Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?
The most logical thing would be to do a tour presenting the album, playing the entire album repertoire, since many of those songs we have played mixed with other repertoires, but the great idea would be to play the entire album on tour. We were only able to give two concerts in our city due to the epidemiological situation that the island is suffering. Nowadays it is impossible because the circumstances are becoming apocalyptic, so we have turned to preparing the conditions for the next album. We have a repertoire for 3 more albums, however in the past we did not have the conditions and the technology to record with quality. As such unfortunately bad sounding demos circulated. What we are doing is rescuing all that, modernizing it and including the orchestrations that we are using today. Apart from that, an album of unreleased songs is already in the process of writing, but when we get to that point I'm sure we'll have two more albums ready for recording.
You have a new album coming out in February, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
It differs in musical maturity, in better arrangements, in an incredible orchestration. We have also fixed the letters and the metric of it. The songs on the album are organized in an organic way so that in the end the listener believes that they have already traversed a whole universe of stories connected in one way or another to each other. Similar to a good "hook" book, this album is designed for a shocking beginning and ending that leaves you wanting more.
The band has been around since 1996 and while they were a few demos over the years the band waited until 2016 to release an album, can you tell us a little bit more about the earlier days?
The band has officially existed since 1997.
We didn’t really make a decision to wait until 2016 to release an album, but rather were forced to do so. The main reason for this was the conditions of an orthodox country, where digital technology was a long time coming… Without the digital technology and internet, it really forced us to wait for better times.
We have lost 30 years of our lives in the vicious circle of events and concerts throughout the island, without being able to take our music to other countries. This was because years ago travel for Cuban citizens was prohibited and in addition private recording studios were also prohibited. Today these studios exist but only clandestinely.
Also with the development of music production software, anyone can now record at home which certainly changes things here for us. We recorded our latest album with little access to many things required to make a recording and did it all whilst combating restrictive and challenging conditions. The listeners will be amazed by the good production of the Pentafixion album; however I don’t think they’d believe us if we explained how it was recorded. The good result has the following ingredients: years of training and study, dedication, patience and talent.
On the other hand, there have always been government recording studios, but their engineers are not experienced in recording and editing metal music. Their knowledge does not go beyond the sound of traditional Cuban music and salsa, so going to record there is a huge loss of time and money.
This is also your first album since 2016; can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
We were recording demos throughout those years (Seven dead cities, Knowledge of Necronomicon, Creation of the magnificent, Dominion Satanas, Blasphemy and evil), and an album in 2000 (Carpathian tales) that despite sounding ok and being well received by the underground fans and platforms throughout the country, they just really did not pass muster for an official release.
Apart from that, many concerts throughout the country, many line-up changes, more concerts, steadily creating and building up a kind of legend in the national metal scene. None of that was known in the world due to the isolation that we suffered on the island. Luckily today the internet exists and now we are visible. Keep in mind that we are the pioneer band of Black metal in Cuba and nobody knows that.
A lot of your lyrics cover satanic and occult topics; can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the dark arts?
Just as a dictatorship reinvents history and shapes it at its convenience, Christianity has manipulated the facts to indoctrinate all of humanity.
They have painted Satan as a horrible and evil being who wishes the evil of men and the destruction of the world. The story is different, we are beings enslaved by a supposedly omnipotent and all-powerful being whose only power is to create life, or at least had it at the beginning.
I liken it to being like a mother that begets and has influence over that life, but does not have absolute power over it. That is why it needs extra help, like a book (the bible), the churches and the prophets, or the sacrifice of a son so that they believe in him and the final deception: The theory of free will.
Lucifer, the preferred angel of God, the most beautiful and powerful, and also intelligent, realized the autocracy of the Lord, a being who plays with all of us as if we were chess pieces and laughs and enjoys our misfortunes and killings, like someone who watches an apocalyptic series on Netflix. Lucifer simply rebelled, but was defeated. That is all. Thrown to hell? Hell does not exist. Anyway we use all the Christian conventions of the goat, the pentagram, fire, hell and those things for the sake of the dark atmosphere that we need for our music, but the reality is simpler, we are under the dictatorship of the omnipotent and Satan is our symbol of rebellion and freedom
What are some of the other lyrical topics and subjects the band has explored over the years with your music?
