After having bought a of items couple from this label's distro and having bought a few copies of the extremely cool "gather against humanity" 4 band split for distribution in Denmark, my interest for the label was burning now. Some time has passed and Herr Chemosh is really getting things on a roll, so therefore he gets the honour of being featured her.e Check out this label and support it, it's the real thing
- Hails Herr Chemosh, how is the current state of the extreme metal scene in England?
Gegroet, it's getting there. there's bands popping all over the place who are playing raw black metal, and not shit either, people just have an aversion to the UK scene due to shit like CoF and hecate enthrond and the years of them persisting they're black metal. now everyone thinks that any band to
say they're bm from the UK will sound like them.
There's quite a few good acts now though like ODIUM, Eternity of Darkness, Ichneutic, Nigrescent to name a few. All playing raw black metal, which isnt a bad thing.
Although I have to say as my fatherland is Belgium my interest lies with that scene, Gotmoor, Worthless (now Paragon Impure), Grimfaug, lugubrum, YMI, enthroned, The
Beast, Axamenta, Avatar, Ecliptica and the likes.
- Will you tell a bit about yourself, why are you spending your time on metal and can you remember your first encounter with the blessed music?
Well there's always a pathway into black metal isn't there, mine started off with listening to KISS, was, twisted sister and manowar from a young age and then one day in october/november `95 wondering about in a store looking for kiss and accidentally coming accross king diamond. Downloaded that as soon as i got online round may `96 and went out to buy the spider's lullaby a few days after that. In august `96 i came accross immortal's BITN while looking for the king's cds, which didnt impres me much...September `96 saw me buying a terrorizer zine which had the king on the cover and within i learnt about bands such as mayhem, gehenna, satyricon and the likes.
We all know how being rebellious rules when we're young and after a violent encounter with my dad which ended up with me being kicked out of the house the record store was my first target and mayhem, carcass plus immolation
cds made it into my pocket, from there on there's been no turning back and black metal has become the world.
- When and how did Christcrusher Productions start?
Having lived in Hong Kong for most of my life made finding good black metal a chore, so in `99 i started using underground mail orders, buying demos and such, this led me to finding many gems, and i wondered why so many of
these great bands (Musta Surma, Warloghe, Tharaphita etc) were unsigned, so i decided there needed to be a label to cater for such great acts.
In september or october `01 i decided university wasnt my life, so i dropped out and started making plans of how i would support the music scene other than my page whichs located at http://melektaus.christcrusher.com and i
decided i should start up a label or distro. The first cds i distributed were the Melektaus mcd and the VladTepes mcd, I hated how a mainstream shit label was selling these great releases so i bought off there copies off the distro/label and christcrusher prod was born.
- What is the philosophy behind the label?
There isn't really any philosophy behind the label, other than not ripping off the black metal fans and offering the lowest possible prices!
- Why did you feel you had to start a label, what can you and your label offer compared to other underground labels?
Other than what I described before, I felt that too many labels and distros out there are fucking rip off, charging 12$for an MCD, and 15-20for CDs. this is fucking bullshit! I fucking hate that kind of shit which is why i strive to get low prices, this does mean i dont earn shit from the label and i dont get heaps of money to put back into the label. and so i get a limited catalogue list.
- How did you get inspired to start up a label?
The day I saw those Vlad Tepes and MelekTaus cds in the catalogue of that gay label i just emailed them and told them i wanted all their copies of these cds and a week later i was distributing. Then about a year onward came the 4way split cd
- What have you so far released and do you have any exciting things coming up?
So far there's been Kult ov Azazel/Obitus/Humanicide/Thy Lord - Gather Against Humanity CD raw black metal - limited to 300 with the first 50 numbered in my blood
Toroidh - Europe is Dead 7" Pic disk VINYL
neo classical/folk/ambient - limited to 200
Gurthant - The Thrill of Live Magick TAPE
Death/black metal live tape - limited to 50 handnumbered copies
Darkest Hate/Black Winter Night - split demo
Raw black metal from brazil - limited to 333 handnumbered copies
Eternity of Darkness - Ship of Fools
Raw black metal - limited to 200 handnumbered copies
various goodies are coming up, but I'll address those later on.
