Formed in 2009 by vocalist and guitarist Filipe Salvini, Brazilian black metal band Aske emerges as a profound expression of its founder's personal experiences and inspirations. With influences dating back to Salvini's childhood, when he began exploring music with a guitar and flute at the age of six, and later dabbling in black metal as a teenager, Aske has become a conduit for the dark and ritualistic creativity that has always fascinated him. The name "Aske", which means "ashes" in Norwegian, was carefully chosen to resonate with the aesthetic and spirit of the genre. Over the years, the band has evolved significantly from the release of their debut album "Once…" in 2015, followed by the EP "Broken Vow" in 2017, to the recent "Vol. II" in 2023. Salvini describes the band's journey as a musical diary, where each new composition is a continuation of previous experiences and reflections. With a sound that balances clarity and heaviness, Aske maintains a unique identity within the black metal scene, combining visual and artistic influences ranging from classic horror films to the spiritual traditions of Quimbanda. This exclusive interview explores the depths of these inspirations, the challenges faced, and the artistic path forged by Salvini and his band.

Marcelo Vieira

How did the idea of ​​forming Aske come about in 2009? What were the main musical influences and how have they shaped the band's sound over the years?

Filipe Salvini: It's important to mention, first of all, that I was born among musician cousins, parents who listened to music and, thinking about it, my friendships at school ended up being made with people who liked music; I got my first guitar and flute when I was 6 years old and reading was present from a very early age too, so the stimulus to write or compose has always surrounded me. Until recently, I kept the notebooks in which I sketched song lyrics in my childhood and early adolescence...

My interest in black metal started when I was in school, I was about 12 or 13 years old and it represented me because it combined music with what was in my head: the cult of the dead, darkness, and the Left Hand Path. I tried playing with one or two extreme metal bands with other kids, but I wanted to write and create original songs and they wanted to play covers for fun on the weekends. So in 2009, right after I left school, I decided to start my own band where I could write songs. I looked up how the word "ashes" would sound in different languages, which would sound best. And Norwegian really sounded the most pleasant, not to mention the happy coincidence that this word was already known in the genre because of other bands. So all I had to do was put an inverted cross behind the writing to show that it was a black metal band.

That was it! I now had my band to write songs for. Simply the desire to express myself through music and channel all the darkness that has constantly inspired me since childhood.

Besides music, what are some of the visual and artistic influences that inspire Aske's work, whether in music videos, live performances, or album art?

It really started in my childhood because the world of the dead and the search for darkness was always something that was constantly on my mind. I had access to Queen, Iron Maiden, and Creedence records. One time I was home alone because my parents had gone out and the movie The Exorcist was on TV. I really liked that style of voice, so listening to black metal for the first time when I was 12 or 13 years old was the perfect marriage because I was hearing that voice that I had liked being applied to music.

Basically, this was the process that occurred since childhood that ended up flowing into black metal – Aske is the melting pot where I was able to work on what was in my head using an aesthetic and artistic framework that best suited me.

Since the release of your first album "Once..." in 2015 to the EP "Broken Vow" in 2017 and now the album "Vol. II" in 2023, how would you describe Aske's sound evolution? What are the main changes you have noticed in your music over time?

The more you practice, the more you dedicate yourself to something you really like, you end up always looking for new paths, new ways of expressing yourself. Maybe it's like writing in a diary where the next page will be a continuation of the previous day: you won't rewrite what you wrote yesterday, but you'll continue where you left off. Therefore, the previous song will always influence the next one and you will have learned from the mistakes and imperfections you made. Since my focus has always been on writing a diary – using the analogy I just created – I believe that improvement and continuity are a consequence.

This applies to the sound evolution, but the reasoning will also apply to the lyrical themes because I will write what I am experiencing at that moment: if I did a ritual that inspired me, Aske becomes a Book of Shadows; if something that day bothered me, I will vent; if I read something relevant, I will paraphrase. It is definitely a diary.

