BARBARIAN 2022

What I am holding in my “eternally yearning for metal music” hands right now is Italy`s BARBARIAN`s brand new album (“Viperface”).This is a full-length release with plenty of devilishness in it. Man, this stuff messed me up a lot so it comes as no surprise I decided to chat with BARBARIAN`s frontman – Borys Catelani. Ok, lets don’t waste our precious time no more. Ladies and gentlemen – this is BARBARIAN!

 

 

Hi Borys, well, first off, before we talk about other things, including your new album, please tell me how you liked your stay in Poland? You have been to Poland before, right?
 
Hey there! It was great, I’ve met a lot of friends, visited some nice museums, the Four Domes Pavillion and the National Museum in Wroclaw, the Nowa Huta Museum and the Czartoryski Gallery in Cracow, and most of all the Beksinski show in Nowa Huta Cultural centre, that was simply amazing! Yes, I’ve been to Poland many times, I’m born and raised in Italy but my mother is Polish. I’ve spent all my summer holidays till the mid 90’s in Wroclaw, so I can speak Polish (maybe not the most correct one) and I’m familiar with the so called old times of the PRL. I’ve been actually introduced to metal in Poland. Since I was living in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere in Italy, it was paradoxically easier (but also way cheaper for me) to get music in Poland. I’ve spent a lot of money at Melissa, for those who remember that store in Wroclaw. I used to have tons of those pirate Polish tapes. I remember also meeting kids that would end up in bands like Thy Worshiper and Graveland years later.

“Viperface” is your album number five. And the third album released through Hell`s Heabangers. How’s the cooperation with this label going? All`s good? Would you change anything if you could?
 
 
It’s just perfect. They are doing a great work promoting Barbarian. I think we couldn’t land on a bigger label as far as our music goes, and it’s a honour for us being on the same label with bands like Deathhammer, Acid Witch, Bat, Midnight (well, they moved to Metal Blade). We trust each other and that’s the kind of thing the metal scene needs.

Is “Viperface” going to be pressed into vinyl as well? The cd is available now, same for the tape version, right?
 
Sure thing, the usual delays have pushed the vinyl to the end of 2022, and the tape version is due any time. Analog formats are mandatory for me, they are the ones I’ve grown up with.
 
Well, I will tell you that when I listen to “Viperface”, I ask myself this question: how difficult/easy is it to compose the kind of music which has this particular vibe we actually experienced 30 years ago?
 
Even more than that. I’ve grown up listening to 80’s metal. First it was Metallica, and then anything more extreme, then classic metal, and so on. Metal has been game changing, I wouldn’t be what I am now without it. I could say the same about punk, that I met shortly after (again a Polish friend). Well, I’m a music-addict, my house is exploding with records, many different kind of music, but yeah, metal is metal! So, back to your question, it runs in the veins, it’s just the matter of letting it all out, and since I’m old, it’s old school metal that flows out.

I suspect you guys listen to a lot of old-school music yourselves and in result this is why your stuff is so suffused with this archaic vibe, huh? Your latest album is so much inspired by early classic doings by RUNNING WILD and CELTIC FROST, yeah. Is this a pure coincidence or not? What are your main inspirations as for genre’s classic albums?
 
Exactly! Our early stuff was totally influenced by HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST. Then little by little a lot of other influences have started to creep out, old heavy/speed like RUNNING WILD for sure (first two albums), but also 80’s MANOWAR, IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST, VENOM (first three albums), mid-period BATHORY, early METALLICA (both Kill’em All and Ride The Lightning). They are classics for a reason. I think that the good thing about Barbarian is that we blend a lot of influences, the thousands and thousands of records we’ve been costantly listening to have left their trace. But it’s not an incoherent blend, it’s all mixed and let out in our personal style. It’s funny because in many reviews we’ve been compared to a whole lot of different bands, from DISCHARGE to OBITUARY, it means that it’s not so easy to pigeonhole us and that our sound is very personal, but definitely OLD SCHOOL! I think you need to listen to our music a lot of times before getting to its point, because there’s a lot in it. It’s not as catchy at first listening like MIDNIGHT for instance, there are riffs, tempo changes, different nuances, influences and moods. It’s not for the people who are used to listen to music superficially on a smartphone through youtube. In this sense we are totally regressive and old school. You know how it was in the past, especially in places where it wasn’t easy to get hold of music, even a dubbed tape was a treasure to be listened to hundreds and hundreds of times. Nowadays it’s all easy and free, but we prefer sticking to the old way.

