1. Many greetings! When we look back to the year 2006 and even to the beggining of this year, we can see, that France overwhelmed the black metal community with the best records. Where do you get so much strength from? Maybe a strange question, but...

Infestvvs: HeL. Yes it's a strange question. Especially because we don't belong to this "community". I'm not interested about the health of our national scene. We (Obscurus Advocam) got strenght from our beliefs and our purpose is to not be just another cliché. I appreciate few french bands, but not because they are french.

2. Your debut is a very mature album at all points, especially when it comes to the production. Did you place big emphasis on it?

Molokh: From the start, we thought this album required something fiddly. Now it looks like a mature work though it‘s a debut album. But we never meant to produce a professional music. Our intentions are more simple than that. When it comes to creating midpaced and atmosphere-focused riffs, you have to be very meticulous on everything, so that your music doesn’t sound flat or even boring. The best way to make our music efficient was, for instance, to multiply guitar tracks, to create particular basslines and so on. In that regard, the production quality is the achievement of a global work, though we defintely consider Obscurus Advocam as underground rather than professional. We wanted to keep a special feeling in our sound.

3. There´s quite a big pause between „Fervour & Devotion“ and „Verbia Daemonicus“. How did it come to this? Lack of invetion, some problems in a band? Tell me, I don´t know much about course of events in Obscurus Advocam.

Infestvvs: M. joined the band just after „Fervour & Devotion“. We knew each other from long time and we felt we could make something different with Obscurus Advocam. We wanted to try something new. Therefore the writting process has been very long. We needed time to find our way and create something accomplished. The two of us wrote the seven songs for over two years, after what Antarès joined the band for the last six months preceding the recording, bringing new ideas and insufflating life into the album.

4. It´s not very usual for French band to have label from across. Blake is without doubt a very competent person, but you know, what I mean... How did come to your cooperation? Did you speak to label or did you make a deal in advance?

Molokh: As I said before, we wanted a good production because we thought the album required a such thing. Verbia Daemonicus had no interest in being self-produced. So we decided to contact few labels with our material. Blake liked it a lot. He immediatly understood our state of mind and appeared to be the best person to produce and release this album. French labels weren’t much interested in our work and Battle Kommand Records was by far the more enthusiastic and competent label for us.

Infestvvs: Many French bands are signed on foreign labels...


5. Obscurus Advocam, Verbia Daemonicus - names, that arouse curiosity. What do they actually mean?

Infestvvs: Obscurus Advocam has to be understood as - Invocation of Darkness - When I created the band I wanted to focus on the Occult side and not only Satanism.

Molokh: Verbia Daemonicus literally means „the speech of the Devil“. More precisely, the speech is to be understood as „Verb“ or as „Word“, especially in reference with John’s famous sentence: „In the beginning was the Word.” In the exegesis, the status of the Word is very ambiguous: it’s the only thing that is not created by God, it is here with God at the very beginning. Our music is mostly emotive, tricky and deceitful. To us, music is directly connected to the Devil’s raw material. He would speak with it.

6. Your cover seems to me very confusing - I can´t imagine, what it should symbolize... What is the concept of your album?

Molokh: See what you want to see. Of course, there is something about hybridity, mutation, time or whatever. But it isn’t meant to symbolize anything specific. It is rather a conceptual image. If you listen to the lyrics, especially Verbia Daemonicus’one, maybe some words will resonate and will open some paths to your personnal apprehesion of this cover. There’s a sentence in the lyrics we use to describe what we try to do : „merely a key am I, no path to greater spheres“. We like the idea that the music is a key, but you still have to found out what‘s behind the door.

Infestvvs: This is an abstract artwork which fits perfectly the concept of the album... Use your mind and not only your eyes to see.

7. You don´t compose very speedy music, you rather focus on atmosphere and ripe presentation. Did you experience a lot as musicians? What did affect you debut the most?

Molokh: As told before, the writting has been quite long and we tried a lot of things. But generally speaking, each time we thought a song was finished, no major changings were add. We composed all the songs and when we tried them in reheasal with Antarès, they worked. Which is a good sign... Antoher thing we really focused on is the diversity of the songs. Once we had the general idea of our music, we tried not to be repetitive and finally each song is very different from another.

