#i listen to metal in every language possible mostly european though

[berryunho]

it's only when normal people give me music recommendations that I realize what strange and inexplicable music taste I have like wtf is wrong w me

[doomedandstoned]

A Rendezvous with Moscow Doomers Train To Elsewhere

~By Sound Animal~

Photographs by Makhmud Podzhigay

This is a momentous occasion for people around the world who appreciate Stoner Doom Metal and its hybrid forms. The Russian Train to Elsewhere has been solid all along. Then, on May 21, 2021, they played live at Peak Sound Endless Misery Doom Fest, revealing their new lineup to the public. And it’s absolutely astonishing.

On June 9th they released the audio as a bootleg. Lead guitarist Maria K. "Gerard" integral to the band all along, now debuts the recording of her vocals, which intertwine with the lead vocalist, Anna Utopian, who also plays keyboards and stepped in to replace the previous vocalist. On drums we have M'aiq the Liar, Olga on the rhythm guitar that keeps me going and going with this band, and on bass, Anton "Vargtimmen" Bryukov. Their previous singer, Denis Generalov, is no longer with the band. We’ll miss him and always appreciate his massive contribution to the previous demo and album. I’m glad to see that in the wake of his moving onward, the band didn’t falter. In fact, this new era of Train to Elsewhere is electrifying.

Live at Peak Sound (Official Bootleg) by Train to Elsewhere

Their sound is hypnotic and contemplatively atmospheric. The excellent drums are pared down to the essentials, as the best Doom drums are. The slow lullaby groove takes us into the imaginative liminal world of Nod as if we’re on a sleeper car bumping over the metal tracks, hypnagogic images combining the forest landscape outside the window with the mind inside. They play everything at a slow, minimalistic, heavy pace, never giving into the egotistical show of shredding to demonstrate just how fast they can play meaningless notes. No, conversely, every note matters.

Anna Utopian’s expressive vocals are consistently strong and delicious, beautifully doing justice to the intense lyrics while she creates Eastern atmospherics on the keyboards. Rarely does any Metal band have so much female representation within it. All the women in this band come across as authentic, being purely themselves as much as the men are, which can be a challenging project, considering the objectified roles they are so regularly expected to play on stage in that particular genre. There are no distracting displays here.

This ability to be genuine is not surprising with this low-key band, though, as they are not about surface level of life. Instead, the music provokes profound speculations and nuanced states of consciousness. It was Anton’s articulate brilliance in interviews that first locked me into their work.

When Maria sings, I stop moving completely. Until she’s done. Only utter stillness will allow the cilia in my ears to vibrate with the kind of desperate attention they require when encountering my favorite female vocalist. I wasn’t expecting that. No one told me. But I’m telling you, Stoner Doom fans. You must listen to this band that has something to say, and you must prepare yourself for Maria’s one of a kind voice. Words don’t do it justice. It’s the low beneath low. Her throat allows everything through, not just part of the frequency of life. All of it. The inflections indicate so much nobility in the depths of life that surely no one could take living for granted again.

First, I’d like to ask about that slow groove that’s consistent through the songs. I’m curious how the different band members feel that movement within their bodies. As a loop circulating through the body, a sway side-to-side (like bumping over train tracks underneath), a sleepwalking headbang, a standing spiral? Perhaps the way they feel the groove move through their bodies changes song to song.

Maria: We’ve never rehearsed our on-stage choreography or something like that. It comes naturally from our perception of the music. I can say, I like the heavy, powerful low-tune sound of traditional Doom. I like the sound of our guitars, amplified and enhanced with stage gear, going through bodies of musicians and audience. I think the sound should fill all the possible space it can, changing it in its special way.

Anton: For our band it’s very individual, some of us stay more or less still, others move to the music, whichever is more comfortable. It’s an interesting question because movement to music and dance is a very early part of human culture in a way it’s ritualistic. Although we never rehearsed stage movement it’s interesting to see the connection with the audience in that light. It’s great when some people dance to our music and move to it.

Anna: Generally, when I’m playing on stage or rehearsing at the studio, I feel some kind of special energy coming through my body. Especially when I sing. I begin to feel very inspired and optimistic about everything around me. I don’t really rehearse my on-stage choreography; I just have some clear ideas about what I have to do on some of our songs. So most of the time I just improvise my on-stage movements. Also I enjoy having that special connection with the audience, it’s an unforgettable experience, especially, when you’re playing on stage and see the people dancing to your songs and even starting to sing any of your songs that you’re playing. That’s when the magic happens for me.

