MAJESTIC SATANIC’ – A POSTHUMOUS EULOGIUM


 

Regardless that it is approximately 11 months behind schedule, this extensive interview with songwriters Brian Malone and Eric Hersemann of the now-defunct Floridian death/black steamroller Diabolic is meant as a heartfelt tribute. One that seeks to thank each single musician involved from the earliest recordings of the blockbuster demo City of the Dead to the final live show on the Infinity Through Purification tour for their iconoclastic contributions to the tenacious upsurge of extreme-music brutality in the millennial transition.

Rather than to formulate a more or less erroneous summation of the motives and sentiments behind the disbandment, here is the official statement posted on the Diabolic website as of September 8:

‘Due to a recent business development, founding member Brian Malone has decided to end Diabolic’s seven-year existence. “This decision in no way reflects upon the professionalism and personalities of the current members of Diabolic. To say that it has been a pleasure to work with these dedicated and talented musicians would be an extreme understatement. It’s been an honor and my appreciation has no end. And though I know that they will succeed to their fullest potential, it is regrettable that circumstances dictate that things must end now. Any fan of metal will know to follow and support anything that they do in the future. I would also like to thank everybody who has helped this band along the way [...] most of all anybody who has enjoyed our music and performances: thank you for the years of support!!!” – Brian Malone.’

Without further histrionic thankfulness and expressive magniloquence on my part, here is the interview, raw and sincere, as to echo the intrinsic and resilient core behind the Diabolic credo. Please enjoy!

# Right, to start with the obvious issue... To what extent does Infinity Through Purification pick up on those musical elements that people have come to expect from Diabolic, and how does it compare to your previous releases?

Brian Malone: “As far as the typical elements of the band go, Diabolic has always been speedy. Eric and I are both speed demons on the guitars. We wrote the entire album together before any drummer was involved, so we pretty much had the tempo set to a maximum. And then Gaël [Barthélémy – drums] and Ed [Webb – vocals, bass] just settled it where they were. But apart from that we went for more catchiness in the song structures and in how the music flows, putting all the power together. There’s actually a fusion from beginning to end of each song in the arrangements and throughout the whole album as well.”

Eric Hersemann: “Yeah, there’s definitely more thought put into it, or there was more thought, I should say, in putting this record together as far as the arrangements and structures go. All the elements from the past releases of Diabolic are on this album, but there is also a bunch of other things that weren’t there in the past. It has proven to be very straightforward to write this album because most of the songs really wrote themselves. We didn’t want to make sure that we had this many blast beats or this many skank beats or this many solos or whatever. Each song kind of finished itself and arranged itself in a way because there were never any arguments during the writing process whatsoever. Every song started and ended very smoothly. So it was all good!”

# How far has Diabolic progressed musically since the release of the City of the Dead demo, and how would you compare these early recordings to the new album?

Brian: “The riffs are more in-depth now compared to back then. There is more substance behind the music, as I see it from my perspective, being in the band from the beginning. And I think the progression on this album is very obvious. The band is a lot deeper, there is a lot more to it as well as more substance behind the proportions of the music.”

# Your previous three albums were all written and recorded in short succession of each other. What has it meant for the songwriting on the new album that there has been this unforeseen hiatus from the creative process, due to the line-up changes that happened subsequent to the touring for Vengeance Ascending?

Eric: “On the surface of it, what you’re saying is true in that we had a lot of line-up changes and all that. But actually there was less total time spent on this record than there was on any other Diabolic release, as far as the writing process goes. We probably wrote the entire thing in about two or three months total time, and that includes me writing the lyrics and vocal arrangements. So in actuality, there was probably less time spent on this record than the last one. I think the main difference in relation to the hiatus is that there was a lot of touring before Vengeance Ascending, and for the two first albums there were only one or two tours between them. And after Vengeance Ascending was released there was an increase in the demand of Diabolic to be seen on stage. The reason that there was such a delay between the release of this album and the previous one is not so much because of the line-up changesm, because most of them – or actually all of them – occurred right towards the end of the last tour for Vengeance Ascending. It all went pretty fast. So the big space between these two albums is more due to the fact that there was such a great demand for Diabolic to tour.”

