Interviewed by Dave, answered by Xaphan & Xul Tell us about the band, influences, etc. When did you form? Have you always been the same members? Describe your music to the uninformed. (If you want you can just tell people to check out the website but remember that not everyone has a computer!) Xul: Azazel's core members from the beginning have been Xaphan and myself. We have been through many drummers, but right now we have a steady line up with our newest drummer, Hellspawn. Azazel is a US Black Metal band that play's uncompromising, sick, blasphemous hymn's that represent humanity as the sheep and ourselves as the goat's that fuck them. Check out the site, http://redirect.to/azazel. Speaking for myself I am influenced by death, hatred, and the dimensions ventured in the astral plains. Xaphan: Azazel formed as a whole in the spring of 99 Anno Satanas. As Xul stated him and myself have been the core members since the formation with having gone through 4 drummers to date. My influences are bands from the early eighties that were playing extreme music back then such as Venom, Destruction, Sodom, Bathory etc. as well as bands such as Darkthrone, Mayhem, and the list goes on. I see Azazel's style and music as pure blasphemous apocalyptic black metal. To find out in depth more about Azazel you can visit the website. Did you guys set out to be a three piece or is that just the way things ended up? Will you always be a three piece? Xul: Originally Xaphan and I were looking to keep the amount of people in the band minimal, but planned on getting a separate vocalist; until one day I decided to attempt to sing and it just fit. With myself playing bass and vocals, Xaphan doing guitars and backup vocals and our drummer it just felt complete, and no need for more people to deal with. In the future we may get a second guitarist to add more ideas to the band, but we aren't looking. If the right person comes along, we will see.... When choosing the name Azazel had you known about previous bands such as the ones from Finland and New Zealand who had used the name before? Did that in anyway influence your decision to choose the name for yourselves? Xaphan: When I choose the name for the band I had never heard of any other bands using the name Azazel. It was not until after we put the MCD out and we began getting reviews that I was informed of this. It seems though only a handful of people have heard of these other Azazel's and after all the hard work we have put into making a name for ourselves we are not about to change it. If someone has a problem with that then they can just go fuck themselves! Any Azazel that was before is now dead and buried, for we are AZAZEL and we have come to spread our evil to the four corners of the earth and shall not be stopped! What kind of response have you gotten from the MCD promo? Are you looking for a label or do you intend to keep it a self-released deal? Xul: So far we have received a great response from the self released "Order of the Fly". Next we have a split CD with Krieg coming out hopefully in March of 2000. We are looking for a label to release this and/or future releases. The new material is even sicker than all previous. All labels and distro's interested in putting this out should contact us. Your MCD is entitled " Order of the Fly". Can you describe the concept behind this and what it represents? Xaphan: The concept came to me late one night. I have been a Church of Satan member for a couple of years and have wanted to begin my own grotto with other practicing Satanist. Thus the grotto was going to be called the Order of the Fly. Being that there aren't a whole lot of practicing Satanist in South Florida I decided to use the title for Azazel's first release, since in a way I consider the kult of Azazel as a grotto in itself. The title comes from ancient demonology where Beelzebub is perceived as the fly, and is the demon that sits on the throne of high in his order called the "Order of the Fly". On the CD sleeve it says that you use the Sigil of Baphomet with permission from the Church of Satan. Are you guys Laveyan Satanists or more of the "self styled " Satanist? Xul: I'm more of a self styled Satanist and really don't follow any particular "rules". Xaphan: As I just stated I am a member of the Church of Satan, but I don't consider myself a LaVeyan Satanist since I follow no ones set of rules. I practice ritual magick the way I see fit and live by the laws set forth by myself. Anyone who sits and spews forth passages out of LaVey's books to me is no better than the sheep who follow the whore jesus christ. To me they are part of the herd and in my eyes should be slaughtered. I do however have a high respect for Dr. LaVey for his commitment and the disgust he had for the flock of followers of the church. He was the first to publicly say " I am a Satanist, and all other gods fall under me" which took balls for the time period he formed the Church of Satan. You covered Mayhem's " Chainsaw Gutsfuck " for the US Mayhem tribute. Any particular reason why you chose that song? When will this be released? Xul: We originally were going to do "Pure Fucking Armageddon" but we just happened to