“To No God Shall I Kneel” was out in 2019. Seems like you worked hard during the COVID times which resulted in this very awesome new album of yours, with so many old school ideas in it. Can you please tell us how much time it took you guys to get this “Viperface” completed and where was it recorded?
 
Thanks a lot for your words! I’m happy that you noticed that there’s a lot of ideas in our songs. By the time Covid stroke all the songs were already finished. We use to practice regularly, and it’s always a pleasure working on new stuff, that’s why we managed to release so much stuff in 13 years. So, after all the long breaks we just had to smooth the edges of the songs. Then we recorded them in July 2021 in our practice room with the help of our friend and engineer Niccolò Gallio. Then we had Viperface mastered at Toxic Basement Studio in Italy, and after the cover art was completed (by Velio Josto) we finally submitted it to Hells Headbangers that, being a big label, has its own amount of releases in line. We are very satisfied of every aspect of the album, music, sound, art.
 
 
Ok, writing and releasing songs is one thing. Promotion is another. How about “Viperface” in this context? Where are you going to promote this album apart from this two-day thrash nightmare festival with NIFELHEIM, TORR, BUNKER66? That’s gonna be a wild show, I am sure of it. Is BARBARIAN going to be active playing shows this year? Are you going to visit Poland too?
 
 Concerts are mandatory for us, we simply love them. It’s the physical side of metal, that’s when we can relate to other people, and playing abroad is the top of it. Of course there are some restrains, like our everyday jobs, that don’t help, but we try to gig as much as possible. We were supposed to tour Europe with Bunker 66, including a gig in Poland, but Covid disrupted our plans. Besides that amazing fest, we have a gig in Vienna and several others in Italy already planned. But it’s never enough, once Viperface is properly unleashed we’ll engage in having more shows, especially abroad, hopefully some festivals. We definitely hope to play in Poland as soon as possible!

When we talked last, you mentioned a 30-day tour in the USA. Did BARBARIAN promote to “To No God Shall I Kneel” during that tour? Inform us some more about that. What other bands did you play with? Any funny stores from the tour you would like to tell us about?
 
That happened in 2017, we promoted “Cult Of The Empty Grave” and our tour 7” with two unreleased songs recorded specially for the tour. It was great, we started in Chicago, then drove west, played down that coast, drove back to Denver first and then to the East Coast. It was a demanding tour, lots of car break-downs and unluck, but all the concerts were super. We sold all the merch we had, we even had to reprint shirts along the way, and finished those as well. Met a whole lot of old and new friends. We had the chance to play with Mortem, Funeral Nation, Nekrofilth, Bewitcher, Kommand, Knight Terror and more. Lots of funny stories to be told about the tour, like when the owner of a gas station somewhere in the midwest bought our CD thinking we were some kind of stars from Italy, or when in Pittsburgh we met Chase from Hells Headbangers who, at the end of the night clearly wanted to go home but we couldn’t stop talking to him because we were kinda drunk after a stressful day when we almost missed the show because of the usual car breakdown. Great guy, by the way.

I know for a fact you are an ardent fan of the Beksinski`s art. And your debut album from 2011 has his painting on its front cover. I will tell you that VADER from Poland tried to use this painting for one of their albums, too (Beksinski was still alive at that time) but they failed and they were not allowed to do so. I am sure BARBARIAN is one of the very few bands who managed to get the permission to use our master`s art for their front cover. Can you elaborate on this subject please?
 
