INTERVIEW with PROVOCATOR

Don´t tell me there are no cool underground Black Metal Bands around anymore, think again! Or in case you want a proof...here is PROVOCATOR from Slovenia.  The debut 7" EP Darkness Is Rising, recently released by the mighty Doomentia Records is a total cult  to old school  attitude and sound.  HELLSCREAM is the only force guiding this monster through the dark; let the man himself tell us  more about this ghastly creature...

Hails, please give me some background of PROVOCATOR.

I give birth to Provocator for one reason only, for passion to the old school black metal of death, like Hellhammer, Venom, Bathory, Mayhem, Blasphemy, Von ....

I had a lot of riffs and stuff i never used for my other band Bleeding fist, so i decided to do this solo project.

What are the influences and inspiration on Darkness is rising?

The musical inspiration came from the old ones, the gods of the underground alike I said before, it’s a reclaim of the old raw filthy sound

Darkness is Rising sounds like a good statement?  Where do you get inspiration to write your dark lyrics?

Darkness Is Rising it`s my tribute to Chaos and the dark side of this shitty planet, if you look the world situation, you will see that the Evil, Chaos and Darkness is back at full force, and this will be from my point of view the beginning of the end… I hope.

How do you describe your style, Is there a deeper description than “raw black metal”?

I can say that the sound of Provocator can be described better with this two words CHAOS METAL.

You work with the great and constantly growing label Doomentia records, are you happy to release your first opus with them?

Sure Lucas from the mighty Doomentia it`s a great and professional person with a really good taste for bands and his passion for the underground will bring the flag od Doomentia very high in the metal underground.

Do you care about words such as “Movement” or “Scene”? If so, how do you expect that Provocator fit in the international black metal scene?

Honestly, I don’t care of the scene, movement, i`m doing this first for myself, and than maybe for the others.

Nowadays the scene as you call it, is full of copy paste stuff, and Provocators stuff is nothing new, it`s only a tribute to the old school metal, you know that raw shitty and lo fi demotape feeling, this is the spirit I want for this project, I don’t wanna contaminate it with other influences or make it more modern or technical

Are there any bands that you respect for their attitude and/or music?

Sure, I like Urfaust, Deiphago, Kurgaall, Whiskey Ritual, Cult of Fire, Bestial Raids, Blasphemophagher, Hellsword, and all the old stuff.

What can you tell us about the scene in Slovenia?

Nothing special, the scene here in Slovenia is fucked up, there is a few really great bands, but we can´t talk about the scene.

I like to see new and original bands emerging from different countries, think of the days with great bands like Masters Hammer (Cze), Rotting Christ (Gre), Ancient Rites(Bel), Samael(Swi), Mayhem(Nor), Sarcofago(Bra), Blasphemy(Can)…What do you think?

Sure there are a lot of interesting bands around, especially in Italy and Netherlands, Poland…Like Cult of Fire, Hellsword, Voidhanger, Bestial Raids,possession, Bolzer and other great bands…

Let me tell you that I really like the cover art of Darkness is rising, I think it is iconic. Simple but intelligent, just like in the old (cult) horror movies like Murnau´s Nosferatu, a symphony of horror.  Sometimes simplicity is enough to cause a visual impact, don’t you think? What did inspire you to use this image?

As you said the image is iconic, I wanted to use a symbol, a character like the Motorhead Warpig or the venom`s baphomet, iron maidens Eddie etc… in my case this is the Necrohead who will be present on all the Provocator releases in different forms, I found ispiration from an old movie poster, then I re – make that face and add some details, it`s the same story as the misfits crimson ghost, they used an image from a movie and they make a symbol out of it.

The sound on D.I.R. is indeed dark, raw and harsh, but as a musician always “progress”  do you “fear” to fall into temptation of writing more technical songs and explore cleaner production?

No, maybe I can go backword and insert some more punk stuff but never the Provocator sound will be perfect or technical, for the new album I detuned the guitar to make a little bit fucked up sound, so if we are talking of progression or better sound this is not the chase of Provocator hahahhaha.

Are you considering playing live with guest musicians in the future? How would be a perfect black metal gig for you?

For now I wanna keep it as a studio band-project, maybe in future, and if this will happen you will see, gasmasks, blood, hoods and rotten animal parts on the stage.

The Black Metal scene seems to be out of the spotlight nowadays, at least compared to the popularity achieved around 1995. Do you find this positive? There a few “black metal”  bands  like Satyricon and immortal that are very popular…but, do you think that most of people do not consider them  Black Metal anymore? What does a band need to call themselves and their music Black Metal?

I understand what you are talking about, I can say this, first of all i`m no one to judge the work of other bands or say Satyricon don’t sound like Satyricon, because only them can decide, how they should sound, the same with Watain and other bands, I can say that I don’t like the last work of watain, I was a huge fan of them but, I don’t know the last album is not giving me what they do with their previous releases, but if they know that this is the sound they want, only they can say this is or this is not the sound of Watain.

Let me ask you about some releases:

Watain – The Wild Hunt – I don’t like it

Marduk – Serpent Sermon – it`s not bad

Master´s Hammer - Vracejte Konve Na Misto – great album

Rotting Christ - Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy – I heard only a song and I don’t like it.

What is the strangest place and the most shocking one that you have been?

Dachau concentration camp, the gas chamber, I must say that that was one of the most creepiest places I have been, there is a very strange feeling there, and you can feel the smell of death.

Do have new material written? When can we expect your debut full length?

I have the whole album already done, today I get the artwork by Lord Sickness 666 (Impiety, Archgoat, Black Witchery, Morbosidad…) I think it will be out in the middle of 2014.

So what will be the next steps for Provocator?

Release this album, and maybe a split, we will see.

Thanks for the interview, is there anything you would like to add?

Thank You too, Only death is real!

Great! can´t wait to hear the new stuff! Expect nothing but thick fog and a shroud of Chaos Black Metal. Yes my friends…Darkness Is Rising...