1. Hails! It’s pretty long time – four years – since your last release. What things have changed in the band since those times? Do you feel more mature as musicians? Was there any pressure from fans’ side felt during your composing process?

Hails. yes, four years, due to numerous inside problems, getting rid of all the line up from DPE and finding new members (already gone by now anyway). Plus changing label... There was no pressure from "fans" since there are none that we are aware of. As far as musicianship goes, no there is no real feeling of change compared to the past, but having a drummer with skills did change A LOT in our process. It did increase the violence we wanted to spawn, yet some felt it did disminish the khaos, I do not mind that change.

2. I’m sure there’s lot of various reactions, negative and positive as well. How do you deal with negative criticism or review? What are the reactions like according to “Blood Libels”?

Hard to say, usually we never get any mags or zine back from all the promos we might have been doing. That never did happen, we just had to read the reviews from the local press and some articles available on the web here and there. Most reviews were praising this release, which was surprising, since 95% of the reviews for the two albums prior to this one were negative towards our work. And most individuals we know in that scene would not care for anything we release anyway, so I do not have any feedback, apart from some individuals like Mk of Katharsis, Sad of Inkisitor... So I am used with "negative criticism" but will never be used to all the gossips and false ideas that some idiots seem to have. For instance, when "DPE" came out, most of the french "scene" thought that Antaeus was a neo evangelist band, "christians" undercover. Such idiots could only be found here I guess.

3. Have you changed the system during composing and looking for the new material? Did you concentrate on specific coherent theme or were you adding some ideas, effects, etc. during the whole process of composing?

No difference in the writing process, a lot of material got thrown away out of those 4 years. It takes us forever to complete an album and considering the cost of such release, we have no "spare" material for anything else. Also was logical from day one of composition up to the last day of mixing. All was foreseen and arranged. We did fix some details in the last days, including other elements and vocals effects, but there was no room for improvisation.

4. Where do you see the biggest strenght of ANTAEUS these days? Which moments from “Blood Libels” are you proud of the most?

"these days"? to that I could not reply. Our strenght would also be our "weak point", depending on which side we do see the whole. We did stick to our vision of satanic audio violence, providing musick that would get the attention of a minority in a scene that is already limited. After some years and the evolution of the scene, we're basically having worst conditions now than the time when we had not released a single demo. "Blood libels" in itself belongs to my own personal pride. Be it in the musical structure or the artwork achieved for both lp & cd version. Being released under the banner of Norma Evangelium Diaboli also means a lot.


5. I was really surprised (from the positive way) by the cover of the CD which looks simple but on the other hand also depressive and grimmy. Does it have also any deeper meaning which follows the whole album?

It depicts one movment related to the "blood libels" process, an act of devotion and sacrifice, a dynamic move in opposition to the most static covers one could find around. There a will of achievment which is put upfront in those covers, especially the cd version. The lp version was meant to be more figurative, since the item in itself represents already a lot.

6. We can say that the most noticeable sign of “Blood Libels” are very sharp guitars. Also the whole sound is really great. Where and when were you recording the album?

All got recorded at the BST studio, I've known Seb for years, since we were both in the same band at the time, and he knows what Antaeus was searching as far as a recording would be done with him. So all got achieved as we wanted. We never were in the studio at the same time, one at the time, which is better since we did not really feel like "having to deal" with other band members. We did record it during last summer, over a two three months time. We only went there a few hours per months, all in all, it took less than 7 days to complete the whole album there. The drums got recorded at our ex drummer basement, as you can tell, we did not have a high budget recording, but it was WAY better than anything we've ever achieved so far.

7. There was some announcement on Myspace web pages where you’re talking about your last concert. Could you tell me why you’re mentioning last concert? Are you planning to quit your live playing?

Since the myspace page for Antaeus is the only accurate webpage for any informations related to the band, we had the information given over there. Also meant to be an answer to those asking for "possible future concert"... No, there will be no gigs in the future, we have no line up nor the possibility to do any.

