War Metal, or otherwise violent and militaristic Black / Death Metal, is a very specific genre that is often on the edge of interest of Metal fans as well. Music is often too devastating and does not provide such an interesting or powerful melody, just the opposite. It often comes out of the elements of Grind Core or from extremely fast Black Metal, often repeating riffs of harsh character. This is also played by German LIHHAMON, the trio of wild souls forming a reference to morbid horror. First they introduced themselves with the "Doctrine" debut from 2016, which will be soon reviewed. Followed by the "Iron Hands of Domination" demo and finally the mad "Miasmal Coronation" split with II! It was this split that blew me off like a furious wind the candle in open window, but I definitely recommend all their recordings. I think LIHHAMON has a great vision of this dangerous genre and they bring something own and original into it, which makes them recognizable among others. M. (guit, vox) answered questions.
First of all, maybe something about beginning of your band. Why just LIHHAMON and what was the basic vision for your existence?
At the beginning there was no vision of what LIHHAMON is today. We formed us with the idea to craft some good old school Death Metal. After some time we got more and more furious within our style and transformed into our current state. It is a vision of extreme aggression, shrieking terror and raw bestiality.
To play the music you play, it maybe requires something a bit deeper than just to be a Metal fan and try to imitate some of your idols. It's not that I would underestimate worshipping of Metal, but there is something even more demonic and fanatic in your music...
With our vision for LIHHAMON comes a fanatic, hard working attitude to create more than just ordinary Metal. All the anger and hate from us flows into our music, to create an authentic experience of musical obliteration. Gigs shall tear our listeners a second asshole! We don’t want to compromise, it is an intolerant, unbearable, radical experience to witness our music. That is what us separates from other bands.
You are most definitely well-known by your "Doctrine" debut of 2016. From the very beginning you have a clear path, crushing, mutation, horror, darkness, undoubtedly madness and, last but not least, destruction. How long have you been looking for this direction?
We have been around for about three years before we crafted our first real LIHHAMON song. After that it was an obvious path to get more and more extreme. With every new song we want to surpass our expectations.
Your style could be defined as a combination of Black and Death Metal, but it's hard to hear riffs like "Cause of Death" or "Under A Funeral Moon." How do you look at these two particular genres and what do you take from them?
The genre Black/Death Metal stands on its own. We take the most crucial elements from both genres and combine them in our music, to create our own frantic style. We listen to various bands from both genres and of course they have quite an influence on our songwriting, but we don’t have the intention of sounding like famous particular bands from both genres.
How long did it take to make the debut and how did the writing process go? Do you have any special rituals to achieve a certain atmosphere and reach such a monstrous bestial music?
Firstly, the writing process was just a gathering of songs we wrote when we were approaching the War Metal-genre. It took us around one and a half year to create the songs on "Doctrine". The writing process went quite well and fast, after we found our direction and felt that we were onto something good. We don’t have any special ritual for performing brutal music, we just do it.
Now something about the recording itself and a similarly aimed question. Do you have some special rituals before recording? Some bands bury the instruments in the ground, or visit specific places, crypts... in your case, I would imagine some militaristic ritual.
Like we said before the only ritual is performing and creating our music. We don't need something like that to achieve our goal.
You are currently living by new songs from "Miasmal Coronation" split with II. How did hit you idea about this split and why just with II? In many tops it got a very high score...
We think it is obvious that two extreme bands from the same town cooperate to create a manifest of terror. We knew II before we formed LIHHAMON and after our first gig (w/ SERPENT and DIVISION SPEED) we agreed that a split between our bands is an absolute must.
Your music sounds like a nuclear explosion or as the worst sounds of battlefields. How much do you care about the war aspects and which period fascinates you most?
With our music we are deeply into history. Conflict in every way and every time period is interesting for us. We use the history as vantage point to create lyrics which try to create a nightmarish feeling.
Do you feel like Metal band and connected with the general Metal scene? However your production is much more brutal and violent than bands that appear on covers of renowned magazines...
We as a band feel connected to friends and supporters, no matter what they would call themselves, but we actually don’t give a reeking shit about some construct called a “metal scene”.
Do you think man is essentially an archetype of a savage, a warrior and an assailant, and just all those shackles of Christianity, morality, social establishment or political and state institutions made him a civilized man? Do you think we are still cruel and murderous deep within?
In man are leftovers from the stone age, when muscles where more necessary then diplomacy. Over years man changed and got more and more civilized. Strength isn’t any more needed to survive in a civilized society. But these remains of the stone age are still slumbering in us. We try to resurrect those mood when you are going into a savage, barbaric bludgeoning. During live performances we release our inner beast and awake the most savage part of our identities.
Should the topic from the previous question be transferred, for example, generally to Metal music as a certain animal ventilation of our innermost feelings?
Metal or music in general is a ventilation for many feelings.
We have the beginning of the new year and finally you could write which recordings from 2017 made the most impression on you...
