1. At what point did you decide to put Deveneor into operation, what does the name Deveneror refer to and why did you decide to use it?
Deveneror was born as the aftermath of the first of a series of theophanies we’ve been experimenting so far. This first inner experience was translated into music by NK in a week, 1 song per day. It was under this process that we decided Deveneror would be a “band”.
Deveneror means “worship”. It can mean similar things depending on its declensions. The band’s name came up while reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses, shortly after finishing the recording of Kenoma. It was a logical choice provided it arrived to us at the perfect time and place. Also the book itself showed some connection to the work we were doing.
2. With two albums already released; Can you describe a little about the process of composing and recording Devenor's music and a little the terms related to “Theophany” and “Epiphany” as a source of inspiration to compose? How important is an instrument like the bass when composing the music for your latest album?
We use the terms theophany and epiphany as synonyms, given we don’t know exactly where these manifestations come from, so we just can’t say we’re in touch with a certain deity or if it’s just a form of existence we, as humans, aren’t supposed to perceive by conventional means or with our mere physical senses.
Our albums all done in the same way and they are recorded/translated as the source comes to us: The experience happens. We feel compelled to translate it in a physical or observable way, like a drawing/painting, text and/or music. We record the instruments in a sort of automatic way, like automatic writing. The songs flow through us from beginning to end; sometimes the performances recorded are left untouched for the entirety of a song, sometimes the source leaves some empty sections for us to complete with our own musical background. Kenoma was recorded almost 100% automatic as it was the first experience. Malleus was done mostly automatic, but NK wrote the basslines himself, as well as some sections here and there in the other instruments.
Vocals usually comes last, as the music is being materialized, we discuss the implications of the experiences that served as source for a given album. We talk about the concepts and lyrical themes involved, then MR records vocals at his own pace.
Now, Malleus is actually the 4th album we’ve done so far. Between Kenoma and Malleus we recorded 2 full albums that will be released at some point, each inspired/fueled by these experiences. Our connection to the unknown is different now than it was in 2017 as it’s more permanent instead of propelled by single events, but it still works more or less the same way.
3. How important are all arts related to the occult or more rational elements such as philosophy to you in shaping the concept of Deveneror's music? Have you evolved this concept over the two albums? Who takes care of the lyrics of the songs and in what way do they relate to the music? In what way is the thought of a philosopher like Nietzsche a source of inspiration for you?
We are not “occultists” as most people understand that concept. We don’t draw any inspiration from any occultist author, book or source at all. It’s not our intention to be “occultists”. Deveneror wasn’t born as an “occultist” band. It simply came to exist. It can be called a sort of vessel for occultism in the most primitive sense of the word, but not as many bands, like the ones that go for “the evil” themes because they fit the music or because it’s the norm within extreme metal. We record and write what we’re compelled to do. We don’t make black metal in terms of choosing a musical style to develop neither we feel represented by the style’s standards. Our music can be called black metal because it sounds like it, not because we strictly made a conscious decision of making this sort of music. The 5th album we have recorded sounds like a mix of lots of elements, many unrelated to black metal. It still sounds and feels like Deveneror, as the whole point of this band to exist is to materialize these metaphysical experiences, whatever it might be and what ends up as music.
Themes within each album are discussed by both of us. For Malleus we decided to work with certain ideas that we found pertinent to address. The music and the images we received as source matched these ideas and we found that the interpretation of them worked within the experience, so it’s still a very cohesive and consequent body of work.
Regarding Nietzsche, we decided to use his work to destroy Dogmas. There are several dogmas ruling and/or affecting our world and society, like religion, politics, even economics have become unbreakable rules that binds and oppress people. Latest pandemic has shown how fragile human life, society and “progress” are.
When people is being possessed by fear, it tries to cling to whatever they feel safe, like religion or certain political ideologies. It’s no coincidence that both religion and politics are reactionary, as opposed to science and philosophy.
