Prosanctus Inferi was formed by Jake, who also played in bands like
Black Funeral and Father Befouled. However, what is presented on
Prosanctus Inferi is Twisted Blackened Death Metal, reminding fans of
bands such as Profanatica and the likes. We talk to Jake, Mastermind
behind the band to find out more about the band and their art...








HMT: Greetings Jake. Your debut full length album, Pandemonic
Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation received much praise since its
release last year. Was this expected on your part, and how does it feel
to have your creations being so well-received?



I’ve seen largely
good reviews for it, but I’ve also seen some that don’t like it at all.
The luke-warm ones are worst who don’t seem to have an opinion one way
or the other. Most reviews are completely ridiculous and totally
off-point, but those who seem to spend some time with it seem to “get
it” the most. It’s frustrating to read a review that clearly indicates
that the listener/reviewer only spun it once, or twice, and gave his off
the cuff opinion on it. It’s also frustrating to read reviews
complaining about how the vocals are buried, or the drums aren’t
pounding enough. This is caused in large part by the LP having a
different mix than the CD. I don’t dislike the CD’s mix but the LP’s mix
is much bigger, fuller, and has the individual elements of the sound
articulated better.



The thing that managed to catch my attention, apart from the
extremely long album title was the band logo, looking like a mess yet
looking closely enough one can almost detect the logo in the midst. What
is the meaning behind the name of the band, and how did the logo come
about?



The name is
latin, and is somewhat non-sensical. I’ve been told it doesn’t really
work and doesn’t mean much of anything as it is, which is fine, as it’s
intention wasn’t necessarily to be linguistically accurate, but it
essentially alludes to Divine, or Sacred things being buried, or below.
The latin context of it I think gives it a very rudimentary meaning, and
can make the statement largely subjective, but points towards wanting
anything divine, special, sacred, or not of the Earth “below” it’s
intended meaning. The logo I drew myself, and I’m glad you like it.



The music on Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation, apart
from being raw, Brutal and Evil, has a certain sense of urgency on the
riffs played, reminding me of bands such as Profanatica with the
frantically trem picked riffs and high notes. How does one write
something as Twisted as the songs on the album?



I don’t know, I
have a style similar to that I’ve developed that revolves around a
primitive motif, similar to Profanatica, but I think has branched off
into it’s own sort of expression. I have a pretty static standard for my
riffs that each one sort of needs to meet in order to “qualify” it’s
inclusion into new material. If something isn’t up to par it’s quickly
thrown out. The requirements aren’t necessarily of a technical nature or
anything, but if I can’t remember it after coming back to it then I
figure it wasn’t worth remembering. I do write some things down, but
only for the sake of mapping stuff out, and not because I fear I might
forget it.



The album art on Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitation was a
piece by Francis Bacon. What was the reason behind choosing this piece
as the album art, and what is the significance of the art to the music
of the band?



I’ve been a
admirer of Bacon’s for awhile, I always like to look at art with the
idea in the back of my head that it could perhaps be used for something
music wise. There’s a sort of abstract, absurd, other-worldly sensation
to his art that I think fits our style. Honestly though I feel there are
very few pieces of his that would have been good to use for album art.
The two that are featured on that release are some of them.



During the recording of the album, Antichristus (R.I.P.) from Father
Befouled was pulled in to handle the drums. How did that in any way
affect the creative and songwriting aspects of the music on the album?



It actually
affected it a lot. There was a lot to his bombastic, sort of expressive
style that really shaped some of the strong structures. The previous
drummer was very simple in his approach with the beats and fills. I’d
always wanted a drummer who could do more with odd fills, odd timing,
and weird blast patterns that Antichristus was able to do. He was really
good at picking up the “movement” of a riff and working his patterns
around that. Not a top-shelf sort of technical drummer, but very
artistic and expressive in his approach.



With the band now down to only yourself for now, are there any
intentions to bring in another drummer, and will fans of the band get to
see Prosanctus Inferi perform live any time soon?



Oh yeah
absolutely I’ve been rehearsing with a drummer for close to a year now
and we have four new songs and two old ones that we’ve recorded for a
release that will be out in the following months on Nuclear War Now!
Productions. We’ve played two successful shows with this lineup and have
three more scheduled. The new drummer’s name is Jeremy Spears and he is
a significant improvement. His intensity and technical prowess are
superb and is capable of handling anything I throw at him.



You are also active in the bands Father Befouled and Black Funeral,
both bands with equally loyal followings and are also active, with both
bands releasing full length albums last year. How did you manage to
juggle your time among the 3 different bands?



Those bands have
members that are spread out throughout the country, and my roles in them
are largely of a supportive nature, so I haven’t had to devote a lot of
time to writing, and organizing, and bringing things together in them. I
hate to put it bluntly but my main approach to those projects is, what
are we playing? How do I play it? Where do you want me to show up? Of
course I put forth my appreciation of the material, and there’s
significant involvement beyond that, but on the most basic of levels
that’s how I approach those efforts. Prosanctus Inferi is, and always
will be my main focus. My involvement in Black Funeral has also been
null. I’ve yet to be on any release, we’ve only exchanged ideas thus
far. The lineup for that was supposed to be Antichristus and myself, but
after his departure / suicide I’ve been going back and forth with ideas
with the remaining members. I hope to do something with it in the
future. I have a lot of material written for it.



With Father Befouled being an extremely brutal and raw death metal
band, and Black Funeral, a black metal/ambient band, what are the
experiences like playing in 3 such different sounding bands?



Well as mentioned
I have little to no creative input in the other projects, except save
perhaps Black Funeral which I’ve a good deal of stuff written but have
yet to do anything with. I can more or less play anything so I enjoy
playing in all 3 bands so long as the style is the sort of thing I
appreciate. I feel there’s little to no difference between REAL black
and death metal, and that the only difference is in it’s approach and
execution.



With Pandemonic Ululations of Vesperic Palpitations almost a year old now, what are the near future plans of Prosanctus Inferi?



After the new
release on Nuclear War Now! Productions, we’ll start to work on a full
length with my and Jeremy. There was plans to do a 7” with covers and
older songs redone but I think I may scrap that idea. I’d still like to
record the covers we have planned as bonus tracks at some point however.
We’ve done Crucifier – Sodomy of Angels, and Corpse Molestation –
Loathsomeness. I hope to record those at some point in the near future.

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ASSHOLE