Das Interview mit Sänger und Gitarrist Igor der belgischen Black Metal Formation The Committee (English Version)

Mit Infos zu Utopian Deception, dem gerade veröffentlichten Langeisen und weitere spannende Themen

Artist: The Committee

Orgin: International

Genre: Black Metal

Label: Folter Records

Links: https://www.facebook.com/The-Committee  and http://thecommitteeband.weebly.com

Bandmember:

Vocals, Bass – Marc Abre-The Mediator
Drums – William Auruman-The Charter
Vocals und Guitare – Aristo Crassade-The Trigger
Vocals und Guitare – Igor Mortis-The Conspirator
Keyboards – Urok-The Inquisito

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

Hi Igor,

We haven’t been in contact since quite a while, but considering your new album Utopian Deception we should talk about your Black Metal band The Committee.

The Committee / Igor:

Yes it’s been a while and we have been very busy. It’s always a pleasure to speak with Time for Metal.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

First of all, I have to admit that I didn’t listen to anything from the new album, so I have a few questions.

The Committee / Igor:

On our homepage the full album, lyrics and artwork is available for the Fans and Supporter to check out. Feel free to listen.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

Since long time you are well known beyond the borders of Belgium, and you also have gained more reception throughout whole Europe. Did this have any influence on your song writing? When did you start the work on the new songs, and how did it happen that with 6 songs you can fill a running time of 45 minutes?

The Committee / Igor:

From the beginning we actually never planned on playing live concerts, but we wanted to remain as a project. Yet since the Power Through Unity album was released, slowly a few requests for a live show came in and a few years later we are at the 3rd full release. We are off course extremely thrilled to have gained such an amazing support throughout Europe and other countries, yet this hasn’t changed our way of work regarding the music and lyrics. First of all when our music sounds good to us, we decide to proceed with it. Usually that goes at the expense of much discarded music and pages of lyrics, but in the end we hope it’s worth it. Our songs have always been a bit long, but that goes all the way back to our doom origins. We keep true to this tradition. Also the theme of every album is very different. Every song interlocks with the following one and there is a certain progression to the whole chaos. Therefor we let ourself get carried away and simply never look at the timeline of the individual songs.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

You describe the entire work as a journey whose path is marked by the double standards, manipulation and twisted euphemisms of this new modern world. With only these 6 songs it should be possible for you to give a short track-by-track commentary regarding the compositions on Utopian Deception. Besides technical and emotional features I think our readers would also be interested in your personal view on the songs.

The Committee / Igor:

Utopian Deception is a fictional story told by the protagonist. This amorphous entity clearly explains his plans towards a complete capture and reprogramming of the minds of millions and the methodology of how to achieve it in the most efficient and cold blooded manner possible. While the origin of his tactics range from benign beginnings such as; planting a seed of doubt in the mind and dragging hidden and forbinnen knowledge into the open, the strategies progress to more effective and ruthless methods, such as polarisation, creation of euphemisms, bribery, legal protection and reformatting of old ways of thinking across 2 generations of newly born people. This albim is the result of many years of ideas and concepts that we have been nurturing and developing. Until this day Utopian Deception is the most difficult album that we had the pleasure of working on.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

Again, the artwork is really eye-catching. Unicoloured with a clear line, plain but still meaningful and perfectly fitting to the last ones. Which are your criteria for choosing the cover respectively for having it created?

The Committee / Igor:

On this album we had chosen to work with 3 graphic designers. 1 created the hand drawn artwork ( such as the cover ), second person created the symbology for every song and the 3 person has managed to merge these styles into a complete work. As the research and creation of Utopian Deception progressed, we had come to the conclusion that we absolutely had to work with an impartial artist in order to illustrate every song and the cover to the precise detail. We opted to work with a person who was impartial and objective. Also every artist received a complete summary of the album and the music. All the rest was left up to their interpretation and we have to admit that they have performed wonderfully. We are quite satisfied with the result. While the artwork is quite simple, it portrays the message of Utopian Deception perfectly. The whole process of completing the artworks took more than 3 months to complete and aside from all the other components, it was a long a tedious journey for everyone involved.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

The album will be released again via Folter Records on 29 May. Was it a clear decision for you and your colleagues to stay at that label, or did you also think about a change?

The Committee / Igor:

As mentioned before, we usually never had any clear plans in mind. We are simply writing music that sounds good to us and we are very glad that it sounds good to others as well. Therefor we are not activelly looking for other labels. Working with Folter Records has been a good experience for us and it lets up work at our own pace. We are known for playing very few live concerts, simply becase all of our members are busy with their own lives, work, family and other projects that require constant attention. Therefor we work slowly and methodically, taking our time and never trying to be in a rush. If we were under strict deadlines, we’re 100% certain that the quality of our music would suffer because of it. That is off course unacceptable.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

My colleague wrote the following summary for Utopian Deception: „Nameless, masked – but not faceless! The Committee can be without a doubt called one of the most remarkable Black Metal bands of the presence (also because of their martial live shows). The band inspires as a real „song writing wonder“ between massive Black Metal and heavy Doom, well thought out nasty melodies and musical finesse, also and especially on Utopian Deception. Therefore, I have no other choice than giving a real good review. Well done!“ Would you leave it like that?

