Formed in Lodz, one of Poland’s more industrial cities, Deep Desolation are a very different prospect to many black metal bands. Playing a deeply psychedelic variant of the genre that relies, above all else, on a sense of atmosphere and foreboding rather than outright technicality, Deep Desolation’s debut – “Subliminal visions” – was a rare treat, a black metal album that dared to be different. The band, too, are different, with the members appearing as they are rather than coated in corpse paint, and for Deep Desolation it is clear that it is the music, not the image, that is destined to do the talking. Thus far the band have not played outside of their native Poland, but with the amazing “Subliminal visions” and a split album with mainman Markiz’s other band (Iugulatus) and Primal already available, as well as a new album due this year, Deep desolation are nothing if not prolific, and it can surely only be a matter of time before fans of black metal on this side of the channel pick up on the remarkable music Deep Desolation have to offer. In the meantime we are proud to offer this interview with Markiz who took time out of his busy schedule to talk about the formation of the band and his ambitions for the future. Read on and discover the black metal force that is Deep Desolation…
Firstly can you tell us how, where and when Deep Desolation formed?
Markiz: DEEP DESOLATION BAND WAS FORMED IN THE SPRING OF 2009 FROM THE RUINS OF MY PREVIOUS PROJECT. THE MAIN LINE-UP ON THAT TIME WAS ; MARKIZ – GUITAR , PIORUN -BASS, DAREK -DRUMS , MARTINOUS – VOCAL , IN THAT LINE-UP WE RECORDED OUR FIRST ALBUM , “SUBLIMINAL VISIONS”.
Was Deep desolation formed with the intention of playing blackened doom or was that something you developed over a period of time from an initial blueprint?
Markiz: I LIKE BOTH GENRES – I MENTIONED ABOVE BLACK METAL AND DOOM METAL, SO I WANTED TO CREATE MUSIC I LIKE TO LISTEN TO MYSELF , I WANTED TO BUILD SOMETHING NEW ON THE FOUNDATIONS OF MY PRIVATE INSPIRATIONS.
Your band interests include an interest in the occult – beyond music what form does that interest take?
Markiz: AN INTEREST IN THE OCCULT IS A SIGNIFICIANT PART OF MY LIFE , NOT ONLY PHILOSOPHICALY BUT PRACTICALLY AS WELL.OCCULT KNOWLEDGE HAS INTERESTED ME SINCE I WAS 16 , BY THAT TIME MY PHILOSOPHY EVOLVED OR METAMORPHOSISED , BUT IT WAS ALWAYS DRIVEN TOWARDS DARK MATTERS , SECRET AND OCCULT ISSUES SERVING AS SELF-PROGRESS IS STILL IN ME.
Is it a challenge crafting lyrics in a second language? How do you overcome any difficulties in translation and meaning – particularly as you cover quite complex subject matter?
Markiz: ON THE FIRST ALBUM ALL MY LYRICS WERE TRANSLATED BY MARTINOUS WHO SPEAKS ENGLISH VERY WELL.ON OUR NEW ALBUM MOST OF THE LYRICS WILL BE WRITTEN BY MERIATH, WHO ALSO SPEAKS ENGLISH WELL .
Are there any books or philosophies in particular that you turn to for inspiration?
Markiz: BOOKS I READ AND PERSONAL VIEWS I HAVE ARE REFLECTED IN MY LYRICS. AUTHORS WHO INSPIRE ME ARE: Nietzsche, Markiz De Sade, Aleister Crowley, Georges Bataille, Goethe, Baudelaire, William Blake, H. P. Lovecraft. Robert Anton Wilson, Phil Hine, Terence Mckenna, Austin Osman Spere. THEY ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT, THEIR WORKS INSPIRE ME NOT ONLY IN AN ARTISTIC ASPECT. ANOTHER STRONG STIMULUS FOR ME IS THE PAINTING AND WORKS OF MASTERS LIKE Bosch, Giger, Durer, Bruegel, Beksiński, Goya.
Your full-length album ‘subliminal visions’ was so well developed – how long did it take to develop and practice the material?
Markiz: WRITING THE MATERIAL PLUS PRACTISING TOOK AROUND ONE YEAR FOR US.
…and how long to record the album?
Markiz: THE RECORDING OF THE WHOLE MATERIAL TOOK AROUND ONE WEEK, WORKING 6 HOURS A DAY .
