Summon: How did the band get started?
Igor: Band was formed by Uros (rhytm guitar) in January 2007 and soon Bojan joined. Band’s idea in that time was to play thrash metal. Somewhere in February the same year I joined the horde as vocal and band moved to more extreme waters playing death/thrash metal. Band has several line-up changes and recorded first demo “Declaration of War” in January 2008. It was poor produced and recorded without any experience, so we haven’t promoted it much. In February 2008 Jovan joined as a drummer and Danilo on bass, so band started with common rehearsals and played several gigs. Band’s music moved to even more extreme path, with black metal influences and more melodic parts. In March 2009 Stefan joined on keyboards and the same month Hatred Manifest demo was unleashed. We are now looking for a label to release our first album and also working on promotion of our demo.
Summon: What kind of music do you play?
Igor: Our music is mix of death, thrash and black metal, with lots of melodic parts, creating the reflection of cosmic chaos and projecting our position in it. We define it as extreme metal, simple and clear. It gives us a chance to mix musical styles as much as we want to fill our listeners with the injection of spiritual extremism through our sounds.
Summon: How has the band response been?
Igor: We are very pleased with the response Abaddon gets. Sure, we are new band and we still have to promote our music, but until now everything goes even better than we thought.
Summon: Where did the band name come from?
Igor: “Nomen est omen”. Abaddon is destroyer, a destructive force of cosmos, but also I must mention that in every act of destruction we have a process of creation. Abaddon is destruction of the modern world, the morality of humankind and (re)creation of the natural order, a world where morality will not let the spiritual maggots to become the kings. It is a journey to the primal chaotic energy from which we all came and to which our spirits go, energy which is magnetic for our souls. A reflection of that energy is our music.
Summon: Introduce the band members
Igor: So… Let me begin with the founder- Uroš (rhytm guitar). He is one of the main composers in the band; with Bojan (solo guitars) he writes the guitar parts. First to say- he is a great friend, as I know him for a long time. He is always open for new ideas, and great fan of Slayer and Death, so if you hear those influences in Abaddon’s riffs- it is Uroš. Bojan (solo guitar) is, as I mentioned, one of the composers in Abaddon and thrashing force in the band. He is fellow band member, always ready to do whatever is good for the band, and, what is the most important, an honest person. Danilo (bass) is very good musician. Also, open for the new ideas. I would call him a progressive force of Abaddon. He is great man, calm, but with great energy on stage. Stefan (keyboards) is the newest member of Abaddon. He is also a great friend, for many he is weird freaky person, and it is great to have him in the band. He brings the dark atmosphere with his keyboards. Also, he is a big fan of Dimmu Borgir, Anorexia Nervosa and similar bands, so you will for sure find these influences in Abaddon from his side. You will have chance to hear him more in future songs. Jovan (drums) is the force which makes Abaddon sounding brutal and aggressive. Without his drumming Abaddon would never have that chaotic sound. Fellow band member and great person to play with…And at the end- me (Igor- vocals). I am the “ideological leader” of the band. The occult and black metal side of Abaddon, philosopher… “I follow my own spiritual path based on heathen traditions of my Slavic ancestors, chaos-occult path and my personal philosophy, influenced by philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche and anti-materialism, still individualistic in thought. I try to express with my lyrics all my spiritual landscapes.”….
Summon: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Igor: The whole band is included in the writing process of the music. Uros and Bojan write the guitar and some bass parts and rhythm for drums, Stefan is writing keyboards, Danilo writes the bass lines and Jovan drums. In the end- I come with the lyrics and do the vocal parts. Also, we all tell our opinion on what it can be changed at some parts of the songs. So, we all work together in writing the music. As I mentioned, I am the lyrics writer.
Summon: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Igor: They are coming from the deepest parts of cold spiritual landscapes; they are reflection ofthe primal cosmic chaos and hatred to modern society’s weakness. In them, one can find depression as much as will to power, they are arrogant, Intolerant, they strike, they are suicide and rebirth, they are always on border between death and life, not alive but not dead. Also they are introspective a lot. Indeed, they are more than just lyrics. They are destruction, the poison for modern humanity. “My word- eternal war” (Spiritual Slaves).
