Sarmat Interview by Varg The Mighty

1.       Sarmat is a Polish Blackened Death Metal band that have recently released their debut album “RS-28”, and today we have an interview with them about this release. How are you doing?

Hello. Here is Łukasz Kobusiński from the Sarmat band (the vocalist). I am fine now. A few days ago I was mad about cancelling our first gig ever. We have been preparing for it for a long time (planned to be played on September 18^th). Now, when the anger level is lower I am happy because doing a promotion of our “RS-28” debut full-length album, finding new distributors from around the world and answering Your questions.

 

2.       Great to hear. What made you decide to name the band and album after the Sarmat RS-28 missile?

Well, the guitarist and co-founder of the band, Daniel Szymanowicz is the father of the idea. As I know, it was just his accidental checking of the news, when he found the name. But I think it is very suitable for a metal band (for a death metal band in particular). I joined the band when it was already formed and named, but when I checked the name's exact meaning out, I found it very interesting. It's much better to have that kind of band's name than to be just a clone of conceptions based on hellish or gore lyrical themes.

 

3.       Which are the main influences of the band?

The musical ones. Music is the main influence. Metal music, I guess ;-). I won't lie and tell bullshits about philosophy or religion or whatsoever that influence us. Death metal and sometimes black metal made us create such  music that Sarmat plays.

 

4.       What made the band play this particular style?

Individual experiences, musical tastes, personal imaginations and visions of what each of us would like to express in music. We all have death metal roots, we are in the similar age (in our forties), so the final effect is as it is.

 

5.       Do you have any live concerts planned?

As I mentioned in the beginning, we were preparing for our first live show that was planned on September 18^th. The gig was cancelled and this situation really pissed us off, because we were focused on it for the last three months. Could You imagine that we confirmed taking part in the festival when we didn't have a regular drummer?! It was just crazy, but many things connected with the Sarmat band seem to be, let me use that description, non-usual. The drummer, Krzysztof “Desecrate” Szałkowski, joined the band, we had a few rehearsals (which was difficult, because for five members of the band four guys live in different cities that are not very close to each other) and the week before the event we got the information about cancelling the show. Shitty thing. A new bassist played his first rehearsal with the band a week and a half before deadline!

Now we have one date confirmed. It will be the16^th of October. That will be, in fact, the debut live show of the Sarmat band.

 

6.       How was the writing process like for this full-length?

I wasn't the band member during the creation process – I was given all the music recorded just to arrange my vocal parts and record them. Even the lyrics were done earlier. But I suppose that was a fast shot, the same as things look like now during the creation of the new album. Daniel Szymanowicz is a very creative guy and he composes and makes arrangements within a while. The recording process – this is the real “way through suffering” and it takes a lot of time and costs a lot of money.

The whole process always starts within Daniel's head. He creates music, arranges the drum parts on the computer, records everything, sends versions to each of us to give our opinions, makes changes and prepares the final version of compositions.

 

7.       What are your lyrics mostly based on?

FEAR.

Fear is the main inspiration and foundation. Although not all lyrics are connected with innovative methods of destroying mankind or the military industry in general, the atmosphere of fear and anxiety could be felt while reading the Sarmat band lyrics, I suppose. On the “RS-28” album You will find the lyrical themes of blackout (how it develops and what consequences could it bring), of dream visions that come during a deep sleep and a few more.

 

8.       Is there any extra meaning behind the album cover besides utter devastation?

Well, it is indeed. The first impression could be as You described, but when You look on it carefully, You will find an idea and a few symbols. The first one is the “mushroom” that becomes after the nuclear explosion. It has a human character (or rather “inhuman”) on the front cover art. By giving it the human skull shape and the image the author shows, that in spite of the machine/thing that brings destruction, human beings are responsible for all that madness. It's like a shout “We brought destruction to You!”. Children in gas masks are also symbolical. Nuclear warheads bring destruction to everyone and everything. Suffering of youngest and innocent ones is very meaningful. The barbed wire – the another symbol. It warns and forbids - “DO NOT ENTER”. But what if it entwined the whole planet earth? It says also “YOU CAN'T RUN”. The human skeletons are the less suitable vision. After the nuclear blast nothing lefts in the epicentre – no remains, buildings, plants and so on. But by putting human bones and skulls on the cover we show the utter destruction mentioned by You in the question.

 

9.       How do you reckon the feedback for your release has been until now?

Very good I would say. Great even for the totally anonymous band with no previous recordings. We're finding reactions for the “RS-28” album very pleasant and surprising in a good way. I sacrificed a lot of time and money for the promotion of the album. Many free CD copies have been sent to people that are providing podcasts, moderating web blogs and web zines, but if the album was not interesting we wouldn't get so many positive reviews. And the distribution of CDs by many label companies and distributions from around the globe makes me sure of the positive feedback to the Sarmat band's debut album.

We have the distribution in Spain as well. The Discos Macarras label company offers our CD on their web shop site in Your country.

 

10.   Are there any future plans besides this debut at the moment?

Yes. At the present time we are reorganizing our rehearsal system. We bought some drum equipment and we are preparing to set rehearsals in a place that won't be hard to get there for each of us. I am also planning a photo session – two guys have joined our band and we have no representative photos at the moment. The first gig is near, so we have to practise our skills in playing all together as well. We had a plan to shoot a rehearsal video, but we probably won't be able to realize it in the next  months.

