First of all, could you illuminate any significant details that may have influenced the development of grimness in your music?

Wrath: Well, A fair amount of anger and frustration that comes with the course of life influenced my input in our content. It's strange, though, because in the end our songs may be grim, but they also have a very celebratory aspect to them. Maybe it's just the idea of embracing that which torments us and turning into a ritual of strengthening.

Sanguine: I am trying to think back to any outstanding childhood traumas that may have surfaced when I started writing material for AVERSE SEFIRA, and I cannot think of anything. What does come to mind is a personal inward journey to the core of my being and effort, where light was in short supply. I knew what we were going to do had to be fast and brutal, but would also have a weird presence that came along and helped guide the band.  And there in this inner place of revelation, riffs began to form and song structures began to take shape, visions of things to come visited me and the music of
AVERSE SEFIRA was born.

I’ve read through the verses of yours very carefully (although, these  are more like short stories; at least, that’s the way I perceive them) and it seems that lyrically “Homecoming’s March” appears as a conceptual work. Could you please tell our readers few words on this subject?

Sanguine: Yes, all the songs on "Homecoming's March" and hereafter are part of a grand conceptual design. The story lines revolve around the Sefiroth, twenty beings that have been extrapolated out of the Q'aballah into ancient, eldritch extra-celestial wanderers who have come to the Earth's Other Side and become embroiled in the machinations that occur there. They become pivotal in the development of Monotheism and crucial to its downfall. The songs on "Homecoming's March" sets the stage for all these events and introduces major players, such as the Sefiroth themselves and the despot jehovaH. Newer songs that we are currently writing involve some minor and
major participants and also develop some secondary story arcs. Whenever we decide that we are finished writing as AVERSE SEFIRA, when it is time to stop, we will be able to take all the songs we have written and place them in a linear order, from start to finish and tell one big story.

“Homecoming’s March” was brought forth the light by Arrogare Records; let me assume it’s a label of your own… is that correct? How would you explain that you haven’t got a deal yet? Weren’t you enough persistent in promotional campaign or is it a bad luck of yours?

Wrath: Arrogare is indeed our label. We have actually promoted the CD heavily. We've placed ads in magazines like Terrorizer and we've done dozens of interviews since the album's release. We had offers to release the album on different labels before, but we didn't like the deals we were offered. Instead we decided we could release it on our own and prove our ability in the underground. Maybe then we would get a respectful offer. As a matter of fact, we have a pending offer from a good label here in the US, which I expect we shall accept soon. So no, I don't think we've had bad luck at all!

Sanguine: Forming Arrogare Records and releasing the first AVERSE SEFIRA album on it was the simplest thing to do for us. It is so easy for bands these days to have access to computers and graphics programs, I would like to see more bands putting out their own material, rather than holding their breath waiting for some label to come along and offer them a deal. If bands would make more of an effort for themselves- more so than just recording a demo, putting a tape together, folding their arms, sitting back and going "damn we're good! why doesn't any label come snap us up??" -they could put some money together (especially for bands with more than two members!) and record, print, and self-release and strong looking, sounding
CD with promotion that would really get a buzz going. That kind of effort will get labels noticing and coming to offer support, should that be the ultimate goal for a band. As far as our situation, we have been persistent in our promotion and our luck has paid off, our situation is of our own making with little reliance on outside forces or circumstance.

Are you going to stay a duo for all eternities to come? Wouldn’t it be  easier to invite few supplementary musicians in order to enrich the sound? Also, who's playing drums, both in studio and live?

Sanguine: There are many people who are a part of AVERSE SEFIRA that choose not to be featured onstage. In this way, we do not come of looking like SLIPKNOT... However, we have shadowmembers like His Wolfliness E'er Daarkening and Lady of the Evening Faces that have provided Aversions- our name for the black visions that accompany our songs -who choose to operate behind the scenes. We have had in total three drummers working with us. Nuclear Gregg from NIGHT CONQUERS DAY and Armageddon from ABLAZE helped us out and played live with us while we dwelled in NY. Since our re-relocation to Texas, we have the Unholiest of drummers, Carcass of Marcus from DEATH OF MILLIONS playing drums for us. With C.M. we are preparing to play a metalfest in Worcester, Mass. with IMMOLATION and he is going into the studio with us to record the next album. Other than that, we don't feel like
anyone else coming on to play additional instruments will add anything to the band. AVERSE SEFIRA is an expression of the wills of Sanguine and Wrath and if we were to work with other musicians, it would be as a different form.

