Mortem is one of the bands from South America that demand respect. They have just released their second CD. Both their releases consists of high- quality satanic Death Metal. We contacted Mortem for an interview. Here is Fernan in Mortem's answer to our questions.
1. When and where was Mortem started ? Could you give us a brief biography ?
- My brother Alvaro (Amduscias) and me (Fernán) founded MORTEM in mid
1986 in Lima, Perú. We recorded a demo-rehearsal by the end of 1987.
Through the years, we continued playing live w/different line-up changes
and recorded 2 demos (Evil Dead ’89 and Superstition ’91).
After uncountable changes on our line-up, we recorded our 3rd demo
"Vomit of the Earth" at the end of 1992. and a 4 th demo the next year
("Unearth the buried Evil" 1993). Then we signed with a peruvian label
(Coyote rec.) for a CD release on 1995. So after the debut came out on
the peruvian label, Merciless rec. signed us to re-edit the debut album.
That’s how it ends.
Our current line-up consists of: Jaime García (drums), Juan C. Muro
(bass), Sandro Kobal (temporary support guitarist) and Fernán Nebiros on
vocals/guitars. Amduscias is an additional member cos he still writes
the songs with me.
2. Could you please tell us more about Peru ? What is the positive and the negative sides with running a band from Peru ?
- Perú is a country with a hard economic situation. It’s really hard to
have a band here. The only support we get from our local scene is at
concerts, when people go to see us. But aside from that, people don’t
buy CDs here cos they’re too expensive for them. They prefer to buy
bootlegged copies on cassettes which are a lot cheaper. It is hard and
expenisve to get imported instruments here, too.
On the other hand, the local zines and bands are very small in terms of
international distribution and no labels or radioshows support metal
here. When we started in 1986 it was even harder to record, rehearse,
etc. In the last 6 years I think this has changed a bit, so newer bands
have more facilities.
3. Your debut album "Demon Tales" was released on Huasipungo Records in Peru and Merciless Records in Europe. Could you please tell us more about the Huasipungo Records version of the album ? How much sold it ?
- The Peruvian label was called Coyote/Huasipungo Records and it
contacted us in 1995 and offered us a record deal. The guy form Coyote
rec. paid half of the studio recordings and we paid the rest. I don’t
know anything about the selling of this CD version because the guy from
this label never told me anything, but he did a very poor promotion for
his release.
4. How did you get in touch with Merciless Records ? Is there any difference between the two versions of "Demon Tales" ?
4. Volker from Merciless Rec. wrote me at the end of 1993 after he read
a MORTEM interview in a Dutch mag called Mortician. His label was only
distributing stuff back then. I sent him our latest tape and he liked
it very much. Then he wrote again in 1995 just when we were recording
our debut album for Coyote Rec. and he signed us for a re-edition of the
debut as well as for a 2nd album. The Peruvian edition had a different
cover artwork which was a painting from Goya ("El Macho Cabrío") and
basically it was a very poor edition (printing quality, etc.).
5. Please tell us more about the "The Devil Speaks In Tongues" opus ? For example the recording, the lyrics, the writing process and the featured tracks.
- "The Devil Speaks in Tongues" was recorded in March ‘98 at a studio
here in Lima called El Techo. We recorded 6 new songs that we composed
between 95-98, 5 old songs from our ’89 and ’91 demos and a cover from
the legendary Canadian band SACRIFICE ("Turn in your Grave"). The
lyrics are as always, related to obscure topics, which are treated in a
special , interesting way. They are in no way, cliché lyrics.
The cover will show a picture of an old, winged devil, which is somehow
related to the album title "The Devil Speaks in Tongues". The picture
was taken by Jurgen Geiger, a German artist, who also has a band,
Dharana. I think the songs are really good on this new album. And,
concerning the recording, even though we have no sound engineers here in
Perú, all the instruments can be heard clearly and the recording has a
lot of quality.
