Kralizec for the better part of many years have remained unknown. Canada, let alone Québec has hardly been known for its perpetual foray into the metal world, however with Kralizec’s new record "Origin" hopefully things are about to change. Combining the best elements of subtle classical, black mayhem (think along the lines of Emperor’s more soothing moments) and pummeling death metal Kralizec have put together a record that defies classification and ranks as a purely great listen. Kaleidoscopic vocalist Ben divulges some information as to the workings of Kralizec past, present and future...

Jack 'Odel'

Greetings Benjamin and well done on a fantastic effort for Kralizec's debut album, "Origin!" How is everything working for you in Quebec at the moment?

I must admit that we are pleased by your reaction towards "Origin," and we ought to thank you for the support and cheering up.

Life goes on with its share of good and bitter tastes, but the global picture looks mostly clear and shiny; that being the result of hard-working people and gallons of sweat.

Briefly; everything works quite well up here.

Yourself and Stefano were part of a metal outfit called Deafness. Did Deafness subside to make way for Kralizec, or was it more of a case of François and Patrick joining Deafness and then it slowly morphing into Kralizec?

François was an original founder of Deafness, and that occurred about nine years ago. My path then came across the band, and we later included Stefano. The inclusion of the latest in the formation completely halted the development of new material, simply because the other guitarist was unable to understand (much less play) the rapid and complex riffing Stefano threw in his face on a daily basis.

Patrick never really joined Deafness, as his very arrival signed the end of the band and a necessary renewal for the entire material.

How does Québec rank as a decent source of inspiration for you? Coming from such a remote location (from a metal point of view), is it hard for you guys to get motivated to put down some metal tracks when there seems to be a distinct lack of other bands coming out from Québec?

The remoteness is but a question of perception, but I think you would be right in saying that the industrial infrastructure of metal music is, on a commercial point of view, somehow deficient in Canada.

There are plenty of bands, but the population centers are so few and so far apart from one another that it is difficult for the bands to expand onto new scenes, as the matrix of the metal genre in Canada is constituted by small and individual scenes spread on the whole territory.

And yes, effectively, there is a large number of small bands in Québec, of which very few send an album across the borders. Therefore, the window an outside label can offer us is quite some opportunity.

To finally answer the core of the question; we find precious little (if not at all) inspiration on the local scene. Not that the bands are not displaying quality; simply that we got disconnected from the scenes and concentrated on our very own music.

Are you planning to play outside of Canada... perhaps moving down into the US in order to support "Origin"?

Planning? No, we haven't reached that stage of the process yet. Still, if need be, we would definitely move south to support the album, but it's not an element of the promotional campaign.

You have been cracking the metal whip since 1998 and finally came out with something in 2003. Are Kralizec in the metal industry for the long haul? Can we expect to see more and more of Kralizec in the coming years?

Breeding new material is for us a long and painful process, but we will complete at least two more albums before thinking of retirement, which in terms of years could border another four or five.

Unfortunately, as you well know, it is the industry that chooses the bands, and not the other way around. Consequently, if we get the incredible chance of being chosen, we may then indefinitely prolong our journey into the metal realm.

Since "Origin" is obviously your debut record I would imagine that a lot of the material spans the whole life of Kralizec, from its origin (sorry... couldn't resist) to present day. Has it been hard to slot all the material into together and still retain a unifying aspect to "Origin"? Considering that some of the content on "Origin" might have been taken from early in the band's initial inception, whilst other songs may have been composed just recently...

Your lead is correct; Patrick Loisel arrived in the band with 'Oceano Nox' already written and ready to play, and with the core of 'L'Éternelle Danse' and 'Apatride,' the two latest being completed in cooperation with François. 'Néant' and 'Kralizec' were evenly composed by all three musicians, and 'Le Vigile' by Stefano alone.

'Sailing to The Origin' was made in a rush and last of all, by Patrick and myself, as we were in need of more material to display in one of our first appearances. We sat down in our rehearsal temple and started putting together all the pieces of this vast puzzle. The next song only came a full year later and never recorded.

