BlackmetalTR - Gorath

1- Firstly we can start with Gorath’s ideology and Gorath’s mean. Gorath makes Black Metal differently from the other bands. Can you introduce Gorath shortly?

Gorath don’t follow the traditional path of black metal. We are not the kind of band into true, evil and devil worship. Our lyrics are of high importance and deal about religion, science and heresy. I think it’s very important to be real and Gorath avoid wearing the so call mask at any risk. Gorath started out as a one man band and our first official demo was out in 2003. Thus far the band has released three full length albums of which “Misotheism” is the latest one, released in May 2008. Since last year Gorath also do live shows and were on the same bill with Watain, Secrets of the Moon, Foscor, Dark Funeral, Shining,…

2- What about your lyrical themes.

You are interested in cosmology, gnosis etc.
I’ve got a wide range of interests, going from religion to science to history to culture, et cetera. A strong album needs to have a strong total package: music, art and lyrics. “The Fourth Era” was about Mayan lore and science, all about the 2012 prophecies of doom. It holds facts and historian knowledge. “Misotheism” is about Gnosticism and heresy. Things that put the today’s church in a bad daylight or things that make people think about the hypocrisy of the Vatican. It’s Gnosticism from a more scientific approach instead of the typical darkside view.

3- You play all the instruments excluding drums. Is there any personal reason or not? You only have gigs members.

Gorath started out as a one man band and evolved into a real band after the second release “The Fourth Era“. I wasn’t really into doing live shows, but blood is thicker than water and in the end we choose for the live path. In fact it was a huge relief playing with a real drummer able the handle the skills necessary. For “Misotheism” I’ve done all instruments apart from the drums. This might change in the future – Though I’m not sure whether I’m capable to let other members interfere with the music. Live I’ve always done bass and vocals but just one more shows and I quit the bass part. From then on I’ll be focusing on the guitar (and vocals). This also means we recently changed the line up and now we have a fresh guitarist and bass player. Guitarist B. Put already wrote some riffs for the next album. So the interference seems to work out fine at this moment. So I think the term “session members” is incorrect here. Gorath is a full and a real band.

4- What do you think about Black Metal? Can you describe its darkness?

I think darkness and emotion is very important for the atmosphere created by black metal. It’s not the high technical level or perfect clean sound that makes a good record. And that’s not the general rule for black metal, but for any kind of music. Decent lyrics and conceptual contents make black metal even more interesting, but unfortunately there are too many wankers in the black metal scene. It’s a cliché to say, but too many bands aren’t real in their approach. Don’t sing about Satan if you’re not satanic. Don’t speak about a war against Christianity, start a war! Often it’s cool to be “total Satan” and perhaps that’s a reason I don’t want to label myself as a pure black metal adept. I don’t want to be part of a scene ruled by morons.

5- What about religions? Do you believe in someone?

I can be very short on this one: no.

6- In your past you played in some death metal bands. Why did you change your musical type?

I did never change my musical style. At the age of twelve AC/DC got me into hard rock and from Iron Maiden to Megadeth I got into extreme music like Bathory, Deicide, Anathema, Blasphemy, et cetera. I never felt I was part of a narrow minded and marked scene. Music needs to bring atmosphere and an honest and real integrity, whether it’s death or black metal. Or even something else. This last month I’ve been listening a lot to Esoteric, Corpus Christii, Cult of Luna and Amenra. In the past I was part of a melodic death metal band for ten years long. And I still embrace good old melodic death metal, like “North from Here” from Sentenced or “A velvet Creation” from Eucharist; too bad if it doesn’t fit a narrow minded black metal spirit.

7- Who write lyrics in the band only you or not? Can you give some information about creation times of your music and lyrics?

I wrote “The Fourth Era” and my respected friend Jurgen (from the pagan band Theudho) wrote all lyrics for “Misotheism“. I will take up that job again for the next record. I create all music at my place, program drums and record the vocals. 99% of all music will be unchanged; just some minor details are adapted by the other members. We only rehearse when we have a show. Perhaps this isn’t the most common way to work, but it always turns out fine.

