INTERVIEW TO ALL MY SINS!

Hey brutalbangers,
I follow All My Sins since "Lunar/Solar" and, starting from that EP, I thought already that I was in presence of one of the best black metal bands out there nowadays. They confirmed this impression of mine not only with the subsequent "Zov iz Magle" single but, especially, with the monumental "Pra Sila - Vukov Totem", a debut album able to reward all their efforts made in these last years. So, after all these enthusiastic reviews and even after their inclusion in the first Timpani allo Spiedo's playlist, an interview to All My Sins was inevitable on these pages, also since I was very thrilled  to unveil some aspects of the band that, surely, can't be discovered only through their music. Hence, here you are a very interesting interview with answers by Nav Cosmos and V., both representing the core of the band!

ENJOY THE INTERVIEW!!!

Hey men, how you doing? Let’s start the interview with this question: why did you stop every activity of All My Sins after your second demo released in 2004? The years of silence were really many until the “Lunar/Solar” EP!

Nav Cosmos: Hey, the band never stopped its activity since 2004, but there were many changes that happened. Back then, we consisted of 5 members, and somewhere in 2005/2006 the line-up just split up. It was a messy situation a long time ago. V left the band (who was spiritually, musically and ideologically closest to myself) and later the others left. Since then All My Sins played as a 3 member piece with a constant problem to find a proper drummer. We had gigs, I still wrote, but we've never released any album.

Why did you recover your project in 2017? And are there particular reasons behind this explosion of creativity that led you to release, in a fast pace, an EP, a single and your long-held debut album between 2017 and 2018?

Nav Cosmos: At one point I thought to shut down the whole story, since line-up changes became exhausting for me, but at the same time V and I started talking a lot about AMS, what we could have done and achieved as youngsters and that it was a shame to end up like that. We came to the conclusion to get back working together and do something with All My Sins. Your conclusion is right and I admit that it came to the explosion of creativity since we were bursting out with ideas.

What are the differences between the old All My Sins and the current All My Sins?

Nav Cosmos: The main difference for me is how we approached the records, we became more professional in terms of recording and paying attention to every detail. After a long break in discography, we can say that current AMS is a whole different band with more crystalized approach and ideas that we strongly stay behind.

V: As Nav put it, nowadays we are almost a whole new band that knows very well what it wants and which way to get it. A lot of things changed over the course of years that helped our vision become sharper and stronger, this time without trivial things and insignificant people around trying to hold us down in achieving what we desire for.

I noticed that you used the English language on the early days of All My Sins while now you exclusively use your mother tongue. Why? Do you think that the Serbian is fitter for your music?

Nav Cosmos: Yes, back then, we were a lot younger, but writing in our native tongue seems more natural to us, we can express better, the rhythm and the melodies of the words fit better to our music.

V: Black metal have always been a very personal matter. Our choice to write songs in English at the beginning was a straight consequence of the influence coming from the foreign bands we were listening to at the time and who's lyrics were mostly written in English. Over time our approach became more and more personal and so to speak this transition to our native tongue came as a natural step when our compositions started demanding more direct and deeper expression.

I don’t understand any word in Serbian but I understood that “Pra Sila – Vukov Totem” “is dedicated to the Wolf as a mythological being”. More exactly, what is the wolf for you?

Nav Cosmos: You know, our every release is a conceptual story dedicated to a certain entity. Our debut album is dedicated to the Wolf as a Serbian and South-Slavic mythological being. Slavic mythology isn't known as for an example German or Hellenic is, but yet we think that there is a lot to be told. Primarily the wolf is a mythological ancestor of our people. The Forefather from the lunar period of our past, the being from which we all came to be. That wolf is now abandoned for centuries, and he is witnessing the fall of his heirs. We use the wolf term more abstractedly, and it is a part of our expression in the black metal form. It is a metaphor, and it has many faces and spiritual moods. I would like to say clearly that we use these terms very precisely based on a sciencific literature and we are not messing with any pseudo-historical, pseudo-ethnological or any other work. Also, wolf is something that comes from a deep unknown past, or barely known, that we are obsessed with.

