Spectral Sorcery
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A print zine founded MMXXIII, run primarily by Lolth and published by the Eastern Black Metal Inner Circle (E.B.M.I.C.), and distributed by Cult of Oblivion Recordings. Issues are compiled and published quarterly, and include content pertaining to dark underground music and other black arts.
Interview with SAPRUS (USA)
[Taken from Spectral Sorcery, Issue #3, Spring MMXXIV A.Y.P.S.]
Lolth: How did SAPRUS form?
SAPRUS: SAPRUS formed about a year and a half ago. Ma’al (guitarist/vocalist) and Beleth (drummer) were originally a part of a short lived punk outfit called AZTEC SACRIFICE. They played 2 shows (the 3rd show was interrupted by the police before we could get on stage haha) and broke up due to conflict with the other band members. Beleth and Ma’al had planned to form a black metal band before the demise of AZTEC SACRIFICE, because they have more of an interest in the darker side of extreme music, and they had felt held back by the punk style and its gross, loser fanbase. The maniacal energy of AZTEC SACRIFICE would however live on in future SAPRUS songs. They would then recruit the rest of the original SAPRUS lineup, which would consist of Antonius, Zzooouuuggh, Ma’al, and Beleth. Our goal with Saprus was to make grim, psychotic black metal that would rape every trend fucker and lame ass pagan larper; a goal we still stay true to. We've grown up surrounded by snow our whole lives, it fucking sucks HIV balls and we didn’t wanna make another dime a dozen winter orgy black metal project. We would record our very first demo with this lineup until we booted Zzooouuuggh for being a loser freak. SAPRUS has been a three-piece ever since, and we have recorded 2 more demos with this new lineup (the best lineup).
Lolth: What's the writing process like?
SAPRUS: WRITING MUSIC FUCKING SUXX!!!! YAAARRRRR!! Ma'al does most of the base writing, however when we actually rehearse the songs, the rest of the band makes suggestions to adjust it to everyone's liking. The intro section on “Into the Fires” for example, was written by Beleth during a rehearsal. back in the day we would have random jam intervals at practice where we just wanted to play anything, which would creep in ideas for sections of our finished material. We truly were "feeling the sound out" before we started work on most anything else, to be authentic you have to put yourself in the music, fully submerge your essence in the music you want to create, otherwise its just façade; another Norweegaboo black metal project blowing mayhem or darkthrone off in the back room. All the current lyrics are written by Ma'al. Originally we didn't care much about our lyrics but lately we've been paying more attention to them; using our own experiences as fuel for them. We have a couple songs currently in the works being written by Beleth and Antonius. One way we like to write our material is listen to HELLHAMMER in a dark room with a candle on repeat, and just write down any ideas that the ghosts of metal project into our minds!!!!!
Lolth: Who are your biggest influences?
SAPRUS: We've had many different influences but our biggest 4 influences for Saprus currently are HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST, NECROVORE, VON, and POST MORTEM. We also take lots of influence from the old school punk attitude/approach to writing because it's less constricting. Death Metal.
Lolth: How's the full length coming?
SAPRUS: It'll come when the voices tell us to put it out!
Lolth: What pisses you off about the black metal scene?
SAPRUS: We could pick the low hanging fruit and moan about hippie liberal douchebags banning bands from venues over guts and stuff but that wouldn't be very interesting or add anything new to the conversation. Most people that like black metal are hipsters. Something that pisses us off about black metal fans today is the pretentiousness. Wanting extreme metal to be smart and sophisticated sounds like a joke when you say it out loud. It should be nauseating and violent. Go listen to rush if you want something sophisticated and smart. Also we hate when bands advertise themselves as being "evil, heavy, dark, violent, vomit inducing, reeking black metal" then it's just Dracula riffs! WEAK!! We also hate how everyone takes the same black and white pictures of themselves. And bands with super long songs....wrap it up you Melvins!!!
Lolth: Plans for future live shows?
SAPRUS: We'll be playing around our state some more soon here (writing this as of February 2024), and eventually we plan to join our brothers in FLESHMASS in New York for a black mass of devils!!! We've been having troubles setting it up due to conflicting schedules and stuff but it will happen!
Lolth: Who are your favorite artists or bands in the scene right now?
SAPRUS: CHURCHACIDE!!!! Check them out! CROATOAN!!! Super unique black metal from North Carolina!!! FLESHMASS!!! Our lawless brothers!!! BURNING WINDS!!! Classic Michigan black metal band! He's been supporting SAPRUS for a while now!
Lolth: What does black metal mean to you?
SAPRUS: Black metal defined by us is satanic speed metal taken to its extreme!! VENOM was the first, anyone who says it was BATHORY is a dunce. We could really care less about the ideology side of black metal anymore, like "black metal is the loneliness that comes over you in a cold forest"!! We think it's just dark vile music, and we love it, plain and simple. Ideologically SAPRUS is closer to a death metal band and we're fine with that. We worship death!!!! Feed Him blood and carrion…..Fill the earth with the cacophony of hell!!!! This is what drew us to to genre in the first place (and we admit that the cold had something to do with it too!!), it's what black metal is to us and we aim to preserve that feeling. That's why we wanna see fucked up shit at shows, we came here for that, black metal is the music equivalent to a low budget cult horror movie on a VHS!! We also were drawn to the DIY and punk sort of attitude black metal is ingrained with....black metal has been raw since the very beginning.
BLACK METAL IS BLACK AS DEATH!!!!