The ones who sprung from the Flying Sparks Society ArsGoatiamight me with your debut album Hiding Amongst Humans more than convincing. So I absolutely had to go Thom exchange a few words.
Frank (Soundmagnet.eu): Hello Thom, first of all I would like to congratulate you on an extremely successful debut album! How are you guys doing with the hype surrounding the release of Hiding Amongst Humans?
Thom (ArsGoatia): It’s going very well right now. We are very satisfied with the feedback. We wanted to add our ugly version to Black Metal and now the album is out. As streaming and as an incredibly cool digipack CD. What Van Records Coming up here for a material battle is completely decadent. A vinyl version will be available soon!
Frank: I would like to talk regarding you as a band right away: What were the motives, why you and Barth ArsGoatia founded? OSDOU leads now A lot next, are you still in friendly contact?
Thom: We keep in touch from time to time. After all, we’ve known each other for decades. And because Barth and I are restless spirits, we must always be creative. This is also extremely important for mental hygiene, we have to reflect on life with all its perversions. we have with C.K. a completely sick drummer on hand with whom we can really step on the gas. And as G.P., a longtime friend and part of the Funkenflug Society, as a second guitarist was there, we wrote the album and the overall concept within four months in June 2021 ArsGoatia worked out. In December we were then in the Q7 Studios Michael Zech and beat the songs live in four days. So we didn’t waste any time but used the insane energy to hammer out a compact dark debut. I hope you hear that everything is angry and authentic.
ArsGoatia is simply an angry, gory incarnation that has its foundation in Black Metal
Frank: The style is different from that of OSDOU extreme, although it still has a mystical-occult flair. How much Sparkling Society rubs off on your music?
Thom: We’ve always seen ourselves as an artist collective, that’s why we’re with ArsGoatia no strangers, or hired guns. Everyone in the band has also been part of the Funkenflug Society for years. Maybe that’s the continuation of that mystical-occult flair you’re talking regarding. ArsGoatia is simply an angry, gory incarnation that has its foundation in Black Metal. However, we make the music eclectic. We don’t want to limit ourselves. listen to you When Heresy Repeats Itself at! This is an incredibly dense summoning in slow motion. The song is regarding the death of an ideology, regarding a dramatic change of opinion that slowly emerges from the subconscious like a mantra and erupts like a volcano. That’s why the number builds up piece by piece, in a climax, until liberation.
What is the Funkenflug Society all regarding?
Frank: There are also readers who are new to this movement, how do you explain the Flying Sparks Society to an outsider?
Thom: On the Neudegg Alm in the south on a peak in the Salzburg region, people come together to create a place of encounter and liberation. This is the Flying Sparks Society. Artists, craftsmen, musicians, etc. Barth hosts the summer solstice there as part of a multi-day festival. People from all over the world visit us here. In addition, the Neudegger beer is brewed up there in their own brewery. If you want to know more, you can watch the documentary “Shadows of Light”. Many well-known musicians also come from here Primordial, Bölzer or Solstafir to word.
Frank: Musically you put a lot of value on complex riffs, which are very reminiscent of American Death Metal and atmospheric Nordic Black Metal. Have you set yourself a specific goal here or did the ideas come from gut instinct?
Thom: Everything you hear came from the gut. We wrote one song following the other in the rehearsal room and when everything was ready, we recorded it immediately. That’s why the album sounds so spontaneous and genuine. You hear no sampled instruments, no modeling amps, no triggered drums. Everything is real and organic. I don’t know if the riffs are complex, but albums like “Altars Of Madness”, “Nemesis Divina” or “Sworn to the Dark” certainly influenced us.
It’s regarding alienation and nihilism
Frank: Hiding amongst Humans – what is the exact meaning behind the album title?
Thom: It’s regarding alienation and nihilism. In the last few years you will certainly have often had the feeling that you no longer understand the world and the behavior of mankind. Totally lying, narcissistic shit, or institutions that fail out of the blue. That’s why you feel like a foreign body in the midst of normal people. And there are those who will put up with anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid looking into their own abysses. These abysses hide in every single person. We deal with all of that in the lyrics. There is no light at the end of the tunnel. The damn tunnel is the endless, desolate reality.
Frank: Is the band name ArsGoatia an allusion to the ArsGoetia, magic book with description of 72 demons?
Thom: No, but it is derived from the neologism. The association is of course intentional.
Frank: Currently there are once more many demons in human form right in Europe, right next to us. Has this bad circumstance flowed into your music or is the general evil streak of the human race an issue for you?
Thom: Absolutely! ArsGoatia can be translated very boldly as “art of the horned one”, the “adversary”. The demons are humanity in its collective imbecility. We keep the optimism for everyday life, the music serves the catharsis.
Frank: Is there a reason why the album is “only” just over 30 minutes long? In fact, I would have been very happy regarding an additional 10 minutes :-).
Thom: It felt finished at the time. It is important to us to create a certain mood and make a statement. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes of tracks, or just 31 minutes for a whole album. With the seven tracks we have fanned out a broad spectrum of extreme metal and the fact that you perceive the album as entertaining is perfect.
The festival season is going to be great!
Frank: What music are you listening to at the moment and is there a band that you would like to recommend to our readers?
Thom: The new The Night Eternal will be sensational and I hope that Vector put out another good album. Nekrovault and Storm keep are great too.
Frank: You already have a few live dates for this year. Which festival/location are you particularly looking forward to? How do you as a band prepare for these gigs, how intensive is this time of preparation for you as a band?
Thom: We’re on the road once more! Festival season is going to be great. The PARTY.SAN Open Air with the Vàn Records Label Night is definitely something unique. But also the BRAINCRUSHER in HELL Festival with Bölzer, Uada and Pakkt will be a slaughter. The Dutch GRAVELAND Festival with Rotting Christ, The Ruins Of Beverast and Mispyrming. It can go on forever. ArsGoatia is a live commando and this year we will reduce a few locations to rubble.
Frank: At the end I let your thoughts run free. What have you always wanted to get rid of and what advice do you give our readers?
Thom: Rotten and divine shall be all tragedy, the world is ready for the ultimate Limit. Torches high!!! Wir sehen uns bei den Live Shows!
Also on Soundmagnet.eu
Album Review – ArsGoatia – Hiding amongst humans
Album Review – The Way of a Freedom – Noktvrn
Album Review – Worst – Distance
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