interview
Red Streams of Flesh
Coming from Ohio they formed in 2005. BLASPHEMY, CORPSE MOLESTATION / BESTIAL WARLUST or PROFANATICA probably belong to their largest influences. So far they have released two demos, split with WITCH TOMB, "Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitations" debut album in 2010 and the last "Stream of Red Flesh" EP in 2011. Their style is frantic, hateful, blasphemous, militaristic Black / Death Metal with strike songs dispensing the soul to atoms. My questions were answered by vocalist / guitarist Jake Kohn. We present you a dangerous PROSANCTUS INFERI band!
Hell-o, what's up in PROSANCTUS INFERI camp? What is your general attitude to the interviews? Is it a little annoying to you (a necessary evil) or you like to do interviews?
I don't mind doing interviews. I didn't do many for the 'Red Streams of Flesh' release but there were quite a few for the first album. As for what is up in our camp - quite a bit. We have a new album coming out soon and a couple of live shows planned for 2013.
I think most fans have noticed you already after “Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitations” debut; nevertheless debut is debut. How do you value it from today's point of view? Think you have musically moved a little forward since 2010 even if your orthodoxy is evident!
I'm pleased with how the album turned out artistically. It executes its purpose as intended. I feel musically it is slightly myopic considering what we've become as of the last few years. But given the musical tools at my disposal at the time I think it is everything that it could have been at the time, and ultimately should be. Our newer material employs the same conceptual motifs that the 'Pandemonic ...' album did, but they are vastly more developed.
Personally I find your debut as an unexpected coming of a nightmare that is constantly revealing. On the first listen your music can seem too primitive, monotonous and non melodic, but after many spins there suddenly emerge quite complex dissonant lines, often just scary, ugly, repulsive, rotten, dirty, sick ones... if I look closely at the cover art of your debut, you just mirror that disgust. Can you see your music alike? Of course in the reviews I often use similar terms to pick up some atmosphere for better description and sure I don’t think you sound harmonious, cleanly or melodically.
That kind of nightmarish and horrific feeling was intentional. To me the most horrifying and dark sensations can be garnered from what you can't see directly. Like a shadow out of the corner of your eye that darts off when you try to look at it. I tried to evoke the same feeling in our music. It may not be readily apparent, and those without patience or imagination won't hear it - but the more sensitive listener will pick it up. Each one of the intervals for our riffs and arrangements were carefully chosen for these ends. However for many ears it will not sound so.
I am interested in your debut’s song called Fumugating Portentious Sacriligium, it is almost embodiment and concentration of a very bizarre horror, perversion, fucking strangeness, unclean field where are anchored most outrageous unspeakable things... Do you remember the atmosphere which this song originated at? The riffs are incredible!
A majority of the album including that song was written in a disgusting dank basement where I was living at the time. It was a pretty frustrating and dark period of time. Those riffs were an outlet for an unbridled imagination - with an irresistible compulsion to expunge dark and evocative passions. I wanted them to intentionally be a discordant frenzy of interweaving lines amalgamating into unimaginable angles of mental darkness and evil. I'm glad that they hit their mark for your ears! Thank you.
Your overall melody is very perverse, outlandish, often it looks like you're playing riffs on the contrary, cacophonically, atonally. Where do you find inspiration for your creation? Is it rooted solely in your subconsciousness or it is a mosaic of all the monstrosities you come into contact with?
I'm a big fan when I write music of counter-melodies, and counter-harmonies. Not every riff or note has them of course, but our music largely works off of it. Even if a riff doesn't have one, most the songs work off of an atonal representation. The concept of atonality and non-linear intervals is a very attractive method to me for expressing exceptionally bizzarre and unorthodox music. I'm not sure where I would say the root of it lies. It just happens to be a perfect way to convey the sort of feeling we wish to express with what it is we do.
I think to label your music is not so easy, although it’s easy to say this is a Raw Black / Death Metal... How can you see your way of music? Do you ever like labels for music?
There is a lot going on with it on a micro level. But on a macro level it is essentially Death/Black Metal. I aim to harken to a time when these lines were not so defined. From the late 80's to 93-94 when these two genres were burgeoning and giving birth to many excellent bands - the line was often straddled. We try to not get hung up on stylistic leaning of any genre and choose to focus instead on creating the most insane and intense metal we can with whatever means we have at our disposal.
How are you satisfied with the sound of "Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitations” debut? Was it your intention to sound exactly like that or you left it to fortuity or a subconscious process? Where it was recorded and who was responsible for the production?
