Ritual hails from Hungary! When
I found your split with Funeral Heaven at a Hungarian distro (Neverheard
Distro) I bought that immediately, because I am really into music from exotic
places. And I found out that that’s a good split, congratulations for that!
What is your opinion about this split? The CD artwork
is beautiful but as far as I know it was released on vinyl too, am I right?
Hails, Thank you for your kind words, I am
glad you enjoyed the EP, personally I think its one of our best releases and
yes, it was also released on vinyl. I
think a lot of people purchased it for the
„exotic” factor and ended up being pleasently surprised or totally let
down because there is no middle ground with our music. You either like it or
you loathe it.
What does the band’s name mean
and in what language?
It`s latin and it loosely
translates to „suffer capital punishment”
The band was formed in 2008.
What were your main influences? Was that hard to find the proper members?
We were influenced by bands such
as Stalaggh, Bethlehem, Burzum, Abruptum, Spektr and noise acts like Merzbow, Kim
Cascone and Coil (just to name a few). These I would say are some of the bands
that helped forge our musical direction to a great extent, Individually we
listen to anything and everything that inspires us regardless of the genres.
Plecto actually came together
quite easily. All three of the founding members were heavily involved in the
Sri Lankan Black Metal scene and got together to do something a little
different as a side project. Over the years we have had a couple of lineup
changes and to be honest its much harder now for us to find musicians who are
on the same wavelength.
As you’re completely unkown in
Hungary, I ask you to get through your whole carreer, say something about every
of your releases! Your first appereance was in 2008, under the name
„Atrocities”. What should we know about this?
I will run you through our main
releases which comprises of 2 Eps and 2 Splits.
Atrocities was what helped us
make ourselves heard. It was our debut ep created with the intention of
recreating some of the atmosphere within a concentration camp. What is
interesting about this EP is that it was not rehearsed previously and most of
the guitar,drum and vocal tracks are done on a single take.
Our next effort „As agony unfolds”
saw the light of day in 2009. It took the form of a three-way split with Sri
Lankan band, Raaksha and Canadian act Pogrom. This featured our most
experimental track to date with flutes and Sri Lankan drums.
In 2010, Plecto got together with
Belgian Black Metallars Yhdarl for a two way split titled „Across death.. Through Pain” (One of my
favourite releases to date). Yhdarl
contributed a 25 minute track whilst we included two new tracks and we took on
a more atmospheric approach to our music in these two tracks.
„As the Sane Crumble” followed
the same year and featured three new tracks that saw us experimenting further
with local instruments and we even went to the extent of including a harp.
Then followed our split with Sri
Lankan Black Metallers – Funeral in heaven titled „Astral Mantras of Dyslexia”
which was possibly one of our best efforts to date.
You have released a song in
2009 with the title „Rewards of Seeking Wisdom”. Was that released on any
physical format or only through the Internet? What was the main purpose for
releasing this song? What does that mean?
„Rewards of Seeking Wisdom” was
initially released digitally and was meant as a teaser for the our split with
Yhdarl titled „Across death.. through Pain”. The same single later appeared on
the split in 2010.
During the same year you have
released a split with Raaksha (Srí Lanka also) and Pogrom from Canada. All the
bands have one song each on that records. Tell me more about that and a few
words about the two other bands.
Like I mentioned previously it
included our most experimental work todate titled „Seevali”. The split included
an interesting blend of artists from Sri Lanka and Canada. Raaksha from Sri
Lanka focused on folk lore and took on a more ambient yet experimental sound
whilst Pogrom from Canada brought a raw and primitive sound to the table. It
was a pleasure working with these two bands to say the least. Weve become good friends over the years and
Dustin from Pogrom has been helping Plecto in every way imaginable. We have
long chats about this that and everything and get along very well but we are
yet to meet in person (hopefully meeting him in person will not change anything
:P ).
Did you have any difficulties
for being a band from Srí Lanka? What is the opinion of the European or
American bands about you? Were there any situation when someone didn’t want to
work with you?
We haven`t had any such issues,
probably because we are not really known by many yet. I have contacted some
bands about splits and some of them didn`t go through, that was mainly because
of the difference in musical direction and also because we couldnt guarantee
what our contribution would sound like because it`s all dependent on our state
of mind at that point.
In 2009 you had an other single
release called „Stoned Guru Ramblings”. Who came up with the idea of releasing
singles? Was that the records label or you? What was the format of this
release? How many copies were made?
„Stoned Guru Ramblings” too was a
single released to promote the release of our EP „As the sane crumble”. We all agreed to
release singles as a band. We just wanted to get our music out to those who
wanted it. We do not really intend to make money out of the band its a call out
to those who share the same wavelength so nothing that we do is goverened by
lables or ulterior motives to make money. We recorded it and felt that there
was no point in hanging on to it for another year so we just put it out there.
In 2010 you had a split with
the belgian band Yhdrarll. Tell me a few words about this release!
I am personally a big fan of this
release and think that Yhdarl`s sound compliments Plecto`s and vice versa. It
was a pleasure working with Deha and we`ve become friends since (eventhough we
are yet to see each other in person and have a pint)
And your latest relese is this
split with Funeral in Heaven. After years of hard work, this was released by a
well-known label, Dunkelheit Prod. How did you get in touch?
Chathuranga the vocalist
from Funeral in Heaven and also from
Plecto (he`s our bassist) initiated the contact and followed it through.
The last song on the split is
called „Crestfallen: Immolating Shakathi” and as far as I know this song was
recorded together with Funeral in Heaven. This was a musical ritual together,
am I right?
Yes it was, a musical adventure
on mind altering substances.
How can you sum up your
releases? What are the main differences between your releases? If someone
haven’t heard of you, how would you portray your music?
