Interview with Invisus of Terra Australis!!

Invisus

Interview conducted via e-mail in March 2015.

Listen and support Terra Australis' music: https://terraaustralis.bandcamp.com/releases
Keep updated about Terra Australis: https://www.facebook.com/TerraAustralisBlackMetal
Terra Australis' Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SatansSoldiersElite
Terra Australis' Official Site: http://terraaustralisband.com/

WULF:  There isn't too much information I can find about you guys...you are quite mysterious!   Give us a brief history of your band up to this point. 

INVISUS: The band began in mid 2008, release a few independent demos over the next 2-3 years. It originally had a more DBSM-type edge to it, but with the joining of new members and just time itself its become far more 80's death, thrash, black metal inspired. But still retains that atmosphere that it was originally founded on.

WULF:  Another obvious question we have to get out of the way...   You just successfully completed what appears to be your first tour of Japan.   How was it?   How did the Japanese metalheads react to your brand of evil-as-fuck black metal? 

INVISUS: It was our second tour we had done in Japan, the first was with Rotting Christ in 2014, the second tour was more successful than the first from having done the first already and people being more aware of our sound and songs etc. Which is I think the way you would want it, with every tour being better and paving the way for the next one.



WULF:  According to an early interview with Invisus, Terra Australis was intended to just be a solo endeavor... even going so far as to imply that it will always stay that way.   Why did he decide to expand the project into a full band?   Is the band still primarily driven by Invisus, or is it more of a collaborative, group effort at this point?

INVISUS: When I started the band I didn't have much outlook for where it would go and where I wanted it to go, I had been playing in other bands through out the previous years and was tired of the politics that bands can suffer from, so I wanted to do it on my own and have complete control. That ideal I was holding began to shift with meeting and talking with Thorgrim Hammerheart, it seemed obvious to me he was a much better vocalist and would only benefit from being apart of Terra Australis, and that then snowballed into wanting to do gigs and therefore more members. But as for musical and lyrical say so, its still in my hands. I'll still write 80% odd of every release and designing cover art etc.

WULF:   It's clear that Satan / Satanism plays an important role in your music.  Is your concept of Satan literal, metaphorical, or perhaps even a bit of both? Is there a specific form of Satanism or dark philosophy / belief system that unites the band?   Also, are there any writings or works of literature that can help the listener better understand / appreciate your music?   What are you hoping to accomplish with Terra Australis?   This is the sort of question that I really wish we could elaborate on together in detail, as I find this subject fascinating, but unfortunately it's difficult to do via email / internet interviews.

INVISUS: That is a big question with a long answer, to sum it up would be to say, Satan too Terra Australis is the carnal lust for power and destruction that is in every person. The instinct of ambition and domination I guess is another way to say it.  When it comes to literature, philosophy etc we take
certain methods of thought from a lot of places so its hard to name a single book or work that reveals everything, because rule number one in life is no one is always right.  As for what we plan to accomplish is certainly close to that ideal, more power, stronger, heavier. The band itself to become bigger and bigger without a single fucking note compromised for $$.

WULF:  Aside from Marduk, you guys are one of the best live black metal bands I've seen in a long time!   While you obviously have your own sound and style, I really felt a strong old-school Scandinavian black metal vibe (especially from a visual perspective), but with perhaps a bit more melody.  Do you agree with this? For those who haven't had the pleasure, what can people expect from a live Terra Australis show? 

INVISUS: We want to show people that the old school is alive and well, it has not gone anywhere nor will it. Our music is intense so we much be intense with our live performance visually and sonically. Of course we share a love for old Darkthrone, Burzum, Marduk, but also a lot for the real classics like Sodom, Kreator, Sadus, Possessed, Nihilist, Hell Hammer, Celtic Frost, Venom, Bathory, Sabbath, Dio, Priest, Motorhead, and more.


WULF:  It looks like both Warlock Necrofiend (guitars) and Desecrator (bass) recently quit the band, and have been replaced by Morgue and Abysmios, respectively.   What brought about this change in lineup?   Have you considered making Morgue and Abysmios permanent members, or is Terra 
Australis going to remain a 3-piece for the foreseeable future?