What was the production process like for the album "Vol. II"? Can you share a little about how you managed to achieve this balance between clarity and weight in your music?

Regarding the sound production, the person most responsible for this result is Eugenio Stefane, from 1979 Estúdio. We've been friends for a long time. When I started Aske, he bought his first mixing board with a few channels, and I believe we were his first production or one of the first. Thinking about it now, this definitely makes Aske a diary because you can also see Eugenio's evolution as a music producer. Listening to our songs in chronological order of release is like leafing through his diary. I believe that this perspective answers the balance between clarity and weight in our sound because it is the chapter he is writing at this moment, the result of what he has already written and a foreshadowing of what he will still write.

What is the central message or theme behind the lyrics? Is there a concept or idea that you would like to convey to the listeners through your music? Who is most responsible for this? And tell us a little about this thing of mixing lyrics in English and Portuguese.

Well, I see a musical style as an outfit we wear. Creating a score containing the 7 musical notes is creating an essence that is still devoid of interpretation, from the moment we put it on it becomes visible to everyone's eyes. What I mean by that is that I created something from my point of view and my way of expressing myself, therefore, whoever is with me in Aske is because they identify with this expression and will have their share of contribution when we are composing because they will create arrangements on their instrument that will help write this diary. I like to combine the individual style of the band members and Eugenio, capturing the essence and expression of each one so, in the end, we all become responsible because I bring the individuality and personality of each one to be audible in Aske's music. Regarding the concepts and ideas that I bring to Aske, all of them need to somehow affect or inspire me because that makes the music true and honest, and I believe that this centralization around my perspective is what makes the band have an expressive unity, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to dictate what's done. For example, in this "Vol. II" we close with the song "Pazuzu (Lost into a Valley of Rot)". We needed to compose one last track to close the album, so our guitarist Lucas Duarte asked me to write something about depression. At that moment, I was inspired by the spiritual power that gives the song its name, and I wrote about how Pazuzu has the power to take us out of the darkness of depression if we open ourselves to this primordial world of spirituality. In the song "The Origins of Satan", I was inspired by a book of the same name by the author Elaine Pagels, and "Royalist" is a satire that I wrote about the hypocrisy of society, inspired by the book The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. Therefore, I can't easily narrow down Aske's thematic concept because, just like in a diary, I write what inspires me at that moment.

Finally, regarding languages, I like to write in both Portuguese and English. I'm passionate about books and I write everything, from a poem containing love verses for a girlfriend who does me good to a poem that becomes a true treatise on black magic to fit into a song for Aske. The song "Represent Satan" could not be in any other language than our Brazilian Portuguese because I was constantly listening to a composer named João do Vale who wrote in the Northeastern cordel format. So "Represent Satan" is my Cordel literature. The predominance of the open vowels A and E and the fricative consonants S and Z in the song's lyrics is because I wanted to explore the prosody of our language based on how a foreigner hears us. And this starts with the title of the song, where we have a word that uses only the vowel E and another word with the vowel A and the fricative sound of S and Z predominates.

In "A Bruxa e o Cardeal" I am influenced by Italian witchcraft composed by oral traditions, and this led me to a more rural and archaic vocabulary. So there is no rule as to whether Aske will make songs in English or Portuguese because my guide is always the inspiration I am having at that moment, I do not want to limit myself to just one language because each one gives me writing possibilities that the other does not have.

What were the biggest challenges you faced during the process of creating and releasing the album? And what were the biggest achievements or most rewarding moments for the band so far?

For me, the biggest achievement is and always will be the personal satisfaction of finishing a composition that I liked and being ready to start the next composition.

The biggest challenge for me has always been to get a good and focused team together to make the band happen. Whenever I manage to get good people together to make music, with character and focused on following the same purpose, some change happens in the life of one of the members that forces them to leave Aske and then I have to go back to looking for someone. Since I have a clear idea of ​​what I want for the creation of our music, finding good composers and arrangers for their own instrument is always a challenge.

