1. Salutations to the UK and thank you very much for accepting the interview! After nine long years of waiting you have finally released a brand new album, thus the first question shall be obviously aimed at the delay. So what has been going on during those years inside and outside of the band?

A lot of elements combined to create the 9 year recording hiatus, from personal commitments with families and work to label and recording issues. We actually had this new album written and recorded for several years but never got the right offer to release it and we were actually set on a self release until we got this offer from CRANK MUSIC GROUP. This version of the album is about the third recording we did but was worth it as it is sounding amazing and will be worth the wait for our fans. We have been continuously playing and gigging the whole time since REDIMUS so for us there was no break in momentum from a playing/writing perspective and at the moment as musicians we are at the height of our powers and this is evident in the album and from our live performances.

2. The three of you (Andy, Dylan and Nigel) play in the band since its inception. What are you relations like after all those years and how do you now reminisce your beginnings?

Yes the 3 of us have been together for a very long time with Nigel being here from the very start and as it is with any team that has been your life for this length of time....we have become very close and are like brothers. There have been up’s and down’s naturally as HECATE ENTHRONED means so much to us and we are very passionate about it but we have always pulled together and work as a team. We are almost psychic now as we know each other so well and automatically move along together because we have the bands well being and reputation at the heart of everything we do. When we look back at where we started and where we have brought HE too we feel a lot of pride....not many bands have our longevity and popularity and we have done it on our own terms, never bowing to anyone or anything. But saying that we also feel we could have achieved more and strive to do just that as having the hunger and persistence to achieve is still very strong with us.

3. Since this is our first interview and more importantly because you will perform at this summer’s Hell Fast Attack festival, allow us to focus on your early years first. The first material under the banner of HECATE ENTHRONED came forth in the year of 1995. Often you were compared to your colleagues from Cradle of Filth. What did you think about it back then and how did you reconcile with it?

The whole COF thing has occupied other peoples focus more than ours; we never bothered with it or gave it much thought. We have always done our own thing...done what we have wanted to do. We write and perform for ourselves using what is inside us and don’t give much consideration to what other bands do. Yes there has been similarities with our sound and COF in the past but we are a symphonic black metal band (and always were even before 95 and the demo) and you could probably liken us to other bands of that genre also but because we had an ex member that played with COF the press built this big rivalry up with them. We honestly don’t give a fuck and never have but from what we have heard recently it bothered COF a lot more and he clearly saw us as a big threat, which is understandable cos we have always pissed all over them from a musical and technical perspective. If i have something to say to someone then i will let them know face to face and it doesn’t usually end up being very pleasant for that person.

4. Many of your fans adore HE’s early music with Jonathan on vocals. What was the cooperation with him like? Do you know, by chance, how is he doing nowadays?

Jon? Yes he was a great vocalist and a good musician but it was difficult working with Jon on any level as he could not be trusted. Eventually we wanted different things for the band than he did and relations got strained due to various things he did and we had to get rid of him. I haven’t seen him for a while so i don’t know what he’s doing...he was still playing but i don’t know on what level.

5. The first two full-lengths were quite melodic and keys played a prominent part. It wasn’t until “Kings of Chaos” when you incorporated death metal influences. What led you to this change? Wasn’t that aforementioned comparison one of the reasons?

Kings Of Chaos was more Death influenced although there were some of these elements on previous releases but the production and mix of Kings Of Chaos made it more obvious. Also the majority of KOC was written on guitars so it was more riff heavy and needed that production to bring that out. The guitars were double tracked so very heavy which worked for those songs. Also Andy’s writing came out more on that album and Andy was more Death influenced as a player, same as Daz (keys) although all of us were big Death metal fans and it was the vein in which we wrote at that time. We have never tried to write in a certain style it is always natural with us never forced and how we feel at a particular time will heavily influence the writing.

6. After the “Miasma” EP you had took a three years long break and then released an album “Redimus” which received quite high ratings all over the world. It’s interesting that the band was put on hiatus after that. Did you need to rest?