I didn’t know about VADER, that’s very interesting. Yes, I’m totally bewitched by the art of Beksinski. I actually discovered him quite late, it was 2008 and I was in Dallas on tour with an old band of mine. I then saw this book “The Fantastic Art of Beksinski” on Morpheus Editions lying on a table in this guy’s house, picked it up… and my jaw fell on the ground! It’s not easy to say why I love his art. He wasn’t at peace with himself at all, and his art punches hard and deep, it’s more like feeling rather than understanding it. He used to say it’s senseless trying to explain a work of art, in fact he wasn’t used to give titles to his work. I completely second that. I feel like some sort of affinity, and seeing his works live, not on a book, it’s a groundbreaking experience for me. Before the show in Nowa Huta I saw four paintings in Chicago at the Polish Culture Institute and then I also paid a visit at the Museum of Sanok. I also had the chance to read Beksinski short stories, that may be not as fascinating as his paintings, especially the 70’s and 80’s ones, but are interesting nonetheless. His photography is also astounding. Top notch total artist! Back to Barbarian, at the start of the band I felt like Beksinski was my personal Giger, and wanted my own To Mega Therion. I got in touch with the Sanok Museum and also with Piotr Dmochowski, the owner of the painting (hmm, the guy didn’t sound too nice), and in the end, with the help of Lukas of Doomentia Records we got the permission from the Museum. Quite interesting because they don’t own the picture. Yes, Beksinski has been used and also abused a lot (see Evoken third album, that was horrible) on metal covers, I doubt all of those bands have been authorized.

Beside BARBARIAN, you also run a label. Please elaborate on what you plan to release in the future? I do enjoy this LA`s based NECROPHAGIA`s compilation album you released. How did you manage to get in touch with them?B
 
Yeah, that’s RIPPING STORM RECORDS. I’ve started it in 2013 after leaving Agipunk (2004-2013), while in the 90’s I run Tetanus. I like doing some archeology releasing old bands, but also some new bands that I like from time to time, it’s the same approach of yours I believe: pure pleasure. I’m currently in the processing of releasing all the old tapes 1987-1995 by SACRED CRUCIFIX, death/thrash prime movers from Finland, on both vinyl and Cd format. Then it will be time for the third instalment in the OUTRAGE (Germany) series, with their final 1987 demo before splitting. That’s old school in the vein of early SODOM. NECROPHAGIA LA are very cool, we have a friend in common, Luxi Lahtinen from Finland, a true old school die hard maniac. They’ve been very nice and they were very happy of our cooperation, too.


Yes, the blend of speed metal and devil is something really good! Why did you choose this particular style of metal music to play as a band? What caused BARBARIAN to follow this speed metal path?
 
As I said before, that’s the music I’ve grown up with, I like it so much that it was natural playing this kind of stuff. But your question is interesting, because that’s not the only kind of metal I’ve grown up with, I could have easily started a pure thrash metal band. An early Barbarian slogan was “Heavy Metal is Evil, Heavy Metal is Ugly, Heavy Metal is Threatening”. I guess the kind of metal we play is visceral, it draws immediately from the inside, and it’s coherent with our absolute despise of deities and religion, of any kind.

Well, tell us how BARBARIAN formed and whose idea was it to start the band?
 
That was my idea. I’ve been playing for years, but never had the chance to meet fellow musicians to share my love for old school metal with. Then it happened in 2009. I shared the idea with Steamroller (from Noia/Murk) and so, obsessed by Tom G.Warrior, Barbarian was born. There have a been a few changes in the line up during the years (Cardinal Sinner is the new entry on bass), I’ve always been the costant member, but we have always worked hard and constantly, thus releasing 5 albums, a split album and a 7” in 13 years, not bad. And we have always remained a power trio, like MOTORHEAD, VENOM, early KREATOR and SODOM and so on.
 
In hindsight, are you happy with your band? What do you want me to wish you in the future?
 
I’m super happy, it’s a reason to live for, Barbarian will never fold, they are too important for me. You can wish me hundreds of concerts and tours, I’ll work out the albums. Heavy Metal will never die!

If you could travel back in time, where would you like to go and to what times? What would you like to change or see?
 
Nice question. Metal-wise, I’m particularly fascinated by the early bay area thrash, would have been cool seing some early Exodus or Metallica gig. The book “Murder In The Front row” on this subject is mandatory. Other bands that I would have liked to see in their early times are definitely Celtic Frost, Death SS, Einstuerzende Neubauten, Black Flag, Sepultura, Laibach. I’d also like to see Beksinski at work, the 0,10 exhibition in Saint Petersburg in 1915, Bathory recording their first album, Kieslowski directing Film Blu, Françoise Hardy performing in the late 60’s.

Well, time to wrap up, all right. Anything to add for out OMMM readers? Feel free to do so. Thanks and take care.
 
Thank you for the opportunity of this interview, we are honoured to be on the pages of your magazine and to share our views with all the Polish readers. The flame of Old School Metal will burn forever.
 
Necronosferatus

Poprawiony (sobota, 03 września 2022 08:25)