If you are an insightful reader, "American black metal" doesn't conjure up much of an impression. Either it's thrashing rehash which is basically death metal with some raspy vocals and period melody, or it's the tedious "ultra-necro-fvcking-cult-grim" stuff that resembles the output of a shorted speaker in an ice cream (CAUTION: CHILDREN) truck. Kult ov Azazel is something that to me sounded at first like ripping grindcore with periodic melodic supports in the black metal style, and have continued to develop this extreme black/grind sound into something both uniquely American and distinct in its approach to this fusion. Interviewed by SR Prozak & answered by Xaphan what in rock-n-roll inspired underground black metal, or was it something outside of rock-n-roll? Both. Metal evolved from rock-n-roll and it is just common sense that genre of black metal evolved from metal. The outside influence came in the form of anger to christian doctrine. It spawned from the combination of extreme antichristian ideologies and the vilest form of music that could be deviated from past metal endeavors. Without the two I don't think black metal would really exist, at least not what we know as black metal at this point in time. were you as a band initially metal players who branched out to black metal, or was black metal your "first love" genre? I can't say it was my first love as black metal did not really exist back when I first being listening to music consciously back in 1977. Just as I was growing up I never found anything that was likeable about what was mainstream music like stuff my parents listened to, other kids liked or what was heard on the radio. I was much more fascinated with the stuff that was what people back then considered obscure. I started out listening to Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, AC/DC and stuff to that extent. Then later Iron Maiden, WASP, Motley Crue and from there I discovered Venom, Exodus, Possessed, Kreator, Sodom, Destruction and the list goes on. As far as being a musician goes, I began playing metal back in 1984 with the inspiration of Venom's "Welcome to Hell". So I would say that at that moment in time, even more so after they released "Black Metal", that I had found a style of music that I related to. Branching out I don't know if it is the right term, I think discovering would be more fitting. in the progression from death metal to black metal, what experimental elements of the death metal genre became finalized into new techniques and stylistic ideals in black metal? Definitely the blast beat. That's the one major carry over from the death metal genre to the black metal genre that I can think of. I would also say that the lyrics back in the beginnings of death metal had the same tone, very antichristian and focused on death, destruction and darkness. But other than that I don't think the two really compare to each other. Maybe more so today since many bands like to mix the two but in my opinion I think black metal is mentally and emotionally more appealing than death metal. it seems to me society doesn't want to accept ("underground") metal except when there's a need for some "outsider" to ratify some aspect of mainstream society, or a need to have an "other" toward which to point. is this true in your experience? Well I think the underground and society are a bad mix to begin with. Society is more concerned with pop-culture, what's current and "hip". You have this problem with the scenesters in the underground but they eventually go away because they find something else to fill the void of their meaningless lives. So I say good let society shun the underground. Once underground metal is embraced by society it will only bring more trendhoppers and shitter bands with it, as if there's not enough already. what is the difference between crustcore/grindcore and black metal, in your view, since the musical elements outside of concept, image and arrangement appear very similar? Yeah the arrangement and musical approach can be very similar in all three styles. Other than that and that all tend to have a DYI approach to things I wouldn't say that there are really any other similarities. from the mp3 sample on your site, the new material kult ov azazel is producing is more streamlined and seemingly, contemplative in emotional development, where previous material focused more on "ripping," at least from what struck this reviewer. how would you categorize the changes in your new material from your old, and what inspired these changes? Too make a long story short we have been through many drummers since we formed this band. With each release there has been a new drummer and depending on who is drumming for us is how the songs come out. Yes the last album and even the split we did with Krieg was much more of a ripping style, mostly blast oriented black metal. Yet with the first mCD release we did not have a drummer that was capable of drumming like that so it was more of a minimal approach to the song writing. So yes the new stuff is going a bit different since we have a new and permanent drummer added to the band. We have also added a second guitarist which has also brought a different slant to the writing process. This album is a total collaboration between us as a full band as opposed to past releases where it was only Xul or I. Plus I have begun doing more vocals on this album and contributed a majority of the