Artist to Artist Interview…
Unearthly Trance Vs. Dephosphorus

CVLT Nation’s Artist to Artist Interview Series starts today, with Ryan Lipynsky of Unearthly Trance interviewing Panos and Thanos of Greece’s DEPHOSPHORUS. DEPHOSPHORUS’ music is way beyond awesome – it’s truly in a world of it’s own. If you have not heard their first EP, AXIOM, you should, and stay tuned for their soon to released new album Night Sky Transform. Just like their music, DEPHOSPHORUS are complex and organic humans, and Ryan’s questions really brought out some thought-provoking answers. After the jump, allow your mind to be bent and check out this killer interview!

Hello Panos! I was wondering if you could give me a brief overview on the state of affairs in Greece. Specifically where Dephosphorus is from and where the band is based out of? I know that there has been instability in recent times, but how are things now?

Panos: Dephosphorus hail from Athens in Greece. Being in my mid-30’s by now, I have never lived through such an ominous context. An entire nation is getting strangled, suffocated in the altar of capitalism. Germany, France, the U.S.A., the I.M.F., the European Bank, everybody knew that our economy’s foundations were rotten for more than 30 years now. Yet, they have suddenly decided that all this must change overnight!

The Greek population is starving for change. We know what we have done wrong. We want to get rid of a bankrupted, corrupted political system and renovate a monstrous public sector that has provided temporary prosperity for more than three decades now. This way, we will be able to sort out the grave social and moral crisis that we are going through. It’s criminally hypocritical to expect a whole country to metamorphose in the flick of an eye.

It is easy to locate over the webernet an excellent Greek documentary entitled “Debtocracy”. It is subtitled in English, explains precisely what is going on here and that the same criminal tools and methods are being used in Greece as they have been in Argentina.

These are just the first signs of a global crisis that western capitalism is getting into. It has stopped being profitable compared to the eastern capitalism of India, China, etc. They are cheap, we are not. I am happy that there are protests in New York and in London. Everybody must be ready to get down on the streets and protest!

The situation as of now is highly volatile. We are getting new taxes everyday. The government merely executes the orders given from the “Troika” (the European Commission, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Central Bank). The armies of the unemployed grow bigger everyday. Those who still have their jobs are alienated and feel highly insecure. The brightest and more productive members of our society start to evacuate the country, immigrating to Australia and elsewhere. Criminality rises. We are a society on the verge of barbarity, we are about to collapse, but we are not going down without a fight.



Immediately when looking at the song titles, one can pick up on the astrological themes. Who writes the lyrics and what do they mean to you/writer? Would you consider them to be in the more personal interior realm or is there a decipherable “message” inside the lyrics?

Panos: No offense but allow me to correct you about the term. Astrology is the ensemble of divination methods based on the zodiac cycle and such. Astronomy is a science. Both were associated together until the 17th or 18th century I think.

I write all the lyrics. They are personal because the origin of Dephosphorus’ concept can be traced back to my childhood, when as a young christian kid I was gazing at the night sky wondering “if God has created the universe, then who has created God?”. Therefore it is highly existential, and it is also a quest for the lost imagination of youth.

When we have started Dephosphorus with Thanos, we were thrilled to start a new band, and we wanted the whole process to excite our imagination, as well as the imagination of the underground audience. After all, good art and good music must excite the imagination of the recipient. Moreover, imagination has been mankind’s most important tool, thanks to which we have survived as a race.

In times where our collective survival is under peril, our conviction is that we must use our imagination in order to figure out a way forward and not lay down in despair and abandonment.

Our lyrical concept is an allegory, a metaphor for the search of the meaning of human existence inside a cosmic reality of billions of galaxies, trillions of stars and physical laws who have yet to be determined and understood: gravity, dark matter/energy, quantum mechanics, wormholes, the very real possibility of parallel dimensions…

At the end of the day, we just want to narrate a good story. One that will excite the imagination and propel you to a mental voyage of your own, but also one that is linked to our reality, our daily torments and to a possible positive outcome.

Are there are any particular writers or books specifically that have had some influence on the world of Dephosphorus? What about films?

Panos: I have been a science fiction enthusiast since when I was a child. I discovered Jules Verne and my mother, who incited me to read as much as possible, bought me almost every single one of his books that was published in Greek.

