TEMPLE OF BAAL

"Servants of the Beast" represent a very interesting album so to give a certain visibility to a very dedicated that I feel to fully trust, because of their black passion that show a music where a fusion of old-style elements with other early '90 influences result in a deadly mix that can surely appeal to all the person that still find interest ina traditional form of well adone Black Metal. (Ild)

It's audible a certain old-style fashion in you music do you believe modern Black Metal to not be able to represent the same feeling you're looking at?
What is "modern" black metal ? If you mean soft, melodic & polished, well the least I can say is we’re not fond of the genre. We can appreciate modern Black Metal, in the vein of Mysticum or Diabolicum for example because they really communicate a dark aura. Yet we’re not looking for this "cold/industrial" feeling in Temple Of Baal, you’re right, we are more seeking the older feeling of Black Metal. The same goes for the production aspect, many bands of today seek a clean sound and we don’t. We’re not exactly seeking for something dirty but we want our stuff to sound "live", it’s very important to us. "Overproduced" records totally lack spontaneity and it often results in a loss of Darkness. Older bands did sound more natural, I really prefer a sound like the one of "Agent Orange" or first Bathory in comparison of anything from the Abyss or Fredman studios, I think you’ll understand my point...

I can ear good melodic line in a harsh background do you think that those elements can work together?
They surely do, look at Ulver’s "Nattens Madrigal" it’s the perfect example. This album is extremely melodic and at the same time extremely raw production wise. But in Temple Of Baal what we wish to do is to create dynamics between songs, we don’t want our albums to be repetitive, and that’s why you can find many different styles mixed together. Putting one or two melodic riffs here and there brings contrasts and emphasises the rawness of our style. You can also find similar differences in tempos between songs.

You seem to be influenced by '80 thrash-black ,what are you reference points in Black Metal?
Mainly debut 90s BM and also Thrash Metal you are right. We all appreciate stuff like Darkthrone, two first Dodheimsgard, first Throne Of Ahaz... But also older stuff like Bathory, Celtic Frost/Hellhammer, Destruction, Sodom, Kreator, Venom... We even listen to Hard Rock like AC/DC, Heavy Metal as well... I think there’s nothing like a powerful catchy riff. It keeps the listener awoken. Blast beats loose every brutal effect if there are no heavy or thrashy riffs or at least tempo changes or breaks. It turns boring to listen to and boring to play. Plus we all have been into Metal for something like 15 years and so we’ve listened to heavy and thrash before playing BM and nobody can deny his roots.

Do you feel the Norwegian scene to be an important historical moment for you music?
Of course. The golden years of the Norwegian scene will always be present in our minds. This country spawned really killer acts... Remember "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" ? "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" ? Emperor’s demo ? Burzum’s first album ? Immortal’s first albums ? I mean, one would be stupid to deny the fact that the Norwegian scene was extremely powerful. The wheel has turned since of course but I will never deny the importance of those acts of the past. Of course at one time it turned stupid & many people said that true Black Metal could only be Norwegian which was a completely dumb thing to say ! So I’m not saying that I’m a "Norsk worshipper" hehe... I like other stuff like Sarcofago, Impiety, some old acts from Eastern lands also. But no one can deny the dark aura that surrounded Norway at that time... Just listen to one of the albums I quoted...

You lyrics are obviously satanic and also more traditional then the modern aesthetic of philosophical form of Satanism, is it you're a rebellion to this illuminist new evolution-regression?
It’s only my thoughts put into words. I’m not a fan of "new" Satanism à la La Vey... Too much "life loving" for me. I simply hate most of the people out there, people just bore me and I serve the enemy of mankind. People will maybe say I’m a slave to that religion, indeed, I surely am, Hail Satan ! But who in this world is not a slave ? I ask you...

Do you feel you feeling to be obscurantist?
Maybe yes. I don’t like explaining my beliefs that much, but such a huge amount of Hate can be seen as obscurantist to the profane, you’re right.

How do you live you band as a regular one that have to release something every damn year or something else?
It’s definitely something else. We shall release stuff whenever we wish to and they will not be accessible to many people, some vinyl and tapes should be out but they will be very limited, and from time to time, we shall release one album, with a "regular" distribution. Just like in a Temple where some books can only be read by priests and member of the religious order, some of our stuff will be available only for a limited die hard audience, and some others to the "others", who maybe will turn loyal followers of the cult thanks to them... We shall see...

Are you influenced by dark literature or other sources?
These days I delight in Maria de Naglowska’s writings, a XIXth century French Satanist. I read many occult books and they influence my spirituality for sure, but I don’t know if they can have an effect on my lyrics. They help putting me in a very dark state of mind for composing but I mainly write my lyrics in moments of extreme hate which are different from the feelings I get after a meditative reading. If you want to know what really influences me when writing my lyrics, it must be the extreme stupidity of people. I would not say I’m a real misanthrope though, I have a regular life, a job, and I see people everyday, but I also get totally mad at least once a day because of the stupid behaviour of all this... cattle out there ! Hell even thinking about it makes me fucking boil with hate !

What are you actually listening in those days?
Mainly old stuff. Dodheimsgard, Voivod, Iron Maiden, Sodom ... Satanicum Tenebrae also... Endura... In the newer stuff, Mütiilation’s "Majestas Leprosus", Funeral Winds’ "Godslayer Xul", Inquisition’s "Invoking The Majestic Throne Of Satan", Bael’s "Bleeding For Him" and also some totally different stuff, crazy contemporary music like Gyorgy Ligeti and Luciano Berio.

PMP (France) is about to release a Temple Of Baal live tape limited to 300. Then Battleskr’z Records (France) will release a limited split 7...ep Temple Of Baal/Ancestral Fog. And then... Darkness and isolation until we spit our venomous bile once again unto mankind...