How has the reception of the album "Vol. II" been from the public and the critics? Are you satisfied with the way the work has been received? Do you feel that the band is gaining more recognition inside and outside Brazil?

I must admit that I am the most disconnected person in the world that I know, so I will be very happy to know that our music is pleasing and winning over some audience. I really live in a constant immersion in my inspirations and in my insatiable thirst for composing new music. At the same time, I know that this can bother the band members and the people who work with us because I will always be unaware of something they are waiting for me to deliver.

The music video for the track 'Sinner' is full of symbolism. Can you tell us a little more about the process of creating this music video and how it relates to the song and the concept of the album "Vol. II"?

I should start by saying that this "Vol. II" took 6 years to compose and the album contains 10 tracks, so on average, we composed 1.5 songs per year. Can you imagine how many themes went through my head or inspired me during this period? 10 of them became songs for Aske and are present on the album, in each of the tracks. We could even do an interview where I comment only on the inspirations for each one. There is a lot to be said, so I will limit myself here to commenting only on "Sinner" so as not to bore the reader. "Sinner" is the opening song on the album and took 7 months to complete because I wrote the lyrics during a period I was living at that time. So in the end I managed to present a consistent idea to Lucas Duarte, our guitarist, who promptly created the arrangements. Unlike the theme of the lyrics, the production of this video is directly linked to my involvement with Quimbanda and the spiritual movement I am part of at the moment because the filming location was recommended to me by our priestess, inspired by the visions of Exu and Pombagira: it is an abandoned textile factory in a state of ruins. Our spiritual movement has its greatest strength in the Kingdom of Lira, one of the 7 kingdoms of Quimbanda, and the abandoned places and buildings are the home of what we call the People of Hell, one of the legions of Exu and Pombagira that make up the Kingdom of Lira. Throughout the clip, there are riscado points of 3 Exus (Lucifer, Tiriri and Tranca Ruas) and 3 Pombagiras (Rainha do Cabaré, Dama da Noite and 7 Saias) who said they would like to appear in my clip, so the best way I found to fulfill their request was to insert their respective riscado points. Dama da Noite asked to be the owner of the chorus, so it is the riscado point with a red rose that you can see when the chorus begins.

On the back cover of the album, I inserted the riscado point of Exu Tiriri das Encruzilhadas because he is the Exu Maioral of the previous current that I was part of until 2022, so I wanted to pay homage to him because he was present in my life throughout the years of composing the album.

How do you see the current black metal scene in Brazil and what is Aske's role within this constantly evolving scene?

Maybe my answer is not limited to black metal, but to all bands that make original music.

I see a song like I see a book. Several will pass through our ears, just as several books will pass through our eyes, and we will pay attention to those that contain what we are looking for at that moment. Some bands will gain some prominence and start playing at big festivals, just as some books will gain some prominence and become films, series, etc. For me, the important thing in all of this is that the music, like a book, will serve as inspiration to someone. Just as bands inspired me to play black metal, it would be gratifying to know that I helped keep this flame alive. I don't follow scenes very much, I just stick to bands that inspire me in some way, and this is not limited to the scene or to a musical style.

How does Aske seek to stand out within the Brazilian black metal scene? Is there any particular element or approach that you consider unique to the band?

I believe that the best way for a band to gain prominence is to invest heavily in its compositions and to be self-critical. I believe that if Aske gains any relevance it is because we care about the raw material we offer to the ears and the rest is a consequence of maintaining this focus. Artists who have had this concern transcended their time and even after their bands have ended their music remains relevant. And only time will tell about the music we make in Aske.

What I consider unique about Aske is the purpose for which I created this band: expression. I believe that a band is unique when there is a very well-defined lyrical soul in the reason that band was created, and this is the spectrum that will accompany the band throughout its existence.

