In 2010 I latched onto German black metallers Imperium Dekadenz, a duo consisting of Horaz and Vespasian; a duo that writes complex, foreboding dark melancholic black metal music that whilst despondently doleful is equally uplifting taking the listener on a journey where acoustic pieces hitch a ride alongside menacing and theatrical melodic black metal. Hailing from the picturesquely beautiful region of the Black Forest Imperium Dekadenz has taken some three years to follow up their third album “Procella Videns” with their finest and most ambitious release to date “Meadows Of Nostaligia”. Answering my questions is the thoughtful and insightful Horaz.
Ave Noctum: Congratulations on a near perfect album that blends dark melodic beauty with intense blackened rage. Do you think it is near perfect or is perfection something musicians never seem to achieve?
Horaz: We think it is perfect in an objective way, because we reached the target we wrote to our banner. Also the sound is perfect for that concept album, powerful and deep, but also rough and old school. At the moment we are absolutely happy with the result and the feeling that the hard work pays off with a harmonious overall appearance.
Ave Noctum: Did this album produce everything you wanted, as most musicians tend to find some fault or another once it has been released and been given a few plays?
Horaz: As I said, at the moment we are lucky bastards. We knew that we will find some faults as soon as the album is released, but we also know that certainly nobody will notice them. If you are someone who buys an album to check it for any faults you should definitely not listen to metal. We know that we did the best which was possible during the whole process of that album, so maybe we will see that album more critical in the future but we will not lose our sleep at night because of that.
Ave Noctum: Your music has a rich texture that seems to capture the listener on a multitude of levels. How do you achieve this depth in your albums?
Horaz: I am quite sure that this is the contrast of our personal taste of art between Vespasian and me and the wide range of taste from each of us. It is an important goal for us to dig into our souls for a deeper and more immersing and intense atmosphere than we had on our previous albums. Another component is the epic feeling in transition with melancholic moments. All of our albums are like a journey far away from your daily shit you have to go through. 56 minutes of being a ghost flying through memories and over landscapes, walking through castles and dungeons…
Ave Noctum: I feel that “Meadows Of Nostalgia” has a much smoother, maybe less harsh production, than its predecessors. Did you use an outside producer or produce it yourselves? Choice of question depending on your answer: If you used an outside producer is it the first time you have worked with them and if not what made you choose that particular person.
Horaz: I do not know if I would use these words for describing the sound of ‘Meadows of Nostalgia’. The drums were recorded by an outside producer (Iguana Studios, Christoph Brandes). All the other instruments were recorded by us. We brought the rough tracks back to the same studio where they were edited, mixed and mastered. For “Procella Vadens” he did the mastering for us, too and we found that he is an absolute sound maniac and perfectionist and whenever we met him we had a great time as friends. The big difference was that we learned a lot from the last productions. We were able to work disciplined and we avoided the faults we did before. We set free many recourses which we were then able to investigate into more important parts of doing music… the songwriting.
Ave Noctum: Your music is very complex at times and must take a lot of planning. Do you have a strict methodology for recording and how long did the album take to record? How do you go about mixing the final album to get all the elements balanced so well?
Horaz: We gathered our ideas from 2009 to 2012 and the main production started in March 2012 and ended in November 2012. There came a big problem for us when Vespasian started a new job in Munich which is around 300km away from me. You certainly can imagine that this fact will cause many logistical questions and problems, beneath our full time jobs which ‘stealing’ your time and energy which we could perfectly use for the music. We are possessed by that whole shit, hehehe…
Ave Noctum: It has been 3 years since “Procella Vadens” what changes have you made since then, if any, and what impact have they had on Imperium Dekadenz or as individuals?
Horaz: I think that we are still the same maniacs as 3 years before. ‘Meadows of Nostalgia’ is a conscious step back, so this album is not influenced by any character developments in my opinion.
Ave Noctum: What are the lyrical topics covered by the album and why did you choose those? Is there a concept to the album?
Horaz: We often discussed how and why we came into metal or especially black metal. How were our experiences when we were children playing in the deep forests, when we saw the witches dancing around the fire for the Fasnacht* rites or when we walked between Roman and medieval ruins as well as barrows of the Celts and Germanic peoples. We gathered our most important experiences and addicted a song for each of them. We call it our nostalgic home land album. When our spirits and souls are exhausted by daily life we are traveling to our meadows of nostalgia. Nostalgia is an important feeling because it is a possibility to reflect on you and to learn something about yourself. Nostalgia often occurs with a kind of melancholy and the thoughts are built out of reality and dreams. Such moments are high emotional and consuming as black metal can be experienced by us, too. I think nostalgia is a kind of a good old friend when listening to black metal. Listening to atmospheric black metal is to make a journey and great memories are one of the ‘places’ I want to travel to. As nostalgia is and was always a very important part for us when listening to music or explore art at all, that album was a ‘have-to-be-done’ since we awake our empire. We finally did it and we are very pleased with the result.
