TheRev: Hello Void! Thank you for agreeing to answer my questions.
You are the owner of several projects, from Egypt, that had a response in the Middle Eastern Metal scene since the birth of your main project "Frostagrath", but as Extreminal Webzine already introduced it to people, I will make this interview about Hecate, actually I will talk about many things, from music to politics…
Void: Hello, it’s a very great honor for me to be interviewe by you, Extreminal Webzine has supported me during these past years and I really appreciate it.
Void, what’s your position in the Egyptian Metal scene today? and what’s the situation of Metal in Egypt actually?
Well, for my position I guess I am in the underground scene in Egypt as there is a small number of people who listen to Depressive Black Metal here, but for Hecate I think it just needs some time to be spread into the scene, to be exposed to more people here, Adam (the vocalist) and I, are planning to do a live show after we finish our debut full-length.
Metal in Egypt has been developing over the past few years, there is now a huge number of metal bands, from different genres.
And by the way, we salute your friend Adam.
I have been observing the Metal scene in the Middle East since years, and it seems like people there still adore Thrash Metal, metalheads are totally influenced by the American Metal scene style, which makes the other genres like Black Metal and especially "Depressive, Post-Black, Ambient" a bit in the shade, what do you think about this?
Unfortunately, that’s really true: most of people in the Middle East are more into Thrash and Death Metal. In Egypt, there is a good number of people who listen to Black Metal but they are divided into two groups; those who prefer the old school sound «raw Black Metal sound» as Varg Vikernes once said «the Necro Sound». And those who prefer the new sound with more melodies, more clearer voice. As for me in Hecate, I try to mix the two; the raw and the melodic. As you will hear in the upcoming Full-length of Hecate, the main influences are : «Satanic Warmaster, Dissection, Zyklon and Emperor ».
Ah Dissection, I already can’t wait! Let me be more curious; since the Metal scene there is more focused on Thrash, why you chose "Depressive Black Metal"? from where came the idea and what makes you like this subgenre?
I Wanted to express my inner emotions, my darkest side, Every person has his own secrets and since I am not very good at expressing my emotions in words and since I try to isolate myself from people, keeping my connection with humans to level minimum, I decided to export all my negative emotions into music. Frostagrath’s music is just a reflection of what’s going on my mind at the moment. I don’t seek the attention of the public over here, I am just trying to save myself. That’s why most of Frostagrath’s lyrics and music are revolving around depression, oppression, coldness and isolation. Every single note, word, played or written in Frostagrath means something. Most of people over here relate me to «Emo groups» but unfortunately, they just don’t get the difference.
Of course, Underground Metal chose to seek the attention of a very special and limited public. It’s neither good nor bad, it’s Metal! I have another curious question about your different projects, why did you create Hecate, since you already have Frostagrath and Hateful Desolation? I mean, what makes you want to work on different projects instead of focusing on one?
That’s a very good question. Every project of the three is meant to express a side of me.
Frostagrath is meant to express all the negativity that I hold within me, the oppression I am facing in my life, the depression and pain I feel…
Hateful Desolation is meant to express my experiences in life and relationships, as you can see the first track entitled «Your Memory Will Never Fade» is a dedication to a girl that I knew, parts of the lyrics are taken from old conversations between me and her, but the second track in the demo is more into hatred, supposed to express the anger you feel when everything around you is against you, you find yourself trapped with no one around, many people yet none of them is able to understand or comfort you.
As for Hecate, it’s meant to express the most furious part in the human nature, the hate towards everyone and everything, the misanthrope and the coldness that follows these emotions. The anger that follows the loss, the evil side of humans at least for me and Adam. We wanted to create something that best expresses our feelings at the time, and I guess we could do that.
Yes, you did it!
Different good projects that got a positive feedback; it’s clear that people liked them, I am one of them! Did you face difficulties when releasing them? Did the Egyptian Metal scene help you promoting yourself? Tell us about the circumstances of the releases.
The hardest part is to look for a label that would be interested in releasing my music; people don’t expect to find good Extreme Metal bands from the Middle East. At the early days of Frostagrath, I found it very hard to expose it to the public because as I have already mentioned there is a small number of people who are into DBM.
For Hateful Desolation I got an excellent feedback, I think because people found something in the music -and lyrics- that defines them.
Hecate: so far so good, as we only released two tracks for streaming, but we got and we are still getting an excellent feedback as well, the sound quality is very high, which surprised a lot of people inside and outside Egypt.
I myself noticed how the sound quality improved with "Hecate"! Allow me now to move to politics. Egypt had been struggling for many years now, and the world saw many changes in only few years, did this influence the Egyptian Metal scene? Put it in danger maybe?
Unfortunately yes, it did, but in a very negative way. I remember the last year, during the reign of the president «Mohamed Morsi» from the so-called «Islamic Brotherhood Party», the police arrested some of our friends because they were dressed in black etc, so they thought they were some chaotic, anarchist, punk… persons! Luckily they released them few months later. People here are a bit closed-minded, they believe what the corrupted media shows, without thinking twice. Also at that time it was very hard to organize a metal gig; most of them think we are satanists or atheists… But at the begining of this year, we had so many good concerts.
There is no doubt that the situation now is much better (smile). I liked Frostagrath, also hateful desolation, but as I am a devoted Black Metal fan, I found myself more in Hecate, I would like to know if this project is temporary or it will continue, as your main project is always Frostagrath?
Well, I hope Hecate will be permanent, because I have said, every project of the three has its own ideology and concept.
Any new projects? upcoming songs? I am sure there is an infinity of them, you are a hyperactive musician (laugh).
(laugh) To be honest… Yes! I am currently working on two new projects, the first is entitled «Astray» with two great musicians from italy. It will sound very unique, something between Austere, Woods of Desolation and Summoning. It will be for only ONE RELEASE, then we will be on hold. The album is supposed to be out later on this year.
Thank you very much for your time, a last word to your project(s) followers?
Thanks to you for this interesting interview, and for all the people out there; stay tuned for more informations regarding the three projects, very soon, specially Hecate. Some surprises are coming up, and thank you all for your constant support. Hails m/