Lodz is a very industrialised city that’s undergoing a lot of very rapid changes at the moment – to what extent did the atmosphere of Lodz influence the feel and atmosphere of your material?
Markiz; THE PLACE I LIVE DOESNT HAVE MUCH INFLUENCE ON ME IN SENSE OF WRITING SONGS .I SPENT FEW MONTHS IN LONDON THIS YEAR (2011), AND I WROTE TWO SONGS FOR THENEW DEEP DESOLATION ALBUM AND THOSE SONGS ARE GLOOMY AND SOMBRE.BUT LONDON IS NOT THAT KIND AT ALL IS IT ?
There’s lots of footage of you playing live in Poland – are there any plans for you to play anywhere else in Europe – The UK for example?
Markiz: WE HAVE ONLY PLAYED LOCALLY SO FAR. IT IS NOT EASY TO PLAY SOMEWHERE ELSE, THE UK IS TOO FAR AWAY FOR US , BUT THE POINT IS WE WANT TO PLAY ACROSS POLAND AND EUROPE , IF YOU INVITE US WE WILL SHOW YOU OUR RITUAL .
You’ve just released a split album with Iugulatus and primal – how did you become connected to Primal and what made you decide to do an album with them?
Markiz: I PLAY IN IUGULATUS AS WELL, PRIMAL IS A ONE MAN BAND RUN BY MY OLD FRIEND, THE CHOICE WAS VERY CLEAR FOR US. WE ARE ALL FRIENDS, AND FROM A MUSICAL POINT OF VIEW WE WANTED TO SHOW THE DIFFERENT SIDES OF THE SAME COIN.
When you record a split you’ve obviously got less time to make an impact and less time to craft an atmosphere – did you approach writing the material for the split differently to the material on ‘Subliminal visions’?
Markiz: THESE SONGS ARE DIFFERENT FROM OUR DEBUT “SUBLIMINAL VISIONS” AND FROM THE ONES PREPARED FOR FOLLOW UP ALBUM . THAT’S WHY WE FELT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO LOCATE THEM ON A SPLIT RECORD OF THREE BANDS.
Although thematically linked around similar subjects the music for Iugulatus and Deep desolation is quite different – who is the main composer in Deep Desolation?
Markiz: I WRITE MUSIC FOR BOTH BANDS REALLY – 95 PERCENT OF THE MUSIC IS MINE . THAT’S WHY WHEN COMPOSING SONGS I CAN EASILY CHOOSE WHICH BAND THAT SONG IS SUITED TO .
Unlike a lot of black metal bands you seem to avoid the whole corpse paint look – was it a conscious decision of the band to focus on the music over image or are you just not keen on the whole make-up aspect of the BM genre?
Markiz: WE ARE WHO WE ARE, WE DON’T WEAR CORPSE PAINT ON STAGE OR OUTSIDE OF THE STAGE, WE PRESENT OURSELVES WELL WITHOUT CORPSEPAINT AND THE SATANIC MESSAGE OF OUR MUSIC IS NOT LOSING OUT BECAUSE OF THAT.
Although the music is very proficient it seems that Deep Desolation are less about technicality and more about creating an atmosphere – is that an accurate assessment?
Markiz: YES, THIS MUSIC IS MEANT TO BE ORGANIC NOT TECHNICAL BY FORCE, IT IS MEANT TO IMPRESS WITH PSYCHEDELIC AND SCARY ATMOSPHERE.
What is your main ambition for Deep Desolation?
Markiz: WE ARE RECORDING NEW MATERIAL FOR A NEW ALBUM. BY THE END OF 2011 THE ALBUM SHOULD BE READY .THE MAIN ISSUE FOR US WOULD BE FINDING A BIGGER LABEL TO RELEASE THE NEW ALBUM .
Where can UK fans get hold of the Split album?
Markiz: YOU CAN TRY BAD NEWS RECORDS AND AESTHETIC DEATH RECORDS IN ENGLAND , OR BY QEV PRODUCTIONS ,POLAND . I CAN ONLY RECOMMEND YOU OUR SECOND FULL LENGTH WHICH WILL BE AVAILABLE IN SPRING 2012, THIS IS TO SMASH YOUR BONES! THANKS FOR THE INTERVIEW, HAIL SATAN!!!
Check out music, photos and more at Deep Desolation’s Myspace page: http://www.myspace.com/deepdesolationband
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