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IMPIOUS interview by Damjan

This time around, Impious left nothing to case. Unusually for a death metal band, they ventured into a concept-album format, accompanying the whole thing with an original comic-book (!) spawning across the 28-page (!!!) CD booklet. An ambitious project followed by a slight change in sound: more hooks, more melodies, more sing-a-long chorus, but still buried deep in graven, death metal overall feel. Therefore, “Holy Murder Masquerade” raised quite a few eyebrows. And deservingly so, as it’s a sonic bomb worthy of all the attention. And, most definitely, worthy of an conversation with the man who pulls the strings - Impious’ guitarist and frontman, Valle Adzic.

How was it for you to face a concept-album format, which isn’t that usual thing for a death metal band to do?

To be honest, it was a pain in the ass. We spent thousands and thousands of hours to create this whole concept album. There were so many people involved all the time... the band, the label, the comic artist, the voice actors, the cover artist, etc, etc. But in the end I think it turned out pretty damn cool and people really seem to like it.

It’s very interesting to see your CD-booklet done as a comic book with lyrics placed in word balloons. Did you do the entire story, or just gave the lyrics to the artist, leaving him to do the things his way? Can you describe us the “making of” the comic book?

Well, we knew all the way what the story would be about. We had like a script before we did the lyrics. When we had all the songs, we divided the script in equal many chapters, and then we started writing the real lyrics for every chapter. As soon as we had clear descriptions of a song/chapter we sound send it to the artist, even if the lyrics were not finished. He would do some sketches so that we could see before he started painting the real pages. We never adjusted the music to the lyrics. The music is holy ground for us, and we rather fuck up the lyrics than the music.

How does it feel for you to see your story transformed into a different form of art, such as a comic book?

It was chaos while we did it. But now, after everything is printed it feels pretty awesome. It feels cool that we’ve done something that no other band has done before on a concept album.

How come the cover wasn’t done by the artist who did the comic book?

Actually the artist who did the comics also painted a few covers proposals, but none of them really matched the high standards of a cover. So we decided to use Justin Kamerer for the cover. We’ve worked with him before when he did a t-shirt design for us, and we knew his style would fit perfectly for the cover.

I’ve read somewhere that you decided to write a concept album after reading a review that described your music as good, but not original. That’s really cool because it shows your ability to accept critics and use them as a good thing, which helps you to grow... Do you usually read reviews looking for something to help you get better?

Yeah, that’s true. Usually I’m not looking for bad reviews, you know, I wish they were all super! Ha-ha! But to be honest I usually don’t care about the reviews, not any more. Especially when it’s about the music. Why should I change my way of doing my own personal art, just because a stupid German hundreds of miles away wrote that he didn’t like my songs? Ha-ha! I believe in myself and I’ll keep having myself as the main inspiration. If I don’t believe in what we do, we wouldn’t exist.

In your opinion, which is the main difference between doing a “normal” and a concept album, talking from a strictly musical standpoint?

Not so much at all on this album, because we strictly adjusted the lyrics to the music. But we learned a lot of stuff along the way, so maybe next time we can make it even better by thinking about the story/lyrics while actually writing the songs. This could for example bring out very strong moods and so on.

And now an evil question: on “Holy Murder Masquerade” you have a very cool groove and some catchy melodies... But what if die hard death/thrash fans say you’re not true anymore? ;o)

Ha-ha, that doesn’t reach my soul at all! True to what? We’re true to ourselves and that’s what matters.

Could you please summarize the concept-story of “Holy Murder Masquerade” for our readers who still haven’t heard it? What’s the main subject and a message of this album?

The story is about this guy, Trent, who is a true servant of God. At least according to his own sick mind. He’s soon to complete his work and the listener/reader gets to follow him as he arrives at his final destination. There are a lot of deaths, violence, blood, etc, etc.. It’s a brutal story indeed. Check out the album and find out more.

I’d say that “Holy Murder Masquerade” offers a very “tasty”, elaborated sound, especially in arrangements. Were you approaching the arrangements with, to say it that way, special attention this time around?

Not really. The only goal we had was to make the songs more memorable, especially the choruses- We love when the crowd is singing along on concerts, and I think we made it easier for them on this album… ha-ha.

You have Thomas Backelin from Lord Belial doing a guest appearance on the album. What led you to this collaboration?

We just simply felt that this track needed some scary and screaming vocals. Since Thomas is a friend, and he lives in the same little town, we called him. I think the end result is really cool and it has a special and scary vibe.

How will you form a set-list for your upcoming tour? Will you be playing “Holy Murder Masquerade” in its entirety so to maintain the “logic” flow of its concept, or just some selected tracks?

We have talked about it, and we honestly don’t know yet. It all depends on the tour as well. If we’re opening for a bigger band we might not get the time on stage that we would need to perform the whole album. I think we’ll just play selected tracks, and maybe do the whole album on special occasions and so on.

Will we be seeing you live somewhere near Croatia in 2007?

I really hope so! I have relatives who live there so that would be cool.

For a brief period in 1996 you had Marko Tervonen in your line up. How do you feel about his surprisingly different new band Angel Blake?

Marko is a good friend. I both understand and respect his musical direction.

Talking about musical evolution and changes, how do you feel today, looking back at your very beginnings? In a way, “Holy Murder Masquerade” is a big step into the new direction for you, so I guess the question makes sense ;o)

It feels very good. It feels like we’ve found our place, and we feel very comfortable in it. To be honest, I’m a bit nervous for the release and how the kids will react. So far the reactions have been amazing, but still it feels exciting. I’m a realistic man and I know this album won’t make us any rock stars. But I sure hope it can make us tour and have fun, because that’s what it’s all about. Take care and hope to see you on tour!!!