1. Greetings my friends, would we start with the origin of the band, both in terms of ideologically and musically, your aims in shaping the direction of One Mind Ministry?
Kaos: Our former guitarist (many years ago) and me started the band back in 2009/2010. We knew each other for some years and had been making music together before. We started with a clear Death Metal Vibe with a lot of thrash and more modern metal elements from that time. In the first years it turned then more into a bit of old skool Death Metal thing influenced by the classic bands from the bay area in the USA. By that time the music got more and more influenced by black metal since our singer back then had a strong black metal background. When Havoc entered the whole thing got seriously more Black Metal influenced. There was never an idea about how OMM should sound like, it just sounds like what it is and evolves. But you can say it got heavier, faster and darker over the years, thats for sure.
2. You guys have had experience with other bands before or along with OMM. Are you involved in any other way in the music scene?
Kaos: Yes, like many other musicians we are and we were involed in different projects. I will name the most significant ones:
Skullsplitter: Ex-Excecrate, Ex - Sabiendas, Ex- Debt of Nature, Ex – Nocturnal Blashpemies
Havoc: WRACK, ERZ, Ex – Magoth, Zwielicht (Session), Ex – Thyrgrimm, Ex - Abstinenz
AlSahmut: Permadeth, Orphalis (Session)
Kaos: WRACK
3. From the start, the German metal scene has been a special one, with many very important and unique bands. Coming from such a strong scene, you may give clues about the sources of creativity that can be seen in German bands?
Kaos: Never thought about that, but yes there have always been german bands making their way into the world. To be honest , I have never seen the german scene as a very strong scene or „special“, some epic bands are obviously from the 80´s thrash scene like Sodom which have their rehearsal room in the same basement like us. But I would say, that the european and of course the scandinavian black metal scene is very strong in general.
4. Your new album came out the 16th of may. Is the promotion going well so far?
Kaos: I had no real expectations, since we are doing this stuff all by ourselves it´s also a question of experience. We are musiscians and no promoters so we are doing our best, but as we are talking here right now, it seems pretty cool to draw the attention from around the world.
5. Tell us about the recording sessions for “Gates Of Time” how did it go? Was it your first time in the studio? How long did it take you to finish everything?
Kaos: I would say the sessions went really well. Everything was recorded and mixed at Soundlodge studios in germany. They have a good reputation when it comes to Death metal. Since we all have our daily jobs we couldn´t take all days off together, so we went to the studio separately and recorded our parts. We were prepared well since we did our own pre production before. In total we recorded for 7 days. I think we are all very satisfied with the outcome. Most of us had studio experience before, with OMM as well as with other projects, so I guess that is the reason why we were prepared quite well and those guys that were the first time in a professional studio did a very good job.
6. Looking at some of the production values, they also look like they would take quite some time to produce. Is it a collaborative approach with everyone in the band?
Kaos: We had line up problems for many years. The tracks have been around for a while and I really felt we needed to nail it down now, since it was the perfect time in terms of the complete line up and that we were very motivated. I thought a lot about recording everything with a reduced line up before, but it never really made sense because playing live is the essence of everything, so a studio project wasn't an option.
7. You mix traditional black metal with a lot of death metal. What are your (non musical) influences that contribute significantly to the songwriting?
Havoc: Misanthropy, in general distrust in humanity and questioning our existence.
Skullsplitter: For me, ancient history, paganism, misanthropy, dark human psychology.
8. The titles of your songs emit a dark, bleak perspective. Where do you draw inspiration from?
Havoc: same as above, ha! Just be authentic and see things with a little bit of pessimism mixed with humor.
Skullsplitter: Well, occultism, paganism.... and dark side of the human being, I would say.
Kaos: I am quite fascinated by all occult themes, so that gives at least the visual direction, since I am involved in all of our artwork stuff.
9. Just taking a step back, how do you felt about the circumstances back then in 2012 when you released your first demo and now? What´s the differences?
Kaos: Back then was a totally different time. You cannot really compare the times since I am the only guy thats left from that period. To be correct it was an EP in 2011 we already had a demo out before that in 2010 with different tracks. We started out in english and changed to german language for the EP. We did not take things too serious (although the lyrics were serious) and had no real preparation for the studio and things like that. It was more like a big party lasting for three or four days. Just get on your instrument and beat the crap out of it. I don´t want to miss that times but thats not our approach anymore.
10. Right now you are unsigned band. Does this have any affect on matters such as promotion/ distribution? From your point of view, what are the pros and cons with working with a label?
Kaos: We didn´t want to waste time looking for a label, this can take some time. I always like to do things on my own so I really wanted to do this without a label. When it comes to distribution and legal stuff things can get complicated without experienced dudes in the background especially when you go internationally. And of course you really should not underestimate the power of the better known labels. But yes we are doing and financing everything by ourselves, because I dont´t like to be dependent on decisions of other people and also we are part of the underground. But I am always open to improve things if it makes sense. Right now we are looking for a serious booking agency. We will see how things evolve.
11. Some years ago, Metal music used to be a musical style very male oriented, but not anymore. And you started singing quite early. How do you “lived” this evolution, more women attending concerts and being on bands?
Skullsplitter: Well, in those early days of my career, I experienced often such comments like 'women are not for extreme music','we won't share the stage with a girl' or 'women are only good as groupies, not for bands'. But since Arch Enemy became really big with Angela Gossow, the atmosphere was changed obviously. More and more women dared to play extreme metal. Women as concerts or festival visitors, I think there were already quite a lot of women at extreme metal concerts and festivals here in Germany. But I find it good that now more female musicians in extreme metal scene, women can express their passion to extreme music freely like their male counterpart. And most of all, we don't encounter such misogynic prejudice like before.
12. How do you see the black and death metal scene? Many old acts quit or split, but there are enough bands that offer quality music and keep the banner high. How do you see the future, specifically?
Havoc: personally the scene doesn't mean alot to me. More a bunch of handpicked people, being super friendly as long as they need something from you.
So, from a bands perspective, there are alot of good and authentic bands in the underground out there. DeathBlack survived a lot and it will in the future too.
Skullsplitter: Well, the scene... I think it's still active enough. You can constantly find new bands. The scene in the future... I do hope the scene will stay active, so we can enjoy the music we love and good concerts.
Kaos: When we talk about Death and Black metal we talk about real underground music. You will always see trends inside a genre but at the end it will always be there as long as the world keeps on being a place full of shit and darkness.
13. Meanwhile you see some light at the end of the tunnel of the corona pandemic. Do you already have some concrete plans for the months to come?
Kaos: Club Life has re started and the people are hungry for metal! We are ready to go out and play!
14. Well that was all for now, thanks for taking the time making the interview. I hope to see you live on SouthAmerica some day.
Kaos: Thanks for having us! We would really like to come to South America for shows one day because we really heard a lot of good stuff about the metal heads there! https://www.facebook.com/OneMindMinistry
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