ERESHKIGAL
George. most known as
Rotting Flesh, of ERESHKIGAL is a person that I really liked and enjoyed
to have this chat with him. He has all that things that I appreciate in
an artist character. He is modest, sincere and above all has a clear point
of view and he is not afraid to speak out his thoughts. As for his band,
I believe that it would be a great surprise for all the people that like
the good old extreme metal sound. Read this interview and I am sure that
you will find many details here...
1. HELLO! I READ IN YOUR BIO THAT
THE TRACKS FROM "THE RAPING OF THE DIVINE" LP HAVE BEEN READY SINCE 1996,
BUT YOU WILL RELEASE THE ALBUM SOMEWHERE IN 2004. WHAT CAUSED SUCH A DELAY?
DID YOU EVER THINK OF QUITTING?
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What you read in our biography sheet
is correct. All 10 tracks in the LP were initially re-corded back in 1996.
We had spent the previous couple of years writing and formatting them,
we entered the studio and recorded everything, except vocals, in August
1996. As you can see there is a huge gap of almost eight years, to the
present day. The main reason for this is the damage the original tapes
suffered when the studio they were kept was flooded. That event severely
affected us and we just put the project on hold for a long time. We had
already spent a lot of money from our own pocket for the recording, and
found it hard to spend again big money to re-record everything. Fortunately,
DATs and CDs were salvaged, so we could work with them although the original
master tapes were ruined. In 2001-2002 we started working on them again,
re-recorded some parts and also recorded all the vocal parts. Rough mixes
were done in late 2002 and 2003 and the final mix in mid-late 2003. Looks
like a long time, but again we were financing everything ourselves. No,
there were no thoughts about “quitting” since this project does not depend
on anything else but the will of its own creators, us! Finally, another
reason for the very long delay since 1996 is of course my own studies (my
other great love has always been Science) abroad (in England) that consumed
99% of my time, until 2001…
2. HAVE YOU CHANGED THE TRACKS INCLUDED
IN THE LP SINCE 1996 AND IF YES, WHAT CHANGES HAVE YOU DONE?
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No, we haven’t changed anything, apart
from the occasional intro, here and there. So the material is a testimony
of the past, perhaps you could call it a forgotten jewel (just joking).
3. ERESHKIGAL IS A BIZARRE NAME. WHAT
DOES IT MEAN AND HOW DID YOU SELECT IT?
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Actually ERESHKIGAL is not such a weird
or rare name. In a few words, ERESHKIGAL is the female deity of the netherworld
as worshipped by the ancient Sumerians. The Sumerians had several female
deities that were very important to them, it seems their society depended
on women a lot and recognised their importance, much more than other ancient
civilizations. ERESHKIGAL was the embodiment of the “dark” side of power
and the prime rebel against the established rule of the elder gods, who
were considered benevolent, but were actually nothing like that. ERESHKIGAL,
you could say, was the flame of truth, despite branded as the prime manifestation
of evil and darkness. I chose that name because I like the philosophy hidden
behind it and because I found it fitting to what we wanted to present as
a project band.
4. THE ADVANCE CD WITH THE 4 TRACKS
YOU'VE SENT ME DOESN'T HAVE ANY LYRICS, SO CAN YOU TELL ME, WITH WHAT KIND
OF SUBJECTS DO YOU LIKE DEALING WITH? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE BY WRITING
BLASPHEMOUS LYRICS?
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Yes, the advance CD doesn’t include
any lyrics, perhaps we should have done so I guess. Well, generally speaking
all the lyrics in the LP deal with more or less “traditional” Black Metal
subjects. They are indeed blasphemous to what the world we are living in
wants us to believe and follow. My inspiration, has been ancient myths
of our country and also Summer and Egypt, and horror stories of the
Lovecraftian circle, especially the original Cthulhu my-thos (from H. P.
himself to the present days writers that follow and enrich the subject).
