I must confess without much pressure that every time I sit to listen to the new Deivos album, it is a great moment in the program for me. This time I had the opportunity to do an interview before the new album comes out, and MetalBite is getting a premiere of the second song from new album - so the event is even bigger than all the previous ones. The technical death metal they perform is always a solid kick in the nuts and I already know that they did not disappoint with new music yet again. I had the opportunity to ask Hubert (vocals) about few things, so I like to invite everyone interested to read, listen (loud!!) and get to know about Deivos a bit more.

Tomek & Arek

Greetings, thanks for finding a moment for MetalBite.com. I will start with a big one, 22 years in existence and six full-lengths in the catalog, it's a pretty good dossier, don't you think?

Hello, thanks for your interest in our modest ensemble. Indeed, some time has passed, although we do not feel it in our bones. Six albums are probably a good result for our functioning method. Of course, it could probably be more, but on the other hand - it is not a race. We record when we feel it is time and when we have something new to say. We will certainly play a while longer since we're not lacking ideas and desire.

Tomek and Wizun have created most of the material on previous albums (from what I read on the net), are they also responsible this time, or is it more of a "band album"?

Yes, they are mainly responsible for composing new material and this is unlikely to change. A certain deviation from this rule will be on a new album where one song titled "Nuclear Wind" was composed by Mścisław and Wizun. It's possible that in the future they will share their ideas with us more often.

The amount of information about the new album is still negligible, so it's a must to ask: what, who, where and with whom?

Recordings took place in parts from June to July this year in the ZED studio. We have been practicing this style on the last 3 albums, and it is dictated by the fact that in addition to running the studio, ZED also has other professional responsibilities and it is difficult for him to devote only to it for a long time. Thanks to this, we have time to think about the next steps between recordings of subsequent parts. The recordings themselves did not take long, e.g. the drums were recorded in one and the vocals in two days. The album will be released on November 29th by Selfmadegod Records, which we managed to get quite close to.

This is the third album under the wings of SelfMadeGod, but you had the opportunity to try the cooperation with the American label - Unique Leader. Have you settled in and it's all good, or am I wrong? How does it look, especially in relation to previous experiences?

We've been cooperating with Selfmadegod for 3 albums and if the current one does not turn out to be a flap, we will probably release the next ones there as well. The very above answers your question. We get along well on very fair terms, contact on the line label - the band is very good and for a band like us it is the perfect publisher in Poland. We released 2 CDs at UL, but we decided to move on, mainly due to the large distance from each other, we also wanted to have better distribution of our albums in Poland. We parted on friendly terms.

Although you've departed from the demonic works of Andrzej Leńczuk on "Theodicy" already, you managed to get the fans used to these characteristic covers. The new cover sticks out a bit from what Deivos has accustomed us to in the past (with color and ideas), although what emerges from this crumbling face can be a reference of sorts. Can you tell us how this work relates to music; whose idea is it and describe a little of what it depicts?

I think that if only Andrzej was interested in further cooperation, we would still use his work. Unfortunately, at some point he told us that he did not want his work to be used in this way and only wanted to focus on his tattoo studio. Currently, we look for graphic authors individually for each disc. This time we chose Maciej Kamuda, who already made pictures for metal bands such as Kingdom, Pathology, Impetigo or our compatriots from Straight Hate and much missed Parricide. The cover has been prepared according to our instructions and it refers directly to the subject of the texts, which in general, tell of man as the destroyer of everything he touches, be it for religious, political or selfish reasons.

Casus Belli means an act or a situation that provokes or justifies a war, right? What did you mean by choosing this title?

Exactly right. Observing the destructive attitude of man towards everything that lives and current tendencies to negate all achievements of science only to justify and enable further degradation of the environment or limitation of individual freedom. All this looks like we, as a species, have fought all living things. In general, that's how I could explain the idea and how we translate the term Casus Belli for our needs.

Given the fact that only a few out there have heard your new album yet, can you tell us what to expect in lyrics, piece by piece?

I have already roughly described the general outline of the subject of the texts in the previous questions, but no problem, I am summarizing what is going on in each song:

1.  Casus Belli - the eternal struggle of man with the surrounding environment justified by religious maxim saying: "take this land and make it subject to itself".

2.  Parallel Gods - in the nonsense of the concept of a personal god, whether it is important how many there are and if there are many, which one to listen to. What if there are parallel worlds, are they ruled by the same deities?

3.  Bitter End - simply the future of human civilization, everything tends to bitter end.

4.  Victims - this text deals with religious fanatics imposing their will on everyone, persecuting persons of a different religion or different sexual orientation etc. at the same time putting themselves up in the position of victim and persecuted for their practices.

