INTERVIEW: Vassafor

One of Black / Death Metal’s most mystical and dastardly projects is the death worshippers VASSAFOR! Today I offer you an interview with VK who shares some wisdom and insight with us. You can read my review of their most recent album “To The Death” which was released via Iron Bonehead in 2020 here.

Greetings VASSAFOR! I appreciate you taking the time to spread your spectral message to my readers. Let’s get into it.

1. To open this interview, I would first like to ask about your location. New Zealand of course is not geographically ideal for a musician. Has the removal from Europe / America allowed VASSAFOR to bloom in its own void without outside interference or hindered your ability to infect the rest of the world with pestilent Black-Death mysticism more effectively?

It definitely has played a significant part in our development into what we have become and a reason for not really sounding like others. When Vassafor started there were only a handful of BM bands in New Zealand and they were scattered around the country and even then, no 2 sounded the same. So yeah, the isolation certainly helps us march to our own drum rather than clone other bands or styles 

However it does make everything far more difficult to achieve being so far away. Especially when it comes to touring and getting to play live outside of our border. Mind you 2020 evened that playing field for everyone 

2. VASSAFOR is a two-piece with VK handling vocals, guitars and bass and BP on drums. Presumably VK, you mastermind the songwriting and conjurations behind the music. Do you consider this your entity or a shared effort between the core duo / live members whose vision is cohesive?

It was a 2 piece for many years and yes I certainly came up with the lions share of the material but thats been changing over the last few years and Ben adds a lot more to everything now. Since we have had a stable 4 piece lineup for last few years I imagine thats going to have some influence towards future recordings. However I imagine I’ll still be writing the majority of it and any other music will be filtered though the Vassaforian paradigm via me…time will tell

3. Originally forming in 1994 with a debut demo in 1997 before a break until 2005, it took a further seven years containing two EPs and a demo before the first full length was unveiled. Between the first and second records there was a trio of diabolical splits. After this we saw three years of silence before the latest masterpiece “To The Death” was delivered. Please give some insight on the reasoning for these sporadic patterns, is there a devilish intent behind it or do you release material as and when it is ready with no regard for how it is formatted (album or otherwise)?

It takes a long time to create and then refine songs down to their final form. Early years were difficult after losing the other original member, as I knew no one near any of the places I lived for years that were into similar music and could play drums in the right way. So I kept writing and it ended up warping out to the kind of music that Vassafor really was meant to be. After the self titled mlp I realized I had no interest in recording in the standard way anymore and once Ben joined an I instinctively knew we had the right combination to do something more original and in keeping with the purpose of Vassafor. The result of which was Obsidian Codex. The splits are always exploring sides of our music less suited to the albums and can experiment there, for example Ossuary in Darkness on the Sinistrous Diabolus split is a more doom orientated track, then on the Temple Nightside split we had a more aggressive Death Metal approach to Phoenix of the Maelstrom and ultra violence of Crowned in Irradiated Ashes. That left Malediction and To The Death to be more pure Vassaforian BM

Everything is always planned and deliberate, even if it might seem chaotic from the outside view

4. Let’s talk about “To The Death”, the album fresh on everyones mind. There is some very interested use of metaphor taken from the animal kingdom on “Eyrie” to represent a different angle on spirituality (as I perceived). This links beautifully with the more directly abyssal meditations of “The Burning Aethyr” and “Singularity” from a conceptual point of view. What is your process on lyricism? Obviously occultism, ritualistic practise and death worship are a huge part of VASSAFOR, so how do you find these are most effectively communicated as a legitimate source of darkness rather than the fools who use gimmicks?

Well for a start the lyric on Singularity is written by our close ally Carl Nordblom and really is a magnificent piece of Satanic poetry that we were honoured to receive. And yes, it slots into the oeuvre of the album and what each piece is tailored to do, which is presence the sinister. This is our veneration towards our Patron and all are hymns of worship

Eyrie and Burning both have echoes from key pieces of literature that are among some of the foundation stones that we have built our temple upon. As for the symbolism in Eyrie, its simply allegory of remaining aloof from the herd and building your own temple/eyrie far from the babbling voices of the masses

I wouldn’t know how others write, but for me I often will meditate and write ideas and key lyrics while that state and then put it all together and revise over and over until its sculpted into a song. Most times a pretty lengthy process… 

5. Building a bit more insight on “To The Death”, there is some really interesting dichotomies on this record that make it something special. Betwixt a booming yet somewhat murky (thought clearly intended as such) mix that drags at the soul with a hopeless desperation, there is some belting old school Heavy Metal solos that rip out of the Black-Death formula and add so much anthemic and melodic glory to the gritty onslaught. As a clearly talented producer and man of diverse taste, what brought forth this element of classic 80s shred-craft into such a dark, brooding and contemplative album?

