Antediluvian | Interview

Andrew Cunningham

For anyone who has been paying attention to the forum over the past year or two the name Antediluvian is sure to be familiar- I do tend to bang on a bit!

So, first off give us a brief history of how the band came together.

The band was formed in 2005 by HT and MS in Guelph, Ontario.

Antediluvian is an odd choice of name for a Death Metal band, however, in your case it seems a highly appropriate handle. The songs sound huge and timeless, and I’d even use the term ancient here in that it sounds, for a lack of a better term, Lovecraftian. It evokes images of black dripping psychedelic caves, blood-soaked dungeons and of the violent, howling, faceless beasts lurking therein. How did you guys come up with this sound? It manages to be both traditional and obtuse in sound and structure yet it is hard to actually pinpoint what elements make it sound so different…

We came up with this sound by simply paying attention to the actual current that flowed through the artists, which inspired and affected us. Connecting with whatever it is inside us that is in touch with something external, flowing through the work of these other artists you mention, such as Lovecraft, is the key. The thing/current itself is unknown!

You are a two-piece, which, again, is unusual for a Death Metal band. What advantages are there to playing as a two-piece and do you not feel that another guitar and bass would add extra heaviness to your sound, especially live?

We are working towards incorporating other members. Up until this point it has been more of a matter of convenience.

Your logo is as strange and uncompromising as your songs. I can make out a reptilian eye and possibly a claw, and the whole thing is trimmed with what looks like either flames or peeling flesh. For all this detail I can’t make out one single fucking letter! What’s the story?

The split between the recognizable and the unknown is the crack from which forethought and creativity emanate. The eye is a hint toward the perceptive interpretation of seemingly abstract forms.

Further to that you tend to have bizarre and obscure artwork to accompany your releases. How important is the visual side of things in creating the full Antediluvian experience?

It is as important as the music or any other output we are presenting. Interpreting the unknown is something major that we are hooked into conceptually as a band and in our everyday existence as well.

What are your lyrics about? Do they convey a personal philosophy or is it just a case of matching the darkness of the music with something equally esoteric?

The lyrics are about our own response to all of the presentations throughout time of humanity attempting to reconcile the revolting, the unknown, obscure and un-interpretable aspects of otherwise mundane reality.

You have just re-released your early demos through Invictus Productions under the name Watchers’ Reign. What else can we look forward to from the Antediluvian camp and what sort of developments, if any, can we expect?

As always, we currently have several releases brewing. At press as we speak is our new three-song MLP “Revelations in Excrement” to be released by Bird of Ill Omen. In the new-year Bird of Ill Omen and Parasitic Records will re-release our third demo, Under Wing of Asael.

Around the same time Bird of Ill Omen will also put out our split 7” with Witchrist. Later next year we will also release a split LP/CD with Toronto’s Adversarial on NWN! Productions, and finally, the full-length debut will be recorded next year to be released through Invictus Productions.

In terms of contemporary UG Death Metal I would consider Antediluvian at the forefront of the movement along with Grave Miasma, Diocletian, Cruciamentum, Witchrist, Mitochondrion and a few others. How do you view the scene? It seems to me to be in rude health right now.

I think there are more interesting Death Metal bands out now than there have been for a long time, though I’m not too picky about genre descriptions. In addition to the bands you mention, I am extremely interested in hearing more from Mefitic, Adversarial, Pseudogod, and Vassafor among others.

In my opinion, we are in more of (an era of) resurgence for suffocating, dark and eclipsing music than in a phase that could be described as being in poor health.

I don’t think anyone could argue with you there. Hail.

- Andrew Cunningham ::: 07/12/10
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