I have added many of my own ideas, and my approach, at least on this LP,
has been direct, in the(ir) face, denial and blasphemy of the(ir) established
beliefs. You might say it has been done before. Sure it has, and it is
being done all the time in the present days, too. Now, if someone alien
to (Black) Metal subjects read them, they will certainly accuse us of satanism,
devil-worshipping and the like, usual ignorant crap. The last thing I would
like to be associated with, is childish “kill Christ” nonsense. Even when
my verses seem simple and clear, it is not my desire to act as “satan’s
advocate” or to try to impress or misguide the young and “innocent”. What
I do, and this should be the true scope behind all kinds of such lyrics,
is to try to provoke and fight the real tyrants that afflict our lives
with their malicious teaching and rules. They are the ones that provoke
any mind capable of basic thought and able to read through the lines. They
are the ones that have denied first and made a travesty of all they are
trying to force on others. The true anti-christians and blasphemers are
those who swear in the name of Christ while they twist His teachings for
their own purpose, which is quite simply to dominate the masses. Same goes
with other popular religions as well. Whether or not you accept the ideas
of their founders is one thing, using them to turn the masses into fanatics,
ready to kill and die for “their beliefs”, is the one and true crime and
the greatest disaster for the human race, since we became able of basic
thought. And if you seek the truth and you are not blind, you are their
worst enemy, a threat to their empire of lies and deceit. So, my one and
only message would be: don’t just follow anyone and anything, blind, like
a sheep. Think, question, seek the answers, ignore the labels, improve
yourself. It is the hard way, but the only one to make you a better person.
Thanks for listening to my words, I am no prophet neither have I achieved
perfection and I haven’t found all the answers, not even to my own questions.
I seek and I hope that you are seeking too…
5. YOUR SOUND REMINDED ME OF BANDS
LIKE VENOM, BATHORY, CELTIC FROST AND CORO-NER. DO YOU CONSIDER THESE GROUPS
AS A BIG INFLUENCE TO YOU? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT STILL EXIST METALHEADS THAT
WANT TO LISTEN TO THIS KIND OF STUFF?
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Certainly. Of course, I like very much
those you mentioned. I have to admit I am an old school fan. I believe
you can find elements of these bands in our material, but I also think
there are specks of other pioneers, like SLAYER, EXODUS, early German Thrashers,
and maybe you could also locate a few, just a few, from certain early Hardcore
Punk acts. Don’t be surprised about this, I think that the majority of
people listening to the more extreme kinds of Metal are not aware that
most of the bands that started playing like that, and others that followed
them to the present day, have been influenced, even to a small degree,
by bands like DISCHARGE. Sometimes it is easier to see the influences,
for example in early BATHORY and ONSLAUGHT, even NIHILIST/early ENTOMBED
and other famous Swedish Death Metal bands. As to the other question, whether
there are still people interested in the old style, I think the answer
is yes. Actually, it has been a surprise to me that there are still young
fans (sometimes just 16-18 years old), that not only want to listen to
the old masters, but also form bands that play like that or even make covers
of classic songs written 15 or more years ago. It pleases me a lot, salutations
to you all!
6. BEFORE YOU FORMED ERESHKIGAL, YOU
USED TO BELONGING IN A BAND CALLED FLEGETHON. WHICH WERE THE REASONS THAT
LED YOU TO THE BAND'S DISBANDING? HOW MANY RELEASES DID YOU HAVE WITH FLEGETHON?
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Indeed, I was a founding member of
FLEGETHON, way back in 1989-1990. FLEGETHON started with me and Marduk,
an old and good friend of mine, simply because we wanted to participate
more in the still young and pure underground scene of those days. The band
lasted until late 1993, when Marduk decided to leave because he had become
tired of the whole thing. During those years, FLEGETHON released a demo
(recorded in early 1990, but a really low budget and quality effort) and
then a 7" EP in early 1993, through the semi-famous at that time Molon
Lave Records. That EP was printed in 500 copies only, sold out very fast,
and was never re-printed since the boss of Molon Lave just vanished without
trace soon after! When Marduk decided to leave he also told me he wouldn’t
like the name FLEGETHON to be used any more (he was the one to propose
the name when the band started), so that project ended there.
7. FLEGETHON WERE MORE BRUTAL THAN
ERESHKIGAL, MUSICALLY SPEAKING. WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO MOVE FROM DEATH/GRIND
METAL TO OLD FASHIONED DEATH / BLACK / THRASH METAL?
