Interview with Icorp recording artists:

REQUIEM AETERNUM

Jose Romero is the singer/guitarist and founder of Requiem Aeternum from Uruguay. He is also a published author. His book is entitled, “Escritos Prohibidos” (Forbidden Writings). We had a nice hour-long conversation which involved philosophy and theology as much as music. It’s not everyday that you get to talk to a guy like this.

CRITICALTOM: Have you guys moved to New York, or are you just visiting?

JOSE: I am going to stay in New York for a while, maybe a few years. We are working hard to promote the album and plan to play some festivals.

CRITICALTOM: Do you have any festivals confirmed as yet?

JOSE: So far we are scheduled for the Northwest Metal Fest and the Milwaukee Metal Fest.

CRITICALTOM: Is “Philospher” your first album?

JOSE: No. it is our second. The first one was recorded at the end of 1997 and released in 1998. It was only released and promoted in Latin America.

CRITICALTOM: Was it recorded with the same line-up? (I asked knowing that Martin Lopez and Martin Mendez were once in the band).

JOSE: We have actually had three line-ups. The first line-up included Martin Lopez and Martin Mendez before they went to Sweden to join Opeth. We recorded only one song, a demo, that appeared on a compilation. Then there was the line-up in Uruguay. We recorded the first album together. They stayed in Uruguay. So when I came here I recorded the album with Maciej Kupiszewski (bass) and Alex Hernandez (drums).

CRITICALTOM: Did you write all the music yourself, or did they help?

JOSE: I basically wrote all the songs myself in the five-year period since the last album. I wrote four of them in Uruguay, and four of them here. I have to admit that I had good input from Maciej and Alex, but I wrote the music myself.

CRITICALTOM: But they added their own touch . . . ?

JOSE: Yes. They have their own personality. You can recognize it when they play. I like for the other musicians to add their own touch to the album.

CRITICALTOM: Tell me about your label, ICorp America. Are they a Latin American label?

JOSE: They are in Latin America, but I think they are also in Europe and maybe have other bands in the U.S. I don’t really pay attention to those things. I like to work with a label because they are reliable and do good work. I don’t worry as much about how big they are.

CRITICALTOM: How have the reviews of the band been so far?

JOSE: Most of them are going very well. A few have complained about my accent. But overall we are very pleased with the reviews.

CRITICALTOM: The album “Philosopher” is about the subject of philosophy. Tell a little about your interest in philosophy.

JOSE: I am an economist, but I also like philosophy. My book, “Forbidden Writings”, is about my philosophy which I call “philosophy of destiny”. It is a way of seeing the real meaning of life. The book is composed of one hundred writings structured in four sections. The album, “Philosopher”, follows the book. It has basically 2 songs per section.

In music I like to do something different from everybody else. I know others have touched on philosophical themes, but I don’t know of anyone who has dedicated a whole album to philosophy.

POSTSCRIPT

All interviews, like all religious writings, are edited texts. As I mentioned above, Jose and I talked for about an hour. We talked a lot about Nietzsche, some about Rousseau, Maimonides, and such. It was a real meeting of the minds. Anyway, the good stuff that won’t bore you is printed above.