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Apokrypha is a band from Germany that delivers apocalyptic black metal, as they prefer to call their music... Well, the description may vary a bit from listener to listener, but there's one thing for sure... Apokrypha have developed without any doubts a sound of their own, a sound that sets them apart from the rest of the black metal releases. So, below you can read and learn a great deal of things regarding the band...



FIRST OF ALL CONGRATULATIONS FOR "TOTHE SEVEN"! HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT IT?


And first of all thank you! We had much trouble during studio sessions, but now we are really satisfied with our debut album. Actually there's positive reaction with almost no exception on our debut album. That makes us turn a blind eye to the studio time and makes us feel great.



WHICH ARE APOKRYPHA'S GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS? INTRODUCE YOURSELVES TO THE READERS.


Founded 1999 in Würzburg/Germany by four men to create something special, something to think about within the extreme metal scene, but also something to bring a special atmosphere to the audience. Right now it's the time for APOKRYPHA's greatest achievements. Our debut album is released, we got Interviews in Rock Hard and Legacy, two of the most famous German metal magazines. Many reviews, a few interviews...It's getting started.



YOUR COMPOSITIONS ARE BASED ON GUITARS. WHY? WHY DON'T YOU USE KEYBOARDS AT ALL?


Both of us guitarists are responsible for the music. Playing guitar is our passion and that has to be felt in our music. It's not a challenge to create atmosphere with keyboards but it's one to create it without!



YOU HAVE A SPECIAL SOUND. A SOUND OF YOUR OWN. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO ACHIEVE THIS?


We're proud to have a sound of our own, but that's very difficult to achieve. There are two important factors: First of all it's the controllable one, the consistently work on every single note during songwriting and the perfection of the whole production. But there's also this uncontrollable one... luck.



WHERE ARE YOUR LYRICS REFERRING TO? "TO THE SEVEN" IS BASED ON A CONCEPT STORY REGARDING A FICTIVE SOCIETY.


The inevitable Apokalypse, decay of mankind, moral sloth, ignorance. these are only some expressions that symbolize our concept. This fictive story includes various parallels to our world in a very abstract way, dispersed on every single song of ours. Soon there will be a detailed description of our concept in English language on our homepage www.apokrypha.de.



WHY WAS SUCH A PROBLEM TO YOU TO FIND A SINGER?


Metal has to be played live! Therefore every musician has to represent the music on stage as excessive as possible. To achieve this, everyone should concentrate only on his instrument. But the scene in our hometown was very small at that time. So there didn't exist any suitable vocalists to choose from. We decided fast, that 4 people are enough for the band and one of us took the part while playing guitar. In the meantime the franconian scene is growing strong. Bands arise here and there, and there's even this great increasing Festival "Up From The Ground", which stands for the scene of our region. Now it shouldn't be the problem any more to find a singer, but APOKRYPHA exist like this, and there will be no line up changes, in no way.



DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? WHAT DO YOU "OFFER" TO THE FANS DURING YOUR LIVE PERFORMANCES?


APOKRYPHA is a live-band, playing live is our passion. Since our first show we strived to infect the audience with our music, to create a special chemistry between them and ourselves. The brutality and desperation will be transported and manifested on both sides, every time we play. There are a few shows this year, in Switzerland for example, too. We're planning a tour in the beginning of 2005 and we're confirmed for the Party San Festival in summer 2005.



BY THE WAY DO YOU KNOW THAT THE WORD APOKRYPHA IS GREEK? WHY DID YOU CHANGE YOUR NAME FROM TO THE SEVEN TO APOKRYPHA?


Yes, we got it from your mother tongue. It sounds great and extremely hard as many of your Greek words. The sense of this word is the base of our concept. It's the dubious content of the writing which is sent TO THE SEVEN dominators of our fictive world. We had to rename, because of the danger of juridical problems after we changed our label. The old one had bounded us in a treaty, but did nothing for us during more than a year. We signed to Black Attakk, who appreciates our music. So we got a really competent label in our backs. And we're happy about that.



WHICH WAS THE BEST AND WHICH THE WORST REVIEW - DESCRIPTION THAT YOU READ?


There are plenty of excellent reviews for our album. You can read them on www.apokrypha.de. Seemingly, we caught the heart of many reviewers' minds as well as we want to get the ones of the people out there.Well, the worst review is the one from Voenger.de, they summed up our CD with "exchangeable" and it was written exaggeratingly in a negative manner. These guys are crazy I think. Well we didn't become the "Anti-Album of the Month", whereas other Bands were killed lyrically in the truest sense of the word...



WHICH IS, ACCORDING TO YOU, THE BEST AND WHICH THE WORST PART IN YOUR MUSIC? IN WHICH FIELD DO YOU NEED FURTHER IMPROVEMENT?


There is no "worst" part in the music of APOKRYPHA; some things might be improved, like the Sound but nothing essential. We'll go on as always. There are many new ideas, which we're working on right now. And there's a really great Cover Song which we're going to play live and put on an upcoming CD, so be ready!



IF YOUR MUSIC WERE AN EMOTION, WHAT WOULD IT BE? IF IT WERE A PAINTING WHAT WOULD IT SHOW?


It would be a new kind of emotion, a new experience, which is never felt by anyone. A universal emotion, which bounds every repressive and desperate feeling together. It's exactly similar to the painting. It would be a moving one, it would rotate just like the deep sense of our concept: mankind will fall, again and again.



IF YOU COULD INVITE FAMOUS MUSICIANS TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR ALBUM WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE AND WHY?


It would have been QUORTHON of the mighty BATHORY! How proud would we've been, if the creator of our sense of Black Metal as music was involved. He's dead know but his achievements live on within many bands and also within us.RIP



WHICH WORDS DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY? WHICH PHRASE CAN SUM UP IDEALLY THE BAND'S HISTORY?


It's APOKALYPTIC BLACK METAL for our music but pay attention. For history it can't be anything else then: "Veni, Vidi, Vici"!



IF SUDDENLY ELECTRICITY CEASED TO EXIST DO YOU THINK HEAVY METAL MUSIC WOULD DIE? COULD YOU REPRODUCE APOKRYPHA'S MUSIC IN AN ACOUSTIC WAY?


Oh yes, it would die. Heavy Metal has to be played live! It has to be played loud! Louder than hell! The true sense of Heavy Metal would be lost. According to APOKRYPHA, the distorted guitars are the main point in our music, the feeling of the sound would be gone. Acoustically played it will sound nice, but the whole created atmosphere would be definitely gone.



THANK YOU! LEAVE YOUR MESSAGE TO THE READERS...


Apokalyptic thanks for this special interview. We hope to have found some new fans and therefore friends in Greece. Perhaps we may have gigs down there one time, just leave a message at www.apokrypha.de.


05.10.2004 - Christine Parastatidou


05.10.2004 - Christine Parastatidou