Blackened Horde: How did the band get started?
Lukasz: Hello to You and The Reader of the “Blackened Horde”!
The band called SARMAT got started from the invitation. Daniel Szymanowicz invited Krzysztof Kopczeński to cooperate in creating music in the newly formed band. They both are guitarists and were living in the same city at the time. Due to no engagement in any band for both of them at that period of time and because of plenty of ideas and visions in the mind of Szymanowicz, the SAMRAT band came into existence. It was the year 2018.
Blackened Horde: What kind of music do you play?
Lukasz: We play death/black metal. A complex mixture of these two genres, but death metal is the main one, I think.
Blackened Horde: Where did the band name come from?
Lukasz: It came from The Weapon of Ultimate Destruction – the Russian super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile called RS-28 SARMAT (in NATO description SS-XX-30 SATAN 2). The friend of the guitarist Krzysztof Kopczeński, Arkadiusz Stasiak, is the creator of the idea of calling the metal band with the name SARMAT. The guy has also designed the band’s logotype.
Blackened Horde: Introduce the band members and what they do in the band.
Lukasz: Daniel Szymanowicz is the guitarist and the main composer. He also plays bass guitar and VST instruments. He was a member of the groups such as CALM HATCHERY and AGGRESSOR in the past. He is the co-founder of the SARMAT band. The second co-founder is Krzysztof Kopczeński, who plays guitar. He may be known from CARNES and SPIRIT CRUSHER. My name is Łukasz Kobusiński and I am the vocalist. I have played in MORTIS DEI and PUKI ‘MAHLU before SARMAT. I joined the band in 2020. We have no regular drummer and bass guitar player.
Blackened Horde: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Lukasz: The music is Daniel Szymanowicz work – he composes the first versions of the compositions. The structures of guitar riffs, the harmonies, the preliminary drum parts (arranged on the drum machine) are his part. After he prepared these things we all start to mutilate, deform and change all of them to create something that satisfies all of us in a musical sense.
The lyrics for the debut album were written by another friend of the band. He wants to stay anonymous and we do respect his choice. We want the creation process to be more complex in the future and I am going to write a few lyrics for the next stuff. But the mysterious friend stays with us and will continue his work.
Blackened Horde: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Lukasz: Some of them are close to the band’s name conception (the title one, “Coldgrinder” has this atmosphere as well) or similar themes (two parts of “Blackout (Scenario for Tomorrow)”). The rest are the variety of themes connected with human obsessions, dark thoughts and the feeling and the mood of danger.
All of the lyrics on our debut album are the creation of the friend to the band, as I mentioned above, so I am not able to tell how the exact creation process was done.
Blackened Horde: What is your view in Satanism and Occultism?
Lukasz: I find them just the philosophies or lifestyles that help some people live. For me personally that’s all. I am not interested in them at all. I am 100 % atheist and all things connected with spirituality mean not too much for me. The extraterrestrials themes, panspermia theory and so on are much more interesting for myself.
Blackened Horde: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Lukasz: One. The “RS-28” album is our debut full length and the only release till now.
Blackened Horde: Tell me about some of the songs on the latest CD?
Lukasz: “RS-28” (the title one) is my beloved one. It describes the uncomfortable knowledge about being cheated by the slogans and shows some kind of distorted worship for the mass destruction weapon. This weapon is deadly, but it has it’s hypnotizing power inside that makes people look at it and admire it. I like the construction of this song very much as well.
“The Shining of Oneiros” is the one that my journey with SARMAT started from. I got it as the first one to check out and for trying to make the vocal arrangements for. I liked it’s speed, but I didn’t like the around black metal mood of. I decided to save the world from another black metal song and to make the vocal parts for it :-). The effect of my work was impressive for the guys in the band, so we decided to work together on the whole album. The lyrics for this song tell about strange visions during the process of dreaming.
“Coldgrinder” is the one I like very much for the music and the lyrics, but I don’t like the title of this song. I had a discussion with the author of the lyrics and he wanted his concept to stay. So now we have this weird “coldgrinder”. And the song was one of the easiest in my whole life to arrange the vocal parts for. It was like pushing the “start” button while holding the page with the lyrics in one hand and after 3 minutes and a half everything was done!
The hardest one for that was “Blackout (Scenario for Tomorrow) part I”. This song was planned to be the “RS-28” lyrics song, but I changed the idea and split the “Blackout” lyrics in two parts. I had a big problem with this one. We were about to put the song into the trash bin (I suggested leaving it as an instrumental one, but Daniel didn’t want to), but fortunately everything went to a happy end.
“Seeds of Uncertainty” is the one I like less. It’s too “blackish” for my taste. But the rest of the guys probably love this one :-).
Blackened Horde: Do you have any side projects?
Lukasz: Daniel Szymanowicz plays guitar in the Bi-corpor band. They play a different genre of metal music from the SARMAT’s style. Something slower and cold with plenty of repeated riffs. They call themselves “the uncontrolled noise”.
