SAMAEL Frontman: 'For Almost The Last Two Years Now, I've Just Listened To Classical Music'

SAMAEL vocalist Vorph recently spoke to Lucem Fero's Welsh interviewer Anthony Morgan. Topics of discussion included the Swiss band's seventh album "Solar Soul", their label situation past and present, and his thoughts on numerous musical topics. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

Lucem Fero: Could you tell me how "Solar Soul" came about?

Vorph: "Yeah, sure. It was released on the 1st of June, though this is an album we took more than a year to work on. We actually began working on the album in early February 2006 just after the tour we did with OBITUARY in Europe, and since then we haven't done anything else other than work on the album. We just worked on the songs until June when Waldemar came here to Switzerland — Waldemar Sorychta (ex-GRIP INC. guitarist) we worked with on the previous recording as well — and it took a couple of days here, actually four days, for Waldemar to check the songs together with us. We then started recording sessions in July, and that went all the way through to December. This wasn't continuous exactly because we had off time from the video we did, and we played a couple of shows and festivals. All in all though, we were mainly focused on the album last year."

Lucem Fero: Did Waldemar approach producing "Solar Soul" any differently than he has with past albums?

Vorph: "It was pretty much the same as when we worked with him on "Reign of Light", but previously it was different. Previously it was like "Passage" for example; the songs weren't finished, and we actually more or less finished the songs with him. Here for "Reign of Light" and this new album though, the songs were finished when he came and Waldemar just gave us advice about the construction and other different details. More or less, the songs were already put together."

Lucem Fero: Why was "Slavocracy" chosen as the first video?

Vorph: "I don't really know why this is the first song actually, though we planned on choosing the first video before we did the final mix. We sent three songs to the record company before we did the final mix in order to give them an idea of what the album was all about. If we had to do a rough mix for it, we thought one of those three, and that was actually "Solar Soul", "Promised Land" and "Slavocracy"... the first three songs actually.. we thought 'well, we might as well put one of those in to the record company in order to let other people check out what the album's going to be like'. Whatever though; we chose that one, yet we could've chosen another. Of course though, then people from the record company thought 'Well, that's a good one' because they'd heard that one before. I pretty much like every song on the album, so I didn't really care which song would be the first video. I think for the video though, this one is probably a good idea because I like the way the video came out. We worked with somebody from Germany for the first time. We just got the song together, and I like the way it came out. It's different from what I've seen before, and I cannot fully get behind a video which is something I've already seen."

Lucem Fero: Could you tell me more about the lyrical themes of "Slavocracy"? You said its about democracy and how it's not what it seems, so could you expand upon that?

Vorph: "It's the dark side of democracy. I would say it's in fact like a bad mutation of democracy. To me democracy is one people and their point of view, but the point of view is theirs. They stamp on about this, and that's it because they want to make a point. If that could eventually be turned into a slavocracy, that would be people that just feel 'Well, they're bringing us somewhere and they're saying it on TV, so why not?' They just go with it, and go with the flow. You don't think anymore, and then you see nothing is no longer yours. You just put up with it and obey at the end instead of making a point, and that's pretty much what the song is about."

Lucem Fero: How would you summarize SAMAEL's time with Century Media?

Vorph: "Wow.. umm.. we were really happy to be on the label when we first signed because they were new, and there was this energetic feeling that they wanted to do something. By the last album though, things had gradually changed; people went out, there were different people we had to work with and they moved their seat from Germany to America. That was messy at a certain point, and I think they're doing better nowadays. They got good bands again which wasn't the case for some time, but I'm glad I'm out of it."

Lucem Fero: How do you feel SAMAEL in 2007 differs to SAMAEL in 1987? How do you feel the band differs from twenty years ago?

Vorph: "I suppose I'm not the same guy anymore — I was sixteen when I started up the band almost (laughs). I'm not a grown up man now, but I'm no longer a kid. Yeah, I'm different definitely; I went through different things in my life, I've learnt different things and I've met different people. I think my life is richer, and all the music is richer than the way it used to be."

Lucem Fero: Is there a specific singer you looked up to particularly?

Vorph: "Right now?"

Lucem Fero: Not right now, but at that time. Was there one you really idolized, so to speak?

Vorph: "Quorthon from BATHORY for the vocals I think was a big influence. To me, at that time, he was probably the guy who pushed the boundaries the furthest in terms of that style of music."

Lucem Fero: Do you feel he would've offered some good music to the world if he was still alive in 2007?

Vorph: "I have to be sincere with you and say I love his work very early in Bathory. I loved the second album "The Return" (1985),and I thought "Under the Sign of the Black Mark" (1986) was really over the top, fantastic. "Blood Fire Death" (1988) was still good, but then I lost it. This whole mythological theme wasn't my thing, and I just didn't get it. I know now what it's all about, but I didn't have a connection to it."

Lucem Fero: Is there anything you're going to experiment with on the next album particularly?

Vorph: "We're discussing it right now, but we're not going to start to work on the new album until next year I think. Now we're just toying with ideas, thinking 'Yeah. This we could try'. We'll see what's going to be left when we really start to work on it."

Lucem Fero: Are there any ideas you'd like to experiment with? At the moment?

Vorph: "For almost the last two years now, I've just listened to classical music. I love this guy from Russia called Shostakovich. There's something I like with his music being melodic, but you got this quail thing I like a lot as well. I'm not saying we're going to incorporate Shostakovich into our music, but this is an influence I speak of that I would love to be on the next record."

Lucem Fero: Is there a reason you'd like to do Shostakovich and that classical influence on the next album? Is there a reason why you'd like to go in that direction?

Vorph: "With Dmitri Shostakovich I really see two things. He did these things for Stalin which weren't that good to me, and it really sounds like military music. Some of it though is not that bad actually, and I like the musicality of it. I thought there were things that give me chills, so this is good then."

Read the entire interview at this location.