Olga: I felt this only after I became part of the band – the feeling of the unified space with a group of people. When I listen to our music I can almost see how our melodies combine with each other, winding and supporting each other. Seems like their directions and weight are not less material than stage equipment. And our bodies move with the space movement. In this context I like “The Path” most of all – it resonated with me first and still makes me sway to its rhythm emerging in my subconscious in everyday life. I like both versions of it – with Denis and with Anna on vocals, which feel very different.

I love that about the unified space and the melodies themselves playing a tangible role within it. And the rhythm arising from the subconscious. And Anna feels energy coming through her – I feel a tangible effect from that! What scales are you most fond of? Is that part of the particular Folk element of your Doom that creates that tonality? Are there any folk melodies that influence any of the songs? In what ways does your location influence you?

Maria: I’m fond of northern folk, especially Finno-Ugric music, also I try to look at our music from different dimensions, adding Eastern tonality (Arabic, Turkish, Jewish music), as well as blues riffs, chromatic and classical minor scales, influences from Southern and Eastern European folk tradition… Our “Nortern Summer” is a reminiscence to native Karelian folk tunes, and “Mothir” is our adaptation of Icelandic folk song.

Anton: The idea of our project was to express through the language of Traditional Doom some of our folk influences. Yet we are not a folk band in a traditional sense of the word; we try to incorporate those melodies a bit more delicately, but they are very important.

As for the location it has a great influence on us from the vast forests to the existential gloomy culture and literature, we are shaped by this as musicians. As for Finnish folk it is an important part of our culture which sometimes flies under the radar when people are talking about Russia. For instance, Russian poets of the XIXth century with their gloomy and even Gnostic outlook on existence are a big influence for the Russian language texts of our first album.

Anna: I feel inspired by nature. I like spending some time in the forest. In terms of music, I usually prefer songs in minor scales; I like songs that sound not so depressing, but emotional. For example, I like adding some French coldwave sound to our music, as well as some blues rock.

Olga: Here I agree with Anton. The country’s history defined the distinct visual component of our surroundings, inspired by the folklore ideas and concepts we faced from early childhood, it nurtured in our minds the tendency to reflect and the idea of complicated intricacy of life, even its wholeness in imperfection. Maria shapes those images in multilayered sincerity, bringing the ideas into reality.

Samhain by Train to Elsewhere

What is the composition and arranging like for these songs? Do they ever arise from improv jams? Is it mostly one person’s vision per tune? Do the words or riffs tend to come first? Are you most interested in getting across specific meaning through the lyrics or in something else, like creating a subtle mood that goes beyond words?

Maria: Most music comes from improvisations and jams. Sometimes it happens that I bring raw material – several riffs and text – and we try to combine them into a song and repeat it till it seems ready. Also, we have some texts and some jam records that could fit together – so, why not make a song out of them. The needed mood appears when the song is almost ready and we try to play it slower or heavier or faster, add keyboards and guitar solo elements – that comes out of practice.

Anton: My personal contribution is mostly the bass parts in terms of composition, that’s all I do. But sometimes I can advise the band to play slower and heavier, as well as bring in some references from the underground doom scene. Also, I write some of the English-language lyrics like our title track from the debut album Samhain, which has been influenced by folk horror films like The Wickerman (1973) and British classical poetry.

Olga: Most of all I value the moment when the composition is almost finished, when the main direction is defined, but the result can be changed in unexpected ways with new fragments. Then the experiments begin, making us closer to realization of the plot, and I like the way each of us adds his sound to the final feel of the composition and atmosphere.

I like that you call it a plot. Stories really do arise from the subtle nuances within the music itself, whether there are lyrics or not. What emotional process would you hope listeners go through with these paganism-referencing songs? Is there something subconscious about the ancient primal archetypes that can serve people even if they don’t think about those mythologies in their ordinary lives?

Maria: Every song has its own references, atmosphere and path to lead the listener through. Of course, when the full song structure appears in your head, it’s a powerful inspirational impulse.

Anton: I would like to add that myths are powerful archetypes in our subconscious. We like to work with that because the modern world is not concerned with authentic myth and we want to help the listeners experience them. Of course, the interpretation of the myth is psychologically different for every individual but there are important patterns.

