interview
Unspeakable Visions
There can not be written too much about CADAVERIC FUMES band. They started in 2011 in France and a year later they have recorded first 'Macabre Exaltation' demo containing five unsavory Death Metal portions. This stuff is the only one guys have released so far, but their music says it all. It mixes feelings of unleashed brutality and ghostliness, strongly atmospheric Death Metal played in a different way than you can hear it from the usual Death Metal bands issuing one soulless album after another. If the band will keep an enthusiasm and fanatical commitment, we have the future to look forward to. CADAVERIC FUMES does have its great recipe for writing breathtaking hideous songs. Vocalist Romain and guitarist Wenceslas have word.
Hell-o, you're fairly new and fresh band in the underground. How did it just happen you put together CADAVERIC FUMES band? What was the initial idea, what were you going to fight with?
Cadaveric Fumes were built upon the ashes of previous useless high-school bands I used to ran with Léo (Drums) during our teenagers years. The name Cadaveric Fumes emerged around 2006-2007 but nothing convincing were done at this time so the band were put to rest. Two years later Léo and I eventually found a line-up to re-activate CF but nothing really came out from that line-up due to the lack of dedication some of the members suffered, the only mentionable thing from this era is the integration of Wenceslas (Guitar) to our ranks. Finally around 2010-2011 Léo, Wenceslas and I decided to start a three pieces trio to satisfy our lust for morbid Death Metal, the moniker Cadaveric Fumes was kept as it described pretty well our intent to sound morbid and eerie. Our first demo was recorded as a three pieces band but a Bassist (Reuben) later joined our coven of sin.
The initial idea was to play the Death-Metal we loved: obscure, grim and yet atmospheric in the vein of the Scandinavian scene of the 90's and the American madness of the late 80's.
So far you have released only one demo titled 'Macabre Exaltation'. How are you satisfied with this stuff now? Do you still stand for this demo and would you now change anything if you could?
To this day we are OK with the demo, it sounds the way we wanted it to. Of course some details could have been better in terms of production (the mix of the vocals for example) but it is a demo so it's not a big deal. We are totally satisfied of how the whole thing sounds and it characterizes very well the spirit we were into when we composed the tracks.
You are giving an incredible amount of feelings into your music, of course they are all negative, scary, morbidity, horror, madness, was this your intent? Seems you tilted everything to this, also the band image, lyrics, cover, logo...
Yes obviously our main intent is to sound cryptic, atmospheric and mysterious that's why we decided to use this imagery for the cover. A kind of underground civilization, worshipping a forbidden cult. A friend of us drew it and we liked it immediately. Same thing for the logo we liked it at first sight for it combined a lot of elements that fitted to our world.
Concerning the lyrics I can't conceive to write lyrics about something else that Death and Horror, which are two fields that can be endlessly explored as they are extremely rich and resourceful.
Knowledge of The Ancient Ones track certainly suggests you are fans of American creepy master H. P. Lovecraft. When have you met with his work the first time?
I am the only one in the band who has actually read the work of H.P Lovecraft but my bandmates are fully aware of the concept of unspeakable horror developed by this writer. I've met his work for the first time pretty lately actually, three or four years ago I guess, picking a random book at an outdoor book sale. It was his collection of novels entitled The Outsider, I had heard a lot about this writer so I bought the book, I haven't been disappointed.
How much do you perceive your lyrics? Do you take them only as a form of entertainment, or just a description of spooky and scary visions of music, or it is more serious and you believe that Mad God Azagthoth actually dwells somewhere in the depths of space and powerful and sinister Cthulhu slumbers underwater of R'lyeh? What do you think of cults worshipping these entities from other times and spaces?
The lyrics are handled by myself and I write them as seriously as I can. It has to fit with the music and the atmosphere developed by the compositions. It's in my opinion both a form of entertainment for the readers and a message with a serious meaning; it has to be catchy and dynamic but not senseless. I try my best to write lyrics that evoke something to the readers, visions, feelings, intent,..
I don't believe in any of the Ancient Ones as actual beings but more as tools to express some feelings or interrogations. Their metaphoric aspect opens the way for a torrent of cosmic and metaphysic reflections, and I think that the worship of these multidimensional beings is strongly connected with the inner-self of the cultist, as it does for Satanism or other pagan zealotry.
Where else do you find inspiration for writing your lyrics except Lovecraft? Are there some topics that have not been processed yet and wanting to use them for future recordings?
One of other important medium for inspiration is the Cinema, horror/gore movies, of course, but also the German expressionism of the 20's. I could add the contemplative works of Werner Herzog (« Aguirre, the wrath of god » or « Nospheratu: Phantom der Nacht »,..).
Of course inspiration is not only relative to a tangible medium in any ways and can also be found in your inner-self and through all that is buried deep within your consciousness.
