Interview:	CADAVERIA
Title:	Mirrored representation

This fine group was born in April 2001 when Cadaveria and Flegias leaving Italian Death Black / Dark Metal cult band Opera IX and decided to discharge their Metal instincts in a new and innovative musical project.

New members Frank Booth and Killer Bob immediately joined the dark gathering, respectively as guitarist and bassist, while Baron Harkonnen was recruited in a second time, to engrave the cryptic sound of bloody steel with his spooky keyboard creations.

After some hard weeks spent in the haunted rehearsal dungeon to strengthen the deep feeling among the members, the group started working on the compositions. Some months later they entered Italian Capt. Woofer Studios to record the debut full-length album „The Shadows' Madame”. Cadaveria, the dark mistress herself, speaks about.

What is your definite artistic goal with Cadaveria?

„To let our energy explode in music, to let people know us through our art, to enjoy what we do, to have the opportunity to produce good and innovative music, and, possibly, to surprise us and our fans every time a new album will be out.”

How did you manage to get the deal with Scarlet Records?

„We had been in contact with Scarlet when Opera IX had to decide for which label to sign for `The Black Opera` album. Even if the band had opted for another label, me and Flegias maintained good relationships with Scarlet, that is also Necrodeath's label, and when The Shadows' Madame was ready it was the first label that came to our mind. They were positively impressed by our music and we start talking about a deal. Scarlet trust our potentialities, it was disposed to put Cadaveria among the label's priority and was ready to give the band the proper promotion. These are the main reasons that led us to sign for Scarlet.”

Please give a history of Cadaveria.

„Me and Flegias wanted to create a new and open minded space where to let our unexpressed ideas become concrete. Cadaveria and the new members represent this new artistic dimension where to realize our projects and where to discharge our metal instincts. The line-up was formed in May of the last year. After some weeks spent in the rehearsal room to strengthen the feeling among us, we immediately started working on the songs. In September the main songs structure was completed and we were ready to enter Frank Booth's recording studio. The fact to have a studio at our complete disposition, with no time restriction, gave us the opportunity to work in total calm and to care about all details. After the arrangements were set, we started a full immersion in studio and we went out of it only when we were really satisfied of the result. Recordings and mixings finished in December, in the meantime we signed a contract with Scarlet, that released the CD in March 2002.”

Guess, you´ve talked about it more than 1.000 times, but: Why you and Flegias left Opera IX?

„Well, we left our previous band 'cause some incomprehensions were born inside the group, the situation was hard to stand and it didn't allow us to continue to create music together. I hope you will apologize me if I don't enter details, but I'm a bit weary of talking about this. I have been in Opera IX for nine years, it has been an important period for me and I don't want to deny it, but now I'm totally concentrated on my present and on my future and I'm happy with how things are going with Cadaveria band. After the split we immediately started composing new material with the news guys and in eight months we succeeded in releasing our debut album. This demonstrates the split had positive consequences for me, and it has renewed my artistic inspiration.“

Which way did come the actual musicians of Cadaveria together?

„We already knew Killer Bob and Frank Booth, the first one 'cause he is John, the bassist of Necrodeath (the band where Flegias sings), the second one 'cause Frank had co-operated with our previous band in the past. We knew they were the right people for this project and they immediately accepted to join us. It was Killer Bob who introduced Baron Harkonnen (keyboards) to the band, and with this final step the line-up was completed and ready to kill.“

How is to understand the band‘s name? A cadaver, which came back to life?

„Cadaveria is my nick name. It represents my way of being, mysterious and reserved, and it is related to my pale aspect and to my passion for all what deals with darkness and death. To name the band by using my war-name was an act to let people easily understand who there is inside the band, to give the band a strong identity. Cadaveria is a five elements band, and its name suggests the band is animated by the female sensibility, filtrated through the male force.”

I like your new material! Sounds really different to most of the nowadays acts, very promising! In which position do you see yourself within the scene?

„An unreal position, the position of the different ones. I mean, we know our music in not easy to define and we are happy of this. We don't feel to belong to any existent genre, our music has its roots in the most classical Heavy Metal but it is not afraid of touching Black and Death Metal meanders, neither to be contaminated by other more progressive musical influences. The main responsible of this strange mix of sounds is the different musical background of the band members, 'cause someone is near black/death/doom metal, someone listens to Nu Metal, other ones are closer to Thrash and Heavy Metal. `The Shadows' Madame` is the result of the co-operation of such different backgrounds, and the sound you can hear on this album is becoming a sort of trade mark of Cadaveria. But I think it is just the beginning of a future evolution.”

Italian Metal bands conquered the world´s scene through their quality of material in the past more than ever before, especially during the last decade. I love Stormlord, Dakrua and Daemusinem, to name a few of them. Which Metal bands are the best in your eyes (ears) from Italy at the moment?

