ERESHKIGAL
GREECE
Hello George and welcome to Eternal Night Fanzine...How is the band for these days? Hello there Alex and thank you for the invitation to join Eternal Night.
We are fine, following the release of the LP we are trying to do a bit
of promotion for it, contacting cool people and sending samples across the world. Tell me about ‘The Raping Of The Divine’ LP…
I know it takes a long time to be completed… Well, the story behind the LP is a long one. The concept for its
creation was conceived after the end of FLEGETHON and the actual
birth of ERESHKIGAL, sometime around mid 1994. At that point
I already had a number of songs which never made it for release
under FLEGETHON. During the following one and a half years several
other songs were completed, so we had enough material for a full LP.
The big decision for the recording of a full LP was made in early 1996
and we entered the studio in August of that year. The plan was to
record as much as possible because we were self financing the operation
and the budget was limited. Plus, at that time I was spending most of
my time in London for my studies, and I was in Athens only for a few
days vacation. Anyway, we managed to record all the instruments and
also do the first takes of vocals for half the songs. At that time
money was running out and I also had to return to London. So we decided
to stop until Christmas 1996, to complete all the vocal parts and start
with the mixing. As it turned out, we were unable to get enough money
to pay for the studio time, so the thing was delayed further.
And then disaster! The studio, which was in a basement, was flooded
(I think some time in Spring 1997), which led to the virtual destruction
of our master tapes. So we were left with just cassettes in our hands.
As you can imagine, we were seriously angry with the situation and lost
our motivation and interest, and decided to freeze the project for the
foreseeable future. Of course, we never thought we would just kill the
thing off completely, we had the secret hope that the project would be
resurrected one day. That day had to wait for several years, at least
until I had completed all my responsibilities in London and I would
have the time to be involved again with the LP. I returned to Athens
in late Summer 2001 and soon we discussed about a new plan to see
what could be done with the LP. It was obvious that the loss of
the master tapes would mean either that we would have to record
everything from scratch or try to work with what we had left in our
hands. The first option was out of question as it would require huge
amounts of cash for studio time AND a totally new recording would mean
we would loose forever all the great feeling we had achieved in our
sound before. The second option was the only thing we could do.
Having to work with just cassettes in your hands is a real pain in
the butt. Needless to say we spent very long hours in the studio to try
and make the best possible sound of the recorded instruments and of
course we had to redo all the vocals. On top of that we had to try
several different mixings to be able to boost the sound to the best
level. The whole process took several months and we only declared that
the project was finally complete in Spring 2005. As you can see nothing
less than the making of a true cult LP! What’s the meaning for you of all these years of a hard work with the band? The meaning of all this trouble… Not simple to explain in just a few words,
but I will try. The band, the material, the release(s) is my personal
interpretation of how extreme Metal should sound, carrying own ideas and
beliefs, blending influences. We are not doing this to become famous.
We are not doing this to show off. We are not doing this to make money.
It is just our hobby and no matter what, we shall always remain within
the boundaries of the underground. Even if someone comes up tomorrow or
next year and offers a fat contract we shall be the same persons and
we will act the same. I am not saying that I would not welcome any extra
money, anyone who says that, they are fooling themselves or they are just
plain liars. The key thing is what are you going to do NOT to become
anyone’s whore to secure money and fame. We do not owe anyone anything
and this is how things will remain. What we create, we create for ourselves
first, and if we believe the material might interest other people and offer
them satisfaction then we might try and release it. First of all we are fans
of the music we like so our material is made from fans for fans.
Being involved in the underground Metal scene for over two decades now
perhaps gives us the right to have an opinion on how some things should
be made, but then this just that: an opinion. This knowledge is our treasure
chest and legacy and we shall always be ambassadors of true underground music
to whoever is willing to discover. How did you achieve to sign a contract with Temple Of Darkness Records? Our involvement with Temple Of Darkness was a total surprise.
I have to admit I didn’t know Jose Luis before. It all begun
when I won some records from his Ebay auctions! When we contacted
each other for the details we talked about various things, and
he said how much he liked the Hellenic underground scene.
So, I thought it would be a good idea to send him a copy of our
promo CD (an early version of it) for his collection, obviously
he would be completely unaware of ERESHKIGAL at that point.
Jose Luis was incredibly happy with the material, even if at that
point it was not the 100% finished product and the sound was not
yet optimized. He quickly revealed his plans to set up a record
label, and he wanted to release ERESHKIGAL’s material at all costs!
