Epitimia Interview with Metal Recusants Webzine [02/16/2013]
Posted by Nick Skog on Monday, February 18, 2013 Under: Interviews
Epitimia interview with Metal Recusants - February 16, 2013
“Who is More Insane – The Society That Can’t Accept Individuality or a Person Who Thinks Differently?”
Interview by: Veronica
Original Link
Epitimia is a three-piece atmospheric, post-black metal band from Saint Petersburg, founded in 2008. The band has released three albums so far – To The Non-existing Shades… (2009), Four Truths of the Noble Ones (2010) and Faces of Insanity (2012). Check out the interview below, where you can read about the band’s origins, their latest album, touring and more.
Veronica – The band has been around for five years. Please tell us a few words about the origins of the band. How did you form and why did you decide to adopt the name ‘Epitimia’?
Epitimia - Epitimia was born in January 2008 when we tried to find the raw and atmospheric sound. At that time we used to play in a symphonic/melodic black metal band called Autarchy, but we had a bigger interest in depressive black metal. So we recorded our first Epitimia demo and the result was good, so we decided to move on with this project. The name was found accidentally. This term is connected with the Christian tradition, but we do not use any religion concepts in our music. “Epitimia” now has a very personal meaning for us.
Veronica - Your music is a mix of atmospheric black metal, doom metal and post-rock. Which bands have influenced you and inspired you to play music?
Epitimia – We can’t say that any concrete band had inspired us, but we listen to a lot of music and try to combine elements of different music genres that we like. As for me (A.), I started to play music when I was inspired by death-doom metal bands.
Veronica - Your third album entitled Faces of Insanity was released six months ago. How different is the last album to the previous two?
Epitimia - Faces of Insanity has big development in sound. It is still far from the sound of professional recording, but all instruments are well-played and recorded. The mixing is better too, especially for the home studio. Also our new album has more experiments. For example, we started to combine post-rock elements with atmospheric black metal. The third album has a stronger concept with a good storyline. But some things remained the same: we still use parts of classical music (a good listener may find the last lines of the chorus in “Epikrisis VI – Leucotomy” similar to “Ode an die Freude” by Ludwig van Beethoven and will be right).
Veronica - How has the reception of the album been? Looking back at the recording process, are you fully satisfied with it?
Epitimia - Yes, we are completely satisfied with the album’s reception. We received many great reviews worldwide, that’s very good for a Russian band.
Veronica - The album tells the story of a person suffering from a mental illness. Why did you choose this lyrical concept?
Epitimia - We were always interested in this question. All our songs are about inner struggles. In Faces of Insanity we just developed this idea into a big concept. It is a depiction of a man who has a confrontation with society, which wants him to think ordinary. He refuses to do that, he hides in his own inner world, so he is considered as “insane”. Every song is another page of his contemplation about his life and every name of these songs is the sentence from society to him. But the main question is: Who is more insane – the society that can’t accept individuality or a person who thinks differently?
Veronica - Are you planning to do a tour in Russia or Europe to promote the album?
Epitimia - Epitimia for five years was a home project, so we haven’t played live yet. But now we got a new member – I. who will perform rhythm guitar parts. He will do some work on our fourth album. But we still need more musicians, so the concert activity is a far future business.
Veronica – Which band would you like to tour with sometime in the future?
Epitimia - Heh, great question! Talking to a post-black metal scene it would be great to tour with Deafheaven, An Autumn for Crippled Children and Lantlôs. But I think it would be interesting to gig with post-metal and neocrust bands, these guys are insane.
Veronica - What are your favorite albums of all time?
Epitimia - For A. they are: Procol Harum – “Grand Hotel”, Pink Floyd – “Wish You Were Here”, Forest Stream – “Tears of Mortal Solitude”.
For K. they are: Harold Budd & Brian Eno – “The Pearl“, *Shels – “Sea of the Dying Dhow”, Телевизор – “Дежавю“.
Veronica - Have you started writing material for your next album? When can we expect a new release?
Epitimia - We have 18 songs for a next release, over 100 minutes of music, so the fourth album will consist of two parts. Half of the songs will be more dark and aggressive; the other part will be more light and experimental. There will be lots of post-rock elements, and excerpts from different musical styles, such as trip-hop and electronic.
Veronica - Thank you for your time. The final words are yours!
Epitimia - Thank you for the questions! We wish everyone to develop their taste and try to discover new music and objects of art.