We can definitely put all "Origin's" songs in the same period of time and thought, and yes, it has been hard to put all that together, for the simple reason that the clash of opinions sometimes got pretty messy, our musical influences being totally divergent.

Undoubtedly the trump card of "Origin" is the 9 minute track, 'Sailing to the Origin' which unveils a vast array of vocal talents by yourself, and really sums up just how diverse Kralizec are. Of course, you don't want to have separate and pick out tracks from a very even album... but if you were to pick a track to exemplify Kralizec to this point I think 'Sailing to the Origin' would be a very good choice. Do you agree?

I am sorry to admit that I don't agree on that, 'Sailing to the Origin' being mainly composed by Patrick and myself. Our representative track would definitely be 'Kralizec,' as its content reflects the contribution of all the band's members and their colorful influences.

Nevertheless, the actual axis of advance of our musical style takes us towards the blend of the whole of "Origin's" tracks, not just one in particular.

I think one of the most impressive aspects of "Origin" is that is an album that will likely appeal to a whole host of fans who may not be into the other forms of metal displayed on the record. For example, I think many black metal fans will really get into "Origin" even if they are not huge fans of death metal. Fans of pure avant-garde music will surely find some solace in the atmosphere and keyboard sections throughout "Origin" also.

True, and that's the reflection of long years of internal fighting, stabbing and conceptual skirmishes, mainly between Patrick and me, but soon everybody got his feet wet. For instance, he is an irreducible power metal addict and I am a grind death fanatic, therefore I had to fight my way through to vocal control, and at first the black vocals were but compromises to appease the inner tension of the band...

There were in fact two clans in the bands; myself and Stefano being violent music fans, and the others being in search of melodies and ambiance. That is why nearly every metal fan could find a tiny piece of "Origin" he could like, as nobody in the band won that bloody carnage.

Who do you pay homage to in your vocals? It's pretty hard to pin down what you look for in inspiration due to the chameleon-esque nature of your vocals.

I 'stole' vocals long enough to form a breeding pool from which I draw the ones I make my own.

The pioneers I humbly salute are of course Chris Barnes, Masse Broberg (good ol' Hypocrisy), Craig Pillard (Incantation) and Glen Benton. These powerful vocals formed the strong basis on which I constructed.

You must be stoked with the amount of promotion Maquiavel Music Entertainment (MME) is able to devote towards "Origin." Whilst only being a smaller label in terms of signed bands MME has indicated that they are going to fully promote your debut for a full year. This is pretty extraordinary considering that many of the largest releases around the world are only promoted for a few months before the labels move onto new releases. Is this what drew you guys to MME?

Well, smaller labels must battle harder and longer than any label giant to promote any given band to the widest public possible; therefore I think it is reasonable that MME extends the whole procedure onto a year, as they must accumulate some potential before they can equal any one time effort given by a giant label. Consequently, this is not what drew us to MME.

The label came to us through our official website (which is now under a global review and update), and after six months of well-behaved dealing, we signed the alliance on a basis of mutual blind trust.

I was checking out your website for the lyrics and noticed that "Origin" is divided into 5 sections. The Free Thinker, In the Presence of Loneliness, The Libertine, The Heretic and finally the Epilogue (all English translations from French). On the promotional copy I received MME there is no mention of "Origin" being divided into 5 parts. Will the retail version feature some notes about "Origin" and its concepts?

The original concept was published in a limited edition of the "Origin" album, which was presented in a black leather book with a golden K stamped on the cover, containing 68 pages of text printed on thick old-style paper.

Allow me to clarify the material: all those texts were the global essence of the "Origin" concept, and there were three sections, not five, each corresponding to a way in which Mankind had searched for his origins, as the Free Thinker (through reason), the Libertine (through morality) and the Heretic (through spirituality). These were preceded by the prologue titled (translation from French) 'Towards the Origin', and concluded by the epilogue titled (translating again) 'Nothingness.'

