MORBID ANGEL Guitarist Gets Philosophical

Sauli Vuoti of Imhotep recently conducted an interview with MORBID ANGEL guitarist Trey Azagthoth. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Imhotep: How does it make you feel that people appreciate your playing style and music so much?

Trey: "I appreciate the fact that people respect me, but I leave it at that. Like the two hand tapping thing, Eddie Van Halen did it already years ago but people don't seem to know who he is anymore. I grew up on that stuff. Van Halen had lots of imagination when he did that so I wanted to do that as well. But if people get pleasure and excitement out from me playing that's great, because that is what this is all about. This is not a regular day job, it is art and expression. It is like an experience, entertainment can be shallow at times, but I want to move people from their hearts. The music has got to have feeling. So it is about spiritual healing and flowing."

Imhotep: In the past your ideas were connected to H.P. Lovecraft and such, but aren't your beliefs actually derived from the Kabbala?

Trey: "It wasn't so much H.P. Lovecraft, I was interested in the Necronomicon, but this was all more of Dave Vincent's stuff. I was myself more into magic. H.P.'s stuff was fiction and stories, whereas I wanted to study Kabbalas, Indian mysticism, witchcraft, etc. But I was studying the foundation of these things, because there is something in common with all these things, there is something in common that really makes these things work, if they even work at all! I was only studying for that, and because of that, it gome some attention among our fans."

Imhotep: Could you explain more about what you feel about various religions?

Trey: "For me it isn't so much about the name of the god or the religion, but rather the background and if you believe in it. It is about belief. It starts with believing and having no doubt, which makes your imagination and drive work together, and work together for some design, something we much believe in. When you put all that effort and power into something, it is going to eventually manifest. Our thinking is like an act or energy towards manifestation, so whatever we think starts to shape in eventually. So I do think we create our own worlds, even if it might not be knowingly and absolutely wanting to do so, we might well be thinking about some other peoples thoughts and manifesting them. The interpretation of something being good or bad, for example, doesn't apply to some certain event, because the reality is inside our heads, there is no outer reality. Even nowadays there are institutions that try to take advantage of you by telling what is wrong and what is right, but no one can really determine it. When we start to think ourselves, we use our gift, we have this energy inside our heart, and that energy is linked with all the energy in the world so we have a possibility to do whatever we want. It has to go through our mind though, because our mind is like a filter. Like, we have this energy, but our minds have to punch it flowing. Our negative thoughts can enhance the energy and defuse it or distort it in some way and produce unwanted results, but this is just basic Kabbala stuff. That's what I have studied, not H.P. Lovecraft. The essence of creating our own worlds is what interests me, because it isn't so much that things are happening to us, rather we are making this all ourselves."

Imhotep: Do you believe in reincarnation?

Trey: "Sure, I do. We put together our own vision of things, but the details are however defused so there's no use talking about it, but the point is that I believe in the same things, but just in my own personal way and that is important. If we think about chemistry, there is no wasted stuff in the universe. There is nothing that would perish or diminish, it just changes form. It can all be broken down to energy. All that is living is of that great spirit, as I like to think. Let's say the universe is an ocean. And when we are born, it is just like a cup of water. Even if our minds give the illusion of separation, we are still solid, we are still of the same ocean. So I would go even further beyond reincarnation and say that the energy never changes, the spirit is always continuous. Our body perishes, but the spirit lives on."

Imhotep: What do you think about America?

Trey: "I can maintain my lifestyle in America no matter what they are talking about in politics etc. so I don't care. But countries like America are ones where you can create your own world and do anything. The only thing we are limited to are magazines, which think something falsely about our image as a band. But If I would sell millions of albums, I would still say whatever I want. Because I always say whatever I want, don't know if they print it or not though. I have always done whatever I want, so I think I am living that freedom in America."

Read the entire interview at Imhotep.