Interview conducted by Naberius with Serpens Cauda (Drums) of Eisenfaust.
-Naberius-
-Serpens Cauda-
Please give the readers a brief history of Eisenfaust.
Eisenfaust started as an idea of Khopho (Guitar and Vocals) and Wyrrrg (Bass.) The idea was to create music especially melodic black metal (Naglfar, Dissection, etc.) and to insert their thoughts, ideologies, and points of view on certain subjects. Khopho met Serpens at a party and invited him to join on drums. On the first rehearsal, we worked on Burzum's "War," and Mayhem's "Deathcrush" and "Freezing Moon." After that, we changed Wyrrrg to vocals because of his amazing ability of growling as Dead and Varg Vikernes. Later, we invited Gauss (Bass) and started thinking on the name Eisenfaust. We, generally, after every rehersal, drank and discussed on capitalism and communism an historical events and their consequences, etc. This led Eisenfaust to it's war fanaticism. Later, after we composed music and started playing in different places, the band started to have it's differences and is now currently on standby. We are waiting for a decision; if it is to end the band or continue playing.
What is Eisenfaust about? What is your message? Or are you just creating music?
Every member of Eisenfaust likes black metal with a few variations. For example, Wyrrrg likes folk black metal and Serpens likes avantgarde and raw black metal. Eisenfaust is about mixing our influences in each song to make the perfect mix for us. The message we try to give people is that black metal is not dead. That black metal is about the evil in mankind which will always be, whether you accept it or not. War, of course, has a very direct relation with evil. There are monetary interests, murder, torture, abuse, etc. We think that evil is in it's greatest expression during these events.
Release wise, what do you have to offer the listeners?
We offer our listeners what we think is music worthy of hearing for an audience used to listening to black and death metal which we know would understand our music as a whole and not just taking one song and trying to make instant judges from it. Besides that, we offer some variation on the style of our songs. This variation is because of the theme that would be treated during the song and the variables we think it may need so that the music fits perefectly to the lyrics.
Any releases planned for the future?
As mentioned before, we are waiting for the decision to be made. Nevertheless, we are willing to play in the future and release an album or two depending on the members that we could count with.
Generally, when I think of Mexico, the first things that come to my mind are tequila and death metal. Is there a decent black metal scene in Mexico that is overlooked or is it, in fact, dominated by death metal?
Yes, there is a good black metal scene in Mexico. We have played in a few spots in Mexico and we have seen very good black metal bands. The problem is that in Mexico we lack support in comparison with death metal. There are more death metalheads than black metallers. We would like to mention a few bands that are worthy of listening or searching for news of: Malebolge, Darkness of Blood, Belzabet, MoonLightningHell, Magan, Black Vomit, Amors et Bello, Aghro Maynins, etc. The death metal sceen is very big here and there are many bands playing death metal. That's why black metal has less support than death metal. Nevertheless, we think black metal in Mexico, especially here, in Monterrey, could have a future if recording labels and producers were interested in black metal from here.
Your site says that Eisenfaust is influeced by history. Can you elaborate more on this? Is it reflected in the lyrics?
Yes, as mentioned before, Eisenfaust's lyrics are mainly of historcal events and characters. Also, includeing some fiction as on Venus Gospel, which talks about how we think a cosmic war could be. As an example, we have the song "Beserker," which is a warrior in the Nordic culture, the song "Stalingrad Blitzkrieg," based on the fall of Stalingrad, and "Blaspehemia," which talks about the crusades.
In continuation of the above question, who would you say is an influence on the musical side?
On the musical side, every member has their own musical taste. For example, Serpens likes Arcturus, Darkthrone, Ulver, etc. Gauss likes old Sepultura, old Fear Factory, Mayhem, and old Pantera. Wyrrrg likes Storm, Burzum, In Extremo, Windir, etc. Khopho likes Dissection, Emperor, Mayhem, Castrum, Arcturs, etc. Java has some death metal influences like Death, Adagio, Morbid Angel, Therion, and Dissection and our recent member, Pena, has a more classical background and a deep concern on minimalist/experimental classical music.
Listening to the songs you have up, I'm noticing quite variation in the songs. The live ones you have up are very raw and aggressive while the ones off of "The Path of War" have things like acoustic guitars amd clean vocals. Do you choose aggressive ones to play live on purpose? I also notice that you have a cello player. Is this person actually "in" the band and do you use them live?
"The Path of War" was our first recording. The album has six songs which three of them are not that raw but we still don't forget the factors of raw black metal. We like to experiment with more elements to create more ambiances and try not the be playing the same stuff every song. We play about six songs every time we play. We choose the songs depending on ourselves. If we have not played "Throne Ov Fyre" in the last four events, we play it on the fifth event. That's our way of rotating our song inventory. We have only started with the cello a few months ago and yes, we are planning to use the cello as a reference for the song making process. He has played with us live two times. We have "Tyranus" in which he covers almost every bit of the ambiance of the song with his cello.
Being, obviously, war oriented, the use of clean vocals and acoustic guitars may come as a surprise to some people that associate "war oriented metal" with nothing but aggressive music. Why did you decide to use these other methods as well?
Yes, from our point of view, to cover the world in war in its whole aspect we thought that the sorrow and grief these events bring cannot be overlooked. To give our listeners the complete idea of what war is for us, we use the acoustic guitars and low tempo rhythms to create an atmosphere of grief and pain. As in the song "Venus Gospel," which includes acoustic guitars, clean vocals, and riffs full of pain and sorrow.
This is your space where you can get anything else out that needs to be said. Hails, curses, and final thoughts.
Well, first we salute our friends at Tongue of the Wolf for the opportunity to give our audience a bit more information on the band, especially Naberius who delivered this interview to us. We would also like to thank DMD Studios who helped us with the mixing and recording of "The Path of War." Also, the bands and the people that have always believed in us and all the legions that have always been watching our back and fighting this endless war with our fellow black metal warriors.