As I said before Death is a large subject to explore and can be apprehended in many ways. It's too soon to tell you what will be the next themes of our songs but I would like to go further in the exploration of what lies after the departure of the souls and the separation with the carnal shell.
Where has your first demo been recorded? Was it in some kind of professional studio and what was atmosphere there during the recording process? Was it your first experience with studio?
The demo has been recorded during two days in our rehearsal room. It was in August 2012. The sound engineer is a friend of the band so we did it in a very relaxed way with no other forms of pressure than the one we put to ourselves. The first day for the drums and the bass and second day for guitars and vocals.
It was my first experience with studio recording and I think it was the first one for our drummer as well but our guitarist already entered a professional studio for one of his previous band.
Sound and production of your demo comes to me in a good way horrible and scary, strange dull and midrange sounding guitars, the leads are enough space and atmospheric, drums have classic analog sound, or am I wrong? Do you prefer analog sound? I definitely think this sound is immensely useful to your music...
Wenceslas: We actually recorded everything using MAO gear and a computer; I guess it was a bit early to think about that matter. We just wanted to record, had no money, and a friend of us had a bit of gear and some skills, so we just went with that, and it turned out pretty good. If someday we have the budget and opportunity to record in a professional analog studio I would personally love to give it a try but honestly, as long as the guy behind the mixing desk understands what we're after and knows what he is doing, it's all that matters really. A good sound engineer is more important than a tape deck in the final result.
Your music is quite perverse and only a little melodic to me, of course it is memorable, but to whistle any particular tune is difficult, I find your melody so raw, dark and rough just like the sound, production...
Yes the production is raw and drenched in reverb which is exactly what we wanted to achieve. To obtain this feeling of mysterious and crawling darkness was very important. Sorry for the whistling mate, at least you can bang your head while listening ha ha !
What are members of CADAVERIC FUMES listening to? Do you solely prefer only Death or Black Metal? Often you are compared to a new wave of Death / Black Metal, to the bands as PORTAL, AETHYRVOROUS, IGNIVOMOUS and the like, what do you think? On the other hand, the guitar sound is as if northern, the Finnish-Swedish...
Musical tastes in the band are very diverse, and go from The Beatles to Sarcofago. We listen to all that is good in terms of Metal (whatever the genre Heavy, Thrash, Black, Death, Doom...) some Punk and Grindcore as well, and also non-metal stuff. So many great bands are spawning from everywhere, and bands like Rude, Bones or Ataraxy, blew my head off recently.
To answer your question, and I only speak for myself I would say that I love Death Metal more than Black Metal but you know, at some point the two genre are intermingling so there is no need to do such a profound differentiation...
To be perfectly honest i'm a bit surprised to be compared to acts such as Portal or Ignivomous. I don't think we play in such a monolithic way, we are definitely more influenced by the Scandinavian type of stuff (Abhorrence, Convulse, Grave...). But if people think we sound like this band it's ok for me, the perception differs from an individual to another and we can't be the most impartial judge about our music I guess.
CATACOMB is band that once operated in France, they released only a few demos, but their music is quite timeless, do you remember them? Bands which thrive in France now are DEATHSPELL OMEGA, BORGIA, GLORIOR BELLI, BLUT AUS NORD and the like. Are you interested in these bands? Which French bands would you recommend me?
Catacomb is an extremely great band; I have a lot of respect for what they did. I can't say that I « remember » them as I was 2 years old when their first demo has been released but I know them thanks to the internet. Armée de la Mort Records did a compilation of all their work in 2010 but I completely missed the whole thing and now it's sold-out by now, I'm gutted ha ha !
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the Black Metal bands you quoted before so I can't tell you my opinion about their music but if I had to recommend some French Band (not only Black or Death Metal) I would say Perversifier, Ritualization, Necrowretch, Manzer, Hexecutor, Skelethal, Funeralium, Nuclear Abomination, Demonic Oath. There is also a lot of defunct but classic acts like Massacra, Mutilated, Bloody Sign, Burial Vault, Catacomb, Disabled, ...
What about your next material? In what format will it be released and when? Could you outline how much it will be different or similar to your debut? Do you want to deliberately move on, or you think you found own originality and way of Death Metal?
Our next release will be a split 12' with Demonic Oath, I can't tell you when it will be out but it's gonna be a co-release between Iron Bonehead and Impious Desecration Records. Two new songs shall be featured on this split, they are already recorded, mixed and mastered and we are now dealing with the last details (artwork and lay-out). The production is a little bit different from the
demo, clearer I would say but still very crushing with mid-paced riff and dissonant atmosphere as well as fast riffs.
Right now we are composing tracks for an upcoming EP, one song is ready and has been incorporated to our set list.