“Who is More Insane – The Society That Can’t Accept Individuality or a Person Who Thinks Differently?”
Interview by: Veronica
Original Link
Epitimia is a three-piece atmospheric, post-black metal band from Saint Petersburg, founded in 2008. The band has released three albums so far – To The Non-existing Shades… (2009), Four Truths of the Noble Ones (2010) and Faces of Insanity (2012). Check out the interview below, where you can read about the band’s origins, their latest album, touring and more.
Veronica – The band has been around for five years. Please tell us a few words about the origins of the band. How did you form and why did you decide to adopt the name ‘Epitimia’?
Epitimia - Epitimia was born in January 2008 when we tried to find the raw and atmospheric sound. At that time we used to play in a symphonic/melodic black metal band called Autarchy, but we had a bigger interest in depressive black metal. So we recorded our first Epitimia demo and the result was good, so we decided to move on with this project. The name was found accidentally. This term is connected with the Christian tradition, but we do not use any religion concepts in our music. “Epitimia” now has a very personal meaning for us.
Veronica - Your music is a mix of atmospheric black metal, doom metal and post-rock. Which bands have influenced you and inspired you to play music?
Epitimia – We can’t say that any concrete band had inspired us, but we listen to a lot of music and try to combine elements of different music genres that we like. As for me (A.), I started to play music when I was inspired by death-doom metal bands.
Veronica - Your third album entitled Faces of Insanity was released six months ago. How different is the last album to the previous two?
Epitimia - Faces of Insanity has big development in sound. It is still far from the sound of professional recording, but all instruments are well-played and recorded. The mixing is better too, especially for the home studio. Also our new album has more experiments. For example, we started to combine post-rock elements with atmospheric black metal. The third album has a stronger concept with a good storyline. But some things remained the same: we still use parts of classical music (a good listener may find the last lines of the chorus in “Epikrisis VI – Leucotomy” similar to “Ode an die Freude” by Ludwig van Beethoven and will be right).
Veronica - How has the reception of the album been? Looking back at the recording process, are you fully satisfied with it?
Epitimia - Yes, we are completely satisfied with the album’s reception. We received many great reviews worldwide, that’s very good for a Russian band.
Veronica - The album tells the story of a person suffering from a mental illness. Why did you choose this lyrical concept?
Epitimia - We were always interested in this question. All our songs are about inner struggles. In Faces of Insanity we just developed this idea into a big concept. It is a depiction of a man who has a confrontation with society, which wants him to think ordinary. He refuses to do that, he hides in his own inner world, so he is considered as “insane”. Every song is another page of his contemplation about his life and every name of these songs is the sentence from society to him. But the main question is: Who is more insane – the society that can’t accept individuality or a person who thinks differently?
Veronica - Are you planning to do a tour in Russia or Europe to promote the album?
Epitimia - Epitimia for five years was a home project, so we haven’t played live yet. But now we got a new member – I. who will perform rhythm guitar parts. He will do some work on our fourth album. But we still need more musicians, so the concert activity is a far future business.
Veronica – Which band would you like to tour with sometime in the future?
Epitimia - Heh, great question! Talking to a post-black metal scene it would be great to tour with Deafheaven, An Autumn for Crippled Children and Lantlôs. But I think it would be interesting to gig with post-metal and neocrust bands, these guys are insane.
Veronica - What are your favorite albums of all time?
Epitimia - For A. they are: Procol Harum – “Grand Hotel”, Pink Floyd – “Wish You Were Here”, Forest Stream – “Tears of Mortal Solitude”.
For K. they are: Harold Budd & Brian Eno – “The Pearl“, *Shels – “Sea of the Dying Dhow”, Телевизор – “Дежавю“.
Veronica - Have you started writing material for your next album? When can we expect a new release?
Epitimia - We have 18 songs for a next release, over 100 minutes of music, so the fourth album will consist of two parts. Half of the songs will be more dark and aggressive; the other part will be more light and experimental. There will be lots of post-rock elements, and excerpts from different musical styles, such as trip-hop and electronic.
Veronica - Thank you for your time. The final words are yours!
Epitimia - Thank you for the questions! We wish everyone to develop their taste and try to discover new music and objects of art.
In : Interviews
Tags: epitimia interview metal recusants progressive atmospheric post-rock post-metal black metal saint-petersburg russian