There is a significant difference
in our sound in every release. The only thing that is common is the fact that
our music will give you goosebumps. I
would say that our music is meant to terrify and fuck peoples minds up.
Srí Lanka is not that rich in
metal music but you have some bands though. Can you list me some bands worth
for attention?
There`s a lot of good talent in
Sri Lanka, If I was to recommend bands, I would list down Old Castles Massacre, Paranoid Earthling,
Funeral in heaven, Spleen Saint, Dhisti, Serpents Athirst, Meningitis, Pariah
Demise and Siblings of Hatred.
What is the opinion about
extreme metal in your country? Does the common man get shocked by extreme
metal?
Yes, theres is a tightly knit
community who is in to extreme metal and everyone else thinks that its the
music of devil worshippers and dont want anything to do with it but then again
that is how it works around the world isn`t it.
How often can you play live?
Where have you been with the band? Tell us about the atmosphere on the stage
and in the audience!
We try our level best to play
once a year. We`ve had some invitiations to play abroad but so far we have only
played within Sri Lanka. We have played in Kandy, Gampaha and Colombo. The
atmosphere is amazing and the audience is fucking insane.
The main part of your country
is Buddhist. What is your opinion about Buddhism? Are you Buddhists? If yes,
how can a so peaceful religion get on with black metal? What is your opinion
about Christianity?
Buddhism is more of a philosophy
than a religion. I am an unconventional Buddhist and therefore it doesnt really
get in the way of our music. Christians are nice people.
What does black metal mean for
you?
It is a way of life.
I don’t know how old the
members are, but I assume that you took part the civil war between 1983 and
2009. Did you fight on any sides or tried to stay out of the conflict? I read
that the war was caused by religious reasons. What is your opinion about this
war and religious wars at all?
None of us were in the army. The
war was between the rest of the country and a set of terrorists who wanted to
seperate the country. There was no religious undertones and motives it was a
war fought for personal gain by the terrorists.
Personally I think all wars are initiated by people who have ulterior
motives for thier own gain and the others just follow suit like sheep. If you are waging war based on religion you
are nothing but a stupid fucking cunt.
Is
that right that the civil war was caused by Tamils? They have an organisation
called Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Is this organisation still running?
What did they want with that war? What is the main purpose of this
organisation?
Yes, the LTTE is a terrorist organization
(eventhough they carried out a major campaign to say that they are not. I mean
if they were so good why the fuck would they use child soldiers and bomb
innocent civilians?) They have been wiped out. What they wanted was to split the
country and run part of it themselves. Not all Tamils took part, it was mostly
supported by those who had something to gain or believed that they were
illtreated by the government.
The
war ended 4 years ago, what is the main mood in the country? Is everything all
right or are there any struggles? How many victims did the war take?
Many
thousands lost their lives or got disabled as a result of this war. There is
always some sort of struggle somewhere but currently there arent any struggles
like the ones that initiated the ward back in the 1980s.
What
is your opinion about foreign armies encroach into other countries’s conflicts?
Is this necessary?
I
believe that it is a necessary evil if innocent peoples lives are at risk. But
whether foriegn armies enter other countries to help people or for their own
gain is something you need to be wary of.
If
this woudln’t be enough, a tidal wave swept through the Srí Lanka in 2004.
30000 people have died. Did you experience the nateure’s vigour? Did you take
part in the savings?
It was
an absolute disaster to say the least. I was not affected by this and neither
was any of the other members. I made several donations for the victims but was
not directly involved in saving them.
The
Equlibrium between Nature and mankind has been blown away, and this is caused
by the technical progress and human rapacity. The greedy millionaires only care
for their own profit and they rape the Nature. What do you think of these
problems?
I
think it is a problem that will plague us till the end of humanity. There will
be those who fight against it but thier voices will not be strong enough and
there will be many who will cross over for their own gain eventually.
I
know this is utopian and completely against all odds but I think that would be
better if we could live in harmony with Nature. I think it is capable of
support mankind if it wouldn’t be that greedy. Of yourse over-population should
be handled. What is your opinion about this?
Yes
mankind can live in harmony with nature, but it is a choice that many will not
make till our very existence is threathened by what we have done. Over
population should indeed be dealt with.
It wouldnt be a problem if everyone used their commonsense, but then
again it is not a gift that many are born with.
Do you experience the rapacity
of powerful countires, the spread of consumer society and the general
brainwash? Is your goverment open for the western propaganda?
Well every one is open to everything
thanks to globalization. A majority of people are becoming capitalists and I
guess it is just part of the natural progression of humanity. A means to an end if you will.
Do you plan to work further
with the German Dunkelheit Prod? Are you satisfied with their work? Do they
want to book you European shows? Is the name of Plecto Aliquem Capite known
around the world?
Dunkelheit was quite easy to deal
with and we are really satisfied with the outcome. We will probably work with
them in the future. Our name is not
commonly known around the world, it might get there it might not. It doesnt
really matter we reach out to a precious few. The precious few that actually
feels our music.
As per tours I think it will be
expensive to travel from Sri Lanka to Europe so that will be a big factor
hindering us. But we are not that bothered by it. There is no burning need for
us to do tours out of the country and we find it difficult to do an annual gig
in Sri Lanka currently so could you imagine how tough it will be to do a tour ?
Tell me about your future
plans! Do you plan to have a full-lenght or are you planning to stay within the
world of demos and EPs/splits?
No plans as such. We will take it
as it comes. We are recording a new single it might be just a single or might
manifest in to something bigger we will just have to see.
Thank you for the interview!
The last words are up to you!
Thank you for the having me
onboard and thanks for supporting Plecto Aliquem Capite.
Interview by Dr. A.
