logo


The following interview is done with Sathor....


Please begin with a bio and introduce yourself and Ars Macabra to the world.
Ars Macabra was formed in 1998 by Sathor and Nero Baratro respectively on guitar and bass. The idea was to play the more extreme and fastest black metal music in Italy. After a whole summer of rehearsing and song writing they found the help of Abyss on drums to complete the songs structure. After a few weeks Azrael joined the band on vocals and the line up was ready to work on the forthcoming demo.
They went into the studio to record a first rough demo-CD of 7 songs of pure hate and blasphemy during November 1998 but unsatisfied with the sound-production they decided to re-record the demo on a different recording studio, the new opus was conceived during June-July 1999 with the adding of two new tracks, "Iter in obscuritates mentis" was finally released as their official debut demo.
After the realization of "I.I.O.M" Sathor and Nero Baratro remained as the only line up of Ars Macabra.
Ars Macabra held a couple of local gigs in Rome and after the realization of their debut CD they created new songs improving and moving toward a further extreme style of black metal.
In September they had 3 different offers from Italian labels, in the end they took an agreement with Elegy records and in January 2001 they signed a contract for two productions with this same label.
They participated on a compilation "Wild compilation vol.2" with the song "On the art of suffering" out in June 2001 The official debut CD "Daemonolatria Hypnotica" will be out in September and will be around 40 min.long, signing a step forward with a faster and more extreme black metal that no Italian band has been ever able to create.
The new music is introducing new industrial and electronic elements blended with dark and obsessive atmospheres, to challenge new fields and extremities of music, soul and experience.

Your newest CD, 'Iter in obscuritates mentis,'> can you tell us a bit about this?
"Iter in obscuritates mentis" is our demo CD and was composed and arranged with the old line up the ideas were different and still reflecting a kind of classical musical approach.

In your bio, you explain that the original idea was to 'play the more extreme and fastest black metal in Italy.' Do you feel you've accomplished this thus far? What bands from your homeland have inspired you?
Well I hope we have created an unique product, although we are aware that the classical black metal song construction and sounds is there. We had our ideas thinking about a really violent sound and impact on the listener. We think we are pretty intense and extreme but this definition just varies considering what you define by extreme and intense... No bands from our homeland have inspired us that's why we wanted to play something we were hardly hearing from Italy.

I've recently heard that Italy's Opera IX has broke up, and some of the members have formed another band called 'Cadaveria.' Your thoughts on them? What about Theatres des Vampires or Ordo Equitum Solis, two other noteworthy Italian bands?
Oh I see...Cadaveria??? I didn't like Opera IX at all so I am not even looking to hear... "Cadaveria." I think the guys from the videos looked pretty funny though...Theatres de Vampires...a friend of mine gave me a promo..it reached my trash can in less than a millisecond, Ordo Equitum Solis.. more... acceptable band.

Could you tell us about the topics of your lyrics?
They deal with psychotic and human mind distortions, some are morbid and some try to express how negative energies surround us and effect us without us realizing it.

It states in your bio that you will be releasing your official debut 'Daemonolatria Hypnotica' very soon. You further state you will be adding industrial/electronic elements to your style. How has this all come about and has it changed the style of the band a lot?
"Daemonolatria Hypnotica" should be released within October by Elegy records from Catania, Italy , well it has some elements that can be defined industrial but just sound wise actually, the song structure and music is still traditionally simply aggressive and grinding black metal, we had many ideas but we were still too much linked to a classical approach that influenced what we have created, but we are on on a good path and Ars Macabra will follow what we think is innovative- that will satisfy our creativity and our music violence and obscurity.

What is your favorite era in your countries past? Can you tell us anything about ancient Italy that interests you particularly? What about the ancient gods/goddesses and the culture that existed before the coming of Christianity?
I am fascinated with the ancient roman empire, when there was so much freedom from religions especially Christianity. Their gods were more related to the energy of the earth and that was more natural and without any dogma later imposed by Christians, I think that even if it was an extremely tough life it was more worthwhile living it. Living at that time in such a hard and Spartan condition was good for the soul I think.

Give us your thoughts on the world-society. Do you think that something has gone wrong?
I think that world-society is where we have to suffer in order to realize many things. Everything goes in a cycle, we will forget and everything will start once again, the devil is the devil.....cause he is old!

If you could meet one person, living or dead, who would it be and why?
Mmmm... I dunno really, I would love to meet so many people but realize that would be just for fun cause then....what I am gonna ask or talk about with them...seems more a kid game to me...

When you contemplate death, what do you envision... do you see possibility in a part of us living on, or is this just a human hope derived from a fear of death?
Mmmm... I think death is a passage to another dimension, it is part of existance which means that nothing really ends when we die, we just evolve or change physical form... so I don't contemplate too much about it, I love to play with the dead and their energy though...

In your perspective, what are some of the things in life worth living for, and ultimately, worth dying for?
Worth living...a lot since we are here why not have a lot of sex, eating good food, experiment with different states of consciousness, drugs, art, music, nature, sensations and life in general is a good experience that you and only you have the keys to interpret it in the right way. If you don't it will remain your problem. You can use and channel so much energy that you can't imagine.

If you could learn the answer to any one question, what would the question be?
Why?

Your thoughts on the cosmos and the possibilities of life elsewhere? Do you believe Earth could have been visited by alien life-forms in the past?
I think it has and will in the future but the poor alien guys may be very bored after all.

How do you feel about the current state of black metal in the world? Do you feel it has gotten too mainstream?
I don't really care, but probably black metal , as other music styles, changes during time and there is always a bad and good side of this transformation, some bands will never be mainstream, really, because their music is too far distant from what the average listener likes even within black metal. So going mainstream means also to change your style and make it more listenable, so then you end up playing something that I would consider different from black metal. So even if you put on make up, spikes, and write lyrics about Satan and all that stuff then you are still playing boring heavy-metal, if you listen to old 80's bands you can understand what I am trying to say.

What are your future plans with Ars Macabra? How can those interested obtain your work?
We are just waiting for the debut CD to be printed, then we will promote it along with the record company as well, we are starting to write new stuff and we are looking for new members for completing our line up. Now people can get the "Iter in obscuritates mentis" demo-CD directly from me, we sell them for 7$ USD and the address is:

Ars Macabra
Via Giro del colle 53
Castelnuovo di Porto, 00060
Roma, Italy

Lastly, your final comments and words of wisdom to the world.
The devil is the devil because he is old!

Band website


Back to Interviews