Ελληνικά
Last Updated on 10:48 PM by Giorgos Tsekas
After the release of “Between Roots and Darkness”, Metal Invader talked with the frontman of Blessed by Perversion about their brand new album, the Greek Death Metal scene, Religion and many more…Sinners and Damned to Hell from all over the world, this is your band! Enjoy!
Hello Andreas! Welcome to Metal Invader! Tell us about Blessed by Prerversion! When and how did they start?
Well, Blessed by Perversion was created in the mid of 2010 by me and our lead guitarist, Kostas, and they’re playing Death Metal.
And how did that name occur?
The idea came from a thought of mine to give a band-name that would combine the religious factor (Blessed), that refers to the lyrical theme, and the extreme factor (Perversion) as a part of the music we play.
Your lyrics are about God and Religion. Why did you choose these lyrical themes?
Our lyrics specifically oppose to every form of organized religion. As long as we live in Greece, in which the main doctrine is Orthodox Christianity, we inspire ourselves from things and facts that occur to this part of religion.
We also believe that man has no need of any religious guidance or faith to a “God” to reach anything in his life and as a result we try to convince people to believe as much as they can in their own power and abilities and use the maximum of their capacities.
Specialists who perused the lyrics of the song “Whispers from above” detected hidden, abusive messages in it. If we play that song backwards, are we going to listen to a subliminal message? (laughs)
Haha I don’t think so. Anyway, there is no reason to pass a subliminal message. Whatever we have to say, we say it straight in the face. We play Death Metal, not Pop!
Who writes the music for Blessed by Perversion? Which bands have inspired you?
The main composer is our lead guitarist Kostas, but in one way or another everyone is taking part in the composition process, for example, by sending or showing during the rehearsals a riff. Everyone except me. I write only lyrics, haha.
Generally we listen to music a lot. Tons of bands. For sure the genre that we listen to the most and love is Metal (most of its sub-genres, not all). We won’t close our ears to other genres; music itself has a lot of interesting versions! What I want to say is that our music composition is not only influenced by Metal and the extreme sound. Ηowever, based on the comments of our listeners I would say that the most influential bands in our music are Deicide, Morbid Angel and Suffocation.
Is it true that your lead guitarist started his music career by playing the bouzouki? How did the transition to Metal happen? Did it happen due to a specific metal album that touched him? Do you think that listening to other music genres beyond metal can have a positive contribution to the music composition?
Yes, it’s true. He started playing the bouzouki approximately at the age of 8-9. Afterwards he started playing the guitar, without of course giving up the bouzouki. The transition to Metal, if I am not mistaken, should have happened after listening to Iron Maiden.
Yes, I believe that listening to other music genres could have a positive contribution to the music composition. Songs written by open-minded composers can be more interesting (and of course original) in contrast to songs written by close minded players, that only play what they listen to.
Well, let’s talk about your releases. Blessed by Perversion made their first appearance with the Destroy The Image Of God EP in 2012. The crowd feedback was positive and many fans have followed you since then. What, do you think, made your first EP so successful?
The success of our first EP is a result of a patient and without rush production. From the composition till the final master of the songs, we did not hurry ourselves and took as long as we needed in order for the result to be what exactly we wanted to be. The same thing happened with “Between Roots and Darkness”.
You have already presented some tracks from the new full-length “Between Roots and Darkness”. The Press has made many outstanding comments about it. What about the crowd/fans feedback? Are there any positive or negative comments?
Although I think it’s a little bit early to come to a conclusion, I could say that the first reactions are positive. Everyone that has purchased the CD or has listened to some of its songs on YouTube are very satisfied with the result.
The comments are mostly about the good production that was made at Infected Studios by George from Mass Infection, and also about the good composition. I haven’t heard something negative yet but every feedback is welcome. It’s impossible for something to be accepted by everyone; it’s a matter of taste.
What about the artwork? What does it symbolize?
The artwork symbolizes the human souls (skulls) that are trapped between the roots and the darkness (a.k.a. underground). In other words, it tries to show that the soul rots down there, along with human body and does not escape for another place like Paradise.
The creator (that happens to be Kostas) had in mind the last four lines of the lyrics from the first song of the album “Into Funereal Darkness” and of course the title of the album.
How did the split with Abyssus occur? What’s your opinion about Greek Death Metal scene?
We have a very good relationship with Abyssus and during a friendly chat an idea about a split popped up and that’s all!
Greek Death Metal scene has a big progress the last few years. The number of new bands grows more and more, there are plenty of gigs (and many people who follow and support), there are also a lot of new releases from new and older bands (many of which had not released anything for many years) and especially the international recognition of the scene.
All of us should support the scene in order for things to get even better in the future.
Which song would you recommend to someone who has never listened to Blessed by Perversion and wants to get a taste of your music?
“Into Funereal Darkness”, from the new album!
Is it your favorite song too? Which song seems to be the fans’ favorite?
Yes “Into Funereal Darkness” is my personal favorite and that’s why I recommend it, haha. I also like very much “Close to the Devil’s Borders”!
Judging by the internet reactions I would say “Into Funereal Darkness” but also “Charred and Unburied Flesh”. Judging by our gigs people seem to like “Like a Touch in Nothingness” and “Spirit Sacrifice on the Altar of God” from our EP.
When and where could we enjoy once again your high-voltage live shows? Where could someone who want to support the band find the “Between Roots and Darkness” album?
Although we have in mind to do some gigs, unfortunately we haven’t arranged places or dates yet. In the next months, it’s possible that we will play in Athens and maybe somewhere in the north of Greece.
If someone wants to purchase our album can text us via Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/blessedbyperversion) or from our Bandcamp page (blessedbyperversion.bandcamp.com).
The closure is yours!
I would like to thank Metal Invader and also you, Lito, personally, that gave us the chance to discuss for some matters publicly.
See you again, stay sick!
Blessed by Perversion are:
Kostas Foutris (lead guitar), Manolis Kouelo (rhythm guitar), Dimitris Miglis (drums), Andreas Moschopoulos (vocals), Vagelis Nanos (bass)
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