Well sonically it starts with the guitars and gear. Everything actually IS from the 80s. The Destroyer guitar and bass I used on the record (and Malediction) are both from the early/mid 80s and the amps i used (Marshall 800 and Peavey Mark VI bass head) are relics as well that sound fucking killer. But really tone comes from the hands so I didn’t do endless layers of guitars and quantize and edit lots of shit into it. I just try to play it with as much feeling and passion as possible. Its a very natural sound that we basically get in our practice room and I wanted to have space in the recording so we could preserve the dynamics of the songs. Certainly not murky in the slightest, however it may sound like that to people programmed to listen to fake separation, artificially replaced drums and ultra isolated sterile modern metal. I however think that shit sounds weak as fuck, especially at high volume on a decent stereo. Probably sounds fine on lap top speakers in mums basement or on a spotify playlist on some cunts phone, I wouldn’t know.

Riffing wise I wanted to expand our sound somewhat and in the solos our other guitarist DT made a huge contribution to this record with exactly the style of solos you mentioned. SP of Qrixkuor added the incredible solos at the beginning and end of Singularity also so I particularly like the variety of soloing on this album rather than it only being only mine. Gives it more scope. There never has or ever will be better soloing than the first Mercyful Fate mlp and albums, so itd fair to say that 80s metal soloing will always possess me…

*EDIT: Perhaps the use of the word murky was misplaced, I should note that I was referring to the density of the sound being so crushing, not a lack of clarity with the mixing execution.*

6. It may be redundant to ask what is planned for the future of VASSAFOR so quickly after a new album was released and in a reality where touring is unlikely. Behind the scenes however, you may be preparing something to leave a trail of devastation at the next opportunity, if this is the case, please do satiate our ravenous appetite with some information.

As of writing this, we played a gig in our capital city Wellington with Ulcerate and Corpsefeast several weeks ago and played 3 of these new songs in our setlist. New songs are forming and we are thinking of another split with a killer Australian BM band. More on that as it develops. Before covid hit we had plans for live performances in Canada and Mexico (among other offers) and were working towards locking in some South American assaults, so hopefully we can make those happen if travel becomes available again in MMXXI. But even if we are isolated here permanently, we will never stop writing and recording more Satanic hymns. To the fucking Death

7. Jumping back to your production skills and songwriting process. You clearly believe in demoing music prior to recording and getting a firm idea of what the end result should be in advance of crafting it, this was reaffirmed by Bardo Methodology. Can you explain the process of how the riffs or ideas come to you, are formed and their journey into the final results we see displayed with such prowess? Clearly these songs are not haphazard riffs chucked together but a labour of intense self-critique, growth and ultimately triumph. 

Most music is given to me in my mind and fairly well formed so its more a matter of me retrieving it and transcribing it for guitars and bass before Ben takes it and adds his craft to it. Then we work on arrangements together and shape it into the songs. And it can undergo many twists and turns and purges before it arrives in its final form. Demos are a vital part of it so we can really get it to exactly where we want it. Eyrie was a typical example of this. I never suggest drum parts to Ben. No one is gonna have a better idea of what suits our music drum wise than him. Sure if I didn’t think it worked I’d say it but I can’t ever recall that happening for at least a couple of albums haha. So when we demo songs its great for us to critique and then try sections differently if required and demo again until we have it locked in. 

8. Finally, I know you are an avid Metalhead, like myself. Aside from the classics you seem to follow the worthwhile classics bands spewing from the underground and I wish to ask, what do you think is the best of the bunch, who is going to dominate the underground and who has credible Extreme Metal value as opposed to the trendy tripe we see flamboyantly thrown around social media?

Well many of the bands that seem fairly popular at the moment I consider utterly worthless. None of the bands I’m really into will probably ever dominate the underground but can’t go wrong with a good dose of Necrobode, Ordinance, Poisonous, Aethyrick, Deathwomb, Qrixkuor, Evil Priest, Evilfeast (20 years of BM perfection!), Domains/Orthodoxy/Horipilant or Sacral Rage (for heavy metal insanity). Plenty of others of course. 2 bands at the top of their styles I cant wait for new records from are Dead Congregation and Grave Miasma. Both bands definitely deserving of their successes. To my mind Dead Con and Mortem are leading the pack for DM these days without bullshit trend. Most of the DM that seems popular at the moment doesn’t have any aggression or evil to it. I couldn’t give a shit about technical ability personally, its gotta be Death AND Metal to do anything for me personally. And fuck the raw BM ultra limited Vampire turd tuneless garbage as well. Any label that is based on having a fucking internet connection and social media millennials desperately showing their F5 enslavement while pumping out half assed shoddy garbage isn’t worth shit. Hail Metal, fuck trend.