• PAGAN LITHUANIA RAIDS BACK!!!

1.FIRST OF ALL TELL ME HOW WAS THS BAND CREATED. HOW MANY YEARS DO YOU EXIST AND FROM WHOM DOES IT CONSIST?

• OBTEST was created 10 years ago. It were the times, when we started to play, and the line up is the same all the years. Exceptation is the bass player, who joint the band in the year 2000, and from that time we play as four men band. Now we have a new bassmaster replaced. We do not publish our names, we are shadowfaced...

2.HOW HAVE YOU CHOSEN THE NAME "OBTEST"? DOES IT HAVE A SPECIAL MEANING FOR YOU?

• It is resistance for us. This name will go to the end with us.

3.YOUR LYRICS ARE ALL WRITTEN IN YOUR MOTHER TONGUE, THOUGH YOUR NAME IS ANGLO - SAXON. ISN'T IT A LITTLE BIT WEIRD? DON'T YOU THINK TAHT IT'S A LITTLE DIFFICULT TO APPROACH MORE PEOPLE (OUTSIDE YOUR BORDERS) CAUSE OF THE USE OF YOUR MOTHER TONGUE?

• We don’t give a fuck about “more” or “less” people. When we started to play, our songs were in english language, so was the name of the band. Now everything what changes in the band is marked under the sign of OBTEST. It’s our sign. It’s not a title, it’s a name, it can’t be changed.

4.TELL US A FEW WORDS FOR YOUR NEW ALBUM. WHAT DOES THE TITLE MEAN? COMPARE IT WITH YOUR PREVIOUS RELEASES. I WHICH FIELDS HAVE YOU PROGRESSED?

• Our latest album was released after a long delay, and I think it is more mature. Auka Seniems Dievams means offering for the ancient Gods, our pagan Gods and Godesses Perkunas, Velinas, Patrimpas, Medeina, Gabija. Four ghosts, mythical spirits of ancestors are depicted on our album’s front cover. They are portraited as giants, and simbolises neverending connection between today and the past times. You decide about our progress, we are artists not critics.

5.I FOUND IN YOUR SOUND MANY ANCIENT RITES INFLUENCES AND IN SOME PARTS SOME RUNNING WILD ELEMENTS. DO YOU AGREE? WHICH OTHER BANDS CAN WE FIND AMONG YOUR
INFLUENCES?

• Some say, that we sound like ENSLAVED, IMPALED NAZARENE, BATHORY, DARK THRONE. Personally I never listened to RUNNING WILD, but you always could find some similarities in music.

6.YOU SAY IN YOUR BIO THAT YOU HAVE ANTICHRISTIAN AND WARLIKE IDEAS. WHAT DOES WAR MEAN TO YOU? DON'T YOU THINK THAT WAR IS AN "ENEMY" OF THE ARTS AND OF THE MUSIC IN SPECIFIC?

• Yes, war is destructive, anyway. It destroys everything. Music is positive in all senses, we like it or not. War is a conflict between people, countries, ideologies, systems, but the art is in everywhere, even in war. In our lyrics we prise our ancestors for the great wars and victories they won. It’s our history, we are proud of it.

7.CAN YOU TELL US A FEW THINGS OF LITHUANIAN TRADITION BEFORE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CHRISTIANITY AS A MAIN RELIGION IN YOUR COUNTRY?

• It was when the grand duke of pagan Lithuania became king of Poland, nobody wanted to be pagan a king, so the grand duke himself and the whole Lithuania were christianised. It happened in the year 1387 a.d. Before christianity came, people praised nature and the Gods who ruled everything in it. There were strong cult of ancestors, the holy forests and hills were respected as the dwelldom of the spirits of forefathers. The influence of the pagan priests in society was also very strong. The last pagan dukes were also the grand priests and were buried by all traditions – through cremation with all goodies. The world, for the ancient balts, was divided into three parts, the upper part, the sky world is controled by Perkunas, the Thundergod, the middle part, the world, is controled by Zemyna and Medeina, the nature godesses, the first one is responsible for agricultural nature, the second one, Medeina, has the power on all the wilderness. The underground is controled by Velinas, or Pikuolis. He is the one eyed old man, very wise and powerfull. He is responsible of the world of spirits. Such model of the earth is left in our traditional songs and folklore.

