Radigost
RADIGOST from Russia is
a very interesting band and with their music they tell us stories of their
ancestors and some mythological tales of their Slavonic origin. Their music
is epic black metal mainly and very proper to accompany their warlike lyrics.
Rimmon the guitarist and founding member of the band tries to initiate
us to the world of RADIGOST...
1.CONGRATULATIONS FOR "FOR THE HONOR OF OUR TRUTH...FOR
THE HONOR OF OUR FAITH"! IT'S A GREAT ALBUM FROM EVERY ASPECT, BUT I'D
LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU, THE CREATORS, THINK ABOUT IT NOW...
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Thank you! We also think that the album is great,
it represents lots of new musical elements for us, it is more complicated
and interesting than our previous album “Nocturne” :)
2.WHICH ARE YOUR GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS AS A BAND?
GIVE US A SHORT BAND BIO.
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Radigost was founded in autumn 1994 by guitarist
Rimmon and bass player Alastor as a pure doom-metal band. The first demo-tape
called "The Way" was recorded in April, 1995. It contained 5 tracks and
represented rather interesting and melodic music. In august 1995 new track
called " Spirit of the past" was recorded. The second demo "Nocturne"
was recorded in February, 1997 and received positive responses from Metal
Agen records. In this connection we decided to record a new album and to
release it with the help of Metal Agen. The album "Nocturne" appeared in
March, 1999 in MC-format. The "Nocturne’”s music became faster and more
complicated and the band style has approached to black/doom metal. In 2000
we successfully started our live activities by taking part in several Moscow
concerts. We re-released CD “Nocturne” in 2002 at “Stygian Crypt” records
with two new bonus-songs. Both MC and CD “Nocturne” releases were rated
very high by lot of metal-magazines. In 2004 our second album “For the
honor of our truth…For the honor of our faith“ was released by “Stygian
Crypt” with limited digi-pack edition.
3.NOW, LET'S TALK ABOUT THE MUSIC... YOU BELONG
TO THE ATMOSPHERIC, EPIC, MAJESTIC BLACK METAL. IT'S OBVIOUS THAT YOUR
COMPOSITIONS HAVE BEEN WORKED REALLY HARD. WHAT KIND OF PROCEDURE DO YOU
FOLLOW WHILST COMPOSING?
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Usually I invent several interconnected riffs
or keyboard themes which could be the basis of the whole song. After that
it is enough to play them in different ways and the rest of the song is
composed by itself :). Of course, the choosing of song instruments and
the arranging of the song are also very important parts of the work. Inspiration
plays not last role also.
4.WHY DID IT TAKE YOU 4 YEARS TO RELEASE A NEW
ALBUM? WHAT IS THIS THAT KEPT YOU AWAY ALL THIS TIME?
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A lot of problems stood in our way. Lack of free
time is the first of all, because all members of Radigost were working
or studying. Lack of money, or possibilities to record the music well,
etc. It is almost impossible to earn money by playing metal music in Russia.
Due to this, the band is on the second plan for us, unfortunately behind
the job and various real life problems. We’ve been re-recording the second
album several times before it was released on Stygian Crypt Prod., but
all this is over at last :)
5.WHICH ARE THE MAIN SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES
BETWEEN "NOCTURNE" AND "FOR THE HONOR OF OUR TRUTH...FOR THE HONOR OF OUR
FAITH"? WHY DID YOU REDUCE THE EXTREME AND AGGRESSIVE ELEMENTS IN YOUR
SOUND?
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Oh, I don’t think that we reduced the extreme
and aggressive elements of sound ? Quite the contrary, the sound became
more hard and extreme, IMHO. There are more fast moments and blast-bit
parts: more black-metal than doom-metal oriented compositions in comparison
with Nocturne. Also, “For the Honor..” contains lots of Slavonic folk and
clean vocals which were not present on Nocturne. And surely we all grew
up like musicians during those four years.
6.YOU HAVE STUDIED YOUR INSTRUMENTS AND THIS IS
OBVIOUS IN YOUR COMPOSITIONS AND TECHNIQUE. DO YOU THINK IT'S IMPORTANT
TO BE A TECHNICALLY GOOD AND SKILLFUL MUSICIAN OR DON'T YOU THINK THIS
IS NECESSARY? WHAT IS IT FOR YOU? FEELING OR TECHNIQUE?
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I think the playing skill is a very important
aspect of the whole musical creation. You feel more freedom and possibilities
when you play well, so the music composed is more complicated, more professional
and interesting. But you cannot compose good music without putting your
soul in it, without a certain mood or atmosphere. So, both things have
the equal necessity for me to write really good songs; feeling AND technique.
