Pazuzu "And All was Silent"

Ishtar a écrit:

Bonjour, quelqu'un d'autre ici aime ce groupe ? Ce n'est pas franchement une nouveauté mais je n'ai rien entendu de tel, ni avant, ni après. Ce mélange de musiques exotiques / orientales, d'ambiances type messe noire, de médiéval, de classique... c'est vraiment un album très particulier et que j'ai énormément écouté plus jeune, sur lequel j'ai beaucoup dansé aussi (danse orientale).

VilleFantôme a écrit:Ce mélange de Bontempis et de cris de damnés est effectivement assez ridicule...

Frater a écrit:On offre son âme au diable sans en avoir conscience, et pour bien enfoncer le clou, ce dernier vous donne la réussite matérielle et sociale, pour s'assurer que vous n'irez jamais pleurer dans les jupons virginaux du "camp d'en face". Bien joué, Satan. Désolé, Ray.

– I would like to believe these sentiments deeply rooted in the archetypical core within us, they lie dormant in our subconscious and we tap into this spring through the means of our art. This is the same current that in the early 90s spurred young black metal guys to pose with medieval weapons in ancient castle ruins, or parade around the forest with torches lit. Far transcending simple photo shoots, the entire procedure had a strong emotional impact on us. It became a quest to ascertain why we, as Satanists, resonated so strongly with energies perceived as ‘pagan’.

– I certainly don’t find notions such as nexions opening and energies flowing to be in the least bit of an over-mystification or exaggeration. The atmosphere manifested in black metal at the time, if I may talk about our general early history, was not only about the feeling on the mini-album you mentioned; thousands of young men were simultaneously prepared to go all the way, at any cost.

What’s relevant for satanic art though – why we discuss this topic in the first place – it’s not as if everyone into black metal has to execute psychopathic crimes for the sake of it, rather the art requires a certain dangerous, discomforting, and unpredictable mind-set. Whether you’ve killed is beside the point, it’s how you carry yourself and your morals. The primary benefit of both the deeds and subsequent widespread scene-support for their perpetrators, is how they served as a protective filter against mainstream interest. That’s why I have welcomed them all.

– We must now, if only for a moment, distinguish what we usually try to unite – everything superficially ’evil’ judged by average moral standards on one hand. And, on the other, something very complex: a spiritually valuable contribution sacrificed to the deity which you called ’Satan’s interest’. It’s not that a godly intelligence searches for teenagers to enlighten and then has them set fire to a wooden church. All this was important for black metal, but not in the capacity of servitude to sinister powers. The dark deity simply is. In the eyes of this entity, your timeframe of twenty-five years is an irrelevant factor. To fully answer your question, we would have to discuss nothing less than the mysteries of existence and time, which goes a wee bit beyond the scope here, right?

– With the genuine commitment of an uncompromising offering of one’s soul to be devoured by the maw of the Devil – now this is a much greater achievement than an animal-like physical tussle, a dabsy teenage courage-test gone wrong, or a narcissist backstabbing. The act of worship requires much insight and spiritual footwork, it is therefore highly inadvisable to offer up something one has no firm understanding of to someone whose very nature defies comprehension. First there must be a precise vision of what ’the soul’ and ’the Devil’ actually mean – and trying to define that now would again be going too far. It comes down to separating that which really matters from what’s simply indulging the public demand for melodrama.

Grishnackh’s knife-in-the-back was not a worthy contribution to the glory of Satan. It was how he acknowledged and worshipped the deity in early interviews and influenced thousands of people to intensify their bonds with black metal and, in continuation, the Devil. I’ve known quite a few people who began their esoteric pursuit as fans of early BURZUM records, who read the interviews and went on to become devout Left-Hand Path practitioners. This was his actual satanic achievement, not the sensationalism that catapulted him into stardom.