So, we used philosophy as a way to attack and eradicate the reasons behind religion and politics, especially the most extreme branches which unavoidably have destroyed or damaged our existence. It’s also not a coincidence that both have led to totalitarianism, bloodshed, suffering and involution of mankind.
4. Your last album is about the liberation of the dogmas of the human being, could you expand a little on these concepts and why do you consider interesting to treat them in your music? Who was in charge of the design of the album cover and how it relates to the content from the album?
These are times of uncertainty. People is afraid of many things. World seems more unjust and harsher than ever. Groups of interest look to fester in this fear. Within them, you have radical religious groups, terrorists and even neofascists, like the ones who invaded the Capitol. That people is afraid in such irrational way they even go against everything they claim to defend just to get what they want. History repeats itself and that’s just sad. Maybe it’s in our nature to be self-destructive as species, maybe the foundation for the “progress” of the world is just wrong and makes us as society to live these eternal cycles of pseudo prosperity and crisis.
In a way, the epiphany sort of predicted what Covid would do to the world. The plague doctor is both a literal and figurative icon about the fragility of mankind in every sense; physical due illness and also in spirit, as these times have shaped people to forget about the most intimate and personal developments and be more preoccupied about superficial and meaningless things, created to keep is distracted from reaching our true potential.
The basic idea of the album’s art came from the epiphany that fueled it. We talked about this experience with Isabel Ariza who painted our logo back in 2017. She is totally unrelated to black metal personally, but she has the knowledge and understanding of many things, as she’s also a Scientist. So, when we discussed these themes with her, it was very easy to get a picture of what we would eventually use.
5. All these philosophical concepts that populate your music, are they a natural way of evolution within black metal beyond the classical mythological and pagan themes? How do you think the black metal scene has changed over the years? How does a band like Deveneror fit into the American black metal scene?
Our involvement in black metal is by association only. We don’t draw inspiration from it in a conscious way. Our themes are unrelated to black metal by default. Evil, as a fantasy theme like mythology, can sure work within artistic works but it’s not our intent to write “Evil” albums, especially “evil” music and lyrics for the sake of fitting a musical style or get a better response from the audience.
Kenoma was all about spiritual illumination and shedding earthly boundaries to reach our maximum potential as divine beings. One of Malleus’ strongest attacks is against totalitarian ideologies, like National Socialism (it can be applied to any other form of totalitarianism like Communism, it’s not about taking any side). These ideologies are devoid of any sort of intelligence and logic, existing only in people afraid and ashamed of themselves with the sole purpose of hating and harming others.
Mysticism in entertainment can be “cool”, but not in real life. It has been the mysticism that have blinded mankind for way too long, so we try to not fall into the mystical territory in terms of validating or adding metaphysical elements to a musical style that never had them in the first place. Black metal, as for the rest of the extreme metal styles, was born the same: a bunch of teenagers wanted to play louder and faster. There was nothing mystic or spiritual about it. Black metal is just another dialect within the huge language called music.
The black metal scene has changed, in our opinion, for the better. There was a time where childish elitism prevented and attacked certain bands and styles for trying things outside “the norm”. Black metal never had any norm set in stone to begin with. Now you can find black metal of the highest quality everywhere in the world, each region developing a different take on the style, expanding it and erasing any sort of rigid structures within it.
About us fitting into this scene? We hope we do, hahaha. The USBM scene is really strong with some of the very best bands on the planet hails from here.
6. Although they have only released a couple of albums, there is a certain evolution between them, especially in this second “Malleus Philosophorum”, there is a greater complexity both in the music and in the theme. How has the composition process been? Regarding the first album, what do you think has evolved in the band's sound between these two albums?
As mentioned before, Malleus is our 4th album, so things have naturally evolved in terms of translating the material and the know how in the process.
The interesting thing about our journey is that these inner experiences have “upgraded” us. Kenoma, as the first experience was incredibly demanding, physically and technically speaking. Some of the recorded material on that album was done far beyond our capabilities at the time and as such, it took a tremendous toll on our bodies. After recording the album, NK had to stay in bed for few days to recover, where he found out that he could do things that otherwise could have taken far more time to master.
