1.Can you give us an update on what is going on with the band these days?
Morbid Hails, Comrade! First of all thanks for this interview and hell-o to all your readers! Well, we are always busy creating and rehearsing new materials. 2013 is shaping up to be a very busy year, with the release of “Miscreants Of Bloodlusting Aberrations” on Dunkelheit Produktionen looming on the horizon. And the planned split CD release with Toxemia(PH) and another split with the Canadian black metal stalwarts, Black Pestilence on 7-inch vinyl. The songs for our next full-length album is already done we’re just adding the finishing touches on it and it is also scheduled to be recorded this year.
2.How would you describe the musical sound of the new album and how it differs from previous releases?
“Miscreants…” is actually our second album. It was recorded in 2009 and released on cassette tape by a very low-key French underground label, Satanized Productions in March of 2010. We sent promos of it to various labels for a CD release but nobody seemed to be interested in it, until in 2012 when I came across Bernd of Dunkelheit Produktionen through trading-and he expressed sincere interest to release it. And he really made his promise into reality! The main difference of ‘Miscreants..’ to be precise, is songwriting-wise, they’re some of the most well-structured and thought out songs we ever did despite still being under produced, it was the best sounding recording we ever made so far because we a lot more time in preparing for the songs, and it was recorded in an analog recording studio. Unlike our first album, “Blasphemous Communion”(2007) which was totally rushed and not very well mixed. It almost sounded ‘crusty’ when I listen to our first album and early demos today. We went back to that rushed, raw approach for our third album, “Forged In The Crucible Of Death”(Old Temple Records. Poland, 2012)due to financial reasons. It’s always very difficult scrounging out the finances for our recordings, being a band from a middle-of-nowhere third world shithole. We have no managers, producers and very little hometown support, but we always persevere and make things happen. Luckily though, technology has made recording music a little bit more affordable these days with the advent of home recording studios.
3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the new release explores?
- Pathogen’s lyrics, in a broader sense, are usually about the darker human inhibitions. I’ve always been fascinated by strange psychological behaviors such as lust, megalomania, egotism, insanity-you know stuff that usually leads to warfare, atrocities, perversion, genocide, and other maniacal behaviors. We also wrote some stuff about history on songs like “Shroud Of Silent Death” and “Uranium Messiah”, etc… While others are classic death metal lyricisms on songs, like “Ode To The Macabre”, “Necrological Rites”, “Heretical Wisdom”, etc. I’m always moved by bands who write great and really interesting lyrics. A lot of people think that lyrics are not important, but I beg to differ. Reading the lyrics adds another perspective to the sound.Today it seems that many new bands don’t really care about lyrics or even having good song titles, which is quite a shame, really because they are a big part of what makes metal really rad and cool!
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the bands name?
The inspirations are plagues and diseases that infect the populace! Pathogen’s music will infect and spread throughout the world and once you get infected there is no cure!
5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?
Certainly there are many factors that affect our stage performances, but when the conditions are right expect a full-on skull-crushing metallic onslaught! Hmm…there are way too many great shows to remember! Ones that stood out are the gigs with Beast Petrify, Warbringer, Impiety and Dying Fetus to name a few, but more often than not playing in some hole-in-a-wall venue with crappy equipment in front of a few supportive friends all going crazy are some the best live moments we ever had!
6.Do you have any touring plans for the new release?
Hopefully, in the near future this would become a probability. We’ve always dreamed of touring the world playing in front of maniacs every night-aaarrrggghhh! There is nothing better than that! I mean, what else is there in this bullshit life? Death probably, but I’m not too eager to find out just yet! Right now we could not afford the logistics of embarking on a European tour or something like that. We need to find a good management and booking agent for this to happen. It’s hard enough for us playing in far-flung provinces here in the Philippines, let alone an international tour. We all thought in the beginning that if we can’t afford to play constantly in far provinces we’ll just write, record more music and send them out overseas to fanzines, demo traders, or anybody interested! But hopefully things will change for us soon because we’ve worked so hard for a better part of the last decade until today to establish our name overseas despite our lack of resources, equipment, and money. We forged ahead even during the darkest days when we have seriously doubted our future. One thing I can really be proud of Pathogen compared with other bands, is that we have a very blue collar work ethic.
7.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of underground metal?
Generally, our music is so much more well-received by people overseas than it is here in the Philippines-which explains why 90% of our musical output are released by foreign independent labels. But in the beginning we would have been happy enough to record a demo and maybe break up and venture into other musical areas. But as soon as we started to get noticed by the underground demo trading circuit, we thought maybe it’s about time we took things seriously. Anyhow, in a local level, it’s largely uncommon to find people who really understood what we are about and really likes our music and appreciates the underground DIY ethics and all that, especially here in our city-the majority of the brain-dead masses here don’t even knew we exist and that’s so god-damn cool! And those who knew us in the local musical community think we were a joke and couldn’t play a single note of music and therefore could not believe our music actually get released overseas and all that shit. They thought we were making up all that stuff. What the hell!?
8.What is going on with the other musical projects these days?
I’ve recently cut down working with other musical projects in order to focus more on Pathogen, and besides my other musical involvements were not as serious as Pathogen. I like the entire sub-genre of metal from black to doom to grind to traditional metal, I like ‘em all! But death metal is still the closest thing in my heart in terms of music! The pure fucking energy, chaos and dark, horrific atmospheres still give me an adrenaline rush even today! True Death Metal just doesn’t get old to me!
9.What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?
In every release we try to add subtle elements of whatever music we are into at the moment without changing our sound too much. We might add a little thrash, doom, black, grind on our song-writing formula-depending on what other forms of extreme metal we’re listening to. The cool thing is death metal is probably the only musical genre other than jazz where you can combine other musical styles and still be death metal! I don’t want to disclose anything about our future releases for now. Just keep your eyes and ears peeled for our upcoming releases.
10.What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays
The members of Pathogen all came from various other bands before and obviously, we all like and influenced by the wide spectrum of metal music from classic heavy metal to death, grind, thrash, doom metal. A large part of our musical education came from listening and absorbing the kind of music that we like. But we also listen to other genres such as punk, crust, D-beat, experimental music, progressive and classic rock of the 60’s and 70’s and such. If all we did was listen to metal I’d probably get sick of it in a few years! Basically, any music that has a non-compromise attitude is cool for me. The only thing I can’t stand is mediocre music. As for Pathogen our immediate influences are, Repulsion, Autopsy, Cancer, Cerebral Fix, Sacrilege UK, Morbid Angel, Benediction, Unleashed, Deceased. Carnage, Brain Dead, Master, Dismember, Winter, Celtic Frost/Hellhammer, Sodom, Possessed, etc. Classic stuff mostly. Right now I’m listening to Rigor Sardonicus, Gripe, Morta Skuld, Nerlich, Black Feast and Rudimentary Peni.
11.Does Occultism play any role in your music?
Not a whole lot, really. It’s still reality that inspires us to create music.
12.Outside of music what are some of your interests?
Women and alcohol, of course! Haha! I enjoy mountain biking and skateboarding from time to time. I also tend to read a lot about history, philosophy, etc. Stuff like that. 70 percent of my time everyday is consumed by music. I don’t know why. It’s just an itch that I can’t scratch!
13.Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview?
Oh yeah, check out ‘Miscreants Of Bloodlusting Aberrations”. It should be out very soon on Dunkelheit Produktionen. And also our more recent releases, “Forged In The Crucible Of Death” (Old Temple Records. Poland), and ‘Lust Of Evil” cassette EP (Afterlife Productions, Malaysia). Thanks again for this interview, man! Watch out for our upcoming new releases as well! Metallic regards!
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