Blackened Horde: Who are some of your musical influences?
Lukasz: Early and middle IMMOLATION era, middle GORGUTS era, almost everything from MORBID ANGEL and SUFFOCATION, the first two albums of VADER, DEICIDE till “Insineratehymn” (with the one enclosed). Some of the European bands – the first two albums of DISMEMBER and GOREFEST, the first three of GRAVE. I am speaking for myself only.
Blackened Horde: Which current bands?
Lukasz: Oh, there are too many of them. At the present time I put a lot of my attention to the European bands from the south of Europe (Italy – HOUR OF PENANCE, HIDEOUS DIVINITY, DEMIURGON, UNBIRTH, CARNALITY, SUICIDAL CAUSTICITY, BLOODTRUTH, ANTROPOFAGUS, ADE, SEPTYCAL GORGE; Malta – REPUGNANCE, BEHEADED; Spain – KEVLAR SKIN; Greece – MURDER MADE GOD, MASS INFECTION, SICKENING HORROR; Turkey – DECAYING PURITY, DECIMATION). But there is also number of bands from around the world that made an impression on me recently – BENEATH from Iceland, DESECRAVITY from Japan, UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION from UK, BOHEMA from Georgia, EXOCRINE and GOROD from France, FRACTURED INSANITY from Belgium, DISENTOMB from Australia, ANACHRONISM and NEAR DEATH CONDITION from Switzerland, POSTHUMOUS BLASPHEMER from Belarus, ENDOCRANIAL from Ukraine, SOREPTION and VISCERAL BLEEDING from Sweden, ORPHALIS, GOREZONE and PROFANITY from Germany, HUMILIATION from Indonesia, INHUMAN and HUMANIZER from Costa Rica. And the US bands are also on the top of the technical and brutal death metal – OMINOUS RUIN, DEEDS OF FLESH, INCINERATE, ODIOUS MORTEM, OMNIHILITY, SUTURE. Ok, let’s finish that, because half of this interview will enclose the band names only… I can’t tell for sure that all of the bands mentioned have influenced me, but all of them have surely made an impression on me.
Blackened Horde: What is the band like when you play live?
Lukasz: We have never played live with the SARMAT band. The present line-up was formed in the pandemic time, so we had no occasion to play gigs yet. I hope it will change in the near future, but for now it is, as it is.
Blackened Horde: What do you think of the US Metal scene?
Lukasz: It’s probably the most developed scene in the world. You have so many underground bands, labels, webzines, radio shows that getting to know all of them would take ages. I bought some stuff from labels from the US and I think it’s very well done – the shipping prices were not too high and I was able to get many things (merchandise especially) at the regular price. And I like US sizing very much – in Europe the L-size T-shirts (means “large”, doesn’t it?) sometimes suit fit teenagers only.
Blackened Horde: What do you think of the Overseas scenes?
Lukasz: Well, it’s hard to describe all of the Overseas scenes. I may tell You that I bought many CDs using Discogs service last year and I am very pleased by the service of sellers from around the world. People from Russia, Malta, Italy, Greece, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Netherlands, Germany, Ukraine, France, UK, Croatia and so on – they all do the great work for the scene. And for the last few weeks, during the promotion of the “RS-28” album, I made plenty of contacts with a large number of people from around the globe. My opinion about the underground metal scene is positive in general. The only thing You have to do to be a part of it is to start contacting metal music fans.
Blackened Horde: What are some of your new favorite black metal/death metal bands?
Lukasz: I hate black metal in its pure form. Yes, I know it may sound strange, but I do and what will You do with it ;-)? Is BLACK HOLE DEITY close to being death metal with some black metal influences maybe? CONSTRUCT OF LETHE could also be in this genre. But the second band isn’t new on the scene actually.
Blackened Horde: When do you guys plan on writing any new material?
Lukasz: We are doing it all the time. Six structures are ready to arrange vocal and drum parts. We have about 25 minutes of music ready for now. I don’t know if we record something shorter this time (MCD or EP), but the composing is still in process.
Blackened Horde: What does the future hold for the band??
Lukasz: And who knows that? We released the CD version of our debut “RS-28” recently and published the lyric video to the title track on our YouTube channel. Our music is available through plenty of streaming platforms (remember to search “RS-28” title there, not the band’s name – there is a huge mess there with separating our album from the discography of the other artist). The release of the vinyl version of the album is in preparation. We are also preparing for the upcoming live shows. What more could we wish for?
If You would like to buy our CD, search it on our profile on Bandcamp website or check the distributors web shops (Selfmadegod Records and Szataniec.pl). There are also some merchandise available via Bandcamp.
Thank You very much for Your time and support for the SARMAT band! We do appreciate it!!! Greetings from Poland!
Contact them at:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiv3i4nJQroG8R6H22rZ1Lw
https://www.facebook.com/sarmat7v7
https://www.instagram.com/sarmat.band
https://soundcloud.com/user-419397540
