"Into the Woods of Belial" should ring someone a bell, huh…? Anyway, when mr. Blood heard that name for the first time, he thought that the music would be something similar to what our honourable interviewees then began to perform. Which it wasn't. Don't know if Blood wanted to attach the name Woods Of Belial into another context, that utterly dark expression he visioned it should represent, but later he realized that he had subconsciously drawn that name for his own band. Now 4 years have passed since that misfortunate event, and we hope that Wohi (main vocal performances) and Horned Black (heavy industry, referred to as the seven keys of evil) would be ready to reveal some secrets behind this mysterious creation.

 – I've heard that you might be quite evil.

[Wohi] – Sure, all kinds of rumours are spread. But who could certify the argument? Those who really know me are a few and they haven't ever said that I'm "evil". Most of the people who have heard Woods Of Belial don't know me in person, they just suppose that the band is evil because of the elements we use in the music and around it. To tell the truth (even if there isn't any), our music sounds like it sounds because we want to express our negative feelings like depression or hate. It has nothing to do with the concept of evil. Then, our imagery is what it is because we want to support our oppressing art with the illustration of darkness. The anti-religious stuff we use is plainly due to that we all are anti-religious people.

 – On the other hand... Don't you think that the concepts of good and evil aren't so stabile issues?

[Wohi] – The concepts of good and evil are only symbols that the religions of the Mid-East have established and they absolutely have no correspondence whatsoever within human life. Like carnal and spiritual existence are not two completely different states but often crossing each other, good and evil cannot be separated. It's all just religious bullshit. Everyone knows that there's an infinite number of colours besides black and white. (Well, not everyone... At least not the people in the Mid-East – Ed.)

 – So, should we rather ask what actually is evil?

[Wohi] – As a religious term, "evil" does not exist. But if we understand evil as something opposing to what we see as good (referring to individual morals, not religious aspects), we might get deeper in this question.

 – So let's get deeper! How do you view rape, incest, mass murder, torture or suicide? Is suicide evil?

[Wohi] – Ohh... Let's get deeper then. I think that at least suicide is not too evil, it's just weak. I mean, in most cases it just shows that a person can't stand the pressure society has laid onto him/her (in case of serious illness though I would prefer suicide as a solution, because there's not point in living without being able to live anyhow...). But suicide actually differs from the other themes you've listed for rape, incest, mass murder and torture are aimed at other people, and I think you want to hear my thoughts about them more likely. If I'm right, here we go:
   Rape – What a twisted and pathetic form of expressing sexuality... Rapists indeed are sick people turning on from violence and oppressing others, and I think that the state should take care of either their castration or their death. In my eyes they have no human value whatsoever.
   Incest – If there's something to add to my previous statement here, it could only be more offensive. Incest is raping children, which insults and seriously disturbs their childhood values and conceptions! A human being must be secured a safe growth with no obvious references to sexuality at a young age, and so I don't even think about the plain castration option concerning pedophiles...
   Mass murder – When committing a mass murder the identity of the victims is usually taken away completely, so the media sometimes see a single murder much more "evil" than a mass murder. The truth is naturally the opposite, for mass murder might be one of the most evil deeds ever committed by a human being, way over a "regular" murder. However, I personally don't see it as too stimulating (not that I would've committed any), because it's highly pathetic to kill defenceless victims.
   Torture – Usually torture is the most seemingly effective way to dig up a confession from a prisoner or criminal, but the error marginal while using torture is too wide. The tortured one may present a whole new truth in order to survive, and on the other hand, if the victim's innocent (s)he might even get killed when not being able to sing. Much more than in torture I believe in variable interrogation techniques and objective trials (which do not exist, I may claim), where the object is not that defenceless (did I use that word already?).

 – Do we see peace as a good thing? The wars reduce population, but simultaneously they cause unnecessary mental and physical pain to people and foremost to the "innocent" civilians.

