Line Up:
Steve Maher On Lead Vocals And Guitar
Bill Whelan On Guitar
Irene Siragusa On Bass
Olan Parkinson On Drums
Well,Friends Of Aristocracy!
We speak again of our newsroom, where in a little while, we will begin in all your emotions, the interview 150 of the Aristocracy.This time, we'll talk to a band that celebrates its twenty-five years of career at its best.A band that shows well-structured songs and that shows that it is possible to combine the Swedish extreme with elements of Trash and Grindcore that marked an era in the 80s.At the same time, spice up this work with high-pitched Black Metal touches allied to a climate endowed with pure revenge.We're talking about Abaddon Incarnate and this month, they present us with their sixth full-length work titled The Wretched Sermon. A very refined answer to their previous album made eight years ago titled DarkCrusade. Vocalist Steve Maher answered our questions, which you start follow up after a song that we will post from them. In addition to a deep thanks to him and the whole band for giving us the opportunity of this interview. Let's start now!
A1:Talking about the composition work in The Wretched Sermon?
Steve Maher: Hi, yeah most of the writing was done individually at home, usually we wrote together in the rehearsal room by bouncing ideas around and drinking beer, but this new way we were forced to operate differently due to the covid lockdown. But i think we have improved song writing and quality control and it is less expensive with regards time and commitment. some of the older riffs and ideas were written in the practice room but the main song writing we did remotely so yes, a new departure for us.
A2:The five song of the album have a refference with Pandemia?
Steve Maher: Song number five is called "parasite" it is about how people drag you down, hold you back feed off you and limit your potential. See the "Psychic Vampire" from Anton levey's Satanic Bible.
A3:Don't get me wrong, I thought the band's change of style from Death\Black to Grindcore was really good. But, how and why did this happen?
Steve Maher:After our debut album "The Last Supper" in which we used a lot of Grindcore influenced Death metal like morbid angel , cryptopsy, Brutal Truth and for example, early 90s Napalm Death, we became interested in Nasum and older Napalm Death. The music we were writing felt better if we stripped back all the extra stuff. This and also we travelled to meet Miezsko from Nasum and make our 2nd and third albums. The longer death metal structures came back a bit on Cascade and Pessimist but these albums also were grounded in grind minimalist philosophy.
A4:Would the world be better if all or most people joined the pessimistic current of thought?
Steve Maher: would it be better for who? Society as a whole? No, because there would be no entrepreneurial risk taking, no ambition, nothing would evolve or grow. people would just quit. Better for the individual? if it works for the individual then yes thats better... its good to have a realistic balance of pessimism and optimism, i had a conversation with a smart kid recently, he asked me.. "how far to the destination" i said "20 or 30 minutes, depends... are you a optimist or pessimist,,,, ?" the kid answers " i am a realist".so the moral of the story is to find balance, Abaddon Incarnate is not a Bible to improve anything. Its a black book of bad ideas to be honest. which brings only sadness misery and destruction to your life and your spiritual harmony.
A5:Some literature or film inspire the band?
Steve Maher:I read lots of occult and religious texts and become inspired by the crazy stories these people have written on behalf of what ever superpower they wish to promote and self appoint themselves as spokesperson, i spoke before re my influences on earlier albums on this new one..mostly lyical inspiration came from observation and current news or issues in my own life i had to deal with.Good movies kinda relevant to the vibe on this record would be "the ninth gate" "the cell" "evil dead" one and two, maybe some stuff like that.
A6:What kind of insights did you want to make on this album?
Steve Maher:We didn't want to make any insights, but i did want to express poetically, albeit in violent language and narrative, negative poetry, my own thoughts and feelings on various points. i watched my grandmother die from a brain tumour so i wrote about this. I watched the world go quiet when they locked all the humans away and saw the world come back to life for a brief moment in our absence during lockdown. I wrote about that. I saw the church struggle with abhorrent practices which came to light recently and i watched the general public put them in pillory however the public must take responsibility for giving the church the mandate to behave as it did. Gods and demons arise from our spiritual health, they only exist in our head so any hate and blame you put on satan or any god must first start with a hatred for the contents of your own head. They are reflections of your soul. Etc etc etc.
Are these insights? I guess by writing about something I gain an insight and another perspective on a issue. Looking back 20 years ago you get an insight into who you were 20 years ago. Like wise if I am still here in 20 years I can look back and laugh at my ignorance in this middle age, although I'd like to think I am more self aware and self actualised than the 20 year old dumb animal I was in 1997. Insights.
A7:How is Abaddon Incarnate different from your previous bands?
Steve Maher: I have played in Abaddon Incarnate since i was 17 years old, now i am 45. The band previous to that was called "Bereaved" and contained the same members Bill and Rob who graduated to "the last supper" it was stylistically more a mid paced early 90s death metal akin to the old peaceville records vibe. Which became more vicious with the grinding drums of olan Parkinson who replaced our "Shane Foley" Soon after Olan joined Bereaved we changed the name to Abaddon Incarnate. The vibe changed so we changed the name in 1994. I have also played in a band called Geasa which was a black metal/ celtic metal/ thing which was interesting while it lasted, i did lots of albums with those guys.
