1. Barshasketh was formed in 2009, so, this band is formed in late 2000's but still keep early
black metal in their forte, So Can you give me a brief history of how the band got together?
Had you been in any bands or musical apparition before Barshasketh?
Barshasketh started as a solo project, back when Krigeist was still living in New Zealand. After
relocating to the UK, he expanded the lineup to a full band. Since then, he's moved away again and
we're now split across three different countries (UK, Finland, and Serbia). We've all been involved
in various projects before and alongside Barshasketh, although there are too many to name here. In
recent times, Barshasketh has taken up most of our time and energy, however.
2. What bands inspired the direction that Barshasketh took and motivated you? Writers?
Visual artists? Movies? Books?
Some of our early influences are fairly typical, the old masters such as Mayhem, Emperor or
Gorgoroth has all shaped our approach to a certain extent. Beyond that, mid-period Deathspell
Omega (SRMC in particular) as well as other releases from around the same time such as
Ondskapt's Dodens Evangelium have had a significant impact. Additionally, more recent releases
from the likes of Thy Darkened Shade, Ascension or Nightbringer continue to inspire us.
It's harder to pin down non-musical influences but to name just a few, Andrei Tarkovsky, Albrecht
Dürer, Jacob Pins, Ingmar Bergman, Michael Haneke, Alan Moore, Francis Bacon, Alasdair
Crowley and Rainer Maria Rilke have all played a part in shaping my outlook and perspective.
3. There are two basic ways of looking at music. In the first, there is a mechanism for the arrangement of certain tones, musical style.in the second, a narration occurs where a story is told or a poetic function completed. In your view of compositions, which is more important? Where were you when you first thought the project had the longterm potential for you?
I think the distinction you draw between them is erroneous. In actuality, it's simply a case of
analyzing music on a different scale, so to speak. This is analogous to the study of matter in Physics,
which is built upon on a more 'macroscopic' level in the discipline of biology, for instance.
As far as my own compositional process is concerned, I tend to consider the narrative first as a
guiding principle, but when it comes down to working out specific arrangements, I'll then deploy my
knowledge of music theory if and when required. I know some musicians who are self-taught tend
to look down on this practice as it's widely considered to be a less 'natural' approach, but I
personally, think this is misguided since music theory simply offers a toolkit and language through
which we can better communicate and manipulate our ideas, which stem from the same kernel of
pure inspiration regardless. I'm a bit of an outlier with regards to this due to my classical
background, which influences my general workflow when composing.
4. What for you is the significance of the name, “Barshasketh”?
Our band name derives from the Hebrew Be’er Shachat, which roughly translates as ‘Pit of
Corruption’; a multifaceted esoteric idea in the Qliphoth concerning the self-existing in a cyclical
the process that goes through phases of destruction, purification, and rebirth.
The Qliphoth being the mirror image of the holy Sefirot and is composed of various ''shells'' that
represent the evil and impure spiritual forces in Jewish mysticism.
5. If you could tour with other bands in metal, who would you pick if you were looking for
bands similar to Barshasketh?
Although there are far more popular and prominent bands, the two bands that immediately come to
mind as some of the finest contemporary practitioners of Black Metal are Thy Darkened Shade and
Nightbringer. Both display total dedication to their art and set a standard that all bands should strive
for in terms of proficiency and artistic integrity.
6. Since starting year each and every year Barshasketh's released albums, demos, EPs, Split, compilation etc and shaped the style of music. How do you maintain this consistency yet keep developing with each album? How do you write your riffs, songs? What is the most difficult part about composing songs as you do?
The evolution and progression of our songwriting is largely a natural process- we simply feel compelled to compose regularly and we've managed to refine our craft over time without it being a conscious effort on our part.
As for how the songs are constructed, what could be called the skeleton or basic structure of the
songs always stems from either myself or Krigeist. This is then further refined over time through a
process of demoing, where several drafts are produced as we work out the finer points of the
compositions. During this phase of the process, all members pitch in and make a major contribution
to the final result. The most difficult aspect of composing the songs is probably the sheer impracticability of our situation- since we are all scattered over different parts of Europe, we seldom get an opportunity to 'jam' the songs together and quickly try out new ideas. That said, this has not hindered us too severely and we still manage to get the job done in the end.
7. Do you have a preference for type of equipment? In your mind, how important is
equipment to the production of music?
I can't speak too much about the drums or bass, but we do have a general philosophy when it comes
to our approach to recording guitars. This being an emphasis on tracking more layers, but with less
gain, which has the effect of making things sound 'bigger'. For this reason, the pickups that we use
are not especially high output. We generally favor Les Paul style, single cut guitars with a
mahogany body for reasons of playing comfort as well as tone. While I wouldn't say that the choice of equipment is totally irrelevant, it's important to remember that the foundation of everything lies within the quality of the songwriting, without this there is nothing. A compelling song, performed well, will shine through a bad sound, but the reverse is not true.
8. Well, now I’m going to the main point about the new album. In January 2019, new opus will
release. When were these tracks written, and how does Barshasketh go about the writing
process?
If I recall correctly, the bulk of the songs were composed prior to the release of Ophidian Henosis,
with just a couple being written not long after that. Although it would take much longer for the
songs to reach their final form, maybe just a couple of months before we were set to start recording
at Necrommorbus studio in mid to late 2017.
9. I’ve categorized Barshasketh's significant black metal genre.so, How did you get into this
style of music and explain about this very rare known music genre?