So, when Malleus was done, our skills were far more developed and used to these demanding sessions. The whole album took only 5 days to be ready but still was really intense, enough to make NK take a break from drumming for a few months.
Regardless of whatever band might claim, every single metal band records music with the same tools and processes. Even us, who get the musical content from sources unknown, still use standard musical instruments like guitars, bass, drums and piano. We upgraded our instruments from Kenoma to Malleus almost entirely, thus, we got a better result in the recording and mixing. We did a massive upgrade once again, which we used to record the upcoming 5th album. The sonic difference is massive.
7. Although the process of composing and recording Deveneror's music is a very "intimate" process, if you have opted for mastering with Jamie King. Why did you decide to work with him? What do you think he has contributed to the final result of the album?
We work in a totally hermetic way for recording and mixing. Once we had each album completed, we thought we had to seek for some extra advice in sonic terms, so that’s where Jamie came in. He gave the albums the extra punch and finesse we were looking for.
8. Vargheist Records has taken care of editing the album, why did you decide to work with Vargheist Records to edit your music? Are you satisfied with the work done by them?
We met Justin (guy in charge of the label) from related bands, he and NK are involved in a couple of bands as members, and we considered him to be a honorable man back then. We did a deal with them for 2 albums, which we fulfilled as for 2020. For our next albums, we’re exploring options, as the deal we had with the label didn’t go as planned and Deveneror won’t release anything else with Vargheist.
9. How were your beginnings in music: first concerts you attend, first albums you buy? What did your life make you want to be musicians?
As for NK, things started like everybody else: a metalhead in the house in early 80’s who passed the torch in mid 80’s with heavy and thrash. NK’s first metal albums were Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning, Piece of Mind, Black Sabbath’s debut and a Judas Priest compilation cassette. It all started with them. It was when Altars of Madness landed that he knew that he would be doing extreme metal in the future. He did his first black metal band in the winter of ’98.
First gigs? Local thrash and death metal bands in mid 90’s. One of the most notable ones was Death + Cannibal Corpse + Incantation in November 98.
10. Immersed in the global situation of health alarm due to Covid-19, how have you been affected as a band? How have you used this time to carry out new projects? How have you experienced the situation of not being able to be in direct contact with your followers?
Nothing has changed in our work. Since we work only in studio, the lockdowns made nothing different for us. It has been good for creating things, as we’ve recorded more music with our different artistic vessels. We’ve never played live, so nothing has been lost.
11. Which album is the essence of black metal for you? What recent albums have you compared?
We don’t consider that black metal has 1 way or some definitive way to be done, so there’s no single album that can fully represent the entire style. There are, of course, seminal works that are universally praised and considered the foundation of certain eras and/or regional soundscapes.
Just to not repeat everybody’s obvious choices, let’s mention the following:
-Samael’s Worship Him: One of the most important black metal albums ever made. Very few albums can be so terrifying, in terms of sheer atmosphere as this one.
-Varathron’s Her Majesty at the Swamp: It’s the blueprint of the Hellenic black metal sound. The pacing, the atmosphere, the melodicism and harmonic choices makes it a perfect portrait of that epic and ancient feel for their take in black metal.
-Ulver’s Bergtatt and Kveldssanger: Beautiful pieces of work well arranged, written and recorded that started entire subgenres within the style.
MR’s personal choices in terms of getting into black metal and/or influential albums are:
Agalloch - Pale Folklore
Satyricon - Nemesis Divina
Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
Lunar Aurora - Andacht
12. What immediate future plans do you have for Deveneror regarding concerts, upcoming releases, reissues, etc ...?
We completed another album, which should be released at some point and there are 2 more that will be also finished in time. Regarding playing live, it’s an idea we’ve discussed and we are actually up to do it when the time is right. All things related to physical releases of our albums will depend on the next album.
13. Thank you very much for the time dedicated to Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for Deveneror fans this is the place. I hope the questions have been to your liking
Thanks to you, once again. Just stay tuned for what is to come.
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