[Wohi] – Even if wars wouldn't be necessary for reducing the ever-growing overpopulation, history has taught that they cannot be avoided, mostly because of the overwhelming greed of the so-called human being. Wherever there is people there is no peace, at least not for long. Peace is possible only in the purest nature, amongst those who have not been raised above other animals. Undoubtedly they have to survive, but despite it being constant struggling it's not war. It's harmony – the thing that mankind shall never experience.
[Horned Black] – I see wars between humans as interesting as children's fights. In my opinion humans are as a race as mature as teenagers; they think they know everything. They should look up to their mother, the nature, and learn from her.

 – If you were trapped onto a deserted island with a person unknown to you and food only for one to survive, how would you proceed?

[Wohi] – I suppose that by this you mean that there would arrive a rescue squad of some kind, but only after a certain period of time through which only one of us could survive (Bingo – Ed.). Then I would of course, selfish as I am, try to have the food for myself (if there was enough food for both, I wouldn't mind sharing though). However, I doubt if any person with a lust for life would give up the food without a fight, and thus settings like this would bring us "civilized" closer to the laws of nature.

 – What is music? What is it created for?

[Wohi] – Music may be the one and only form of art able to grasp on every corner of humanity. It is a way to express one's feelings and thoughts, and both composing and listening to it can bring forth strong emotions, all the way from pleasure to agony. Thus music can also cause people commit the strangest deeds…
[Horned Black] – Music is basically sounds and, as in nature, sounds create emotion-based actions. An example: the howling of a wolf causes alertness in many animals, as it is a warning that a pack is hunting nearby. Our music is created to rouse certain feelings we feel. Then on the other hand rhythmic music is an extension of dancing as the shamans made drums to enhance their ritual dances, and led from this, music is also magick. So music is magick to create feelings.

 – What is a musician? Who is a musician? Do you consider yourself as a musician?

[Wohi] – Anyone who performs music is in theory a musician, but being a musician in profession vocabulary demands much talent. It's all a game of words when drawing the line here. However, I'm not a musician if applying my conception of musicianship. To me there's only one musician in Woods Of Belial.
[Horned Black] – I consider myself as a composer, not a musician. Musician is a performer as Wohi said and I do not perform, I simply make things and people perform what I create.

 – What kind of music do you enjoy?

[Wohi] – I enjoy everything that appeals to my feelings, and it can be anything from acid rock to cosmic ambient. I don't build any borders between genres and neither I have any criteria for the music's atmosphere, technicality, level of experimentalism or anything. It is also very hard to predict what kind of music I haven't yet heard can find it's way to my record collection...
[Horned Black] – Any form of sound I feel good listening to, might it be noise, death metal or acid house, even walking can be a very enjoyable experience musically and mentally.

 – From what Woods Of Belial draws influences?

[Horned Black] – Personally I draw influences from a state of mind in which I do not think logically. Everything just comes to me unexplained and pure. From these inspirations I then evolve a piece.
[Wohi] – For my lyrics I can get the inspiration from anywhere, as far as I, to borrow HB's words, don't think anything too logically. The most interesting inspirative experience I've had must be a nightmare, but I've also once been hugely inspired by boredom itself, believe it or not.

 – How about your musical influences then? Just trying to squeeze out which bands have influenced Woods Of Belial's music. Someone told me that there shall be some psychedelic influences on "Deimos XIII"… Have you totally forgotten the obvious Celtic Frost influences which appeared on the first 2 demos?

[Horned Black] – I haven't actually ever listened to CF's doom. But about those psychedelic influences: it is true that we have them. We've listened to In The Woods..., Pan.Thy.Monium and that kind of stuff for a long time, now those influences just came into our music more naturally than before.
[Wohi] – Heh, of course we haven't forgot Celtic Frost, you can still hear it on "Deimos XIII". It's just that we all are big adorers of psychedelic music so it was natural to widen our perspective with similar elements.

 – You use quite a lot samples and machinery effects. How have you ended up with this kind of solution? Where are these mysterious voices taken from?