I'm pretty displeased with the sound on that record. There were multiple recording problems. I blew two cones in my cabinet at two different times during the guitar tracking. This resulted in buzzes that I didn't hear until after the fact - and I had to re-record the entire album. The LP has a different mix than the CD. The CD mix is FUCKING SHITTY. I hate and detest it. For this music to work the production is important to be just right. It was recorded at a local studio. I don't like the guitar sound very much. I am pleased however with the LP mix. The LP version is what this album was supposed to be. Almost every review on the internet is based off of bullshit promo CD's with the shit mix. It is frustrating to read some of them - only because what they are hearing isn't what it's supposed to be. If someone hears the real deal and hates it, that's fine. But at least hear it the way it was supposed to be heard. Listen to the LP and throw the shitty fucking CD in the TRASH.
Your last recording is the "Red Streams of Flesh" EP, seems to me you have lengthen songs to slightly longer timekeeping what may be due to different composition, but it may just be my appearance...
That is largely because of the new drummer. I try to write to the style of who I'm playing with at the time. Antichristus had a short, bombastic, bursting sort of style that fit the shorter song lengths appropriately. Jeremy is a powerhouse of heavy, technical runs and meter. I prefer his style more because it allows for the sort of freedom I always wanted but could never have with other players.
Sound of the new recording is different opposite debut, but basically you stay in your typical zone, I think the debut sounded harder and more realistic and EP is more hazy, supernatural (bass) as for the sound. What is your view when it comes to compare the two productions?
Well again that goes back to the CD being a giant pile of bullshit. The LP version of 'Pandemonic ...' and both versions of the Red Streams of Flesh EP sound very similar. This is the sort of sound and production the music of Prosanctus Inferi requires in order to be executed properly. I'm not super pleased with the guitar sound on 'Red Streams ...' I'd gotten some new equipment shortly before the recording and could have set it up better if I had more time with it. The new album's guitars crush the fuck out of both previous releases.
Your band is characterized by shorter songs which usually hit with full force, aggression, rumbling on the first moment, and also frequently they end up like this, as if all the evil in the moment evaporated and lost as in Lovecraft's stories. This approach to the songs may seem a little bit like in grind core, but only in theory ... of course not all songs are exactly in this way.
Yeah, the material on the demo, full length, and 7" are mostly like that. It was just the way I wrote music during that time. The newer stuff is a little bit more fledged out. And that just comes with playing with different musicians who can do more.
What do your live shows mean to you? How do you perceive them, it is something like a ritual or it is just show of your work at the moment? Do you play the songs exactly or even you sometimes improvise?
We don't improvise or anything but some of the older material is re-worked in a way. Some of the new arrangements are just more potent and powerful. To me I try to make the show and performance as intense as possible while still performing the guitar and vocals as accurately as possible. I'm not much of a 'front man' or 'showman' so there is not a lot of banter between songs, no face paint, no ritual stuff. I used to light candles sometimes but I don't want to do that anymore. My main focus is playing the songs well. Performing them well and with the intensity they need.
How do fans react to your brutal show? How often do you play and which bands you have shared the stage with? Have you played outside the USA as well?
The reaction is often good. Usually quite good. Like I mentioned I'm not much of a front man and have no clue how to 'work a crowd' or anything like that - so sometimes a fan or crowd who wants a lot of interactive bullshit may be disappointed with our matter of fact approach to playing live. We sometimes don't play live often at all. Once or twice a year, and other times maybe six or seven times a year. I'd say Prosanctus Inferi has played maybe 25 or 30 shows in its existence. We've played with many bands - some of which I'll list here : Profanatica, Gospel of the Horns, Cemetary Urn, Dead Congregation, Acheron, Sanguis Imperem, Perdition Temple, Father Befouled, Kommandant, Nocturnal Fear, Void Meditation Cult, Evoken, Grave Miasma, Cruciamentum, amongst others. We have shows planned this year with Absu, and Incantation.
Now is year 2013, what can we look forward from PROSANCTUS INFERI? How much new stuff have you written till now? What other merchandise would you recommend to your fans?
The new album is almost done. It is titled 'Noctambulous Jaws Within Sempiternal Night' - It destroys all previous records. It will be out on Nuclear War Now! in late spring or early summer. Nuclear War Now! has the 'Red Streams of Flesh' EP available as well as shirts and hoodies.