7.NOW THE LYRICS...YOUR MUSIC IS EPIC BLACK METAL,
SO I THINK WARLIKE LYRICS SUIT YOU LIKE GLOVE. DO YOU WANT TO BE MORE EXPLANATORY
ON THE ALBUM'S TOPICS? IS IT A CONCEPT ALBUM?
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I think this is not exactly black metal, but I
agree about warlike topic of lyrics. You may consider the album as concept
if you wish. The first part of the concept is aggression as an integral
part of the human nature. Never-ending wars of humanity prove that well.
The other part’s concept is close to patriotism. It is dedicated to all
Russian warriors that defended our land a long time ago. Also there are
some Slavonic mythology and paganistic touches.
8.THERE ARE SOME LYRICS IN RUSSIAN. WHY DID YOU
DO THAT? DO YOU THINK IT'S E FOR YOU TO SING IN YOUR MOTHER TONGUE? WHAT
DO THEY SAY?
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The first “In the heart of battle” is the poem,
describing the feelings of the warrior that defends his motherland and
fights for his freedom. “Pathways of Gods” tells about thoughts of Russian
sorcerers (soothsayers) and about the coming of Christianity to Russia.
Celestial Flame is the song, symbolizing the common Indo-European myth,
telling about the stolen Sun.
9.YOUR ALBUM IS TITLED "FOR THE HONOR OF OUR TRUTH...
FOR THE HONOR OF OUR FAITH". WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SUGGEST WITH IT?
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This title is connected with the song “Blood and
Grief”. Its lyrics dedicated to struggle for freedom of Russian people,
to ancient wars and conquests. Also this title symbolizes resistance to
the various new age trends, that are made to decrease the intellectual
and cultural level of modern European people.
10.BY THE WAY WHY DO YOU THINK HUMANS ARE UNABLE
TO LIVE IN PEACE AND ALWAYS PURSUE WARS? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT
THOSE HIDEOUS AND ATROCIOUS TERRORIST ATTACKS IN RUSSIA?
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I think that human aggression is the simple self-preservation
instinct. The absence of aggression e.g. for a nation, means its slow extinction
or fast death from the more aggressive neighbor. Almost all ancient empires
perished because of low overall resistance level, you may look at the world
history and make sure of that.
11.THE COVER ARTWORK IS AMAZING!!! I LOVE THE
WHOLE BOOKLET WORK! WHO IS THE ARTIST? DO YOU WANT TO GIVE US SOME MORE
INFO ON THAT?
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Thanks! The cover artist is Leonid Kozienko. He
is a professional computer-graphics painter, you may check his other works
on his web-site http://leoarts.irk.ru
12.DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? WHAT
DO YOU HAVE TO OFFER TO THOSE WHO WILL ATTEND YOUR SHOWS?
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At present time we plan to make several live shows
in Russia. I think first of all in Moscow and in St. Petersburg. For our
listeners we offer good live performances of our music and lots of
positive emotions :)
13.IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT
BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING, WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?
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The last album’s music would be a couple of emotions
I think: wrath, grief, mockery and some exalted feelings are all together
here. As for paintings, I must say that all our songs are quite different,
and each song means its own painting for me :) It is very difficult to
describe all my associations.
14.IF YOU COULD INVITE FAMOUS MUSICIANS TO PARTICIPATE
IN YOUR MUSIC, WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?
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Ohh, I think Natalie Rassoulis from Greece would
be the first invited person for us :) Your country has great bands and
great musicians. Also it would be great to record the album with the participation
of the classical philharmonic orchestra.
15.IF TIME TRAVEL WAS POSSIBLE, WHICH PERIOD WOULD
YOU CHOOSE TO VISIT AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?
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I would like to visit the early medieval times
to see the fall of Rome, the Rise of Byzantium and Ancient Russia. Also
crusades would be interesting to see. There are so many interesting periods
of history, so I can’t list all of them.
16.WHICH WORDS DO YOU THINK CAN DESCRIBE YOUR
MUSIC BETTER? WHAT PHRASE CAN SUM UP IDEALLY THE BAND'S HISTORY AND ESSENCE?
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It is very complex task for me to define the exact
phrase ?
17.THANK YOU! THESE LINES ARE YOURS...
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Thank you for the cool interview! To all our fans:
thank you for your support! Visit our site at www.radigost.com
Christine Parastatidou
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