INVISUS: Terra for the moment will remain Thorgrim Raven and myself for the moment, With Warlock that was his choice to pursue another band he had started (Deathripper) with Desecrator there was just a mark that he wasn't able to reach.

WULF:  On this Japanese tour you were also joined by fellow Australians Earth Rot and The Arbiter.   Was it through this connection of being a part of the Australian underground metal scene that led you to join this tour, or was it something else?   Do you feel as if you play a role in the local Melbourne black metal scene, or do you prefer to isolate yourself from this sort of thing?   Having lived in Sydney, I'm much more familiar with the New South Wales black metal scene than the one in Victoria... for the most part, is there a friendly / serious rivalry or competition between the two (or even with Perth for that matter!), or do the two not really associate? 

INVISUS: We were offered to play on the tour from a contact in Sydney, and since like I said already touring with the same company the year before. We don't really associate with many other bands and more just do our own thing in our own time. Where there is people there is bullshit, and we decided its best to be avoided. As for Melbourne vs. Sydney, I think that really depends on who you are asking, as for me no not really.

WULF:  Stupid question... but why did The Raven cut his hair?   Long hair may be a huge pain in the ass, but it's also way more evil! 

INVISUS:  Yeah it's shit, but it was a thing he had to do for a new line of work he was taking up. He's not going to be removed over something like that, his dedication to Terra is without question.

WULF:  What are your goals for the future?  Any upcoming tours, releases, or music videos you'd like to tell us about?   Also, any chance of you guys making a stop in South Korea? 

INVISUS: We are working on the final recordings for a new Cd to have out by late this year, try and sort out it being released on a proper label rather then Independent like almost all the others, Its has this real old school Death metal over tone to it.

Here is a promo release of some of the songs for your readers:
https://terraaustralis.bandcamp.com/album/souls-for-satan

If we got a solid offer to play in South Korea then we would be there!

WULF:  The interrogation is over!  Any final proclamations / blasphemies / curses for our readers?

INVISUS: Born to lose, live to win!

Wulf's Official Response to Decibel Magazine's Top 100 Black Metal Albums (part 2)

89. "The Black House" - Krieg

Man, I always wanted to get into this album. I've already expressed my disdain for 90's USBM bands since they just seemed so lame compared with their European counterparts...however, the whole concept behind this particular record really intrigued me. Back when I was still a bit new to the scene in 2004 I just thought black metal for the most part just involved being Satanic and anti-Christian, so to read about a band who was doing something different lyrically was interesting to me. For those out of the loop, "The Black House" is somewhat of a weird autobiography of Imperial himself portrayed through some nightmarish musical lens. I should probably actually listen to the album before I talk about it in more detail, but I always wanted to sit down with this record and try to get a better idea of what Imperial's deal is. Great album cover too!!

88. "Those of the Unlight" - Marduk

Even though the album cover is fucking awesome, I think early Marduk is kind of mediocre. I don't know why people are so blown away by it! Yeah, it's got its strengths: Bogge's bass sounds great, the drum production matches the atmosphere, and Av Gravf's vocals are really well-done. However, what brings it down are too many mediocre riffs that don't go anywhere, as well as being a bit slow (compared to Marduk's later stuff)...it just doesn't do it for me. For me shit doesn't start getting real though until Legion and Fredrik Andersson are both in the band and take the intensity up a notch, although it's debatable who is the better vocalist between Legion and Av Gravf. My vote goes to Legion I suppose just because on metal-archives.com he looks like this, whereas Av Gravf looks like this (and went on to play in Dimension Zero, which isn't very evil).
Anyway, Norwegian BM during this time was way better during this time as well. This shit is especially whack if you compare it to what Mayhem, Burzum, Immortal, Emperor, etc. were putting out in the early '90s. I know most BM elitists consider Marduk's pinnacle to be either this one, "Opus Nocturne", or "Heaven Shall Burn...When We Are Gathered", but what can I say?? I like my black metal fast and brutal, and Marduk doesn't start getting truly speedy until "Nightwing" (which I would much rather listen to than any of their albums that came before it). Still though, one of my favorite album covers!!

