ASHUR's debut album "Assurbanipal" intertwines Death and Black Metal with Assyrian and Sumerian history. Learn about their inspirations, creative process, and future plans.
1. Congratulations
on the release of your debut album, "Assurbanipal"! Could you tell us
about the inspiration behind the album's theme and its connection to Assyrian
and Sumerian history and mythology?
Thanks.
The idea of the
band appeared in 1985 during a history lesson, where the teacher told us about
the achievements of Ashurbanipal as the ruler of Assyria. And that was already
the inspiration for the creation of the band itself, it was already in my head.
Over time, delving into the history of ancient Mesopotamia, we noticed a
multitude of lyrical possibilities for us that we use. Wars, battles, cities,
myths, gods, rulers, ordinary people. Ancient times are Ashur
and we as those who remember the ruler, city and god of this name. It is worth going back in time and seeing how little the world has changed
since those times. Starting from tableware to politics, wars,
social manipulation.
2. "Sumero"
stands out as a unique piece, being entirely in the now-dead Sumerian language.
What motivated the band to incorporate this ancient language into your music,
and what challenges did you face in the process?
Sumero is
something of a curiosity that draws attention to the entire album. Sunrise said
that it would be nice if "Sumero" had some inserts in the Sumerian
language. Such inserts already exist in the song
"Ashurro", so Jaca and Cromu decided together why not do the entire
song in Sumerian. We started searching the Internet, and a
friend who is a turkologist helped us. And that's how we found
the department at the University of London that deals with dead languages.
There we found the source for our "Sumero", "Ammiditan's Hymn to
Ishtar".
3. How does the band approach the
blending of Death and Black Metal elements in your music, and how do these genres
help convey the themes explored in "Assurbanipal"?
It comes
naturally. We grew up with this kind of music and this is what we want to
create. Themes explored on "Assurbanipal" include war and conquest,
gods and kings. It is death and black metal that provide the elements of
aggression and weight that were needed to create the atmosphere of the album.
There are many other musical influences, outside of metal, which can be heard,
for example, in the song "Assyrio".
4. The
tracklist includes intriguing titles like "Ashurro" and
"Assyrio." Could you walk us through the significance of these titles
and how they tie into the overarching narrative of the album?
All endings in
song titles are deliberately distorted, in this case with the letter
"o". This creates a specific overall shape of the album and makes the
names interesting, although it is not entirely consistent with standard
knowledge. It should be interesting and attract attention, these were the
creator's assumptions.
5. With
"Assurbanipal" being a concept album, how important was it for the
band to create a cohesive storyline or atmosphere throughout the tracks?
It will not be a
mystery if we say that the main theme of the album is King Assurbanipal and the
times of his reign. With music and lyrics, we wanted to delve into those times
in such a way that the listener would take this journey with us. We believe
that the atmosphere is the strength of this album. And we emphasized this with
intros to each song, which our friend Burger created for us.
6. Could
you share some insights into the creative process behind the album,
particularly in terms of songwriting and musical composition?
First of all,
Sunrise is responsible for creating the album. If he is intrigued by a topic or
a story, he expands it to three or four lines and that's it. The message must be specific, it can be described from different sides, but
there is one goal... this is the purpose of the text layers. Then his people, Cromu and Jaca, get it, and at this point what he wrote
before doesn't matter anymore. The text begins to be ground to music, which
often changes its structure, layers, too short, too long, etc. But we try to
keep the main message. Sunrise always tries to explain to the guys what the
lyrics are about, he gives the idea and they put it into the music perfectly,
which he claims he can't do.
7. You
mentioned working on a new album. Can you give us any hints about the direction
or themes the band might explore in your upcoming release?
All we can say
about the next album is that it has a mythical atmosphere. These will be
interpretations of 8 Mesopotamian myths.
8. In
addition to the digital release, you're also self-publishing physical CDs. What
led to this decision, and what significance do physical formats hold for the
band in today's predominantly digital music landscape?
From September
2023 to the release of the album on streaming, we spent some time promoting two
singles from the album and looking for a label. Since labels are booked an
average of a year and a half in advance, there was no chance for a new band to sign
a deal. Without waiting for a miracle, we set off on this difficult journey
called marketing and promotion of the newly formed band's album.
The decision to
release a physical CD was made when it turned out that many people, many of our
friends, were interested in having this album in this form. We think that CDs
are more of a collector's medium, but they are still very popular. Maybe one
day it will have the same renaissance as vinyl records, and maybe CDs will
attract the attention of young people who currently operate only on digital
platforms.
9. How
has the reception been so far for "Assurbanipal," both from fans and
critics? Are there any responses that particularly stood out to the band?
So far, we hear
and read only good things about our debut. And these nice comments come both
from fans and from the press and radio stations. In one of them, the album
"AssurbanipaI" was nominated for the album of the year 2024 by fans'
votes. And it's nice, because it motivates us to work hard. And we don't slow
down. When it comes time to play and create, we just do it.
10. Finally,
looking ahead, what are ASHUR's aspirations and goals for the future, both
musically and otherwise?
We are focused on
building the ASHUR brand. The music is supposed to start pulsating in the
listeners' veins. We believe that another album should be recorded as soon as
possible to use the second bullet shot method. Then it will start working for
itself. We are also very happy that Mario, who helped us
create "Assurbanipal", joined the lineup. But we also have drummer
Wojtek Fedyk on board, who will record the next album with us and support us on
stage. We had a lot of questions about playing live. Now we will be able to
make it happen.
Thank you for the
interview and for the support Lelahel Metal provided to our team.
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