-
Well, in general terms, FLEGETHON had
a raw and more “brutal” sound, that was partly due to the rather low quality
recordings we were able to make back then. It was closer to Grind, but
at the same time it had a lot of Black Metal elements, and the lyrics were
more or less in the same vein as ERESHKIGAL have in this first LP. There
is no particular reason that we wanted to make the sound of ERESHKIGAL
sound different. First, it was just because of the progression of the project,
then it was the much higher quality of the recording (the studio we used
was on of the best, and most expensive, at the time) and last, but not
least, we shouldn’t forget the presence of Nigel handling the guitars,
something that could only be a plus, for any band. Apart from that, personally,
I have always been, and still am, a big fan of any really extreme form
of sound, in addition to the classic Heavy / Power / Speed / Thrash / Death
/ Black / whatever Metal. Around those times, 1985-1993, I was lucky to
see the birth of Grind / Noise and the first and true sonic tormentors
(early Napalm Death, Carcass, Fear of God, Terrorizer, 7 Minutes of Nausea,
and so on) and I was really into their stuff (still am). So, it was no
wonder this had a major influence on FLEGETHON’s material.
8. I WAS REALLY HAPPY TO SEE THAT A
BIG NAME OF THE 80S GREEK METAL SCENE, NIGEL FOXXE PLAYED THE GUITARS AND
HE DID A GREAT JOB! HOW DID YOU COOPERATE WITH HIM? IS HE JUSTA GUEST
APPEARANCE OR A FULL TIME MEMBER? DOES HE HAVE ANY PLANS TO REFORM HIS
PERSONAL BAND?
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Oh, I thought our bio sheet provided
some answer into that, but I will make things clear here. The participation
of Nigel in this LP was only a cooperation for that recording. He is not
a member of ERESHKIGAL, this project band consists only of me and Jimmy
“Pinhead”. Of course, Nigel is a great guy and a really gifted musician,
it was an honour for me to see him participate in the recording. As you
mention, he is a big name in the Greek scene, ever since the early 80s
and his talent as a musician and composer is unquestionable. I have no
idea whether he is planning on something new, either solo or in any other
form. It would always be a pleasant offer, whatever he records and releases.
It is also, unknown to me at the present if there is any chance of cooperating
with him again, though I would think it rather unlikely.
9. I BELIEVE THAT YOU'VE SENT THE PROMO
CD I HAVE TO MANY ZINES AND LABELS. WHICH WERE THEIR REACTIONS? DID YOU
HAVE ANY PROPOSAL FROM A LABEL?
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Well, actually we haven’t sent that
many promo packs yet. We started circulating the sample after last Christmas
and we choose only selected people, for a start. People we think will appreciate
more what we have recorded, people that have the knowledge and the love
for the old style of things. So, these zines and radio shows are the first
to receive ERESHKIGAL stuff. Depending on the feedback, we will send out
more in the future. Reactions so far have been favourable, it is good to
hear that people appreciate what we have done and are still interested
in old school Metal. We have made a few contacts with labels, but nothing
is cer-tain at this time, so I am not going to speculate until we have
something serious to talk about.
10. AS I READ IN THE INFO SHEET, YOU
PLAN TO RELEASE YOUR ALBUM UNDER A LABEL, ONLY IF YOU FIND A DEAL THAT
WILL SATISFY YOU ABSOLUTELY. SO, WHAT EXACTLY DO YOU SEEK IN A LABEL IN
ORDER TO SIGN WITH THEM?
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The thing with labels, even with small
and supposedly independent ones, is that usually they want to have their
way with releases and impose smaller or bigger obstacles. This is my expe-rience
of more than 20 years dealing with the world of Metal, either underground
or not. There are exceptions in the rule, but it is very rare to find someone
that will have a totally honest and loving approach to the material set
for release. I have seen even small-time releas-ers acting like multinational
arch-capitalist bosses. Hah, you must be kidding! When I say we won’t talk
about deals until we are satisfied, I mean I won’t have anyone capitalise
and feed on our efforts and also say “do this, change that”. If we find
someone that will take the whole package as it is and promote it further,
then we can start talking. ERESHKIGAL is, I repeat, a project band, we
only do what we do because it pleases ourselves first and a few close friends.
If people outside of this close circle find the material pleasing to their
tastes then we start finding the idea of a release worthy. I am not going
to put something in the market because I want to be famous or make buttloads
of money, or because someone else wants to do so. I am not saying profit
and fame is bad, no it is not. But it IS despicable when you betray your
roots to achieve it. So, if I find someone that wants to work together
with us and respect us, fine, otherwise we shall see what we can do ourselves.