Then as a teenager in the 80’s I became a home computer enthusiast and was reading a great Greek magazine, “Pixel”. At one of their issues, they had a brief review of a book by Isaac Asimov. Its title in Greek was “Galactic Empire” – in English “Foundation”. I was intrigued by the review and by the concept of psychohistory. A few days later I was asked by my aunt for a present in the occasion of Christmas, Easter or my birthday (can’t remember). I asked the book and she came back with almost the entire “Foundation” series–five books!

The “Foundation” series had an extreme impact on my imagination and mesmerized me endlessly. The title of “Aurora”, the closing song of “Night Sky Transform”, is taken by a quest at the end of series, when one of the heroes tries to locate the long lost, legendary planet from where mankind was supposed to have originated from…

From the 80’s until recently I haven’t laid my hands on any SF book that had a similar effect on me. Then I think it was 4 years ago that I was spending some days of summer vacation with my girlfriend at the island of Astipalaia, in the eastern part of the Aegean sea. The room complex where we staying at, had a small library which was comprised mostly of books that tourists had read then left behind before their trip back. One of the English books had an intriguing cover and an even more intriguing title: “Inversions”. I grabbed it and plunged into a vivid, mesmerizing world, inspired by middle ages Europe but happening in another part of the Universe. I stole the book and brought it back with me in Athens. I have been immediately on the lookout for more books from the same author, the Scottish Iain M.Banks.

He is one of the most powerful and imaginative minds currently alive on this planet. He is a true visionary and also a rock’n’roll type of persona. He is not some kind of academic weirdo smelling dust. He’s been known to drive and collect fast cars, or to end up drunk in book exhibitions! I consider him as one of my mentors. He is responsible for the memorable “Whoever heard of a mortal body having an immortal soul?” line that I quote in “Collimator”…

A track like “Knife Missile” refers directly to his work, and more specifically to his “Culture” novel series. To quote Wikipedia, “The Culture is a fictional interstellar anarchic, socialist, and utopian society”. “Special Circumstances” are the secret services of the Culture, and their agents often operate in conjunction with “Knife Missiles”, a formidable kind of combat drones. You see, while writing some of the lyrics of “Axiom”, the Culture Universe with Dephosphorus’ often intertwined…

As I have already suggested in a personal communication of ours, extreme intellectual satisfaction is guaranteed if you read Iain M.Banks novels like “Consider Phlebas”, “Matter” or “The Algebraist”.

We follow closely the latest developments in cosmology and astronomy. I try to browse as often as possible to blogs such as HYPERLINK “http://www.universetoday.com” www.universetoday.com or HYPERLINK “http://www.dailygalaxy.com” www.dailygalaxy.com . Scientific books like NASA publication “Cosmos & Culture, Cultural Evolution in a Cosmic Context” by Steven J. Dick and Mark L. Lupisella, are also providing food for thought and inspiration.

As far as movies are concerned, they have not influenced at all our concept. We are cinephiles and yet admittedly, the best food for the imagination are books. Movies hurt it by crippling our mind’s eye.



Care to explain the name of the band?

Panos: In the period prior to our previous band’s (Straighthate) dissolution, we have raised some issues concerning the future of the band to the rhythm section guys. While we were expecting their feedback we knew that most likely the band was doomed, so speaking about a plan B one of us, I think it was Thanos, said “If things eventually don’t work out, we should call ourselves Phosphoros and start playing black metal!”.

“Phosphoros” was the working title of a Leviathan song and we are both big fans of the band, as well as of Wrest’s works in general (Lurker Of Fucking Chalice man!). It is also the name of a chemical element, it sounds great and has a beautiful meaning in Greek: “Bringer Of Light”.

When we eventually decided to start a new band of our own, we did some research over the webernet and found out that the name was already taken by quite a few bands from different scenes. None of them was a big name, but in order to avoid any future hassle we decided to skip it.

Then while we were reading “Phosphorus”’ Wikipedia page, we found out that one of the forms that the chemical element was found, aka one of its allotropes, was its diatomic form – Diphosphorus. When we read the word, we looked at each other astonished and without saying a word we knew already that this would be our band name. We replaced the first “i” by an “e” (in true “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” style!) and voilà!

We think that Dephosphorus is not only a name that sounds great. Its writing captivates the eye. It also has an occult, mystic, timeless aura. As a matter of fact, the revelation of the name came to us in such an eerie way that until this day we say to ourselves that “the name has found us and not the contrary”.

