Sombre Arcane

Let’s face every shit mind: this year we are cleanly not going to get another band that is engaged in our everyday problems more than ‘Tovarish’. Enough reasons for the Nihilistic Zine Sombre Arcane to support their first record. So, I just had to have a chat with these American guys and their experimental world.

Goebbels: Hail Comrade! First of all congratulations with your first baby ‘Da Tovarish’! I didn’t introduce the band very expanded in my review because I concentrated my effort on the description of your Experimental work; could you introduce yourself to our readers and tell us why everyone should get their hands on this release ?

Dmitri Myshkin- Vocals. Aleksy Kyariggovitch- Drums, Keyboards. Ivan Reyskalnikov- Guitars, Synth. Timur Revolutsia- Bass.

Our debut album "Da Tovarish" can be purchased through our myspace http://www.myspace.com/tovarishband and our website www.tovarish.org. We are currently in search of a label and distribution, so hopefully the album we be availible in stores soon. As for why one should get this album, please read on.

Goebbels: Tovarish means Comrade. It’s clear that you dedicate your work to the Red Army, Communism and the Russian glory in general but why all this simplicity in your choice ?

Idon't know if it is as simple as it seems. These ideas and expressions have had such a strong stigma for so many years that the mere words you mentioned are met with fear and hatred, most of all, perhaps, in the Unites States. Most today do not know the hearts and minds of the People and would rather shut out any opposing though than listen with open minds We have all known each other for many years and have worked together outside of music. Our ability to work together as a cohesive unit, everyone working hard and doing their part, is what drives us as a band and as people in general.

Goebbels: The album is your full-length debut. In my review I illustrated the band as a combination of the Experimental Black/Doom with Martial Ambient, although you portrayed it as a ‘Soviet Doom’ project. Can you tell us more about this description, please ?

It is hard to pinpoint exactly what our sound is, is it not? We have elements of ambient, doom metal, drone, stoner metal, and even black metal. The slow, crushing focus and the cold ambience of our music have an air of the Soviet era so we feel that 'Soviet Doom' is a proper title. We are uncompelled by facile fantasies of Gods and Devils, Good vs. Evil, or whatever motivates many black/doom acts.

The martial aspect—war, politics, and their aestheticization—is vastly more terrifying and, we believe, appropriate for the present and future of music in these veins.

Goebbels: ‘Da Tovarish’ hits me like an ocean of unusual and strange sounds. Your massive composition, excellent song writing skills and superb production have convinced me of your uniqueness. What is the secret in obtaining all these musical aspects ?

Part of the secret is that we play very slowly. Some may not comprehend the intense discipline and solidarity it takes to play at tempos averaging 30 beats-per-minute—merely playing these songs is a martial exercise! "Da Tovarish" witnesses tempos so slow as to challenge the human brain’s capacity to process rhythm as such. This, for one, may be the secret of that oceanic feeling. Explaining the other secrets of our sound is a bit more complicated and requires contextualization.

It's now plain to see that one of the most significant impacts of black metal on the underground has been a broad acceptance of a very thin, narrow, and flat style of production. This is not to criticize, only to point out that there is this sound, and that bands have pursued it for more than a decade, and that it’s time for something fresh. So the other secret to our sound is careful recording, mixing, and mastering, which we do entirely on our own.

Compared to the true black tradition, "Da Tovarish" has lots of very low bass on it—not thumping dance-music-type bass, mind you, but waves of ultra-low frequencies that contribute to a far more visceral sound, so, in this respect, you may find us drawing from doom, stoner, and drone styles. [Incidentally, this means that listeners should endeavor to listen to this album on real speakers, and very loudly, otherwise this crucial aspect of our compositions will be lost—earbuds and laptop speakers are incapable of reproducing "Da Tovarish" in its intended form.] Likewise, the production spans into the uppermost frequencies; we do not try to “warm” our sound by reducing harsh, high frequencies, and there you see we draw from the aggressive ambience of power electronics. The rest is mostly knowing how to wrangle our expansive range of sounds. For bands with simple, traditional instrumentation, it’s easy to know how to record and mix a guitar, for example, but where in the mix does one put gunshots, mortars, and a political speech? That requires some ingenuity but, when it’s done right, the outcome is, as you say, massive as well as unique

Goebbels:  How hard is it to get the atmospheres the way you want them to be recorded and mixed in songs of such Martial release (Shitting Christ!!!! Stalin’s speeches, clean chords, bombardments, and folkloric and patriotic hymns)? What was the main challenge in getting all these melanges right ?

Once we have a theme in mind, we find the right sound to fit. Maybe we go and make or find new samples, but we have a large sample database from years of work. Sometimes one song has 18 tracks or more. The main challenge is to listen - maybe several dozen times to each track as it is added to the whole song. The range of allowable sounds in metal hasn’t changed significantly since the 1970’s. Guitar, bass, drum, vocal: how exciting are these today? The Italian Futurists—Russolo, et al.—noted early in the 20th Century that, in an age of industrial production, mechanized warfare, etc., the sounds of traditional instruments are pathetic and weak compared to the majesty of, say, a diesel-fueled wheat-thresher.