TT describes how, in a short moment of lucid awareness, Vikernes realised the true nature of the Devil. I must confess I’d be quite curious to hear the man’s own thoughts on this analysis. – There are interviews clearly stating that he ’studies the Golden Dawn system of magick’. You can see related book-spines in the background of an old photo, and he even used Aleister Crowley’s A.A. sigil as cover for his 1991 “Demo II”. Not to give Crowley’s belief much credit in this context, but there were many more relevant factors that shaped BURZUM and the course of black metal than people want to acknowledge today. Remember how he continuously, in many interviews, called Satan an existing divinity and not just a metaphor? His, and I quote, ’Lord and master’ whom he worships – even calling him ’Lucifer the fallen light bearer’ in one interview, which shows remarkable perceptiveness in a time when the focus was on all things blasphemous and anti-Christian. All this has now been forgotten, ignored, and reinterpreted since it contradicts everything that Varg became after Grishnackh died.

– I assure you that the true children of the Devil who make up the serious core of this scene are no less devoted. Besides, it’s easier to go through the initiation process of an established religion or old cult – entering the institutionalised structures, facilities, or settings that most of them offer. Satanism as we know it doesn’t really have an ongoing, organised, linear history. Much of it has to be deciphered, linked from its many roots and foundations and re-evaluated from a certain point of view. Essentially, the Satanist needs to do all the spiritual footwork on his own accord. Each and every one of us had to start almost at zero, with little guidance and ability to discern whom to learn from and what to ignore. As a Satanist your source pool is huge, almost endless; bits are scattered across so many cultures, religions and systems. You find valuable clues in ancient scriptures that don’t correspond with your own beliefs.

Dictators and tyrants, anyone bringing misery upon the human plague.

The aforementioned interview from The Sinister Flame also featured some jubilation over what TT described as the renaissance of uniting the scene with ‘sinister esoteric organisations and satanic orders’. Through the years, we’ve seen quite a few black metal councils, circles, and brotherhoods and I’m curious why their return warrants hailing. – There were a multitude of interesting attempts in the 90s; Order of Nine Angles, Order of the Left Hand Path, The Black Order, The Balder Brotherhood, and so on. From summer sports camps with pagan lectures right through to long-existing satanic groups who still influence people to this day.

Sectateur a écrit:Pour la petite histoire, Ray Wells (le "chanteur" et leader du groupe) a fait une belle carrière dans l'industrie automobile canadienne :lol

Puisqu'on parle du diable, et de Pazuzu, dans lequel a joué le chanteur d'Abigor, Vous me faites penser à cet interview assez sinistre donnée par Thomas Tannenberger, le batteur d'Abigor, où il s'exprime comme un sataniste pur et dur, bien réel, absolument conscient. Même dans un contexte black metal c'est assez rare pour m'avoir stupéfait et mis assez mal à l'aise. La plupart des musiciens de BM sont boeufs qui utilisent Satan comme un pur symbole de leur rejet du Christianisme tout en affichant par ailleurs des opinions qui ne choqueraient personne chez Libé ; j'ai vu hier un post de je ne sais plus quel groupe de BM ultra satanique qui combattait la maltraitance animale...

William Marsten a écrit:On ne maîtrise rien dans la vie, et l'on est pas l'auteur de ses propres oeuvres. Les démarches conscientes n'ont aucune importance, comparées à tout ce qui dépasse le créateur pendant son travail.

Je n’ai pas aimé Awaken The Dragon , c’est un fait. Mon attention pour PAZUZU était redevenue moindre jusqu’au jour où j’ai lu sur le net que le duo de SUMMONING (dont je suis un fervent fan, j’aime bien le dire) avait entièrement composé ce premier opus de PAZUZU, And All Was Silent… , et même mieux, que c’était le TOUT premier album auxquel les deux bonshommes avaient participé ensemble. Ouaouh, c’est un scoop…mais franchement je préfère le dire tout de suite, c’est certainement pas une fierté.

