Exclusive Full LP Stream + Interview - Disembowel - Plagues and Ancient Rites.

Regularly featured here at The Lair of Filth, Chile is a country whose contribution to, and significance within; our underground should never be understated. Whether it’s stalwart Chilean bands like Ammit, Slaughtbbath and Unaussprechlichen Kulten or more recent additions to the Chilean horde such as Oraculum, Athanatos and Praecognitvm there’s no doubting this is a country that regularly punches above its weight.
One recent addition to this Chilean horde is Disembowel from Melipilla in Southern Chile. Disembowel first came to a higher degree of prominence when Iron Bonehead Productions released a CD version of their debut EP, ‘Act of Invocation’ in July 2017. Now Iron Bonehead Productions is set to bring us a vinyl LP edition of Disembowel’s debut album, ‘Plagues and Ancient Rites’ which will cement the band’s place in Chilean underground history.
I was given the opportunity to interview the band, along with the chance of exclusively streaming the album ahead of its release on Friday 2nd March. I’d like to express my immense appreciation to PK from Iron Bonehead Productions and N T Birk who looks after their PR for their help and permission in doing so. Now read on for an interview with Disembowel along with that exclusive full LP stream which is available below.

Interview by Trevor Proctor.

Hi, many thanks for agreeing to an interview with The Lair of Filth, the opportunity to find out a little more about Disembowel is greatly appreciated, as is the time taken to answer these questions. For those reading who may not be familiar with Disembowel could you please tell us a little about the band and your music? 

Hey maniacs! I’m Azathoth the guitarist from Disembowel. Greetings from the putrid lands of Chile! Thank you for the opportunity to share our work. The band was founded by Goat (drummer) and myself and we’ve been  friends since childhood. We rehearsed only with drums and guitar for almost two years, until Leviathan who performs vocals and bass, and previously played in another band in our area, decided to become a member of Disembowel, and so we achieved a full line-up. 

As a band we have always been clear about our musical guidelines, our Lovecaftian theme and creating a sound rooted in the old Death and Black Metal.

Disembowel’s first release was the ‘Act of Invocation’ EP which you independently released on CD in July 2014. How did it feel to release your first recording and were you pleased with how the final recording sounded? Following this the EP was re-issued on cassette by Morbid Rites Prod in June 2016 then on CD by Iron Bonehead Productions in July 2017 – were you shocked by the demand for these re-presses and how did you come to be signed by each label?

Our first work, 'Act of Invocation,' was very difficult, with everything paid for and produced by us, so it was very satisfying to have it released. Due to the fact it was released and funded by us, we were able to launch with very limited copies but we were surprised by the speed with which these sold out at the time. 

I remember many people writing to me asking for copies, both purchases and trades, but we did not have any left. For this reason we decided to contact labels to seek a reissue that would permit copies to be sent to people who were still interested. This is where our first contact came from, Morbid Rites, a label from southern Chile, which we are very grateful for. Morbid Rites released 100 copies on cassette which also sold very well.

After the cassette version was released we had the honor of being able to appear on the roster of Iron Bonehead Productions. You asked me if it was a surprise for us, yes it was as we knew the label due to releases from bands like Unnaussprechlichen Kulten from Chile, among many other international bands. So for this reason it is a source of pride to appeal to Patrick and be a part of this German label.

The next Disembowel release was the ‘From the Depths’ demo which was released by Chilean label Mushantufe Productions in July 2017. Mushantufe Productions’ past roster includes the likes of Unaussprechlichen Kulten, Slaughtbbath and Inquisition – how did it feel to be signed to the label which had previously released music from such legendary bands and did you feel at this stage the band was beginning to receive the attention/prominence it deserves?

'From the Depths' was an advance/demo on what would be our LP 'Plagues and Ancient Rites' which was launched by Mushantufe. It was also a great honor to be considered by Mushantufe from Southern Chile, a label that promotes many bestial bands like those you just named. When this  happened we realized that we were doing things well and that we were delivering a sincere work. 

It was very gratifying to see how our work started to be to the liking of many Chilean bangers as the songs got better distribution.

The demo featured two standout tracks from your album, ‘Lord of Shadows’ and ‘IA! IA! Nyarlathotep,’ did these tracks receive much positive feedback when the demo was released?

'Lord of Shadows' and 'IA IA Nyarlathotep' are songs that we had used many times in our live performances, so before they were recorded in the studio we knew they were already liked by some metalheads. This meant that they could listen to tracks that were already tried and tested and now available through a studio recording - they had a very good reception.

Your debut album, ‘Plagues and Ancient Rites’ was released on CD by Mushantufe Productions in November 2017 and has just been released by Iron Bonehead Productions on LP – how did it feel to have your debut album released and are you proud of the final recording? Also, do you hope to continue the relationship with these two very significant labels?

As stated, we are proud and honored to be working with Iron Bonehead Productions and Mushantufe, we hope to continue working in the future with these two important labels, who are great to work with and also very proper in the way they do things.

Could you please give us some information about the writing/recording/mixing processes for the album and who designed the artwork? 

In relation to sound, it was something we worked on in the studio for more than four months,and it turned out exactly how we wanted it to. Each sound was recorded under a concept, for example, to get the bass sound we wanted it was recorded with a mix between the distortions of equipment and high gain, things like that allowed us to get our expected sound.