# What is the biggest difference in the mentality and musical direction of Diabolic’s current line-up compared to the one that recorded the Vengeance Ascending album back in 2002?

Brian: “Well, there is an important difference in that Eric and I are great friends whereas the entire recording of Vengeance Ascending was sort of a battle of will, as far as the direction and songwriting go. Eric and I have the same goals and share the same overall concept as to where we want to go with the band, and so we’re bringing different musical perspectives into one basic idea. As mentioned before there were no arguments during the writing process, and everything worked out really smoothly. Sure, we worked hard together on this album, but we did not have any problems during the process.”

Eric: “Yeah, it was more fun and not a chore to sit down and write this record. As soon as we started writing it, everybody was just really attached to it all, and we would sometimes spend up to 8-10 hours a day in the band either rehearsing or writing – and it was always fun. That’s the way a band should be.”

# Just to pick one song from the album: “Procession of the Soulgrinders” contains what I personally value the most about Diabolic, in that it combines twisting, furious blast parts with slower, more dynamic passages. Could you comment on how it all converges during the songwriting process?

Brian: “Well, like I said earlier there is a journey, so to speak, within each song. We start writing by coming up with a riff or general idea, and then the next riff just kind of flows out of that. Or we would come up with another idea that just fits with the first one and put those two together.”

Eric: “Once we had a few sections of a song, or maybe just one portion of it, it would sort of take its own way and develop a life of its own. All the music that I’ve written specifically, but I would like to say this about most musicians out there, comes from the heart, from the soul or from the inside, if you will. They’re following their own emotions whether they know it or not, because you can only work with what you know yourself. If you’re a very limited, two-dimensional person, you’re only going to come up with two-dimensional songs. And if you’re a bit more complex in your train of thought, and in how you perceive different things, you will get those ups and downs, and that is where it all comes from. To give an example: even if you are completely furious with somebody, if you are enraged and ready to physically fight them, there will be that complexity. During a fight with somebody your mind is wandering and you’re thinking about different things. If you win the fight, you will go from complete rage to, probably, being ecstatic or sad for beating the guy up and putting him in the hospital, to feeling pain for all the injuries you’ve suffered. And the other guy got beat up so he would already be feeling pain, but at the same time perhaps feeling proud because he stuck up for himself. You know what I mean? Despite the whole palette of colours that you can actually work with, some musicians choose to paint it all in black and grey. With this album we’ve really wanted to show the entire spectrum.”

Brian: “It’s like a magical thing that just flows freely without us having to force it out. It almost feels strange how the songs seem to come together on their own.”

# Ed Webb, who was part of the band back in 1999 when you released your debut effort Supreme Evil, rejoined Diabolic in 2003 to take on the bass duties once more, also take over on vocals after the departure of Paul Ouellette. Considering that his effort on Infinity Through Purification is convincing, to put it mildly, did you ever consider using both him and Paul as vocalists when they both played in the band?

Eric: “Well, actually, when Ed left the band originally, it was because of Paul and Aantar! [laughs].  His main reason for quitting the band was in fact that he could not get along with either of them. So the Paul/Ed-duet is probably not going to happen anytime soon! [laughs].  But seriously that was why he left the band, and it wasn’t until he found out Aantar had been fired that he approached Brian and I for another opportunity. He did do a great job and we’re really proud of his vocal performance. So that’s all we can say.”

# How would you compare Paul Ouellette and Ed Webb as vocalists; what are their respective fortes, so to speak?

Eric: “Being a Diabolic fan before I even joined the band, I feel to be honest that Ed has way better range. The vocals that Paul has are strong and they are very good for what they are, but he doesn’t have many options available to him. It’s pretty much one thing or the other thing, and his screams aren’t very powerful. They’re more from the back of his throat whereas Ed is just howling his head off. And it comes across when there’s need for those screams in a song, as in for instance the ending scream of the first song on the album [“From the Astral Plane... Entwined with Infinity”]. I mean, they’ve got to sound like you’re in pain and full of hatred. And I have always felt that whenever Paul would try to do something like that in the past, it came across as very watered down and weak, frankly speaking. So in that regard I think that Ed is a superior vocalist, but I still think that Paul is definitely great at what he does.”

