Interview: Crucifixion BR

Brazil’s Crucifixion BR recently signed a deal with Horror Pain Gore Death Productions to release their debut full-length Destroying the Fucking Disciples of Christ. The Deciblog emailed with drummer Juliana Novo (aka DarkMoon) and singer/guitarist Marcio Guterres (aka Lord Grave War) to learn about all things heavy south of the equator.
Tell us a bit about how, when, and where Crucifixion BR came together as a band.

Lord Grave War: Everything started back in 1995 in Rio Grande, a small city in the extreme south of Brazil, when the band was called Hellish Prediction. I wanted to change the name to Crucifixion in 1996. I was thinking about the spiritual evolution of myself as a person. “Crucifixion” is a song from [Sepultura’s] Morbid Visions. I heard this Sepultura album and kept reflecting on the meaning, the reality of crucifixion. I wanted to be the vocalist only, then I met Juliana, gave her a little help on drums, and she gave me a little help on guitar. We kept improving, and the band ended up with me on the guitar and vocals and Juliana on drums. Then insanity started. And we had a lot of bassists working with the band.

DarkMoon: I was an ordinary guitarist when I met Marcio, and he was a drummer, then we switched positions…and it worked very well! There weren’t any female drummers in our city in that time. Among the bassists we had, there was a bassist from Sweden, the former bassist of MZ.412 and Painful Pride, who joined the band while he was here in Brazil for four months. He recorded two demo CDs with us in 2002 and took part in a few gigs. It was a cool experience.

What are some of Crucifixion BR’s musical influences?

Lord Grave War: Mostly black, death and thrash metal, also some heavy metal bands from the ’80s and beginning of ’90s.

DarkMoon: Lots of bands such as Sepultura (old), Morbid Angel, Emperor, Behemoth, Satyricon, Dimmu Borgir, Mayhem, Immortal, Dark Throne, Rotting Christ, Slayer, Deicide, etc.

DarkMoon, what inspires you to be creative and challenge yourself as a drummer?

DarkMoon: I get inspired by many male drummers from diverse styles in metal. Since I started to play drums, I’ve admired Dave Lombardo, Pete Sandoval, Nicko McBrain, Gene Hoglan, Iggor Cavalera, Nick Barker, Hellhammer, Steve Asheim, Raymond Herrera, Inferno, Max Kolesne… Honestly, I like to shock people (mostly guys) with my style of drumming, while being a woman who is left-handed playing on a right-handed drum kit. I have much pleasure in developing my own style and trying to get faster each time. I’m an autodidact.

What’s the black metal scene like in Brazil? Are there many venues that book gigs with black metal bands?

Lord Grave War: Our black metal scene has many bands fighting nowadays for recognition, but frankly I listen to Brazilian black metal bands from the ’80s and ’90s. Brazil remains insane towards heavy music! Death metal, thrash metal, heavy etc. It’s a big scene here so there are many fucking cool bands. [Gigs] exist, but that’s a fight at the same time to take part in them. Anyway keeping it with insane passion, fighting always not to let it fade away.

DarkMoon: There are a few extreme concerts every now and then. There are many extreme metal bands coming from the U.S. or Europe to tour in Brazil, and sometimes with support acts, so that helps unsigned bands to show their work to potential fans. Our scene is very competitive, and there are many bands in Brazil. There’s also many who just copy the style of a certain mainstream band, having no creativity to compose. There’s more musicians than just fans, I guess. Everyone wants to start a band, even if there’s no future for this style in Brazil.

You just got a U.S. record deal with Horror Pain Gore Death Productions. How did that happen?

DarkMoon: Back in 2011 I was emailing our press kit to many labels around the world, and among the answers I got, there was a reply from Mike Juliano of Horror Pain Gore Death Productions, asking me to send the physical CD. I sent it, and asked him a month later if it ever arrived. He said, “No, sorry.” And I said, “Would you accept a few samples online?” He was okay with that, but didn’t answer anymore in that year. When our official video [for “Eternal Judgement”] was released in January 2014, I emailed him the YouTube link and asked again about releasing our album. We were almost making a deal with another local label to release the album, when he replied to me asking if we had ever released it. He missed the last email with the YouTube video. Then we got this thing going. I hope we can grow up together and everything will be okay in this new step of our battle.

The label will soon be releasing your debut, Destroying the Fucking Disciples of Christ. Tell us a little bit about the album, and what we Americans can expect to hear.

Lord Grave War: This album has been finished with so much effort from us all. I produced it together with Sebastian Carsin at the Hurricane Studio. There’s a mix of songs from Crucifixion BR roots, having a few songs composed in 2002, and others later. This is an album that shows what we are, focusing on obscure black metal music but at the same time without being afraid of mixing the old-school death and thrash metal from the ’80s and beginning of the ’90s.

DarkMoon: There’s also a final track that is a tribute to Venom, we covered the song “Schizo” from the album Welcome to Hell, and I guess it turned out with a bit of our identity. We started recording the album in 2008 and finished it in 2011. My drum parts were recorded in three days. The rest took a lot of time because of the studio schedule, and Lord Grave War also recorded the bass parts. I guess it’s a bit hard to define our style, ’cause we have a big mix added to our music. Anyway black/death metal would be the style that fits us most.

Do you have any upcoming tours planned? Do you think you’ll get to America anytime soon?

Lord Grave War: We are starting a tour of Brazil in October, passing through a few states such as São Paulo and Minas Gerais. We are very excited to be playing in the land of Sepultura in Belo Horizonte city. The interaction with the crowd is gonna be great, intense energy, keeping the humble spirit and passion. I hope it’s gonna kick ass.

DarkMoon: We would love to be touring in America. I know there’s a huge death/black metal scene in there. This is part of our plan for next year. But I think we will be touring in Europe first because it’s easier, not needing Visas, you know. Anyway we hope to catch the attention of the promoters and festivals up there.