As i touched on previously there was a lot of personal issues and circumstances that took time away from the band and while we didn’t plan to have such a long break in album releases it was something that happened. It wasn’t a rest as we continued to play and gig and tour, even write but we didn’t get an album out and that was partly down to label problems as we didn’t get an offer we could work with until Crank Music Group last year but even our plans to self release didn’t happen due to politics and some self imposed barriers. And to be honest things got a bit stagnated within the band and combine that with marriages, children, illness, physical injuries the energy wasn’t focused and we are a band that has to feel every song and an album has to be more than just another release, it has to encompass all our emotions and energy or we don’t feel it. With HE you get quality not quantity.

7. The new album “Virulent Rapture” is out and same as its predecessor reaps high ratings everywhere (including our webzine). The new album engagingly continues in the vein of the previous one so I am interested if all went naturally?

Yes it was a very natural process as all our music is, like i said above we can’t just put anything out it has to mean something to us and pass the HE test of content and emotion. We throw a lot of songs away cos they don’t cut it for us so every track we have is straight from our dark black souls. The fact that we recorded this album twice previously for a self release meant that when we came to record it with Mike Smith at Velocity Raptor Studios for Crank we had it all nailed. We had lived with these songs for years so putting them down was very natural and they can’t be any better that they are. We couldn’t add anything else to them and that’s why the album works so well, particularly with Mike’s production and Mix and Kami’s mastering.

8. What about the writing and recording of the new album? I suppose it didn’t take you nine years? How do you, as a band, approach the writing and recording?

As above we wrote these songs years ago and had some of them around since just after REDIMUS we just didn’t get them out till VIRULENT RAPTURE. We write quickly, always have, whether it is as a jam in rehearsal with everyone playing and contributing; building a track and individual parts or sitting down with acoustic or low guitars working on riffs and harmonies. Once we start things develop quickly and flow. It has always been the same process only the development in technology has changed in how we can record/listen to what we put down. The important thing is it comes from us and therefore will always have the HE brand, even when different styles come in on each release it is always recognisably HE as we invented that style of BLASTING SYMPHONIC DESTRUCTION.

9. The new album was released by Crank Music Group, which is not a very known label. How did this cooperation start and how do you evaluate their work with hindsight?

Crank Music Group are new and they approached us a couple of years ago about doing a new release with them. We had approaches before from labels but the deals were shit or we couldn’t work with them but with Crank it worked straight away. The conversations were honest, open and productive; they wanted the same things as we did for our band and worked in a way we like. They have total faith and confidence in the band and we have total faith and confidence in them. We work together, not as a band and a label but as a family supporting each other and helping each other. It is very refreshing to find a label with this attitude that are doing it cos they love the music and the band not the money. They are young and enthusiastic and are growing and developing all the time and we are growing with them. We are very pleased with how everything is working and we have great plans for the future as a team to progress HE and Crank as well as the other bands on the roster.

10. So let us focus on the new album in more detail. What lies behind the album that made you to choose the title “Virulent Rapture”? What does it mean and what it should represent?

The title track VIRULENT RAPTURE is about a destructive demon banished to our realm trying to get back to his where he ruled. He finds that when he kills or tortures or commits violence against people a gateway back briefly opens but he can’t fully pass through. Only through committing certain violent acts or killing certain people in a particular ritualised manner will he be able to escape back to his world. And when he finally achieves that and is lifted it will be his virulent rapture.

11. Lyric-wise, you have always been great story-tellers. Who wrote the lyrics for the new album and what is “Virulent Rapture” about?

Exactly stories and as i explained above the title track is another story, another way apart from the music and moods to take the listener away. Elliot wrote the majority of the lyrics, i wrote VIRULENT RAPTURE with Elliot and Dean (ex vocalist) wrote the Lyrics to LIFE but Elliot wrote the rest. The lyrics are in keeping with our satanic heritage while using Hecate / Lilith as the main focus (as reflected in the cover art). Elliot’s writing is very dramatic and intelligent, he uses more poetic elements to get his imagery forward rather than blunt statements which allow the listener to read and interoperate therefore becoming more involved.

12. I consider “Plagued by Black Death” to be the principal song that contains many dramatic changes, an epic atmosphere, great riffs and it is also the longest song of the album. Nonetheless, the older songs used to be even longer. Why did you decide to shorten your compositions?