8. If you’re going to finish your live playing are you planning some special farewell party or something like that with your fans? Why did you decide it to do it, to quit?

We have no fans, so there is no need to do such thing anyway. Our last gig was a total failure, just like the tour we did prior to this Arnhem Metal Meeting. The line up we had for those events was not matching the line up we have for the "blood libels" recording. Thus there is no reason to go on, by performing those tracks live, we did damage our work and it has been a mistake to perform under such conditions. Also, Set & myself are facing health problems and we do not feel like going on with the live conditions we have had since we started. Apart from one gig in Athens (greece) and Lisboa (portugal), all our gigs were NOT worth the energy and money spent. Our last gig should have been the one we did in Portugal a bit earlier, we were already performing tracks from the "blood libels" recording and it did sound massive and intense. While on the tour, it sounded weak... There is no one in France that would be interested in joining Antaeus & have the skills to perform our work. Or else, they are session musicians and we simply cannot afford that.

9. It’s clear to me that your lyrics are inspired with evil and antichristianity but there’s also a spark of interest. It’s not only pure hate and texts have also deeper meaning...how do you put them together? What’s your inspiration?

All is linked to personal experiences, conclusions taken out of those and the desire to depict specific happening that might have enhanced my vision of Him.


10. Could you tell me something about split with AOSOTH which hasn’t been released yet? It could be pretty interesting...

It has been released. On Paleur Mortelle some years ago, limited to 350 mlp (vinyl). The reissue on cd has been meant to be out for over a year now, and it is still not out yet. No idea if it will come out this year or another. No one seems to care anyway. Battleskrs had numerous problems with the artwork, technicals details that could not be fixed and they had anyway enough releases way more interesting than this one to put out. And less suicidal, sales wise... Better release a DARVULIA cd than an Antaeus album, at least Darvulia gets to sell enough to cover the printing costs.

11. You’re not the only one extreme black metal band in France. Do you follow other bands as well? There’s plenty of new albums released this year...MERRIMACK, PESTE NOIRE, etc. Did any of them interested you?

The day I'll find a way to afford those releases, I'll give you my opinion. Merrimack are good live performers though, got to see them a few times, they are really big around here. About Peste Noire, they were affiliated with a label I do not care for, so I did not pay attention so far. Yet I heard numerous comments about their work.
Latest TEMPLE OF BAAL album was killer.

12. How do you see French black metal underground in general? In my opinion it’s growing to be bigger even if it sometimes seems to me that everybody is able to form black metal band and release some piece of shit...is there any first quality local band in France which is quite unknown but worth to hear?

No idea of what you refer to as a "french scene". There are bands coming from our country, but that does not really make it a scene, since there is no communication with most of the others and most bands are spitting on each others. We do not care, the only "scene" I know in France was the NSBM scene that was a bit more active in the past, nowadays I have no clue.

13. All of you are great musicians who are also imvolved in lots of other side projects. How is it like to release for example album with three different bands?

I do not know. Lsk would maybe be better to answer such questions since she also performs in bigger bands like Hell Militia or Vorkreist. It seems to be a totally different world and they really get a big fanbase, die hards following them. Hell Militia will soon perform in Southern France with Malkhebre and Inkisitor, I might attend!


14. Do emotions play the biggest role in your life or do you rely on your instict during hard situations?

I rely on distance, comprehension of problems & logical issues to any problems that would come across. Reflexion is the Key. Instinct prevails only in fights and desire. And I do not know desire.

15. Do you know any band from the Czech Republic? Have you ever visited our country?

Never had the chance to go really East in Europa, nothing further than Germany (Polish border). I had in mind to go there on my own, willing to experience the area since on my "day work", one of the office I work with is located over there. But nothing happened so far. About the musical scene, I had a fairly big amount of demos, but most were death grindcore. That music style did seem to be HUGE ten years ago over there no?

16. Do you prefer chaos to rule?

We have yet to experience total Chaos. But the taster we had made us crave for more.

17. I hope I don‘t forget anything, if yes, last words could be yours... Thanks and bye.

All hails to you. AMSG