For example, facing death and mortality has been approached differently in different cultures. And aesthetically the pagan myth is very poetic and it fascinates me. The main themes of the lyrics are the recognition of one's mortality and different aspects of death -- on "The Path," mystical dark field of pre-Christian pagan tradition in "Samhain" and "Mothir," Gnosticism in "Ashes," omens and symbolism in "Silent Guard," romanticism in "Where you live," and pagan beauty of nature in "Northern Summer." The title track "Samhain" was inspired by a cult folk horror film The Wicker Man (1973) while also referencing the original pagan roots of Halloween -- Samhain.

Olga: The concept of mythology and paganism is the great mirror for the human soul, referring to times, when there were fewer concrete facts and the whole world consisted of trembling windings of human fears and desires.

“Trembling winding of human fears and desires.” I love that. Back before we could fact check everything in a search engine, reality was more amorphous, full of outrageous possibilities, eccentric cutting-edge experiments. Would you like to tell us about Sigil of Time? Is there a mentally different approach to folk music in that one? Some of you are able to participate in that band. Does it feel like a new compartment of the self opening up, like a new realm of a room that you can inhabit? How is that room decorated differently than the room in which Train to Elsewhere sleeps and dreams?

Maria: First material was recorded about ten years ago as my solo project, then we collaborated with Anton for a rather long time – but never released it till spring 2020. In this project I can release my vision that cannot be expressed with a heavy band. Usually, I create meditative multi-instrumentalist soundscapes in a much more intuitive way; most of them are instrumentals or vocals that don't carry any lyrics. Often the recordings wait for some time to be reviewed and even corrected a bit before releasing. Anton records a bass line and manages different synthetic and noise parts. To talk about the room: it’s for chamber music and solitary thoughts.

Anton: Sigil of Time was mostly our experiments with post-industrial dark ambient and dark folk music as well as some field recordings. We didn’t plan to release it to the public but our label Kryrart Records encouraged us to share our music with the world. It’s more of an abstract stream of consciousness inspired by dreams and visions but some lyrics and melodies which ended up in Train to Elsewhere were first composed for Sigil of Time so the two are interconnected.

What were the mechanical methods you used to get the post-industrial effects? That’s intriguing: I’d be curious to hear about any specific dream or vision that inspired a song.

Maria: Sigil of Time is mostly based on acoustic instruments (especially guitars), as we could mention earlier. We use it for recording guitar pedals and post-production with different kinds of distortion and delay, octavers and reversed echoes, also adding such things as different samples, raw analog synthesizer sound… In different periods of time Sigil had a tendency to explore various sources, while anthologies unite tracks from earlier times.

Usually, a song starts from the feeling of total clarity, when the idea of lyrics meets the image of musical sketch, giving a whole plan of what to do. It changes several times while recording, usually each part is improvisation, keeping only several repeating moments. Mixing inserts its corrections, and when the song is almost ready, I leave it for several days, returning to it later with minimal changes.

Anton: As for Train to Elsewhere we use techniques common for recording traditional doom metal. Maybe one thing that sets us apart is that we use the sounds of the amps and their built-in distortion power rather than custom distortion pedals for pedal boards. We want to capture a primal raw sound of early rock and metal. About dreams – before writing the lyrics to Samhain I saw a dream in which I was in a vast endless autumn forest as far as I could see. The forest seemed very old, even ancient; later the dream inspired me to write the lyrics to Samhain.

We would like to thank you for these wonderful interesting questions, it was great answering them. We’re very glad and honored you enjoyed our music so much.

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[hoe-for-ares]

AU in which Red Rising is just a futuristic roleplay held in a chat full of teenage boys...

l posted once about it, but never went in detail. I was getting bored, so I wanted to make a list of the boyos from the AU - the homies behind the characters they are playing, duh! I imagine them having a roleplay chat and a homie-talking chat, that is mostly a voice-call never-ending conversation that is occurring while they are also roleplaying. Internet homies, also!

Feel free to add more.

Darrow - played by a 16 y/o Scottish boy, a know-it-all-mf, with an extensive knowledge. *Big nerd, fanatic of Ender’s Game and Star Wars. *Where does this dude even fit so much Ancient Greek history? *‘’Wait, why would someone even spend their time reading this crap???’’ - the homies in the chat. *All his friends created big, powerful Gold personas to shame him Red persona, but then Darrow went really deep with it and created a whole storyline about inequality and slavery, all in a long shower session. *No one took him seriously, but Darrow was dead serious - and also no one, maybe aside of Roque and Nero, didn’t really care what the hell he was talking about, but they followed him anyway because it was about badass warriors conquering and torn mfs apart! *He keeps deleting and rewriting his phrases, correlates everything with history and art, making the roleplay to seem wayyyy too serious. *He is anxious as shit if he doesn’t GET THIS LINE RIGHT! 

