A band from Belgium that’s on the rise after having proving themselves to always deliver high quality black metal since their formation in 2013 is Ars Veneficium. With a new album recently out titled Usurpation of the Seven it was time to talk about the bands history, future, black metal in Belgium and the Corona situation.
Tell me how did Ars Veneficium come to life?
The band basically grew forth from my former band Eratomania back in 2013 when 2 members made the decision to leave due to other priorities and interests. It was then that Ronarg (who’ve recently joined Eratomania a week before) and myself decided to continue. From there on, I asked my old Drummer (Sorath) to join us again and after a few rehearsals, which led to a whole new sound, we decided it was for the best to start all over under a new name which eventually became Ars Veneficium.
You’ve been with Immortal Frost Productions since the debut EP The Abyss, how did you two get in touch?
Well, fun fact is that I’m the owner of Immortal Frost Productions. So it made sense for me to release my own band as I have full control over the promotion, distribution, release formats etc. I could push everything the way I want.
How is the Belgian scene for black metal? The little I hear from bands from the country delivers, such as yourself, but there seems to be so few black metal bands. Is it a PR thing (as in there are many bands, just not known to the masses) or is there simply not a lot of people wanting to play black metal in Belgium?
Lately we actually have a very good scene if I have to be honest. The past 5 years or something bands are really stepping up their “game” again and delivering in full force. Our scene might be small, but we have a great number of black metal bands in this country. PR could be blamed I guess, perhaps since our country is so small we don’t get the attention we should, but if one would dig in properly, you will find at least 15 black metal bands worth checking out.
To name just a handful: Possession, Slaughter Messiah, Heinous, Dikasterion, Saqra’s Cult, Sabathan,…
Your lyrics revolve a lot about Satanism, what’s the members religious belief?
My lyrics present several topics such as Satanism, Demonology, Luciferianism, my obsession with death and what comes after life. I wouldn’t confirm it as a religious belief, but more as a free way of thinking, exploring and absorbing wisdom in one’s interests. After all, I have an utter disgust for monotheism.
What fuels the darkness in creation for Ars Veneficium? How goes the process when creating a new album?
The fuel behind my music has always been my hatred, disgust and personal life experience. Everything I see in our daily life, how people interact with one another, how religion still manipulates the weak minded, the brutality towards the beauty of nature. This all reflects my view upon the world and humanity which I eventually translated into my lyrics.
The process of writing a new album happens between myself & Ronarg. He delivers the song writing of all the instruments which I give a final adjustment regarding structure and details right before I write the lyrics to these songs and we call it “complete”.
With your new album Usurpation of the Seven having been out for almost a month when I write this has it had the reception you hoped for?
Our new album has been received very well I noticed. Reviews have all been very positive, however for some strange reason we’ve noticed that everything’s kind of put on hold half way into March. Reviews haven’t been delivered, sales have stopped drastically, distribution is on hold..
Has it something to do with the Corona Virus? I seriously can’t say. Perhaps our album isn’t that good after all? Maybe the reviewers weren’t interested? Perhaps, it wasn’t the right time? (hahaha) Anyway, I find it a very strange situation to be honest.
Sadly your album release tour got cancelled due to the Corona virus, it sucks hard and many bands are suffering right now. How are you holding up, how has it affected you and how can fans help you guys out?
Correct, under normal circumstances we would have toured China in May for 2 weeks to present our new album to a whole new scene (where we’ve of course never been before). Unfortunately has our tour been cancelled due to Corona Virus as well as our album release show at Dark Easter Metal Meeting festival. And we’ve heard that our other planned festivals for this summer will most likely be cancelled or postponed as well. Which is unfortunate, but understandable regarding the whole situation.
How can fans help us? By checking out our new album online and show their support by purchasing it through our record label; http://smarturl.it/usurpationoftheseven
Speaking of tours and lets just dream for a bit. What would be a dream tour for Ars Veneficium, who would you tour with and why?
Honestly I personally have no dream tour. I guess any tour with like-minded people, good vibes etc could be nice.
What’s next for Ars Veneficium?
For the moment we’ll wait out this “storm” and see if our shows will be rescheduled or not and focus towards what comes after this current situation and hopefully our album will get noticed a bit more during this quarantine.
With that I guess we both go back to the quarantine life. Got any last words?
Thank you for this short interview and interest towards Ars Veneficium.
Ars Veneficium
https://facebook.com/arsveneficiumofficial
Immortal Frost Productions
https://immortalfrostproductions.com
https://shop.immortalfrostproductions.com
https://digital.immortalfrostproductions.com
https://youtube.com/user/ImmortalFrostProd
https://facebook.com/immortalfrostproductions https://instagram.com/immortalfrostproductions https://soundcloud.com/immortalfrostproductions
The Metal Gamer 