The Total Sound Of The Undergound

Lelahel Metal

Sermon's journey from 'Moon' in 1993 to 'Till Birth Do Us Part' today showcases their evolution. Discover more about their history, inspirations, and future plans in this exclusive interview.

1. Can you tell us about the origins of Sermon and how the band's journey has evolved since its formation in 1997?

Sermon, whose roots go back to the band ‘Moon’ which was founded in 1993, was formed in 1997 in Izmir, Turkey. The band recorded their first demo "Cosmic Prisoner" which consisted of 2 songs in the same year. After the first demo the band recorded their second demo "Sea of meanings" in 1999.

When the other band members parted ways with Sermon in order to continue their lives on different paths besides music, the band ended its musical activities towards the end of 2004.

In early 2021, the band's rhythm guitarist Cem (the only remaining member of the original line-up) re-formed the band with lead guitarist Durmus, who joined the band, and they started composing and recording new songs for the album.

While the recordings were going on, they released 3 songs (Posthumous – Requitement – Destined to Decline) from the upcoming album by Earache Records Digital Distribution platform in 2022 for promotional purposes upon the offer from Earache Records. This 3-song single received rave reviews from all over the world.

After the recording of the album was completed, Sermon signed with French label Bitume Prods to release the first full-length "Till Birth Do Us Part".

"Till Birth Do Us Part" was physically released as a Digipack by Bitume Prods in February 2023 and the album was also released on digital platforms by Earache Records Digital Distribution.

2. Sermon has recently released its first full-length album "Till Birth Do Us Part." Could you share the inspiration behind the album's title and the overall thematic approach to the music?

In fact it has been a year since the release of the album. The inspiration behind the title is to infuse into one’s mind that death begins with birth. Once you leave the placenta and exit your mother’s womb, the journey to death begins. In fact there are two journeys: The first one; which is attached to your mother until your birth, and the second; after birth, in which you are alone. Birth seperates you and your life source and you become left alone in the journey you enter which will inevitably end with death. That’s why we have chosen this name and used the cover which is about the most common mother and child figure in the planet, Mary and baby Jesus.

3. How has the response been to "Till Birth Do Us Part" since its release in February 2023, both from fans and the music press globally?

The response was more than expected. The album had amazing feedback from almost every part of the world both from the fans and the press. Especially South America and Europe. The band has been interviewed and the album has been reviewed and included in many numbers of magazines and various radio stations.

4. The band's style combines elements of Doom and Death Metal. How do you approach blending these genres to create Sermon's unique sound?

I think our style is fed from the background of each member’s musical taste. We have always been into 80s’ and 90s’ death metal and doom metal. We always try to put the maximum amount of emotion into our music. We try combine it with much harsher elements of extreme metal. In fact we have a broad range of musical taste from heavy and thrash metal to almost every genre in music. 

5. Could you share some insights into the songwriting and recording process for "Till Birth Do Us Part," including any challenges or memorable moments during production?

After reactivating the band, Durmus and I immediately started composing and recording the songs for the album. We recorded the songs in Durmus' home studio.

During the recordings we had parted ways with our former vocalist and we were looking for a vocalist and this was a challenging process for us during the recordings. But we solved this problem when Harun (Forgotten,Trenchwar) accepted our offer to do his vocals on our album and Harun performed perfectly on every song on the album.

One of the unforgettable moments for us was when we sent the album songs to Harun, we didn't listen to any pre-recordings about Harun's performance on the songs before the vocal recordings and Harun did the vocal recordings of some songs in Ankara where he lives and sent them to us. We knew Harun was an excellent vocalist but we had no idea how he would perform on our songs.

When Harun finished the vocal recordings and sent them to us, the result was perfect and proved to us that he was the vocalist we were looking for for Sermon. Harun came to Izmir, where we live, to record the vocals for the other songs and we listened to his vocal performance during the recordings and the result was perfect again. Everything turned out as we wanted and Harun is really a great vocalist.

That was one of the unforgettable moments for us...

6. Sermon recently signed with Bitume Prods. for the release of "Till Birth Do Us Part." What led to this partnership, and how has it impacted the band's trajectory?

During and after the recording process, we were in search of a label to release the album physically above all. There were a number of labels which we were in contact with and Bitume from France came with the most suitable offer to us. It has provided a great impact on us to introduce ourselves again to the scene thanks to Derrek. The album have reached almost every part of the world physically and digitally. The physical copies in the label have been sold out. We only have a number of copies left in our own hand.

