Interview with IZANAMI
!!!DEATH THRASH METAL FROM CHILE!!!
Welcome to the FILTHY DOGS OF METAL Webzine.
Tell us a few things about IZANAMI (Members, Starting Year etc).
Izanami has its origins back in 2021, with ideas I had during my time playing guitar and bass. I was always coming up with new riffs and ideas, but I never put anything concrete together. I also used to write things in a notebook, some with the intention of being poetry, others not meant to be song lyrics. They were just the outpourings of my mind, and I used them for Izanami because I felt that the music represented exactly what I wanted to express. I organised all these ideas and turned them into conceptual lyrics. Then I started to take it more seriously and realised that I had to record a demo with all these ideas and immortalise them.
You have recently released your demo ''Chronophobia''. What is the feedback from your audience as well as from the press?
When the demo came out, most of my friends shared it and I got messages from different people telling me that they really liked it, which makes me really happy. One guy already asked me if I wanted to release a split on cassette. As for the press, you guys are the first to talk to me about this project. Thank you very much.
Label or DIY and why?
I like them both. I would like to release the demo DIY by my own hands or have it made by an underground distro, which would be ideal. But I have no problem if a label wants to release my music. Any way to keep spreading the plague is nice to me.
Is there any funny or weird story from the recordings or from your live shows that you would like to share with us?
Well, as I mentioned in the first question, when I decided to record the demo, I got an audio interface and started doing it. Honestly, it was quite a solitary process. The entire demo was recorded in my room, so nothing too unusual happened, just me, in the darkness of my room. We haven't played live with Izanami yet, but I hope to do it so as soon as possible.
Do you prefer Vinyl, Tape, CD or Digital Format and why is that?
I love all formats, regarding vinyl, it's out of my budget, even though i would love to have some. Personally, I'm more into collecting CDs and tapes. I love both because I enjoy having the physical music, being able to see the artwork, read the lyrics, and appreciate the entire concept. I have tapes also for nostalgia, even though today, digital music is much easier and more practical to listen to. But as I mentioned before, I like physical things. I enjoy being able to appreciate it and share it that way. I hope to release physical music with Izanami soon.
Your music style is Death/Thrash Metal. Which are your main influences (Favourite Artists / Bands etc.)
I'm not sure if they are direct influences, but I'll mention albums that i love and maybe they are indirect influences for Izanami. My favorite Death Metal album is Altars of Madness by Morbid Angel. I also really like Autopsy's kind of Metal, particularly Mental Funeral and Severed Survival. Consuming Impulse by Pestilence, Cursed by Morgoth, Entombed and their earlier band, Nihilist, are also some of my favorites. Early Possessed and Sodom are also influential. Behind the Realm of Madness by Sacrilege too. But I also wanted to create more aggressive Thrash like Morbid Saint so it ended up being a fusion of everything.
Which things do you think a band should sacrifice in order to succeed? Have you ever sacrificed anything in your life for a better future for your band?
Honestly, I don't feel like I've made any sacrifices to create my music. I simply enjoy expressing myself and i do it. There's always a moment in the day to do what you love.
Describe your ideal live show as a performance band. Have you already experienced that?
The most important thing for me it's attitude and comradeship. The ideal is being all together living the moment and expressing ourselves through raw music. We haven't played live yet, but yesterday we had our first rehearsal as a band with my Friends who supported this Project, now I'm living in Buenos Aires and I'm gonna leave here and go back to Punta Arenas, Chile. So i think we are going to play live there because i don't think we have time to play here in Argentina.
What attributes do you think that a new Death/Thrash Metal Band should have in order to gain identity and be unique?
I think the most important thing to have an identity is to be innovative and to avoid repeating the same themes as always. In my case, i feel that in Death Metal, abording topics like satanism, demons or anti-christianity it's overexploited. I decided to talk about topics that invade my head in metaphoric way, i guess. The most important thing is being yourself and not pretend nothing, tho.
Do you believe that Digital Platforms help the new Death/Thrash Metal Bands? Which, do you think, is the ideal way for a band to promote its work?
Of course it helps, nowadays social media dominates the world, so we have to use it well and use it to promote music so that it reaches people all over the world and we are more connected.
Do you see any differences between the Chilean Metal Market & the EU Metal Market (Labels, Bands, Fans etc)?
I've never been to the EU but most of the bands I listen to are from there, in Chile we listen to them a lot and I think a lot of Chilean thrash bands are inspired by bands like Violent Force, Destruction, Kreator or Sodom from Germany. Swedish death metal is also very influential for a lot of bands. I think the thing we have in common with countries from the EU is that Thrash and Death are aggressive and have been alive since the 80s like in Chile, both full of bands, labels and of course people who are really into it.
Tell us a few things about the New Underground Metal Scene in Chile (Bands, Fanzines, Webzines, Metal Clubs etc.)
Personally I love Chilean metal and as I said before the scene never died and it is more alive than ever, it is full of labels, fanzines and always new bands coming out. We have thrash, black, death, heavy, speed, crossover, everything. My personal favourites are Demoniac and Parkcrest.
Do you know anything about the Hellenic Metal Scene?
I know the black metal scene was really alive in the 90s, but I never knew so much about it. I should look for it.
The last 4 years, worldwide in the world, we have faced many dark, strange & new situations in our everyday life (covid, lock-down etc.) Did all of this affect you positively or negatively?
Actually was pretty weird living the lockdown because i had just entered university so i did not get to know my classmates or professors because the clases were online, the truth is that I did not even finish my degree and now I do not plan to study at the University. I lived that time in Punta Arenas, Chile where I still went out to hang out with my friends, a few times I was stopped by the police but I always found some excuse and nothing happened. I still spent time with my family so everything was fine.
What are your future plans?
I haven't thought much about the future, except to keep releasing music, with better production like real drums, with long duration and hopefully travelling a lot and getting to know the scene in other countries!
Thank you very much for your time & keep up the good work! The closure is yours.
Thanks so much for the questions, it was fun answering them, I really appreciate the music sharing and being able to connect with each other! Keep spreading the disease!
By Steve the Filthy Dog.
IZANAMI CONTACT:
https://www.instagram.com/izanami.deathrash/
https://izanami89.bandcamp.com/album/chronophobia-2