Over
a career that has spanned more than fifteen years, Krisiun (latin for 'Seers Of
Abomination') have slowly risen up from the underground to emerge as one of the
leaders of the current death/thrash metal scene and to become one of Brazil's
biggest metal exports since the mighty Sepultura. Building on the strength of
their previous full-length releases, Krisiun (who comprise of vocalist/bassist
Alex Camargo, guitarist Moyses Kolesne and drummer Max Kolesne) again worked with
German producer Andy Classen (who they previously worked with on 2000's 'Conquerors
Of Armageddon' and 2006's 'AssassiNation') to emerge with 'Southern Storm' - hailed
as their strongest and most brutal effort to date.
With the
band confirming their first ever tour of Australia in support of their seventh
full-length album, I caught up with Moyses Kolesne at home in Brazil to discuss
the band's upcoming tour plans, working with Andy Classen, the band's tribute
to Sepultura and the overwhelming critical acclaim to their latest release 'Southern
Storm'.
"A lot of people have been saying that 'Southern
Storm' is our best album so far, or at least the best one since 'Conquerors Of
Armageddon'. We're happy with that response and very happy with the feedback we've
been getting from all over the world. We just finished touring in Europe, and
we're about to tour the U.S., and then we'll be travelling to Australia for the
first time, so I guess you could say that the new album is opening new doors for
us. And the sales of 'Southern Storm' are the strongest that we've ever had before
too. So everything with this new album is going really well and we're really happy
with it."
Despite the band's success in the past, there's
no denying that 'Southern Storm' has already surpassed Krisiun's previous efforts
in terms of sales and critical acclaim, and in the process introduced them to
a wider audience. But when asked about the reasons why 'Southern Storm' has taken
off the way it has, Kolesne is at a loss for an explanation.
"We
really don't know why the album has done so well! I guess it's the end result
of all the hard work we've put into the band over the years. We've toured everywhere
and recorded new albums in-between those times, so it's been a natural development
for a band that has worked so hard. We're not as successful as Slayer or those
other big name bands, but things finally seem to be happening for us on a higher
level than they have done ever before. We've made a concerted effort to make things
happen for ourselves. Even if the whole world is against us, we still believed
in this band and tried to work at keeping this unit together through development
and recording new albums. We pushed aside where we were going to go with this
band and focussed more on delivering some music for the world to enjoy. And it
was the same approach we took with 'Southern Storm'. All we tried to do was to
make a really straight-forward album this time around, and try not to spend too
much time on things that didn't need that much time spent on them. But this is
an album that came straight from our hearts. We just jammed together, and tried
not to think too much and making sure that is sounding like this or like that.
We just recorded the music that we wanted to hear and that we wanted to play without
any pressure from the record label or the media in general. So this album came
out just like I said before, very straight-forward. There are no intros, or the
small things that we have done in the past. I'm not saying anything against the
things we have done in the past, but this time we preferred to produce something
that's a little more straight-forward sounding. Maybe on the next album we might
include an intro and some interesting things in-between the songs. But for this
album, we wanted a straight-forward death/thrash metal vibe, and it seems to have
worked for us."
Krisiun don't seem to be the kind of band
that compromise on their music, but as Kolesne says, it hasn't stopped representatives
from their label (Century Media Records) making a few suggestions in terms of
direction.
"These days, there are so many trends out there.
There's a particular kind of music that is played on radio, another for MTV, and
the rest on whatever. Sometimes bands lose their original sound or vibe because
they want to fit within that system. We've always said that we were never going
to do that. But then sometimes the record label will ask us if we can include
a couple of mid-tempo slower tracks for the new album! (Laughs) But we're always
going to do whatever we want to do. After so many years of touring, playing and
recording, we've slowly developed and matured our own style and sound. We don't
really care about those guys' opinions, or anyone else's for that matter. We like
you, and appreciate your support. But when it comes to our music, we make what
we want, for us."
Part of the success with 'Southern Storm'
can be attributed to producer Andy Classen, who not only managed to capture Krisiun's
raw and uncompromising sound, but who has also given the band their strongest
production yet.