# A few weeks before I received the promo version of the album from my editor, I surfed in on the Century Media website to download “From the Astral Plane...”, and I was hooked immediately thanks to that opening scream in the song.

Eric: “Well, try to take that scream and compare it to the one at the beginning of “All Evils Inside” [from Vengeance Ascending]. It’s not even a comparison. The one guy sounds like he is gargling anger and the other guy like he is screaming full of hatred and passion for whatever he is angry about. To me the vocals have to be as passionate as certainly the lyrics, but the music that surrounds them as well.”

# Apart from the characteristic Diabolic logo the artwork on Infinity Through Purification differs noticeably from your previous albums, which sort of follow a common illustrative concept in terms of fiery colours and chaotic themes. What made you decide to try something different for this album, and what did you intend to bring out visually?

Brian: “Eric and I first started talking about the future of Diabolic, and we wanted to create a focal point instead of chaos all the time, which is actually a good parallel to the band. When we discussed the album, we wanted to reflect in the artwork that things are in focus now as far as the direction goes.”

Eric: “Yeah, and the artwork is directly linked to the title of the album in that it’s a variation of the symbol of infinity. Basically, Infinity Through Purification symbolises the band’s future. We’ve been purified from within and because of that we are now potentially limitless, and we feel that we can go on forever. It went so well when Brian and I wrote the songs for this album that I had this overwhelming sense of limitless possibilities for this band, and that is what I mean when I say ‘infinity through purification’. Now that Diabolic has been streamlined and has a more focused train of thought, there is nothing pulling us down anymore and that is what the title signifies. The album cover was, as Brian said, intentional as we wanted something straightforward as well as something that would draw your eyes to the artwork. Actually, I liked the cover for Vengeance Ascending, even though a lot of people were not so happy about it. But the thing is that the artwork for that album is very ‘busy’ as was the case with Supreme Evil – and to some extent Subterraneal Magnitude as well. So we went for something that was like a punch in the face, and at the same time we wanted the infinity symbol to be synonymous with Diabolic.”

# How does the concept of infinity relate to the lyrical themes of the album?

Eric: “As I said earlier, I wrote all the lyrics and vocal arrangements for the album. The first song on the record, which is directly related to the overall title, is literally about standing up and ruling over anyone or anything that’s in your past and gets in your way. I think more people would be much more successful in their lives if they were just more focused and allowed themselves not to be so intimidated by obstacles. I mean, life is obviously full of obstacles. Life sucks, everybody knows that. The only way to make life suck less is to do whatever you want to do. It’s never going to stop sucking! We’ve got to deal with everybody else on this planet, but what can really make it kick ass for the individual is if you’re strong enough spiritually to stand up and just say ‘fuck off’ to everything that’s in your way. That is what “From the Astral Plane...” is all about; people realising that they’re worth something and that they can deal with whatever they want. There are a couple of songs on the record with that theme. “Satanic Barbarism” is kind of a ‘call to arms’ to all the heavy metal fans. We’re likeminded people whether we listen to metal or not, but the music can make us join together and overthrow mainstream society throughout the world, so that people can ascertain what life is really like, and not understand it through what is shown in TV. “Procession of the Soulgrinders” is a song with... well, very frustrated lyrics and is basically talking about how mainstream society will always be around you. It will constantly push you down, and that is what is meant by ‘soulgrinders’: they are the ones that are constantly grinding down the souls of people that try to be true, try to be creative and try to be individuals. Society doesn’t want to allow that. It wants everybody to be sheep and gather in a big herd, and that will go on forever. But that is what “Satanic Barbarism” deals with, in that it encourages people to break out of that cycle and stand up to themselves. There are also lyrical topics about more fantasy-based stuff such as “Exsanguinated Life” which is about a sorcerer who murders people to take over the earth. So it goes across different topics and it’s not like each song has its own deep social meaning. Diabolic is not that kind of band; but there are some things that I would like to convey to people in the world – just not too much!”