5.  Achiever of Nothing - human efforts doomed to failure.

6.  Ataraxy - Ataraxy is steadfastness, balance of spirit, the ideal of inner peace of man.

7.  Nuclear Wind - let it all die out and the remains to be dispelled by nuclear wind.

8.  Prayer Of Disavowed - about the despised of this world.

Each new Deivos album is still devilishly furious death metal with a technical license, but on each disc there are always elements that move the band forward. You don't cut coupons out and knead the material slightly differently each time. Where do you see "Casus Belli" on the Polish and international stage?

Maybe it's because we do it mainly for our own pleasure? Of course, we want to take a small step forward with each album, so we don't record the same thing many times. First of all, we want to make material that we will like ourselves. Unfortunately, this approach is not well-grounded and does not make us popular, but "Casus Belli" is targeted at enthusiasts of such music and I see the future of this material mainly in their players. I don't know if this album will make us more popular, probably not, but we don't delude ourselves that it will be different. We've been sitting off the beaten track for years, ignoring the next trends, we're just doing our job. If someone likes the new album and wants to invite us to play a gig, be bold and contact us.

The first demo came out 20 years ago, so we have a round number here in conjunction with the new album. Will there be something special on this occasion (apart from the album, of course)? Did Karol and SelfMadeGod prepared some anniversary surprise?

Unfortunately, I have to let you down. We are not sentimental, and we have not prepared anything for this occasion, we do not celebrate the band's birthdays or anniversaries, generally we do not look back. We live the new album and think about future shows. Later, we will definitely take a break during which we may think about re-issuing our early materials, but there are currently no specific plans for this.

What was the most difficult obstacle to get through when composing and recording, which song gave you the most ass kicking and in the end, what did you fear the most and it turned out to be the easiest?

Well, for my part I can only say about the vocal side and all in all only 'Nuclear Wind' turned out to be more demanding because of its structure. We were wondering during the recordings whether we might leave it as an instrumental number. Ultimately, however, I think it came out ok. We're not trying to play something we can't, we care about the ability to play our music live so with this approach we don't come across any insurmountable difficulties, usually everything goes smoothly.

If my info checks out, Deivos' lineup has stabilized and same five of you pushes this cart stuffed with death metal scrap since 2010. Is this the effect of getting to the right place or is the coherence of the death metal goal?

First of all, we are colleagues with common musical interests. After so many years, we understand each other without words, as in a good old marriage. In view of the above, when we feel like doing a project, we usually do it with the same people as e.g. in Ulcer, where, apart from Tomek, all the other members of Deivos are playing. We only had one record where Jakub Tokaj played guitar, but this was due to the fact that Mścisław had a bicycle accident and broke his arm.

The number of bands in which Deivos musicians are involved causes one's jaw to drop. Because of this, I have a question - what new is coming out in the near future, or has just been released in which you dipped your fingers? Some details too please, who, where and on what?

There is a bit of it, although mainly Mścisław and Wizun have an uncontrollable appetite for different climates. Recently a great grind album of Straight Hate was released, where Wizun plays, the album is called "Black Sheep Parade" and I recommend it with a clean conscience, a perfect shot. Almost the entire Deivos line-up, because only Tomek doesn't play with us, we have a second band called Ulcer where we also play death metal, but in a more old-school way, mixing together the influences of Swedish death metal, but you will certainly hear the influences of Autopsy and such in there as well; this year we are starting the recording of a new album. This year, Mścisław and Wizun also recorded excellent material with their Abusiveness band which plays pagan black metal, although certainly more influences can be heard there. Literally, within the last few days, Only Sons' album came out, where Kamil plays - and these are sludge vibes of bands such as Down or Eyehategod.

In Poland you are just after the parliamentary election. Although there is no place for politics in Deivos, tell me how another four-year-old period in strongly Catholic atmosphere feels?

I must admit that it doesn't feel good at all. Fortunately, at least in the senate PiS has no independent majority, so maybe not everything will go so smoothly for them. Unfortunately, the opposition is weak and without a specific program, that's why we have it the way we have it. Generally, I would like to electrocute them and do bad things to them.

Yes, clergy and politics are a mess that we shouldn't bother with, so let's get back to the music. I know you like to play shows, do you plan a tour around Poland after the release of an album, or maybe somewhere farther?

Concert plans are slowly crystallizing. Certainly, after the new year's, we will play several gigs in Poland, but rather individual shows rather than the entire tours. Unfortunately, we do not like to organize shows ourselves, we prefer to be invited to them, so please contact us. There are currently no plans to play abroad.

The year 2020 may be another year of the end of the world so maybe it's time to finally record the concert DVD, the more so because you don't have one in your discography?

We don't have such plans and we never thought about it. All in all, I don't like such materials myself or watching shows at all. I'd rather be at the show than watch it.

Thanks again for this nice chat and I hope to see you in front of the stage sometime.

Thanks for the support also and I hope to see you exactly there – at the concerts.