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Interview with: Dreathus Harris
Conducted by: Felin Frost
Xaemora, St. Louis (USA) based melodic/atmospheric black metallers is a band formed in 2012. Starting originally with Frank Eckhardt (drums) and Dreathus Harris (vocals, guitar) and shortly after recruiting J. Hartweger (backing vocals, guitar), then in the beginning of 2013 Amanda "Deyanira" Brooks (keyboards) joins. Xaemora released their first official release in August 2013, a three track demo simply titled Demo 2013, followed by Kingdom Venom I EP, which was released in November 2014. In 2015 Xaemora officially completed the line-up with the addition of Jerry "Vlitir Sarnat" Rose (backing vocals, bass). Xaemora presents itself as an interesting take on black metal, melodic but extreme. On their debut full-length, Pandemonium`s Ocean, released in October 2017 by Black Market Metal Label (read a review over HERE), the band offers a stunning dose of icy cold vocals, furious riffing, backed with deep atmospheric keyboards, blasting precise drumming, which are found throughout each track. There is a coldness, an omnipresent darkness which permeates every note of this album that can't be precisely described through words, you have to experience it. Xaemora has an intense agenda and have already played with metal monsters like Morbid Angel, Havok, Black Anvil, Tyranny Enthroned and many other well known marvelous bands. Felin Frost talked with bands founder, vocalist/guitarist Dreathus Harris about their new album, live experiences, about line-up of the band and many other interesting things from the background.
F.F.: Xaemora has been on the road since 2012, tell us how this meeting came up around the idea of a melancholic black metal band?
Dreathus: I had played in death metal bands for nearly 10 years at this point and after my last band ended, I just wanted to do something different, something new and more expressive of where I was at that point in my life. The drummer in my previous band died in early 2012 and for me, black metal was the only way I could really express the way I was feeling at the time. Life was just dark at the time and writing music for what would become Xaemora just came out and flowed naturally.
F.F.: What about the new album of yours, Pandemonium's Ocean? How are you satisfied with it?
Dreathus: I'm very satisfied with it. It wasn't the easiest recording process, we went through three drummers before we landed the services of Jesse Schobel (Scour, Strong Intention, Legend, Oracle, Cast The Stone), and it took way longer than it should have to get it done. But, in the end, after Jesse signed on, he delivered the perfect drumming, exactly what we had been looking for all these years. The end result... I'm very happy with. I'm glad that the songs on the album sound the way I heard them in my head and the way I envisioned them, we didn't have to make any musical compromise to accomodate any drummers skill set, so that's huge.
F.F.: Deyanira impressed me with her beautiful work on keyboards, where she acted previously?
Dreathus: She played in a bunch of rock bands and cover bands around here for years before we met. When we met, it turned out we were actually neighbors, in the early days we'd practice at my house and it was great because she could walk over for practice and all the other guys lived within just a few miles so we got to spend a ton of time together writing and rehearsing. Before Xaemora, she had never played in any sort of metal band, she had an interest in black metal and what we were going for and she just went for it and I couldn't be happier with how it all worked out!
F.F.: The album was released through Black Market Metal label. What can you tell me about this label? Are you satisfied with everything they did for you?
Dreathus: They're a small label out of Canada, the do this monthly CD club type thing called "The Metalhead Box". They send subscribers a few CDs based on their genre preference and it really helped get our album in some new hands we wouldnt have reached previously so that's very cool. They hooked us up with some great distribution and PR we couldn't have done before and sent us a ton of CDs to beef up our merch supply so that's been a huge help.
F.F.: The album has an interesting cover artwork. How does it connects with music and who created it? Are you impressed by ocean or waters?
Dreathus: Artwork is done by Gragoth at Luciferiumwargraphics.com. We all loved the artwork as soon as he sent it to us. It's dark, it's desolate, it really captures the image in my mind that I had when we were writing this album; it's like a swirling chaotic vortex of blast beats and tremolo picked melancholy, I think that's actually a line we got in a review from our last EP, but that embodies the musical goal or direction perfectly.
F.F.: The band has a strong approach to Dimmu Borgir style. Was this band a strong influence? Which other bands served as the basis, influence or inspiration for the music of Xaemora?
Dreathus: Yeah, the old Dimmu Borgir stuff was definitely an influence in the beginning. The keyboards and atmostpheres really. I love keys in black metal, I love that melodic addition. In the beginning I was very influecned by Dark Funeral, Dissection, the Hellfire album by 1349 left a huge impression on me when I first got that when I was 18 or 19. Our original drummer was hugely into Mayhem and he brought in some of that influence for sure. Emperor is one of my all time favorite bands so I imagine there's some influence from them too in some ways.
F.F.: Do you think it is important to bring a message to the metalheads or is this not the main thing?
Dreathus: For me personally? No. There are enough bands out there preaching whatever message they may have against religion or politics or whatever, I never felt the need to do that in my lyrics or imagery for this band. I'm never going to be more Satanic or anti-religious than Deicide, or Behemoth or Waitain or any of them so why try to beat a dead horse? Those guys are the best at it so why bother? When I started writing for what would become Xaemora, I was in the darkest, lowest point in my life personally, so writing and reflecting on my experiences was cathartic to say the least. I don't know the satanic formulae to summon Satan or anything like that. I did however know dealing with death, suicide, and extreme depression, so I wrote about what I knew and how I felt.
F.F.: Was the band's first appearance at shows a bit distressing in terms of being well-accepted by the general public?
Dreathus: We actually got great receptions from the start! There aren't many black metal bands in St. Louis, and even fewer that play live so when we first started hitting the stage we really seemed to draw some attention and got great reactions. We played a death metal fest a few years back on tour (now defunct West Texas Death Fest), we were one of maybe two or three black metal bands for the whole weekend and when people heard the keys and saw the paint and torn stage clothing, everyone seemed to pay attention and we ended up having one of the best crowds of the day, everyone came up to the stage and got involved in the show, still one of our best shows we've ever done.
F.F.: You played with many amazing bands so far, with which ones was the most enthusing to share the stage and hook out?
Dreathus: Yes, we played with some really cool bands all over the south on this last tour, but the guys in Maedusa in Miami, FL. were fuckin' bad ass for sure. Promethean Horde in Tampa are very cool, their frontman did our merch for the tour. Deapscufa from KY or TN were awesome. Valle Crucis from South Carolina and Dire Hatred from I think TN that we met in Ashville,NC were also awesome bands that we met.
F.F.: What is the uniqueness of the band, where do you think that Xaemora differs in relation to other bands of the genre?
Dreathus: You know, I can't say, I think that's best left to you guys in the press and the fans to determine!
F.F.: What do you guys think is very cliche about black metal bands in general?
Dreathus: We played an entirely black metal fest on our most recent tour last fall, two days of nothing but black metal and man that was exhausting. We lost count of how many bands would just say things like "This next song is dedicated to...SATAAAAN!" or the anti-Christian/religion rants from frontmen in between songs. This is black metal. We get it. We're all on the same page here man! Almost all of the bands wore the paint, had the inverted crosses, pentagrams, animal skulls, the classic imagery, after two days of it, it just felt paradoxical of the genre itself and at times just plain silly.
Dreathus: I don't beleive in the elitest confines of black metal. This is something we talked about after we completed the album, "Where do we go now?" No matter what, the next album will be black metal, and Xaemora will always be black metal, but I think the style and context is yet to be determined. So many people say that black metal is an ideology as much as it is a genre of music.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
