A while ago we presented “Timeline Symmetry”, the band’s latest album. The boys from Chile play Doom and Metal and not just Doom Metal... They are indeed very serious, they are crazy, they are dedicated. Contact was set in no time and this interview is actually the voice of these guys... A heavy voice, trying to convince us that we should pay attention, we should listen, we should support. You are about to read about a fellowship living on the other side of the planet, struggling to make it, dreaming of European soil and stages... Best of luck, you guys!

Interview by Costas Koulis

Rockpages.gr : Tell us about how “Timeline symmetry” is doing so far. How’s the feedback?

Poema Arcanvs : First of all thanks a lot for your support. We are quite happy with the reactions towards this album, even more considering the fact that it was 100% made by us, without an “external” producer, you know, on a total DIY way. The weird thing with this work philosophy is that at the end you don’t have a clear idea of how good the album might end up being, as the self production thing takes you extremely close, and maybe “too close” to the music itself, thus not allowing you to have an objective point of view.  For the same reason we are very happy with the reviews in the media, especially in Europe and our country, because our expectations were far less than what we are receiving. On the other hand, our fans have given us total support and good feedback through facebook, myspace, forums, emails and at the gigs. We’ve been playing a lot in our country and a couple of months ago we visited Argentina for the first time, and as far as I know we left a really good impression over there. Finally “Timeline Symmetry” was chosen as the best Chilean metal album of 2009 by the biggest Chilean Rock Metal Magazine called RockAxis (www.rockaxis.cl).

Rockpages.gr : Although you are considered a Doom band, your music is filled with a whole bunch of other elements. Progressive and more... Would you say you are a Doom band with a progressive twist? You also have your Death Metal moments...

Poema Arcanvs : “A Doom band with a progressive twist”... Sounds pretty much accurate I think… We have plenty of influences outside doom metal or death metal, though the doom-ish vibe is always the backbone of our sound. We often say that, as an exercise, you can take My Dying Bride, Candlemass, In the Woods, Voivod, Queensryche and Autopsy, put them in a blender and that’s more or less us! (laughs)

Rockpages.gr : Is your label, Aftermath Music, supportive enough? Are you satisfied?

Poema Arcanvs : Well, I can say that maybe we wouldn’t be doing this interview if we weren’t with Aftermath, so in that case, Aftermath is a big support for us. Now, talking about the deal we have with them, I cannot say it is the greatest, but it is ok for a band like Poema Arcanvs, considering we are in the ass of the world and that the band plays a not so commercial metal, even more nowadays when classic doom metal is in vogue. Maybe we’d need a bigger support to book a tour through Europe, and in that case, Aftermath unfortunately isn’t able to help us.

Rockpages.gr : You have been playing and creating for 17 years. What is the driving force that kept you going on all these years?

Poema Arcanvs : Love for metal… on one hand metal as the language that gives us a big creative outlet, and, on the other hand, metal as the heavy-ass wall of sound that has become some sort of drug through the years for us. There’s also a need to do something that allows us escaping to some extent from modern life and its stressful nature. We are metalheads since we were kids, so having a band is a privilege, a joy and we will likely bang our heads until we can’t do it anymore. We consider metal as some kind of art, so as someone said, art is the food of the soul. Without the band we would have a great void in our lives for sure.

Rockpages.gr : What’s next to come for the band?

Poema Arcanvs : Playing live a lot in our country, to do a release gig in Santiago (e.n. Chile capital) and hopefully, if Satan helps us, touring around Europe. If this last thing cannot be achieved soon, maybe we will start writing music for a new album.

Rockpages.gr : I read that your next live gig is scheduled for March 6. Any more live dates?

Poema Arcanvs : At the moment we only have some unconfirmed ones in several cities in Chile. As soon as some new dates arise and get confirmed we will be publishing it though our websites.

Rockpages.gr : How hard is it to be living and playing in Chile? Is there any chance for the band to cross the border and play a gig abroad?

Poema Arcanvs : Currently I think Chile is not such a bad place to live, because our economy has developed during the last 10 years. The problem is that the job market is flooded with professionals with a college education; hence many of them are unemployed or under-employed. On the other hand people without college education have to do shitty jobs with a very low income. Then, almost the only option to have a decent life standard for a Chilean guy, is to get some a degree, which is really expensive and many times unattainable for a working class family, and then struggling to get a job. Shamefully the gap between the life standard between people with a degree and without a degree is too big to overlook.

Now, talking about the “Metal market”, it is very very small and no band is able to live off their music. The “Mecca” of Metal is far away so the only option is trying to move your ass to European countries or struggle from here with a label which can help you with promo to put your music on foreign ears. We can say the band is an extra expense for us personally, then we must really love what we do, pure love for music, because money-wise we gain nothing at all by playing metal.

About European gigs … well, we’ve been trying for many times to make this come true, but it seems so far we’ve always been at the wrong time/moment. This last year we have had conversations with some booking agencies, but somehow they haven’t been able to book anything for us, and of course making the huge trip for a couple of weekend gigs wouldn’t be worth it... It’s been quite disappointing for us so far, but we won’t give up yet, as it’s a long overdue issue for the band.

Rockpages.gr : You have made a video for “Iconoclast”. Are you thinking about doing a video for the new album?

Poema Arcanvs : I couldn’t say it’s one of our priorities right now, because it’s usually quite expensive and for a band like us I think it’s not worth spending that much money, considering the benefits a video clip would bring us and the results of the video itself. Personally, I’m not a big fan of video clips, you know… It’s really hard to find video clips without some “Spinal tap” elements, and if you think of it, making videos itself is a bit “Spinal tap”, isn’t it? I prefer live videos and such… Of course we are not denying the possibility, but as I told you, for us it’s not a big priority so far.

Rockpages.gr : What is the band’s motto?