Interview
with Shocker from IPERYT
Militant technoid Black Metal. Origin: Poland. Do I have to add anything else? Alright: "No State Of Grace" is a great piece if nihilistic, destructing hate, another pearl from this neverending source of inspired, individual, intelligent extreme bands. Read what Shocker (samples, backing vox) has to state about Iperyt.
First
of all, what’s the meaning behind the name “Iperyt”?
Iperyt is the Polish word for mustard gas, the weapon first time used during WWI (or at least used on a larger scale). The thing with it and the whole chemical warfare or weapons of mass destruction is that you cannot control all the effects. Opposite to conventional warfare, if someone uses such means the results and consequences really cannot be foreseen. It is always a risk for both sides of the conflict. So in this case, we consider Iperyt to be a way of manifesting something we have reached, but will never be able to fully control. You can also read it in a more metaphorical way and transmit it to human life. We know so many things yet we still often behave like the blind. We like to treat things in a multidimensional way.
The new record “No State Of
Grace” was recently released. How long did you work on the songs, how does the
process of songwriting work in your band and where did you record the material?
A bit too long, hehe.
Mainly because we had some misunderstandings with our former record label. The
album could have been released a year or so earlier. But is finally here and
we're proud of it.
We compose in many
different ways – sometimes there are riffs and then comes the rest, sometimes
there's a crazy beat or loop and the rest follows. Usually it works like this:
some riffs or song structures are created, then we try to deform or rape them in
some way to come with a different musical conclusion. We try not to have any
limitations in the process.
The concept with “No State Of Grace” was to create a kind of “metal sounding” album, meaning to have more songs-orientated arrangements rather than for example industrial or Terrorcore, and we recorded it here in Poland with Jarek Toifl as a producer.
In your opinion, which are
the main improvements on “No State Of Grace” compared to “Totalitarian Love
Pulse”?
The whole sound is a little bit different, I think for it improved. More clarity (but clarity means a different thing when you look at it from Iperyt's perspective, hehe). It is also a next step for us, we explored the new, maybe more melodic territory (but this doesn't mean we will continue to explore this in the future, we've got many other ideas as well). So it's just the next chapter of our journey. Some people prefer harsh sound of “Totalitarian Love Pulse”, others the new of “No State Of Grace”. We like both.
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| No State Of Grace Review |
The lyrics on the new album
are again harsh, straight in the face and pissed off. Where does this anger and
rage have their origin?
From everyday’s life maybe? The whole as I can call it: “package” of Iperyt is strongly nihilistic. It is like an enormous 'fuck you' in the face of reality. It all goes a lot deeper as well. When you take a distance and have a look at human's life in society and in the world, you may come to different interesting conclusions. One for example is that a man for his whole life acts like a robot, trying to earn some money for living, pleasures, family or whatever and finally, after life of struggle, dies. For me personally, this is a kind of madness and hence the feeling of being in a big mental hospital, hehe This is of course very superficial what I'm saying here, it's just the beginning of the whole nihilistic attitude.
In general, what’s your most
important inspiration for Iperyt?
As I just said: the notion of nihilism. And the whole ocean of experiences related to this way of acting and thinking.
When
you look back in time, whose idea was it to combine Extreme Metal with
electronic, technoid beats, and how did that idea come up?
Well, it happened quite naturally, when Hellhound, who plays black metal with Mastiphal and I - Speedcore/Terror producer and DJ, met together. We started to mix our styles, compose together and talk a lot about our views which turned out to be similar. After that Black Messiah joined bringing even more inspiration and finally People Hater and Abuser added their venom to the story. So to sum it up: It was a very natural process which from some simple fun with mixing sounds evolved to the full concept of Iperyt.
What about your live
experience so far? Any plans to play in Switzerland once in future?
We enjoy live shows.
Terror bassdrums got to be played extremely loud to have the best effect on the
body and mind, so gigs are the best way to achieve it. Sometimes it is quite
difficult to make it sound right in live situation, because we use a drum
machine, but when everything works fine, then all the hell breaks loose during
the hailstorm of our sound.
And sure – it would be great to play in Switzerland!
Did you experience problems
so far concerning your militant look and image, such as accusations being a
right-wing band?
There always are and will be people who don't like things you do and we're not different. From time to time, we face some accusations and problems. But hey – that's the way it is when you become rebellious towards the rules. You must be prepared for some weird feedback. But nobody said it would be easy, hehe.
Some members of Iperyt are
active in other bands (Infernal War, Mastiphal, to name a few). Which value has
Iperyt for each single member personally?
These are just different emotions. Different ways of telling the story. Sometimes you go by car, sometimes you run or walk. This is how it goes. You find interest in many different things or sounds but it is still you. So I don't think one activity is more important than the other in this case.
There are lots of
outstanding, inspired Extreme Metal-bands from Poland which act on quite a high
level regarding their music and concept. In your opinion, why has Poland such an
amount of good extreme bands and less bands that play traditional Heavy/True/
Power Metal?
Oh damn, I don't
know why, hehe. I personally just prefer the harder styles, they suits me better.
Maybe because in Poland religion is still strong, still showing its arrogance there's still a need for rebellion and intense response?! But that's just an assumption...
What can you tell me about
the Polish scene? Do you feel related to it and how are the relations to other
bands?
I like the Polish scene a lot. Many great bands! People all the time bring new interesting ideas. And when you know so many talented people operating on a high level of quality music, then you also improve your skills, you develop, and this is really fascinating. We know a lot of bands and our relations are good. It is really a great opportunity to become more creative and expand. Unfortunately, we don't have such great festivals as in Czech Republic or Germany. But you cannot have everything.
Do you think your origin,
Poland, has an impact on the sound and character of Iperyt?
Yes for sure! Because we were born there and raised there, in that country, in that society, we just cannot escape this so easily. You can change your way ofthinking, evolve, but some things remain, and they're a part of your character. So probably, if we were born somewhere else, we would compose in a different way, probably because of different musical and cultural inspirations. But on the other hand, this nihilistic way of seeing things is something that is born inside you during your life’s journey and is independent of your origin. At least I think so. So this wouldn't change for sure.
What about your personal
music taste? Are you open-minded to all genres or strictly focused on Extreme
Metal?
Music is the music but also only music. This is a way of showing your emotions and passion. So you enjoy the one that you feel comfortable with. But does it mean that there are no different emotions that you couldn't observe or taste? I don't think so. There are many different interesting sounds. Some are cheesy and dull, but some inspiring and giving the whole new world of possibilities of what you can incorporate in your creations. For me it's like vacation. Usually you're at home, but from time to time you go somewhere to see something different. And this is my personal way of experiencing music.
Last words… thank you for
the interview and hails to Poland!
Thank you! I
encourage everybody to taste a bit of Iperyt. Creative nihilism. And quoting
Hellraiser: “Welcome to oblivion. Amen”. Shocker over and out.