6. Which bands or piece of art/literature has inspired "The Devil Speaks In Tongues" and/or Mortem most ?
- We have a lot of influences from art or literature or films, but they
are always related to the dark side of life and death; horror,
demonolatry, etc. I think that our album "The Devil speaks in Tongues"
(although it is in no way a conceptual album) and in particular, the
song "Demons Haunt Loudun" was inspired in the historical case of
demonic possession which took place in Loudun, France during the
Seventeenth century, in 1633, where some nuns declared to be tempted by
an abbe called Urbain Grandier, who was accused of being "the devil in
disguise". There’s a book called "The Devils of Loudun" by Aldous Huxley
which is related to these facts.
7. What is your political, religious and philosophical views ?
- We all have different opinions inside the band, but what we have in
common is that we are pessimists, we don’t care about politicians and we
dislike bigotry or religious fanatism. We don’t see Satanism as a
religion. As a band, we talk about Satan ‘cause we know about it, and we
play Death Metal and like to write interesting lyrics with a touch of
mysticism. We don’t follow blindly the tradition but we respect it
because of our metal background.
8. I am running a small pub for the Black/Death/Doom Metal scene in Glasgow. When I put on "The Devil Speaks In Tongues" on the CD player; the Black Metal guys bitterly complain because your music is to brutal for them. It is my impression (based on many years experience) that the Black Metal scene in South America are more back to basics (sheer brutality) than the European Black Metal scene. How would you compare these two scenes ?
- That’s a surprise to me! I’ve heard European BM bands which have a
brutal, relentless fastness. However, I’ve also heard bands that are
more into a depressive, atmospheric mood. As for South America, the scene
is very varied. For example, if we talk about Brazil, what you say is
right. The band Krisiun is for sure back to sheer brutality. Yes, I
guess that we stick to the main idea of extreme metal, without becoming
too sophisticated or "depressive", because, from a point of view, it may
take power away from the music. If we’re too brutal for some people,
then that’s great ‘cause our music is meant to be brutal.
9. Hadez is another great band from Peru. Do you have any contact with this band ? What is going on in this band ?
- Yes, they had split for about 4 years and they have returned. We are
friends with HADEZ ‘cause we know each other since the old days. They
released an album back in 1992 in a Peruvian label. The last thing I
know about them is that they were signed by N.E.P. (Germany).
10. There is a Thrash Metal/Hard Core band from Argentina who is also called Mortem. Has this created any problem for your band ?
- No, not yet. I’ve read about them in an Argentinian ‘zine. I don’t
think there will be a confusion ‘cause I’ve heard they play a la Pantera
(?!) so it has nothing to do with us. We chose the name back in 1986,
so we are the one and only true MORTEM!!!
11. Both Venezuela and Colombia have some strong bands like, Rebellion, Sentencia, Tenebrarum, Masacre, Statuz and Noxius. The most known record label are Warhammer Records in Colombia (who still owe us some CDs. Grrrr...). My feeling is that every bands outside Brazil are completely ignored in Europe. What is your view ?
- Yes, you may be right, and that’s because most South American bands
don’t get the chance to promote their music beyond their frontiers. I
wouldn’t blame anyone though ‘cause lamentably not many outstanding bands
have come out of South America, but, believe me, there surely are some
hell of a fucking good bands in this side of the planet. It’s just that
they are too deeply rooted in the underground and it is most probable
that they will die like this! Anyway, the most important thing for these
bands is to express their feelings through their music. The rest is less
important. It’s the music that matters. But some recognition for what
they do should be fair, too.
12. What are your plans for the coming months and year ? Any tour plans ?
- We are composing new songs and are playing live shows at local gigs.
There are no concrete plans for touring outside of our country, but we
are studying some possibilities inside South America. We need support on
that matter.
13. Do you have a merchandise list ? From what address can the band be contacted ?
- The MORTEM t-shirts will be out by the end of the year.
You can order both of our CDs from Merciless Rec./ P.O. Box 72/97448
Arnstein, Germany.
Thanx for this interview, Lord LochLomond. Any interested maniac should write! Support only true metal!!! Our official band contact is:
MORTEM
P.O.Box 210035
Lima 21
PERÚ
(South America)