CADAVERIA interview

Metalfan was always interested in Cadaveria’s activity ever since she left Opera IX in order to pursue a career of her own and to achieve full creative freedom and new ways of expression through music. Since the band has released a new album a few months ago, there was no way Metalfan would have missed a very interesting chat with The Shadow’s Madame. Enjoy!

Metalfan: Hello. Nice to talk to you again. How were things going since we last talked (January 2005)?Cadaveria: It was a busy period. After having finished the promotion of Far Away From Conformity album, we started dedicating ourselves to the composition of the new songs. We were not in a hurry and the process was carried out with the necessary calm. We entered the rehearsal room in mental freedom, with the unique idea to realize an album we liked and we left the studio only when we were completely satisfied by the final result. Again we were producers of ourselves and we really cared about all details; besides music we worked on the artwork and we shot a music video in order to have additional material to promote the album. In the meantime we changed the label.

Metalfan: You have a new album, In Your Blood. I think it is your most varied, modern and courageous release so far. How did you get to such an outcome?Cadaveria: Again the different musical influences and the variegated personality of the band’s members merged into the new compositions, giving our songs a style hard to define. With Far Away From Conformity we had started an artistic path that led CADAVERIA music out of the typical Black Metal cliché, In Your Blood is the natural outcome of this evolution that cannot be stopped, as things change continually. It is not a experiment or an attempt to astonish the listener, we don’t pretend to be the precursors of a new genre, it is just what we feel to play. This album is the product of four adult people, who grown up, made different experiences…  people who are contaminated by art, cinema and different kinds of music… In Your Blood is the mirror of the band’s actual mood, a honest album that says “we are like this”.

Metalfan: What were the public and the press’s reactions so far?
Cadaveria: The most part of press feedback are positive, especially those coming from North Europe, Italy, France, Turkey, Spain and South America. Germany is more severe and conservative and sometimes it suffers the difficulty to catalogue our music. Regarding the public, as you said, In Your Blood is a courageous release, so we were prepared to a blood bath. On the contrary common people show to be easy and open minded and are reacting very well. There are still some indomitable who expected I released a clone of The Shadows’ Madame album, but the most part of our fans are positively accepting our evolution. On the other hand the variety of our sound and the fact In Your Blood contains some melodic moments let us be appreciated also by people who usually don’t listen to extreme music.

Metalfan: When we last talked you said to me that you were fully against piracy and illegal downloading, also that you had in mind to release 1 or 2 albums directly on the Internet. Has your opinion changed in the meantime?
Cadaveria: I’m against piracy ‘cause I respect artists’ work and I know how many efforts and energies an artist spends to realize something. At the same time I’m conscious in some countries CDs are expansive and if you want to listen to all new releases you are sometimes forced to download.  I’m in favour of singles taken from the album and released as free mp3. This is what we did with Laying in Black single and The Dream videoclip, spread for free. It’s a way to let people taste a part of your music proposal. In general I don’t like to download an entire album, even if it is cheap, ‘cause I want to get the artwork and see the booklet too. Regarding the album to be released on internet, if we hadn’t find a valid label like Season of Mist we would have done it, ‘cause it would have been the most easy way to let our music reach a very large audience, that is what we want most. Season of Mist is doing a good job and finally we have the distribution we wanted.

Metalfan: Could you please describe in a few words every track on your album?
Cadaveria: I cannot describe in few words twelve tracks, fifty minutes of music and more than one year of work… It is always hard for me to speak about CADAVERIA songs ‘cause the feelings I felt when I wrote them are already expressed in the lyrics, the rest is music and I think it must be listened to and not explained. I always hope journalists do this work for me.  What I can say is that each song of In Your Blood has its own identity, there is not a unique concept behind the album and no track can be elected as a representative sample of the whole work. If a song like The Dream is very melodic, at least in the first half, other songs like Anagram or Atypical Suggestion by a Dead Artist are aggressive and direct. Memento Audere Semper has some almost epic moments, while Before the Apes Came has something like a seventies flavour…

