THE AMENTA –
- Posted on 28-07-2004
THE AMENTA
En gjemt verden i form av The Amenta
2004-07-28
Av Rune
Australske THE AMENTA har nettopp sluppet sin debut Occasus p� den franske labelen Listenable. I den forbindelse sendte jeg noen sp�rsm�l til den andre siden av jorden for � pr�ve � finne ut mer om dette meget interessante bandet. Chlordane stod for svarene.
ET � First of all, let me congratulate you with an excellent album in Occasus. Can you tell our readers a little about the album?
CHLORDANE – Thank you. We are completely satisfied with �Occasus�. So far the reviews have been excellent and the feedback all positive. It is ten songs, blending the Black and Death metal with Industrial and Noise elements. �Occasus� is a loose concept album based on social decline.
ET � The recording session took about 5 months. Why did you choose to use several studios for the recording of the album?
CHLORDANE – Yes the 5 months nearly killed us. It was very intense; we were working about 14 hours, five to seven days a week usually for those 5 months. We only really used two studios for the recording. Drums were recorded at Que Studios and everything else was recorded in our home studio. We recorded drums at Que because they had the best drum room in Sydney. The album was mixed in six days at a third studio, BJB Studios, as they had an incredible Neve mixing console with great outboard gear. Lachlan Mitchell, Keyboardist for Nazxul, mixed our album, and we couldn�t be happier with the results. I�m sure you will agree that the production on �Occasus� rivals anything that is coming out of Europe or the USA at the moment.
ET � The drums are very fast. Do you feed your drummer with nitroglycerin or are parts of the drums programmed?
CHLORDANE – The only programmed drums are in the verses of �Nihil� as we wanted a thrashy industrial drum machine sound. All the rest of the drums are Diazinon�s own work. We triggered both kick and snare to get a very cold and clinical sound which was the sound we thought best suited the music. Diazinon is extremely fast naturally, and he may well have a nitroglycerin diet as some of the things he can do are simply amazing. He is without doubt the fastest drummer in Australia.
ET � You have chosen to focus on the band and the music, and therefore the band members are anonymous. Is this an Australian phenomenon? (I am thinking of The Berzerker which also has anonymous members)
CHLORDANE – The aim isn�t really anonymity, rather to take the focus away from personality.
The Amenta isn�t five different individuals, it is one entity. We deliberately didn�t include the names in the album booklet as we don�t want faces to names. It would spoil the mystique.
ET � Can you tell us a little about the concept behind The Amenta?
CHLORDANE – The Amenta is the Hidden Earth. To me the hidden earth means truth. We are the anti-society, keeping true independent thought alive.
ET � The album title were planned to be Ennea, but you changed it to Occasus. Why?
CHLORDANE – �Ennea� was always a working title. Ennea represents the nine times the Acheron, a mythic river, that wound around Hades, the Greek Underworld. Ennea means nine in Greek. �Occasus� is Latin for west, sunset and decay � It suits the lyrical subject matter a lot better. The West represents Western Society while the sunset part represents the end of Western Society. The decay part of Occasus is a reference to the lack of free thinking and new ideas, literally a decay of humanity.
ET � A few words about the time when The Amenta became reality.
CHLORDANE – The Amenta formed in 2000. We all came from various other bands that had folded around that time. We were frustrated with the lack of options for an active Australian extreme music band and so holed ourselves up in tiny rooms to write challenging and unique music. We started work almost immediately on the MCD �Mictlan� which we released in 2002.
ET � What are the lyrics about and will you say that Occasus is a concept album?
CHLORDANE – �Occasus� is a concept album but only loosely. Every song is tied together thematically. The lyrics talk about the decay of Western Society through metaphor, using various cultures and their dogmatic myths as examples of the methods of control. Put simply, the underlying lyrical theme throughout �Occasus� is western civilization is an army of drones, controlled by transparent religions and faiths that promise people a paradise at the end of their lives, a reward for the years of working a bullshit job and living a meaningless existence. �Occasus�� message is that we live, we die, we rot and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
ET � You have released a mini album called Mictlan before Occasus. Can you tell us a little about that one too?
CHLORDANE – �Mictlan� was the pre-cursor to �Occasus�. It featured three tracks, a multimedia section which contained our biography and images as well as an extra instrumental track. �Mictlan� was basically our promotional tool to gain exposure in the underground and eventually led to us getting signed to Listenable Records.
ET � For the ones who are interested; do you know where they can get a copy of Mictlan today or is it out of stock?
CHLORDANE – There are still a few available from us. Email us at theamenta@bigpond.com for more details.
ET � Occasus will be released on Listenable these days. How did you end up signing with them?
CHLORDANE – A friend of ours, David Rocher, a reviewer for Chronicles of Chaos zine, heard our MCD Mictlan and was impressed enough to mention us to Laurent from Listenable Records. We sent Listenable a promo pack, corresponded via email for a few months and then eventually signed with them. We are incredibly happy with the way things are going with Listenable, they are a hard working label with an awesome roster.
ET � What�s next for The Amenta now? Have you already started to think on the next album?
CHLORDANE – We have started planning the video clip for the song �Zero� from �Occasus�. We are currently talking to Entropy Films, the directors of an independent film called �Zero Tolerance Squad� which won best film and best director amongst other awards at the Fifth Planet Independent Film Festival in Toronto. They are a resourceful and creative unit and have very similar ideas to us in terms of the video so it should be quite an intense experience.
As for the next album, we have started to work on a few ideas actually. The next album I feel will take the noise/electronic element even further.
ET � At last, how is The Amenta live and do you have any upcoming gigs? Any chance for us European to see you up here in the near future?
CHLORDANE – We are currently rehearsing for our first run of live shows in support of the album. We will recreate nearly everything from the album live, including samples, FX, and interludes which means we will be integrating a lot of technology into our live show. It will be an intense experience both visually and sonically. We are determined to get to Europe, it�s just a matter of when.
ET � Thanx a lot for your time and good luck with Occasus and everything else concerning The Amenta. If you have any final words, this is the time.
CHLORDANE – Thank you very much for the interview. Those interested in us should download the full Mp3 of the track �Erebus� from �Occasus�. It can be found at www.theamenta.com and www.listenable.net.