Let talk music. Your sound is exceptional in the fact that it does not come across as some sort of hyphenated hybrid. There are many genres that I pick up on but it is unmistakably a cohesive sound. Yes I hear the grindcore. But to be it is more of a Dark Hardcore Tinged Metal record. Having myself not been super into grindcore, do you think that your band will internationally appeal to the niche genre of grind or is that not a concern to you guys?

Thanos: Well, I’m glad first of all that you call it a Dark Hardcore Tinged Metal record, because in the first place, Dephosphorus are not to be pigeonholed with any label. It is my commitment when I write music, that it does not resemble to a particular band or genre. The key in songwriting to me is not the influences but something different. I am usually proceeding like this: I write a riff and immediately I try to figure out if it can be the starting point for something greater, if it can close the song, or be in the middle, etc. Then I keep playing the riff in my head countless times to see where it takes me. I always set the drum beat in my head, so the riff will get into context. After that usually I have a song written in an hour or two, it depends on the occasions and of the overall atmosphere. But for sure, each song will play thousands of times in my head first, and if it gets me banging as if it was somebody else’s, we have a winner! Track is ready.

As I said earlier, I’ll have most of the drums parts ready on my mind without programming them or anything like that. I record most of the times the songs on tape and then send them over to the drummer. When it’s time to rehearse the song, Nikos will for sure surprise me because he will play what I already have in my mind or something even better, so we all get excited in the end. Panos will come then and fill the songs with the appropriate vocals, mastering the whole flow of the song. This is really how Dephosphorus work. But there are times when we just rehearse. This is how “The Fermi Paradox” was formed; it was just a rehearsal jam. It’s cool when that happens!

Regarding the ‘grindcore’ aspect, I don’t feel like filling the shoes of Nasum or something like that. I love grindcore for sure, and somebody can easily tell because most of the songs have the rawness and the energy of grindcore. The thing is that I just want to use the genre’s vibes rather than building songs in the usual grindcore way. This material (most of it) was written some years before and I still consider it being top-notch because it has everything in the right balance.

I like a lot to write raw material, and moreover I must marvel a Dephosphorus song, like if it was a great song from another band. So, yeah it has to be metal in general and usually in the end it will be grind because of the intensity and of the energy, but its roots can be anywhere from Sonic Youth and Martyrdöd till Craft and Breach or even the Greek folk music known as “Rebetiko”. Everything is included. Nothing is irrelevant.

Where did you record the album? Was it a conventional studio or different? Wondering what was the experience like?

Thanos: When we recorded “Axiom”, we understood the hard way that we should find a decent studio with a great sound engineer. Luckily, while doing the mastering of “Axiom” my friend Miltos Schimatariotis did an exceptional job. He had just graduated from a musical university in Greece and had already built a great, cozy and functionable studio (HYPERLINK “http://www.northside.gr”www.northside.gr) next to his place. Since I know Miltos from the time I was born, that is 27 years already, it was easy to communicate and pick him up as a sound engineer. Plus we have used his studio before and the results were more than satisfying. The key factor is that Miltos is a true professional and he is very easy to communicate and work with. He also owns fantastic equipment in the studio and knows really well how to use everything, which makes the whole thing fast.

So, while I had to leave for my military services in November 2010, we had only a month or so to finish the job. We agreed to do the best we could and rehearsed like crazy 2 to 3 times per week no matter what. In the last rehearsal before hitting the studio, we were just putting the finishing touches to the last 3 songs (aka “The Cosmologist” session, which is destined for a future split release). We have rented an excellent drum set and began tracking, with me and Nick playing live in the studio. The experience was great, I could say. We were eager to do the job right, but we were also extremely focused, that’s why the end result turned out to be great.

We recorded the drums in 3 days for 14 songs in total, it took me 2 days for the guitars and 1 for the bass. Panos did 2 recording sessions and that was all. I always wanted to have this live feeling in the recordings. I have to admit that many times I stressed the guys to do their best in one take or two, mostly in one take, as I did for the guitars. I was living next to Miltos’ place and studio, which was also my previous neighborhood, so the overall mood was more than great. Less talk and more work. Miltos did an exceptional job in recording and we finally had great musical resources. Mixing the material gave the desired results, despite the fact that it was a lengthy process because of me doing my military service in Cyprus. Mastering was done by Miltos once again and that has completed the album in the best way possible. It’s the first time we are so pleased with the final result, so our choice picking Miltos was a total winner. We will cooperate in the future for sure.

