Questions are answered by Impurath... Interview by Sulfurous


1)Witchery rised from the ashes of Irreverent, tell us about this previous
band and what brought its downfall.

IRREVERENT was formed in late '90 as a three piece black/death metal band,
we played very dark and primitive brutality and got many praises from
people/bands in the underground such as Jeff(Vital Remains), Sakis(Rotting
Christ), Demoncy, Vorphlak(Samael), etc...we released a demo in '91 titled
"Inverted crucifixion" which basically sounded like a cross between
Blasphemy and old Autopsy, in '92 we released another demo which had more of
an aggressive black metal feel to it...the subject matter of the band was of
an extremely blasphemous nature(hence, the name) as well as some occult
inspired stuff mainly provided by the drummer of Irreverent(Darkwolf)....we
were also very young at the time and really had no viable resources to
properly promote the band so we decided to quit writing our own songs and to
play old Bathory and Hellhammer covers for ourselves, this only lasted about
2 months and then, due to lack of interest, the band fell apart and became a
virtually unknown band with a very undergound, almost cult status. Every now
and again, I'll contact someone today who possesses those old demotapes so I
am glad to see there are still some real die-hards left in the scene!

2)Tell us about the formation of Witchery and your work as a two-piece band.

The original line-up was a two piece with myself on bass/vocals and
Darkwolf(also from Irreverent) on drums/guitars...Darkwolf had written
several songs in between both bands which eventually became the first
Witchery compositions...we recorded a rough 2 song promo tape in late '96
and spread it rather minimally to only a few true people left in the
underground. The two songs on this tape are more of a mid paced, eerie
sounding stuff, compared to the songs we have now....also, the lyrics were
varied; some lyrics were of a ritualistic, occult nature(written by
Darkwolf) and then, the traditional profane, hateful type lyrics that I am
accustom to writing.

3)Why did Darkwolf leave the band and why did you decide to increase your
roster to a three-piece? What do Tregenda and Vaz contribute to the band?

Darkwolf left the band due to his massive disgust of today's scene and I
summoned Vaz(apocalyptic deathhammers) and Tregenda(hellish six string
holocaust) into the coven of evil, and they brought a much more violent,
raging force into the band as well as the ability to play live and do our
recordings live as well....They are both very like-minded, extreme
individuals as well and are totally dedicated to the band, which is
something very important; they also play with fury and conviction, unlike
99% of the so called black metal bands today. We recorded the "Evil Shall
Prevail" demo with this line-up and since then, the newer compositions we
have written with this line-up are darker, more evil, and far more
destructive than anything ever written in the band before...we shall NEVER
progress musically...the only thing
that progresses in our music is the level of extremity and hatred!!!!!

4)Tell us about the name change to Black Witchery and your work under this
name so far.

We changed the name to BLACK WITCHERY due to unfortunate circumstances
involving the weak, retro-shit band on Necropolis and we released the
"Summoning..." 7" on Dark Horizon records.... this ep was very well received
and actually has sold out of the 1,000 copies pressed(except for the last 15
that I still have)...After that we recorded the "Hellstorm of Evil
Vengeance" split lp with CONQUEROR(also released on Dark Horizon Recs.)
which is our most furious and barbaric recording to date. We also played a
few shows with BLASPHEMY(AAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!!!), ACHERON, DIABOLIC, HATE
ETERNAL, etc.

5)Tell us about the new band logo and the ones that came before it.

The new logo is completely wicked and grim looking and fits our music
perfectly. It was conjured by the same artist Christopher S. from Belgium
who has done many logos for other bands in the past. He also did our
original "Witchery" logo which we later altered to "Black Witchery", we
weren't completely satisfied with it because it was pieced together so I had
several different artists do logos and finally we got one that looks evil
and morbid. The new logo also looks somewhat unique which is also important,
too many bands have similar logos nowadays and we needed one that stands
out.

6)You define yourself as "Unholy Barbaric War Metal"; is that because the
term "black metal" has been overused by too many shit/poser bands and "UBWM"
better defines your musical and lyrical style?

Yes, absolutely... most of today's so called "black metal" has become so
mindless and wretched that I am almost embarrassed to be called "black
metal" and most bands who call themselves "black metal" have no real
darkness, evil or power in their music. Besides, we play cruel, ugly and
violent metal only to be worshipped by true unholy black/war metal elitists!
All the others mean nothing to us...