Ok, that would be all from me, if I forgot something important, you have the space to leave a message for the fans. Wish CADAVERIC FUMES lots of insane and dark inspirations in creation process, Horns Up!
Thanks a lot for your interest towards Cadaveric Fumes, keep up the good work !
Greetings from the Graveyard!!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cadaveric-Fumes/
Romain, Winceslas 27.11.2013 Mortuary
Hell-o, you're fairly new and fresh band in the underground. How did it just happen you put together CADAVERIC FUMES band? What was the initial idea, what were you going to fight with?
Cadaveric Fumes were built upon the ashes of previous useless high-school bands I used to ran with Léo (Drums) during our teenagers years. The name Cadaveric Fumes emerged around 2006-2007 but nothing convincing were done at this time so the band were put to rest. Two years later Léo and I eventually found a line-up to re-activate CF but nothing really came out from that line-up due to the lack of dedication some of the members suffered, the only mentionable thing from this era is the integration of Wenceslas (Guitar) to our ranks. Finally around 2010-2011 Léo, Wenceslas and I decided to start a three pieces trio to satisfy our lust for morbid Death Metal, the moniker Cadaveric Fumes was kept as it described pretty well our intent to sound morbid and eerie. Our first demo was recorded as a three pieces band but a Bassist (Reuben) later joined our coven of sin.
The initial idea was to play the Death-Metal we loved: obscure, grim and yet atmospheric in the vein of the Scandinavian scene of the 90's and the American madness of the late 80's.
So far you have released only one demo titled 'Macabre Exaltation'. How are you satisfied with this stuff now? Do you still stand for this demo and would you now change anything if you could?
To this day we are OK with the demo, it sounds the way we wanted it to. Of course some details could have been better in terms of production (the mix of the vocals for example) but it is a demo so it's not a big deal. We are totally satisfied of how the whole thing sounds and it characterizes very well the spirit we were into when we composed the tracks.
You are giving an incredible amount of feelings into your music, of course they are all negative, scary, morbidity, horror, madness, was this your intent? Seems you tilted everything to this, also the band image, lyrics, cover, logo...
Yes obviously our main intent is to sound cryptic, atmospheric and mysterious that's why we decided to use this imagery for the cover. A kind of underground civilization, worshipping a forbidden cult. A friend of us drew it and we liked it immediately. Same thing for the logo we liked it at first sight for it combined a lot of elements that fitted to our world.
Concerning the lyrics I can't conceive to write lyrics about something else that Death and Horror, which are two fields that can be endlessly explored as they are extremely rich and resourceful.
Knowledge of The Ancient Ones track certainly suggests you are fans of American creepy master H. P. Lovecraft. When have you met with his work the first time?
I am the only one in the band who has actually read the work of H.P Lovecraft but my bandmates are fully aware of the concept of unspeakable horror developed by this writer. I've met his work for the first time pretty lately actually, three or four years ago I guess, picking a random book at an outdoor book sale. It was his collection of novels entitled The Outsider, I had heard a lot about this writer so I bought the book, I haven't been disappointed.
How much do you perceive your lyrics? Do you take them only as a form of entertainment, or just a description of spooky and scary visions of music, or it is more serious and you believe that Mad God Azagthoth actually dwells somewhere in the depths of space and powerful and sinister Cthulhu slumbers underwater of R'lyeh? What do you think of cults worshipping these entities from other times and spaces?
The lyrics are handled by myself and I write them as seriously as I can. It has to fit with the music and the atmosphere developed by the compositions. It's in my opinion both a form of entertainment for the readers and a message with a serious meaning; it has to be catchy and dynamic but not senseless. I try my best to write lyrics that evoke something to the readers, visions, feelings, intent,..
I don't believe in any of the Ancient Ones as actual beings but more as tools to express some feelings or interrogations. Their metaphoric aspect opens the way for a torrent of cosmic and metaphysic reflections, and I think that the worship of these multidimensional beings is strongly connected with the inner-self of the cultist, as it does for Satanism or other pagan zealotry.
Where else do you find inspiration for writing your lyrics except Lovecraft? Are there some topics that have not been processed yet and wanting to use them for future recordings?
One of other important medium for inspiration is the Cinema, horror/gore movies, of course, but also the German expressionism of the 20's. I could add the contemplative works of Werner Herzog (« Aguirre, the wrath of god » or « Nospheratu: Phantom der Nacht »,..).
Of course inspiration is not only relative to a tangible medium in any ways and can also be found in your inner-self and through all that is buried deep within your consciousness.
As I said before Death is a large subject to explore and can be apprehended in many ways. It's too soon to tell you what will be the next themes of our songs but I would like to go further in the exploration of what lies after the departure of the souls and the separation with the carnal shell.
Where has your first demo been recorded? Was it in some kind of professional studio and what was atmosphere there during the recording process? Was it your first experience with studio?
