Martyrium

Posted on Apr 1, 2007

by Steffi

Take a glimpse into the world of the Maltese black metal band Martyrium, with our new writer Steffi. She visited the band in their rehearsal room and got a good chat with the band, you can read the result below.

What is the most positive thing about being in a band like Martyrium?

"Well it's definitely got to be the fact that we create music as a way of letting our emotions out, what we feel; what we go through; sort of like a way of dealing with our feelings - anger, pain and happiness to name a few" ,Vargblod said. He considers the band to help him cope with different situations in life.

Then Moloch goes: "To me the biggest satisfaction is when you step in the studio and come out with the recorded material in hand... its sort of reaping what we had been working on for weeks and weeks. Making music which you made yourself and which you can hear anytime you want is a huge accomplishment to me." In fact Martyrium rehearse 3 times per week and every member of the clan takes rehearsing very seriously ~ there was an air of brotherhood in the garage which became evident only seconds after I had just started this interview.

As far as shit goes, name the obstacles you meet as a band?

The band was quite happy that I asked this questions because I had soon to learn they were upset about many things of which they had no control on and which they thought to be unfair namely PLAYING LIVE.

Count Mortem: I want you to write this in bold man, because this is a disgrace. With the pen to the paper and raised ears in the air, I gave him my full attention and as the rest of the band seemed to nod in agreement he goes- "There is this venue that charges us Lm260 (approx 700 US dollars) to play which is frankly too high for the band to go out and play the venue alone. We usually manage to book up a gig with us playing together with 2 other local bands or 3, so that the fee is divided".

"It would be much nicer if we could be able to play a gig alone." Necropaedophile [the keyboardist] muses. And I definitely agree. But the problem as Count Mortem explained very well to my understanding is that considering the fact that Martyrium handles all the expenses themselves from their own hard-earned cash , going live has become a tough thing due to the extremely high charges to play a gig at certain venues.

"It’s like they’re doing us a favor by giving us the chance to play live!!!!" Moloch states upon me when asking to explain better.

"Also there are no professional soundmen here in Malta, so when you go out live you'll not only have a different soundman at every venue but also have accept the fact that the sound might not be what the band expects it to be. It's completely out-of-the budget for us to hire a soundman which understands how we want our instruments to sound when we play live", Necropaedophile says. Later during the interview I learned that Necropaedophile is the only member who has theory knowledge of music.

Ok so lets go a bit deeper into talking about live performances? You played abroad tell me about it?

"Vargblod Oh god [il-ALLA !!!] they refused to let us go off-the-stage at a gig in Germany!! The crowd got so much into our music" said Count Mortem. "The crowd just went nuts when we went off stage giving a flying fuck about that we were foreigners... they wanted me to keep on playing till my body gave up - there was no way the German crowd was going to be happy without a dozen encores!"

Where else did Martyrium play live abroad?

Moloch: "We played France, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium apart from Germany." Now I guess that makes Martyrium quite confident in front of a crowd.

What is the idea of creating so-much of a dark atmosphere when you play live? Chalices, blood, goreish stuff... I mean even the website? Is this a form of rage coming out through music or just expressing art in an extreme manner…?

"We just look at the image as a compliment to the music. I mean in black metal the image and the songs go hand in hand. I would never go on stage in a pair of jeans, shirt and a slipper... I would never do that - We follow the footsteps set by the early Black Metal bands where the make-up and goreish dark image is part of the product we have to sell! It's either a take-it-or-leave-it situation for the fans", Vargblod says. I have no doubt their fans like the image. Haha... "It's part of what the fans expect when a black band plays live. I remember we played a venue in Germany without the make-up due to time constraint and the audience were evidently upset about it", Vargblod nostalgically recalls…

Speaking of other bands, Martyrium claim they are inspired to write music, not by listening to any particular band, their sound is on the otherhand inspired by Dimmu Borgir; Morbid Angel; Behemoth and Cannibal Corpse.

Do you agree with the prosecution of those who 'steal' music and use the internet to render it freely in public?

"No of course not!", Vargblod, Necropaedophile and Moloch reply in choir. "We primarily want our music to reach every ear it can reach; be that in any way", explains Necropaedophile. "Being appreciated comes first... making money out of it is an extra".

Do you believe in a higher power something that makes things be? And do you put this into music?

"Well, every member of the band has different beliefs we have Satanists, atheists, and even members who frankly doesn't give a flying fuck about it!!", Vargblod says. "And yes we put every aspect of every one of us into our music -- beliefs included."

What is the attitude towards recording?

"We're quite perfectionists when it comes to recording. I mean ideally we'd be able to record a song on the first take but we're not that gifted haha!!" says Vargblod.

"The studio sort of never stops giving us surprises... I mean we had cases when we heard a song upon recording it and it kind of sounds special suddenly when it never stood out from the other songs during rehearsals. I like the studio", says Moloch.

Do you consider the heavy metal scene to be healthy here in Malta?

"It was once. Not so healthy anymore", Vargblod promptly replies. Then Necropaedophile jumps in by explaining: "There was the time when nu-metal became popular so heavy-metal fans stood up to challenge the advent of nu-metal, so we had more people showing up at gigs, more response and feedback in general but now the vibe of the scene has gone underground again preferring to stay sort of low profile."

Martyrium website

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