These men were wise beyond their years, yet here we are nearly 100 years later merely playing electrified versions of 19th century instruments! Absurd. For this reason, Tovarish has from the beginning sought to expand the ways these old instruments are played as well as using field recordings, found sound, harsh electronics, or whatever else best conveys our visions. The biggest challenge is finding the right fit for every part--as mentioned already, there is no template for this style. There are many pieces to our musical puzzle, between the instruments, the vocals, and the backing speeches and hymns. Sometimes songs will start off with a speech, a traditional hymn, or even a song title. From there, we take that idea or mood and build upon it. We have scrapped entire songs because they do not fit the mood we are looking for.

Goebbels: Did you use extern help for producer, mix or mastering ?

No. Everything is done by Tovarish in a state-funded studio in Rhode Island, USA. It is free to the people and state-funded, like Soviet studio.

Goebbels: Your length documents the history of communism from 1922(the creation of URSS) and maybe since the first days of the Bolshevik revolution to the present. But does it provide some profound socio-political commentary on the current state of world affairs ?

It can no longer be denied that a radical left grows. Capitalist greed destroyed worldwide finance system. World capitalist systems continue to fail. It happens every few years. When capitalism fails, the state must clean up mess. Every time the state cleans up the mess made by greedy bankers and brokers. When banks are pyramid schemes and collapse - the state must pay. And when there are too many without jobs or homes in street - the state must pay. Is times like this when the left grows.

We are in special time for the world left-wing. There are dark times ahead. Murder, mayhem, and death. The light times are not real, are not safe, are not good. Only through darkness can man see other man in true nature. Only through revolution can this come about.

Goebbels: To get the picture complete: why did you adopt this political ideology ?

In these desperate times, you must look to your comrades for a hand. The struggles are heavy, but many hands make light work.

Goebbels: Marxism is just a utopian vision to this world. I agree with you when you say that the dialectic of our history is always the same and the capitalism system will be destroyed some day. But, as Goldwyn illustrated: If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive…you see! The real dialectic of humanity is the auto destruction; there is nothing in our instincts called “Tolerance, community, solidarity”. So, can you comment and criticize my point of view, please ?

You’re welcome to drop dead whenever you choose, the dialectic we are concerned with is not personal or psychological, it is historical and political.

Many ancient people understood that there is, in fact, something in our instincts aside from being-toward-death, the death drive, or whatever it may be named.

Look at the scales of Radamanthus or the charioteer of the Phaedrus. Destruction, death, and the negative motions of dialectic are meaningless without a countervailing tendency of humanity toward tolerance, community, solidarity, etc.

How would self-destruction become horrific (or majestic, for that matter) without an innate reckoning of these other fundamental instincts?

The difference between Marxists and the aforementioned, however, is that we are not talking about souls, we are talking about historical material subjects for whom dichotomies such as Good and Evil are not stamped upon metaphysical Being but instead inculcated by superstructural state apparatuses which may or may represent the People’s interests. More to the point, Marxism may envision a utopian end to the dialectic of history but it remains skeptical about that possibility and, therefore, takes a proactive, pragmatic approach to that project.

Consider Marx’s materialist correction of Hegelian dialectics: “The weapon of criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism by weapons, material force must be overthrown by material force; but theory also becomes a material force as soon as it has gripped the masses.” Music, too, has such power to grip the masses, and this vision has little to do with a utopia, a nowhere-place of heaven on Earth, rather it has everything to do with tangible progress for the People within the here-and-now.

I think that much has been extrapolated from works of Marx that is incorrect. Utopian vision does arrive one day via Hegel's dialectic, but it is not here now nor for a very long time.. Since Marx wrote worldwide there have been HUGE strides in socialism. Socialized schools funded by state and taxes, socialized medicine, socialized pension, socialized banks, more public sector employment, etc.

Regardless of any other view, it cannot be denied that the dialectic of history continues to slowly turn. It is true that death is great escape and only true escape. But not all among us are ready to die. While we are still alive, all of humanity has a heart, and it beats to the left!

Goebbels: What can you say for people who think that music must be independent from any political or philosophical orientation ?

That is acceptable. Many may not understand where we are coming from or what we are speaking of, but they can enjoy the music, free of ideology if they so choose.

Goebbels: What would you like to achieve with Tovarish? What is the highest goal of you guys? Is it homage to your ideological beliefs? there a shared goal between you guys? Or have you achieved it already ?

We did not start with a specific goal in mind, but we are pleased with how things have progressed. We would like a strong label to help spread our music across the globe and possibly tour.

Goebbels: What is the band up to in the coming months; in other words, why should we keep an eye and ear out for you ?

We are starting to write our next album, tentatively titled "Red Hearts in a Dead World". It will be a concept album about the October Revolution. Tentative song titles include "The Aurora" "Storming the Winter Palace" and "1918", which will be 19 minutes and 18 seconds long!