Do you would like to describe for us the lyrics of every song of the album? Is it a concept-album with a precise story?

Nav Cosmos: It is a concept-album, but the lyrics do not have a way of storytelling like for an example in Herodot writings. The main focus is wolf, a spiritual wolf, the abstract wolf, and in the songs and lyrics by using all the terms we use, we are expressing our deepest feelings and almost every lyric carries something personal and empirical. There are a lot of hidden meanings from our personal lives that are present with this album.

V: The concept behind “Pra Sila – Vukov Totem” was designed that way so one can enter its storyline from any track point he choose without losing any sense or meaning behind. It was conceived not to extend in a chronological way, but that every track should have its own meaning inside and outside of the album context.

“Mesecu u oko” is an acoustic song that amazed me for its violent end. Indeed, why is so violent and dissonant its end?

V: One of the most inherent parts of Mystery is the unveiling.

I would like to know something about “Konačna ravnodnevica” because, if I say correctly, it is your biggest effort so far, isn’t it? How was born this long suite? Have you been influenced a bit by progressive rock for creating it?

V: The album's closing chapter is an allegorical story that deals with something we can name a “reverse lycanthropy”, a process in which the wolf takes on human characteristics and form. On a personal level it was inspired by some supernatural events I've experienced during my stay in St. Petersburg, Russia.

I believe that your black metal is very recognizable because it sounds melodic, epic and poetic but also incredibly violent and blasting. How can you manage to combine these two different sides of yours in a single formula? And what are your main influences?

V: Thank you. There is no particular formula, we follow except the one directly corresponding with the theme and the atmosphere standing behind the concept we create. Black metal is and always will be something more than music.
Influences are vast, both conscious or unintentional coming from different sides like: literature, history, mythology, personal experiences, dreams, alone walking, paintings etc. If we speak about those in music, some acts that in my self-understanding had a greatest impact on me as an author are for an example: Negura Bunget, Iron Maiden, Fields of the Nephilim, Pink Floyd, Bathory, Black Sabbath, Ulver, Coil, Esoteric, Burzum...

Nav Cosmos : I agree with V. Influences are very wide. I would add some bands too, but the bands he already mentioned were also very influential for me, too. Bands like : The Sisters of Mercy, Horna, Mizar, old Behemoth, Morbid Angel, Slayer, Idoli, My Dying Bride, Eloy, Dead Can Dance, Desaster, Love Spirals Downwards, Darkthrone, The Frozen Autumn, early Mayhem, Destroyer 666, The Smiths, Simple Minds...

One could say that Nemir is now a sort of third member of the band because he is your session drummer since “Lunar/Solar”. So, is it possible to include him in your official line-up, soon or later?

V: I think not. Time will tell.

There are some guests that played for you into “Pra Sila – Vukov Totem”. Hence, please introduce to us both Khargash and Jaguar. Do you think that both of them added something, that could be absent without their participation, to the songs in which they are involved?

V: Jaguar is a good old friend we know already since the times when we were starting as a band. His role on the album was not big since he only did some backing vocals in “U mlazevima krvi”, but we wanted and it was great to have his energy captured somewhere on this record.
Same thing can be said about Khargash, a great friend and my fellow band mate from Terrörhammer. The original idea with him was to lay some of his trademark vocals in the album's closing track, but the collaboration expanded further with him playing the bass in the same composition.

Nav Cosmos: Jaguar is our close friend for years, dedicated music lover, our top fan since day 1 and one very dangerous animal!

Where were the photo sessions for “Pra Sila – Vukov Totem” held?

V: It is a land located at the southern bottom of Pannonian basin, a wetland on the geographical border between the Balkans and the rest of Europe. These swamps have a local name, “RIT”, meaning “flooded area” in Danube Swabian dialects that were spoken here in some periods of history. For us “RIT” is a place where we grew up, playing as little children in its woods, going for fishing as teens or many other things we did later on, still keeping this bond. A place very powerful for our feelings, something we see that reflects our creation in a flawless way as it has shaped us over the years.