"We had Classen in our minds from the
start. Since we recorded the 'AssassiNation' album in 2006, we noticed that we
were starting to get back into business in terms of sales, and a lot of that came
down to people liking the production on the album. We really liked that production
too, so we figured that if we did a pretty good album with Classen once before,
we might as well try and do another one as well. He understands our music, and
he thinks the same way about music as us too. He's a good friend of ours. We asked
him if he was available for us this time around, and even though he had been scheduled
to do another album with a different band, he gave up on that one so that he could
do this one for us. He was really looking forward to working with us again, so
we decided to go with him. We tried to develop beyond what we did on 'AssassiNation',
and tried to do something even heavier and something with a raw and natural sound
without over-relying on computers and pro-tools stuff. Classen's the kind of guy
that thinks the way we think. He's not a fancy guy, and he likes things like we
do, and I think that really shows on the latest album."
Krisiun
are no strangers when it comes to doing cover songs, and as expected, Krisiun
have included a classic on 'Southern Storm'. But what's surprising about this
cover is their choice of classic - Sepultura's 'Refuse/Resist' (from 1993's 'Chaos
A.D.').
"In the past, we always said that we were going to don a Sepultura
song. But then time simply went by, and we ended up doing covers of Motörhead,
Sodom, Kreator, Morbid Angel, Slayer and Venom in the meantime. But this time,
we finally figured that now was the right time to do something for Sepultura,
and we ended up doing this track. But to tell you the truth, we weren't actually
thinking about doing a cover version for 'Southern Storm' initially. It wasn't
until we were in the recording studio doing some sound-checks for Classen that
we decided to go ahead with a cover. We were just playing around so Classen could
get the levels right, and it was 'Refuse/Resist' that we ended up jamming on once
we had the sound we were after. It was then that Andy asked us, 'Why don't you
guys record that song? That song sounds really good. Perhaps we could make the
song sound heavier?' So we ended up doing this track without even thinking too
much about it. Maybe if we had thought about it, and decided to do a Sepultura
track for the album, we might have chosen an older song. But this song was the
one that we were ready to do, and 'Refuse/Resist' came out just like you hear
it. It was simply the only song from Sepultura that we knew how to play at that
time! (Laughs)"
Another interesting piece to note about
'Refuse/Resist' is that it also features a guest contribution from Classen on
rhythm guitar.
"Over the years, Classen has become a friend
of ours. He's stayed with us from time to time, and we've always had a good time
together. So when we were recording this song, we started smoking some weed, and
he picked up the guitar and told us how cool it was to play the riff. So when
he was doing that, we suggested that he help us out with a few rhythm parts. He
didn't want to intrude, but we insisted he be a part of that song. In the end,
he ended up doing it. We liked that a lot, because we ended up with something
a little different, and it was more in the spirit of jamming with someone. It
was something special for us to get someone outside of the band to jam with us
to give the album a bit of a free spirit in a sense. That's how the song ended
up sounding. He contributed to some rhythm parts, and the lead. Everything was
really spontaneous on that song. Nothing was planned at all. I guess it's a good
song for the album, because the song is one of the slower ones, and yet still
very heavy. I think it really fits on the album. There are a lot of fast songs,
and then you get this one which is a bit slower. I think it stops things from
getting really boring you know."
Unlike a lot of bands,
Krisiun have remained consistent throughout their lengthy career. According to
Kolesne, Krisiun's inspiration to remain true to the death metal cause simply
comes down to a love of creating brutal music.
"I guess
you could say that its everyday life that inspires us. We have it in our hearts
to play this kind of heavy music. We have never thought about changing our style
or sound to please the media or record label to get sales or whatever. When we
get together and start jamming, we always end up playing this kind of music. It's
always spontaneous, and not something that sounds like we really have it planned
out. When we started playing in this band, we never set out to play this particular
style of death metal music. We just got together and started playing. And today,
we still have that same feeling and approach to our music. When we get together
and we start jamming, this is just the music that we enjoy making together. It's
brutal, fast and thrashing, but very spontaneous in its creation. And after all
these years, we're still creating the same style of music, purely because this
is what we love doing. I guess this is what really makes us happy, because if
we started playing some different kind of music, I guess we wouldn't be as happy.
