The black metal patrons of India, Solar Deity, recently released their third EP titled ‘Devil Worship’, which is being well received by fans all over the country. We caught up with the frontman/founder of the band, Aditya Mehta, for an in-depth conversation on the album, their music and their insight on cult black metal rituals among many other general things. Check it out!
Eight Octaves: Greetings from Eight Octaves! So, not even 2 years have completed after the formation of the band and you guys have already released three EPs and one single. How did you guys work that out?
Aditya Mehta: Greetings! We were getting tired of bands only playing shows and not making any music, so we decided to pump the underground with the real stuff.
Eight Octaves: ‘Devil Worship’ is out and creating havoc among the fans and critics with three new and downright vicious tracks. How satisfied are you personally with it?
Aditya: 100%. Devil Worship turned out even better than I expected it to, mainly because everyone involved in the making of this EP worked incredibly hard on it.
Eight Octaves: ‘Devil Worship’ possesses a clear and well-produced sound rather than a rusty setting like the first two EPs. Would you say that this change is due to the production team or was it something that you had to incorporate for this album?
Aditya: All I wanted for this release was a darker guitar tone and a sharper, stronger overall sound, because the compositions on Devil Worship are darker than the stuff we’ve done before. Solar Deity’s ‘Devil Worship’ is the result of hard work the five of us put in.
The songs I wrote would have sounded very ordinary had it not been for Animesh Das, Aakash Dwivedi, Ashwin Shriyan and Daniel Kenneth Rego. Animesh has done some solid bass work, and together with Ashwin Shriyan programmed the drums. Aakash Dwivedi has been managing us pretty much from the start and delivered kick-ass artwork as usual. Ashwin Shriyan is a fucking genius who went crazy trying to find the perfect guitar tone for this EP, and being a bassist, he also made sure Asmo’s bass was audible. And then he made me sing like that. I’m the kind of guy who’ll be okay with 2-3 takes, but Ashwin extracted that vocal performance from me. A few days before the release, Ashwin said he was sending the final mixes to Daniel Kenneth Rego for mastering, and from then it was Daniel and Ashwin doing everything.
What people hear when they listen to Solar Deity’s ‘Devil Worship’ is the work of five minds working on the same level at one point of time.
Eight Octaves: It has been stated that ‘Devil Worship’ is a sequel to ‘In The Name Of Satan’. Can you shed some light on the lyrical background of the two releases?
Aditya: ‘In The Name Of Satan’ was one story divided into three songs, whereas ‘Devil Worship’ doesn’t have a storyline. On ItNoS, you can hear the story flow even if you listen to the music and don’t pay attention to the lyrics. Devil Worship is as proudly dark and overtly Satanic as ItNoS, and our ‘Satan’ trilogy will be complete two years from now.
Eight Octaves: Supreme Evil, a song about a demon goddess, contains quite an interesting section of intense… let’s just call them ‘moans’? What’s the idea behind the song?
Aditya: Oh, it’s about five priests who go to a black temple in the middle of a forest to seduce a virgin demon goddess. Since she’s not into getting gang-banged, she has to pick one lucky priest who will get to sodomize her from midnight till dawn. The five priests are Daniel Kenneth Rego, Ashwin Shriyan, Animesh Das, Aakash Dwivedi and I, and I’m the one she selects! I’m the f*cking priest who gets to ass-f*ck her… yay!
Eight Octaves: Hahaha! Well, lucky you! So, this question has always been on my mind. You guys work hard on your albums and make them sound so brilliant and uncanny and eventually give it away for free?
Aditya: If we’re giving music to people, why make it harder for them by getting signed to some bullshit label and get everyone to pay for our CDs and shit? We want people to listen to the music, so we keep it as uncomplicated as possible. We share download links, people enjoy the music, and then they buy CDs anyway. Y’know, I don’t understand bands who have one song streaming somewhere and expect people to come running to buy their shit. Would you ever buy a painting without looking at it? How many of these musicians will buy a vehicle without taking it for a test drive and checking everything out? If you’re selling your music, people have every right to treat it as a commercial product.
Eight Octaves: Very true! The band, after a few line-up changes over these months, ended up being a two-man band again. What exactly led to Yash and Akash leaving the band?
Aditya: Yash is like a brother to me, he’s family, he’s always been my drinking buddy. He’s been with me when I was in Demonic Resurrection, he was with me in Exhumation, and then he started Solar Deity with me, but we had to let him go this time.
As for Akash… as much as I want to say a lot of things, I’d rather enjoy the EP’s success than talk about him.
Nobody likes line-up changes… not when a new release is due in two weeks, and certainly not three weeks before a show. I look like the prime asshole of everything because I’m the one who executes the decisions the whole band takes. Animesh Das and Aakash Dwivedi know why the line-up changes happened, and we’re relieved and happy to have found new band members who can play the new songs and can keep up with the band’s increasing momentum.
Eight Octaves: Black metal has always been known for its notorious acts like the church burnings in the early 90s, murders, onstage animal slaughter, burning of The Holy Bible and what not. How do you perceive these acts?
Aditya: I don’t think killing an animal or burning a book is an act of bravery. If these guys had the shit in their ass, they’d burn The Koran, because the Muslims would slaughter them in seconds. However, I do think the sight of a church burning in the distance would be amazing.
Eight Octaves: Sadly India hasn’t had many black metal bands over the time. But the current scene does have a few black metal bands and I believe they are doing well. If you had to pick any one band which you believe really has the drive to stand out in the international scene, which one would it be? And please don’t say Solar Deity. 😛
Aditya: Haha… do you think I’m shameless enough to name my own band? To be honest, I have only seen these bands live and have no idea what their music really sounds like.
Eight Octaves: Metal music in Mumbai is known for its modern, groove-packed sound, which is a direct influence of the kind of lifestyle the people in the city lead. What kinda response does a black metal band like Solar Deity gets when performing at shows?
Aditya: We have our audience and it’s growing. In fact, there are a lot of people who don’t listen to metal but like our stuff.
Eight Octaves: What made you go with the robes instead of the regular black metal trend of dawning corpsepaint and animal blood?
Aditya: Animal blood is more brutal death metal and goregrind than black metal, I think. And corpse-paint will wreck my skin, man. The secret of my youthful looks is alcohol, drugs and late nights, and I don’t want to age any faster! The robes suit us onstage infinitely more than a jeans-and-t-shirt look would, right? And who knows when a virgin demon goddess might come along!
Eight Octaves: Finally, the most common question asked in an interview. What are your future plans?
Aditya: We’re just going to keep at it. We all have other interests as well, but this band is what has brought us together, so we’re going to keep making music and playing shows. Since the other bands think the underground needs support, I have chosen to become its strength.
Listen to the album on the Bandcamp page: http://solar-deity.bandcamp.com/album/devil-worship
Download the EP here: http://mehtakyakehta.com/2013/09/01/devil-worship/
