Answered by Xaphan Greeting and hail to you, introduce yourself before I start begin this interviews. Hail. I am Xaphan guitarist/vocalist in Kult ov Azazel. What KULT OV AZAZEL latest news? And how was metal scene at your place? The scene where we reside is currently at a stand still. Not many shows have been coming through and ones that do aren't worth leaving the house for. Latest news is we are currently recording our next album. Can you tell people that don't know anything about the band, where you are from, when you started to play together? A short KULT OV AZAZEL history. We are from Fort Lauderdale Florida, USA. Kult ov Azazel was formed under the moniker Azazel in 1999 by myself and Xul who does vocal and bass duties. Under the moniker Azazel we released a demo mCD titled "Order of the Fly". After that came the name change to Kult ov Azazel and this release was re-issued. Since then we have done a split CD with Krieg, a 4 way split CD with Obitus, Humanicide and Thylord, and then released our first full length "Triumph of Fire" in 2001 through Arctic Music. How was your "TRIUMPH OF FIRE" selling? Do you get any good reviews from the listeners? And do you think KULT OV AZAZEL music can be accepted by overseas listeners? I don't even know how well it sold, nor do I really care because even if all 3000 copies were sold, which I know they weren't, it's not like we'd be rolling in money, nor is it something that we wish for. There's no money to be made playing black metal, to play this form of music for the sole benefit of thinking your going to be a rockstar or making tons of cash is into for the wrong reasons. We play black metal for the purpose of spreading a message of antichristian thought. To express the true will of our inner selves. As for the album it got killer reviews from all around the world, so yes I think, actual I know that there are people from overseas not to mention South America and Asia that fully support our kult. Tell us, about your production, "TRIUMPH OF FIRE" give some details? There's not much to say about this. Unlike our past recording were we did them ourselves using a digital 8 track we had the expenses to go into a real studio to record. We used a local studio that goes by studio 13. This studio has also worked with Malevolent Creation and Divine Empire on some releases. It was recorded in the digital domain and I think even though we were able to acquire a clean sound we achieved our goal of it sounding raw. Digital and analog are two different aspects of recording, going analog it's easy to get a raw sound but in the digital domain this is not an easy accomplishment. Let's talk about the band, so what are earlier KULT OV AZAZEL biggest influences and how you would describe KULT OV AZAZEL music? My earliest influences were Venom, Destruction, Possessed, Bathory, Hellhammer/early Celtic Frost, Sodom, Mercyful Fate, and the early to mid 80's stuff, lots of it and too much to name. Then there came Blasphemy, Darkthrone, Beherit, Mayhem, Profanatica/Havohej, Gorgoroth, Marduk, all the greats of the early to mid 90's. But honestly there are some current band's that I hear that inspires me musically. I come across new black metal all the time that I find inspiring. What is KULT OV AZAZEL future release? And can you tell me more about your future release? Our future release will be "Oculus Infernum". We are currently wrapping up the recording of this beast and it is planned for a Jan. /Feb. release through Arctic Music. It's going to consist of 8 new tracks and is the first time we have ever recorded as a full band, meaning that we have permanently added a second guitarist and acquired a full time drummer. I think the proper way of describing it would be it's a mix between what we were doing on "Order of the Fly" with a twist of "Triumph of Fire". It's going to be much different than what people are going to expect. The bottom line is it's going to be total blasphemy just like past assaults. So what your lyrics base about? What the real message you want to tell the listener in your release? And don't you have planned to sing mother tongue language in KULT OV AZAZEL music? Considering we are Americans and we sing in English I'd say we do use our mother tongue. As for our lyrics, they have dealt with many things, everything from astral projections, occult/satanic philosophies and folklore, mythology of many different origins, misanthropy, torture, war upon the religious masses, our condemnation of christ and his teachings, the driving dark force of the sub-consciousness, hatred, and the list goes on. How about adding keyboards sounds in your music? Absolutely not! Your opinion about female vocalist? eeemmmmm.... like ARCH ENEMY.. I have nothing against female vocalists. Take Demonic Christ for example, that's a band with a female vocalist that kills. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that as long as it's done right and with a burning passion then I see nothing wrong with it, which goes for male of female bands! What do you think about person who play guitar and do the vocals work such as Emperor, Children of Bodom. Don't you think it is hard to concentrate both guitar and the vocal? I don't think about these persons. And no I do not think it's hard to concentrate on both vocals and play an instrument. It is only hard for those that are too afraid to try it. I do it quite often and think it's a piece of cake. Do you think metalheads should have long hair? How about you? I don't care what guys do to their hair, so no. Who gives a fuck what someone of the opposite sex haircut is? People that spend their time thinking about this should check their sexuality. As for my hair, what's it matter to you? Are you gay? Do you listen to any bands from Asia/Malaysia and what are your favorite bands in here? I don't know much about any bands from that area of the world. I only know of the mighty Impiety who fucking slay!! If there are more bands like them I'd like to hear more hate from the Asian/Malaysian black metal hordes. What's your opinion about bands that used drum machine? The drum sound is unreal right? We used one at one point. I just prefer a real drum sound. Yes the drum machine has a very fake sound for drums, but sometimes you have to use what you got, meaning drummers are not the easiest to find. As for this band, we'll never again use a drum machine. Once you have played with a live drummer there's just no way of going back to a shitty machine. Can Black Metals exits without satanic ideology? No. Your opinion about future USA metal scene? I could care less. This country is so fucking huge it doesn't matter. It will always have its good bands and its bad bands. I'll just continue to listen to the ones that I consider worth my time. KULT OV AZAZEL future plans? Aim? To release this new album of blasphemic hymns upon the masses. Once this is done we'll begin focusing on writing new material for some split albums we are doing with other bands. Our aim is what our aim has always been, that is to slander the religion of the weak and to spread our propaganda to the four corners of the earth and to bring destruction to this monotheistic society. Thank you for your time and good luck in the future with KULT OV AZAZEL new album and everything, is there anything that you want to add? Message to me? Thanks for granting us this interview. We can be contacted at Kult ov Azazel, PO Box 23308, Ft. Lauderdale FL, 33307 USA or through our website at www.kultovazazel.com. Hails to the black metal legions worldwide, Ave Mortalis Letum!!!