SAMAEL Frontman Discusses Possible Return To 'Ceremony of Opposites' Sound

SAMAEL frontman Vorph recently spoke to Unholiestgoddess of Maximum Metal about his feelings on a possible return to the band's "Ceremony of Opposites" sound, their split with Century Media, and his battle with cigarettes. A few excerpts from the interview follow:

Unholiestgoddess: You probably know that some of your fans are still after all this time hoping that you'll go back to your "Ceremony of Opposites" sound. Do you think that will ever happen?

Vorph: "I don't think so. I don't see the point really. Once we found a way to do things better, and to my point of view it is better what we are doing nowadays, I don't seen any point to try to fool people by trying to go for the easy way, you know? I always like to have a kind of challenge when we play a song, and feeling like I'm a hundred percent, and I'm not playing under my game. So I don't think we're ever going to do that."

On their split with Century Media:

Vorph: "They still have some material that we are still dealing with them on, from 2002, that they haven't released. And, actually, we just had some discussion not long ago with some people from the label. They might want to release it some time this year, and we feel like, if they do it, it would be nice if we can kind of refresh it a little bit, because it's already three years old. And that was the discussion we had, but we didn't have any dates for the release or anything, so we just don't know. But, yeah, we are free from the contract now."

Unholiestgoddess: In your opinion, are there things they could have done differently that would have kept you with them?

Vorph: "It's hard to say, because I think we were kind of tired of being in the same routine. That was the first longtime experience we had with a label, and we really were craving to look for something else, or to look for something new. So ...I don't know. I mean, if that would had been during the hype or something, probably we would have kept with them. But it was a little bit on the side that they had some trouble, because they were moving from Europe to America, and during a little time there they were floating. Now, I've seen they are back on track, and that's good for them, but at the time it was a little bit blurry, and I'm glad we moved on."

On quiting smoking:

Vorph: "Well, I had tried before. I quit for two years, and then I started again just stupidly. I thought just having one cigarette wouldn't hurt. Then, here it clicks again, and the whole process comes back to your mind, and you just feel the need to have another one, and that's how it works. So I think once you succeed in stopping, you've got to be aware that it's forever. Because it's a trick to think, well, now I've quit, I've proven to myself that I can do it. I don't need to prove it anymore, so I can have another one, you know? And that's where everything broke down."

Read the entire interview at www.maximummetal.com.