Napalm Flesh: Pact Interview

The generally boring month of January isn’t too boring for 2012 in the realm of things metallic. To wet your extreme black metal whistle, we have an interview with PA based black metal band Pact, who are unleashing their debut album on the last day of January via the always evil Moribund Cult. Back to the metalness of January, as far as touring/worldwide bands, SLC hosts Krieg, YOB, Ghost (with the killer Blood Ceremony as support) and if you’re into that sort of thing, Stolen Babies plays the same night as Ghost at Kilby something for the non 21+ folks to check out. Also on tap this week are reviews of the mentioned Pact album as well as Thy Catafalque and our weekly event rundown.

Tuesday Jan. 17, check out the notorious Mobile Death Camp with Dethblo, Huldra (playing SLUG’s February localized showcase) and Blood Purge at Burt’s. A whopping 5 bones gets you in, tunes at 9 p.m.

Also at Burt’s the following day, kick off your shoes for hump day Metal Karaoke with The Jerminator. No cover to get in and laugh or ogle some folks singing metal tunes or take on the mic yourself.

Just a friendly black metal reminder: next weekend, the longstanding and notorious USBM band Krieg plays an exclusive show in Salt Lake City at Bar Deluxe Saturday Jan. 21. Check next week’s Napalm Flesh for an interview with the man behind the band: Imperial. Krieg plays with locals Blood Purge, Winterlore and the debut performance of Odium Totus. Tickets are $7 and available at Raunch.


Interview with Pact

SLUG: I did the usual Google internet searches to get any tidbits of knowledge on Pact. Your album is officially released on Jan. 31 courtesy the Moribund Cult, but the label is tight lipped in saying much about the band. For myself, this brings up a bit more intrigue than usual. Is there a reason behind the current lack of information on Pact?
Pact: We are still a new band, and on top of that we are more concerned with the formations of our music than self-promoting.

SLUG: To be cliché and slap on the obligatory “history” question, some sleuthing dug up (and correct me if I’m wrong) members of Pact have been associated with Tunnels of Typhon and Aiwass—both bands definitely lingering in the underground. How do the aforementioned projects differ from Pact?
Pact: We have all played in many different extreme metal bands which have no relation to this one. In Aiwass and Tunnels of Typhoon, however, multiple members of this band were included. Aiwass was really an earlier incarnation of this band before we had really come into our own, musically speaking—much simpler and watered down riffs. The one album that was released had much less production and really sounds little like Pact. Tunnels of Typhoon has no production value whatsoever besides panning tracks and turning volume levels up and down. It is somewhat of a primitive and raw experiment with Hag taking a turn on drums instead of vocals (while still in charge of lyrics and concepts) and Wretch does the vocals in a much more distorted style.

SLUG: First impressions from music generally are huge in the realm of being associated with “press” and music “journalism.” I’m bombarded every day by new music and new bands being pushed by labels and PR. When I listened to The Dragon Lineage of Satan, it was a hellacious and horrifically welcome hello and big slap in the face. It didn’t really make me scream “this is USBM!” It felt and still feels raw and in a sense closely influenced and related to the stuff black metal purists worship, but also it has its own sound. The production lends itself perfectly to the intensity of what you’re doing. What would you say was the big driving force going through the bands mind during the creation of the debut album?
Pact: We really weren’t thinking really far into it. We all had ideas in mind of things we wanted to do on guitar, drums and lyrics/vocals. We didn't stand in each other’s way at all really, and this is just how it all came out.

SLUG: The fact that bands are classified by the region they come from is a severe annoyance of mine—I don’t think where you come from these days defines the art you create at all. From past experience with other bands and now press reactions coming in for Pact, how do you think the reactions are in comparison with what you are actually trying to accomplish?
Pact: We’re really just not concerned with how people might view us. The absence of anything like us around didn't stop us from doing what we wanted to do, and on a larger scale now that we’re at this point, we don't care what others opinions are of where things should or shouldn't be happening.

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