„Well, I'm not so involved in the scene of my country, and to be honest I'm not involved in any scene. From Italy I like Necrodeath, Node and DyNAbyte. This last one is a side project of mine.”

What does the title of the actual album mean? Are you the “Shadow´s Madame”, which now comes now finally to the light?

„The album title is tightly united to the CD cover. Both express the spirit of the entire album, the obscure atmospheres of the songs, the dark dimension of the lyrics, embodied in the imaginary and symbolic presence of the lady of shadows. The first time I thought to this abstract entity was during the composition of the first songs with the new band. The song `In Memory Of The Shadows Madame` belongs to that period, it is among the first songs we composed, and it is a sort of epitaph ante mortem, dedicated to a charismatic lady survived to the jokes of fate. This lady appears also in the title and in the cover. She is a complete entity, passionate, mysterious, enchanting, but ready to use her claws to fight. She is a figure who belongs to the past, but projected in the future, like our music is and wants to be. Talking about the artwork, I can say the paintings you see are by an American artist, named Robert Gregory Griffeth. We were looking for a photo able to represent the presence of the lady we had in our mind. We get in contact with some artists through internet, and among them R. G. Griffeth was the one who better satisfied our wished, with his obscure, strange, charismatic and sick art. Other operas by the same artist were used for the internal booklet, in order to give continuity to the graphics. If someone want to know something more about R. G. G. you can visit his website www.robertgregorygriffeth.com.“

In which direction your music seems to go?

„We don't like to make projects about the direction our music will take. Actually I'm preparing some new riffs, I'm writing some short notes that will probably be part of the lyrics for the next album, and the same is doing Frank with his guitar, but we haven't already met each other to seriously talk about our future. What is sure is that we will continue with a heavy and obscure sound, 'cause it is something that naturally exists in us, but I cannot say more. The most important thing is to continue to be ourselves, open minded, and to enjoy what we do.”

Which were your early idols out of the Metal scene?

„The first album I bought was by Kiss, then I started with Iron Maiden, then Venom, Possessed, Voivod and Mercyful Fate came.”

Which ones of them did – more or lesser – have an influence to the new band?

„Among my past favourite bands, surely Mercyful Fate is at the first place in my musical inspiration, but as I said Cadaveria music doesn't embrace one only style, rather is the result of the past and present experiences of all the band members. If I say you that Killer Bob's favourite bands are Rammstein and Fear Factory, Frank's are Dream Theater, mine are Death, Dissection, My Dying Bride. You will know what I mean.”

You wrote all the lyrics of „The Shadows´ Madame”; be so kind and explain the songs of your new album; what is the meaning behind them?

„All lyrics deal with my personal interests, with my believes, my memory, my dreams and nightmares, my credo. They can be considered like a sort of mirror of myself. Magic, darkness, evil, death, existence are the main themes. In particular `Spell` , the song that opens the album, talks about a young witch who places trust in cosmic energies for her ritual. `Declaration Of Spiritual Independence` deals with the power of our own mind, it is a hymn to self confidence, to freedom and to action. `Circle Of Eternal Becoming` talks about the energy of nature, that runs through life. Death and life again without modifying itself. This song contains also a short quotation from William Butler Yeats, Ideas of Good and Evil, dealing with spirits evocation and mind energy, so it is inspired also to my readings. `The Magic Rebirth` is the story of how a nightmare can become a dream, or, if you prefer, of how a bad experience can become a positive and purifying event that leads the man to his spiritual rebirth. `Black Glory` celebrates the feats of a white queen who acts following the light of her intelligence, while `Absolute Vacuum` contains my philosophical meditations about evil, death, suffering and existence, and it is surely the most personal, abstract, stoical, visionary and cynic lyric of the album.”

Which were (and still are) the main inspirations for the music of Cadaveria?

„Everything can inspire us. Personally I find the inspiration inside and around me, thinking about strange events that happen inside me and around me, but everything can give us new and fresh vital lymph. We like all what is uncommon and artistic in some way, it can be the performance of a contemporary artist, a paining of the 14th century, a night at the theatre, a movie by F. Lang or David Lynch.”

Live gigs; anything planned?

„Just few dates in Italy and maybe a foreign open air festival this Summer 2002.”

Plans for the future?

„We will release a video very soon, I hope it will be ready by the end of May. Then some live dates again. We will take part to a project on a horror video-game where our music will be used as soundtracks, then we will start working on new songs to give a worthy successor to `The Shadows' Madame`.“

All the very best on your way - take good care, girl!

„All the best to you too, Markus! A great hail to all the readers!”

© Markus Eck, 30.04.2002

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