The vocals are harsh and vicious. How do you approach recording vocals? Do you do the whole track in one pass and fix things [if any]? Or piece them together by sections?

Panos: I record most of the vokills in one or two takes, doing the whole song in one pass. Dephosphorus are committed to spontaneity, and as you know as a musician, the first couple of takes are usually the best. We want to capture the highlights of our performances, therefore we often keep a take even though it has one or two minor mistakes/imperfections.

The only reason of tracking a song’s vocals in several passes, is if we are optimizing the vocal lines. For example, we might find out at the studio that there are some vocals missing in order to complete the momentum of a particular song…

The process of recording vocals involves isolating myself a few minutes before, in order to concentrate on the lyrics while sipping some green tea with mint and honey. Then I just scream as loud as I can while trying to keep a good articulation, in order for the words to be intelligible even without having the lyrics.

Who are some of your favorites vocalists in regards to your style?

Panos: The vocalists that have influenced my style hail mostly from the underground metal and hardcore scenes.

First of all there’s Mkm and Stephen, respectively from Antaeus and Kickback. I love the intensity of their performance, and the fact that by listening to them you get the clear impression that they mean what they are screaming about.

Tomas Lindberg and especially his vocals at “Slaughter Of The Soul” are a big influence and I’m often being told that my voice resembles a little bit to his – which is a compliment of corpse…

Then there’s Mike Score (All Out War), Brian D. (Catharsis), Baldur (Arkangel), Attila Csihar (Mayhem), Wrest (Leviathan, Lurker Of Chalice), Nocturno Culto (Dark Throne), Jon Chang (Discordance Axis, Gridlink), Pierre (Congress), Mikael Stanne (circa early Dark Tranquillity and In Flames’ “Lunar Strain”), Daniel Weyandt (Zao), the vocalist of Koreisch (UK), Johnny Morrow (R.I.P.) from Iron Monkey, Jay Stiles and Pete Kamarinos (Disrupt), Jacob Bannon (Converge)…

The track “Aurora” offers a nice contrast to the blasting violence that the rest of the songs encompass. Do you think this experimental feel may be something explored further in the future?

Thanos: “Aurora” is in my opinion an appropriate closer to the album. It just hits the point. Right now as we speak, I haven’t written any new material for a long time, because I have a lot of other issues to deal with. I haven’t been in the proper state of mind in order to consider future material, but as you know being a songwriter yourself, it’s kind of tricky. I may write the next album in a month’s time! Everything depends of the circumstances and of my mood, but the experimental feel you refer above will always be in the agenda. I want to write more songs that will be different and will serve a higher purpose than blasting all the time, but I can’t really tell.

Because of the fact that the songs come through everyday life and what I’ve been through writing them, I never have any clue how they will sound in the end. And that’s great if you ask me, because my feelings lead me to the songs, but honestly it is also Dephosphorus himself who leads me to the riffs – it’s difficult to explain. So to answer to your question, yes we will sure invest in this experimental feel but what is certain is that I can’t predict the end result. But I’m definitely into experimenting.

The artwork is striking and effective. Who did it and what kind of input and relationship do you have with the artist?

Thanos: The artwork was done once again by the mighty Viral Graphics. Kwn and Alex have been for many years now true friends and I always felt that their work has a lot to do with my material, because we listen to the same kind of stuff. Also our ethics are the same. It was, it is and it will be always easy to communicate with the guys, and for them to understand what we actually want to do. They are proud of our work and we are proud of their work, so there is a lot of mutual respect. We have traveled together abroad to festivals and shows to see our favorites bands and we actually met each other through music. So, we have to keep this spirit going on. When we have actually formed Dephosphorus, I was thinking about forming a collective of people who will work for the band with the same amount of love and respect that we have for own work. So far this collective is doing great.

Viral Graphics are our brothers and the most appropriate people to work with. Especially when it comes to Dephosphorus, they have total creative freedom and are solely responsible for implementing our higher purpose and design. We trust them unconditionally because we know that the final result will always be astonishing. I mean, look at the artwork they did for “Night Sky Transform”. The cover and the inlay are just fucking crazy. They represent perfectly the whole Dephosphorus concept and implement in the original idea we had for the cover at the beginning! We are extremely proud to work with the guys and they progress every time so much with each work. They deserve even more and I am sure that right now a lot of people realize how important these guys are. We love Viral Graphics and you should too.