Therefore, someone reading the album as a book would pass through the prologue, an introductory text from section one, lyrics, another text from section one, lyrics, etc, etc. The reader could grasp the meaning of the songs mainly through their accompanying texts.

We sold all of these well-crafted albums and decided not to push forward the whole concept for the re-edition, but instead to display it on the website as a reminder (or warning) of what will be coming next.

Why write in English and French? Was this done to appeal to your 'home' fans as well as to the majority of people who will be buying this record?

We never considered the possible appeal of any part of our creation, not at any step of the production process. The band itself is bilingual (Stefano is an Anglo-Saxon, the other three are French descendants), and our country is officially bilingual.

Still, chances are that the second Kralizec album will solely deploy the beauties of Molière's language in its pages.

Thanks for answering my questions Ben. The floor is yours...

It has been a pleasure. Accept the band’s sincere salutations.

"To" is a creation of many un-obviousness's and extremes. Poetry of poems combined with dark / dead content. Musical shot that for many will be simply offensive, and for another it will be a sonic consolation for their sick desires. Charged with dark emotions, spitting nihilism and stabbing ambiguities. Love it or hate it but listen you must. Play the songs and worship Totenmesse. Here is a conversation I had with Void. Enjoy.

Arek

Greetings, what is going on with Totenmesse, from what I see from the first posters, you're slowly getting out of the basements?

Greetings, greetings! I am answering post factum, so first of all I have to correct the issue of our participation or rather our absence at Into the Abyss Fest. Well, as a result of some unforeseen and serious complications, Totenmesse was forced to cancel the performance. Fortunately, things have already been straightened out and we are fully ready to take on new challenges, in accordance to the old rule – what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. As of today, we have confirmed gig on October 12 as part of God Be Gone Now Fest III in Warsaw, where we will appear alongside, among others Infernal War and Moloch Letalis. I assume, however, that some initial plans will probably crystallize in the near future. 

Well, since the foreplay is behind us, tell me this: from whose initiative was this filthy creation created - Totenmesse? Did the impulse come from hibernation / split up of Hell United?

Yes definitely. After parting with the drummer, we took a short break from playing. We have found out that the Hell United formula has burned out for the moment, and this creature's existence has been postponed for an indefinite period of time. On the other hand, we have heard strong primary instincts and inclinations to turn to regions we have long regarded as neglected. We asked Priest, with whom we have known each other for years, if he would be interested in participating in the new creation. He was. Soon after, we asked Stawrogin a similar question and got a very similar answer. Initially, we all approached the matter lightly, but as we delved into our common ideas, we began to take Totenmesse very seriously. This way, the loose project turned into a well-oiled machine of decadence and nihilism.

Without going much into the sob story, I have to admit that "To" was for me, the best debut album in 2018, but I do not think you're surprised by its power, right?

Thank you for the good word! We are very pleased that our hard work does not remain unnoticed and there are those who liked our vision of metal. Others apparently need a bit more time. As for our expectations (because I assume that this is what you mean), I will say briefly - everyone knows their work, and the great collective sieve of ideas, even at the basement stage allows to select the best and set them to our goals. And power? That was the assumption.

If I have correctly gone through a record of your musical activity, you have already tried your vocal possibilities on debut album of Eclypse. On "Aura Damage" of Hell United, your vocals sounded really powerful. How did Stawrogin got this job in Totenmesse? 

You love to tickle my vanity and I see that you have prepared well, but the answer to your question is relatively simple. Totenmesse was intended to be completely different, it was also supposed to be (in contrast to Eclypse, or the last release of H.U.) a project that oscillated much more in the black metal regions, as I mentioned earlier. All this has been fully realized thanks to Stawrogin. And that's it.

Tell us something. Is Void a fan of metal from flesh and blood outside Totenmesse, that is, does he visit local concerts, looks at what squeaks and squeals in the metal underworld etc. ...???