Metalfan: Some of the song titles are confusing me. That’s why I dare asking you what happened before the apes came and what did a dead artist atypically suggested?
Cadaveria: Yeah, when I write the lyrics and I choose the title I don’t do anything to make it easier… I continually write about things stunning me… emotions and emotions hedged in phrases, tens of notes on many pieces of paper, like a flying diary. When a new album is at the door I re-organize them and they become lyrics. Atypical Suggestion by a Dead Artist is the result of some notes I took during a Warhol art exhibition I saw in Milan, so the lyrics deals with Warhol poetics mixed with a panic attack. On the contrary, Before the Apes tells the story of an ancient place populated by strange being, half human and half fish, communicating with thought, devoted to grotesque idols… it’s the narration about a place where joy reigned, before the apes came…

Metalfan: Could you tell me something about the lyrical concept of In Your Blood?
Cadaveria: As I said the lyrics are a collection of thoughts, considerations about life, death, dreams, nightmares. Some lyrics take inspiration from movies and literature or from personal experiences, places I visited, things I did, people I met.

Metalfan: Who is that beautiful angel on the cover of your latest album and what is it thinking about?
Cadaveria: It isn’t me. I want to clarify I never appeared on a CADAVERIA cover. The angel image comes from an Italian artist called Manuel Bravi who offered us his collaboration. It seemed to us his work perfectly suited with the album title, that suggests our music could enter the listeners’ veins.

Metalfan: Why did you leave Scarlet records for Season of Mist? How would you describe your relationship with Season of Mist, are you happy with it?
Cadaveria: The contract with Scarlet ended with Far Away From Conformity. It was normal to search for a new one. We desired a label with a better distribution and we found it. Actually all is going very well with Season of Mist.

Metalfan: I have always wondered, since you are Italian, what is your favourite football team?Cadaveria: None, ‘cause I’m not interested in soccer.

Metalfan: I know you had a show in a Milanese club called Transylvania. Is the club owner a Romanian by any chance?
Cadaveria: No. Transylvania is just a franchising club; there are three or four around Italy. The Milan one is a good place where to play.

Metalfan: Have you got the chance to present your new album live? How did the public react to the new songs?
Cadaveria: Sure, our actual live track list contains many new songs from In Your Blood album. It was nice to see people already know the new tracks and sing them during the live show.

Metalfan: I know that The Dream has a splendid video, one that you like to describe as “a mental trip”. Tell me more about it.
Cadaveria: Yes, the video was shot in Italy some months ago and was released immediately after the album European release date. It’s a concept by me and Marcelo Santos. I remember I wrote this song in a sad day. The lyric deals with the wish to archive sorrow and to start acting again with new energies. Again my thoughts put into music and images. The result of the music video is very glamour; it reflects the aesthetic and outside part of me, while the lyrics explore my inner emotions. Soon we will realize a new video clip, completely different, sick and rotten…

Metalfan: How do you manage to get along with the other 3 full of testosterone members of your band? Who is the leader?
Cadaveria: It’s me of course. The secret is to use whip deftly.

Metalfan: What are your plans for this summer?
Cadaveria: I will continue to work for the promotion of In Your Blood. We are organizing some live dates for the next season. I’m always busy but I will find some days to relax, talking crap with my friends.

Metalfan: Now I would like to thank you and wish you all the best, but not before asking you to do a little quiz for me:
Cadaveria: You are welcome.

• What was the last book you read? La fine è il mio inizio (The End is My Beginning), by Tiziano Terzani. Strangely this title is very similar to a phrase I wrote many years ago for Circle of Eternal Becoming lyrics.
• When was the last time you went to the cinema and what movie did you see? One month ago, I saw La Città Proibita (The Forbidden City), by Zhang Yimou.
• What is your hometown? A small place in North Italy. There’s a beautiful lake.
• What is your real name? I really don’t know… what is real and what is false….
• What is your biggest fear? That something bad can happen to people I love.
• Do you believe in God? No.
• Pizza or pasta? Pasta.
• Berlusconi or Mussolini? Neither.
• What do you think about pornography? Just an accessory of life.
• What is the best Italian metal band (besides Cadaveria)? DyNAbyte
• What do you think about silicone? Sometimes I use it to seal the glass of my windows.
• Do you like Marilyn Manson’s music? I didn’t listen to his last album but I like the previous ones.
• What is your favorite color? Black.

Metalfan: You have the final words.
Cadaveria: MEMENTO AUDERE SEMPER.