I originally found out about Devilish Impressions after noticing an advert for them on the back of a magazine. Since that moment I've bought their album, a t-shirt, seen them at one gig in London and now I'm planning to see them again on the 24th February!

I managed to catch up with Quazarre and I asked him a few questions over email.

Lou: I'd imagine that many of our readers will not be familiar with Devilish Impressions yet. Please could you give us a brief history of the band?

Quazarre: With pleasure - haha. The concept of Devilish Impressions was born in 1998. By 2000, the band's line-up was established and the ideas were starting to be shaped into musical works. The founder members of the band were: Quazarre (voices, guitars and additional synthesizers), Turquoissa (synthesizers) and Starash (guitars). Quazarre also creates dark atmospheric art with the well-known Polish band Asgaard. With this line-up we managed to put out our first self-released material enigmatically entitled "Eritis sicut Deus; Verbum Diaboli Manet in Aeternum; Vox Vespertilio Act I - Moon Var Dies Irae". For "Plurima Mortis Imago", Adrian Nefarious (bass guitar) and Dragor (drums) have joined from Luna Ad Noctum. The involvement of these artists introduced greater power and a new dimension to our music although none of them had anything to do with creation of the whole album's both music and its lyrical side. Every single note was written down much before they joined but I have to admit that thanks to them we were able to fulfill "Plurima Mortis Imago" visions and presumptions. At the end of 2005 we have separated the ways with Adrian whose duties have been currently taken over by the band's former guitarist Starash. As his replacement we have got this new guitarist - Armers but that is not all of the line-up changes. Knowing that Dragor will not be able to go with us for long tours - we have been forced to found also a new drummer. Therefore we have Icanraz of Abused Majesty and Hermh instead of him now. In June 2006 Devilish Impressions has signed two records deal with Conquer Records. From then the story just goes on and on.

Lou: Have you received any feedback from the album yet? Has it been positive?

Quazarre: Oh, yeah. Since the album's premiere we've had a lot of very positive feedback from fans and media from all over the world. Just check out our webpage to see their amazing reactions on it. Obviously, there are a few negative opinions as well but that is the way it is. You cannot tell everyone to listen to your music and admire it just because you have created it. I have also noticed that there is a group of people who cannot bear a complexity of our music, claiming there are too many things going on. Well, nobody said it is going to be easy-to-swallow record and I guess that's why we are being called an avant-garde black/death metal. Anyways, no matter what happens, no matter whether we have more opponents or followers we are not going to compose something in order to please anyone but ourselves. Do not take me wrong as I am aware of the fact that we only exist thanks to all of those who buy our shit and I really, really appreciate that but in the same time we want to be honest to ourselves, we want to write words and sounds which truly reflect our inner worlds, which can make ourselves to be proud of it. As long as the music we create will satisfy me as its author and as long as there is someone who wants to listen to it - Devilish Impressions will be getting stronger and stronger. If not, well. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger anyway - haha.

Lou: Why did you call the album "PLURIMA MORTIS IMAGO"?

Quazarre: This Latin sentence means "Many Faces of Death" and since I started writing the lyrics for this album I knew it's got to have strong, explicit yet metaphorical premise, something which may gives you an idea of the whole album's expression. Each track from the album tells a different story, being some kind of an apocalyptic vision of what death might actually be or how it is going to appear in a certain moment of our lives. All of the lyrics, apart of their mystical approach are praise of spiritual and ideological independence. We stand not only against Christianity but also against any other religion which exist as a form of restrictions and control over societies. You know all this bullshit about the primal sin and other sick stuff which make people feel guilty and ashamed of themselves even though they have not committed anything wrong against others, don't you? My answer is: "No! There is no King but You, there is no God but You. damned and forgotten, hateful and ruined but intended for serving the will of yourself!" We do not need any fucking priests or prophets to tell us what's wrong nor what's good for us to live in this world. And the funniest thing is that on top of it they want us all to pay for their magnificent yet worthless advices. As someone once said - "religion is opium for masses" slowly being pumped into veins of instinctively created ethic but instead of making us individuals capable of thinking for ourselves it just causing general weakness and corruption of morals eventually. "We've come up with blood on our hands, blood used as an ink for writing The New Bible." (Rebellion of Will Manifesto) - may this new bible be a bible of your own, independent will.

Lou: Which tracks are your personal favourites?