Ok, that would be all from me, if I forgot something important, feel free to write. Once again thank you for the interesting interview and I look forward to your next mad recordings, stay Dark!
Thanks for the interview - Hark to all ye harlots and abominations of the earth.
www.facebook.com/prosanctusinferi
Jake 3. 2. 2013 Mortuary
Hell-o, what's up in PROSANCTUS INFERI camp? What is your general attitude to the interviews? Is it a little annoying to you (a necessary evil) or you like to do interviews?
I don't mind doing interviews. I didn't do many for the 'Red Streams of Flesh' release but there were quite a few for the first album. As for what is up in our camp - quite a bit. We have a new album coming out soon and a couple of live shows planned for 2013.
I think most fans have noticed you already after “Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitations” debut; nevertheless debut is debut. How do you value it from today's point of view? Think you have musically moved a little forward since 2010 even if your orthodoxy is evident!
I'm pleased with how the album turned out artistically. It executes its purpose as intended. I feel musically it is slightly myopic considering what we've become as of the last few years. But given the musical tools at my disposal at the time I think it is everything that it could have been at the time, and ultimately should be. Our newer material employs the same conceptual motifs that the 'Pandemonic ...' album did, but they are vastly more developed.
Personally I find your debut as an unexpected coming of a nightmare that is constantly revealing. On the first listen your music can seem too primitive, monotonous and non melodic, but after many spins there suddenly emerge quite complex dissonant lines, often just scary, ugly, repulsive, rotten, dirty, sick ones... if I look closely at the cover art of your debut, you just mirror that disgust. Can you see your music alike? Of course in the reviews I often use similar terms to pick up some atmosphere for better description and sure I don’t think you sound harmonious, cleanly or melodically.
That kind of nightmarish and horrific feeling was intentional. To me the most horrifying and dark sensations can be garnered from what you can't see directly. Like a shadow out of the corner of your eye that darts off when you try to look at it. I tried to evoke the same feeling in our music. It may not be readily apparent, and those without patience or imagination won't hear it - but the more sensitive listener will pick it up. Each one of the intervals for our riffs and arrangements were carefully chosen for these ends. However for many ears it will not sound so.
I am interested in your debut’s song called Fumugating Portentious Sacriligium, it is almost embodiment and concentration of a very bizarre horror, perversion, fucking strangeness, unclean field where are anchored most outrageous unspeakable things... Do you remember the atmosphere which this song originated at? The riffs are incredible!
A majority of the album including that song was written in a disgusting dank basement where I was living at the time. It was a pretty frustrating and dark period of time. Those riffs were an outlet for an unbridled imagination - with an irresistible compulsion to expunge dark and evocative passions. I wanted them to intentionally be a discordant frenzy of interweaving lines amalgamating into unimaginable angles of mental darkness and evil. I'm glad that they hit their mark for your ears! Thank you.
Your overall melody is very perverse, outlandish, often it looks like you're playing riffs on the contrary, cacophonically, atonally. Where do you find inspiration for your creation? Is it rooted solely in your subconsciousness or it is a mosaic of all the monstrosities you come into contact with?
I'm a big fan when I write music of counter-melodies, and counter-harmonies. Not every riff or note has them of course, but our music largely works off of it. Even if a riff doesn't have one, most the songs work off of an atonal representation. The concept of atonality and non-linear intervals is a very attractive method to me for expressing exceptionally bizzarre and unorthodox music. I'm not sure where I would say the root of it lies. It just happens to be a perfect way to convey the sort of feeling we wish to express with what it is we do.
I think to label your music is not so easy, although it’s easy to say this is a Raw Black / Death Metal... How can you see your way of music? Do you ever like labels for music?
There is a lot going on with it on a micro level. But on a macro level it is essentially Death/Black Metal. I aim to harken to a time when these lines were not so defined. From the late 80's to 93-94 when these two genres were burgeoning and giving birth to many excellent bands - the line was often straddled. We try to not get hung up on stylistic leaning of any genre and choose to focus instead on creating the most insane and intense metal we can with whatever means we have at our disposal.
How are you satisfied with the sound of "Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitations” debut? Was it your intention to sound exactly like that or you left it to fortuity or a subconscious process? Where it was recorded and who was responsible for the production?