Donc voilà, on aurait pu prendre cet album sous deux angles. Soit on y voyait la germe du génie SUMMONING, parlant à travers un minimalisme éminemment calculateur, soit on y voyait tout simplement un énième album d’ambient médiocre, non, mauvais, qui cache son manque incomparable d’idée derrière un concept soi-disant mystique.

Manque d'idées ? "And All Was Silent" est le seul album de la scène dungeon synth (ou ce qui allait le devenir) à mélanger musique médiévalisante, mélodies et percussions orientales, dark ambient rituel, néoclassique... Mortiis a inventé son propre genre, qui a été copié des milliers de fois maintenant, mais Pazuzu n'a jamais été imité. Il reste seul dans sa catégorie.

Après pas même quelques écoutes, on se rend vite compte que la première solution est bien peu crédible. La seconde en revanche se rapproche certainement beaucoup plus de la vérité, à ceci près qu’il paraît que cet album est l’un des premiers du genre (si on fait remonter le fameux « genre » aux BO de Nosferatu ou Haxän, on est quand même loin du compte), DONC il est illégitime de dire que And All Was Silent est un « énième » projet médiocre. Mais à vrai dire que ce soit le premier ou le dernier, le résultat est le même.

Blabla inutile qui ne vous dit rien sur l’album. Alors l’album l’album, que dire de l’album, mis à part sa très basse qualité, le fait que c’est répétitif, longuet, chiant… Bon mis à part ça, comme la marque de fabrique du groupe le veut (ou le voulait), le principe de chaque morceau est assez simple : suivre un concept médiéval sombre à travers des textes parlés avec pleins de voix différentes (grosses voix de démons, succube en chaleur, voix doucereuse et délicate, hurlements grouillants ou carrément torturés parfois à la limite du ridicule, timbre monocorde d’incantation…), en allemand et en anglais la plupart du temps, français sur un morceau… On entreverra enfin un peu de chant féminin (parce que au bout de 40 minutes de blabla, même aussi varié que ça puisse être, ça fatigue les oreilles) sur « Forgotten Scrolls ». Le morceau est d’ailleurs au passage pas trop mal, quoique très basique.

Les compositions sont très faiblardes. Chaque morceau tournant autour d’un thème principal répétitif qui manque sévèrement d’inventivité et n’évite presque jamais le cliché…quand ça devient plus long, comme sur « Incantation of fire god » ou « Ask My Dying Soul » et leurs effets horrifiques qui se veulent hypnotisants, et sont très vite pénibles. On pourra percevoir un début d’idée sur « La barronnesse et le démon » (même si tout ça est relégué, en français, par une mise en scène assez moyenne), mais même à côté de ça, les claviers ayant un son de jouets pour enfants de deux ans, et n’étant pas utilisé de manière pertinente, il ne reste plus rien pour nous plonger dans un début d’atmosphère moyenâgeuse.

C'est le même clavier qui a été utilisé sur tous les premiers albums, au moins, de SUMMONING et de DIE VERBANNTEN KINDER EVAS, putain d'abruti.

« And All Was Silent… » a quand même un intérêt, celui d’illustrer parfaitement la partie du dark ambient la plus primaire. Un album qui, à mon avis (qui n’est pas humble du tout, vous l’aurez remarqué par mon manque total d’ « objectivité »), est surestimé, et complètement dispensable (encore plus que Awaken The Dragon).

Well, I was in touch with the A.B.M.S (or the Austrian Black Metal Syndicate) back in 1995. This syndicate was a “circle” that consisted in some Austrian bands working together. For some reason, I didn’t manage to buy any cd directly from them, although I had heard of almost all the involved bands: Trifixion, Pervertum, Summoning, Werwolf, Summoning and of course Pazuzu.

Pazuzu interested me particularly. They played some dark and varied music which wasn’t ever done by other bands. Especially their debut album, “And all was silent” made me contact them immediately after listening to it. Great stuff.

It was released through the now defunct label Head Not Found, owned as you should now by Metalion.