Summon: How many albums/cd’s have you released?
Igor: I already mentioned in the first answer that we released two demo CDs, but due to first demo’s sound, we were not promoting it much. So, only one, the newest recording called “Hatred Manifest” is available.
Summon: Tell me about some the songs on the latest CD?
Igor: Ok… First song on CD is “Intolerance”. This is the most melodic song on “Hatred Manifest” and it is for sure the best accepted song by public.. It is filled with energy and contains really great riffs. It is amazing feeling playing it live. Lyrics are very individualistic, speaking about brainless subcultures accepting all what is offered without thinking, a stab for the modern world. Intolerance is followed by “World’s Agony” (my favorite song from “Hatred Manifest”). It is a mystic, slower song, still crushing and aggressive. Keyboards gave it a great spirit. A poison for the spiritual weak ones, for sure. “Spiritual Slaves” brings great aggressive spirit, very thrashy song with melodic, but also slow, painful parts. “Wounded by humanity” is a great fuck off song for the modern humankind, a stage of rejection of human skin and act of dedication to the shores of eternity. The last one is “Misanthropy”. It is the oldest song of Abaddon, firstly composed 2 years ago, even some riffs were composed earlier. The dirtiest song from “Hatred Manifest”, full of great smashing riffs.
Summon: Who are some of your musical influences?
Igor: Abaddon started as thrash metal band, under influence of Slayer, Destruction, Kreator, and similar bands. These influences are still present in Abaddon, but also, there is influence of death metal bands such as Obituary, At the Gates, Death, Hypocrisy, Carcass and Amon Amarth and black metal ones like Dissection, Root, Dimmu Borgir and Mayhem. We try not to copy these bands, but more to create our own spirit, still without rejecting our influences. Every band member brings in his influences and by the alchemical formula they are becoming all as one in.
Summon: Which current bands?
Igor: There are few great new bands appeared on nowadays scene. Here I will mention Amesoeurs, amazing French band, very unique music. Eluveitie brings also great stuff, but they are more known band. Norwegian band Sarke also blew me off with their first album (although it was expected). New ISIS album is amazing, new Peste Noire is a fucking sickness, great work, and also new 1349 album (with the best Pink Floyd cover I ever heard). From Serbian ones: Anti-Dote (our good friends and amazing thrashcore attack) and new albums of May Result and The Stone are highly recommended.
Summon: What is the band like when you play live?
Igor: Our goal with live shows is to lead the crowd on a journey to the chaotic forms of existence. We are trying to fill our shows with energy; we encourage the crowd to awake the wolfish nature in them. Within every of our shows we awake the spirit of long forgotten rituals, written deep inside our subconscious. This is a code, known only for those who throw away their human skin. Our shows are acts of misanthropy; we want the crowd to arise in the arrogant joy of maniacal killer. They’re killing themselves by accepting our sounds, and we are trying to offer them the razorblade. We want their destructive energy, we feed ourselves with it.
Summon: Have you guys ever played in another country?
Igor: Unfortunately- no. We haven’t got any offers yet, but we will see what the future will tell. We would be very glad to have some gigs outside Serbia.
Summon: How big of crowd shows up at shows usually?
Igor: Our shows are mostly underground, so there are no more than 150 or 200 people. The biggest show we had is on Rock On fest, but generally we have smaller gigs. But to be honest, we don’t care if there are 50 or 5000 people in the crowd as long as they are dedicated to our energy. It is better to have 50 dedicated souls, filled with the will for spiritual extremism than 5000 passive empty humans. What is important is not the number, but the energy.
Summon: How is the crowd response when you play?
Igor: We are very pleased with the response we get from the crowd on our shows. When we watch from our position all those spirits willing to break the chains of humanity in them, to destroy the false morality, we feed our lust with all those souls they throw out of them in moment of our unity in chaos. We become one blade for this world. I am glad when I know that they reach the dimensions of chaotic stage of spirit on our shows, even for a moment.
