Hello Matt. How are you and Deviser doing at the moment? I'm very pleased that this interview has come about. Let's roll up the field from the back: Your latest album “Evil summons evil” is an absolutely fantastic work, which in my opinion should be on every list of the 100 most important and best extreme metal albums! The reactions were also very good globally, I think? Please tell us something about it!
Clearly the reviews it has received as well as what some of our fans have told us have been impressive giving us the responsibility to continue at the same level for the foreseeable future. For the first time in our career we had such a big impact in North America, some ratings of the album as well as comments in the music press there were unreal, over the top! Impressive presentations of “Evil Summons Evil” indeed. Personally I am not the right person to judge if this album is that important, time and extreme dark metal fans will judge that. What generally matters is that we came to the conclusion of making music that we like, regardless of the fights we had with older band members who tried to change our musical style.
It’s what
I told you, we’re now the duo that created “Unspeakable Cults”, that
chemistry I have with Nick as well as our pulsing desire to get the recognition
we haven’t gotten for details in the past. This is what we tried to fix,
knowing that the two of us must now have the main say for the compositions and
for the style we love and will follow forever. I believe and feel that we have
made a second debut with “Evil Summons Evil” and I responsibly declare that the
best is yet to come.
In the last few years, I heard about Deviser again. To be honest, I thought you had split- up long ago. I guess that's how a lot of people thought, right?
You’re
right about that, we hadn’t realized that either. Essentially, the band had
gone into hibernation. I didn’t feel like getting involved after all the
trouble I‘d been through with “Seasons of Darkness”. Quite a prophetic title, by the way. Probably, yes. Many years had passed but Nick wanted to give us a
second chance, to continue as a band as it should have been done in the late
90s.
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"Of course, like many Greek fans at the end of the 80s, we were introduced to the world of the underground scene by Andrew Veneris, editor of the first Greek thrash metal fanzine, the legendary "Merciless Death", which even featured in Kreator’s special thanx list in “Pleasure to Kill” album."
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But let's get back to the origins of the band: how did you become interested in music in general and metal in particular in your childhood or youth? Which bands were popular in Greece at that time?
When other teenagers of my age were buying motorbikes or waiting for money from their parents for their nights out, I used to work after school and invested in music equipment but also buying new releases that I liked, on vinyl format. Back then vinyl dominated here and bands like Iron Maiden, Metallica, Motörhead, Accept, Judas Priest, to name a few, were very popular. Some music shows at that time on Greek TV used to show two or three metal video clips. So, I discovered some bands and I loved this new sound. The goosebumps I felt was very great... an exciting new world that enchanted me. Along the way I accidentally discovered Slayer and then at school the “Speed Kills” compilation. This extreme (back then) sound shocked me. I loved bands like Celtic Frost, Razor, Possessed, Bathory and many more, and since then I ‘ve been looking to discover what was more extreme and eerie. Of course, like many Greek fans at the end of the 80s, we were introduced to the world of the underground scene by Andrew Veneris, editor of the first Greek thrash metal fanzine, the legendary "Merciless Death", which even featured in Kreator’s special thanx list in “Pleasure to Kill” album.
Of
course, and not only in Greece where it was voted "album of the month" then, but
also among the top albums of that year. I remember that in France it was very
high in the charts as well as in Germany and also in the Netherlands. Some
songs were played on several radio stations as well as in the rock clubs of the
time. In England it had received amazing reviews, we were also voted "band
of the month" in the famous Terrorizer magazine. Everything that was happening
was somewhat sudden, we expected it but not to such a great extent.
“Unspeakable Cults” had made a tremendous impression everywhere. This was
incredible considering that I started alone with no members involved. All I
had was help from bands like Asfyx (the greek long gone band that was active in Athens for a short time in the early 90s, not to be confused with dutch deathdoom brigade Asphyx - note from the author) and Rotting Christ who guided me on how to
work in a recording studio. I also had many advices from another one-man band,
Sadistic Noise. Along the way, some members from other bands passed by since
the live performances were also on the plan. Members from Agatus, Piranha,
etc., until Nick was introduced to me by the guitarist of Rust, a popular band
at that time in Greece. Then we became a real band and started working with
full passion and with a plan.
What is your theory on how the typical Greek black metal sound came about, which is more or less present in the sound of many bands from your country: this melodic, mystical-melancholic aura that only the Greek bands have. Is it the climatical conditions, the ancient heritage, or the reciprocal influence?
The
Mediterranean climate clearly played a big role in creating this sound. Our
ancient culture, the ancient spirit that is rooted in us as well as the
musical heritage left to us by our ancestors, emerges to a certain extent in
our compositions. All this influenced most of the extreme Greek bands at that time that stood out from the Norwegian ones that were quite different and more
violent in their sound and style. In fact, these two black metal scenes
dominated the world at that time.