8. Do you have a clear idea of the sound of a song in advance? Or do Obscurus Advocam belong to those bands, that work in a complicated way, long, but with an effect and do you change a song during recording a lot?

Molokh: We don’t really think about the riffs. They just come up and we immediately know if it’s a good one or not. Most of the time, Infestuus brings a lot of riffs and a big part of the work is to find the good combination in order to make them work. We also tried different ways : starting by a riff from one of us and then the other one gives an answer to it, then the first one takes on by responding, and so on. It‘s long and toilsome. But once we’re done, we don’t change it. The album was fully written when entering the studio.

Infestvvs: It's always a good thing to be 100% prepared before the studio. Of course you can always change some details but for us the big part of the work has to be done before.


9. It seems to me, that you don´t try to encourage attention on yourselves, I found just very short informations about you. Are you glad to be a little bit mysterious?

Molokh: This is a debut album. It was not really awaited. Maybe that’s why you have that feeling, but we don’t try to be mysterious at all. What’s important to us is the music. We don’t give a fuck about rumours or band member’s dispute. The Black Metal scene is completely polluted with this, so don’t except us to play that game.

10. Do literature, films or any events have any impact on your music? I mean rather lyrical aspect...

Infestvvs: Not so much in fact. It's rather experiences and personal feelings. We built our path by ourselves and the first "stones" were only there to guide.

11. How do you feel listening to your debut? What do you think of? Are you keen on listening to your own music?

Infestvvs: We're really proud of Verbia Daemonicus. I always wanted to create something with Molokh and Antarès as they are true allies and good musicians. The alchemy of our essences led to something completely different from the demo (in a good way). I'm glad of the evolution and this album will be forever carved in our souls.

12. Do you play many live performances?

Molokh: Obscurus Advocam has never played live. „Fervour & Devotion“ was a one man side-project. Antarès plays live with Temple of Baal, Infestuus has Glorior Belli. For the moment, no gigs are foreseen though we would study the case if occasion shows up. But we would like to experiment something different than simply playing the album’s songs. We’ll see...

13. You don´t have a very typical black metal vocal, Infestuus. And as your music has sometimes very technique or even death metal sound, I would like to ask you about what you listen. Are you anyhow limited with genres? What do you focus on?

Infestvvs: I'm not at all limited with genres and Obscurus Advocam isn't confined to a category. As you probably heard on our album we mixed various influences together. Life ain't only black or white, right? So we focus on what we think is good. It's only a question of vibrations and tastes.

14. Glorior Belli, your next album, is about to be released this year. What could you tell us about it? Is this album typical for your band? What would you say to entice us....?

Infestvvs: We're currently in studio. This second album is called "Manifesting The Raging Beast". I can already tell you that it's gonna slay. A bit different from the debut album but the essence remains the same anyway.


15. What is your opinion on self-mutilation? Many teenagers do it just for pose, but it can be compulsion or addiction for some other people. You probably know, why I ask...

Infestvvs: I guess you're referring to my old picture. I don't want to talk about this. It is personal and has nothing to do with the band. Just be sure that it's not for the "style". We just didn't have the time to make new ones, probably because we thought it was useless. People have to focus on the music & the lyrics, not on our faces.

16. People, who rule to this world, have many faces... What do you think of a man generally?

Infestvvs: "Man" is a keyword in our lyrics. More precisly, his condition between the Demiurge and Lucifer. Always been considered like a weak and miserable creation. Verbia Daemonicus starts with: "A guide for so few, a curse to so many...". This is the first sentence of the album and that's precisly because one has to fight for his deliverance. There's no salvation for the weaks.

17. Thanks a lot for this interview, let´s hope it gave you something... In conclusion, you could tell us, if you know anything about Czech republic, where these questions come from. And last lines are of course yours

Molokh: Thanks for your interest in the band. All the best!

Infestvvs: Merely a key am I, no path, to greater spheres.