The demo has been recorded during two days in our rehearsal room. It was in August 2012. The sound engineer is a friend of the band so we did it in a very relaxed way with no other forms of pressure than the one we put to ourselves. The first day for the drums and the bass and second day for guitars and vocals.
It was my first experience with studio recording and I think it was the first one for our drummer as well but our guitarist already entered a professional studio for one of his previous band.
Sound and production of your demo comes to me in a good way horrible and scary, strange dull and midrange sounding guitars, the leads are enough space and atmospheric, drums have classic analog sound, or am I wrong? Do you prefer analog sound? I definitely think this sound is immensely useful to your music...
Wenceslas: We actually recorded everything using MAO gear and a computer; I guess it was a bit early to think about that matter. We just wanted to record, had no money, and a friend of us had a bit of gear and some skills, so we just went with that, and it turned out pretty good. If someday we have the budget and opportunity to record in a professional analog studio I would personally love to give it a try but honestly, as long as the guy behind the mixing desk understands what we're after and knows what he is doing, it's all that matters really. A good sound engineer is more important than a tape deck in the final result.
Your music is quite perverse and only a little melodic to me, of course it is memorable, but to whistle any particular tune is difficult, I find your melody so raw, dark and rough just like the sound, production...
Yes the production is raw and drenched in reverb which is exactly what we wanted to achieve. To obtain this feeling of mysterious and crawling darkness was very important. Sorry for the whistling mate, at least you can bang your head while listening ha ha !
What are members of CADAVERIC FUMES listening to? Do you solely prefer only Death or Black Metal? Often you are compared to a new wave of Death / Black Metal, to the bands as PORTAL, AETHYRVOROUS, IGNIVOMOUS and the like, what do you think? On the other hand, the guitar sound is as if northern, the Finnish-Swedish...
Musical tastes in the band are very diverse, and go from The Beatles to Sarcofago. We listen to all that is good in terms of Metal (whatever the genre Heavy, Thrash, Black, Death, Doom...) some Punk and Grindcore as well, and also non-metal stuff. So many great bands are spawning from everywhere, and bands like Rude, Bones or Ataraxy, blew my head off recently.
To answer your question, and I only speak for myself I would say that I love Death Metal more than Black Metal but you know, at some point the two genre are intermingling so there is no need to do such a profound differentiation...
To be perfectly honest i'm a bit surprised to be compared to acts such as Portal or Ignivomous. I don't think we play in such a monolithic way, we are definitely more influenced by the Scandinavian type of stuff (Abhorrence, Convulse, Grave...). But if people think we sound like this band it's ok for me, the perception differs from an individual to another and we can't be the most impartial judge about our music I guess.
CATACOMB is band that once operated in France, they released only a few demos, but their music is quite timeless, do you remember them? Bands which thrive in France now are DEATHSPELL OMEGA, BORGIA, GLORIOR BELLI, BLUT AUS NORD and the like. Are you interested in these bands? Which French bands would you recommend me?
Catacomb is an extremely great band; I have a lot of respect for what they did. I can't say that I « remember » them as I was 2 years old when their first demo has been released but I know them thanks to the internet. Armée de la Mort Records did a compilation of all their work in 2010 but I completely missed the whole thing and now it's sold-out by now, I'm gutted ha ha !
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the Black Metal bands you quoted before so I can't tell you my opinion about their music but if I had to recommend some French Band (not only Black or Death Metal) I would say Perversifier, Ritualization, Necrowretch, Manzer, Hexecutor, Skelethal, Funeralium, Nuclear Abomination, Demonic Oath. There is also a lot of defunct but classic acts like Massacra, Mutilated, Bloody Sign, Burial Vault, Catacomb, Disabled, ...
What about your next material? In what format will it be released and when? Could you outline how much it will be different or similar to your debut? Do you want to deliberately move on, or you think you found own originality and way of Death Metal?
Our next release will be a split 12' with Demonic Oath, I can't tell you when it will be out but it's gonna be a co-release between Iron Bonehead and Impious Desecration Records. Two new songs shall be featured on this split, they are already recorded, mixed and mastered and we are now dealing with the last details (artwork and lay-out). The production is a little bit different from the
demo, clearer I would say but still very crushing with mid-paced riff and dissonant atmosphere as well as fast riffs.
Right now we are composing tracks for an upcoming EP, one song is ready and has been incorporated to our set list.
Ok, that would be all from me, if I forgot something important, you have the space to leave a message for the fans. Wish CADAVERIC FUMES lots of insane and dark inspirations in creation process, Horns Up!
Thanks a lot for your interest towards Cadaveric Fumes, keep up the good work !
Greetings from the Graveyard!!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cadaveric-Fumes/
Romain, Winceslas 27.11.2013 Mortuary