lyrics so quite a lot has changed. I am the most satisfied with this new album than I have been with anything that we have done in the past. do you enjoy touring? if so, where's an ideal place to tour? We have not toured as a band. Only have done a few dates here and there outside of Florida. But I have toured with another band and I would say I really liked Germany and Belgium. The Netherlands was great too. And yes I did enjoy that tour because I was able to get the fuck out of America for a month. It was a great experience and something I would like to maybe one day do with Kult ov Azazel. is your next album going to be self-produced, since so much of the black metal underground has been hit hard by this recession? It will be, yes. What sorts of behaviors are appropriate for elders in the USBM scene, as you as a band are? Being drunk, rude and crude. do you think black metal will mutate into another style, or, like other metal styles, will it become a known/retro experience that is accepted but frozen in development? Of course it will mutate, and has already been doing so for a few years. But to me this is not black metal. Once it strays from the roots of what black metal ideology and musical style is about it to me is no longer black metal. Black metal is fucking vile, ugly and most importantly satanic. For these reasons it will never be widely accepted because of the religious fear that it invokes. what things do you see in an audience at a KOA gig that inspires strong emotion or realization in you? Nothing. The people that have to come to see us in a live setting do nothing to inspire me. What inspires me is when the music starts. The music invokes the strong emotion in me. I enter my own world and don't usually even know that there are people standing in front of us. were there every any heroes in black metal? No. Heroes are for comic books or Hollywood movies. xaphan, you seem to be familiar with your instrument more than most in the underground community - what stimulated you to start playing guitar, and what types of exercises did you use to practice? Like I said earlier, it was mainly Venom that inspired me to really pick up the guitar. I was given a guitar and amp at the age of 8 but I never had the motivation to play it. But once I heard that Venom record it was all over. So I was around 13/14 years old when I seriously began teaching myself guitar. I learned to play by ear and to this day can't really read or write music on paper. Everything I have learned over the years I have taught myself either by watching others or from trial and error. For exercise I just do a lot of open string picking to keep up on my right hand picking speed. As for left hand exercises I mainly just go over scales or focus on individual fingering positioning. I also make up patterns that I find useful in progressing the speed both in my left and right hands. There's really not much to my practice ethics. in your view, has black metal technique expanded over the last five years, or regressed by adopting pieces of other genres? It has done both. In the early days it was expanding but since about late 90's it began regressing by adopting other musical forms. That's why you see many bands now taking it back to the roots. I say hail to these bands! what music, metal or otherwise, do you listen to at this point in time that hold some mystery, joy or artistic experience for you? Currently all I have been listening to is the song mixes of our new album. Very fucking tedious. But other than that one of my favorite bands for some time now has been Inquisition, so I listen to them everyday. I have also been listening to a lot of Gorgoroth recently and Hellhammer. I also like to listen to ritual/chamber music, along with some classical and soundtrack scores. But for the most part I spend the majority of my time listening to black metal if listening to music at all. both kult ov azazel and the mainstream band "audioslave" seem to be positioned as intensely ideological music; what do you see as the differences between KOA and audioslave, and how are these manifest in the final output? I don't know much about this band you mention other than they are mainstream rock or something. So right there I'd say that is a big difference. Also what we are doing is not made to appeal to people of herd mentality. We are creating an output of our inner selves. Music that we would want to hear, plain and simple. We don't care if our albums sell or not. Bands such as audioslave are creating music for the purpose of selling records and putting money into their bank accounts. Kult ov Azazel is doing it to further the war on monotheistic tyranny. it seems like the last three years have brought a much larger metal audience to the web; in your opinion, what effect has this had on the metal that is purchased and promoted socially in the metal community? I honestly can't answer this question. I guess there's a larger metal audience on the web, more so than say 5 years ago but that is inevitable with the invention of new technology. I have no clue what people are actually purchasing because I use the web as a tool of communication and not a social outlet. With the advance of technology come idiots that learn how to use it so I stopped using the internet for anything other than contacts. when this reviewer saw KOA at a metalfest some time back, your performance as a group was tightly synchronized and