do "chainsaw Gutsfuck". The CD should have been out in November. The label that put it together hasn't put it out due to lazy bands that haven't submitted money or tracks. When relying on other people this type of shit always happens. There are a few compilations you guys will be appearing on. Can you tell us more about these? Xaphan: Besides the Mayhem tribute, we are currently going to put on a compilation being put out by my good friend Mormo of Intrudium called "Unholy Blood" and will be appearing on the soon to be released Lost Disciple Records compilation "Visionaries of the Macabre-An Evil Elite Vol.2". We have been asked to be on many more compilations but we don't want to know as one of those "compilation only" bands. How about the split with Krieg? Has this been recorded? Xaphan: The split with Krieg came about after I sent Lord Imperial a copy of the MCD to play on the radio show he does up in New Jersey. He gave us much praise on our style of BM and I respect that very much since to me Krieg has been one the top USBM for many years now. They are true kult! So I mentioned to him that we should do a split and he was very enthusiastic about doing it, as were we. This release hopefully will get Azazel out to even more of the underground and will open the eyes of some of these labels as to what Azazel are able to accomplish. I just recently talked with Lord Imperial and Krieg should be finished recording for the split in the next week or so. We have the songs written so it's just a matter of getting it to tape. Xul: Right now we have been playing out very often and just got done writing the material for the split. We are recording in the middle of Feb. and will have it completed the same week. We are planning to release the split in March. Do you guys ever wear corpsepaint and what is your opinion on the use of it? Has it become overused and trendy in your opinions? Xul: We definitely use corpse paint to add an evil atmosphere, mystic to our stage presence. Corpsepaint if done right is fine with me. How is the black metal scene in Florida? Florida is generally known for its death metal. Do you guys get to play out with any black metal bands? Xul: In the Ft. Lauderdale area, we are the black metal scene. It's infested with bad rap/hardcore bands. We usually play with death metal bands from the area, like Hibernus Mortis. We are going north a little more and doing a show with fellow black metal bands Cryptic Winds, and Of the Dead in two weeks. I think that in the future we are going to plan more shows like this because it does us no good by playing with a bunch of shitty rap-metal fag bands in the area. There are a lot of racist organizations in Florida. Do you consider yourselves of the " NS black metal " variety that seems to be very popular in parts of the European black metal scene? What is your opinion of NS, paganism, and politics in black metal? Do you feel that there is any room for "love" in black metal whether it is for your race, your girlfriend or your family or your fellow man? What's your opinion on replacing xtianity with cultural gods, paganism etc.doesnt this kind of amount to the same thing in a different form? Xul: Racist groups are everywhere you go. I particularly hate everybody. I think Zyklon B said it best with the "Don't Stop the Madness" campaign. I think paganism has no place in black metal, and I never really paid any attention to politics in black metal. With love comes hatred, so yes I believe in it. Xianitly is just brainwashing the weak and history will repeat itself. Throw the christians in the lion's den. Xaphan: I myself hate just about everyone as well. Black Metal is about blasphemy, evil, hatred, destruction, death and all the dark things in life. It was after all the black metal band members over in Norway were jailed that all of a sudden politics began to pop up in black metal, as is the same with paganism. Politics are for the hardcore punk bands and paganism is for the tree hugging wiccans! Black metal should stay pure the way it was meant to be, the way it was! If you want politics then run for office, and who the fuck cares about tress and forests, fuck all that beautiful shit, black metal is ugly and we plan on keeping it that way. Have you played many shows yet? What bands have you played with? Xul: Actually we play out at least twice a month, so we do play out more than the usual BM band. We've played with Divine Empire a couple times, Immolation, and we are opening up for Cannibal Corpse, Diabolic, Hate Eternal, and God Dethroned in Feb. Other than that we play with some local bands like Death Becomes You...(A sick horror punk band), Hibernus Mortis, Drifter, Down Syndrome, and some bands not worth mentioning. Thanks for the interview guys and many hails to your blasphemic endeavors. Spew forth blasphemy...(last words) Xul: Thanks for the interview. Any labels/distro's interested in working with us, contact us through the website. Visit the site, http://redirect.to/azazel. The "Order of the Fly" CD is $8 post paid, and is very limited. Forever Heaven Gone! Xaphan: Many hails to you Brian for the interview. Prepare for the Armageddon that is to come! HAIL SATAN!