7. The band's single "Sermon" released via Earache Records Digital Distribution received positive reviews. How important was this single in setting the stage for the album's release?

After completing the mixing & mastering session of 3 songs for the single, we got in touch with various labels. Earache was one of them. They replied with great enthusiasm and to be honest, we were surprised. Earache is a label that shaped the world of death metal especially in the 90s. Even if they do not press physical releases anymore, they told that they want to include Sermon in their digital distribution roster. It was a great honour for us to be included in their domain and of course it played a very prestigious role in presenting the band and setting the stage for the release of the album.


8. Sermon's music often explores intense atmospheres and themes. How do you translate these themes into your live performances and connect with the audience?

Thank you for your opinion. This is what we actually strive to do when making music and it makes us so glad to hear that. We try to reveal our soul while playing live and make the audience feel what we feel. We do not use any special effects, just some visuals or images on the background if the venue is sufficient.

9. Can you talk about the lineup changes that occurred in Sermon over the years and how the current lineup contributes to the band's dynamic?

Line-up changes have always been one of the important problems for bands. Sometimes the musician you are looking for for the band is not enough for the band as a performance, those who want to continue their lives in different ways due to life circumstances,differences of opinion , irresponsibility.... etc., there may be many changes in the band line-ups due to many problems with many reasons. Sometimes it takes a long time to experience the relationship and adaptation process with each new musician. We have had many lineup changes in the past for these reasons, and then this led to the breakup of the band.

But now Sermon's current line-up is the most perfect and stable line-up from the band's past to the present. All our friends in the band are contributing to the band with their excellent talent and creative ideas, selflessly and seriously fulfilling all their responsibilities. There is a great positive energy in the band and we will see the effects of this positive energy in all the work we will do with them in the future.

10. Social media and digital platforms play a significant role in music promotion today. How do you use these platforms to engage with your fanbase and promote your music?

Yes, we definitely agree with what you are saying. Social media and digital platforms are an extremely wide area for you to promote your music. Thanks to digital platforms, musicians and bands can reach and interact with more listeners quickly and effectively. You can do more advertising and promotion. Of course, there are disadvantages as well as advantages of this. The disadvantage is that the physical album sales of musicians and bands who release their physical albums are gradually decreasing and the demand for selling physical albums is decreasing...

Today, except for a small number of passionate music lovers and collectors, it is not possible to say that the masses of music listeners buy physical albums.

As a band, we always advocate for the release of physical albums and the support of the audience.

In order to communicate with our fan base and promote our music, we actively use our band's social media pages, personal pages and many platforms to share the latest news, content, concert news and videos about our band.


11. What are Sermon's plans for the future, both in terms of new music releases and potential tours or live performances?

ue to the positive effect of the success of our album, Sermon is gaining more and more listeners and fans every day as the interest in our band and our music increases. This makes us happy and we feel more responsible for making quality music because we need to offer more quality music to our expanding audience.

We are preparing for our second album and we are composing songs for our second album.

At the moment we don't have any tour plans as we don't have any offers for any tours.

We always play live shows as long as there are offers for us. On May 24th we will play a live show in our own city and in the following periods live shows in our own city and other cities are on the agenda. When they are finalized, we will announce them on our social media accounts.

In the future we want to participate in festivals, tours and play live shows in other countries. If anyone is interested in us, they can contact us.

12. Finally, is there a message or concept that you hope listeners take away from Sermon's music, particularly from "Till Birth Do Us Part

First of all, we would like to thank everyone for your interest in our album and your support for our band.

"Till Birth Do Us Part" is our first album after a long silence of 19 years, so it is a very important album for us and we put a lot of effort into every second and minute of it. In this album, we have developed our past music style and added an intense atmosphere to traditional Doom Death Metal by reflecting our own style. We believe that we have made an album that the listeners of the genre will like, of course the listeners will decide that.

Thanks a lot for the interview. I hope to meet you all in concerts one day there or somewhere else.

(1) Facebook

Sermon TR (@sermon_tr) • Photos et vidéos Instagram

(132) SERMON-OFFICIAL - YouTube

Till Birth Do Us Part | SERMON (bandcamp.com)

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