7)People sometimes associate Black Witchery with other American "black
metal" bands like thornspawn, krieg, judas iscariot, etc., etc. What do you
think about this?

I do not think we sound anything like any of the bands you mentioned so
therefore, we aren't "associated" with them at all.

8)Your music is extremely fucking raw and barbaric, what kind of environment
are you in when creating/writing music and lyrics?

We create music only to invoke the aura of total darkness, evil and
blasphemous hatred....all three members of the band contribute to
songwriting and we are very critical of what kind of parts go into
each song as we want EVERY song to be a fucking TRUE barbaric
anthem...not to have 3-4 killer tracks and then some mundane filler songs;
we are not going to be another Marduk and release 2-3 albums every year...we
are writing this album to sound like an album, not a collection of "songs".

9)How did you get in contact with FMP and decide to release the full-length
with them? Do you plan on working with them in the future?

Thorns has been a good friend of ours for a very long time and he asked us
to work with him, I am hoping he will put a lot of effort and resources into
the band to help spread our hatred and terror..I think it is most important
for a label to release only TRUE CULT hordes and let all the feeble follower
bands die out, I originally wanted to release our debut on LP only so that
all of the trendies couldn't listen to it, but I guess that idea isn't very
marketable to record labels..ha!

10)What can we expect from "Desecration of the Holy Kingdom" and how does it
differ from all of your previous works?

A total onslaught of grim, unholy black/war metal played with aggression and
pure demonic hatred!!! This lp will be far more violent and evil than any of
our previous work and we will not make the mistake of overproducing it or
having a fancy layout as most nowaday, so called "black metal" bands do; it
will be massive sounding but at the same time very raw and primitive...it is
definitely going to be a milestone release as far as US black metal goes and
everyone can expect NOTHING but extreme darkness and hatred!

11)Explain the artwork on the cover...

An inverted cross, the infernal serpent-goat, a head of christ, skulls, etc.
Overall, it is totally grotesque, diabolical hellustration of unholy
blasphemy!!!!! I have not seen the actual piece yet but this is how it was
described to me by the artist, Desmond Sia...he has also done pieces for
IMPIETY, ANGELCORPSE(the latest shirt and the upcoming cd of old stuff that
OSMOSE is releasing), ABHORRENCE, and some others...he is truly an amazing
artist and he creates some of the most wicked and grim pieces of morbidity I
have witnessed since C. Moyen(whose art is featured on the Black
Witchery/Conqueror split)!!! He is creating the cover especially for us and
it shall rightfully represent the album.

12)Tell us about your live shows. How do you incorporate the misanthropy and
satanism into the stage show? Do you plan to put more money into your live
performances?

Our live shows are extremely violent and dark and we are very confident in
our performances. Our music comes across even more hateful and devastating
live and we feel it is important to incorporate elements such as smoke,
black robes, candles, bone masks, bullet belts, chains, Baphomets, etc. to
create the right sort of atmosphere...for our next shows we are planning on
making huge black inverted crosses as well.

13)Do you think that music by itself is too safe and that underground bands
should make their shows much more dangerous? Shouldn't this be done to scare
off all the wimps and "faint-of-heart" gutless fags that pollute the
underground?

Yes.

14)Tell us about your trip to Canada and the show with Blasphemy. What will
be your involvement with them in the future?

The show with BLASPHEMY was fucking incredible to say the least....it was a
total holocaustic deathmarch and a great honour to play with the cult Ross
Bay Desecrators at their first show in nearly eight years...we got an
unbelievable response from the crowd(along with Blasphemy) and BLASPHEMY
live was the most crushing performance I have ever witnessed, they are great
friends and supporters of BLACK WITCHERY and we are planning on assembling a
Blasphemy/Impiety/Black Witchery tour next year. It will be the most vicious
and sadistic bloodbath of live black metal desecration ever!

15)Florida is dominated by Death Metal bands, what do people think when they
hear and see Black Witchery? What is your opinion of the Florida scene
overall?

Many people in Florida only listen to bands who put fucking twelve time
changes in each song, and write "songs" made up of leads, technical riffs,
theory and type-writer drumming without aggression or fury. I do not care
what these people think of us and I don't listen to any albums that have
come out of Florida since "Altars of Madness". We do have many friends in
local deathmetal bands but as far as their opinions on us, you would have to
ask them.

