DEIVOS discusses their upcoming album Apophenia, the evolution of their sound, and the challenges of staying true to their death metal roots.
1. Your
upcoming album Apophenia is set to release on October 18th. What was the main
inspiration behind the album, and how does it differ from your previous works?
Our
inspirations have remained unchanged for years, at least when it comes to the
musical layer. It’s the old 90s death metal, or generally metal from that era,
although we constantly follow the genre’s development, which also influences
us. We strive to make each album slightly different from the previous one, but
within the bounds of our style, which we believe we have established. This
time, Tomek, the main composer in Deivos, raised the bar and created quite a
complex material with many inserts and tempo changes, making it really
difficult at times to arrange the vocal lines. I think what sets Apophenia
apart from previous albums is a darker atmosphere, technique that isn’t an end
in itself, and distinct tracks that stand out from each other, which can easily
get lost in such intense playing.
2. “My
Sacrifice,” the new single from Apophenia, touches on the theme of sacrificing
for a false promise of a better life after death. Can you tell us more about
the lyrical themes throughout the album?
Each track
is more or less a description and critique of religious behaviors and rituals,
but not only that. Everything revolves around the main theme of Apophenia,
which is the tendency to perceive meanings, shapes, and connections where there
are none. From there, it’s easy to transition to religious behaviors, like
seeing holy figures in cloud shapes or tree trunks—a fun fact is that this
actually happened quite recently near our town, where someone saw the face of
Jesus in such a place, and the news spread so widely that soon believers
started coming and praying under that tree 😊. In summary, the lyrical layer revolves around issues that can lead us
astray and deceive us by promising things that don’t exist, serving only to
make us give up our freedom and life in exchange for essentially nothing. For
details, I refer you to the lyrics themselves.
3. You’ve
been a band since 1997. How has your sound evolved over the years, and what do
you feel has remained constant in DEIVOS’ music?
Indeed, a
lot of time has passed since the first sounds under the name Deivos. The sound
has changed on almost every album, but that’s a natural progression; no one
wants to record the same album twice. Each time we try something different that
will fit the character of the given release, and I think over the years we’ve
managed to create something characteristic for Deivos. As I mentioned earlier,
we want our tracks to be recognizable, not lost in a swarm of riffs, and the
sound to be selective but not overly polished. We avoid plasticity like the
plague.
4. The
recording of Apophenia was done across various studios in Poland. How did the
recording process differ this time compared to previous albums?
Basically,
we’ve been recording this way for the past two albums, and even before that,
not everything was always recorded in one studio, so it’s not new to us.
Several factors contributed to this, for example, Wizun, our drummer, often
records at Roslyn Studio with his other bands and prefers the sound he achieves
there more than at ZED Studio, where we recorded guitars and vocals. Kamil
recorded the bass at home because he’s a busy person, and it was simply more
convenient for him. Nevertheless, we’ve recorded three albums with ZED, and we
knew we could trust them to piece everything together.
5. The
album features cover art by the late Mariusz Lewandowski, known for his work
with bands like Mizmor and Bell Witch. How did this collaboration come about,
and what does the artwork represent for Apophenia?
Unfortunately,
it wasn’t a collaboration for obvious reasons, as Mariusz passed away before we
decided on one of his paintings. So, we just chose one that we thought would be
suitable for our cover and would fit the theme of the album.
6. Your
music has always been described as technical but not overthought. How do you
strike the balance between technical complexity and keeping your music
accessible to death metal fans?
I’ve partly answered this question already. It all comes down to our musical inspirations and our particular tastes. We simply create music that we ourselves would want to listen to.
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These are
so-called “flavors” and serve a complementary function between and within the
tracks. There’s no bigger philosophy behind it; we’ve been using them for a few
albums now, but rather as a kind of supplement, and we try to use them
skillfully. We definitely won’t be turning towards industrial metal, but we
don’t rule out using them again in future releases.
8. Having
worked with Selfmadegod Records for multiple releases, how has this partnership
helped shape the band’s direction and success?
Yes, we’ve
known Karol from SMG for years, and it seems to be the most suitable label for
a band like ours on the Polish market. SMG takes care of us comprehensively, so
we don’t have to worry about most non-musical matters. Whether we can talk
about success in our case, I don’t know, it’s rather limited, and I hope it
will come, maybe with Apophenia? Who knows, time will tell.
9. You’ve
mentioned that the album is “void of filler,” with each track packed with
breakneck transitions and bulldozing passages. How do you ensure that each song
on the album stands out while maintaining a cohesive overall experience?
It’s simply
a sixth sense 😊. Seriously though, this kind of
intuition develops over time, experimenting while creating tracks, then
refining them during rehearsals. The final shape is achieved only in the
studio, and we decide on the order of the tracks only after everything is recorded,
so that the entire album neither bores nor overwhelms with a barrage of riffs.
10. Since
your formation in 1997, the metal scene has changed significantly. What
challenges have you faced as a band in adapting to the evolving music industry,
and how do you stay relevant while staying true to your roots?
Yes,
everything has changed, and we try to keep up with these changes, although on
the other hand, we don’t care about it that much. The biggest challenge is, of
course, staying together in the same lineup for all these years, managing
crises, and resolving conflicts within the band in a way that they don’t
escalate to alarming proportions. We know each other not only from the band and
knew each other before, so we are quite well-coordinated.
The market
itself is something we could know better, navigate more freely, especially when
it comes to social media and building some kind of strategy around it, because
unfortunately, you also need to know about that. Staying true to ourselves has
never been difficult for us and is very important to us. We would sooner give
up a lucrative offer than agree to changes we don’t accept. Deivos will be
death metal until the grave.
11. Your
previous albums, such as Casus Belli and Endemic Divine, were well-received by
fans and critics alike. What lessons did you learn from those records that
influenced the making of Apophenia?
Previous
albums are a great lesson in what can be done better, what to avoid, and what
to pay attention to in the future, and in this respect, they build experience.
Having paved certain paths, it becomes a bit easier each time. As I mentioned
earlier, we want each album to be different, but we don’t calculate this too
much; it comes naturally. However, we don’t intend to record such long tracks
as those on Theodicy again, at least not for the entire album.
12. As a
band with a long history and deep roots in the underground metal scene, what
advice would you give to up-and-coming death metal bands trying to make a mark
in the genre?
Don’t try
to do it at all costs; it never works out. Be realistic about your expectations
and measure your strength against your ambitions. Not everyone has to become a
rock star, and that’s okay.
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