# From what you reveal about the lyrical content on Infinity Through Purification, it seems that there is a pretty clear link back to the lyrics on your previous albums. About two years ago I interviewed Brian for another magazine on the subject of Subterraneal Magnitude, and we talked about how the lyrics among other things portrayed the imbecility of man and the fact that so many people are locked in one position, unable to rise above their miserable state of being.

Eric: “Right, and that’s a very good point because there are lyrics from Diabolic’s past that are along the same themes, as what we are talking about right here. For instance, “Possess the Strength” from the Vengeance Ascending album is definitely one of those songs. Diabolic’s lyrics have always ran along a related theme, but I have basically wanted to keep that and step it up a little bit.”

# Not to dig too much into all the line-up things again... But it appears that the lyrics on this album are more constructive and positive than ever before. Is that a consequence of the fresh perspective that has evolved from those experiences?

Eric: “Yeah, there is definitely some influence from the past situation within the band. Uhm, this is guessing because it hasn’t reached that point of time yet, but I would say that the lyrics for Diabolic in the future will probably be a bit less openly positive, simply because different conditions dictate different lyrics. But yeah, at that time it definitely did affect me because there were people involved with this band and surrounding it – not even in the band – who just really liked keeping it down, throwing it back and fitting it into a mould. And as a musician I hate that. I think that’s daft. I mean, the minute that you get stuck in a tar pit, it’s just going to sink you down. So quite frankly, I’m scared of that and I don’t want any music that I’m involved with to ever get stale or repetitive. There were a lot of people who wanted to keep this band going in a direction that would make it end up this way. I found that very frustrating and so it comes across in the lyrics as well. There is definitely a positive message throughout everything depending on the view you put on it, but I want to emphasise that it’s not... I mean, it’s very hard to hear that word [positive] and not start thinking about Mortification or Tourniquet or whatever! [laughs]. That’s not the case at all. Basically, it’s positivity that comes across through anger and self-realisation. You can’t get that positive result without being pushed to the point of utter disgust and contempt for humanity. The positive message has always been the same for Diabolic: inner strength. You are your own master. Frankly, that is one of the underlying things in the satanic philosophy so I guess it’s a very relative kind of positivity. Well, it sounds stupid to say it that way but I guess you can call it ‘satanically positive’ [laughs].”

# So, essentially you have to push all the human shrapnel aside and destroy it all in order to be creative and move forward?

Eric: “Yeah, creativity through destruction and that idea is reflected in one of the lines in “Satanic Barbarism” that goes ‘at one with a purpose, rebirth through extinction’. That is what we all should do, we should band together, wipe out all the problems and start anew, because the earth is so fucked up at this stage that you can’t just do it in little stages; it’s got to be a huge thing.”

# Moving on to a completely different topic: what has Neil Kernon achieved for the band production-wise compared to Punchy’s work on the two previous releases?

Brian: “What we really wanted to go for with this album was a ‘live feel’; we wanted to sound like a band. We’re proud of everything we’ve done in the past, of course, but we are very happy with what Neil did with this album. Great experience, great studio. It was just a better situation than ever before, and each musician got more time in the studio. Production-wise, we just wanted to achieve a good live-feel and sound like a band playing together, which is exactly what we are. Plus there are no triggers on the drums, which was one of my personal points of critique for the past albums. The triggered drum sound is just so flat. The programmed drum sound is like a stick hitting dirt. So there are no triggers used for the drums – and I just love the guitar sound. Overall it’s just a more natural production which is what we wanted.”

# Diabolic has collaborated with several different record companies throughout the years, and you have now teamed up with Century Media. According to the grapevine they tend to push bands to release an album each year with the danger of compromising the quality of the music. Then again, Diabolic has always been a productive band, so it would probably not pose a problem in your case. But on a serious note: what are the pros and cons of working with Century Media, apart from the obvious fact that it’s a big and established record label?

