HAILS...THANX FOR DOING THE INTERVIEW.

Thank YOU for giving me the opportunity!

PLEASE START BY TELLING ABOUT THE BAND, MEMBERS, AND HOW THE BAND FORMED.

The band consists of Nicolas (guitars, spoken voice), Oscar (drums) and myself (clean and unclean vocals, keyboards). For the live gigs we get the assistance of a second guitar player (Stijn from Until Death Overtakes Me). I had been carrying around plans to do something like Pantheïst since a long time, but the problem was that I couldn't play the guitar by then and of course it's not that easy to find band members willing to play such extremely slow music. Fortunately I met Nicolas at the university, who is not only a very able guitar player, but also shows a profound understanding of extreme doom-metal. You can say that we are the 'nucleus' of the band. Recently, Oscar joined the band on drums and we are looking forward to playing live/recording with a real drummer (the first demo was recorded with a drum machine).

ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON MUSIC FOR A RELEASE?

Yes, we are currently working on new tracks. They are going to be much longer and more complicated than those on the first demo. The atmosphere of the songs is going to be similar, though: depressive, heavy and mournful.

IF SO, WILL IT BE AN INDEPENDENT OR LABEL RELEASE?

Well, we don't know yet. We are currently unsigned, but I hope to attrack the attention of some underground labels with that second release. If not, it's going to be an independent release.

WILL YOU BE DOING ANY TOURING TO PROMOTE YOURSELVES?

We haven't played live thus far, but we are looking forward to do so. We are going to play a first live gig at October, 13 in Rotterdam, together with bands like Officium Triste, Whispering Forest and Whispering Gallery. We are certainly looking forward to it! To be perfectly honest, I don't think we'll ever do extensive touring, our music is too slow and depressive to attrack a wider audience. But I think a live gig by Pantheïst could be an interesting experience if we work a bit on the 'emotional' and 'ritual' aspect of the show.

WHO OR WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR INFLUENCES WHILE DOING THE MUSIC WRITING?

Some of the influences are obvious (funeral doom bands like Thergothon, Skepticism, Funeral... and baroque music) some others less obvious...I have been listening to a very wide range of music since I started listening systematically, ranging from dark metal to classical music, darkwave, rock, Greek folk and pop music. I suppose most of those influences are in some way or the other present in our music.

WHAT ARE YOUR FEELINGS WHILE PLAYING YOUR MUSIC? IS THERE A FEELING THAT YOU TRY TO GET ACROSS TO FANS WHILE PLAYING LIVE? IF SO, WHAT ARE THEY?

This is hard to answer, because playing my music is something very special for me. In Pantheïst I project all my fears, depressive emotions and my personal worldview in general, so obviously I feel very strong emotions while playing my music. About the second part of your question, as I said before we haven't played live get, but when we will, I would like to get across to fans feelings of awe and mysterious mournful atmospheres, as if they are present at the funeral of a dear friend, feeling sad about the loss, but at the same time with a certain feeling of pride as well, as if they are proud for having known such a great friend, although they are losing him/her now.

WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO CHOOSE THE FUNERAL DOOM SCENE, AS COMPARED TO ANOTHER FORM OF METAL? ARE THERE PERSONAL REASONS?

First of all I can't say that I choose for the funeral doom scene. My music moved quite naturally to this direction when we added the distortion guitars and the brutal vocals. I guess I can said that it's not such a strange evolution, since I always liked mournful music and minor chord progressions in general. Happy music makes me depressed (it really does), so I guess I'm just a pervert for feeling good by listening to music which makes most people depressed, hehe. Second, the concept of Pantheïst is one of isolation, desperation and hopelessness. So naturally, funeral doom is the closest related genre to express this concept. Consider it as a kind of requiem with down tuned guitars and modern instruments/expression.

WHAT IS THE DOOM METAL SCENE LIKE WHERE YOU ARE? DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVORITES?

Uhm...here in Belgium there is not really a doom scene. We have Insanity Reigns Supreme (doom death) and that's about it. They release one album every ten years, haha. Recently though, there seems to be a wave of new funeral doom projects in the Low Lands...hailz to Stijn and Until Death Overtakes Me, The Ethereal and Ralph and The Eleventh Room! The future belongs to the brave!

WHAT IN YOUR OPINION DO YOU THINK OF THE WORLD WIDE CURRENT UNDERGROUND DOOM METAL SCENE?

I think the scene is doing really well. As you probably know, I'm also contributing to doom-metal.com and thanx to the site, I have the privilege to follow the development of the world wide undeground doom scene. I see that funeral doom is getting more and more widespread, while there also seems to be a "revival" of traditional doom. The influence of doom death is declining, though.

IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO ADD OR THAT I MAY HAVE MISSED?

Not really. Thanx for the interview, it's always good to see people like you who are dedicated to the underground scene and put effort and time to support it. Good luck with your site and I hope it gets bigger and bigger with the time!