Interviewed by Sebol & answered by Xaphan Don't you think that if we talk about brutal music, in the USA reign death metal, hard rock and alternatively thrash, but how and why did you start to play black? I play black metal because it's the form of music that best represents my own feelings. I have been listening to and playing satanic oriented music since I was a teenager so playing this form of music just comes natural for me. It's in my blood is all I can say. I remember a few older black metal bands from the US: ACHERON, USURPER... newer: DARKMOON and poor MEMORIAL. Somedays ago were SARCOPHAGUS and LYCANTHROPY, but it is only a few bands which play black... rest play the other music... Yeah and I still don't understand your point. There have been bands from the States that have played this form of music but this really doesn't matter to me. There have been killer bands and there have been suck ass bands, it's like that no matter what country you hail from. I know that 'Triumph Of Fire' is not your first album. Tell me something about the previous... Our first release was a 6 song mCD titled "Order of the Fly". It was recorded and self released under the name of Azazel in the summer of 1999. This same release was later reissued by Blood Fire Death Records under the name that we have now. We also did a split CD with Krieg that was released by Genocide Music back in February. What was the differences between 'Triumph...' and the others? The difference is with the past releases they were recorded and mixed by us and not much time was spent on them at all. Maybe 2 weeks at the most on both releases. With "Triumph of Fire" we actually had a budget and time to improvise on the songs while we were in the studio which I think made this release what it is. The songs were just basic structures when we went in and it was quite different from the way we had gone about writing songs in the past. There was much more collaboration on the songs as a team rather than either myself or Xul writing the entire song. These elements I think is what really gave the new CD it's characteristics. Is it much easier to play death, rock or thrash in the US? It's easy to play any style of music that you want. Doesn't really matter if it is black metal or any of the styles listed above. And generally is it easy to play brutal music in the US? It's easy in the sense that brutality comes from the soul and when people generally piss you off it makes it that much easier. Why have you changed your name from AZAZEL to KULT OV AZAZEL? Too many bands with the same name. We were tired of being confused with others so we changed the name. It got to a point that nobody knew if we were the Azazel from Florida or the Azazel from Finland or the one from New Zealand and so on. At the time of the name switch there was atleast 6 other bands that had used the name or where using the name. It was just easier for us to change the name a little bit this way there would be no confusion between us and other bands. Your music is so condensed and heavy that many of your songs sound almost like death and if I didn't hear a vocalist I wouldn't say it is black metal... I can see where you are coming from here. The only thing that has given our new album a death metal feel is the drums. This is because the session drummer that we used is from the old Florida death metal scene and that is his style. He's not much of what one would consider a black metal drummer. But he is an excellent drummer and was able to play what we had in mind so we had him do the album with us. Our new drummer though is much more of a black metal drummer and the newer music will reflect this. You come from Florida ... There almost everybody play death or thrash, I think... I suppose, but to tell you the truth I don't pay any attention to what other bands are doing. The only thing that matters to me is my band and nothing else. I can only say that it's a good thing that bands in Florida aren't playing black metal. If there were I'd bet anything they'd suck. What are your inspirations? Depends on the day and my mood. There are other things that influence me but as I said it's on a day to day basis. I can leave my house and be influenced by something that is then incorporated into Kult ov Azazel in one form or another. Could you explain your lyrics concepts? Our lyrics deal with Satanic and Nihilistic philosophies. Depending on the song it can be any where from hate of herd conformity to the destruction of religious ethics. Our lyrics detail a resentment for humanity as a whole and the christian morals that society lives by. What are your favourite bands? Some of my favorites are Venom, Hellhammer, Mayhem, Possessed, Destruction, Exodus, Blasphemy, Sodom, Beherit, Darkthrone... I could go on for days. You prefer play short songs, but then on 'Triumph Of Fire' are as much as 11 songs during 40 minutes. Average listener won't remember much of your music... Who cares about the average listener. Not I. The average listener is most likely not buying or listening to a Kult ov Azazel CD. Although our songs aren't 7 or more minutes I would not consider them short. 4 minute songs are not short songs so I don't understand where you are coming from. I like to keep our songs around a 4 minute limit because to me anything after 5 minutes gets redundant and songs begin to bore me. There are a few short songs on the new CD and yeah they are probably less memorable songs. In all honesty, I really don't care. Do you have some gigs in the future? At the moment the only gigs we have lineup are a gig with Krisiun this coming week and then the Sacrifice of the Nazarene Child Fest this coming December. We are talking with people and trying to set up some shows for the rest of the States and possibly even make it over to Europe. Words in the end are yours... For further propaganda visit www.kultovazazel.com or you can write to the address below. Thanks for the interview. Hail Satan!