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Hello how is your week
going so far? Please introduce yourself to the readers.
Hi, my week is ok, thanx. I'm Ferdinando AKA
Herr Morbid of Forgotten Tomb.
Please give a brief history
of the band? How did you come up with name for the band? For the readers who
have never heard Forgotten Tomb's great music. How would you describe the
band's sound?
Band was born in 1999 as a one-man band,
then in 2003 the other guys got into the line-up. We are among the true
originators of the so-called "Suicidal/Depressive Black Metal" though over
the years we evolved into a different form of art including Dark, Rock and
Sludge Metal influences, quite hard to label. Currently we are 4 people in
the band and I play guitars and vocals. Though if you don't know the band by
now you've definitely been living under a rock, hahah, we got 6 full-length
albums out and lots of shows everywhere around Europe including huge
festivals such as Hellfest and such.
Forgotten Tomb recently
released it's sixth studio cd "And Don't Deliver Us From Evil" how long did
it take you all to write and record the songs for this release? Are you all
happy with how everything turned out? How has the response been from the
press and the fans?
The whole process of songwriting and
recording was pretty fast, we never spend too much time in the studio. We
are satisfied with the final result. Feedback from press and fans has been
extremely good by now, lots of people said it's our best album to date,
which is cool being our 6th album already.
As mentioned this is the
bands sixth release how do you feel the bands music has changed over the
years?
As said before we introduced several
influences into our music and generally got a more "rocking" attitude, still
retaining the dark feeling of our sound. Evolution is needed because we
always want to keep up to date and to be way beyond the awful amount of
clone-bands there are around nowadays. We started a whole sub-movement back
in the days so we always have to lead, certainly not to step back. This
said, it also comes natural because we became better musicians and my
songwriting skills got more mature, probably also because of getting older
and such. It’s mostly a constant research to reach the zenith of discomfort,
which musically speaking is made possible also by an improved technique and
by an attitude getting stronger and more focused album after album.
When the band starts
working on new material/songs does the whole band take part in the writing
process or do 1-2 members handle everything?
Usually I write 90% of the material, I
record demo-tracks at home playing all instruments and then I pass over the
tracks to the other guys and they learn them as well as adding their own
additional arrangements if needed.
Who usually handles the
lyrics for the band? What are some topics/subjects you write about? Which
usually comes first the music or the lyrics?
It depends, usually I write the music and
then the lyrics. Subjects I talk about revolve around negativity, life,
human relationships, hatred, depression, nihilism, generally speaking very
bad and sick stuff since I feel it's what represents me the better.
Does the band have any
upcoming tours/shows planned in support of the new cd? If yes where are some
places, countries you will be playing?
We just did a tour with Enthroned and
Impiety in Europe and it was really cool. We also played a lot of other
shows over the year as well as summer festivals. We’re currently booking
shows and tours for the new year.
Who are some bands you have
shared the stage with over the years? If you could set-up a "dream"
show/tour who are some bands you would love to play with?
Too many to mention, seriously. Just Google
our band name/shows and you'll see. Big bands, small bands, lots of bands,
especially if you include festivals in it. Dream bands to tour with? I don't
know, maybe Iggy And The Stooges or Black Sabbath.
The band comes out of the
great Italian metal scene, so I was curious what is your opinion of
Italy's metal
scene?
There are good bands and bad bands, like in
every other country. There's not much left that I like in Italy, I was
mostly into the old scene from the '90s (Mortuary Drape, Death SS, Paul
Chain for me – hell yes!! - Dale), though there are still a few good
ones, mostly underground stuff.
Who are some of your
all-time favorite Italian metal bands? Are there any new bands you feel the
readers should check out soon.
Old bands such as Mortuary Drape, Necromass,
Death SS, Schizo, Bulldozer, Necrodeath were great back in the days. Then
I'd say Aborym, Novembre, Antropofagus, Spite Extreme Wing, Chelmno, Near,
Lorn, Hiems, Moriar, Kirlian Camera, Caronte, Whiskey Ritual are some of the
ones that come to my mind at the moment.
You handle the guitars for
the band at what age did you first start playing? Are you self taught or
have you taken lessons in the past?
I started around 13 and I had a friend
teaching me the first chords, then afterwards I was self-taught.
Who are some of your
influences/favorite guitarist? Do you play any other
instruments?
Greg Mackintosh of Paradise Lost, Zakk Wylde,
Billy Duffy of The Cult, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Angus Young of AC/DC
and some others. I also play bass, banjo, and I sing of course.
You also handle vocal
duties for the band do you find it difficult to sing and play guitar in
live shows? Who are some of your influences/favorite vocalists? Is there
anything special you do to keep your throat/voice healthy?
No, I've been doing it for 10 years by now so
of course it's not a problem for me. I don't do anything to keep my voice in
shape, I drink a lot of booze and smoke. I think the only good thing is to
sleep enough before shows and possibly avoid getting a flu. Favourite
vocalists, hmm, too many to mention, mostly Hard Rock vocalists.
Are you or any of the
members of Forgotten Tomb currently playing with any other bands or
side-projects? if yes please tell the readers a little about them.
I play with a Southern Metal band called
Tombstone Highway, 1st full length will be out on Agonia Records in March
2013. I also have a solo-project to be released soon. Our bass player has a
band called Hiems and takes part in several projects from time to time. Our
guitar player plays in Whiskey Ritual. Our drummer also plays in Whiskey
Ritual as well as in other bands.
Well we have reached the
end of the interview thank you for taking the time to fill this out. Do you
have any final comments for the readers?
Find more about the band and take a listen
to our latest album since it's killer. Hail Negativity
https://www.facebook.com/Official.Forgotten.Tomb
http://www.reverbnation.com/forgottentomb
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