In a time where inverted crosses and pentagrams are being used to advertise pop-punk albums, it’s reassuring to know that there are true keepers of the darkness out there. Cultus Sabbati are a mystery. We don’t know where they’re from, who they are, or where their going. Their songs are lengthy, hypnotic rituals; part black metal, part noise, part unearthly incantations. To coincide with the autumn equinox they have agreed to an interview with CVLT Nation and a free release of their entire LP Descent into the Maelstrom.
CVLT Nation would like to thanks Cultus Sabbati for this interview. Be sure to check out their digital EPs Modraniht and released for the first time digitally, Descent into the Maelstrom. Their album, Garden of Forking Ways, released on Rococo Records is still available here. Be sure to pick this one up.
With your second album, Descent into the Maelstrom, there appears to be an obsession with death and the ocean. One can’t help but see the symmetry with your first album, The Garden of Forking Ways, both referencing literary works, both monumental landscapes. What was on your minds while you were recording this piece? Was there any event in particular that led to drawing upon the ocean as inspiration? What mood do you hope to evoke with Descent into the Maelstrom?
The ocean came from the sound. We tracked the material in a wooded area next to a barn in the countryside that had a very dark and natural echo. When we were mixing the album we started talking about the “underwater” sound some of the parts have and this led to the idea of the maelstrom. After we began moving parts around during the mix we saw how it could be a kind of soundtrack to the Poe story of the same name. From there everything fell into place.
Emotionally the Poe story is told in flashback. An event we know the storyteller lived through because they are here, now telling the story in the present, but that is still capable of invoking a kind of intense fear or dread.
While you’re often grouped with black metal bands, your aesthetic is further reaching. There is something dark and sprawling, reminiscent of acts like Skullflower or Locrian. Where do you see yourself in relation to the world of black metal and noise?
The three of us come from backgrounds that span the spectrum from black metal to more experimental music’s. We each bring something to the table sonically both during the ritual/recording process and in the studio/mixing process.
We had been fans of Locrian’s work when Andre reached out to us to release Descent into the Maelstrom. More recently the new Wolves in the Throne Room has been inspiring – Randall Dunn (of Master Musicians of Bukakke, who we are also very much inspired by) did a fantastic job recording their new album Celestial Lineage.
Recently, there has been a push in many genres to integrate darker, noisier elements into their sound. From English label Blackest Ever Black’s darkened, industrial house, to the resurgence of neofolk, to Sacred Bones and Dais Record’s increasing popularity, to the critical acclaim of William Bennett of Whitehouse’s project Cut Hands, it seems as though there is a dark revival going on. What are your thoughts on this shift in the musical landscape?
There is an ebb and flow that happens in the music scene, where ‘dark’ becomes fashionable for a while and then is cast away. At the moment you are seeing a big influx of bands that want to be identified with “cvlt” but this has happened before. Someone like Bennett has been through it for decades by now. It will pass and eventually be out of fashion again.
Your Album, The Garden of Forking Ways, is one of the most well thought out releases I’ve seen recently. From the blood red vinyl, to the meticulously screened artwork, to the ritual card included within, you seem to have a reverence for the form. Do you feel in releasing your EP’s electronically that it detracts at all from the experience?
We love vinyl and well-made packaging, and we know there are fans out there that want these kinds of well-crafted objects they can own. But that crowd is small when compared to the many who would enjoy the sounds but don’t care for the objects. We release all of our material eventually as a free download as a way of giving back to the fans. The sounds are still the same for those who are just into the music, and the fans that go that extra push for the object get to own something rare, like a sonic grimoire.
There is a quality to your sound, something deeply physical, reminiscent of Kevin Drumm’s recordings in their ability to evoke a meditative atmosphere. Do you see your music as a ritual experience in and of itself?
Though the bulk of our recordings are the actual product of our ritual practices, albeit sculpted into more of an album structure, we have created pieces like Modraniht, that are meant to be used as the soundtrack to the listeners own rituals.
In the studio we try to give the raw material a certain kind of form, to create a kind of narrative experience for the listener. Each of our albums is like a journey through the night, to the sabbat.
Cultus Sabbati’s sound hearkens back to a darker age, a pagan age. With your esoteric beliefs, do you feel as though there are other artists helping to keep these traditions alive? In music, literature, art, or…?
The problem with esoteric traditions that “harkens back” is that the further we get in time from the past the richer and more complex modern practices become. There are many artists who are extending the form of traditional esoteric ideas through their work. Unfortunately society has become preoccupied with the idea of “Harry Potter” as an accessible icon of occult thinking.
We tend to avoid associations with “modern paganism”. Our music is a window into the very private, very personal, spiritual path we walk together.
What are your views on live performance? Is there any desire to bring your rituals to a live audience?
We have discussed it back and forth and don’t agree on if we should venture into the public with this band. On the one hand our recordings are all really just the documentation of live performances – occasionally there are people besides us present while we are recording. But the logistics of doing what we doing on a stage at a venue are complicated. There are scenarios that could play out that would allow it to happen, but it’s not likely in the foreseeable future.
I’ve read you’re all voracious readers, what has Cultus Sabbati reading?
We are into Borges, Georges Bataille, Cortazar, Bruno Schultz, Alan Moore, Stanislaw Lem, PK Dick, and always Lovecraft in terms of fiction. In terms of non-fiction we have shared and destroyed a copy of the British esoteric journal Strange Attractor over this past summer, its full of great articles, the cover is currently held on by gaff tape. Also we all enjoyed Rat by Andrzej Zaniewski, a really intense look at life through the eyes of a rat.
Having listened to your Sonic Cathedrals mixtape, there’s a tremendous variety in the artists you all cite as inspiration. From Jesus and Mary Chain, to The Melvins, to Six Organs of Admittance, it seems as though there may be a history tied to some of these seemingly disparate songs. Can you share why some of these tracks were chosen? Any particular events in your lives, or moments where these songs stood out that left an indelible impression?
The three artists you mention were bands that, although they have a very broad fanbase, often get overlooked sonically. The influence these bands have had on genres like doom, stoner rock and neo folk is huge. We wanted to include them to give a bit more of a perspective to what we are into. At the other end of the spectrum are more obscure artists like Ruth White, for whom the “witch house” movement is totally indebted (even if it doesn’t have any idea who she was).
We basically looked at our respective music players and choose the things we listened to the most this summer. The things that rose to the top of the pile, that inspired us. We wanted to make a mixtape that had more scope than any single genre could give, but that had a kind of consistency.
With the advent of the Autumn Equinox, what does the future hold for Cultus Sabbati?
We have a new EP that will be out in December and are working on a new full length. We are talking about next year, hoping to find time to get together when our schedules permit.
Cvlt Nation would like to thank Cultus Sabbati for this interview and exclusive download of their new EP Descent into the Maelstrom. Visit them online at http://cultussabbati.org/
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