Nyseius ingraved in stone before going forward
Good evening how you doing?
We are all fine, I guess so…
I recieved your CD "Militae" the other day and I am listening to it a lot. Can you give a brief history of the how did Nyseius came into being?
Nyseius was founded in 2002 by myself (last member from the original line-up). After several years in bands and projects that never went anywhere, I had this odd feeling to waste my precious time, the sensation of having a quest to complete, a message to convey.
I needed something different, more concrete, thus I had to find people sharing different values to work with.
With patience, I was finally joined by some acquaintances who did express interest for this project. This line-up allowed us to release "Lueur d'une Lune Morte" which got released in 2004. Numerous line-up problems appeared afterwards…
What led you to form a band? What was your first band when you started playing?
The simple need to bring my own contribution to the edifice. Most of the members who play in NYSEIUS are fully devoted to it and consequentely don’t have the time to play in any other bands. Time is a rare commodity and we prefer to focus on what we do with NYSEIUS rather than having dozens of projects that get nowhere.
What age you started listening to metal? And who turned you on to metal during your formative years?
I have been listening to metal (among other kinds of music) since ten or eleven years. As far as I remember, I discovered it in an airport while waiting for the boarding to begin, I had bought a metal zine to spend the time on were such bands as IRON MAIDEN, KING DIAMOND were interviewed.
In these days, the internet was not developped as today and I mostly counted upon tape-trading or reviews from metal magazine to find out new metal bands.
Name of some the bands that influenced Nyseius?
Emperor, Dissection, Setherial are the first ones to cross my mind.
For years the French black metal always been ignored cause of the attention that the Norweigan black metal scene been getting. You think that changed now. I know during the early part of the movement that Osmose played an important role in black metal.
Indeed, in the past, most of the scene was mostly focused on the scandinavian scene.But in the last years, some french bands did gain some maturity and did develop a style of their own. They became more influenced by Satanism and occult themas & went beyond the "limits" of the black metal that would be done then. Some of them did become standards and somehow references on an international scale.
I don’t know anything concerning the part Osmose productions played in Black metal, I cannot answer.
I recently saw Merrimack in Fort Worth supporting Marduk. I met a kid at the show that told Perversor he didn't know that there was any black metal bands coming out of France. When he said that I wasn't surprised at all, cause the mags here really give the French bands that much press.
I’m not surprised too, as I said above, even though some bands did become standarts (at least here in France or in Europe), the sales do not allow them to transcend the underground limits and going forward. That’s the situation for a lot of interesting bands I know.
On the other hand, both US and french scene have never been really close to each other. I personally don’t know much about the american “scene” besides bands such as MANTICORE , NIGHTBRINGER or ANGEL CORPSE - bands you probably consider as “cult” in America –
I did witness some gigs of DEMONCY, KRIEG, BLACK WITCHERY In france but as far as I know very few french bands did gain the opportunity to play in America in return.
Being a horror fan myself I been impressed with some of the horror that's coming my favorites so far is High Tension and Frontier(s). Are you please with the end result of your album "Militiae"? I like the rawness of the album. It's a very heavy album.
"Militiae" was recorded twice. The final result of the first attempt got in 2007 did not meet our expectations so we did choose to re-record it in another studio even if that meant delaying the release once again.
In 2008/2009, we finally found a trustworthy and competent person to work with, the result is in your hands.
“Militiae” represents our state of mind for the last 6 years, and we needed to engrave it in stone before going forward. Right now, we like it that way but we might have a different kind of view one year from now.
Is there any plans to do any shows to support and promote the album?
As far as live exposure goes, it is not a priority. We do have some in sight but nothing is confirmed so far. We do intend to respect a lap of time to make those "unique". Also we do give importance to the bill we would share, bands sharing stage with us should have some similar ethic values when it comes to the ideology.
What has the response been to "Militiae" in Europe so far when the expected release date for the album in the US?
Very good so far. Some people did criticize the album in a pertinent and elaborated way
What's your opinion of AMTF so far?
We are satisfied with the work ATMF is doing to promote us. We have not been in touch with them for a long time but they seem to be reliable and trustworthy. As you know, this is our first label so we cannot draw a parallel between ATMF and another label we could have worked with, but so far, their work did meet our expectations.
Keep in mind that our album has just been released, we could give a better answer in some months when we'll get to see how things would evolve for us & the feedback we'll get by then.
What you to AMTF in the first place? And how many albums the planning on doing for the label?
At least 3 albums through ATMF.
How did you end being on ATMF? Were they the only label that offer the band a deal?
No, some labels did reply us with interest but due to a lack of communication on their side we decided to focus on those replying faster. Militiae could have been released several years ago if it had not been constantly delayed for irksome reasons to explain. ATMF replied with concrete answers.
Can you tell about the album cover and the artist that did the drawing?
This artwork is a collage we did achieve using numerous works that already existed & those include some hidden messages. We wanted the cover to inspire a sinister atmosphere, away from all living forms. this one represents the three judges from Hell of the ancient mythology and the submission of the masses. Inside the booklet we intended to use for its representation a picture taken before the first World war of the Nord portal of the Reims cathedral. Indeed, this one got damaged during the bombing of this war. The magnificent of this art piece could only been admired back then. Demons do drive the church in their stream, towards its downfall.
We also spent time and did work upon all the visual side of this album, we wanted to remain fully responsible and handle the whole imagery of Nysieus. We did work in the past with other individuals, despite them being professionnal in their fields, we always have been dissapointed with their work & thus, didnt expect to work with anyone outside the band, until recently when we came across an artist whose past works did capture our interest & did convince us to possibly work on a future release for the next full length.
Can you explain in your own way about some of the songs on the album and the meaning behind the songs?
All our songs are more on less rooted in the same ground, we deal with our own satanism, black magic and eventually our own history. I think this is typically the part where readers would switch the questions since very few do care about the meaning of the songs.
Name of the French bands that highly recommend? Me myself I love Merrimack and Blut Aus Nord. I think they're very good and talented.
I cannot speak on behalf the band on that field. I (Flammeolus/guitar) would personally suggest bands such as : Antaeus, Deathspell Omega, Hirilorn, Griffar, Temple of Baal, Black dementia (As far as I know relocated in Danemark now).
Does the band has any new material written for a next album?
The writting process of our next album is currently being achieved, we are willing to fully devote ourselves up to its closure. We are deeply working on the musical & lyrical side, we do put a lot of hope in this release. It will be way above anything we have proposed so far. "Militiae" only shows one part of our potential and has to be seen as a "first stone" in our history.
Thank you for your time any thing else you like to add?
Thank you for the support
Hail Satan.
Flammeolus/Daeloth
Interviewer:
Paul Lewis
Apr 29, 2010
Apr 29, 2010
Next interview:
Interview with Dmitry of Illidiance
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