspended in the void? Do you practice bungee-jumping, or do you rather enjoy the quietness of the forest?
PBFK : It's
hard to say at which level it influenced us, because even if we
don't clearly refer to this in our music, the mountains that surround
us were inevitably an influence. The walkings, the frozen waterfalls
or snowy forests are all elements we grew up with.
Speaking
about walking, solitary reflections are without a doubt a part of
a creative process for the music of Epitaphe. So I rather enjoy
the quietness of the forest.
DRZ : You can notice the visuals of your demo were built around the mountain of the Neron, in the Chartreuse area, it was entirely burnt in 2003, it kinda shocked me as a child.
9. How is the musical scene in your area? Can we find interesting bands, with bars, some places for gigs, zines, or does it remain quiet?
PBFK : At the
level of bands, underground supporters, it is in a good health,
it even improves. You can find all kinds of music and we can quote
some very good things such as Satan (Black punk) , Grand Bouc Noir
(Black metal), Shotgun Logic (Thrash), Barus (Death Prog)...
On
the other hand, the places to play live (Such as bars) are in quite
difficult financial situations, same than anywhere else, because
there are quite strict security measures and also the neighbors...
At
the end it's not too bad, but it could be really better.
10. What are you listening to the most lately? Which records often come back in your playlists? Do a couple of albums get the favors or every band members, or it’s very varied?
PBFK : It's
quite varied indeed, and I would have a problem to quote a band
we all enjoy as much.
Speaking about myself, I currently listen
to the last Hate Eternal album or also the new chapel of Disease
CD.
11. What are your future projects? Don't hesitate to infect our subconscious :)
PBFK : An album will follow soon, an album will follow soon, an album will follow soon...
Listen:
https://epitaphe.bandcamp.com
Web page: https://www.facebook.com/epitaphemetal
