Vesania / Behemoth - Black Metal legend Orion talks to Music Trespass

Black Metal's up for discussion with Orion!!!

Joe Denby catches up with Black Metal bass legend Orion whilst he is on tour with Vesania to discuss the band's new album, history, Behemoth and music all round!

Music Trespass: How are you today?

Orion: Well I'm on tour so this morning was a rough morning for me but everything is just great. I think this has been the best tour so far for this band.

Music Trespass: So you’re on tour right now with Vesania?

Orion: Vesania yes, we are doing some Polish shows with Vader at the moment.

Music Trespass: Are you plugging the new album on this tour?

Orion: Well the album is out on the 28th so we're not playing many songs because people won't know it yet but we're doing "Innocence" which we haven’t long released as a single and one more song from the new album and all the rest of the setlist is from previous albums.

Music Trespass: Ok let’s talk about the new album 'Deus ex Machina'.

Orion: Well it's took a lot of time to sit down and agree that we are in the right moment of time to write new music and to make an album because we are all connected with different projects and bands. We have a lot to do outside of Vesania. We finally decided to make it happen. It's very different from what we have been doing in the past. We went very far from all this Symphonic Black Metal convention and the boundaries we were in. We made a step forward hopefully or to the side! Anyway it's not a typical Symphonic Black Metal album.

Music Trespass: It sounds totally unique to me. I'll be honest I wasn't sure what to make of it when I first heard it but one thing I did think was "I need to play this again", there's a lot of classical influence in there.

Orion: Yes there is a lot of Classical and I would say Progressive Rock also. First of all the sound is not a typical Heavy Metal sound. We don't have and in your face over driven guitar's. It sounds more Rock to me.

Music Trespass: You also have a unique vocal approach to this album. You do a lot of different things with your voice. Tell us about your approach to recording the vocals.

Orion: Yeah sure, when it comes to vocal's I can do whatever. We were recording vocals for about two to three weeks. It was a long period. We were just trying things out and listening to them at home and then deleting them and doing it over and over. After all we ended up with some weird tracks. What is different is that's its called clean singing but it isn't really clean. We didn't tune any of the clean vocal's sometimes they were a bit above the note or below but it's not a problem. We weren’t looking for "Perfect" nothing is "Perfect" on this album. So we thought leave certain things as they are. Also it's not just me singing on the album. If I was not able to do something. If someone else could do a little part better then me then he went and did it.

Music Trespass: The title comes from Greek Mythology do you extend on that in the lyrics?

Orion: There's no Greek mythology within the lyrics but the album title is taken more from the ancient Greek tragedy. It stands for 'God from the Machine' that's what it means literally. In the Greek tragedy there was a trick that the writer's used in the situation where it was impossible to make thing's better. Everything was just going more and more wrong and there was no solution to the problem. So they came up with this idea of taking a crane and attaching an actor and have him playing a God and lowering him on a stage and he would give a solution to all the problems. Well today in literature they often use the term Deus ex Machina. It's a metaphor for a very bad solution. Well in our case it's rather a cry for help, everything that is happening in the lyrics. It's just very sad and it's picking up on the human condition today, everything is just wrong so in this case we understand the term Deus ex Machina as a need for some kind of divine intervention but there is nothing happening And on the album the Deus ex Machina is already dead so it's not a very positive album.

Music Trespass: So you’re on tour right now with Vader. What else do you have planned for the rest of the year?

Orion: Right after this tour I am starting some date's with Behemoth. We are doing Poland, South America and England with Behemoth. Then at the end of this year and the beginning of next year there are some break's in Behemoth so I am working on getting something in those gaps. There is nothing confirmed yet so I don't know what will happen but I'm working on it.

Music Trespass: When I first saw the press release for Vesania and I saw what other band's everyone was involved in I thought at first it was a side project/super group or whatever but when I did my research I found that Vesania had formed long before all the member's joined all these different band's. A lot of people new to the band will be surprised.

Orion: It's like our child. Three or four of us in the band have been friends since we were six or seven. We grew up together and we started this band back in the 90’s think it 96 or 97? It was an going band and as you said from this we ended up joining all the other band's but this one still exists and we still care about it.

Music Trespass: So you’re still making time for your first love.

Orion: Well yeah.

Music Trespass: Its funny most musicians’ work a day job to support their band and you guys do your thing and then its "OK back to work off to play in Dimmu Borgir now!

Orion: It's funny when you look at it but hey, it is what it is.

Music Trespass: You guys have achieved the practically impossible and that's to play Extreme Metal for a living.

Orion: I am well aware of that and am very happy to be at this position. It took a life time to make it happen. I believe I've earned but at the same time I very truly appreciate what I have. I am living my dream that's what I always wanted to do and I am doing it.

Music Trespass: Lyrically or in life in general do you share the same outlook and philosophy as Nergal?

Orion: We do share a lot of the same thought's and we talk about such thing's and the difference with Nergal is that he speaks of things concerning religion in his lyric's and what I write is a little different I don't think it's a factor that makes me who I am in society. What I write is just my personal pocket sized book on philosophy. Wrong or not I don't care. It doesn’t have anything to do with any sort of religion.

Music Trespass: So you’re more of an Atheist?

Orion: However you want to call it. I don’t know what you call it.

Music Trespass: So what do you get up to when you’re not doing music?

Orion: When is that?! (Laugh’s)

Music Trespass: Well do you have a family or anything like that?

Orion: Well I have a girlfriend but I have a month and two weeks off from Behemoth which is right now. So there isn’t a lot of time left.

Music Trespass: Do you listen to music still are you still a fan?

Orion: oh yeah!

Music Trespass: So what have you been listening to lately?

Orion: I’m always in touch with music. Mostly I have been listening to the new releases. I hear stuff in the studio also. I’m also involved in music production. Recently, the Mastodon album I really like that. I’m just not fan of this new wave of Metal, I just don’t get it. It seems to go in one ear and out the other ear and I don’t remember a single note from it.

Emperor 'In the nightside Eclipse' album cover (Pictured Above)

Music Trespass: Your top three favorite albums?

Orion: 'In the nightside Eclipse' by Emperor this is what made me the person I am and was my biggest influence back in the 90’s. 'Ultra' by Depeche Mode that's an album that just stays in my car CD player.

Music Trespass: I’m so glad you said that I am a big Depeche Mode fan and that album is so under rated.

Orion: It’s just a perfect album. It’s just brilliant. Killing Joke is a band I got into way too late. I got into them about 2005. I knew some songs but it wasn’t until 2003’s self titled album I started to really get into them. You know Dave Growl played on that album also for free because he was such a fan.

Interview and Questions by Joe Denby and main photo by Dan Devour