8- Your last album Misotheism’s sound and lyrics are different from known Black Metal. What do you want to say about this?

I don’t know whether Gorath’s sound is that different from the traditional black metal sound. We surely have some different parts, but the main core of the music is based on early Scandinavian black metal by the likes of Enslaved, Ulver, Arcturus , Fleurety and Borknagar, though indeed more and more own faced influences slip into our sound. If people think we sound different then most other black metal bands, it’s fine – If they think it’s not, it’s fine too.

9- What about underground music?

Do you have any idea to being an underground band or not?“Underground” has got a wide meaning. Is a band like Deathspell Omega underground or not? For me a band isn’t underground when reach the level they can live of the music. This excludes 99% of the total extreme scene. Gorath don’t have any high placed ambitions. Firstly we want to make descent music and do some fine shows. We don’t have any dreams and are all long enough active in the scene to know how it works.

10- Which album is the best for Gorath?

That would surely be “Misotheism“. It’s the first album with real drums and a perfect raw sound. Dan Swanö from Bloodbath, Opeth, Dissection did the mastering. I think both previous albums would be better if recorded with real drums. On stage the songs from our debut “Elite” got an easy going groove while “The Fourth Era” and “Misotheism” are less accessible.

11- What about your live performances? Do you have special shows? Are you satisfied from your listener’s ideas?

Yesterday we had a great Dutch show with Foscor. Tomorrow we play a Belgian date with the Polish death metal band Hate. Gorath don’t aim to play as many shows as possible – But chose for quality instead. My job also makes it very difficult to do tours, however chances aren’t nihil it might happen some day. We’ve done shows in Belgium, The Netherlands, Ireland, France and Germany. At this moment we are setting up dates for England and hopefully also Italy, Czech Republic and Slovenia. We’ll see what the future will bring. I think you can expect an honest and utterly intense show. We don’t paint ourselves, not do we use blood or fireworks during our performances. What you see is what you get. Gorath gets a lot of positive feedback on their shows, though I’m really not that fond of playing live.

12- What about Gorath’s future? You release last album Misotheism on May 2008. Do you work on a new album?

First of all Gorath will concentrate in working in the new bass player and myself. Next year Eisenwald Tonschmiede (Loits, Drudkh, Infaust,…) will release a special 12″ vinyl edition of “Misotheism“. Further we will finish our upcoming album, which is almost fully finished. Expect a very different approach this time and again a special lyrical theme, something that’s never done before. I hope to reveal more info as soon as possible. Next year also a new label has to be found. The deal with Descent Productions is over.

13- What about Belgium’s Black Metal arena?

The Belgian scene is separated into two parts: the northern (Dutch speaking) part and the southern (French speaking part). Even though it’s a very small territory, it holds a lot of quality. Paragon Impure seems to be reformed and acts like Kludde, Natan and Panchrysia all play a different kind of black metal, they are quite well appreciated by the press.

14- Do you know any Turkish Black Metal band? What do you know about our stage?

Unfortunately not. Tell me, which bands should I check out? Once I interviewed the young lads from Nettlethrone and they told me the scene is concentrated in the few big cities if I remember correctly. I would love to come over to Turkey one day. This summer I was in Syria and we overlooked the Turkish mountains at the northern frontier of Syria. Turkish nature definitely holds a lot of beauty.

15- What do you do out of Gorath?

Musically I’m into two other projects/bands of which you easily find out more on the internet. My regular life is not that exiting and I’m very happy about that. I’ve got a job and a family which both takes a lot of time.

16- Thanks a lot for your patience. Finally what do you want to say BlackmetalTR’s members?

Ens et bonum et verum et pulchrum convertuntur!!!
Thanks a lot to Filip for this interwiew..