Quazarre: I do not know actually as this is subject to change. You know, sometimes you are listening to a certain track for quite a while and it totally absorbs you, for some period it seems to be the essence of some album's whole expression but the more you listen to it, the more likely you are to change the song. I think that all of the tracks on "Plurima Mortis Imago" are different enough to pick up different things from it. You want aggression? Listen to "SataniChaoSymphony" or "Visions of Kingdom to come." Fancy a bit of dark romanticism? Go for "Alpha and Omega spaces" Wanna have both - try "Dracula's Mechanized Universe" or "Funeral of God". "Plurima Mortis Imago" is an album full of various emotions and it is to be considered as an indissoluble whole.

Lou: Which tracks are your favourite to play live?

Quazarre: Our current setlist consist of the following tracks: "Crowned to be crucified", "Dracula's Mechanized Universe", "Lunarium", "Visions of Kingdom to come.", "SataniChaoSymphony" and a cover of Emperor's "Inno a Satana". Obviously we are going to change the set soon along with the brand new tracks coming up.

Lou: I noticed that on "Dracula's Mechanized Universe" you've used a piece of music by Beethoven. Are you classical music fans and, if so, who are your favourite composers?

Quazarre: I do admire a lot of classic composers such as Chopin, Carl Orff, Vivaldi etc. but it is Turquoissa (synthesizers) who's more into it. She is the only one musically educated band member. She finished a piano class long time ago and since she was forced to know and play most of the classical stuff during her studies she knows a lot about those artists and their creation. That was actually her idea to use above-mentioned part of Beethoven at the end of the track and I think it fits there perfectly.

Lou: Could you tell us a bit about the artwork used for the cover of the album? Why did you decide on that particular image?

Quazarre: Before we decided to choose this one, we've tried many other options but none of them went close enough to capture the album's atmosphere. Body of Christ and baroque background symbolizes presence of both death and magic splendor; two things, which I believe, always come together.

Lou: Where do you get the inspiration for your lyrics?

Quazarre: Basically, from everything what surrounds me, from everything I experience and everything I dream of. There are so many sources of inspiration; it doesn't have to be a lonely journey into a middle of dark woods or stuff like that. Sometimes it may be a good movie, sometimes an interesting conversation, places I see, people I meet. It can really be anything as long as it inspires me to create my own vision of it. Obviously, I always pick up these rather dark and cold things to build up my stories but it doesn't change the fact that you do not have to look really far away to find them. Most of the time is enough to go deep inside your inner world.

Lou: I understand that there's been a couple of line-up changes recently. Are you able to tell us a little more about these?

Quazarre: As I have mentioned above - it all started when we have separated the ways with Adrian back in 2005. There were simply a few things between us, which made us unable to work together anymore. I mean, we will always remember all the good moments and will always feel gratitude to him for being with us during that time but it all got to the point that it couldn't go any further. After that we were looking for someone who could take over Adrian's duties and when we finally found a guy we were like: "yeah, this is the folk to work with". We then spent three fucking months on preparing him to play with us and imagine how badly surprised we were when it turned out that the new bloke didn't come for the first official rehearsal! Grrrr!!! I am still angry at the very thought of it. In a meanwhile Dragor left as he said he wouldn't be able to play with us long tours due to his family commitments. As a result there were only three of us then, exactly as at the beginning of the whole band's history. It is said actually that the history is likely to do the circle, isn't it? I should have taken it under consideration long time ago and I certainly will do in the future - haha. Anyway, believe me that struggling again with this stupid problem was a huge pain in the ass although we promised ourselves that we can not give up just like that. You know, people come and go but there is always a choice, there is always something to keep the wheels turning for. Luckily we met Armers, told him about the band's situation and proposed him to join us as a bass player. He was really excited on one hand but on the other he had a lot of doubts as he always considered himself as a guitarist and according to his point of view handling bass duties wouldn't be really his piece of cake. We got stuck again when suddenly Starash told us he will probably have to make a choice between sorting his private life out and being in a band which in fact can not guarantee any future. All signs on heaven and earth clearly indicated there was only me and Turquoissa left. But then we all came to conclusion that we could take Armers on board now. We've pleased him with a new offer, taught him all the guitar parts and. took Starash as a bassist! Unfortunately, he will not spread out Devilish Impressions' message in the future and works with us just temporarily so get ready for another line-up change. All we needed more in that time was a good drummer so I called Icanraz of Abused Majesty and Hermh whom I have toured with along with my second band - Asgaard (a bit complicated, isn't it?), made him an offer and. few weeks later we were finally rehearsing as a whole band again. Phew. Aren't you tired yet?