Sevro - played by a 14 y/o east-european boy, because no one can nail ‘em swearing better than an east european. *Moved to US recently and doesn’t seem to fit in, it makes him to not have many real life friends and not feel welcomed anywhere he goes. *He and Cassius are at the same high school, but since Sevro is a little freshman goblin, Cassius doesn’t fw him and ignores him. *Thus, Sevro acts like he hates him in the group chat and roleplay, but he only really is hella intimidated by him.  *His dad is a super cool dude and joins the gang’s games and conversations as often as he can. *Sevro doesn’t like that his father is much more liked than him within the group. *Listens to rock as a way of living and sunk in heavy metal as a coping mechanism.  *Big and proud furry. Has an IG dedicated to his fursona. *Relationships?? BLEAH. They are for suckers.  *But he has a ‘secret’ thing for muscular, tall and intimidating video game girls. Denies his affinity, though.  *Gang acts like they believe him when he insists he doesn’t care about those kind of girls and no girls in general, but Tactus is not fooled so easily and taunts him a lot by creating Victra.  *Also plays Uncle Narol because he wanted the chance to be the father figure since the gang always sees him as a little boy and treat him as such.  *He recalls every hoggish thing he heard from his father for Uncle Narol’s role, but creates his own expressions for Sevro’s.  Tactus - a 16 y/o french boy, neighbor with Roque.  *His only type of humor is yo mama jokes. *Gang is tired of Tactus’s obsession with their mothers, but Tactus doesn’t lose any chance and always recalls their mama in conversation... it is odd sometimes.  *He might have some mommy-issues.  *Also plays Deanna as a way to parody off Darrow’s real life mother, but he really started to get attached to the character. *He lives with his brother’s, that are always mocking him and embarrassing him every time he is in a voice-call conversation.  *But Tactus ain’t having any of this and screams at them - auch. *’’CLOSE YOUR MICROPHONE, COCK-FACE! YOU ARE FUCKING MY EARDRUMS!’’ - Sevro *He kinda wants to cry when his brothers do this, but he acts all tough. Homies can sense the shaking in his voice, but they act as they don’t hear it so Tactus can think he succeeded into fooling them.  *His brothers always force him to drink as a way of theirs of entertaining.  *Most of the time, he stumbles and vomits, no matter how hard he tried to act as one of them. This is the pure comedy his brothers are talking about! *Once he succeeded into drinking a whole bottle of beer without puking. He is really proud of his achievement.  *Groupchat knows all about it.  Roque - played by a 16 y/o french boy.  *Has a funny accent. *Homies are always laughing at him because of his fuddy-duddy accent.  *Tactus, too, which makes Roque hella sad.  *He doesn’t show his sadness and acts unbothered and way too stoic for being hurt because of their stupid charade.  *He really is deeply infuriated.  *Crushing on Tactus 24/7, but won’t show it - only his character is suspiciously close to his’. *Like...always privately sticking to him.  *No one knows what is going on in his private chat with Tactus. What are they roleplaying about? Hmm...  *He is really worried about Tactus’ mental health and brings him over his house as often as he can.  *Has some blessed asf parents, always lenient and nice. Accepted Tactus as part of their own family since his is way too fucked up.  *Rich as shit.  *Talks as pompous as possible. *Always reading and subtly bragging about what smart things he read, by quoting long and complicated verses out of his ancient poetry, early edition books, wrapped in animal skin.  *Kinda jealous of Darrow’s extensive knowledge.  *He was the one who brought Adrius in the group chat... no one knows how the hell he met such a shady dude.  Cassius - played by a 17 y/o american boy. *Knows Sevro personally, but won’t really give a fuck about him.  *Kinda ignores him irl and in game, too.  *His brothers all have curly hair, but he doesn’t - so of course his character has the perfect, craved-by-God, golden curls! ‘’Fuck you, Mother nature! If you didn’t want to give me the curls, I gave them to me myself!’’ *Doesn’t really know how curly hair works - did his character just went into a dirty ass fight and is full of grim? Bruh, whatever! His hair still shines and bounces like a little angel in Heaven! *He is bisexual irl, too, but tries to hide it. *His character is embracing his bisexuality, but he surely ain’t bisexual! No, nope!  *Hides his affinity for boys by making no-homo jokes and calling dudes gay for showing the slightest closeness to him - dayum, he carves for it, but no one needs to know!  *Thinks Darrow is cute, but as a homie, ya know? *I mean, he is totally going on a no-homo trip with Darrow. *He always listens to him and carves to talk to him the most, ignoring the rest of the squad most of the time.  *Also, always asks Darrow to teach him about ancient stuff he won’t care about irl, but once Darrow talks about them...ugh, they become so interesting! He is such a cool bro, dude, he like...knows how to explain thing to his bro!  *Praises the shit out of Darrow. Always mentions him when he is gone. You know, as a good homie does!  *Tactus ain’t fooled by any of it and makes subtle and snarky commentaries about his behavior.  Fitchner - played by Sevro’s dad. *A cool mf. *Proudly laughing his ass off when he hears how creative his son is with his language. *He knows damn well he is his son’s inspiration - beyond proud of knowing he created a genius.  *Single father.  *Joins the boys chat pretty often.  *Fakes reading something next to Sevro so he can listen what the squad is talking about via voice-chat or to keep up with the events in their roleplay because it makes him to feel good and young.  *He taunts his son irl and in game.  *Sometimes Sevro feels humiliated by his father, so he leaves the chat and/or the roleplay. Fitchner always brings him back and promises him not to mix in their game again.  *Squad doesn’t want him to leave, so they beg him to stay every single time when Fitchner says he about to let them play alone. *He can’t resist and promises them that he will come every time when he has a little spare time. *Sometimes acts like he is really busy and can’t join, when he really only wants Sevro to spend his time with his only friends being unbothered or mad by his father’s presence.  *Squad made him to be Ares because they worship him and call him the leader of the chat.  Adrius - played by a 16 y/o british boy.  *Has the stereotypical unintelligible british accent.  *Roque brought him in the group, out of nowhere, long after the roleplay started.  *No one really knows what’s up with this weird ass dude.  *Is online 24/7, but rarely speaks - he is the dude always peeking at the corners and watching everyone talking.  *When he shows up, his character has complex, long monologues when everyone else, aside of Darrow and Roque, can barely spell.  *He doesn’t fw with anyone’s plans and wreck them completely, by popping out of nowhere and destroying everything.  *But squad kinda enjoys it because he creates a good amount of drama within their rp.  *He types hella fast, like dude would spend his entire time sending messages. *Doesn’t he, like, has any friends?  *He never socialize within the group chat, he only breaths in the voice call.  *Squad created an anti-Adrius chat without him, but keeps him in the roleplay because his weird ass plan-wrecking character is interesting.  *He is so mysterious, with his character and all, that he resembles a chocolate egg with surprises. You never know what to expect.  Nero - played by a 16 y/o american boy. *Brought by Cassius long before Adrius came.  *Squad accepted him, but he doesn’t really fw them. *He is pretty shy and wanted to quit the group chat, since he wasn’t really talking much.  *Also, first time when Cassius suggested him to join roleplaying, he declined.  *A big history fanatic, always researching about war and dictators, corruption and tyrants.  *He will mainsplain every single detail in the lives of the big bad guy’s of the history.  *He will also get all ruffled if you don’t know the exact date in which WW1 started - like, are you even paying attention in the class, Karen??  *Gets excited every time Netflix drops a documentary about WW2.  *Cassius brought him the chat because he wanted to obligate him talk about anything else, but sad, miserable historic facts.  *Also, asked him to join roleplaying so, instead of focusing on the history of amok dictators, he can fight against them in a cool, space-knight way! *Became interested in roleplaying after he heard about Darrow’s plotline, all about inequality and war, thus considering it will give him the chance of shining and playing an old good tyrant. *Cassius hated the shit out of the idea, but Darrow was in ecstasy hearing they will have a big bad guy.  *Didn’t really join in the first part of the roleplay due still being really shy and clumsy at it, only joining when Darrow asked him for the execution part, but once he got used to it...oh, boy!  *He once joked about Adrius being Nero irl in the anti-Adrius group chat. Roque told Adrius about it and he liked the idea so much, he decided to make his character Nero’s son! Roque was kicked out from the anti-Adrius group chat just after that, Mustang - played by Cassius. *Why? Well, Darrow kinda cute... *He is just kidding, duuuh! It’s not about Darrow. It’s about playing a beautiful,tough girl so he can ‘’sharpen’’ his homies!  *He is a senior, so he has experience with girls, duh! He can play a girl just fine and give them tips on how to handle one. *OOPS! Sike! You can’t handle Mustang! Nice one, Cassius.  *Forced Darrow to chase Mustang as a way to entertain himself.  *He felt his soul going uwu when Meaper was going on.  *Expresses his feelings through a cocky girl as a way of coping with his feelings. *Made Mustang Adrius’ sister as a way of flipping off Adrius and his plans, thinking Adrius will lose his shit when someone will disturb his perfectionist plans and monologues just as much as he does to others, but it just fueled Adrius’ weird imagination and fitted into his agenda way too perfectly.  *Now he regrets his decision since he is obligated to spend a little extra time around Adrius.  Victra - played by Tactus *Created her for two sole reason. *Fucking around with Sevro’s not-so-secret passion for dangerously muscular fictional woman that can step on him any time. *Flexing fictional muscles in front of the squad by creating a super-giant-titan-ninja-classy-monster-woman to kick their space-knight asses. Even his own, too, because is funny to see women kicking metallic asses of knights, duuh! *And maybe for fw Darrow a bit, by making Victra all flirt with his shy ass. So, let’s say...three reasons.  *He gathered extensive knowledge from all the girls he knows about what the hell a girl likes - had no idea ‘till then, but now he knows what girls prefers the most: slaughter.  Feel free to add!!!

