Psyclon Nine

Psyclon Nine are out with their long awaited masterpiece [Order Of The Shadow : Act I]. I had a little chat with the man behind it all, Nero Bellum.

First of all, thank you so much for doing this interview, it's highly appreciated. It's impossible to do this without talking about your new and excellent album '[Order Of The Shadow : Act I]'. Tell us about the process in which this album came to life and what this album means to you personally.

Nero Bellum - "I had spent several years in solitude after the release of We the Fallen. Most of this time was spent focusing on what would later be purged in the writing process of Order of the Shadow. Each of my albums tells two stories. One tends to be an introverted and personal look within myself and the other, is a window into the metaphysical plot that was laid out to me through dreams and apocalyptic prophecy. Order of the Shadow is the third installment of the trilogy of these albums which, began with Crwn Thy Frnicatr. Due to my solitude, I was forced into becoming a lot more introverted than I would have ever wanted to and this resulted in the manifestation of a lot of self loathing and insecurity when I was writing Order. It is by far the most opaque window into what more spiritual creatures would refer to as my soul."

How was it working with Chris Vrenna on this album? Is there any aspect of the album where you think his talent really shows off?

Nero Bellum - "Chris Vrenna was a childhood hero of mine. I grew up listening to Pretty Hate Machine, Broken and The Downward Spiral and when conceptualizing Order of the Shadow (before Chris and I had met) I had already had those albums in mind as an influence on the sound and feel of what I wanted to do with Order. Meeting and befriending Vrenna felt a little like fate. We became fast friends and spent a lot of time together before diving into the recording process. His talent as a producer that really spoke to me was his drive to continually experiment with different sounds for each instrument. If I wanted to record a guitar track for one section of one song, he would bring out 20 different pieces of hardware, 30 different stomp boxes, 5 guitars, 4 amplifiers and several different mics and make me record a different take using each piece of gear. It was a little grueling but, the end result was well worth it. It was also amazing being able to use Trent Reznors guitar from the Downward Spiral tour while plugged into the amp that they had used when recording Broken to try to recapture that vibe. I think the song Glamour Through Debris is where this really stands out."

One of the tracks on the album is called Afferte Mihi Mortem, what does this mean?

Nero Bellum - "Ah. I like to use latin when writing from the perspective of "The Saint" Bring me death and praise me as the Serpent."

I think my favourite track of the album has to be "Use Once And Destroy". Do you have a favourite track off the album or a track that is more special than any other?

Nero Bellum - "I was just asked this question and I have yet to come up with a definitive answer. I made sure that each of the songs on this album really stood out stylistically. I would refer to "apples and oranges" however, I think that attributing each track to a different drug high would be far more appropriate. Where one track might have a nice, warm heroin feel to it, the other might be a more intense and dark speed vibe. Each has its own merits."

This is said to be your last record. One might think that's not true taken the albums title into consideration, will there not be an act II and III? What can we expect from Psyclon Nine in the future?

Nero Bellum - "Yes, this will be the last album as, it's the last installment of the trilogy however, there are no rules stating that act II and act III cannot expand upon the final story and become full albums of their own. We will also be expanding on act I by giving it a companion disc with remixes as well as new originals. I am not done yet."

If you take 'Divine Infekt' and stack it up against '[Order Of The Shadow : Act I]', stylistically they are very different. Did you make a conscious decision to change styles over the years because you where sick of that type of music or was it just a natural evolvement as a band?

Nero Bellum - "It was a combination of several factors. One being that, I really felt that the music was lacking the power to convey the revelation that I was building up to expel. Another reason was that, yes, the medium simply became boring and limited to me. I needed to expand and grow musically and I couldn't continue to color within the borders of the genre that I started off in. There weren't a lot of bands doing what we had been doing when we released DI and within a few years of that release, it seemed that everyone with eyeliner and a computer had a "band" and were getting signed to independent labels and I honestly felt that it was watering down what we had to offer. I just wanted out."

You're playing The Dark Munich festival in april, I guess this is your first show in Europe for quite a while, will you be adding more dates for a european tour?

Nero Bellum - "Yes, we are booking a full European tour. It's been about 6 years since our last European tour and I don't want our European fans to think that we are overlooking them. We are really looking forward to being back overseas."

And now for the obligatory closer. If you had to listen to one album the rest of your life, what album would that be?

Nero Bellum - "The idea of listening to one album for the rest of my life sounds more like a personal Hell than, something that I would say to give praise to any specific album or band. That said, I might have to choose Megadeth Rust in peace however, I've also found myself listening to FFTTF by Morbid Angel whenever I just want something on in the background in my home."

Any final shout outs to your fans?
 
Nero Bellum - "The band appreciates all of your support that you have been giving us while working on these new records. Keep an eye out as, we have a lot of tricks up our sleeves and will be back out shortly."