8.SOMETIMES IDEOLOGIES LIKE YOURS ARE MISUNDERSTOOD AND ARE USED FROM FASCISTIC AND NAZI THEORIES. WHAT'S YOUR OPINION ON THAT?

• We don’t give a fuck about that. We are not nazis. Nazis together with communists made a lot harm for our country and nation, so we don’t want to be identified with them.

9.HOW ARE THE THINGS IN LITHUANIA AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF SOVIET UNION? WHICH ARE THE MAIN PROBLEMS THAT YOUR COUNTRY HAS TO COMFRONT?

•  The things are better than it was 10 years ago. Today we have more opportunities, we have good relations with the western world. Economically, Lithuania lives in “wild west capitalism” nowadays. It’s a hard times for mid class people. Generally everything is o.k. here.

10.NOW,BACK TO YOUR MUSIC... WHICH DO YOU THINK IS THE BEST AND WHICH IS THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? WHERE DO YOU NEED IMPROVEMENT?

• All the time we need improvement. Every record must be better than previous one, that is the way of music. More problems goes with the conditions of recordings. I think this part will also be better in our future records.

11.HOW ARE YOU PLANNING TO PROMOTE YOUR WORK? HAVE YOU DONE ANY LIVE SHOWS?

• Of course!!! We do play live shows for 8 years. We just return from our second tour, “CHRIST CRUSHING TOUR 2002” with  SKYFORGER(Lv), GRIEF OF EMERALD(Sw), BESTIAL MOCKERY(Sw), SEAR BLISS (Hun). We played in Germany, Holland, Finland and Slovenija. It was great experience for us and other bands. We played 6 amazing shows. The first tour we played in 2000, together with EMINENZ (Ger) across Germany. This summer we had a great gig in OPEN HELL fest in Czech republic.

12.WHAT REVIEWS HAVE YOU RECEIVED SO FAR FOR YOUR MUSIC? WHICH WAS THE BEST AND WHICH WAS THE WORST?

• We received a lot of reviews from around the world. The best reviews are when you see that the person wrote it really feel the spirit of music and could describe it somehow, not only criticising the music itself. The worst reviews comes from snobs, which are puffed-up, and think that they are the experts of the matter. But it is their problem, not ours.

13.WHAT WOULD YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T ABLE TO INVOLVE WITH MUSIC?

• Personally, I’m too much involved with the arts, so I think there are no posibilities not to touch the music.

14.WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY TO ALL THOSE THAT JUDGE A BAND'S VALUE BY THE CD COPIES THEY SELL?

• Terse and clear: fuck off and die!

15.HAVE YOU READ ANY INTERESTING BOOKS LATELY? HAVE YOU WATCHED AN INTERESTING MOVIE?

• I have red a really good book by Axel Munte, it is autobiographical book about a man with a really great experience. Generally I read a lot of scientistic books about history, archaeology, mythology, social anthropology, history of arts, archeometalurgy. Great documental movie I saw, was the estonian movie “The last shaman of Chants”. I’m waiting for the Lord of the rings “Two towers”.

16.IF SOMEDAY YOU HAD THE CHANCE TO MEET THE CREATURE THAT CREATED THE UNIVERSE, WHICH WOULD YOUR BIGGEST QUESTION BE?

• Who am I?

17.WHICH IS MAN'S BIGGEST TEMPTATION?

• Lot’s of temptations. Sex, drugs and heavy metal...

18.IF TIME TRAVEL WAS POSSIBLE, WHICH HISTORICAL PERIOD WOULD YOU LIKE TO VISIT AND WHY? WHAT WOULD YOU MISS THE MOST FROM OUR TIME?

• It would be interesting to visit XI – XII centuries. But I want to raid here in our crazy times!!!

19.WHAT PROLOGUE AND TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO HAVE?

• PAGAN LITHUANIA RAIDS BACK!!!

20.THANK YOU!HAVE I FORGOT TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?

• Everything is o.k.