[believexfanzine]

Willie Desamero of PATHOGEN

(San Pablo City, Laguna Philippines)

November 2013/ Believe Fanzine issue #3

https://www.discogs.com/artist/125777-Pathogen-2

https://www.facebook.com/Pathogen-PH-177645992334222/

Hello Willie! How is Pathogen doing? How and when are you guys formed?

Greetings, Rann! The band is doing just fine. We just finished recording and mixing our fourth album few weeks ago and we’re busy preparing for some upcoming gigs and other areas of our lives. Music consumes much of our lives, needless to say. But, of course there will always be other aspects of our personal existence that we need to address just to keep everything in balance.

It’s amazing just how fast time flies! I would never have imagined that when we started out in 2001 that we would still be here making music and being more vital than ever. And it’s certainly didn’t feel that long ago! Many things have changed personally and otherwise.

Our goals were very innocent back then-we would just have been happy to record a demo and probably break up and venture into other things. The notion that this would be our careers is the farthest thing from our minds. I could not even afford to buy a set of guitar strings back then and now we’re already into our fourth album which would most likely be released next year by Dunkelheit Produktionen, Germany.

Looking back it’s quite unbelievable. Perhaps the reason we kept on going is that the band is only thing that we had, I mean none of us came from wealthy backgrounds nearly all our members and ex-members came from working-class neighborhoods. Our band and the music we create are probably the only things that gives us the most satisfaction and of course, the hope and confidence to face our troubles and fears.

When I was in college you guys gave me a lot of demos of your side bands and a copy of your own cd which was really cool. But we rarely see each other now. How are your bands' releases so far?  

Yeah I remember that! I gave them to you for promotional purposes more or less. I was playing also with another band back then which was Boxwagon. I suppose I just could not live without music. Writing, performing and playing music is sort of like therapy for me. It’s the catharsis for venting out all the frustrations and discontentment of living in a world where I rarely felt a part of. But anyway, our current available releases are the CD’s of our second and third albums, “Miscreants Of Bloodlusting Aberrations” and ‘Forged In Crucible Of Death” and the mini-CD/EP “Lust Of Evil”. As far as our labels tell me, they are quite happy about the sales of our CD’s in Europe, I would not be exactly surprised about that since they did an incredible world-wide effort to promote the said releases which is really great because it really helped to spread our music all over the globe. Before that, I would personally send our demos painstakingly to record labels, fanzines, foreign bands, and demo traders world-wide almost every day! I went broke far too many times to actually remember! But all the determination and hard work paid off I guess!                                                                                                                                                            

I understand that most of your albums are released in either Europe or North America, What's up with that?