No specific order:
MORBOSIDAD – Corona De Epidemia
COSMIC CHURCH/KERES – Lucifer Returns to Heaven
SORTILEGIA – Sulphurous Temple
DRUDKH/PAYSAGE D’HIVER - ???? ?????? ????? (Somewhere Sadness Wanders) / Schnee (IV)
TETRAGRAMMACIDE – Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix
HERESIARCH – Death Ordinance
PROFANE ORDER - Tightened Noose of Sanctimony
CRURIFRAGIUM – Beasts of the Temple of Satan
ATTIC – Sanctimonious
BLOOD CHALICE– Sepulchral Chants of Self-Destruction
SCHAFOTT – The Black Flame
https://lihhamon.bandcamp.com/
M. 24. 1. 2018 Mortuary
First of all, maybe something about beginning of your band. Why just LIHHAMON and what was the basic vision for your existence?
At the beginning there was no vision of what LIHHAMON is today. We formed us with the idea to craft some good old school Death Metal. After some time we got more and more furious within our style and transformed into our current state. It is a vision of extreme aggression, shrieking terror and raw bestiality.
To play the music you play, it maybe requires something a bit deeper than just to be a Metal fan and try to imitate some of your idols. It's not that I would underestimate worshipping of Metal, but there is something even more demonic and fanatic in your music...
With our vision for LIHHAMON comes a fanatic, hard working attitude to create more than just ordinary Metal. All the anger and hate from us flows into our music, to create an authentic experience of musical obliteration. Gigs shall tear our listeners a second asshole! We don’t want to compromise, it is an intolerant, unbearable, radical experience to witness our music. That is what us separates from other bands.
You are most definitely well-known by your "Doctrine" debut of 2016. From the very beginning you have a clear path, crushing, mutation, horror, darkness, undoubtedly madness and, last but not least, destruction. How long have you been looking for this direction?
We have been around for about three years before we crafted our first real LIHHAMON song. After that it was an obvious path to get more and more extreme. With every new song we want to surpass our expectations.
Your style could be defined as a combination of Black and Death Metal, but it's hard to hear riffs like "Cause of Death" or "Under A Funeral Moon." How do you look at these two particular genres and what do you take from them?
The genre Black/Death Metal stands on its own. We take the most crucial elements from both genres and combine them in our music, to create our own frantic style. We listen to various bands from both genres and of course they have quite an influence on our songwriting, but we don’t have the intention of sounding like famous particular bands from both genres.
How long did it take to make the debut and how did the writing process go? Do you have any special rituals to achieve a certain atmosphere and reach such a monstrous bestial music?
Firstly, the writing process was just a gathering of songs we wrote when we were approaching the War Metal-genre. It took us around one and a half year to create the songs on "Doctrine". The writing process went quite well and fast, after we found our direction and felt that we were onto something good. We don’t have any special ritual for performing brutal music, we just do it.
Now something about the recording itself and a similarly aimed question. Do you have some special rituals before recording? Some bands bury the instruments in the ground, or visit specific places, crypts... in your case, I would imagine some militaristic ritual.
Like we said before the only ritual is performing and creating our music. We don't need something like that to achieve our goal.
You are currently living by new songs from "Miasmal Coronation" split with II. How did hit you idea about this split and why just with II? In many tops it got a very high score...
We think it is obvious that two extreme bands from the same town cooperate to create a manifest of terror. We knew II before we formed LIHHAMON and after our first gig (w/ SERPENT and DIVISION SPEED) we agreed that a split between our bands is an absolute must.
Your music sounds like a nuclear explosion or as the worst sounds of battlefields. How much do you care about the war aspects and which period fascinates you most?
With our music we are deeply into history. Conflict in every way and every time period is interesting for us. We use the history as vantage point to create lyrics which try to create a nightmarish feeling.
Do you feel like Metal band and connected with the general Metal scene? However your production is much more brutal and violent than bands that appear on covers of renowned magazines...
We as a band feel connected to friends and supporters, no matter what they would call themselves, but we actually don’t give a reeking shit about some construct called a “metal scene”.
Do you think man is essentially an archetype of a savage, a warrior and an assailant, and just all those shackles of Christianity, morality, social establishment or political and state institutions made him a civilized man? Do you think we are still cruel and murderous deep within?
In man are leftovers from the stone age, when muscles where more necessary then diplomacy. Over years man changed and got more and more civilized. Strength isn’t any more needed to survive in a civilized society. But these remains of the stone age are still slumbering in us. We try to resurrect those mood when you are going into a savage, barbaric bludgeoning. During live performances we release our inner beast and awake the most savage part of our identities.
Should the topic from the previous question be transferred, for example, generally to Metal music as a certain animal ventilation of our innermost feelings?
Metal or music in general is a ventilation for many feelings.
We have the beginning of the new year and finally you could write which recordings from 2017 made the most impression on you...
No specific order:
MORBOSIDAD – Corona De Epidemia
COSMIC CHURCH/KERES – Lucifer Returns to Heaven
SORTILEGIA – Sulphurous Temple
DRUDKH/PAYSAGE D’HIVER - ???? ?????? ????? (Somewhere Sadness Wanders) / Schnee (IV)
TETRAGRAMMACIDE – Primal Incinerators of Moral Matrix
HERESIARCH – Death Ordinance
PROFANE ORDER - Tightened Noose of Sanctimony
CRURIFRAGIUM – Beasts of the Temple of Satan
ATTIC – Sanctimonious
BLOOD CHALICE– Sepulchral Chants of Self-Destruction
SCHAFOTT – The Black Flame
https://lihhamon.bandcamp.com/
M. 24. 1. 2018 Mortuary
Genocide Crusade
interview
