Blackened Horde: How did the band get started?
Ciprian: It all started in 2004 when me and two high school friends decided to form a metal band. We had no idea what exactly we would play and we certainly couldn’t have imagined that we’ll end up with tech death, but we got in that direction pretty quickly. After a couple of get-togethers, we started looking for a vocalist and found Alex. We began playing live shortly after.
Blackened Horde: What kind of music do you play?
Daniel: We all agree that people over-do the whole labeling and classifying thing. We basically see ourselves as a metal band. Some people would call it death metal. And we always try to push the envelope of technicality and the sophistication of our compositions to whatever extent we are able. So I guess you could say we play technical death metal or something to that effect.
Blackened Horde: How has the band response been?
Alex: We had a couple of good reviews for our first material (the demo EP ‘Autopsy of Hope”) and also, concerning the live acts, we usually manage to get the crowd’s attention.
Daniel: The worst responses we had were something like – “Gee, I don’t know, man – that stuff is too complicated for me and I don’t understand it”. Which is kind of a good thing, considering they didn’t say its crap, just that they are not “qualified” to criticize. People that are into more intricate and complex types of music have been pleasantly surprised by our bands evolution – particularly the last two songs, which aren’t on MySpace yet.
Blackened Horde: In Your words describe the type of music you play.
Ciprian: When we started, our first songs were heavily influenced by Chuck Schuldiner’s “Death” but we were very young back then, we were 16 so we were inexperienced. In time we started having an idea of our own direction and how we wanted to sound, so the songs got increasingly more complex and you could feel our personal touch on them.
Blackened Horde: Where did the band name come from?
Ciprian: Initially we called ourselves Katalepsia, then Havok. Soon afterwards, our ex-drummer, Stefan Marin, came up with the name Spectral which stuck.
Daniel: Stefan initially meant Spectral as in specters and ghostly apparitions like that, but our current interpretation is a bit different. I guess you could best understand the name from a physics perspective. A spectrum is a group of frequencies – whether light, sound or any other kind of frequency. Spectral thus refers to the nature of our reality and to representing it with spectroscopes and wave-graphs.
Blackened Horde: Introduce the band members
Spectral: We have Alex on vocals, Ciprian and Daniel on guitars and Mihai on bass. We’re still looking for a drummer.
Blackened Horde: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Ciprian: All the material on “Autopsy of Hope” is written by me because no one helped me back then, but on the new songs I incorporated ideas from the other guys too, giving the band a more varied sound and a more mature touch.
Blackened Horde: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Ciprian: The lyrics are basically an expression of our findings, while exploring the darker sides of human consciousness. They try to be meant merely as neutral observations – quasi-scientifically exploring, so to say. We got out all the dark emotional states that people usually suppress and don’t know much about. And we write about what we find in there.
Blackened Horde: How many albums/cd’s have you released?
Daniel: Only our demo, “Autopsy of Hope” – and we are currently recording our first album, which will be called “Neural Correlates of Hate” and will be probably out late 2009.
Blackened Horde: Tell me about some the songs on the latest album?
Alex: On Autopsy of Hope we gathered the songs that received a major impact from the public. They were actually the best songs that we had until 2007. The genre is death metal, it’s less technical, and it has an old school flavor.
Ciprian: The title track is the most sophisticated composition on the disc and it is the spring board to our new technical approach
Blackened Horde: Who are some of your musical influences?
Daniel: There are too many to list and some of them are not even metal. We try to drain every last drop of inspiration from any source available. We could say that the most dramatic effect any band has ever had on us, doubtlessly, Necrophagist. That stuff simply blew us away. Our old stuff doesn’t have much to do with that direction – but the influences will be clearly noticeable on the new disc, “Neural Correlates of Hate”.
Blackened Horde: Which current bands influenced you?
Spectral: Necrophagist, Decapitated, Anata, The Faceless, Quo Vadis, Sceptic, Atheist.
Blackened Horde: What is the band like when you play live?
Alex: We try to put as much energy into a performance as we can. Since we use a drum machine, we feel more comfortable playing live, as the rhythm is very precise, which makes us all more precise. Up until now, we have been rather intuitive on stage and we would like to refine our presentation and showmanship somewhat in the future.
Blackened Horde: What was the best band you played with?
Daniel: The most experienced band we ever played with have to be Parricide from Poland. We’re not really that big into grindcore – but their showmanship is amazing. The vocalist is a very good frontman, exhibiting much charisma.
Blackened Horde: Have you guys ever played out of your country?
Ciprian: Not yet. But we plan to “visit the neighbors”, so to say. After the album is ready, we’ll make some trips to Bulgaria, Serbia and Hungary – and who knows where we can take it from there.
Blackened Horde: How big of crowd shows up at shows usually?
Daniel: The crowds in Romania are rather small, especially when playing gigs in pubs and the like. Somewhere from 100 to 300 people. You usually only get a significantly bigger crowd in festivals and with really famous bands.
Blackened Horde: How is the crowd response when you play?
Alex: Less brutal than at other bands, I’d say. It’s very rare to see a moshpit or something like that. It’s not of lack of enthusiasm, though (just looking at them assures you of that). I don’t know.
Daniel: Maybe they listen more attentively to the sound of it, rather than bashing their skulls in.
Blackened Horde: What do you think of the US Black/Death Metal scene?
Alex: There are a couple of bands that are there still, and still have a great impact on the public, like Deicide, Obituary and other veterans like that. The new ‘-core’ bands have a bigger impact, so there is always competition, which is good.
Ciprian: I’ve always appreciated the metal scene from the US. It influences us and we hope someday we will be able to get there and even meet some of the bands in person.
Blackened Horde: Any plans on writing any new material?
Daniel: Always. As we mentioned before, we are currently working on our first album, “Neural Correlates of Hate”. We have written almost all of the material and must now only apply some after touches and then get to recording it. We are constantly writing new material, always. When we have enough of it together, we put out a disc. Neural Correlates of Hate is a bit different, ‘though. It’s very close to a conceptual album, so it’s not just stuff we came up with – but there’s a unifying thread that ties all the songs together conceptually.
Blackened Horde: What does the future hold for the band??
Alex: First and foremost, going international. We can’t wait to play some shows abroad. Second, to evolve, explore, and reach new levels of musical ability.
Daniel: That’s what it’s all about – learning. You learn how to do new stuff and you learn how to take the stuff you already know and do it better. Growing is the whole point – and growing means you’ll be able to put on better shows in the future.
Ciprian: I’m sure that in the future our dreams will materialize and we will succeed in accomplishing our goal: to bring death metal to a whole new level of intricacy, technicality and expression!
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/SpectralOfficial
https://myspace.com/spectralmetal