It’s in Europe mostly. Our last North American releases were the “Gryphon” tape in 2011 which was released by The Northern Cold Productions, Canada and the tape versions of Toxemia/Pathogen split and our third album by Mandarangan Recordings, USA both in 2013. And our past 3 CD releases were in Europe. Since 2011 we’ve gotten a very good deal with two European labels, Old Temple from Poland and Dunkelheit Produktionen in Germany. They are very professional and have a very good reputation in the underground metal scene, plus they both have world-wide distribution which is a very good thing for us in terms of spreading our music out…And besides Europe has always been a hot spot for metal and all underground music in general such as punk/HC/grind/crust/doom/experimental, etc…for many, many decades. I don’t know why but Europeans are very eccentric in their musical and artistic tastes. Sadly enough, not many Filipinos are like that. Most Filipinos always tend to immediately criticize things that they do not understand instead of giving it an open mind. And in a nutshell that explains why 95 percent of Pathogen releases are released by foreign independent record labels. We Filipinos tend to be too ’trend’-oriented when it comes to music and art. I mean, Pathogen are relatively unknown here in San Pablo City-or even in the Philippines, for that matter, except to a few individuals and close friends, but step outside this country, in Europe or elsewhere in the globe our music are very well respected and admired. We never really bothered too much to promote our music in our country because we knew there is no future for a metal band in our third world shit hole. It’s sort of like we are living in a different world when it comes to our band and our music, and the international underground scene is our own universe where we can escape to and it has its own visual art, literature and sound. And we felt we belong here where international cooperation and comradeship are very much prevalent despite the fact that very few people appreciate our music here in our own city. For over a decade we are living in this international underground bubble-our own little world and infinitely enjoying it.

Speaking of album releases, can you give us a list of your previous and current releases and where is it available?

Our first album was “Blasphemous Communion” which we independently released in 2007, and in 2008 we got an offer to release it on vinyl LP from the German label, Iron Bonehead Productions. Our second album, “Miscreants Of Bloodlusting Aberrations” was also released independently by us in 2009 and in 2010 it was released on tape by Satanized Productions, France. And in 2012 we got a deal with the German label, Dunkelheit Produktionen to release it on CD and vinyl. As for more current release, our third album, “Forged In The Crucible of Death” was released by Old temple Records in Poland as well as the “Lust Of Evil” CD. Prior and in between our albums we have a lot of demos, EP’s and split releases which I didn’t mention but right now the only releases available from us are the last 3 CD releases the rest are out of print.

How does living in San Pablo, Laguna influence your music? Though I know most of your shows are in Metro Manila.

San Pablo City is geographically beautiful, but culturally, it’s total bullshit. There is nothing here for Pathogen. There is no significant underground/counter-culture scene and the rest of the inhabitants here are trendy hipster dumb-asses and social-climbing ignorant fools. But you know, I like this place because it’s HOME  and it’s not as hot and congested as Manila and we have a good quality water source, and it’s not very far from Manila. San Pablo is still sort of an isolated place that very few from Manila or other provinces knew about and of course we have a lake nearby which is quite a beautiful place and it’s a perfect place for tapping into your creative consciousness. However, in reality, living in our city does not really influence our music in anyway. It’s mostly the conditions of our lives that directly affect our music. I was once asked by a foreign fanzine what is it that inspires us to write and release a lot of music in a rather short amount of time and my answer basically is our discontent and dissatisfaction with life are what inspires us the most and that still stands true today. Like I have stated earlier, none of us came from prominent backgrounds. And it’s a terrible thing to exist in a world where you are never truly accepted for who you are and rarely feel a part of, but for some reason all that negativity became a positive thing for us because we can create music with as much conviction and passion as the bands we admire.

I watched you play guitar for Boxwagon before, can't remember what year that was. How was Boxwagon? Do you guys still play? Any punk bands that you listen to?

It was most likely in 2009! I was never really a founding member of Boxwagon. It was John’s band first and foremost and I was ‘asked’, or shall I venture to say I ‘volunteered’ for John to ask me to join the band, because at that time Boxwagon was undergoing some line-up difficulties and when he needed members. Vic and I volunteered along with two other members of Infestor. And I always liked their music. I even recorded their first demo on my old Sony tape recorder. As soon as we stepped on board we tried to ‘revolutionized’ Boxwagon’s sound by adding metal riffs and exotic guitar scales to make it sound more ‘broader’ in musical terms as opposed to their stripped down punk/crust approach on their first demo. We also recorded a 5 song demo with Boxwagon in 2010 entitled “Civil Defense Against Conformity” after which things went stagnant with the band and John wanted to venture into other areas. But hopefully he will reform the band and record a new demo. You all maybe surprised, but we do not exclusively listen to metal. If you limit yourself to listen to only one musical style then you are probably a stupid idiot! Ever since the beginning we listened to other forms of music such as experimental/progressive rock, ambient, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s classic rock, late 70’s and early 80’s synth pop, industrial music, Blues, Jazz, folk, classical, etc… and we actually listen to a lot of punk. Earlier stuff like The Misfits, Iggy Pop, The Exploited, The Damned, Amebix, Doom, LARM, Richard Hell and the Voidods, The Dictators, Rudimentary Peni, MC5, The Cramps, amongst others, makes me wanna pogo! And as much as possible we try to absorb and learn from everything we listen to. I always prefer to think of music as ‘language’ and not math. Since I was young I was always amazed on how musicians can communicate and express their thoughts and emotions through music and directly affect the listener. Even without lyrics you can communicate through an audience with a musical instrument. It’s quite amazing how sounds can convey a wide array of emotions from joy to anger to sorrow and everything in between. Music is a form of non-verbal communication, it’s almost telepathic!

