NOCTIS IMPERIUM
Venezuelan black metal band NOCTIS IMPERIUM return with “I Am,” an epic, experimental journey featuring Nicholas Barker, blending spiritual themes, progressive elements, and musical solidarity in support of the legendary drummer.
1. Your upcoming single “I Am” takes listeners on a nearly nine-minute spiritual and semi-cosmic journey inspired by Thelemic philosophy. What inspired this concept, and how did you translate such complex spiritual themes into the song’s musical structure and lyrics?
Isa: The seeds of ‘I am’ were first planted as a 3min instrumental demo that slowly developed into these almost 9 minutes of music. During that time we had stared to develop and expand our sound looking for new avenues to tell our stories. The lyrics came to me on february 6 of 2006 – I remember it clearly as it was the day after our former drummer’s birthday. I took the car to get wheel alignment and tire balancing, so while I waited for it I took my pen and notepad and wrote it down. I was still drunk from the day before, probably. The concept and the music reflect this necessity we were experiencing to break the mold of what could be done in black metal. Noctis Imperium’s main philosophy has always been to carve one’s own path against all obstacles and this lies at the core of this song.
2. Having legendary drummer Nicholas Barker involved in this recording is particularly exciting. How did this collaboration come about, and what did his distinctive drumming style bring to the composition?
Isa: We had been looking for a drummer to record our album for a while when Nicholas made a note to the press that said he was available for session work – I’m pretty sure you can still find this if you google it. So to me it was one of those times when you feel like the universe is putting signs in your way. I was impulsive enough to contact him, showing him our music, not knowing what to expect and his reply was something like “I could see myself playing these types of songs”. So I told the rest of the band and we worked our asses off to make it happen.
At the time there were almost no metal drummers with his experience and capabilities in Venezuela, most of them were still developing musicians. Our sound has always relied on very elaborate drumming and those newer compositions required a higher level that I don’t think we would’ve found otherwise, so having him for sure delivered. Especially in ‘I am’ which is very complex, him being a massive Rush fan, this track allows for a lot of that type of influence.
3. The track also features Hugo Fuguet on guitar and Alfredo Demey on saxophone, introducing some unexpected musical textures into your black metal sound. How did these collaborations develop, and what role do experimentation and unconventional instrumentation play in NOCTIS IMPERIUM’s artistic vision?
Isa: This song belongs to a batch that was crafted under laws of experimentation – we were under a no rules policy. So having them participate in our project was only natural.
Hugo has been a friend since around 2002 and although I met him as the guitar player for the biggest rock and pop artists in Venezuela, he had his long-haired metalhead past with the legendary Baphomet from Caracas. I really like his style of playing and having him take part in this epic song is more than an honor.
The Alfredo collab came about after we got the idea to add wind instrumentation to the song, turning out that our bass player, Daniel Haddad, is cousins with the sax player of the band Mulato.
We let them do their thing and the result was special. I could’ve never imagined that we’d ever work with musicians related to the biggest hits in Venezuelan music.
4. You’ve announced that all proceeds from “I Am” will support Nicholas Barker’s GoFundMe campaign as he awaits a kidney transplant. Having previously donated the proceeds from “Resistencia 666” to earthquake victims in La Guaira, how important is it for the band to use music as a means of solidarity and support?
Isa: We wouldn’t be able to release new music featuring Nicholas and not try to help him somehow during the difficult situation he’s facing. Channeling our work to create awareness and get people involved is something new to us – the donations to the victims of the earthquake was the first time we’ve done something like this as the tragedy left unimaginable devastation. We just want to help spread awareness and bring attention to these matters, not expecting necessarily for people to buy our music, just donate directly if you can. Go straight to the source and get in touch with them to help in anyway.
5. “I Am” was recorded at Estudios La Cabaña, mixed by José “Matula” Goitia, and mastered by Alex Krull at Mastersound Studios. What were your main priorities during the production process, particularly when balancing black metal aggression with the song’s atmospheric and progressive elements?
Isa: Having Nicholas be a part of the record was the biggest factor in determining the sound we got. He trusted us to get the best possible outcome and Matula has some of the best sounding records in the Venezuelan metal scene, so we never hesitated working with him. We didn’t get the typical sounding black metal record but that’s not what we were looking for really, particularly not for ‘I am’. The entire mix and the general production is really clean but undeniably big and powerful.
There are still songs from the Barker sessions to be released and maybe we’ll go for a typical black metal approach – I think that would be good for people to hear his drumming in a more organic setting. However, we couldn’t be prouder of ‘I am’ as it stands.
6. As a Venezuelan black metal band working with internationally recognized musicians, how do you see NOCTIS IMPERIUM’s place within the global extreme metal scene, and what can fans expect from the band following the release of “I Am” on October 30?
Isa: Outside of Venezuela we haven’t reached too far, even though we’ve toured Europe we haven’t really broken through and that’s ok. It’s been 20 years as a band, with some years of inactivity, but there’s still a lot of road ahead of us – with this new release and we’re already mapping out what the coming years will look like to us, till at least 2030. I don’t want to be giving away too much but the main thing will be the new music that we’re writing, it’s sounding pretty killer and I know will make a dent. With our experience and the energy we put into this, we’ve learned to use our resources in the most effective way possible and that translates into our sound. Hopefully we’ll be playing Brutal Assault and Frantic Fest in the upcoming years.