Patheon of Blood is a fairly new Finnish Black Metal Band
and I got to pick their brain a bit to find out how it all began and where they are headed....
LS: Good day, lets start back in 2009 when Pantheon of Blood
formed. You quickly released a Demo (Self-titled) that you in ways feel should
have taken more time on the release. Although you are over all satisfied with
the demo, what are some things you would change now if you could and
why?
POB: Greetings. I've been the listening the
demonstration cassette every now and then, and I'm still satisfied with it: it
did create a solid foundation for future things to come. Of course if I could
change something, that would be the playing itself, because at the time I
haven't spent much time with practicing guitar playing etc. But aside these
minor flaws, for in my opinion, the clumsiness brings its own charm for
sure.
LS: You say that Pantheon of Blood came
about to express the interests and ideas of the band. Explain what you mean by
this...
POB: To put it simply: by expressing more or
less abstract ideas emanating from behind the creation, is, in a way, a
'statement' that we certainly do not want to make music just for the sake of it
– as it would be some kind of 'product' in a business fashion – but to express
and humble forces beyond our limited state of concisness, through and by this
grandiose form of art we call as 'music'.
LS: In 2011 you released an EP "Consociatio Solis Et Lunae". You say
there is a difference in the sound from this EP and your first demo mainly
because of the new members of Pantheon of Blood.What did these new members bring
to the table and how do you think it brought the band to the next
level?
POB: I wouldn't say the sound differs that
much from the demo, when one compares the results between the self-titled
cassette and "Consociatio..." 7" EP - but yes, new members brought much needed
fresh perspective in order to expand other possibly ways of manifestation. Every
individual involved in the past, present & future are equally important due
to their dedication and effort put in Pantheon of Blood, otherwise the pieces
wouldn't have been fitted as well as they do now.
Of course our motivation is to crystallize the
work as great it is possible within our limits, but to held it as 'progress', is
solely a subjective view to look upon the thing - in some cases, going further
means going a step to backwards. And this fact brings the beauty of it: not
everything in this world goes according to the blind mechanics, or at least in a
way we would be always able to predict the out comings of our deeds.
LS: When speaking on terms of lyrics.... Pantheon of Blood works
towards something in every song. A poetic justice....and meaning, a lesson!
Some may not get the words of P.O.B. Please explain in some detail what your
lyrics are meant to express to your listeners.
POB: Pantheon of Blood explores a great
variety of themes and concepts, which are present in our lyrics, but it's safe
to say that it always thrives towards the worlds beyond our conception of
consciousness, and of course the thematics of our original heritage - from which
the name 'Pantheon of Blood' in a way suggests. It's not that our vision of
'true' and archetypal being is the objective one, yet it does not even meant to
be: subjectivity sheds the light of the manifoldness of the existence as
well.
LS: Pantheon of Blood means more to you then just a band name...You
take it more as your life past, present and even future. Tell me how the words
Pantheon of Blood reflect on your life as a whole.
POB: Personally I feel it has filled a void
of purposlessness, which is one of those things normal character wouldn't always
seem to find during his life. How does the outcome of Pantheon of Blood reflects
this isn't an easy task to explain, but if even one individual feel the same joy
of this art manifesting both light and darkness and spectres between these
states, he feels the same kind of fulfillment as I do.
LS: You guys have never played live. Although the option is always
there and open...You have some sort of idea in your mind as to what would go on
during a live appearance of P.O.B. Can you express in detail a little bit about
the energy that would be involved between the band and the audience? And what
would one take away with them at the end of the "mass"?
POB: Actually we did one gig a couple of
months ago, here in Finland. As I see it, the live performance as a whole
presents itself as a ritual; almost a religious experience. There are different
opinions what 'ritual' actually is; for some, the sacredness of it means
artificialness with candles, incenses and all that. But for us, a certain
consecration towards the manifestation of the great Something is already
ritualistic - and rarely even audience notices this as a feeling of an ominous
presence.
The relationship between the band and the audience is
a subtle one: the artists send forth something, the audience returns it.
But our purpose is certainly not to perform just and only for the audience: our
eyes gazes the planes unknown and ears listen the voices of the masters far away
from these distances.
LS: You have a MCD "'Tetrasomia" coming soon on Eldritch Lunar Miasma
Records. Can you tell us a bit about this new release? Should your followers
expect anything different as far as sound goes or possibly the lyrical
concept?
POB: Well, any explanations won't do justice
for the record itself, however, a couple of words can be uttered here:
"Tetrasomia" is a conceptual EP concentrating themes surrounding on the elements
(Air, Water, Earth, Fire) as we interpret these micro- and macrocosmical
"qualities", in lack of better word to describe it. These elements we do see in
our everyday life not only on the physical nature, but also as spiritual /
cosmical qualities emanating subliminally from the worlds of Spirit and beyond.