By the way, How was your zine? I wouldn't know that you make one since you told me.

My ‘zine making days are long gone. It’s been a decade since I last put an issue out. And besides I couldn’t afford to have a band and a fanzine at the same time nowadays. I still do, however, contribute reviews and interviews to several local fanzines. I doubt it very much if I would start my own again and I don’t think the underground scene needs another fanzine. When I first started doing my own fanzine as a young teenager, Synapse, in 1997 there isn’t that many fanzines in our country yet but by the turn of the century, in 2000, the underground scene was filled to the brim with fanzine makers. I was doing a new fanzine with another comrade called Dead Reckoning by that time and I was starting to get tired of the whole thing as I wanted to focus more on music and my band. Doing a fanzine has started to feel like marriage-in the beginning it was pure joy, and I had a lot of energy and determination. It was very exciting but after doing it for several issues, things start to level off and everything becomes a routine and I started to get bored. And in those pre-internet days it was quite a very hard, time-consuming work to do a fanzine. Printing and shipping it overseas is expensive and promoting it is humiliating. Eventually I quit after the last issue of Dead Reckoning came out in early 2003 and focused more on what I really enjoy-playing and making music. It was quite liberating to get out of that. Perhaps if I wasn’t playing in a band I’d continue writing my own fanzine. But music really is my true calling.

5 facts about Pathogen

Haha! Good question! This one is for all you fact-junkies out there. 1. Our original, bass player, Alex Alfonso is a nephew of iconic and legendary Pinoy folk/rock singer, Sampaguita. 2. All Pathogen full-length albums are released by predominantly black metal record labels despite the fact that we’re a death metal band! 3. Vic and I also used to play in Effluvium/Negatron and for a short while also in Boxwagon. 4. All of us are mostly self-taught musicians. 5. As of 2013, we have recorded 52 original songs since we were formed in 2001 that includes all albums demos and split releases.

Studio recording music or playing live?

I’d say both. We always get a kick out playing live-and it’s also somewhat of an adrenaline rush when you’re upstage. The live setting is where metal truly comes alive. As for recording music we totally enjoy it as well. It’s in the studio is where we are most focused and creative. During recording sessions you tend to think of ideas to add to a song that you don’t normally think of during rehearsals or live. Anyway, our limited budget often limits our ability to experiment more in the studio. But we plan everything before hitting the studio in terms of what effects to use on the songs, etc…

Any thoughts on mixed genre show or all metal shows?

We have no problem with mixed genre shows at all because when we started out most of our gigs were like that, it’s also a chance to reach people that might not have been aware of this kind of noise that we’re playing. But mostly, our gigs are all metal shows and whatnot, but every once in a while we do play in some mixed-genre shows. Most of our friends attend metal shows of course. There were even times in the past where we play in nothing but punk/crust gigs but everyone’s cool with it. We actually enjoy playing in punk gigs because everyone is friendly there are no big airs about them unlike in other genres, etc…

Do you prefer big or small crowds?

It doesn’t really matter for us if we’re playing in front of 5,000 or 5 people. The important thing is that you give your 666% every time you play a gig.

Thanks for the interview man and for giving me an idea about this. Ha! Much Respect. Anything you wanna plug and greet maybe? Malapit na pasko haha

Sure, no problem! Thanks for your support and for the interview. It is much appreciated! Salamat! Oo nga  malapit na ang pasko! You can almost smeel it in the air! Hehe! To be perfectly honest Christmas just seem to be just another ordinary day for me. Probably when I was young it was something to anticipate. But now it doesn’t matter that much to me. No offense to anyone, but there are much more special days for me than Christmas.