The costumes you used for the photo sessions are very elaborated. How long did it take you to prepare those costumes for the photo sessions? And, during them, how long were you with those costumes? I imagine that it wasn’t an easy kind of photo sessions…

Nav Cosmos: Well, we already knew what we want to present visually for this album. We choose to wear costumes that are present in our folklore and that have a connection with the pagan shamanic context. Fortunately, we have friends that are great in this area, so they helped us a lot with photography and making of the costumes. Many thanks goes to them. I think we wore those for about half of a day and night and it wasn't an easy task since it was hot outside, but we really enjoyed this photo session in nature near our hometown. We had a good atmosphere, music and our beloved river Tamiš.

It’s a bit strange that a not Finnish band like you belongs to the roster of Saturnal Records, that mainly consist of Finnish bands. So, how was born this collaboration between Saturnal and you?

V: In January 2016, I played two shows in Finland with Ulvdalir from Russia and Saturnal Records was responsible for organizing our second show in Tampere. This was my first contact with the label since I didn't know them from before and later on they became interested working with another fellow band from Saint-Petersburg that I was supposed to produce. This band ended up on a different label, but then when All My Sins album was finished I had talks with Gokhan and Saturnal Records offered us a deal we found very good at terms.

If I am not mistaken, you never played a gig as All My Sins, isn’t it? Why don’t you want to play your music on a stage?

Nav Cosmos: Since V and I reunited we haven't done any gig. We don't want to rush anything, we are dedicated to make music still open to do some gigs but not for any cost. We are duo, but for the live shows we have people who would play with us.

V: On contrary, our previous incarnation was quite active when it comes to playing live and since not all black metal sounds good when performed live we think All My Sins should sound impeccable when that moment comes again.

V, I know that you have also other musical projects, as Terrörhammer. Do you want to tell us something about all of your bands? What band do you consider as your main project?

V: Beside All My Sins I play with several other bands with Terrörhammer being the most active at the moment. We are just about to enter the studio for our second full-lenght and I guess more news in that sense are yet to follow.
A week ago Deathknell Productions had re-issued a newly re-mastered edition of “Tamo gde pupoljak vene... tamo je moje seme” EP I recorded with Dead Shell of Universe around 11 years ago. For this occassion I have gathered a new line-up including members with present or previous experiences in Melechesh, Crimson Moon, Obscured and we have recorded a brand new composition entitled “Ex-nihilo” as a special bonus for this release.
Lately for some time already I have been playing with Napred u Prošlost, a cult Yugoslavian post-punk, alter-rock band which is now active again after almost 12 year hiatus. For the moment we stick to lives only, but there are talks about reawakening the band's discography as well.
When I look back at it all, none of these bands I experience as my main focus, but each one in its own way reflect a part of my artistic sensibility and my character. I prefer it to be like that and I guess that might develop furthermore in a time that comes.

Nav Cosmos, instead of V, it seem to me that you played only in All My Sins throughout your musical career. Is it true?

Nav Cosmos: You are not quite right, but I can say that All My Sins is my main focus all these years. I have played in some other bands, sometimes very shortly. I can mention you some names, but most of them do not exist anymore: Dead Cosmos Celebration, Hrast, Bethor (still active), Endorfin, Nešto Najgore etc. Also I have some plans for one new project, but that is just an idea for now.

Upcoming news for All My Sins? Are you writing new stuff?

Nav Cosmos: Yes we are writing and we are very agile at the moment in terms of making music and lyrics.

V: We've already been busy since the album came out, so some interesting news are soon to follow.

Ok men, the interview is over at this point. Feel free to add new words to close well all this and thank you very much to replying to this interview. Cheers!

V: Thank you for your support and interest in what we do, cheers!

Nav Cosmos: Thanks to you and to everyone that support us!

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/allmysins
BandCamp: https://vukovtotem.bandcamp.com/