16)The presence of Satanism is strong in your imagery and lyrics, are the
members of Black Witchery Satanists, Occultists or something else?

We are Satanic elitists. We are very influenced by darkness, evil, the
occult, demonology, black arts, misanthropy, and everything which surrounds
this...I don't like the term "Satanist" anymore due to the huge saturation
of modern black metal and "satanic" death metal(ha, ha)...every fucking band
now claims to be Satanic and mostly none of them have any sort of True
darkness or power in their music...

17)Do you think Satanism and Death Metal don't mix?

Only if the band plays brutal and morbid, extreme death metal, which
isn't very common these days. I am just tired of the bands who played death
metal when it was trendy and then started wearing spikes, warpaint,
pentagrams, etc. when black metal became trendy.

18)Tell us more about the ideology that the members of Black Witchery hold.

Misanthropy towards all. Darkness Prevails....

19)Without flooding you with questions about organized "satanic", occult,
heathen, etc. groups, tell us your stance on anti or non-judeo organizations
and beliefs.

I don't care about it. I hate ALL religions and anyone who has to join a
fucking lame "Satanic" organization is a fucking sheep follower and might as
well join the local monastery.

20)What do you think of the bible's depictions of Hell, heaven, god, Satan,
the holy trinity, the Anti-christ, etc.? Is some of your Satanism derived
from the bible? Do you think its interpretations have merit or do you see
the bible as just pure judeo-manipulation/fantasy?

I do not believe in fucking Biblical prophecies and our lyrics are a total
desecration of all of these beliefs. I do not have to follow
anyones ideologies or "Nine Satanic Statements" or any of the fucking
nonsense.

21)What is your opinion of "satanic" bands like Acheron? Do you support
bands with different satanic, occultic, etc. ideologies?

I respect ACHERON for their longevity in the scene and also for being one of
the first American bands to play black metal. I met Vince quite a while ago
and I do like their first 2 demotapes. I support bands who are sincere in
their beliefs and who worship HATRED, MISANTHROPY, EVIL, DARKNESS and DEATH.

22)Do you view Satanism and devil worship as the same or different? What is
your definition of a Satanist?

I do not care to preach about Satanism but I will say I do not respect the
"devil worshipping" type attitudes that many individuals and bands seem to
have nowadays....true Satanism is a movement based on knowledge,
self-gratification and realism while "devil worship" is pointless and
childish. I think if more bands would spend less time worrying about
preaching their beliefs and more time on writing fucking evil and sadistic
violence, with ugliness, hatred and malice, then they wouldn't have to talk
as much because the music/lyrics say it louder. You can tell if a band is
really into what they're doing by their sound and I think we are one of
those bands.

23)What reading material would you recommend to those interested in
Satanism, demonology, the occult, etc.?

Check the local occult shops or mailorders...I would only pay attention to
dark arts, black witchcraft, chaos magick, etc. and NEVER support any feeble
white light wiccan practices. I would also recommend bands like MORTUARY
DRAPE, BLACK PROPHECIES, MYSTIFIER, etc. as far as occult metal(which is
always more important, isn't it?) is concerned.

24)At your web-page it says that the entire basis of Witchery's
existence is to portray darkness, hatred, and the wrath of evil in the
unholy and aggressive manner which signifies the TRUE primitive feeling
which our forefathers of Metal created in their time. Which bands influenced
Black Witchery's raw and destructive form of Metal most? Does it piss you
off that many of those bands were not sincere in their satanic ideology?

We are influenced by the 1st 4 BATHORY lps(mainly the faster songs),
BLASPHEMY, LORD DIABOLUS demo, 1st SARCOFAGO lp, etc. and ALL of those bands
were more sincere at the time of those old releases than just about all of
the bands to come out in the past ten years....if you mean bands like Venom,
Kreator, Death, Bathory, Sarcofago, Destruction, Sodom, Celtic Frost, etc.
all wimping out then yes, that does aggravate me but that's why I ONLY
listen to the old lps and that's why bands like BLASPHEMY are the best.

25)Which current bands in the underground do you think have real darkness,
evil and power in their music?

BLASPHEMY, CONQUEROR(RIP), IMPIETY, KATHARSIS(GER), and REVENGE(Can).

26)What are your plans after the release of the full-length?

To spread death and terror.