[Horned Black] – If you really need to know, I use two machines to produce noise: RM-831 and D7232 frequency modulators/channelling devices which were at Beyond God studios, where I and Kharadrai were recording material for DWO about a year ago, and we both recorded something for ourselves to use. All the industrial fx are sequenced from the sessions and partially generated with orangator. Samples are from rituals we have performed and movies like Lost Highway, Hellraiser etc. I'm not sure how we ended into this solution, but I think these fx are an important part of our music's atmosphere nowadays.

 – You were rather fast with your first 2 demos. What the hell is delaying "Deimos XIII"?

[Horned Black] – Well, we did our music as a bunch of solo artists, thus meaning that we had songs that were always done by one of us. This kind of thing created tension between the group members, mainly myself and Blood. The thing was that I wanted to do darker music than before, and Blood did in my opinion a fucking stupid faery-tale-intro and said "This is what WOB should sound like." I got pissed off at him, because I had in mind a more industrial and darker sound. I went home and didn't keep in touch with the rest of the band until I finished my vision of the WOB sound, a song called "Halla". Surprisingly enough the rest of the band liked it, but Blood also suggested that me and him should do a song together, which we did later. This composer-war lasted for about 6 months or something, and before that we had some other disagreements and problems with rehearsing etc. We have now the songs ready, but we have to go to the studio one by one, because we can't get the schedules to fit. I've recorded my part except for the outro…

 – What about the future of WOB anyway?

[Horned Black] – I'm going to take some time off to concentrate on my project with Kharadrai, a noise project called Destructiwe Wolume Owerload.
[Wohi] – I am really not the one to keep Woods Of Belial rolling on, and for what I have perceived things have been evolving rather slowly lately. The temporary absence of Horned Black might thus have stagnating consequences, but we will always be back even stronger!

 – What are your views on god?

[Horned Black] – I perceive god as a subconcious regulator (or super-ego) that has been given too much power. Man is too unwilling to see some truths about chaoticness of the universe so he creates an object (god) he claims responsible for random events and says they happened of its will. I don't believe in anything supernatural or in good or evil. There is no such thing as a good or evil in nature, all ethics man creates are just necessities of living in a herd.

 – What do you think of philosophy in general?

[Horned Black] – I do not understand why so many contemporary philosophers neglect the idea that we perceive world as it is, they wouldn't have survived a second 10 000 years ago if they had questioned if what they perceived as a lion was indeed a lion. Why would nature be so unpractical that we would see lion as something it isn't? Surely we have accompanied some thoughts with the sight of a lion, for example fear, but it's not in the perception, it is in our heads. Otherwise philosophy is very powerful way to think.
[Wohi] – I spend much time philosophizing, but of course I don't take such metaphysical "problems" in count in practise. That'd be absurd if anything. Mostly I use philosophy as an aid to create my art, the lyrics.

 – Pretty much will happen before the world ends, I suppose. How would you describe a futuristic vision, seen beyond time, how would the world look like barely 5 minutes before the end? How would you personally like to see all this ending?

[Wohi] – Currently it seems that the world will get destroyed by a nuclear catastrophe, but perhaps it's just because I recently watched a document concerning the danger factor in Russian nuclear weaponry. However it all might actually end, I strongly believe that the destruction is launched by man and not nature. If we now lean on my theory of a nuclear disorder, 5 minutes before the end there would be nothing that could be called life anymore, just radiation and fires… Total holocaust. Of course I would like to see this all ending by a series of huge natural disasters which would wipe the mankind off the face of the earth as easily as dust, preserving the nature itself vital, but as I said I'm not too optimistic about it (if you accept such a word).
[Horned Black] – Five minutes before the end the Sun will start to enlarge rapidly, then our world will be consumed by the Sun. Or maybe the sky will darken and gravity will fail as a result of a black hole.

 – Well, how would you personally like to see this interview ending? Please do it!

[Wohi] – I would never like to see such a good interview ending, but nothing lasts forever... Seriously though, I want to use my un-imagination to thank you for this possibility to spread the name of Woods Of Belial. Perhaps it also helped some people change their views on me (as if I would care).

CHAOSEMPIRE