Sombre Arcanec

Totalselfhatred restored my faith in Depressive Black Metal music with their self-titled debut in 2008. Now, it is time to know some of their secrets and how a person can "crush the circles of self-inflicted suffering"!

Goebbels: Hails brother! First of all, how are you doing?

A.: Lots to do, working on the next album and preparing for the Tour in autumn.

Goebbels: Is there some advancement in the research of a new key-board player?

A.: Yes, we’ve found a new keyboard-player: M.

Goebbels: After the release of ‘TotalSelfHatred M. left your universe. It got quite confusing. Care to elucidate those happenings?

A.: I don’t know where you got this info but the correct story goes like this: J. played (part of the) keys on the debut and then moved over to play guitar which is his main-instrument anyway.
After this we searched and found M. as a new keyboard-player.

Goebbels: Totalselfhatred has been out for a year now and I am still amazed by its utter melancholy: but what is TSH for you? Is it a way of reacting your everyday problems or maybe an expression of a cold imagination?

A.: It is a part of us, extracted and exaggerated, a way to express feelings hold back and gathered within ourselves. It is s not imagination but there are imaginative pictures within the lyrics, to express the feelings, kind of paint with words...

Goebbels: How should we see the album title? Did you make an eponym one simply because it is your debut record, or do the content of the release cover the same fucking topics?

A.: It is the same with the Total self-hatred song: it expresses the basics/the birth of this band, and how was our debut. The title expressed at the same time what this band and this record is all about. For the next album we take a step forward so this album will have a title on its own.

Goebbels: You mentioned your band as a symbol for rebirth through pain. Tell us a bit about this concept and its consequences for the musical process in general?

A.: Life is full of mishaps and full of choices. One choice is to complain, another choice is to try to make the best out of it, learn from you own mistakes instead of complaining about others, taking a step forward out of the mud.

In the musical process it means extreme criticism towards our music, I definitely always want it be better to what we did before. The songwrting for the next album could be finished by now but instead we skipped a lot of stuff which was good but not enough for the standards we set for the coming album.

Goebbels: While your sound is very cold and direct mostly, there are also some…emmm….I will not say optimistic and contemplative passages with a lot of professionalism. Am I wrong when I interpret them as a representation of this resurrection?

A.: Yes, TSH is not all about negativism; it is about the positive things you achieve being critical towards the self as well. If you blend the negative and the positive you’ll achieve a feeling mostly called melancholy, the luck of being unlucky or other way around...

Goebbels: "The band was found to create truly melancholic and desperate sounds capes and to unravel the blackened thoughts, the blessing and the curse of the inability to think either black or white nor in-between". Honestly, it is really exciting to hear a formation just play with a philosophical and even opposed atmospheres and seemingly doing whatever the hell it wants to do. A lot of guys tend to want to be too evilly and apocalyptic in recent times and loose this magic feels of another…maybe a rational vision to the world! Do you feel this is what possibly sets your band apart from a lot of well known Black Metal acts?

A.: Yes!

Goebbels: Let’s talk about specific details! The music seems to be dynamic and barbaric, but lethargic and doomy as well! There is a lot of different elements into one sound, how do you get it all crammed in?

A.: Ha, ha, well! Before I had a band or project for each sound until I realized I could do it all in one without being crossover, it is simply a basic atmosphere that has to be present in all the songs, the feel that emerges out of the music.

Goebbels: Ruoska is a real stupendous track. Tell us a bit about its composition and the idea behind its strange title?

A.: Thanks! Ruoska means "whip" in english and the title actually emerged from the sound in the beginning of the track as a working title. Later we got the idea that to make a lyrical theme out of it with the idea of life "whipping" you forwards if you like it or not, life putting you into situation where you have to do choices or were life does choices for you, forces you to think about a certain matter, which again might affect you in doing decisions and changes in your own life.

Goebbels: Could you tell us something about the Spirituelle Equilibrium and how a person can reach this balance?

A.: I think I would have to be a "god" to be able to tell you how to reach this balance. The song is more about personal experience which gave us the feeling of getting closer to this balance.

Goebbels: Just out of curiosity: A “Spirituelle Equilibrium”!!! Can we see it as an Ataraxia?

A.: Yes, I think it is quite similar.

Goebbels: In the meantime you did more shows in Europe. Can you tell us a bit more about these live experiences until now? What were highlights for instance?

A.: We had our first gig ever last Saturday and it was a good experience. We still have to grow together as a band but things have started well.

Goebbels: Most of you guys are also active in other bands, like Horna, Pest and Korgonthurus. Are there some difficulties in your time’s division?

A.: So far I think we managed well. Of course this might change with more gigs, albums etc...

Goebbels: So what else have you guys got planned for the future? Will TSH be steered unto a slightly different path, or will you stay true to the original concept behind your rational vision to the world?

A.: We definitely want to keep up the TSH typical spirit but we also definitely want to develop and add something new.

Goebbels: Well, I hope I haven't asked too much questions that you have already answered in other corners. Anything I have forgotten to ask yet which is essential to report in this interview?

A.: No, the interview was definitely interesting to answer Djihad!! Thanks a lot!!

MySpace: www.myspace.com/totalselfhatred

Site: www.totalselfhatred.net/