Samael: On the Rise in Bucharest

A long half an hour after their fantastic show in Bucharest, Vorph was the first to escape the frenzied signing session improvised on the spot in the concert hall. We were waiting for him by the door of the band’s dressing room, so he only had time to grab a cup of red wine, before we started questioning him:

Klawz: We already had an interview for Metalfan, so this is going to be about the show of tonight, a few questions. First: How was it, how did you feel?
Vorph: It was great. It was the first time we played here and the people were fantastic, so, yeah, it was a real pleasure.

Klawz: And the sound?
Vorph: Hard to say. On the stage it was good, I mean you never know how you sound in the place. You can tell me better, if you were there.
Klawz: I didn’t hear the guitars…
Dragos: I did, I heard them. I think it was ok. When we talked on the phone, you said you didn’t have any expectations about the show. What about now?
Vorph: I feel confortable, it was really nice. What can you say, I mean, really… first time, so I hope we’ll come back sometime. Definitely.
Dragos: So, you liked it.
Vorph: How would you not like that??? I mean, the people were really cool.

Klawz: I was wondering about the playlist. This was not an ordinary show, promoting an album…
Vorph: Yeah, but it was a one time opportunity for us. I mean, I’ve never been here, even for a holiday, or vacation or whatever. We had the opportunity to visit the city a little bit yesterday and maybe tonight a little bit and to play this show.
Klawz: How did you chose the songs to play, it was something different from the shows you did earlier this year?
Vorph: Not really. This set we did… I think in september we did a show with this set and we kept it because we felt confortable with it. We just switched a couple of songs, that’s all.

Klawz: We’ve had a song poll on metalfan.ro, I think you know about it…
Vorph: Yeah, I’ve seen it. Did we fulfill something?
Dragos: Yes, some of them…
Klawz: A lot of them…
Vorph: You’re not supposed to fulfill everything, right? Ok, so?
Klawz: The favourite song of the Romanian fans was Baphomet’s Throne. What do you think about that?
Vorph: As we’ve never played here before, it might seem like the people know us from before, probably. And they get into that song somehow like… you know, it is an old song so they think back at where they were, at what point in their life. If you know this song for ten years, you might want to hear it because it brings you back some memories. I can understand that, really.
Klawz: Do you know how you are received in other countries? Here it seems that people are more fond of the old times, think of Baphomet’s Throne, Ceremony of Opposites. Let’s say, in western Europe, maybe it’s different?
Vorph: I think that the reactions to the new songs were good, too. So I suppose it is a mix of the two. Anyway, these new songs will be old in ten years, so I think… well, you know how it works (laughs)

Klaws: So which do you think it was the highlight of the show, for you personnally?
Vorph: Oh, that’s a good one. I have no ideea. I mean, once I’m in, you know, it’s just like… and then it’s over! (laughs)
Klawz: So all the show was kind of a highlight for you.
Vorph: It was really good. Sometimes it’s hard to get into it, but tonight it was really like this (he snaps his fingers) ,so…

Klawz: Are you still getting nervous before a show? After all these years of touring?
Vorph: It still happens, sometimes. Tonight, for example, I was a little nervous, we’ve never played here so you never know what to expect and you hope you can connect a little. But it happened, it was great.

Dragos: Where do you get all this energy from? You have a very energetic show.
Vorph: We like what we are doing. So if you like it, you want to bring it out.

Klawz: We’ve seen you had these screens in the back of the stage, there were images projected on them. How important it is for your show to have such a thing in it?
Vorph: We’ve been working with that for, I think, five or seven years now.  I mean, not on every show, but every time we can do it. Actually we’d like to improve this a little. I think, especially for the people who might not dig the show, you know, for them to not get bored, they’ve got something to look at, so they stay for the music, if they think we are not so interesting to look at.
Klawz: Do you choose the images yourselves?
Vorph: Yeah. I mean, basicaly we didn’t have everything tonight. There is something I worked at with the guy that did the cover for us, and Mas has done some of it, too. We spoke about things we were checking out, how we could integrate them into the songs, if it would make any sense or not.

Dragos: When we did the previous interview you said that your new album is finished.
Vorph: It is kind of finished.
Dragos: Why didn’t you play a new song tonight?
Vorph: You know how it is, people were expecting us to play old stuff, so I think it would not have been a good ideea for a first time to play a new song. But, next time we come, anytime. Sure. It will be full of new songs!
Dragos: But can you disclose a few detalis about the new album? Maybe the title? Or is it still secret?
Vorph: Yeah, we still don’t know it. There is one song called On the Rise, this is the first one we are going to play live. I suppose that maybe until the end of this year we’ll try it once. We did mix a couple of songs but it was just a pre-mix, really. I think we’re going to have the final mix in January if all is working well, or sometime next year.
Klawz: You also said in the interview that this album is going to be some kind of a combination between all the albums you already did…
Vorph: I think it is, yeah.
Klawz: So can we expect you to play black metal again? You did that in the past.
Vorph: I know, yeah. But if this is about the subject or the way I was looking at the whole thing before, it won’t happen, because I’ve changed, you know, and I see things differently. But if we talk about the music, about the energy, about those things that we thought that were the best things we did, then I suppose, yes, those elements are into the new album.
Klawz: Do you have and estimated date for the release? Next year, summer, spring?
Vorph: We would like to have it before the summer, but I’ve got the feeling that I’s going to be probably after the summer. You never know, it’s hard to say, but we will try do do it as soon as possible.

Klawz: Are you still working with Regain Records?
Vorph: No. I mean, it’s hard to say, we haven’t signed anything yet, but I don’t think so.
Dragos: But do you have a label now?
Vorph: No, that’s what I was saying, we have different offers and we are still checking them out, we want to have the best one.
Dragos: But no more Century Media, right?
Vorph: You know, never say never, but…really, I don’t think so.
Klawz: Speaking about Century Media, this reminds me about your DVD, the only one that’s been out so far, Black Trip. I have this DVD and I’m not very impressed with it. I know you didn’t have much to say about it at the time…
Vorph: They just had some material that they thought it would make sense to release and they did. But it depends, really, because I’ve got reactions from people who said it was a great ideea. Sometimes you got the feeling you might lose the connection with the fans because maybe they want it and we are too much focused on what we are doing. We want to do our best and we want something that we like and we’ll not be ashamed of in a couple of months or something.
Klawz: So, are you going to do a new one, then?
Vorph: We don’t know when it’s going ot be, but of course we’re going to do a new one.
Klawz: Ok, then. That’s about it, thank you.
Vorph: Yeah. Thank you.

Photos by Underground hours