Brian: “One really good thing about signing with Century Media is the worldwide deal; everything is under one roof. There is not so much of a communication breakdown between the European department and the American office. That’s one shining thing.”

Eric: “Century Media releases the album both in the States and in Europe so that there is one goal to it all, whereas if there are two companies releasing the same record, each company will have its own particular goal. I think that is probably the best thing about the deal with Century Media; that the album is released under the same umbrella everywhere over the world, and because of that they are all working together and not competing with one another. If you have two labels releasing your album in two different places, there will be competition in the sales and so on. We don’t have to worry about that anymore. Plus, Century Media has done a pretty good job in the publicity of the record.”

Brian: “That is not to say that Hammerheart or Olympic have not gone a good job for us with the release of the previous albums. We are certainly not complaining about the labels we’ve worked with in the past.”

# Your two first albums were released through the small independent label Conquest Music owned by the drummer of Monstrosity, Lee Harrison. Was it somehow complicated to collaborate with him in the sense that Monstrosity was signed to his own label so that he would, most certainly inadvertently, push his own band to the fore?

Brian: “Actually, that was exactly the case. What was so difficult in working with Lee Harrison was that he was so busy with providing for Monstrosity. But we are thankful for the fact that he was the first one to sign us, and that he secured distribution for our albums. Whatever the reasons it doesn’t really matter at this point since we have chalked it up to become a learning experience. And that is actually the case for both parties, since he is also growing and learning the aspects of the trade. No hard feelings! We feel a lot of appreciation for the fact that Lee signed us back in 1997, when death metal was not really what it once was.”

# Personally, I consider Diabolic to be one of the most conspicuous forerunners of what could be described as a new and inventive brand of American death metal. Do you consider yourselves to be heralds of extreme metal in the 21^st century?

Brian: “Well, thanks. You know, it has always been my ambition ever since we started the band back in 1997 to make it more than a hobby. I have always wanted my music to be respectful towards the death metal style, to perpetuate the scene and perpetuate the metal, which never goes away but comes in waves. So if we can play our part in a resurgence of metal and be referred to as conspicuous forerunners, which is a great compliment, that is definitely what we’re going for – and will continue to be going for.”

# To sum this interview up in a larger perspective: what does and will Infinity Through Purification signify for Diabolic’s musical career?

Eric: “In my opinion, the biggest thing about this album is for it to signify the rebirth of Diabolic, kind of like a phoenix rising. I’ve been a fan of Diabolic ever since the City of the Dead demo and I’ve followed every release very closely. So it was a very natural thing for me to join this band. But the most significant thing that I’ve always felt about the past albums is that Diabolic was never really realised. I could never see why, and that was the reason I joined the band. Now I feel that all the things that really held this band back are gone. Like I said, it’s a rebirth but I wouldn’t talk about a new direction because the musical approach has remained the same; it’s the attitude that has changed. Brian and I are really likeminded and we both know what we want with this band. This is the first step and every next album will be even better, we’re going to have more time and less line-up changes! [laughs]. You know, the main thing is that each album is just going to be better and better because we’ll be more prepared, and everything will be less chaotic as the years go on. Practically everyone we’ve been talking to has been saying that this is the best Diabolic album – and I agree very strongly. I think this is all-round the best Diabolic album ever, and I want everyone to see that the next one will be even better. I want all the fans that have been so loyal over the years to be happy with this album as well, and to feel that we’re doing the right thing. Diabolic will always be a brutal American death metal band. Always. We just want to have as many colours of thought and keep it as interesting as possible. The bottom line is that there are tons of bands out there that do the same thing all the time – and they’re great at it. We don’t want to compete with that. We want our own sound, we want our own niche. We want it all for Diabolic and we will do our best to achieve it.”

>>> Requiescat in pace – magna cum laude. <<<

Conducted and written by Misereion.