Interviews: Ante - Inferno

On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Black Metal band Ante-Inferno from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, you planned it or came out just like that?

The idea came from Dante Alighieri’s “The Divine Comedy”. The Ante-Inferno is that portion of Hell where those must go who were neither good nor evil – who neither rejected God nor embraced the Devil. Rejected by Heaven, they are also spared the flaming fire of Hell and must wander in eternal misery, forever bitten by wasps and flies.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

Black metal – and the darker realms of death metal –both perfectly encapsulate the torment, the clawing isolation and despair that I desired and needed to convey. Whether staring into the past – as most black metal bands do - or grimly observing the bleak modern world we live in - that isolation is always present, and an outlet is required.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

Loosely, yes. We all knew each other or knew of each other.

4. Each band member favourite band?

I stopped trying to work out my favourite band or artist long ago. There are too many artists out there, too many varying sounds, to pick an absolute favourite. Needless to say, we are not merely restricted to the style we play in terms of our personal tastes – and everything we listen to informs everything we create. 

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

It’s a need that has been in me for a long time – and I think I can say the same of the other band members. The society we live in – all the terrible things that happen here, all the beauty of the natural world, all the fragments of lives passing by, the death that consumes us – these things need to be told and passed on. There are many ways for an artist to do this, and writing songs is just one of them.

6. Where was your last gig?

1 st March, we played alongside Furia, Waerteras and Ashenspire, at Audio Glasgow.

7. Whom would you like to feature with and whom not?

We have no restrictions as to whom we would or would not play with. It would be something we would consider at the time, having weighed up the options and our opinions. No restrictions, no boundaries, no preconceptions.

8. Any of you has ever suffered from stage fright? Any tip for beginners on how to beat that?

There’s always a sensation of anxiety, or of mounting adrenaline – before one takes to the stage. Simply to prepare yourself – both physically and mentally – is all that is required. Shut out the audience and find that place within you that created the music in the first place. To enter the stage calmly, and play calmly, is to defy the point of this music. Only unfettered hate and rage will suffice. When I do not adequately feel these emotions, I have not played a successful gig, regardless of how it sounds to the audience

9. What bands have inspired you the most?

Blasphemy, Bathory, The Meads of Asphodel, Drudkh, Thy Repentence, Mortuary Drape, Celtic Frost...the list goes on and would be different for every member. These bands and many more captured something for me when I first heard them – a certain essence, which changed something inside of me – the way I perceived music and the way I experienced it. None of these bands directly influences the sound of Ante-Inferno. This comes from whatever we choose to create, at the time we choose to create it. 

10. What do you think of your fans?

We don’t know most of our fans personally, so we have no opinion on them as individuals. However, one must be grateful to those who spread your message and help you to progress. As human beings we may be very different, but this one passion unites us – a search for the darkness in man and in the world – expressed sonically with the utmost malice and disdain.

11. What do you think of our site?

The site certainly isn’t bound by strictly defined genres in its scope – covering the length and breadth of underground and experimental music -and this is great to see.