A8:Why the band have this name?
Steve Maher:When we decided to change everything, the sound, the grind drums, into a more aggressive sound, We felt that Bereaved was not aggressive enough to match the new vibe, so after a night of drinking and picking names we settled on Abaddon incarnate. Abaddon is from the Christian Bible, it is the force of destruction or place of hell. its the spiritual personification of a holocaust, an end of times maybe? Incarnate was to make flesh. we were human representations of this destructive force, a tall boast, we were young and our balls were big and full of self importance. Our rage could destroy the world.
A9:As in addition to your interviewer, I'm a teacher, ignorance is bliss. For the band, how is ignorance treated in your songs?
Steve Maher: Kudos to the teaching. I am Involved in education too. It is very rewarding, passing on experiences and skills. There are two levels of ignorance, the young, inexperienced or naïve or the older one who chooses ignorance. the youth are naturally ignorant, they are empty buckets, these empty vessels can be filled with positive energy or dark energy, or both. You can take a young man and put him in the army and teach him violence and hate and expect him to die in a year or two on your battlefield or you can send him to university and teach him stuff that will help keep his fellow humans and himself happy for a long creative life. ignorance = potential..unless the individual chooses ignorance because to have ignorant beliefs and hate on each other is psychologically easier than embracing truth. Then ignorance is a measure of how far one can or cannot push and break free from ones own programming. When someone espouses ignorance you get a measure of their limitations as functional humans. its a nice barometer and likewise i wouldn't debate with willingly ignorant people just as i wouldn't enter into conversation with a piece of dog shit i met on the street. Both things have limited programming.
A10:What are the atmospheres created for this album?
Steve Maher:We did not intend to create atmosphere just that it is heavy and aggressive and as expressive as possible. the atmosphere is accidental.
A11:How the band arrive to Transcending Obscurity Records?
Steve Maher:I heard from our drummer at the time.{Karl.. Hi Karl ) that TO was somewhat interested in the band, so followed up with a proposal from TO and so far we have been happy with our collaboration.We are a small, niche band and I think the label manages that and its expectations well.
A12:For this album, taking longer than usual to get ready was the band looking for something totally different from your previous work?
Steve Maher:The time was due to many issues, our guitarist had two children after pessimist was recorded and toured, so having two little girls the band had to slow down, and then we lost a drummer, and also got hit with the pandemic. after we recorded last august we have had to wait a year for the actual releases as their is a backlog of releases for the label to get though after covid lockdowns slow everything down.
A13:This album is conceptual?
Steve Maher: There are a few concepts, but nothing of major importance,its normally how nature will destroy and eat humans or the unnatural and we would be replaced quite quickly and painlessly with a better version of ape or monkey. A14:How is Despotism treated on this album?
Steve Maher: I dont think i addressed it all.It would have been a thing of interest on earlier albums but i abhor despotism and the struggle for "power" and such people bore me.
A15:The band feel differences between Pessimist and now in The Wretched Sermon?
Steve Maher:We have two different band members than pessimist, Johnny king and Steve Finnerty have been replaced by Olan and Irene, we have a powerful energy now and to be honest, peoples motivation was flagging with the pessimist line up so we needed fresh energy or a change. its been very healthy. the enthusiasm and motivation was great during pessimist but after about 2 years the guys wanted to move on in life so we set them free from the abaddon nest to flap their little wings in the great void winds of other shit to be done in life. Johnny now drums in Conan and Steve seems to play in some very obscure underground punk stuff or stays at home in his house gardening and growing vegetables.Which is grand,i hold no ill feeling and wish a healthy positive life for all my ex bandmates.
A16:Can we say that the last song on this album is a criticism of the fact that man doesen´t have empathy for his fellow man?
Steve Maher:the final song is titled "silent indifference" which is a rant against something which happened in Ireland recently. We used to have untill very recently think 1920s to mid 90s religious orders of nuns who would imprision women if they had a child outside marraige of were mental ill or some other misogynistic inconvieniance to society they could be locked away for life and forgotton about. And if they had children in this incarceration the child would have little chance of life expectancy as the coditions were so poor. So these babies would be unnamed or baptised and dumped in a "septic tank" a giant metal tank used to store piss and shit and emptied every now and then) so when we all found out that these kids were buried in this literal shit hole, people were horrified and started to curse the religious orders for what they did. But my perspective is society didnt want these women, society abandoned these woman, became indifferent to these women, were silent about these women, and the religious orders were just providing a service for us all as we were all complacent in sending these kids with no names on a one way trip down the toilet. is there a point to this? does it help us in any way? maybe its just ignorance, a declaration of ignorant on ignorant matters by ignorant people. Or is is despotism of the masses? maybe this is how I treat despotism, the despotism of the herd, the tribe, the mainstream.Thanks for the interview,steve maher !