Wrath: We plan to record our next album with Carcass. "Homecoming's March" was performed with a drum machine that I programmed.

There’re some (actually, quite many) bands who don’t answer the interview even after they have answered positively to your request… Why do you think they do that?

Wrath: That's a great question! We are finding that many bands fail to ever acheive anything not because they have bad luck or are "too extreme", but because they don't make the effort to send out materials, answer interviews, or set up shows. It's exciting to us to get interviews, and we try to return them as soon as we can. We want the respect the interviewer for his support, but also we want to ensure that the fans know about us!

Sanguine: Because they are lazy bastards. Or maybe they have good intentions and just get caught up doing other things and forget about it.

Should be a notion of “evil” necessarily associated with aggression and feelings similar to it? Generally speaking, is it a ‘congenial’ side of  life or one can does without it?

Sanguine: Evil does not have to be aggressive or hateful feelings. Although similar, it can include small feelings like avarice, or jealousy, or pettiness. Evil is also exists as a Contrary, that is anything that occurs that is Contrary to one's desires or worldview is considered "evil". Evil is an aesthetic also, with the design of one's dress or appearance, art or surroundings. Evil is commonly feared and it need not be. Evil is often the impetus for exploration. Evil can be regarded in Gallows or Black Humor. Watching and howling with delight someone get hit by two cars, bouncing around like a ping pong ball, that is considered "evil" by some, but it serves to release tension in others. I think that Evil is a part of everything, but I think it is more accurately regarded as Nature. In Nature
brutal killing occurs everyday for survival and is regarded as necessary, not "evil." The "Natural World" is cruel and heartless. When an animal is sick or injured, they are expected by their group to get better or die. There is no alleviation of suffering, except in death. In human society, brutal killing is regarded as murder and "evil," even if it would ultimately go towards the survival of the society or planet. We take away from our own needs to help those who fall ill or have some small trauma in their lives like personal suffering, and if we were to let such people follow the course
laid out for them, if they were to get better or succumb without help or interference, that would be considered "evil." Such arguments are the easiest to go to when trying to justify Evil in the world, but they often are solid truisms. It is hard to say whether or not killing in society or letting the sick die would say, help the planet, and it is hard to deny the feelings of desiring justice or retribution or lending a shoulder to cry on to someone downtrodden, and so it could be that those impulses could be seen as "evil" because those impulses, having been made compulsory through
indoctrination, can hold back an individual or group from moving on and progressing. The question of Evil often becomes circular and is not always easy to answer as it is woven into every fiber of our being.

Wrath: Evil comes in many forms, many faces. I tend to think that in some ways we are very evil, but it shows in our passion for the dark side of existence and our wicked senses of humor. Outside of our music, we aren't particularly violent or agressive. In fact, we are often regarded as very friendly. I think it's possible to be this way and still be evil. Any idiot can be aggressive and not be evil. It is a state of mind that requires thought and nuturing.

Would you agree with the following idea of mine: the more complicated is  any either organism or gearing, the more probable it’s wreckage?

Wrath: That's chaos theory, or at least a theory of entropy. I agree when you talk about the human race. It seems that the more complex our world becomes, the bigger mess we make! Now if you look at animal societies like ants or bees, now there is true effeciency. I don't know... it seems like we keep making things more complicated and making things worse, but yet we insist on surviving. What else should we do? But yes, in general I agree with your sentiment.

Sanguine: Absolutely. I think that at this point in time, humans are so complicated that they are coming out of the womb broken. Even nebulous concepts, like trying to define Evil, as above, are so complicated that the argument- or organism, because at this point in existence, trying to define Evil has taken on a life of its own -quickly becomes wrecked when trying to decipher it.

Would you consider yourself a social heretic?