We didn’t make a conscious decision to shorten the songs it is how the songs turned out. We don’t contrive to write in a particular style or aim for a time limit on a song; the song decides that for us. We write and the song develops, it’s a very natural process and we work on it until the song is ready. It may take a few weeks or months or sometimes only hours before we know that a song is ready. But when it is......we know.
With our use of choirs and orchestras and all the harmonies it is easy for a big epic song to develop into a long track as it needs that time to tell its story but on the flip side a song that is fast, aggressive and violent will use its energy very quickly and burn out as quickly as it ignited.

13. Let us not omit the graphic layout of the album. Is it a work of some member or did you entrusted it to someone from outside of the band? I guess that the graphics is fully based on lyrics, isn’t it?

I had an idea for ancient parchment...an old look and as a band it was an idea that worked for where we were now and what we wanted to say with HE. With Elliot and Gareth coming into the band too we wanted to hearken back to how HE ideology and imagery was in the old days and focus on HECATE herself. Kami at the label also had this parchment idea and we worked on it with him to develop it and using the sigils. A friend of ours in Mexico; Nestor Avalos – Black Arts is a graphic designer who has worked with us before came up with the cover image which is a visual interpretation of Hecate as Lilith....and it fitted perfectly with the lyrics and visual theme we had. It all came together very smoothly and that’s why this whole album works on every level as it has not been forced in any way. It is purely HE as we are now.

14. You are returning back to the Czech Republic after some time. It has not been that long since you played at Brutal Assault but to be honest your set was short and the fact you played sometimes during afternoon didn’t help it. On the other hand, it has been ten years since you played in Brno’s Svatoboj and I know of many fans who still consider that gig to be one of the best they saw. How do you remember that one (if you do) and what can we look forward to at this year’s Hell Fast Attack?

It was amazing to play Brutal Assault, such a great festival in a great location to great true metal fans. Yes it wasn’t an ideal set time but we had a huge crowd for that time of the day and we enjoyed every second of it and gave it everything as if it was a 2 hour headline set...that is always how we play. To play in Czech is always a pleasure and honour for us as we have such great memories of there, that gig in Brno you mentioned remains amongst one of the best we have ever played and that is mainly down to the crowd. The energy and respect we felt from that crowd pushed us to play one of the all time great sets and we use that show as a bench mark for how we perform. Footage of that show was used on the official As Fire video so it always remains as the classic HE show and we fully intend to out do that at Hell Fast delivering a power house show of pure aggression, dark energy and atmosphere cos we know the Czech fans will push and drive us to perform out of our skins. Get fucking ready!!!!

15. We are slowly getting close to the end so let me inquire about some of your opinions. What do you for example think about the contemporary British black metal scene? Do you follow the local bands? What music, besides black metal, do you enjoy?

The UK BM scene isn’t huge, not many bands or venues but there are a lot of BM fans over here and in the cities gigs are supported but we do need more for the native bands and not just the big touring bands. There is Verdelet from Southampton who are a great new BM band with a great sound and image. Old Corpse Road from the north of England are another great BM band who deliver great live shows and compose classic brit BM songs. Reign of Perdition are another great BM band from the south of England who play impressive progressive BM putting a unique twist on brit BM. Also Barshasketh and Nolti Nan Gana Nan Nolta from Scotland are great aggressive and dark BM acts.
I personally enjoy lots of different types of music, not just metal, but inside metal i love Doom, Stoner, Thrash, Death, heavy rock and metal. It’s good to listen to other styles too it can give you good ideas on composing and arranging.

16. What about your future plans? Do you already have some ideas for a future material or do you fully focus on promoting your latest effort?

We are still promoting VR and have some ideas for another special version release of it later this year along with videos and maybe a DVD. But we are writing again and intend to have the next album written and ready to record end of this year/early next. We will play a lot more shows and tours and have a full year planed for 2015. Now we are with Crank we will be more productive and more visible not only on the road but online and from releases. The new web site is looking great along with our FB page so get on those both and start posting and talking to us and we will update you on what is coming up and all things new and old from the HE camp. Along with some new photos and vid clips.

17. I don’t intend to tire you so let me thank you for your answers and if there is anything your would like to say to Czech and Slovakian readers, then go on. Thank you once again and see you in Brno!

Cheers! Thanks for the interview and thanks to our Czech and Slovakian fans for their constant support and respect,,,,,you are the best and we look forward to seeing you all at HFA Fest and in future shows!!!!!!!!
Pleaase check out our web page,,,,, http://www.hecateenthroned.com/
Also our store can be found at this site.

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