What bands and musicians from the past have played a part in influencing the guitars in particular? I’m picking up on black metal and old school metal ?

Thanos: Yes, you are right my friend and I’m really glad you noticed that. In fact, I enjoy still listening to a lot of old school metal and thrash as well like early Death, Slayer, Entombed, Immolation, Metallica, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Napalm Death, etc. I enjoy a lot also the vintage sound of these groups but I also adore early Amphetamine Reptile material like Cherubs, Unsane, Hammerhead and Cows. I always loved as well the Swedish sound like Nasum, Regurgitate, Breach or even Refused. Heavier material like Neurosis, Swans, Shellac, Unearthly Trance and Godflesh is my most comfortable spot but I don’t see any reason to merely copy their way of playing or whatever. In general, I don’t like playing like somebody else: I want to make music that will have my mark on it. So, eventually Dephosphorus is the mix of the above in a way. That’s the reason why I already fell in love with the old Fender Strat I am using; it’s a classic vintage guitar but it’s all tuned in B Major. Combine this tuning with the Ampeg VH-140C head you get the Dephosphorus sound. I am proud of it, as I am playing with this gear for a really long time now and it works perfectly fine. This head also has the aura of old in its sound which is quite significant for my material and the result is awesome. Another thing is that this guitar helped me do more things while playing let alone the fact that the 5 last years of playing Rembetika expanded my whole point of view regarding the guitar playing so it’s a winner to me. I should also mention in the end that I love a lot to play chords which have a dissonant sound like Ved Buens Ende did before or early Godflesh, but again every time I play something like that it has to be different than the original. I use mere hints, you know.

How long have the members of the band known each other? How long have you guys been playing together?

Panos: Me and Thanos know each other for about 12 years. Our first contact was through postal mail, he was ordering stuff from my mailorder ( HYPERLINK “http://www.blastbeatmailmurder.com” www.blastbeatmailmurder.com) , then we met and eventually he got the guitarist spot at our previous band Straighthate (when Anastasis left in order to create a new band… Dead Congregation!). So, we play together for 9 or 10 years.

I know Nikos for a bit less, around 10 years I think. We were in touch with his black metal band Injekting Khaos. All three of us have been part of the Athenian underground scene, hanging out at shows, etc.

As Dephosphorus we play together since 2009, for something like 2 ½ years now.

What are you future aspirations for the band? Tours? USA?

Thanos: Well right now I am in Göteborg, Sweden doing my master studies and the rest of the guys are in Greece, so it’s quite difficult to play in general. The ideal would be to have a tour for some weeks during the year. I know it’s difficult but this is what would be the most appropriate for the time being. Playing in festivals also would be great like Neurotic Death fest or similar ones.

Panos: We are highly motivated of playing live, even though it will be logistically complicated to organize it. Hopefully we will do some festival appearances next spring and/or summer. If people want to see us live in Vinland and a promoter is willing to bring us there, we will gladly wreak havoc to your shores!

If you could pick an ideal package tour for Dephosphorus, wants bands would play and where would it happen?

Thanos: An ideal package would be with bands that have not to do with our sound. I think it’s nice when you are going to see a show with bands that play different styles of music. A show with Unearthly Trance would be ideal to me along with Unsane! That would be great! Almost a dream.

Panos: That would be an itinerant globe-trotter tour convoy, Mad Max-style with armored amphibian vehicles and black helicopters. The tour stops would include Iceland, San Francisco, New York, the Machu Picchu, Antarctica, New Zealand, the Pamir Mountains, Tibet, and the final show would be at the Theatre Of Pyrrhus, in the site of the ancient oracle of Dodona.

The line-up would be: Unearthly Trance (we would play together “Unconscious Excursion” every night!), Antaeus, Kickback, Gridlink, Eibon, Forgardur Helvitis, Knut, Dead Congregation, Ulcerate, Ken Mode. Most of these bands are either friends, comrades or I have been in touch with them throughout the years. It would be crazy playing and hanging around all together, a proper highlight to an underground music fiend’s career.

Lastly, where do you see Dephosphorus going in the future sonically and musically?

Panos: We will go whenever Dephosphorus is willing to take us…

Thanks Ryan, Panos and Thanos for an amazing read!