Sanguine: You have to be a social heretic to do what we do and still be able to operate and exist in society. While noble efforts have been made by individuals like the Unabomber to remove oneself from society, it becomes clear that extremism in that form can only last for so long and at a great cost and lack of certain amenities. Unadulterated survival is one thing, but I think that most people cannot get completely away from wanting electricity or running water and so they chose to remain within society, even if they are clinging to its underbelly or skulking in its shadows. It is then these
faceless masses that disdain society, consciously or unconsciously,
harboring deviant sexuality, violent tendencies, drug habits, harmless quirks or aberrant emotional states or views and still operate within the confines of a society and yet would be stigmatized if whatever made them "different" than what the arbitrators of the mainstream said was "normal" were found out.

Wrath: Most assuredly. It seems like there is very little I do, regardless of what it is, that fits within the ideas of modern society. When I am forced to be around "normal" people too long, I ultimately say or do something that makes them think ill of me because my ideas challenge theirs. But they are the ones who do not consider who they are, their role in this world, etc. They consume, indulge, and wander through life aimlessly. When they die the world will be no different and certainly no poorer.

Furthermore, what’s your view on the modern society in the whole; both, theoretically and as a reality we behold…

Wrath: Well again, most of modern society, particularly American society, is comprised of by people who act like spoiled, bloated children. Mindless indulgence and constant obsession with selfish goals are what this stupid society is all about. Most people are treading water in life, never realizing that the slightest upset could drown them. Let them try to live their lives like an MTV video, fuck each other and spread diseases, take brain damaging drugs, buy retarded hip-hop records and think that it makes them special. We surpassed these people at birth, and if we (the social heretics) so chose we could destroy everything they cared about before they knew what was happening. I have no use for sheep. I prefer to walk among wolves.

Sanguine: Society is reliant upon some sort of media to inform and define what is acceptable, real and "normal". In ancient times, it was the elders of the group, shamans, storytellers who were charged with remembering the past and lessons to be handed down generation to generation. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, it was the Church and later the Aristocracies that set the standards for society and handed down guilt, mores, and woe to be filtered by all echelons of people. Later still when most everyone could read, came books and newspapers and eventually radios that people gathered around to find out what's what. Now television and magazines shoulder this
responsibility, telling us what is "cool" what to "say no" to. It is hard to think of anyone who is not affected in some way by this. It is hard to therefore define what is "reality" in society when what is being advocated or pushed can change in the blink of an eye.

Do you know anything regarding Russia? What is your attitude to the country of mine as well as it’s people? Any Russian bands you’ve heard lately?

Sanguine: Earlier in my youth I took a summer trip to what was then the Soviet Union and to Lithuania and Finland. I really loved it there. It is regrettable that such a noble and rich land and peoples are constantly beset by forces seemingly determined to pull it all apart, be it through World Wars, Communism, the Church, the Mafia, Capitalism. It is equally difficult to hypothesize as to what would happen or would have happened if none of these things existed. I would like to return there, to see what I saw before and things that I hadn't seen. I have heard SHAH, who may not be around anymore. They were kind of a death / thrash band. I have also heard TEMNOZOR, ROSSOMAHAAR, and NOKTURNAL MORTUM and would like to hear more. It is hard to get a hold of Eastern European and Russian bands here because of varying circumstances. Suffice to say that those are the bands that are still keeping the danger in Black Metal.

Wrath: Well, it seems very hard to live there right now with such a terrible economy. I know that your drug scene and mafia has become a large problem. Russia is also the home of serial killer Chikatilo, who killed 52 people. I also know the Russian metal scene has had a proud uprising of church assaults, which I think is excellent. It seems quiet as of late. Did the fires of hate burn out already? The one band I'm really familiar with is TEMNOZOR. I like Eastern Europe a lot in that it's a culture that is still relatively untouched by the excesses of technology and such. Russia and its neighbors have given AVERSE SEFIRA great support, so we have nothing but good impressions!

This interview finally has come to it’s logical end… Therefore, if you’d like to say anything in conclusion, do it here.

Wrath: Hails to the Russian Black Metal scene! Keep up the fight! Never surrender to the church!

Sanguine: If you plan to detonate a bomb in a church, be sure to leave enough time to get out of there before it goes off! Hail The Pagan Front and the Eastern Hordes!
http://www.necronom.com/darkening/aversesefira
P.O. Box 4934
Austin, TX 78765-4934
USA