In general, Deviser should be much better known! What led to the fact that everyone knows Rotting Christ, Necromantia too, but unfortunately not Deviser? What decisions or developments in the band's career do you blame for this? If it were up to the quality of the music, Deviser would have to be really big!
The truth
is that we started very impressively but obstacles such as military service and
serious health problems hold us back. The long intervals between albums and
our absence from some European tour made many fans forget us or rather I would
say it didn’t give us the extra push we needed. We have not yet found a more
reasonable explanation for why this is happening, perhaps some extended touring
will fix this and we are looking for a way to make it happen. For financial
reasons we were not given the opportunity to promote our albums properly. It's expensive for a Greek band to tour but we will insist that it happens sometime soon. We were late to release our first album, too, when other Greek
bands had theirs out two or three years earlier. Maybe everything would be
different now for us according to all that.
Do you still have contact with many former Deviser members? Were there often good break-ups or was there often bad blood?
Our collaboration with Manos couldn't be continued due to his health problem and of his obsessions. We ended the partnership with the others due to compositional differences. And there were members with heavy drug addictions who were kicked out before any crime was committed and made headlines. What we now have again, the faith and passion that I see in abundance and is present again, it gives us confidence. Someones never believed in my vision and didn’t have the dedication that I was looking for. I believe we now have the most dedicated and skillful lineup we‘ve ever had. This will be seen soon in our next album and also in our live shows.
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"Definitely our highlight was our participation in that festival in the Olympic stadium of Athens together with Venom with their original line-up. We sat side by side with the guys of Emperor and watched Venom’s show in complete awe."
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What were the best, worst or craziest experiences in all these decades with Deviser? After all these years, do you still have contact with some of the bands you've played with, like Ancient Rites?
We have a
friendly relationship with most of the Greek bands that we have worked with at some shows. Friendships that lasts over than three decades. Definitely our
highlight was our participation in that festival in the Olympic stadium of
Athens together with Venom with their original line-up. We sat side by side
with the guys of Emperor and watched Venom’s show in complete awe. Also, another exciting moment for us was when it came the time to mix “Unspeakable
Cults” …. there are no words to describe you what we felt by listening to the
first samples of the mix. Although we had gotten an idea with our previous
demo which was recorded a few months before, then in the same studio, now
things had gotten so serious that we immediately knew that this release would
go down in history as very important. The same exciting period was when we
were preparing “Evil Summons Evil”. I immediately knew what was going to
happen and I told Nick that this album is what I want us to sound like and that
it will make a big impression. Our worst moment was when the tour with Dark
Funeral didn’t happen in 1997 when we had an offer to tour together. Our
record label, then, insisted that we better prepare a follow up album, to
record our second album immediately, telling us that touring is not a priority. Frustration that turned into anger and
rage. This is how “Transmission To Chaos” was created, set us back a long way, losing the advantage that we had won with our debut. These are facts that
our fans don’t know but this was the reason for us to break our contract with
that label.
What can you say about the next live shows? Will Deviser maybe even play in Germany again?
We will
be performing a few shows in Greece this coming spring. That’s all we can say
for sure for now. In a few days we will announce in which cities and when, the exact dates. A European tour we were planning didn’t come to an agreement,
unfortunately. It's a problem not to have the help of a tour agency. You
know that we are dedicated in composing music which means that someone has to
offer us any show or tour. Any promoter should contact us until we‘re able to
cooperate with a tour agency.
Can you tell us something about the current or past Greek scene?! Besides Rotting Christ and the disbanded Necromantia, I'm thinking of The Magus, Thou Art Lord, Kawir, Varathron, Zemial, Agatus, Nightfall, Elysian Fields, Zephyrous and Vorphalack. And Suicidal Angels come to mind, of course. Otherwise, I'm afraid I'm not up to date!
The black
metal scene here was strong and stood out already in the 90s. The bands that
persisted and continued became very big
over time, like Septic Flesh and Rotting Christ. Some bands continue strongly
to this day such as Varathron or Nightfall while in my opinion, Lucifer’s
Child, Yoth Iria ( read an interview here ) and Exilium Noctis stand out from newer bands that I
recommend to all of you. And indeed it's clear that today the Greek scene
remains strong, we see it, we prove it and this will certainly continue.
The last words belong to you! Here you can get rid of everything you haven't said yet!
Our new album is being prepared feverishly and I am thrilled with what I hear so far. We hope that it will be released in 2026 and that it will keep the flame of the Greek black metal scene burning. Our effort for a tour has not stopped, we are open to any offer for touring or single shows. Life nowadays on earth seems dark and diabolical in my view. This is reflected in our music keeping up with everything that is happening around us. Thank you for your support, we will see you again soon and I will be glad to talk with you again about music that we love.