Summon: What is your opinion on death metal bands and black metal band? What is your opinion on the conflict of Black Metal Vs Death Metal?
Igor: Abaddon’s music is placed between black metal and death metal. We have the aggressive side which belongs to death metal and the occult, mystic veil of black metal. Of course, there is a musical difference between death and black metal, and this is natural, but in lyrics and ideology there should be no difference. Conflict which you’ve mentioned is rooted in appearance of dishonest, commercial death metal bands which started singing about “save our children”, “we want peace and equality for all” and other human shit. Abaddon proudly stands against those weak humans’ ideology. Death and black metal are anti-human genres, based on misanthropic thoughts, on individualistic view, something that is considered to be dark and evil for modern society (although there is no ultimate morality, light and dark, good and evil- those are individual terms). And it is not meant for every human to play it. You have to be in a certain spiritual and mental state to be able to play extreme music. Extreme music cannot spread the propaganda of equality and justice. Equality is stagnation, unnatural thing, an excuse for weak ones to get what belongs to the stronger. And that is why the conflict started, because black metal bands from the early 90s wanted the extreme metal to be what it is supposed to be. They were honest, raw and willing to reflect true energy of forgotten spiritual dimensions, the destructive force, and the primeval element of chaotic existence… In that time there were a lot of poser shitheads in death metal scene. Now we have them in both genres. Most of these black metal bands are now miles away from what they were in the first half on 90s, becoming the thing they fought against back then. Still there are few ones keeping the spirit alive in both genres (in black metal there are Beastcraft, Arckanum, Satanic Warmaster, Taake… and in death metal there are Deicide, Ophiolatry, Unleashed, Dismember…).
Summon: What do you think of the U.S. scene?
Igor: U.S. extreme metal scene became very active in past few years. Here I must mention great black metal acts such as Leviathan, Inquisition, Pantheon, Goatwhore and Nachtmystium. And of course, the old goat, the cult- Von.. Those are amazing bands, really. Your country has always had great death metal bands, but in past few years it became more-less silent. Of course, legends as Deicide, Nile and Morbid Angel must be mentioned, but I must admit that newer bands from the US death metal scene are not so original and worth of attention. On the other hand, you have also amazing alternative (extreme) metal scene. ISIS is amazing, new album will for sure be one of my top 2009 albums, Sun O))) is fucking insane band with great atmosphere, and new album of Wolves in the Throne Room blew me off with its unique atmosphere. Yeah, and also I must mention Agalloch. This is for sure one of the best U.S. bands.
Summon: What do you think of the overseas scenes?
Igor: We are witnessing the rebirth of Norwegian black metal scene in bands such as Beastcraft, Krypt, Koldbrann, Endezzma, Urgehal and few others. This scene was almost dead for a whole decade, and now these new bands are giving it a fresh blood. Swedish black metal is growing more and more, with acts as Shining, Watain, Craft, Arckanum, Funeral Mist… Also, East- European (or if some preffer Slavic) metal scene is becoming more and more active. There are old legends as Master’s Hammer, Root, Graveland, Temnozor, Nokturnal Mortum, but also great newer bands (or those which became more known in the last few years): Stworz, Kalevala, Kroda, Svarga, Ruina…Outside Europe, there is very interesting South American scene, with great thrash and death metal acts and one of the best bands from that area is for sure Ophiolatry.
Summon: Any plans on writing any new material?
Igor: We are working on new songs for our first album. For now, I can say that it will bring more melodic parts, but also more aggression and mysticism than “Hatred Manifest”. In lyrical since, album will be darker and more occult, cynical, filled with the ashes of humanity and energy of Chaos, very extreme and not for every stupid human.
Summon: What does the future hold for the band?
Igor: As I’ve mentioned we are working on our first album, so our plan is to finish the album composing and record it, I hope soon. Also, we are working on promotion of “Hatred Manifest”, so we are planning to do some more gigs. All in all- future will tell… Thanks for the interview!
Contact them at:
http://www.myspace.com/abaddonpirot
