PESTILENTIAL SHADOWS – …is driven by a complete negative force

Hvordan skrive intro til et intervju med mennesker som ønsker å framstå som så onde at selv ondfaderen gjemmer seg når de kommer gående? Joda, klipp og lim, å la dem introdusere seg selv, fordi i motsetning til Balam fra Pestilential Shadows så har jeg tatovert mine fingre med alt det han hater… nemlig kjærleik til livet og taco…

"Mankind's suffering, and disgust of how humans cling to each other for hope and love. To see people going about there deary, conservative lives, content with how they are. A mindset that material possessions and love make you happy. These people are weaklings. And to see this happening every day, we write music, when we feel contempt for the human race and life in general."

First off, thank you for taking the time to let us get to know you.
Please tell us about the band members and what they do in the band.

We have Desolate on guitar and backing vocals, Zameth on bass, Sorrow on drums and myself (Balam) on guitars and vocals.

Could you please give us a brief outline of the history of the band?

Pestilential Shadows was formed in early 2003 by Meririm (vocals) and myself. We produced a demo entitled ‘The Fate of All That Lives' which was released unofficially on tape and CDR. We worked on our full length ‘Embrace After Death' then the EP ‘Putrify' soon after. We also started performing some select live ritual performances. We produced a limited EP tape ‘Impaled By The Moon' as a lead-up to the full length album ‘Cursed'. We have just released the new album ‘In Memoriam, Ill Omen'.

The name of the band… tell us about it, how/why did you choose this name?

Disease, Pestilence and Famine are common causes of death all over the world. Pestilential Shadows draws it's name from the impending shadow of death and disease that is constantly cast over this world.

The creative process of making the music… tell us a bit about how you create new music?

Ideas come to us all the time, whether it is musical or lyrically. We never set out to write a song for Pestilential Shadows, it just comes to us when negative energy flows through us.

Where do you draw your influences from, musically and non-musically?

Mankind's suffering, and disgust of how humans cling to each other for hope and love. To see people going about there deary, conservative lives, content with how they are. A mindset that material possessions and love make you happy. These people are weaklings. And to see this happening every day, we write music, when we feel contempt for the human race and life in general.

What if any is the key element(s) in your lyrics?

All members contribute to lyrics and music, this is not about individuals, it is an entity of darkness and suffering… Lyrical themes include, plague, death, depression, the fall of the human race, the raping of innocence and the realisation that life is bleak and aimless, Satan, the occult – Many things and hidden meanings are expressed within our lyrics, some printed some not.

Could you describe with your own words the latest album " In Memoriam, Ill Omen"?

The result is what we feel is our strongest work to date. The dynamics of the music is diverse to pull the listener into different shades of Pugatory and Hell. The lyrics portray a disgust for the human race, a devoted worship of Satan (Lucifer) and all beings poised to corrupt and attack God.

What is your goal with Pestilential Shadows? World domination or local superstardom?

Our intention is for neither of those things. For us it's a self development, study and personal attack against moral boundaries. If other people appreciate the music, and get the message then that is good for them. As for local superstardom? Not many people know who we are, we keep to ourselves and that is the way we want it to be. Pestilential Shadows is driven by a complete negative force, not individuals.

Could you please tell us a bit about the Australian metal scene?

The scene is not what it use to be. Australia is more oriented towards the war/thrash metal scene. The real black metal scene in Australia now consists of afew names (Nazxul, Drowning the Light, Corvus, Erebus Enthroned) but apart from that, the scene is dead to us.

Black metal now and then… do you see a difference, a development in Black Metal since the birth of this genre?

It was started in the late 80's, early 90's so it will always shift and change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worst.

"True Black Metal" is a term we meet from time to time… what lies behind this term, in your opinion?

As long as the band is true to themselves and has no sort of money or fame agenda which is more and more likely these days.

What do you know about the Norwegian metal scene apart from the history of the Black Metal scene here?

The old Norwegian scene was one of the best, Offering a unique (And still to this day) blend of black metal. Perhaps the commercial aspect that has flooded the news headlines about this country and its involvements regarding black metal have made everything more accessible hence perhaps watering it down a little but there's still the few who are doing it the right way,  For example the Fossbreana label is releasing some most excellent tapes from the Trondheim area.

http://www.myspace.com/pestilentialshadows