And the most important is the fact that we have almost all the music for the second album composed. Till the end of the year all arrangements should be finished and we will be able to start the recording sessions. And they are, as I named them earlier, “ways through suffering”.

 

11.   Thanks for the interview, is there anything else you would like to add?

Yeah, sure. Thank You very much for Your support and for helping us in the promotion of the Sarmat band. It is very important for bands such as ours to get chances to introduce ourselves to metal music fans worldwide.

And for all of You, metal music listeners from Spain – check the “RS-28” album out. If You liked it, buy it or just recommend the Sarmat music to Your friends. It all means a lot to us.

See You somewhere, sometime...

VARG THE MIGHTY

 

Interview with Enemy Awake by Varg The Mighty

•        Enemy Awake is a Swedish Death Metal band that have recently released their second album, and today we have an interview with them about their new release. How are you doing?

Ivan: It feels awesome. We are very glad to finally have dropped the new record.

Rebecca: It's an incredible feeling. Ivan has released music before, but this is my official debut as singer and it's wonderful to be able to do so with an album that I feel so much for. We are both very proud of the outcome.

 

•        Great to hear. What inspired the band’s name?

Ivan: 2017 was a particularly rough year for me, and also for my ex- singer, so we thought that the name Enemy Awake represented quite well how we both felt at the time.

 

•        Which are the main influences of the band?

Ivan: Classic Swedish death metal, including bands such as Entombed, Dismember, Amon Amarth, Arch Enemy etc.

Rebecca: As a vocalist I'm taking inspiration from the best within the extreme metal genres, like Angela Gossow, Mikael Åkerfeldt, Sabina Classen, Chuck Schuldiner and Peter Tägtgren. For higher, raspier and more "black metal" screams I've studied vocalists such as Shagrath and Jon Nödtveidt.

 

•        What made the band play this particular style?

Ivan: We combine many different elements to achieve our distinct sound; the classic Swedish death metal tune with the Boss HM-2 pedal, melodic riffs but also some groove. We take inspiration from heavy metal, blues, thrash, death and black metal. We like to have some variation.

Rebecca: I very much enjoy experimenting with my voice and adapting it to several different musical styles. Mixing highs and lows gives more contrast, and the music we play gives me the opportunity to do that, and also try new things and become a better, more versatile singer.

 

•        Do you have any live concerts planned?

Ivan: Not at the moment. We are currently waiting, like most of us, for the pandemic to blow over.

 

•        In which country or city would you love to play live and why?

Ivan: The entire world! But it would be awesome to play the larger festivals as well, like Wacken,. Sweden Rock, Hellfest, Rock fest Barcelona etc.

Rebecca: The sky is the limit! But I suppose that the northern hemisphere is the first step, including playing Gefle Metal, Sweden Rock and the likes. Russia has an awesome metal scene as well, so I would love to perform there some time.

 

•        How do you think you have evolved musically since the first album?

Ivan: I feel like the band has matured and we are both more productive and inspired than ever.

Rebecca: Since joining the band I feel like I've definitely been able to incorporate my ideas in the project and use both my voice and my lyrics to shape the sound and overall feeling of Enemy Awake. I think we have both evolved a lot as musicians/artists during the making of the new record.

 

•        How has the line-up change affected the musical direction of the band?

Ivan: Ever since Rebecca joined the band everything has moved so quickly. She's just so talented and creative, the perfect bandmate!

Rebecca: Our musical partnership has been incredible. We get along really well and share a musical vision, which has allowed us to move forward very fast and produce lots of music without ever really clashing. The biggest difference is obviously the vocals, but the music on this record is also quite a bit heavier than on The Enemy.

 

•        How was the writing process like for this album?

Ivan: I wrote the music and had some ideas for what some of the songs could be about. We communicated via e-mails, and Rebecca wrote the lyrics. It's almost like we can sometimes read each others minds.

 

•        What are your lyrics mostly based on and what inspired the album’s title?

Ivan: We try to create songs with good storytelling, important happenings or about things we have experienced ourselves.

Rebecca: I see the lyrics as a form of poetry and take a lot of pride in the stories we tell through our music. Lyrically, it's mostly reflections on the dark side of humanity, whether it be a scary story about pure evil, cannibalism and depravity, such as "The Vampire" or a bleak commentary on mankind's greed and insatiable lust for power and eternal life ("Cryonation"). The title track "Fallen World" speaks for itself and basically refers to the fall of man and pretty much sums up the misanthropic spirit of the album.

 

•        What does the album cover represent?

Ivan: Me and Rebecca after the pandemic is over and we're on our way to out first concert (laughs).

Rebecca: We thought the dystopian image would go really well with the overall theme of the album. It's a world going down in flames, just like the lyrics warn will happen if we keep going in this direction, and the cartoon-ish caricature versions of us was a really nice touch.

 

•        Are there any future plans besides this new release at the moment?

Ivan: We are currently working on new songs for the next EP/LP. We have almost six songs ready, and we will also be doing a podcast.

 

•        Thanks for the interview, is there anything else you would like to add?Ivan: Thank you so much for the support, and if you wonder anything or want us to join you for another interview feel free to contact us again.

Varg The Mighty