The poetry of Baudelaire, the cursed poet. Also the universe of H.P. Lovecraft and his theory of The Ancients. We have addressed Tolkien's heroic fantasy, and in the future we will delve into Hermeneutics and ancient history about the irreparable damage that Christianity has done in the millenary cultures of countries. We may also do something about Norwegian paganism. Ah, I forgot: also the myth of Dracula.
What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Mephisto'?
When the band was still an idea, I was looking for a name that would synthesize the entire atmosphere that the songs were going to create and by chance the book “Faust”, by Goethe, fell into my hands. In this book I see for the first time a new denomination for Lucifer: Mephistopheles. It cannot be denied that this name, of Greek phonetics, sounds like wisdom, power and divinity. I just reduced it to Mephisto, for better visibility.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
Pentafixion is simply the crucifixion of a person on a pentagram, not on a cross, a method that is usually applied in satanic rituals. What better pentacrucifixion than that of the lord of manipulation and lies, the great enslaver and indoctrinator of humanity. The one who cannot die yet played dead in a carnival show to finish convincing every one of the divinity of the father, creating the most harmful, corrosive and corrupt religion in the history of humanity. A religion that has caused so many crimes and has delayed the course of science and human progress with its cloak of obscurantism and the denial of the nature of man.
What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?
I think the best was the concert at the Eddy Suñol theatre in our city with the Holguín Symphony Orchestra. Apart from being the first concert of a Cuban metal group with a symphony in all of Cuba, it resulted in the recording of a CD / DVD that was published by Bis Music (Cuban record company) and the audio CD was also published by Concreto records, from Mexico.
Mephisto is not a band that lies in the studio and then live we are something else, like some other bands. First we test ourselves live and then the recordings come, so the live shows are powerful and a direct reflexion of the albums we release.
Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
To a greater elaboration of the music, we have learned a lot over the years and we plan not to stagnate musically, but we are also careful not to stray too far and make the mistakes of many, which start in one way and in the end they are so different that you almost have to rename them. Simply the future is music with a more complex and mature atmosphere delivered professionally both in a live environment and in the studio.
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?
The first influence was Septic Flesh, that's why Death metal is still so present, then the influence of Black metal arrived and that was where the group's influences were formed.
We have never been influenced by raw black, that is, Norwegian black metal, the symphonic calls us more, call it Cradle of filth (old) and Dimmu Borgir. Also the diverse musical tastes of the members influence greatly the arrangements of the band. Personally, I follow the trajectory of Septic Flesh, Dimmu Borgir and I'm listening to other things like Fleshgod Apocalypse, Turisas, Ensiferum, and a lot of death metal (Dying fetus, Cannibal corpse, Nile, Suffocation)
12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Yes. All the strategies we are taking to take Mephisto's music as far as possible and put Cuba on the world metal map is not an effort for us alone, we want to open a way for the Cuban metal scene to come out of isolation and darkness in which it is plunged. Pentafixion is only the beginning, behind comes a whole legion to destroy the world.
MANAGEMENT CONTACT:
Jeremy Harris E: mephistobandcuba@gmail.com
Australian Cell: +61 419 966 948 / Cuban Cell: +53 5676 3715
LABEL: Worm Hole Death Records
LABEL WEBSITE: http://www.wormholedeath.com
LABEL CONTACT: Natasa Pribac naty@wormholedeath.com
Australian Press Agent: Black Roo’s Promotion
Press Contact: Michael Lueders michael@black-roos.com
Get ready for the
“PENTAFIXION”
"Pentafixion" Single is available on all digital stores HERE
Stream the single HERE
Mp3 available HERE
Official Website – https://mephistoband.com Official Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/MephistoCubanMetalBand
Official Fan Group FB Page – https://www.facebook.com/groups/400206567176071
Official YouTube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCR-gbytXK0GqmDgdfpE-0mA
Twitter – https://twitter.com/Mephist49840300 Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mephistoband
Sound Cloud - https://soundcloud.com/Mephistocubanmetalband Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/artist/487Vf8CZplEQDl1kg3ooxE
Mephisto - Official Pentafixion Music Video - https://youtu.be/UtCwRWyUhIw
WEBSITE LINKS
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