I'm not sure what route the other guys took, but speaking for myself, I started with 80s thrash and
then sort of followed the historical development of extreme metal from that point, beginning with
early death metal and finally black metal. I've been hooked ever since. One major point of interest
for me is the combination of atmosphere and aggression, as well as the relative flexibility of the
genre when it comes to arrangements.
10. How would you describe the sound of the new album to someone who hadn’t heard it, and
what distinguishes your music from any other act in the same genre?
If I had to use just a few words to describe the new album, I think I would use these: aggressive,
dark, melodic, multifaceted. Although in many ways, we can be considered to be a fairly traditional
black metal band, what sets us apart is our extensive layering of different guitar parts and
setting up a counterpoint between these. While the bulk of the album has two or three guitar distinct
guitar parts happening at any given time, this number rises to 4 or 5 here and there, which can be
quite complex to handle in the mix, but produce an interesting effect and greater perceived depth in
the overall sound.
11. Do you guys have any playthrough videos coming out soon regarding new incantation?
That's not really something we're interested in doing, it just doesn't feel right for us.
12. How do you explain the album title, what it means and the album art and how it coincides with the lyrics, themes?
The album is self-titled and focusses on the aforementioned concept of Be'er Shachat, we've
structured the album to describe each phase of this process both musically and lyrically. The central
idea is also reflected on the front cover, where we see two facets of the self both engaged in a
struggle, but also intertwined and part of a larger whole.
13. Who came up with the album cover? I personally cherish Barshasketh's each and every
album artwork because those are truly indelible, remarkable, appreciable and meaningful
too.
The album cover, as well as the vast majority of illustrations in the whole layout, were produced by
Artem Grygoriev (AKA Black Typography), the layout itself and the art direction was provided by
Fenomeno Design, who is a Chilean graphic designer and a long time collaborator of ours. We
couldn't be more satisfied with the result, thanks to the excellent work of both of the
aforementioned artists.
14. In before you guys performed a lot of gigs so, Which show was the most memorable to you
so far? Do you get a good crowd response? Did you get offers to play in other countries or
anything like that?
We're lucky enough to get offered shows abroad fairly regularly, which is actually pretty rare for
bands that play such an underground type of music. I think the best show we played was in Hobart,
Australia in 2017. The sound on stage, crowd reaction and atmosphere was just perfect that night.
Our set at Inner Awakening festival in Budapest was also very intense as was our set supporting
Mayhem at Nosturi in Helsinki, Finland.
You can stream the latest opus right below :
15. Do you study other bands music to come up with ideas?
Not really to come up with ideas, I do sometimes learn parts of other bands' songs since I'm
interested in seeing how they are constructed, but when it comes to writing my own material, I try
my best to put all of that out of my mind and try to think about what it is I want to express, rather
than specific techniques I've picked up from other people and so on.
16. Vocals style is raspy, aggressive, raw and tortured .appreciate your vocal style.how do you
prepare your vocals before the studio or especially for live performances? Did any band, in
particular, inspire you in the shrieking department?
Well, I'm not the vocalist in the band, but Krigeist told me that this time, Simon Wizen from
Valkyria played an important role in the studio by suggesting different vocal styles for specific parts
and so on- it really made a big difference to the final result by the sounds of it.
17. Is there a difference in the band’s sound as compared to the Full length, EPs and demos
you’ve released in the past?
I would say that the new album presents Barshasketh at it's most aggressive, complex and darkest.
Beyond that, I would say that the new album is a continuation of the style we've been developing
since the very first release, although our approach certainly involves a lot more technical elements
at this stage as we've grown more proficient on our respective instruments.
18. "World Terror Committee" has been a great supporter of extreme metal, especially black metal. So it’s nice to see that you’re signed to them now. How did this happen?
Indeed, W.T.C is a fantastic label and we're honored to have collaborated with them since our
previous album (Ophidian Henosis) in 2015. I think it would take something drastic to make us part with them since they've been extremely accommodating and easy to work with.
Unfortunately, the story of how we got signed with them is rather banal, we simply sent our material
to them via email and they were interested in what they heard. It's that simple, haha.
19. There is some satanic imagery with your lyrics, logo, theme. Is this just an image or
something you believe in?
It's not just an image, we're deadly serious about this stuff.
20. What albums are you listening to lately or just the bands and albums, in general, you're
really digging right now and tell me about your anticipated album of this year?
Personally, two albums that have been on heavy rotation for me are:
Adaestuo ''Krew Za Krew'' and
Bestia Arcana ''Holokoston''. Besides that, I've actually mostly been listening to classical music by
Messiaen, Ligeti, Arvo Pärt and Alfred Schnittke. I have to admit I'm not up to date on albums that
are scheduled for release in 2019 so I can't comment on that.
21. Last one question, what are your future band goals & tell us something about an
upcoming tour. Lastly, lots of teenagers aim to be full-time musicians. Many of them might be without any proper guidance, any words of wisdom for them?
We've got a European tour planned for late April/early June. Interested promoters can contact us at
barshasketh@live.com . We're also working on some festival appearance later in the year and a
Mexican tour in July. We're willing to play anywhere where there is interest, so promoters can
contact us at the email address listed above. Considering that we're not full-time musicians, I'm hesitant to offer any guidance on this. However, one thing I would recommend is to do whatever you do with absolute integrity. I have a suspicion that people can tell if an artist is not genuine.
22. That's all I've got right now.best of luck for the upcoming release. this would be one of my
anticipated release of 2019. thanks a lot for enduring this torture haha. Any final thoughts,
comments for the readers? If I forgot anything, please insert it in here.
Hail Satan.
The interview was done by Souvik Basu. Published on 15.01.2019
