Crimson Massacre - The splendor of a death-metal pandemonium

Out of the pandemonium. A chat with Pete, James and Scott.

How about starting by looking back at the band's first steps?

Pete Olen: At the beginning, I wasn't in the band. Their first singer (I can't remember his name now...) was pretty hopeless. So I ended up replacing him.

Scott Horne: Before The Luster Of Pandemonium we were a blackened death-metal band still looking for our sound. Then, once the first line-up's run was over, James and I started writing material for the 2.0 phase of Crimson Massacre.

James Jackson: The period between 2002 and 2006 saw numerous line-up changes. Stylistically too, things evolved pretty fast. I took everything that happened in stride, and today I have no regrets.

What are your most significant influences?

P.O.: Those change over the years, of course... but back then (I'm talking about 2004-2005) I was listening to a lot of Blasphemy, Conqueror, Angelcorpse, etc. I think you can pick up on some of those influences in my vocals on The Luster Of Pandemonium. I should really leave this to James, but I think the core influences behind that record are quite different from what people assume they hear. In any case, we didn't sit down and listen to some particular kind of "technical" music, nor were we interested in writing a especially "technical" record. It all just came out the way it did. In the end, maybe bands like Discordance Axis or Necrophagist did have some bearing on the overall makeup of the record.

J.J.: If you mean styles rather than specific artists, I'd say: classical music (Baroque, Impressionist, Romantic), a bit of jazz (though not in a decisive way), the more aggressive, "sludgy" side of metal, and to some extent early-Seventies progressive too. Naming anything else might make me sound pretentious, if I haven't already given that impression...

S. H.: Around the time of The Luster Of Pandemonium, I was really fascinated by stuff like Angelcorpse, Discordance Axis, Watain, Deathspell Omega, Antaeus, but also by writers like John Milton, Wayne Barlowe, Mary Shelley, and by the painter Gustave Doré.

What do you remember about the period when you recorded "The Luster Of Pandemonium"?

P.O.: It was a very lively period. The album seemed like it was going to stir up interest beyond our usual circle, but unfortunately we didn't get the right support from Deathgasm Records. We also co-headlined a few festivals and played in Florida. We were even offered a US tour with Demilich, but it fell through due to waning interest in us. We tried to push the band in every way we could, and we even started recording another record, which was never finished. Later, some bigger labels made us offers, though it wasn't quite what we were looking for. Either way, it was never our intention to be on tour all the time. We wanted to put out a record like The Luster..., we did it, and that alone was already a success for us. Whether other people were more or less interested in it never really mattered to us.

S.H.: I remember exciting days. A handful of shows, one or two tours, and a record that perfectly captured what we'd become. We sacrificed a lot, though, to be able to do what we did...

Looking back now, years later, what do you think of "The Luster Of Pandemonium"?

P.O.: I think it's a really great record. There's nothing I'd change. That said, I would have liked to have more chances to play in Europe. We talked with Bill (Taylor, ed.) of Immolation about the possibility of doing something together, both live and on record, but it never came to fruition. I think his contribution would have been nothing short of astonishing. Going back to The Luster..., I think it was an album ahead of its time. In some ways, I'd say it recalls the work of Portal and Deathspell Omega.

J.J.: It's not what I'd want to play today, but I think that's an obvious thing to say when we're talking about a record that's 9-10 years old. That said, I think we recorded exactly what we truly had in mind at the time, free of any distractions. And in a parallel world, we'd do the exact same thing all over again.

S.H.: To be honest, I hadn't listened to the album in quite a while! This interview gave me the chance to dig it out of my CD collection. More often than not, stepping away from a creation gives you the opportunity, once you "revisit" it, to make sense of it more properly. So I can say I'm both surprised and honored that it's still able to hold my attention.

Shall we try to focus a bit on the individual tracks of the album?

P.O.: I can't really separate the tracks from one another, because the album was conceived and composed as a single, overarching piece, so I don't have much to say about its individual moments.

J.J.: It's hard for me too to think about the individual tracks, beyond the album as a whole. Maybe that's a bad thing?

S.H.: "Catalyst Tongue": writing this track gave us the chance to better develop earlier ideas and lyrics that had already been prepared for the album. From this point on, the overall narrative structure began to take its final shape.