The Committee / Igor:

The message is very flattering, We thank you colleague for it. We have nothing to add. Off course no artist is ever completely satisfied with his work. Overall we’re very glad that we stayed true to our doom beginnings and we have kept the sound that we had started with. Also before The Committee was formed, we were all just normal Metalheads who went to the festivals and gigs and stood at the front stage headbanging to our favourite bands. After The Committee has been summened, pretty much nothing changed. We are the same metalheads at heart and we plan to keep it that way. Again we had no idea that our music would be appreciated by many people. We are grateful to our Fans and Supporters for that. It gives us the motivation to move forward and to keep working on the next albums and story that needs to be told in the future.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

I can confirm the martial live shows, remembering very well your show during Party.San 2018. In this year everything seems to be different. Did you plan a release party or would you have played shows on festivals during this summer?

The Committee / Igor:

Party San was an absolute blast. We were blown away by the professionalism of everyone there. We love to visit Party San even at the old location years back, it was nice to see how the whole festival operates from the point of view of a band. Again amazing job from their whole team there and off course our gratitude.

We definitely plan to celebrate the birth of Utopian Deception when the situation allows for it. We also need to be realistic. You see, people maybe not realizing it, but history is being made before our eyes. The world of 2019 is gone and will be never seen again. We don’t know when live shows will start again, but we definitely have big plans for 2021. From 2019 we have started to work with District 19 booking and we are amazed by their professionalism. Therefor the next shows we will be playing is mostly thanks to them and their amazing team. This summer though lays barren. No live events. However this quarantine has been the most productive period of our lives. There is so much to do and so many plans to execute. This kind of opportunity won’t happen again in our lifetime for sure.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

The Corona virus has slowed down many parts of the public life. Did you personally face any consequences during the last days? The situation for musicians, artists or promotors is as gloomy as your music. What is your personal view on the current situation? Would a livestream show be an option for The Committee, or would nothing work without fans?

The Committee / Igor:

We feel for everyone in the scene who has suffered because of this event. We know bands and promotors who are left at the mercy of the current zeitgeist. And we sure hope that live events will resume soon. For us a livestream is absolutely not an option. Not only due to the unpersonal character of that endeavour, but also because it would simply be too cumbersome. We are quite analogue and allergic to technology.

Regarding this pandemic, first of all please consider these words merely as entertainment and nothing more! These days too many people are listening to the oppinions of musicians, actors, politicians, athletes and other people who are generally not professionally suited to be giving advise and recommendations. That being said, we are quite glad that the Metalheads are smart people who can use their own heads and critical judgement.

We feel that we are entering massive changes on a global scale. Those who remember, it sure feels like 911 all over again, but much bigger and much more sudden. Somehow it feels that the raging hangover from the 2008 financial crisis that’s been dragging on for a whole decade, poisoning the world. Finally in 2019 the critical organs have finally started to fail. The pandemic was only what’s called a black swan event. We would have seen massive problems if there was no pandemic at all. It was just a matter of time ( our song Finance covers this topic ). People understood subcontiously that something was broken even before the pandemic. We had world wide protests, trade wars, reduction of life standard, depopulation efforts, zoofication of mass media and polarisation of social media. Therefor what’s puzzeling to us is not the pandemic ( we had Anthrax, Swine Flue, Bird Flu, Ebola etc in the past ) but the reaction of the world TO the pandemic. Since we don’t watch or listen to main stream media, it’s very easy to see that many structural problems in the world are now simply being swept under the carpet of the pandemic. This year we will see many unexpected events take place. We will see cracks in the EU, we will see unemployment and unprecedented inflation, as well as endless stimulus of the bloated economy on life support. Our natural mobility and the few freedoms we had will become a scarce commodity and slowly there will be attempts made to strip these necessities away from us. Many people will die because of the virus, but a lot more peope will die because of the effects of the reactions to the virus. It seems that we’re entering a period similar to the 1920’s and we all know where that lead us. It’s time to rediscover history books, because these things happened in the past and they WILL happen again. Fortunately many people are preparing for the worst and will be ready for everything that’s comming our way. Best course of action is not to trust the “system” and what it says, simply because tomorrow that system can sease to exist entirely ( might it be governments, financial institutions, publically funded organisations, multinational corporations and other entities ) The course of action today is community driven, as well as individualistically motivated. Every person who’s responsable for the wellbeing of the people closest to him, should ensure his ( and their ) safety and prosperity.

Time For Metal / Rene W.:

So thank you very much for having the time again to do this interview. The last word belongs to you again and can be freely addressed to your followers and our readers.

The Committee / Igor:

Thank you very much for this interview.