Heh, I try to be up to date, but sometimes the prose of life makes it difficult for me. Fortunately, thanks to the broadly understood electronic media, you can learn a lot and see a lot of this and that. I admit, however, that no HD technologies can replace those emotions and experiences that become yours while watching a live show, so if I can, I go to a show.

I hoped that your participation in the fourth edition of "Into The Abyss" will be only an introduction to more active concert schedule. We know what happened there, but can you reveal any plans for the future?

As I mentioned earlier, our plans were modified in the last moment by unforeseen random events, which ultimately prevented us from presenting "To" live. We are now planning to focus on the promotion of the album by making it available to the wider public which means right to their faces - live.

Returning to your debut album, I must say that "To" is a very emotional and unobvious album. That was the assumption, is it an expression of your characters?

In fact, each of us has had a share in the creation of the material, and as we are a bunch of weird individualists, the fusion of such attitudes cannot be obvious. Emotions are a natural element of existence and I am glad that we managed to pass them through "To".

The entire graphic design, which came out of Sars's hand (Furia, Wędrowc Tułacze Zbiegi, etc.), perfectly fits into this uncertainty. Tell us about the creation of this cover, is it a pure interpretation of the graphic designer, or is it an expression of your suggestions? 

Maybe I'm going to disappoint you, but it will not be a long story with a suspenseful finale. The matter is relatively simple - Sars received material from us to listen to and under its influence began to create layout concepts, which were subjected to a severe assessment by us. Sars has a head not only for music, so we quickly found common ground. And the end result that we are very pleased with is as unobvious as "To".

I assume that you were all aware of the consequences of Priest and Stawrogin's participation in Totenmesse. Especially the charismatic voice of Stawrogin involuntarily evokes comparisons with his earlier publications, Odraza or Biesy. Did it matter to you?

It is the human wickedness that splashes feces in my pupils, as one familiar poet once said. Well, you cannot blame people for the fact that they like to segregate things and toss everything they encounter into properly marked sacks. The more so because the mentioned individuals are actually very characteristic musicians who, in a sense, follow the path of their own style. It seems to me, however, that there are some subtle differences that make it possible to distinguish "Esperalem Tkane" from in this case "To".

Let's touch up on the subject of lyrics, here we will also find another un-obviousness. Black, nihilistic, and yet poetic and with the use of Słowacki's or Broniewski's works. You support the climate of the album with lyrics, are they a weapon to fight the vanity of this retinue?

The songs that we used for "To" perfectly fit into our feelings, and the beautiful lead-edge clasp that links everything to the proverbial nostalgic-destructive thoughts of Stawrogin, Rzulty and our friend Dominik, who supports Licho on a daily basis. All this certainly gave the aftertaste to the music, broken by a bit of uncertainty. It makes us happy.

I can find the last ambiguity and even some musical inconsistency in the King Crimson-21st Century Schizoid Man cover. I noticed some similarities when covering Metallica's "Fight Fire With Fire" by Hell United, but this version of the King Crimson's would not even shame any grind commando. I understand lyrical consistency, but question remains: WHY?

Talking about a possible cover we took into account numbers not fitting into extreme metal, and King Crimson was proposed by Stawrogin. His vision of this number simply took us away. In retrospect, it is clear that this was a great idea, as half of those who associate with "To" hate this interpretation and the other half adore it. This clearly shows that our vision of music arouses emotions. And that's what this is all about.

Shed us a little light of the future, is Totenmesse a band focusing in the area of black / death metal, whether despite or because of their uncompromising nature you plan to look at other musical backyards? 

In the near future, we plan to record some new numbers, revealing a slightly different face of Totenmesse, but will we move away from the metal world? Probably not. However, I cannot predict what the future will bring. The only certainty is the inevitable end ...

Thanks for your time devoted to this interview. I hope that this "Funeral Mass" will last, and we will taste the fruit of it in the near future?

I also hope so! Thanks for the interview.