"Conquest": one of our most frenzied tracks, and the first one that Crimson Massacre 2.0 wrote.

"The Devourer": here harmony is consumed by dissonance...

"Epoch": the second track written by Crimson Massacre 2.0. We were still looking for our sound at the time. There's no shortage of desolation here...

"The Hyperborean's Epitaph": the acoustic equivalent of an opiate mouthwash (!!!)

"Redemption": this track appeared on the demo we recorded before The Luster Of Pandemonium. In my view, this is where we really hit the mark in terms of what we wanted to express and convey.

"The Luster of Pandemonium": when I wrote the lyrics for this track, I was right in the thick of defining what would go on to become the album's central theme.

"Sacrifice": it seems to slowly ooze toward the surface, only to then be destroyed by cacophony.

"Of Perverted Hope and Fragmented Suffering": there's something ashen and bland in the introduction, which slowly transforms into despair, building up to the final apotheosis.

Musically speaking, what have you been doing since the end of the Crimson Massacre experience?

P.O.: I've been busy with two different things: my other band, Dark Faith, and my job. Dark Faith split up a couple of years ago, but we're thinking about a reunion show this December. I also organize and promote shows all over Florida (I've been doing that for a while now) and every year I also put together a show in Tampa called Southern Darkness Fest.

J.J.: I've kept on playing.

S.H.: Not much. Although I do miss the act of creating music.

Pete, you mentioned a record you started writing after "The Luster Of Pandemonium". A record that was left unfinished.

P.O.: I honestly don't know if that record will ever come out. It's mostly done - the drum and guitar parts, for instance, are finished - but none of us were really happy with how it turned out.

S.H.: I can add that it'll stay unreleased for now.

What's your take on the death-metal scene these past few years?

P.O.: A lot of interesting bands have popped up. Australia's King Parrot, for instance, are great and bring something slightly different to their live shows. Honestly, I only try to keep tabs on the bands that are trying to do something different. I don't mainly listen to death-metal, so I don't pay much attention to bands from that scene. I'm more likely to go to black-metal and grind shows when I've got free time.

J.J.: I stopped paying attention to that particular scene after 2007. I mean, tastes change.

S.H.: I've been really impressed by the recent work of Deathspell Omega and Mgła.

What about the Texas scene?

P.O.: Since I've been living in Florida, I have no idea.

J. J.: I don't live in Texas anymore either, I'm in Nevada now. Who knows what that scene looks like these days...

S.H.: I currently live in Seattle, so I can't really speak to that. When I lived there, though, Averse Sefira, Bahimiron and Insect Warfare were great bands. They figured out how to make excellent metal while steering clear of its more "popular" trends.

Ten albums you can't live without

P.O.: In no particular order:

1. Dove – s/t

2. Sleep – “Holy Mountain”

3. Assuck –  “Misery Index”

4. Discordance Axis – “The Inalienable Dreamless”

5. Amorphis – “Tales from a Thousand Lakes”

6. Blasphemy -“Fallen Angel of Doom”

7. Black Flag – “Damaged”

8. Black Flag – “My War”

9. Converge –  “No Heroes”

10. Death – “Symbolic”

J.J.: I don't want to risk ruining the pleasure of an album through an abnormal amount of listening.

S.H.: My ten

1. Angelcorpse – The Inexorable

2. Pig Destroyer – Phantom Limb

3. Discordance Axis – Inalienable Dreamless

4. Morbid Angel – Altars Of Madness

5. Converge – Jane Doe

6. Explosions In The Sky – The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place

7. The Dillinger Escape Plan – Calculating Infinity

8. Richard Wagner – Der Ring Des Nibelungen

9. Holst – The Planets

10. Nick Cave and Warren Ellis – The Road (Original film score)

Any future projects?

P.O.: Nothing on the horizon at the moment. James and I have talked about the possibility of starting a new band, but I think that, in any case, the demos won't be ready before August, if not later.

J.J.: My future plans are somewhat tied to the unfinished Crimson Massacre record we mentioned earlier. We're hoping time will help and let it all come together. That said, you can't really say there's an actual Crimson Massacre album waiting to be released.

S.H.: Nothing in particular on the horizon.

(13/07/2014)

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