What are the next steps for Aske after the release of "Vol. II" and the video clip for 'Sinner'? Do you have plans for more releases or tours in the near future?

I must say that we never stop composing or creating because it is my personal focus, so if tomorrow we needed to release some material, we would have songs ready for that. It is rare that we do not have something already composed or in progress. However, we have a recently released album and a video that can be released and worked on at this moment, so this is our "now", we are rehearsing to go back to playing live and releasing what we have already done. we have launched.

When I was a wee lad, one of my first loves in the NWOBHM that I ever came across was the band Saxon, and to this very day it is still one of my favorite heavy metal bands. Saxon has remained significantly strong for the last 40-50 years of their entire existence, and in fact, they got even stronger once Brian Tatler of Diamond Head joined the band as the replacement guitarist for Paul Quinn, contributing a plethora of fresh new ideas that would fire up the engine of their upcoming 26th album "Hell, Fire And Damnation". After I listened to the new album and reviewed it with honor and dignity, I got the opportunity to do an interview with none other than Biff Byford via Zoom, which took place on January 11th, a bit more than a week before the album's official release worldwide. We had a wonderful chat for about 25 minutes, where we discussed a lot about the upcoming album, but we also mentioned other things along the way like Brian Tatler's triumphant trial by fire as the band's new guitarist, the guest appearance of Brian Blessed as the narrator on the opening track 'The Prophecy' and even the Amon Amarth song 'Saxons And Vikings' which included Biff Byford, Paul Quinn and Doug Scarratt as guest musicians. Please join me on this magnificent journey of Hell, Fire and Damnation, and I truly hope that you will enjoy this wonderful conversation that I had with none other than the man himself, Biff Byford.

Vladimir

Welcome to the MetalBite interview, Biff. I am so glad that you're here. How are you doing?

Thank you! It's good to be there! I am good, thank you. I am travelling actually, but I am doing a bit of interviewing while I am travelling, so that's good.

So, you've got a lot of spare time to do interviews in the meanwhile?

Yeah, I am doing quite a lot of interviewing with the new album coming out.

"Hell, Fire And Damnation" is just one week away from being officially released, the excitement is just growing and the first impressions from critics are very positive. How was the band's overall journey while working on this album?

Well, yeah, people so far seem very pleased with the album. It's a monster really, at least from my standpoint we've unleashed the beast. But yeah, we are pretty pleased with it actually, we've worked quite hard, we wanted to get it ready for our touring schedule which starts in March.

Did you guys have any crucial tasks that you wanted to accomplish in the making of the album? I mean, you've said it yourself that this is a quite monstrous album that you made.

No, there was no real task really. Same with Carpe Diem, I was looking for great riffs to start the ball rolling and then Brian came along with a couple of good guitar riffs as well, it worked out pretty good. I wrote a few songs with Brian, a few songs with Douglas, and a couple of songs with Nibbs. I don't think we had any tasks; I mean our goals were to write great songs, that was the main goal of the album, to try and write the perfect song, which you never can, but at least you can try.

Yeah, of course every band has to try that with every new album that comes out. This album is a follow up to "Carpe Diem" from two years prior, one can clearly tell that this new album is much more elevated in terms of the overall songwriting and the band's performance in general. Would you say that this new album is a significant improvement over "Carpe Diem"?

I think it is, I once have thought that we couldn't have done it actually, but I think it is an improvement, definitely. I think the songs are stronger and more focused, and the sound of the album is pretty awesome actually. We recorded the drums in the big cinema halls, the guitars in our studio at home, and then the vocals. Then we went to Andy Sneap's studio and finished it all off. It was done very quickly for an album like this that sounds so great. I think we were all very motivated and very focused, but so was Andy, but I do think something special happened in the writing of this album.