Anyway, here’s the interview. Enjoy.

Psicoterror: Pazuzu is quite unknown right now, please write a few words regarding its creation!

Pazuzu: Since early 1994, Pazuzu emerged as a driving force of the Austrian Underground with the release of the demo, The Urilia Text. The Norse label, Head not Found, later released “...And all was Silent”, featuring Silenius & Protector (of Summoning fame), and Pazuzu. The future foresees a new release in early 1996. The band describes the upcoming recordings as possessing the same Pazuzu Sound, yet ascertaining a more entrancing, meditative edge. A preview to the upcoming cd appears on the A.B.M.S compilation, Norici Obscura Pars (Dark Matter rec.), scheduled to be released in November of this year.

Psicoterror: And of course, your musical and lyrical influences...

Pazuzu: Pazuzu’s musical and lyrical influences emerge from the Old Celtic Traditions. Strong musical influences are taken from bands like Lorena Mckennit, Will, Clannad, etc...Lyrically, the songs speak about the diverse field of the occult traditions. But all in all, I still feel that Pazuzu is a pretty original band, seeing that we were the first to come up with this kind of music...

Psicoterror: Tell us about the Main concept involving the Black Metal Syndicate, your motivations and so on...

Pazuzu: The A.B.M.S began as a collective effort from the Austrian Black Metal bands, to provide one address for mail pertaining to the scene, in order to help it grow and make Austrian bands’ recordings more attainable, as well as receiving news from all over the Black Metal world.

Psicoterror: What can you say about the Belgian black metal scene? (ED: Belgian???!! I don’t know what I was thinking when I did that question!!!)

Pazuzu: The Belgian black Metal scene does not interest me enough to comment on it. I know of Ancient Rites.

Psicoterror: What do you think about the increasing of fascism in Europe and about those bands who are finding a way to mix this ideology with the music they make?

Pazuzu: The A.B.M.S in no way supports fascism or racism of any form. I personally believe that it has no place in the Black Metal scene, and will not deal with anyone who choses to follow that path. I guess you can imagine how I feel about bands that use it as a lyrical influence. Cross my path and I shall rip you without care...

Psicoterror: As you already should know by now, the Black Metal “Maffia” from Norway has received lately some “supporters and imitators” across Europe as well. Your opinion please?

Pazuzu: I don’t care about their actions, But I still find blazing churches quite attractive and heavily romantic, not to mention arousing.

Psicoterror: What is your personal opinion about the life-loving ideology of the current status quo and the slogan anti fun / love /fashion?

Pazuzu: I hate life, life to me is mearly suffering and brutal agony...I never wanted to be born and forever hate my fucking father for not having used a fucking condom when he decided to screw my fucking mother...Death to them both...About love: In Mentors El Duces words, Find Her Feel Her Fuck Her Forget Her...and to come to the last fucking bullshit point...fashion: BLACK pure BLACK...

Psicoterror: Future Plans...

Pazuzu: Projects for the future include our new release, scheduled to come out in early 96 (Head not Found), as well as Norici Obscura Pars comp.(Dark Matter Records), to be released in the month of October. I feel that this compilation has an amazing ammount of talented bands. The known bands: Pervertum, Trifixion, us. The unknown, but worthy of recognition: Golden Dawn, Vuzem, Knechte des Schreckens.

Psicoterror: What do you know about the Peruvian scene?

Pazuzu: I love the Peruvian scene...

Psicoterror: Last words...

Pazuzu: Thanks for your support Renzo and keep up the good work for blackness divine...Hail Satan...otherwise all is said

(ED: Yes, I cannot believe, after many years without reading the interview, the incredible ammount of generic and uninspired questions, I couldn’t blame the band for the short answers, anyway I interviewed them a couple of issues later as well, even if their third album didn’t even came close to “And all was silent”.)

Contact:
(well, not anymore!)
A.B.M.S
P.O BOX 525
1061 Vienna, Austria