I'm pretty displeased with the sound on that record. There were multiple recording problems. I blew two cones in my cabinet at two different times during the guitar tracking. This resulted in buzzes that I didn't hear until after the fact - and I had to re-record the entire album. The LP has a different mix than the CD. The CD mix is FUCKING SHITTY. I hate and detest it. For this music to work the production is important to be just right. It was recorded at a local studio. I don't like the guitar sound very much. I am pleased however with the LP mix. The LP version is what this album was supposed to be. Almost every review on the internet is based off of bullshit promo CD's with the shit mix. It is frustrating to read some of them - only because what they are hearing isn't what it's supposed to be. If someone hears the real deal and hates it, that's fine. But at least hear it the way it was supposed to be heard. Listen to the LP and throw the shitty fucking CD in the TRASH.
Your last recording is the "Red Streams of Flesh" EP, seems to me you have lengthen songs to slightly longer timekeeping what may be due to different composition, but it may just be my appearance...
That is largely because of the new drummer. I try to write to the style of who I'm playing with at the time. Antichristus had a short, bombastic, bursting sort of style that fit the shorter song lengths appropriately. Jeremy is a powerhouse of heavy, technical runs and meter. I prefer his style more because it allows for the sort of freedom I always wanted but could never have with other players.
Sound of the new recording is different opposite debut, but basically you stay in your typical zone, I think the debut sounded harder and more realistic and EP is more hazy, supernatural (bass) as for the sound. What is your view when it comes to compare the two productions?
Well again that goes back to the CD being a giant pile of bullshit. The LP version of 'Pandemonic ...' and both versions of the Red Streams of Flesh EP sound very similar. This is the sort of sound and production the music of Prosanctus Inferi requires in order to be executed properly. I'm not super pleased with the guitar sound on 'Red Streams ...' I'd gotten some new equipment shortly before the recording and could have set it up better if I had more time with it. The new album's guitars crush the fuck out of both previous releases.
Your band is characterized by shorter songs which usually hit with full force, aggression, rumbling on the first moment, and also frequently they end up like this, as if all the evil in the moment evaporated and lost as in Lovecraft's stories. This approach to the songs may seem a little bit like in grind core, but only in theory ... of course not all songs are exactly in this way.
Yeah, the material on the demo, full length, and 7" are mostly like that. It was just the way I wrote music during that time. The newer stuff is a little bit more fledged out. And that just comes with playing with different musicians who can do more.
What do your live shows mean to you? How do you perceive them, it is something like a ritual or it is just show of your work at the moment? Do you play the songs exactly or even you sometimes improvise?
We don't improvise or anything but some of the older material is re-worked in a way. Some of the new arrangements are just more potent and powerful. To me I try to make the show and performance as intense as possible while still performing the guitar and vocals as accurately as possible. I'm not much of a 'front man' or 'showman' so there is not a lot of banter between songs, no face paint, no ritual stuff. I used to light candles sometimes but I don't want to do that anymore. My main focus is playing the songs well. Performing them well and with the intensity they need.
How do fans react to your brutal show? How often do you play and which bands you have shared the stage with? Have you played outside the USA as well?
The reaction is often good. Usually quite good. Like I mentioned I'm not much of a front man and have no clue how to 'work a crowd' or anything like that - so sometimes a fan or crowd who wants a lot of interactive bullshit may be disappointed with our matter of fact approach to playing live. We sometimes don't play live often at all. Once or twice a year, and other times maybe six or seven times a year. I'd say Prosanctus Inferi has played maybe 25 or 30 shows in its existence. We've played with many bands - some of which I'll list here : Profanatica, Gospel of the Horns, Cemetary Urn, Dead Congregation, Acheron, Sanguis Imperem, Perdition Temple, Father Befouled, Kommandant, Nocturnal Fear, Void Meditation Cult, Evoken, Grave Miasma, Cruciamentum, amongst others. We have shows planned this year with Absu, and Incantation.
Now is year 2013, what can we look forward from PROSANCTUS INFERI? How much new stuff have you written till now? What other merchandise would you recommend to your fans?
The new album is almost done. It is titled 'Noctambulous Jaws Within Sempiternal Night' - It destroys all previous records. It will be out on Nuclear War Now! in late spring or early summer. Nuclear War Now! has the 'Red Streams of Flesh' EP available as well as shirts and hoodies.
Ok, that would be all from me, if I forgot something important, feel free to write. Once again thank you for the interesting interview and I look forward to your next mad recordings, stay Dark!
Thanks for the interview - Hark to all ye harlots and abominations of the earth.
www.facebook.com/prosanctusinferi
Jake 3. 2. 2013 Mortuary