1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
We are a mexican black death metal band inspired by the metal of the 90's. We talk a little about occult knowledge and secret societies.
2. Recently you have released an album, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style you went for on the recording?
This album is a black death metal with 90’s shades,looking for a metal as powerful as melodic, aggressive and sometimes a bit tearing.
3. Your lyrics deal with ancestral occult knowledge and secret societies can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in those topics?
These are topics that interest us a lot, how much of that knowledge have been lost over time and nowadays it is only embodied in signs and symbols of ancient civilizations, how human beings were closing their knowledge channels and now it has led them to being in a state of lethargy and obscurantism. Hell is here, hell is now, and we like to shout it in the face of people through our music. It’s worth mentioning that 6 of the lyrics were written by Alonso Guzmán, a mexican writer and good friend of the band, and the other two lyrics by Sergio Campos, who has always supported the project and has a lot of knowledge about these matters.
4. Originally the band started out playing covers, what was the decision behind writing and creating your own songs?
Actually, the covers were played only for a while and at the same time we started to compose our own material, the idea was always to generate our own music and expose in it everything we had inside.
5. The band originally started in 96 and waited until 2018 to release the first album, can you tell us a little bit more about what was going on during that time frame?
Exactly, the band started in '96 and after a while some of the members separated and started new projects,they looked for new sounds, etc. Hugo Olivos moved to Cyprus and Raúl Campos to Tijuana Mx, after those years, some members of the band were still in touch, some more, some less, everyone in different projects until at last, in 2017, a common friend, Rubén Contreras, put us in touch again and we decided to resume the ritual we had left pending.
6. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Forbidden Rites'?
Mainly, the name was inspired by the ancient rituals carried out by the leaders of some secret societies with occult knowledge, those rituals that wrapped knowledge and could be used for any purpose, rites that today are forgotten, and were forbidden before. It also has a personal connotation and we allude this name to the musical rites that had been forgotten among us back in the 90’s.
7. Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the album cover?
It is the whole representation of those secret sects, which in ancient times hid their temples in the woods to carry out their rituals away from the curious and the blind.
8. Most of the band lives in Mexico while another member lives in Cyprus, how does this work out in the recording process?
It was a complicated process, but not that painful. In Mexico the guitars and bass were made, and we sent them to Hugo in Cyprus, he made the drums and returned the proposals, and so on and on until we were satisfied with the result. Later, Vlad Marin added voices to achieve the final product. At the recording studio, the process was similar.
9. On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black and death metal?
It is true that the album still has a short time in the market and that still does not give us a full picture of the acceptance of it. So far we have received good reviews and the support and appreciation from the people who have heard it, which we are very grateful for.
10. What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
Hugo Olivos continues with his project Vomitile (who already released a third album), Raúl Campos and Juan Carlos Mtz finished their previous projects to dedicate themselves to Forbidden Rites and Vlad Marin has his Xiutecutli project on stand-by.
11. Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
We will always seek to perfect our music, but above all continue to seek how to communicate through it, that music has to tell you something and make you feel something. We also believe that talking about the future of Forbidden Rites music is a bit difficult since we like to live in the here and the now.
12. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
Definitely bands like Dissection, Necrophobic, Satyricon, Vinterland, Old man’s child, Dawn were great influence for these 4 metalheads. Today any subgenre of metal is in our playlists but we also move to genres like jazz and progressive rock, but mostly, extreme metal.
13. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
First of all, we greatly appreciate this space and this interview, and also thanks to all the people who have shown us their support and empathy with this project, and to all those who have been with us throughout these years from the beginning.