professional in appearance; how would you describe your practice schedule, and what are your goals/disciplines in performing live? Our practice schedule used to be more regular than it is now. In the past all the session drummers we have used have been from the same city as us so we were doing like anywhere from 3 to 5 times a week when it came to practicing. Now with our new drummer, it is much harder since he lives in Buffalo NY not to mention he also techs for a few bands that always seem to be out on the road. So now we get together about every 3 months. Usually Goss will come down for a month's time when he's not working and at that point we practice every night for that entire month he is in town. It's a bit of a weird situation but works out well for all of us. Our goal when playing live is to lay waste to the audience. To slaughter them with audible carnage. As for disciplines, we really don't have any. which weapon would you prefer in combat, the AK-47 or the M16A3,and why? AK-47. AK-47's are extremely rugged and reliable guns. Simple to operate and need less cleaning under battle conditions. do you think the era of history defines the music within it, or that music is created independent of history by artistic minds focused on concepts of their own disconnected vision? Yes history has an effect on music. But at the same time I think the music itself, in the composition of the actual notes is more created by the artistic mind. It's usually the lyrics or the message that the song is trying to convey that is a reflection of history. At least this is how it is for me, I suppose others would disagree. what is your opinion on the world bank and the UN as forces of global change through economics? I don't know anything about this. I don't follow economics at all. Last time I even thought about economics was when I was taking it back in high school and even then I flunked it. But my opinion is that government is the next worse thing invented next to religion. would you ever play in an old-school heavy metal band as a side project? At this point in time, no. I don't have free time to do such a thing. Down the road, maybe, depends what the factors involved are. There are not many people I find tolerable, that is obvious by how many drummers we have gone through, so if I could stand to be around them it would be a possibility. many have thought, for years now, that black metal would merge with either industrial, ambient or noise music. do you think this is still possible, or that these influences have been absorbed by the metal machineas a whole? It's already happened. I don't care for any of the three styles mixed with black metal. If I want to hear a noise band I'll listen to a noise band. No reason people should continue to bastardize and make a mockery of black metal by trying to add other genre styles to it. But that's my opinion, I like black metal to be black metal not some hybrid inversion of it. someone once described metal music as "industrial rock." do you see truth in this phrase? Who the hell was this someone? I hope if it is someone you know you smacked the shit out them for this comment! That has to be listed as a "stupidest quote ever" on a list somewhere. No I do not see any truth or relation for that matter. Industrial rock is exactly that. Idiots have to learn that just because it has distorted guitars that it does not make it metal. I still can't get over that description. It's so moronic it makes me laugh. suddenly there's 10,000 metal e-zines, web sites, zines, tiny labels and bands. how has this helped or hurt the quest on which you have embarked? It hasn't really helped or hurt us so it really hasn't been an obstacle on what we set out to do and that is to create music that mocks the existence of religious faith. I think it hurts the ones doing the zines and the other things more than it would the bands. are you positive or negative about a potential coming apocalypse? I see it coming soon. At least at some point in my life. Not in the biblical version of it but in a massive world war that will eventually destroy all human life. It's virtually impossible to avoid. Rege Mortalis Letum! cities seem to have personality, and vast differences exist even between cities that are similar in structure, economics, culture. what city in north america most closely mirrors your own persona? This is a hard fucking question to answer. I haven't been too many places in America to make a correct comparison. if you wanted to make a black metal band that was "futuristic," how would you do it -and- does such a thing exist? This is nothing I would ever want to do. I hate speaking in hypotheticals but I suppose the way I'd go about doing it would be to join "the new" Mayhem. Trying to make black metal anything other is a really bad joke or a sure sign of trying to make a buck. please fill in this space with upcoming events, or answers for which the corresponding question as unasked. We'll be releasing a slew of recordings in the coming year. We've just finished up on second full length titled "Oculus Infernum" which will be released on CD in the early months of 2003. In January we'll be releasing the demo mCD "Order of the Fly" and a live recording on LP with a split 7" with Satan's Blood to follow soon after. And last but not least, thanks to Prozak for the support and for not asking the same lame questions that are so frequently asked these days.