I must admit I was a bit skeptical at that point, he seemed a great
guy but I didn’t know him for very long and I had some reservations.
I had already seen several similar projects go completely wrong in
the past, but Jose Luis had a determination hardly witnessed before.
So we talked about the thing more, and he was adamant he wanted to
release our debut album. He was also able to satisfy all our little
(or bigger) paranoid requests for a super vinyl release and we finally
agreed to go on with the project and signed a contract. The contract
is for this album only and for a limited vinyl release of 1000 copies,
but I guess there is nothing stopping us to do further stuff together.
What are the future plans of Ereshkigal?Will you go on working with Temple Of Darkness Records? Taking into account how long the debut album took to be released,
one would fear that our next offering will take forever to be unleashed.
Well, we really do not want this to happen again! We can not control
unpredictable events but with the aid of modern technology such mishaps
that plagued the debut LP will simply not happen. Since the release of
the LP is still hot, we are currently concentrating a bit on the promotion
of it and making people aware of its existence. We do have a number of
songs that are completed, more are coming along. I believe right now there
is enough stuff for a mini LP and a second full LP. We want to proceed
with the mini LP first (or perhaps this could be released as a split LP too).
It should contain about 5 songs and we are thinking of making some covers
of old and famous songs, I won’t say which! The mini LP has the working
title “The Erevos Arisen”, which probably will be the final title.
So far we have done only a few tests in the studio, to get an idea of the
sound and the capabilities we have in our hands. Our plan is to move to
a bit slower songs, however at the same time a lot more heavier and intense,
perhaps you could say a bit more towards Death Metal. As for the second LP,
we do have enough songs for it, but it will have to wait for the time being.
We will not start anything on it until we see what we do with the mini LP.
The second LP has the working title “The Ætherial Testimony” and will
probably contain about 8 songs. Of course we would like to work again with
Jose Luis and Temple Of Darkness, he has done a marvelous job with
“The Raping of the Divine”. Have you played live shows now releasing the LP? No, we don’t play live. This is a strictly studio project band,
it shall remain so and we will never play live! How is the scene in Greece actually?
Tell me the names of your favorite Greece bands… I guess the scene here is not bad, although I have to admit I am not
terribly involved with it, especially the last few years. I just don’t
have the time I once had available to search and contact all the new
bands and people active in the scene and have a go at their material.
And another truth is that I remain more interested in the glories of
the past. I don’t want to dismiss the new stuff, but I feel that we are
now perhaps in the fourth or fifth generation of bands here and I would
be lying if I said that I am not annoyed with the way several of them
are copying the copies of the copies… It is always hard to come up with
fresh material, but damn it, if you MUST copy, then you might as well
do it properly and copy someone worth it. And I like less and less all
the time the mixing of different styles, I am a sort of purist really,
and I just don’t feel comfortable with all this nu-metal, metalcore
(what? ANYONE remember bands doing exactly this back in the mid-late
80s???) and the like. Apart from that, I can see that people at least
try to make more presentable efforts nowadays, they do have better
recordings and production, but then with all the technology available
that should be expected. I am sure that there are new bands out there
that are good and might have a good future ahead of them, if they choose
their steps carefully. My favourite bands will have to remain forever
my friends from ROTTING CHRIST, VARATHRON, SADISTIC NOISE, DESPISE
(who by the way are finishing their KILLER LP after AGES in the making,
check them out – I guarantee you will be blown to bits!), DEVISER,
FLAMES, and KAWIR, NAER MATARON, RAVENCULT, END are pretty good too. Have you listened Colombian or south american bands? Of course, first that comes to my mind from Colombia are the great MASACRE!
Not to forget others like BLASPHEMIA and INQUISITION… I also know many other
South American bands, a true horde from Brazil, all the well known ones…
My old friends from VULCANO and DORSAL ATLANTICA, others include ENSLAVER,
DEATH YELL, PENTAGRAM etc. So much great stuff hails from South America and
some true pioneers have arisen from there! Final words for this interview… Thanks for offering us your space and for your interest in ERESHKIGAL.
I extend my warmest greetings to you, the readers of ETERNAL NIGHT,
the fans of Colombia and the rest of South America! Now ERESHKIGAL has
risen from the ancient slumber and has been unleashed upon mankind.
If you are looking for true underground material straight from the roots,
“The Raping of the Divine” is made for you. If you would like to contact
us please do so preferably by email and I shall reply asap. Stand strong,
stand proud, stay true to yourselves and beliefs. Hail to you all!