87. "Malice (Our Third Spell)" - Gehenna

I've never really listened to Gehenna. I know that they're an old-school Norwegian BM band from back in the day, but the only song I really know by them is "A Witch Is Born" from their second LP...I think it was back in 2003 or so and I had just read Lords of Chaos and was trying to check out as many new Scandinavian black metal bands as I could find, and this was their only song available on Kazaa. I remember thinking the track was pretty cool, but didn't like it enough to get my hands on any of their records. I'll come back and give this a listen later!!

86. "Black Thrash Attack" - Aura Noir

Surprise, surprise, I haven't listened to this album, sorry!! I know it's got a bunch of big names involved with it from the Norwegian BM scene and blah blah but I'll probably give it a listen after I check out Gehenna haha.

85. "Anno Domini" - Tormentor

God fucking damnit!! I haven't heard this either!! When I first saw this I was pretty surprised...Attila Csihar's old band's 1989 demo...yeah right! No one's heard that shit! Then I looked on metal-archives and saw that it has 9 reviews and a score of 92%. Ugh. I'll have to check it out...is it really that good though?? These guys were like, 17 when this came out (yeah, I know so were the dudes in Emperor, but you know what I mean!!)!

84. "Thy Dying Light" - Judas Iscariot



First of all, I need to mention that the song title "His Eternal Life, Like a Dream Was Obliterated..." is one of my favorite song titles ever (it's also my favorite track on the album)!! Actually, all the song titles are pretty cool on this album...not too sure what the lyrics are since they're mostly just (allegedly) trance-induced improvised babbling (IIRC based on interviews with Akhenaten). I don't know why I enjoyed this album more than his others (besides "Heaven in Flames", that's a good one too). It's been awhile since I've listened to it, but I remember enjoying it because the songs are long, hypnotic, and depressing. Also, he seems like he was pretty fucking serious about this shit. Something about the ritualistic, hypnotic quality of the music and its mysteriousness just gets me. Why it applies to this album more than the others I can't remember, but this one stuck out in my mind as his best work along with "Heaven in Flames". I also just really enjoy listening to his psychotic babbling too! I like to imagine this was recorded on a cold day in a shitty part of DeKalb, Illinois, with weeks of physical and mental preparation and the actual music itself being an afterthought. Worth checking out, but I would put it a bit higher on this list, if at all.



83. "Fuck the Universe" - Craft



I listened to either this album or their latest ("Void") and remember thinking it was just OK. I should probably listen to it again though, as these guys seem pretty evil!!



82. "Gin" - Cobalt



Damn, this one's tough! I really wanted to like it, as Phil McSorley seems like an interesting cat based on his interviews. The fact that the record is all philosophical and nihilistic is cool, but the cover art is what really does it for me! I love it when there's just some old photograph or artwork (in this case, it's a portrait of a young Ernest Hemingway) with a metal logo superimposed randomly on the cover. It's too bad that Cobalt's logo is kind of lame; I prefer the traditional, completely illegible BM logo, but whatever. Anyway, I remember the music on this album to be interesting and fairly original, but nothing special enough to cement itself on some underground metal magazine's Top 100 Black Metal Albums list. I've always been meaning to give it another chance though, as well as Cobalt's earlier albums. Anyway, as with many of these albums on this list, I'll have to revisit it sometime soon to make a final judgement!



81. "Min Tid Skal Commme" - Fleurety



This is one band I come across like once a year when I'm drinking wine by myself on a Friday night and digging through metal-archives for random crap. While usually I'm drawn to experimental black metal, I really don't want to like these dudes just because I think their name sucks (yeah it's supposedly the name of a demon, but that demon picked a pretty shitty name...it sounds like something Tom Cruise would name his daughter or some shit) and the guys just look like dorks. Anyway, I'm just talking out of my ass, I'm sure this is a wonderful album. I'll check it out soon enough!!