What makes it special, is that we study this concept from a quite
national-romanticistic point of view, which can be heard and seen from the
record. Musically there are some elements integrated that weren't there as
dominating as they are now - but ensure it has the certain touch of Pantheon
of Blood.
LS: You guys also have a split 7"coming with the band "Creatura" on
Glorious North Productions. Can we expect to hear new songs on this split or
will they be older possibly re-mastered songs from the past? Also, does this
split have a name yet and when should be expect a release?
POB: Yes, this release, which is entitled as
"Lapis Philosophorum: The Eternal Stone within the Bosom of Silver Star",
will be including one exclusive song from both of the bands. I've no idea
when it'll be released, as we're in a middle of recording the vocals at the
moment. Again we have a certain theme we concentrate on this, but when one
does read the lyrics, I can almost certainly promise he'll get the message of
it; ours is about correcting the misconception of the old goat known in a Greek
mythology.
LS: I know a lot of people would probably
like to hear of a full length coming from Pantheon of Blood, yet you say too
much time goes into the making of your music. Do you mean too much time would be
spent on a full length or too much time is spent in general on your music and
what exactly goes into the making of a simple 2 song demo or EP?
POB: All work that is worth of something will
always take a good while before you can unleash it to the audience. Why? When
you are in the middle of process, you lose your perspective to the material
every now and then, and this means that you need to distant yourself from your
doings at that time. Artist tend to be perfectionists, but practically this goal
of perfection is never really attained – which is a good thing, because
perfection means a state of non-creating.
LS: You have mentioned that your contact with Glorious North
Productions was sheer accident. I'd call it more of a gift. I know you think
highly of him, so does this mean you will stick with GNP for the long haul? No
plans of moving on?
POB: A gift is a proper term indeed, GNP does
a great job for taking of their bands and releases - so all hail to Matt / GNP.
I guess there's no need for 'moving on' if Glorious North Productions continues
to offer contracts that will benefit for both participants. I'm afraid the
financial needs for the upcoming projects will be larger than before, but
let's see what happens...
LS: Pantheon of Blood is about 4 years old yet still very
"underground" It seems to me that you are quite fine with this. Do you have any
goals or dare I say dreams of becoming something "Big" or well known in the
future or is staying under the radar where P.O.B. like to stay?
POB: The idea of growing big is not our
motivation at all - to preserve artistic freedom ever and ever is perhaps is
bigger motivation for us. If the quality of our doings is worth of anything, it
will naturally cause us to attain more attention; if it's not, then it's fine as
well if it stays as small as it should be. And by saying this, it needs to be
underlined that I believe 100% in what I'm doing with this
band.
LS: You seem to have a rather realistic approach to your music and
its future. No high hopes, just keep moving forward. I can respect that but do
you think without a set goal or some kind of finish line that P.O.B. may not
progress as much as you guys could if you set a destination for
yourselves?
POB: It is not a bad thing when one does have
some sort of idealistic image of what should be attained, yet realistically
thinking, almost always the outcome differs greatly from what you've
perhaps expected. As I earlier discussed, I don't believe to an idea of progress
as you would firstly think of it. As there's a lyric line in "I.N.R.I."
(Tetrasomia): "And the only thing to abide, is change itself."
LS: I wont bother to ask about influences from other bands...P.O.B.
isn't about that. Right? We spoke about your lyrics a bit earlier but what
about the influences that inspire you to write the lyrics and or the music? Is
it something that just comes to you while walking down the street or do you sit
down and put time, thought and effort into it at a set time?
POB: There's no one certain influence that
would practically determine our work; all areas of great art (mostly for what
people could call as 'esoteric' resources) inspire us a great deal to
strive towards the unique, of course. Poets, esoterics, philosophers have all
opened our eyes so that we could see the world not as a veiled illusion but more
as a translucent and manifold Being.
I'm not the one who usually writes the
lyrics, but describe the process a little: the concept sometimes bumps into my
head from somewhere, almost like a sort of ray flashing through my senses - if
the vision stays there, it means we start discussing about it and therefore work
within the frames of perspectives brought by other band members.
LS: Aside from the MCD and Spilt....what
else is going on at the present time with P.O.B.? Any idea of what will come
next after these releases?
POB: We've started very, very slow to work on
our first full-length - only a couple fractured ideas have come up so far.
Meaning finishing this particular release will be a long and exhausting
one... Besides that, if there's a promoter offering good contracts for live
performances, we will consider doing more gigs then.
LS: Well, thank you for taking the time to do this interview. I look
forward to hearing your new releases. Is there any final thoughts you would like
to leave with the readers or possible words of wisdom?
POB: I.N.R.I.
You can like Pantheon of Blood on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pantheon-of-Blood/174319722641047
Check out a song here
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Pantheon-of-Blood/174319722641047