11. YOU ALSO PLAN TO RELEASE "THE RAPING
OF THE DIVINE" ON A VINYL. DID YOU FIND A LABEL TO DO THAT AND WHEN SHOULD
WE EXPECT THIS RELEASE?
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Another thing I have to admit, is that
I am particularly fond of vinyl. I have been collecting vinyl records for
two decades now and I have to say that nothing surpasses the beauty of
a carefully made record. Sure, CDs are a lot friendlier and easier to use.
But the limitation of space means a CD will never compete with a record,
with all the bigger artwork, more colour, easier to read, extra goodies
etc etc. Maybe I am the only one left to believe likewise, maybe not. But
I would like to see a nice gatefold release of the LP, complete with all
the goodies we can put into it. What I do know is that vinyl is still being
released, however limited in quan-tity, and many releases are made with
true love and care. There is a growing number of small, independent labels
responsible for such releases, along with famous multinational labels who
also see several dedicated customers for vinyl products. Again, we don’t
have anything final yet, but it is my hope that will be able to work things
out with someone out there. For a re-lease, the sooner the better, but
if no acceptable deal is found, it might be not that soon. We shall see…
12. DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE
SHOWS? WHAT SHOULD THE FANS EXPECT TO SEE?
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Ah, this is another misunderstanding
I am afraid. When I said ERESHKIGAL is a project band, I also meant a studio
project. It would be impossible to play live in any case, being only a
two-piece act. And we wouldn’t really like to include other people just
to play shows, they would have to be session musicians and that is something
we don’t feel necessary to do. We don’t even have plans for other people
to participate in future recordings, though it would be easier for someone
we feel we share ideas to play in future recordings. You can think of ERESHKIGAL
to be something like early BATHORY or HELLHAMMER or similar acts, that
only existed in the recording studio, but despite this they produced good
stuff…
13. WHICH IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE
BEST AND WHICH THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? WHICH IS YOUR TRADEMARK?
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Hmm, kind of difficult to answer. The
truth is I can’t find any really negative aspects in our material, the
actual compositions I mean. You could always say the recording could be
better, or this or that could have a better sound or a different mix would
have a better effect, but these are actually different views that wouldn’t
change the core of the material. I don’t know if that sounds kind of arrogant,
I don’t see myself and the project as being the best of the best, what
I can say is that personally I am very satisfied with what we have done
under the condi-tions we had to work. And I think that is what matters
for anyone: to try to make the best of what you have in hand under given
conditions. As for a trademark? Can’t answer either. This is somewhat of
a heavyweight view, I think you would have to be something unique and recognised
as such by others in order to achieve the rank of “trademark”. I mean BLACK
SABBATH or SLAYER or VENOM or DISCHARGE are real “trademarks”, no one could
deny this, right?
14. IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION,
WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
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An emotion? I would say that the projection
of what “The raping of the divine” contains is one of anger and hate. You
might ask why and targeted at whom? Well, these were the deeper feelings
that were steering my inner self at the time the LP was made, and to a
certain extent are still present. Why and at whom, that I am not going
to explain in detail, some causes might be found in my words through this
interview and others you will allow me to keep to myself. As for a painting,
I could think of certain masterful H. Bosch ones, perhaps something from
El Greco too, perhaps bits from art used by BATHORY, CELTIC FROST, AUTOPSY,
all those through the filter of ERESHKIGAL. And last but not least the
actual artwork we are going to use for the LP, which I will keep secret
for now, you shall see when the time is right.
15. THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO
ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?
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I thank you, too, for this detailed
interview. I hope that through my answers I have given you a more detailed
view into what we are trying to do, what ERESHKIGAL is all about. I am
glad that you found our sample material interesting, I can say that the
whole package will not disappoint you either. I also hope we will be able
to share what we have made with other friends of underground music, not
too far in the future. The promo CD is not normally avail-able to persons
other than fanzines / magazines / radio shows / labels, and of course we
don’t sell it. Anyone can contact us by email, and if some are anxious
to listen to the stuff, tell us and we could work it out. All the best
to everyone!
Nikos "William_Kidd" Parastatidis
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