The lyrics of the band are mainly written by Leviathan and Azathoth, they create the concepts, after this we add vocals and modify them to create the link between each instrument. The lyrics are very influenced by the work of H P Lovecraft and our repudiation of Christianity.

The artist who created the chaotic illustrations that you can see on our album was Alfredo Pickman "Arte et Mortem" a comrade from southern Chile, who specializes in capturing Lovecraftian works on paper.

As previously stated I enjoyed your debut EP immensely but with ‘Plagues and Ancient Rites’ I feel you’ve brought your musicianship and writing to a new and higher level, do you agree and how do you feel the album compares in terms of writing/musicianship etc., to the ‘Act of Invocation’ EP?

That's correct, there is a difference, a difference that has came about via the musical maturation of each of the members. The songs that are part of 'Act of Invocation,' were written about nine years ago by Goat and myself. Over time those same songs and our musical abilities have grown and mutated to achieve the work we have given on 'Plagues and Ancient Rites.'

'Plagues and Ancient Rites' begins with the intro, ‘Innsmouth Evocation’  which, despite lasting just over a minute, has quite a ritualistic feel, could you please tell us about the intro and your choice of title?

'Innsmouth Evocation' is inspired by passages from the book "The Shadow over Innsmouth" by H P Lovecraft, it was created by Vil Mortem of Vomithor Studios, under direction from the band.  What it tries to transmit is mainly the essence of that cursed city named by the master H P, with nocturnal rituals and beings from other dimensions.

What are the main lyrical themes central to ‘Plagues and Ancient Rites’ and what do you feel has influenced these themes most?

The main central focus of the album's lyrics are adaptations of works such as the myths of Cthulhu; novels such as The Horror of Dunwich, The Being in The Threshold, along with the surrounding elements of occultism that we can rescue from the perceptions of  each of the members.

Having listened to ‘Plagues and Ancient Rites’ many times I feel you’ve delivered an exceptional album with eight tracks of very strong Death Metal featuring some truly phenomenal performances from all musicians – do you agree and do you feel this is an album that will increase the band’s audience worldwide?

I think being fortunate enough to be with these two record labels that are so committed to the underground will allow us to have a much better distribution and diffusion for our music. This inspired us to put everything into the album on our part in order to sound how we wanted, this in turn has been reflected by comments that have come to me from Portugal, California, Mexico, Peru, and the Netherlands.

Chile has a fierce reputation for bringing us some of the best underground bands/music in existence – which Chilean bands do you feel have influenced Disembowel’s sound the most and what recent underground Chilean bands do you feel we should be listening to? Also, which bands, both Chilean and international did the members grow up listening to and how did these artists also help shape your sound over the years?

Disembowel is from a city called Melipilla, which has a strong metal background, the city is known throughout Chile as "Melihell", here there are bands like Infernus Serpest, Unholy Force, Disaster, which have also had very good releases and some have already toured abroad many times, I think the scene in this city allows us to empower each other.
On the other hand in Chile every day bands appear with very good recommendations, personally I can suggest listening to bands like, Praise the Flame, Putrid Coffin, Putrid Yell and Demonic Rage.

Has Disembowel performed live on many occasions in the past and which performances did you enjoy the most? Also, which three bands, both past and present, would you most like to share a stage/tour with?

We have played live many times, especially in the south of Chile, where they have an amazing Death and Black metal scene. So far our best experience was the "Meliattack Tour" where we played three dates in the southern cities of Chile with Melipilla bands. I can also highlight the opening of the Master shows in Chile and Nunslaughter in Chile.
With regards to three bands...I think it would be an honor to be able to share the stage with the legendary Unleashed, Grave, Autopsy, and more current bands like Dead Congregation would also be a pleasure.

Underground metal has experienced a recent world-wide resurgence in popularity, do you feel this is a positive factor and if you had the choice of releasing your music in the early 1990’s or the present day which period would you choose and why?

I think the boom that metal has at this moment is positive, but I only refer to traditional metal. I detest the existence of new metal trends such as metalcore for example, which increasingly pollute the pure and classic sound of metal. As a traditional metal banger there is always that magic that causes a desire to return to the late 1980's and early 1990's, hehe, especially when watching the videos and live performances from those times. But hey, this is the time we have to demonstrate and create our music, and we have no problem with that.

With your debut album now released on LP the future is looking very positive for Disembowel - what are your plans for the rest of 2018 and have you started writing for any future releases?

Our goal for this year is to promote the LP as much as possible by playing live and spreading the chaos and the strength of the unnameable everywhere, and in the last quarter of the year we'll start thinking about writing new material.

Many, many thanks for taking the time to answer these questions, it’s greatly appreciated – any closing comments are all yours…

Thanks to you my friend for giving us the opportunity to share our work and make it more visible.

PESTILENCE AND BLASPHEMIES!

'Plagues and Ancient Rites' by Disembowel will be available here on LP via Iron Bonehead Productions from Friday 2nd March.

Disembowel's debut EP, 'Act of Invocation' is available on digital formats and CD from Iron Bonehead Productions by following this link.