Memento Mori Artist- Funeralopolis Interview is up
1. The first question I need to ask… It looks like there was a decade between the band’s creation and the first proper álbum. Were there lineup issues or other issues to cause ...of Deceit and Utter Madness to come in 2020?
Hi, this is Pascal from Funeralopolis!
There were multiple reasons for the long delay. Indeed, there was a small setback when we changed our drummer after recording the demo, but since then the lineup has been stable. But life still got in the way multiple times, leading to periods of no productivity and to be honest, we are probably also not the most disciplined musicians. And last but not least there was also a financial question: We had almost all songs for the debut ready since 2 – 3 years already, but since we didn’t have a label at the time we were unable to pay for recording, cd production and distribution all on our own. We already experimented with self-releasing for “... of Prevailing Chaos” in 2013 but that EP got very little traction, probably even less than the demo before, while the financial loss for us was rather high. So it was really when Raul from Memento Mori offered us to release a full-length that we started to get serious about it and headed to the studio.
2. Would you call Funeralopolis an old school death metal band or death/doom as I can see the pros and cons for both?
Haha, this is the kind of question that could be debated endlessly. I would say that we are a death metal band with doom influences rather than real death/doom, which is a term I would use for bands like Winter, Disembowelment or Hooded Menace, where the slow tempo is really the foundation of the sound. We like to use slow parts as a songwriting tool but we don’t feel beholden to it. I could imagine an album with little to no doom parts that would still be true to Funeralopolis.
3. I hear influences of Cianide, Winter, Incantation, Disembowelment and Asphyx for sure. What bands inspired Funeralopolis?
We all listen to shitloads of music from all genres of heavy metal and beyond and since we have a rather intuitive approach to songwriting I find it hard to nail down what exactly are the direct influences. For sure I had Asphxy a lot on my mind when I started the band, as well as other classic death metal bands that worked a lot with dynamic tempos, like Obituary, Autopsy and early Darkthrone. But we definitely have a lot of influences from crust, black metal and traditional doom as well. And all the other bands that you mentioned are amazing of course and have probably influenced as in some way.
4. When I think of Switzerland I have Samael, Coroner, Celtic Frost, Krokus, Nucleus Torn, Zeal and Ardor. What bands should we know about from your homeland currently crushing the scene?
There have been a lot of great Swiss metal bands in the last years, unfortunately they have a tendency of not gaining traction beyond the borders. Some names that I would like to spread are Vomitheist, Deathcult, Chaosmonger, Megaton Sword, Sin Starlett, Temple of Perversion, Final Nightmare, Ashtar, Excruciation, Kvelgeyst, Nihilo, Darkreverie and Fire Breather.
5. Is there a theme behind of Deceit and Utter Madness? The artwork has that 90's underground death metal vibe so much…
There is a rough concept to the album, which is madness and various mythological and literary entities that are associated with messing up people’s minds. The three final songs deal with the character of Nyarlathotep for example, others with witchcraft or serial killers. The artwork was one of a couple that Raul suggested to us and we fell in love with it immediately, because it fits the mood of the album and the lyrics perfectly. One cannot really tell what the thing on the cover is exactly but it’s definitely unwell... Mark Cooper is a great artist, who manages to perfectly capture that Dan Seagrave vibe, while still maintaining his own distinctive touch.
6. How did you come to work with a very well known underground death metal label like Memento Mori? How has the partnership been? I know you started with the reissue of Ep's last year.
No exciting story. Raul simply contacted us in 2018 about releasing a compilation of our previous output and a potential full-length and since we like a lot what he’s doing with Memento Mori and were anyway almost ready to record we of course agreed to both. The partnership has been great, Memento Mori is a 100% no-bullshit label with total devotion to the death metal underground.
7. Can you tell us how early material differs to of Deceit and Utter Madness?
The intent of the band has always been the same, I would say. One of the tracks on ...of Deceit and Utter Madness is actually a rerecording of a demo track and it still fits to the album. If it wasn’t for the much rawer sound (which was because we recorded the demo ourselves with crap equipment and zero technical knowledge) the demo material would be similar to the album. Maybe a bit simpler songwriting. The EP is the odd one out because we added a lot more D-beat parts to those songs. This was fun back then we got tired of this style pretty soon and wanted to return to purer death metal on the album.
8. Live, what kind of aesthetics and visual presentation do you want the crowd to get ?
We are not big on props and stage outfits. The shows should be minimalistic, intense, violent and direct. I have no idea if it works as intended though, since I have never seen a Funeralopolis show...
9. Funeralopolis has been around a bit. How has the digital age changed the way an underground band thrives and creates music, touring and creating merch . Has ( Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Youtube, podcasts, twitter and blogs) been blessing or curse?
Since we never went on big tours and have a slow output pace we are probably not the best people to assess this from an artist’s perspective. From a fan’s perspective though, I think that it was probably more of a curse then a blessing. Digital music has made the scene in a weird way both over- and undersaturated. Yes, I listen to more new releases now because it’s easier, but I listen to many of them only once, even though they would deserve deeper occupation. I also buy much less physical releases because I don’t have to anymore and so I don’t make the effort in times when I have a lot of work to do for example. I can’t speak for everybody in the band, some of the others are still very disciplined collectors, but I’m sure there’s many people with the same experiences out there.
10. If the band was to end today, what do you want the world to remember Funeralopolis for?
If some our releseases or live shows managed to breach some people’s wall of apathy, dispassion and superficiality that defines our age then have we achieved our goal!
11. Lovecraft seems to circle the themes of many death, doom and black metal bands. Why does this inspire the themes of Funeralopolis?
We know that Lovecraft has maybe been a bit overused in Heavy Metal but the thing is that his stories just hold up so fucking well and are a perfect fit for the atmosphere that most death metal bands try to create. The man had some serious issues but the nihilism and contempt that reeks from his writings because of that is still peerless.
Lovecraft is only one of many sources of inspiration, though. Thuri, who writes all our lyrics, is a huge fan of all kinds of old horror books and movies, from which he draws ideas. Indeed, we are not a band that claims to spread deep spiritual ideas or anything, we just aim to have lyrics with the same mood as the music.
12. If you could make a proper video for any track on of Deceit and Utter Madness, which would it be and why?
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a death metal video that made the music any better, so we would probably pass, haha.
13. Thank you for the time. Any closing thoughts?
I already reached my thought quota for today. Thanks for the support!
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