What this album really does is that it feels like a big anthology of epic tales told through heavy metal music, you've got a lot going on with the biblical themes to Marie Antoinette, Kubla Khan, The Battle of Hastings and even the Salem witch trials. It's got a very strong storytelling quality to it and it's definitely one of the greatest aspects of this album. What really inspired you to use all of these themes at once and to put them all together in this one album?

Well, I was a bit worried that it might turn into a history lesson. We always made historic songs, the last album Carpe Diem ('Seize The Day') it's about Roman invasion of England, and we always had an interest in history, but I think on this album we've brought it all together and I just thought "yeah, why not do it really", let's see what people think obviously, and everybody seems to like it so we did a good thing.

Were there any kind of particular sources of inspiration that kind of got to you when you were working on these songs?

Just history in general. Whether it is something in Roswell, which is about the conspiracy theory of the UFO crash, which again is history. I mean, these things interest me, and obviously interest millions of other people as well.

Yeah, that is very awesome indeed. But, does any song from this new album stand out to you for any particular reason, be it the lyrics, riffs or something else entirely?

I like 'Madam Guillotine', I think it's very good. The riffs are fantastic, and I think the chorus is very Alice Cooper-ish, so I am very pleased how that song turned out, I quite like that.

We can't leave out one of the most crucial factors that contributed a lot to this album, and that is Brian Tatler, Diamond Head guitarist, who joined the band's lineup last year. Did Brian manage to bring anything new to the table upon joining Saxon?

Yeah, he co-wrote three songs with me, so yeah, he wrote 3 guitar riffs for the band. I basically just asked him out of the blue "Have you got any ideas that you're not using?" and he went "Yeah, I got some ideas", so he sent them to me and I wrote 'Hell, Fire And Damnation' song, which turned out pretty great.

So, if this album turns out to be a massive success, then I think Brian Tatler would deserve to get a "pay rise" in the band for doing a good job *chuckles*.

Yeah, he'll definitely get a pay rise. The fans like it because you know Paul is a legend, and Brian is a legend, and everyone knows him from the Metallica connection, definitely. I think he's such a great replacement for Paul, but I don't think that he'll ever replace Paul really, I think Brian has his own thing, he's definitely a "riff meister". I think he works well for Saxon.

How does he feel about being a part of a band such as Saxon? I mean, both Diamond Head and Saxon are considered two very big names in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, so does he feel more comfortable working with you guys than he does with Diamond Head?

I think you'll have to ask him that, but he's very happy to be in Saxon and play bigger shows, and obviously he's really excited being involved in writing the album because we didn't ask him to write the album, we only asked him to go on tour with us, but he had some good ideas so I used them, so it's really exciting going on tour and play some songs that you had a hand in writing.

What I also wanted to talk about the new album that really struck me is the cover art, which was done by the Hungarian artist and Bornholm vocalist Péter Sallai. I think his artistic skills truly managed to convey the album's musical quality and atmosphere through the artwork. How did you guys come down to the decision to hire him to visually represent the essence of your new album?

I sent out some ideas that I had with the title of the artwork. I wanted it to signify the battle of good and evil, it's very sort of "Bible, religion and the prophecy", so I just wanted something a bit like the William Blake type stuff like "Paradise Lost". So, we sent out a sort of brief to all the artists that we wanted to use, and he came back with that one within four days, and we were like "yeah, that's brilliant, I like that one". So yeah, the artwork is great.

That's awesome to hear. I guess he's also a longtime Saxon fan considering the fact that he understands the source material and also the importance of working with a band such as you guys.

Yeah, and he has also done all the artwork for us, but we didn't use it. We haven't worked with him before, but yeah, he did a fantastic job. His visualization of what I wanted was great actually.

Can we expect to get some sort of special box set of "Hell, Fire And Damnation" with a booklet that contains all those unused artworks in the future?

Yeah, that would be great. There are box sets of the album, but that would be a good idea.

