SAMAEL Frontman Interviewed On 'Heavy Metal Thunder' (Audio)

April 27, 2011

DJ JC Green of Metal Messiah Radio's "Heavy Metal Thunder" show recently conducted an interview with Michael Locher (a.k.a. Vorphalack, or simply Vorph) of Swiss industrial black metallers SAMAEL. You can now listen to the chat using the audio player below.

Interview (audio):

"Luxferre", a brand new song from SAMAEL, can be streamed in the YouTube clip below. The track comes off the band's new album, "Lux Mundi" (which translates as "Light of the World"),which will be released April 29 in Europe and May 3 in North America via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD features cover artwork by SLUDGE drummer Patrick Pidoux, who previously worked with SAMAEL on 2007's "Solar Soul" and 2009's "Above".

"Lux Mundi" track listing:

01. Luxferre
02. Let My People Be!
03. Of War
04. Antigod
05. For A Thousand Years
06. The Shadow Of The Sword
07. In The Deep
08. Mother Night
09. Pagan Trance
10. In Gold We Trust
11. Soul Invictus
12. The Truth Is Marching On

"In The Deep" audio stream:

A track-by-track description of "Lux Mundi" by the members of SAMAEL follows below.

"Luxferre":

"Opening track of the album to set the tone musically and lyrically... it was originally called 'More Light!', a reference to 'Mehr Licht!', which is believed to be the last words pronounced by German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on his dying bed."

"Let My People Be!":

"Walking the fine line between anarchy and society while prophesying a new era. Middle tempo track with a haunting chorus."

"Of War":

"Musically heavy as heavy can be. This is the second time SAMAEL wrote a complete song on the subject of war. 'Valkyries' New Ride' ('Solar Soul') was more or less directly inspired by the ongoing war in Iraq while 'Of War' treats the topic in a general sense.

"Antigod":

"['Antigod'] was the first single released on November 19, 2010. It shows the new album's direction and gives a taste of what's about to come. Lyrically, the song is a firm stand against any kind of religion."

"For A Thousand Years":

"Heavy middle tempo track which questions our view on immortality. This is actually the full orchestration of the song 'Ten Thousand Years', which appears on the 'Antigod' single."

"The Shadow Of The Sword":

"The Quran says 'the gates of Paradise are under the shadows of the swords'… This is yet another song against religion and more particularly against monotheist religions, an up-tempo aggressive track with some reminiscence of 'Rain' ('Passage') as Waldemar [Sorychta] noticed."

"In The Deep":

"One of the most experimental song on the album, tribal rhythms with a very distinctive guitar riff. It is a trip in the depths of the SAMAEL's soul."

"Mother Night":

"Probably the heaviest ballad ever written… After the power ballads, the progressive ones, the time is right for some ultra heaviness in that genre…"

"Pagan Trance":

"Part of the song existed for a long time but we've never found a way to complete it until today. It's a ¾ song just as 'Antigod', but it is more open and somehow more mellow. The lyrics are about connections between eternal feminine and nature."

"In Gold We Trust":

"Money, material possessions and success this is the god's trinity to which most lives are sacrificed in the today's world. An up-tempo track with bombastic chorus."

"Soul Invictus":

"[The title] (roughly translate in English as Invincible Soul) is a word play with the Sol Invictus used by the Romans. The song has been played during the latest European tour and it soon turn up to be one of the highlight of the set becoming a crowd anthem on the spot."

"The Truth Is Marching On":

"The quest for ultimate truth could be a chimera, but it takes a ride on this road to make a man. Musically the song starts with a blast beat faster than anything SAMAEL ever played before — the tension is kept throughout the track and explodes again on few occasions."

Commented SAMAEL guitarist/vocalist Vorph: "For the cover artwork of 'Lux Mundi' I envisioned a series of rays starting or ending at the centre of the cover. I wasn't even thinking about any kind of motives, just black on black using a matte and shining black to make the rays apparent. I spoke about that with Patrick Pidoux, who did the artwork of 'Solar Soul' and 'Above' and he came out with that idea upon which we immediately all agree."

Added Pidoux: "I drww a very graphic version of an eye which represents sight, the first human sense able to capture light."

"Lux Mundi", which took almost three years to be completed, was recorded last summer after the band spent a few days in pre-production in Germany with with longtime collaborator Waldemar Sorychta (MOONSPELL, LACUNA COIL, TIAMAT, GRIP INC.). The actual recordings took place in two different locations in Switzerland and the mix was handled by extreme metal specialist Russ Russell in Kettering, England.

Released on November 19, 2010, "Antigod" shows the new album's direction and gives a taste of what's to come. Lyrically, the song is a firm stand against any kind of religion.

"Soul Invictus" (roughly translates in English as Invincible Soul) is a word play with the Sol Invictus used by the Romans. They were seeing the sun (sol) as an eternal and glorious form of life and they revered it as such. SAMAEL drew a parallel with the sun and the soul on a few occasions in the past ("As The Sun", "Solar Soul") The song was played during the latest European tour and it soon turned out to be one of the highlights of the set, becoming a crowd anthem on the spot.

SAMAEL's last full-length CD, "Above" (2009),entered the German Media Control chart at position No. 99.

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