Ave Noctum: I get the impression that maybe you’re both avid readers, if so what books have you read recently? Does reading have an impact on Imperium Dekadenz’s music?
Horaz: We both have a high interest in ancient history and history at all. Romans, Greeks, Celts, German Tribes and Vikings are mostly in our focus. Everything for which you have a passion, influences and inspires you in an extremely way. So books, paintings and many other kinds of art or spiritual things which are definitely a very important source for our music and our whole life. My last book was a documentary novel about the Varus Battle (9 anno domine). Vespasian told me about a book, he is reading, which is reporting about graffiti in Pompeii.
Ave Noctum: What inspires you to write songs the way you both do? Do you have any particular influences at all that you would like to share?
Horaz: Of course we are mostly influenced by other artists and their work. In that point we are definitely not different to other musicians, because the daily life, its impressions and the things we learned about are the blood that is pumping into our work. There is an inner will that we have to create something big and deep, which is a statement to our life, a gallery of what we have explored and to form our own view of things. We think it is not enough to create an album by just adding each track to a CD. The experience for the listener of the whole thing must be more than the sum of each song.
Ave Noctum: There is an underlying despondent spirit in your music, what influences bring that into your music?
Horaz: Well the music is a mirror of our life and it is full of hills and dales. But what we are doing is not depressive black metal, it is a kind of melancholy, a scream from within our souls, probably caused by unrealised desires and passion.
Ave Noctum: You always have some very exquisite acoustic pieces on your albums, would you ever consider writing a purely acoustic album at all as I think it would be excellent?
Horaz: Indeed we thought about that, but I am quite sure that it will be not the next one. Let’s see what to time brings up.
Ave Noctum: As the band consists of just the two of you what benefits do you think this has on song writing? How do you approach song writing?
Horaz: We have a simple doctrine… less is more. If you have five guys in your band and everyone wants to realise melodies, lyrics, whatever …the result will be for sure a mixture of shit. Furthermore a lot of musicians have a problem with their ego, so the higher art gets lost in futile disputes. We are not free from these contra productive thoughts, but we have learned how to become better in working with critics to build something bigger and better than only one of us could ever reach.
Ave Noctum: Will you always remain as a duo for writing purposes?
Horaz: Yes, but we will always invite other artists for some special instrumental parts or songs…
Ave Noctum: The album cover strikes as being lonely and introverted. Were you involved in this aspect of the album? If so what involvement did you have?
Horaz: I hope I understand your question in the right way… It is simply a part of our characters. We are brooders and we need time to become clear with different things and the best way to do that is to be alone. If you are alone for a long time you become introverted. As I said, this music reflects a big part of our lives and gives you a deep and intimate view in our souls.
Ave Noctum: I believe you do play live and use session musicians for this purpose, what instruments/vocals do you focus on and why? How do you approach a live show with such complex musical arrangements?
Horaz: I am the vocalist on stage and Vespasian is hitting the drums. I am a poor guitar player, so I cannot scream and playing the guitar at the same time, hehehe… Vespasian is happy about the drum set which is standing between him and the crowd. The positive aspect is, that I have the possibility to be fully concentrated on my voice and Vespasian can immerse into the sound and the atmosphere, which improves his playing.
Ave Noctum: You now have a couple of albums out on Season Of Mist, will this relationship be continuing for future albums as I always feel SOM has some of the most eclectic bands in metal?
Horaz: Indeed there is no better label we could imagine at the moment. They are very ambitioned to become one of the most important metal labels worldwide.
Ave Noctum: What would you say is the important attribute about Imperium Dekadenz that makes you stand out?
Horaz: Passion.
Ave Noctum: What are the ultimate goals or ambitions for Imperium Dekadenz? What is next for Imperium Dekadenz and where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?
Horaz: Regarding the music it is always the same “ultimate” goal, because we want to improve the intensity, the atmosphere and the emotions. Regarding the band itself we want to join a tour in Europe and play more concerts outside of Germany. In 5 years? If we kept our health then, there is no reason to be desperate because we are still the masters of our life and everything is possible.
Many many thanks for doing this interview for Ave Noctum. Is there anything else you would like to add or say for our readers?
Horaz: Thank you Martin for your profound questions. I hope your readers got a taste of what that music means for us. Keep the flame of authentic music burning, Cheers Horaz.
Imperium Dekadenz’s music is for those with an open heart, a soul that is willing to bare all for the sake of art; a dark shadowy blackened majesty captured effortlessly on wondrously absorbing compositions and I would suggest you give the band some serious attention as you will not be disappointed.
www.facebook.com/ImperiumDekadenz
Interviewed By Martin Harris
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