Ironically, when I listened to your album for the first time, I didn't immediately notice that you guys had the guest appearance of the famed English actor Brian Blessed as the narrator on the opening track 'The Prophecy', which was quite a marvellous move you pulled there. How was it working with such a fantastic actor that is Brian Blessed?

Well, it was great, we've known him for quite a while actually, he's friends with the band. He comes to see us sometimes, when we play at festivals in England. I just sent him a message saying "I got some words and some music, would you like to do the prologue to 'The Prophecy'for us?", so he said "yeah". I think doing that was very 1980-ish with the "spoken word", so I wanted to bring a bit of that 1980's flavour back, and it worked pretty well actually. Like I said, everything fell into place, very special for this album.

As you said he's a longtime friend of the band, did he ever say what album does he like the most out of the entire Saxon discography?

Well, probably Wheels Of Steel I would think.

That's awesome, that's a very classic album. I didn't even expect that Brian Blessed would like such music, I mean he's a very classy actor and he's over 80 years old, which is fantastic.

A lot of actors are into rock 'n roll though, it's the old thing that "all singers want to be actors and all actors want to be singers". So, we've got quite a lot of actors in show business, people that are into the band, it's a very peculiar thing.

Since I already mentioned the 'Battle Of Hastings/1066', you also did a song with Amon Amarth 'Saxons And Vikings' from two years back and even the music video was released 4 weeks ago. What is the story behind you working with Amon Amarth on that song and how was the overall experience?

Well, we've known Amon Amarth for quite a long time, I think we met them when they played their very first festival. Johan did a song with me called 'Predator' for the album Thunderbolt. They wrote a song called 'Saxons And Vikings', and who are you gonna ask? *chuckles* You're not gonna ask anybody else, are you? Because, we are Saxons, and they are Vikings, it's a no brainer really. I don't think it would have worked if you asked the singer of Sabaton, because they are called Sabaton, not Saxon. It's a good idea he had. And it was good fun up into the coast somewhere in the eastern part of Europe, we shot the music video for two days, it was good fun actually. I think while co-writing that song with them, it inspired me to write the '1066' song, because it's the next big piece of history after that one.

Yeah, basically since you made a song for yourselves like they did, not only did you make history in terms of what you did musically, but you also repeated history in terms of what happened back then in 1066.

Yeah, the thing with 'Saxons And Vikings' I think it's probably set in a year 900, and the Saxons beat the Vikings then. A bit later on, the Normans beat the Saxons, so it's a bit of a backwards and forwards thing going on.

Okay, so the last question I'd like to ask you is how do you personally feel about this album? I mean, how would you rank this album with some of Saxon's classic discography from the 80's? Do you think it's on par with some of the beloved albums of that era?

Yeah, I think this album is up there, definitely. We got it all packaged, the artwork, the songs, the sounds, I think it's up there in our Top 5/Top 6 albums definitely, but that's just my opinion.

That's great, I am very glad to hear it. It does really have a lot of quality to it. The one thing that I really admire about you guys is that you are veterans and a lot of bands around your age are not so inspired to write new stuff, they always feel under pressure. What kind of goal do you have when you work on music, how do you keep yourself inspired and what advice would you give to other bands?

Well, a lot of it comes from my motivation to write great lyrics and write great melodies. I think you just have to be motivated, because we always start with a great guitar riff, I think it's one of the keys to Saxon's longevity for the last 10 albums. I always like to start writing with a great guitar riff. Sometimes, we'll start with a chorus that I sing, but most of the time, it's a great guitar riff, and then you write the melody and the verse, or maybe the chorus. We're bringing the songs from a very firm basis, if you know what I mean.

Okay, thank you so much for doing this interview, Biff. I am really looking forward to catch Saxon live on tour someday and experience "Hell, Fire And Damnation" in its full glory. Are there any final words you'd like to say before we wrap this up?

I hope everybody likes the album, it's out on January 19th. Give it a listen, and keep faith! I hope that I'll see you people on tour somewhere!