When and why did you start playing?
The band was created in 2004 with an intention to bring forth the elements of DEATH metal that were missing from the current scene such as darkness and madness.
Who are your musical and non-musical influences?
The main songwriter in the band is 40 years old and has been present when Death Metal was born and when Metal in general was taking shape. So trying to narrow down influences is impossible, the way we write songs is a subconscious process that is being affected by being affiliated with this music for 29 years. Lots of people say that Dead Congregation sounds like this and that band, we can argue that those bands are all influenced by Slayer and Slayer was initially influenced by Judas Priest and so forth. We are of course influenced by other metal bands, yet these influences have been all filtered through our personal style and made into something that doesn’t copy or remind anything. As far as non-musical influences, what comes in mind are creations that reek of death in all levels, whether it is a book or a painting or an ancient Catacomb on an archeological site that we visit (in abundance in Greece).
How do you balance your music with other obligations like job?
It is not easy and a lot of times it seems frustrating and causes problems – especially when it comes to interesting tour offers that we cannot accept. We’re not teenagers to abandon everything in life to go out touring and frankly we play enough shows already to keep the flame inside us more than alive. Maybe we miss opportunities that would help the band grow bigger in popularity but we tend to focus on more essential things than worry about our vanity and if we get the attention we deserve.
Describe your show, visual and musically
Our show is four angry individuals destroying their instruments with passion, dedication and aggression. We prefer to focus on our music and deliver it with lust and rage so we don’t feel the need to use any other props to create atmosphere or make an impact.
What's your outlook on the music industry today?
I suppose that you are referring to the Death metal music industry because other than that I seriously doubt if I have an opinion whatsoever. Death metal seems to be on its rise again with a lot of new bands releasing albums and whatnot. Let’s see how many albums and bands will be remembered in a few years from now when the dust has settled and the trend has moved on to another part of Metal…
What advice would you give to fellow bands?
Be serious with your art or QUIT.
What is “Death Metal” for your life?
DEATH Metal for us is everything. It is the motive that we have to go on. DEATH metal monopolizes our lives whether it is from the part of the receiver as fans or from the part of creation.
Did you expect all these fans? Now Dead Congregation is officially a "Cult band”, do you think the public and critics expect too much from your new record?
When we recorded ‘graves of the archangels’ we knew it would make a huge impact on the scene since we were extremely confident with our material but quite honestly we didn’t expect that it would become viral so fast with absolutely zero promotion. Regarding the new album, we never felt the pressure of expectations because as artists we create for ourselves and since WE were satisfied by the new material, not much else mattered. As for being a ‘cult’ band, I think that due to our unwillingness to sign to a big label despite their constant offers, most people confuse us to an ‘underground’ band in terms of popularity and fail to see how big the band really is. The first album has sold 10.000 physical copies (CDs/LPs) so far and is still in high demand, whilst the new album has sold 4.000 physical copies in just 3 weeks of its release; numbers that are not easily achieved today even by bigger bands. If the material is strong enough, it will get heard, that’s for sure.
How is difficult playing heavy metal music in Greece now?
It is not difficult at all. There are sacrifices that need to be done, I agree but we are not in the mid 80s anymore.
Tell us about your next shows and why we should be there
Our next arranged gig is in Metal Mean festival in Belgium on the 23d of August , Killtown Deathfest in Copenhagen (early September) and we’ve also been invited by Primordial as guests to their release show for their new album in Dublin (November). You should be there to see how a dedicated band performs live its studio material with sheer aggression and sincerity – basically what you hear on the albums is what you’ll see on our shows enhanced by the energy of live performance.
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