If we really did start changing our style of music, then we shouldn't be playing
in Krisiun any more. I mean, as a guitar player, I'll sometimes play some classical
and some jazz stuff on the acoustic guitar outside of the band. If I ever did
something different from Krisiun, I would do some instrumental stuff that's within
that same style. Alex on the other hand is more into blues and rock and roll,
like Jimi Hendrix and AC/DC. So I guess if he ever did something outside the band,
he might do something along those lines. As for Max, I guess he's more into jazz
and stuff like that. It's hard to say what would happen if we did something else,
because we've never talked about it before. But you never know. Maybe when we
get really old, we might just start doing some different stuff! (Laughs) But as
for right now, we're in Krisiun, and Krisiun is about playing aggressive, fast
and brutal music you know."
And it's that aggressive,
fast and brutal music that Krisiun have been busy delivering to the masses on
the live front, with the band having recently completed an eight day tour around
Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
"Since 2007, we've been touring
in those eastern European countries, and going further and further into those
areas that few bands tour into. We've played in some really far away countries,
and in places where people don't get to see many touring bands, if any at all.
So when you go and play in these places, they really appreciate it. We find that
playing in those places is better for us, rather than playing in the same places
that you play every year. We asked our promoter to book a tour in Russia, and
we ended up playing ten shows over there. We were travelling over one thousand
kilometres every fucking day, and playing places where some people have never
heard anything like us before. So some of the shows were kind of weird, because
some of these people don't even dress like metal guys you know. I don't have anything
against the way they dress, but it was definitely something different for us.
But they like the music and the energy that comes from a band like us. They don't
put us in any particular genre, and we didn't attract just a death metal audience.
They were there simply because they like metal. I don't really know how to explain
that tour, but it was a great feeling. They really appreciated us playing for
them, because they're not spoilt for choice. And they certainly weren't a bored
crowd. They really seemed to get into the music, and gave off some really good
energy."
And the band certainly has a busy schedule ahead
of themselves, with the month long North America '25 Years Of Destruction' tour
alongside Destruction and Mantic Ritual.
"We're looking
forward to that. The U.S. is always a good place for us to play. We've been over
there before, and this time we're going out with Destruction, who are a great
thrash metal band. We'll also be returning back to the U.S. in September with
Obituary, Goatwhore, The Bezerker and Warbringer. So we're looking forward to
that tour as well. Touring the U.S. is really good, because it's a really big
country, and we can play like thirty-five shows in a row, and that's just in the
one country! (Laughs) It's very different from the rest of the world."
But
if there's one tour that the band are really looking forward to, it's their first
visit to Australia - locked in for April.
"We're really
happy to be coming to Australia for the first time ever! We have always dreamed
of going down there one day, and after so many years, it is finally happening.
I know the population is not big, but we know that Australia has a solid metal
scene. I know some bands that have toured down there, and they've played to some
big crowds, and some played to some small crowds. So I guess it depends on what
your band represents. This is our first time down there, so we're not expecting
too many people at the shows, but I am expecting some older diehard fans there,
you know. And we'll also try and introduce our music to those who have never heard
about us before. It's not a really long show, because the kind of music we play
means that after an hour, it can get a bit boring! (Laughs) We're going to give
our best, and try and make the shows full of energy, and hope that the sound is
really good. So I hope that people will really enjoy it. For us, this trip is
really special. Australia is very much like Brazil. It's something special, because
it's a country that few bands get to play all the time. It's so far away, and
it's expensive to get there. So for us, we're really fucking happy to get the
chance to play down there, because every year we get to play in Europe, North
America and South America. But now we've been given the chance to go outside this
circle. When there's something new, it inspires us and gives us that much more
motivation. I think this tour of Australia will be quite motivating for us, even
if the shows are going to be quite small. But we don't care. We're just going
to give one hundred percent at every show, give our best, and try to have a really
good time while we're in Australia."
I would like to
thank Moyses Kolesne for his generous time, and Jason Martin at Bleed Records
for making the interview possible.
For more information
on Krisiun, check out - http://www.krisiun.com.br
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