Lou: Are there plans for another Devilish Impressions album in the foreseeable future?

Quazarre: I have already started to compose new songs while ago and we currently work on their arrangements. All I can say know is that the successor of "Plurima Mortis Imago" will be lot more rhythmical and ass-kicking yet still full of majestic slow-downs and atmospheric passages. We will enter Hertz Studio (Vader, Decapitated, Hate) and Hendrix Studio (Behemoth, Vesania) in May/June in order to record the tracks for a new album which is set to be released in early Autumn 2007 under the flag of Conquer Records again. As one would say - expect the unexpected!!!

Lou: As far as I'm aware, "Plurima Mortis Imago" is your first album. Is this correct? If not, what other albums do you have and where can I purchase them from?

Quazarre: We only have one more material released under Devilish Impressions' name - "Eritis sicut Deus; Verbum Diaboli Manet in Aeternum; Vox Vespertilio Act I - Moon Var Dies Irae". It is not available anymore as it came out in a strictly limited edition. The idea behind it was just to point out that there is such a horde which came into existence as well as to get this first, the most important, step in every band's career done. That time we didn't even have a drummer therefore all the drums were synthetic. It is too early to say now but I guess we may release it in the future, probably in both original and a new version. Before it happens you can suck one of the old tracks from our website.

Lou: Would you ever release a track (or full album) purely through the Internet (as a download) or do you prefer CDs?

Quazarre: Well, I definitely prefer CDs as there is nothing which may give you greater pleasure than opening this fresh, foiled album. Since I started to listen to metal back in 1990 I do not have even a single pirate record in my collection. I wouldn't actually mind releasing one track through the Internet but I do not think releasing the whole album this way would be a good idea. I am just afraid that the era of massive use of Internet just pushes all to the point that the labels will not be interested in releasing albums in a traditional way anymore as the number of downloading is dangerously increasing day by day which in consequence destroys the whole music business. I mean, if nobody buys the CDs what is the point of releasing them? Simple as that.

Lou: What's next for the band?

Quazarre: As you know, in one week we are going to play on an all-day black metal festival at London's famous The Underworld along with Thus Defiled, NFD and a few other bands. We are all looking forward to play over there as the last time we've played in London it was at Electrowerkz and I know some people have had a problem to get there and gave up after a long-time club's searching. That sucks! I remember when I went there for the first time with Turquoissa and we couldn't find it even though we were really, really close. I cannot actually remember who played that night but we were so pissed off that we also almost gave up. Luckily there was someone who eventually told us how to find it but I can imagine that sometimes you just simply do not have this luck and there is nobody you can ask or even if there is - it turns out that the person doesn't have a fucking clue. Fuck that anyway. It is good this time we will play at The Underworld instead - haha. Getting back to you question - we are also confirmed as a main support act for the Swedish black metal legend - Marduk on their Eastern Europe tour which is supposed to start at the beginning of April and will roll over Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Devilish Impressions will appear over there with slightly different line-up including session drummer S.Winter (Aeternus, Eld; ex-Gehenna, ex-Forlorn) as due to Icanraz' obligations to his own band whom he will be recording a new stuff with we were forced to find someone else instead who could take over the drums during that tour. After that we are going to record this new album, which will be supported by another tours along with our country mates Behemoth in Poland, United Kingdom and Ireland!!!

Lou: Where can our readers buy Devilish Impressions albums and merchandise from?

Quazarre: The best option is to contact directly our label - Conquer Records (www.conquerrec.com). Not only they sell "Plurima Mortis Imago" CDs but also the band's T-shirts so everybody can get one to make us feel more comfortable on stage - hehe. We do have more designs but at the moment we only sell them during the concerts we play.

Thanks a lot Lou for your patience, generosity and incessant support! Devilish regards to you ! Hope to see you all on some of our shows in UK!!!

On behalf of Devilish Impressions - Quazarre www.devilish-impressions.com


More Links: Live @ The Electrowerkz Review, Live @ The Underworld Review, Live @ The Underworld Review Version #2 on forum, "Ever Read A Review That You Disagree With" Thread on forum, "Diabolicanos: Act III - Armageddon" Review