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INDEX
INTERVIEWS
GUESTBOOK
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OLD
SCHOOL DEATH METAL
FROM
USA
1. Hello, can you introduce KURNUGIA to our morbid readers?
Hello Kurnugia is a Death Metal Band located in Cleveland OH formed in 2012.
2. In my opinion your music could have been released under the name of DECREPIT, since it is close musically, spiritually, and the two bands share a couple of members, but it didn't happen... Were there legal problems or was this a conscious choice?
Decrepit was split up for many years before Kurnugia formed. There was no intention to continue to continue Decrepit under the name Kurnugia. I myself see no similarities between the 2 bands. Only 2 members that played in Kurnugia were in Decrepit for years and no one in Kurnugia past or present ever wrote any music for decrepit. I see both bands as completely separate just the style of music is similar.
3. The band released a two tracks demo entitled "Tribulations of the Abyss" in 2013, which was also released as a 7 Ep. Are these the very first two songs of KURNUGIA? Does it fully represent the style of the band, or should we expect something globally a little different?
Yes these were
the first two songs written by the band in 2012. Our style has not
really changed since the band formed. It's a good introduction to
the band in my opinion. Of course there are things i would change
but it was basically a demo as an introduction to get the name out.
4. A second demo entitled "Condemned to Obscurity" was released at the end of 2016, but I wasn't able to hear it. How would you compare it to the first one? Are there musical changes, or is this the same style more developped and deeper?
Our Condemned To Obscurity MCD is more developed. The sound is much better and we had our first line up change replacing our original drummer. I'm much more pleased with this release and i think it is a better showing for the band as a whole.
5. There seems to be quite an interval between the last DECREPIT release and the birth of KURNUGIA. It seems some of the members played quite different kinds of metal during this intervalle. Where you tired of death metal, or needed to play something else? When you came back to old school death, did it take some time to readapt yourself to this genre?
I can only speak for myself. I really have not played many different styles of music. Once in quit Nunslaughter in 2001 i took a long break from music. Kids and work keep me busy and i was burnt out on being in bands. I got the desire to start up again in 2007 or so. I went to Germany to do a decrepit show and basically that was the end of the band after that. So about 5 years later i said fuck it and tried to form a band on my own which turned out to be Kurnugia. I've been playing in death metal bands since 1988 so i needed a break.
6. The meaning of your band name is interesting... In Babylonian mythology, this seems to be the underground, but an underground so vast that it can contain worlds, emptiness and the ununderstandable in itself... In more modern times, wouldn't it stand for what we know under the word "universe"? Or would this last concept lack a sense of magical and creativeness? The description is implying things to be very diverse, very positive and negative... Should we expect something a bit more "melodic" or luminous in the music of the band?
I think this is the difference with Kurnugia then most typical death metal bands. We have some melodic parts and out solos are not the typical style they are actually thought out and sound better than lots of others. Our lyrics are total death and despair. Very morbid sounding old school death, were not trying to re invent the wheel.
7. Would
you say your style is influenced by INCANTATION, or it's rather
you share the same influences, discovered underground metal at the
same era, and come from the same part of the globe?
Most of us were playing in bands the same time incantation were getting started so they are an obvious influence. They were (and still are) one of my faves. I don't think musically we sound all that much like incantation. Vocally we also have a new singer so the incantation comparisons might not be so obvious now as well (not that i mind that).
8. Now let's talk about one of your previous bands, DECREPIT. In the inner photos of the "Acrimonium" CD, one can see some band members wearing corpse paint (I was a bit surprised, I'm not a black metal fan AhAh). What was the idea behind it? Did you try to mix death metal and black metal at the time? Would the music of DECREPIT have become more black metal influenced if the band continued in the 90's?
I was not in
the band at the time but i can say that black metal was just starting
around that time 92-93 ect... and i know a few of the guys were
getting totally into it. Chris was not into it and didn't want to
use that image but the others did. That's why you see guys using
corpse paint and him not. The music also was leaning towards black/death.
I think decrepit were one of the first bands from the US to use
the paint before it became a trend.
9. In an old interview, you mentioned an old unreleased DECREPIT song entitled "Last dawn" was supposed to be released on an Ep... It finally appeared on a split with Nunslaughter and Doktor Bitch! Since I wasn't able to listen to this split, could you describe how this song sounds? Is it in the regular Decrepit style? Are there any other old unreleased songs left? (Maybe you could use it one day with Kurnugia?)
We have no plans to use any decrepit songs in Kurnugia. When we started the band we did play some decrepit songs live as we didn't have enough of our own material. Now we have enough songs i don't see that happening again. Maybe live just for the only local fans maybe but that's it. We did recorded a decrepit cover for an unreleased 7" as well. As for last dawn track it sounded like a cross between decrepit and from the depths.
10. Before DECREPIT there were Armageddon and Mutilation. Was it the same kind of music, or perhaps the style was a bit more thrashy? Was it the same band under another name, or perhaps real differences motivated a change of name?
Mutilation
was basically 3 of the five members that started decrepit.
11. How was the underground Death metal scene in Cleveland, Ohio in the end 80's/ beginning 90's? From an European point of view, the American scene seemed to be very strong, with many cool bands, with very informed fanzines selling thousands of copies... While France seemed to be the wrong place to discover underground death metal/ early brutal death... I remember bands such as HEMDALE, REGURGITATION (Their demo was cool old school death) and maybe EMBALMER... Was there more? What were the "cult" bands from this area?
Blood Of Christ, From The Depths, Descend, i was not living here at the time But the scene was very strong in the late 80s and early 90s many great bands.
12. Do you play songs of DECREPIT live? It could be a nice addition to your live shows (And it might help to have a longer set, since you are still a new band). If you had the choice of covering a track of INCANTATION or IMMOLATION, which would you choose? (And why?).
Yes we used
to play one or 2 decrepit songs...no need to anymore. As for incantation
i would cover anything off the Onward LP it's still my favorite.
As for immolation anything off Dawn of Possession my favorite death
metal album of all time. I still hope maybe someday we can do a
track like Those left behind or something like that.
13. Did you already start searching for labels, or you will prefer to release the music on your own label? Would it be nice to have the music of KURNUGIA on tape one day, or vinyl will only be the best in your opinion?
Our MCD came out on lord of the flies from Italy check them out. I'm not into tapes but it would be great to have a Kurnugia full length on LP at some point. We have signed with Momento Mori for a album in 2017 so we are writing that now. We also just recorded 2 new tracks with our new line up for a 7".
14. We have almost reached the first half of this year, so we might start to talk about your favorite albums and demos for 2017...
I really like Church Of Disgust, Etremity-Extremely fucking dead, Phrenelith album is killer tons of good metal coming out in 2017.
15. What are your next plans with KURNUGIA? Something good to announce to the readers? Thanks for the answers.
Thanks for
the interview and we will hopefully have a new 7" and full
album recorded
and released in 2017.
If you want our newest MCD in Europe http://lordofthefliesrecords.bigcartel.com/
If
you want it in the US along with other Kurnugia merch check out
our page at http://www.kurnugia.bigcartle.com
We also have a facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/kurnugia
Web page: http://www.facebook.com/kurnugia