- What do a band have to offer, before you would sign it/release something with it?
All I really need is to be able to hear the band, i am not going to release something which i havent heard and also wont re-issue just any demo or what ever. when it comes to bands like Eternity of Darkness and ODIUM, these
items were limited to 20 and 40copies on CD-r so this warrants a re-issue. but a demo or what ever which has been properly released on cd or tape by a label will not be re-issued after being sold out.
- Have you limited the label to only concentrating on a few musical styles or are you open towards everything?
I love quite a lot of music ranging from industrial to ambient to death metal to black metal, but i wont release the kinds of music which you find everywhere. for example a dimmu clone wont be found amongst my releases!
But I prefer to just release raw black metal, but as the past has shown with the gurthang and toroidh releases i will release some other material as well, i think fans of the label into the raw black metal will be surprised by the Vehemence6.2 release especially. Even i am in the dark with how this will sound though. And i have spoken with Nordvargr about a possible future release of Toroidh or another side project of mz.412.
Also in the distro i have been known to distro none BM items like, penitent, veiled allusions, folkstorm, toroidh, sephiroth and the likes.
- What are your own favorite style within the dark world of metal?
Raw black metal, plain n simple.
- If you could choose 3 bands of your own choice (past and present) and release something with the band, who would you choose?
Musta Surma, Vlad Tepes, GGFH
These bands strike me as acts which didnt get enough attention. i was asked to release the Musta Surma album at one point but i told them all i could do was an album on vinyl and they never contacted me after that email to them.
- If you got the chance to release something with e.g. COF and you knew it would sell shitloads, would you take the offer or turn it down?
Turn it down, im not in this business to make money, if i was my prices would be higher and i'd be releasing shit. bands like that get too much attention any way, they dont need it from supporters of the underground as well.
- If you ever got the chance to turn Christcrusher into to a large label, would you do that or will you remain dedicated to the underground?
I would love to turn christcrusher into a large label, but in the sense of a label which is able to cop with a lot of releases, not a label which makes shitloads of money with fucking shit releases. But i will only release cds or vinyls for the underground bands and keep it all limited and i will never raise my prices to the ridiculous unless the mailing places force me to do so by raising their prices.
- How is the local metal scene, is there anything happening near your home?
I'm currently working on getting a new band started out of the ashes of my last one (Dawn of Apocalypse) which died when my fist and knee struck the other founding member's face.
Other than that there's one death metal act who arent bad, just have horse shit drum programmin rather than a real drummer which totally ruins their sound.
A lot of the people around here are full of shit, example someone shoves me from behind face first into a pillar at a metal/rock club's dance floor, i retaliate by grabbing who it is by the hair and slamming them into the pillar without looking. turns out it's a fucking bitch, so i get banned just because it's female. then a few days later i'm being told i've been punching this whore in the face for no apparent reason and kicking her while she's down. wow great metal scene. For a good local scene i'd better move back to Belgium. which i might do in a few years
although there's quite a few people into raw bm around here but no one has a band and there is no place to hang out or do anything interested, which is why i spend all my free time on my label or camping out in the mountains
and making visits to ancient neolithic burial chambers and making walks in the woods! which is why currenly i am trying to find a house in the woods on the mountains in the outskirts of this town to live in.
My dream would be to get a house in the outskirts of the town in the woods on the mountains witha decent garden, so i'd be able to bring down some underground bands and have a "mini festival" with people camping out and the bands playing out there.
- If I say black metal, what do you say?
Fuck Yeah!
That's all i can come up with now, as the love for this music is not something I can describe in words, i can only display it with my support for the scene through
- How long do you think Christcrusher will continue to spread the plague, have you ever thought of giving up?
Giving up? No. Taking a break? Yes. There have been quite a few times where i have had to live off other people as i havent been able to even buy my own food due to pumping so much of my own money into the label. when ever
I make money from work or what ever I tend to put it immediately towards the label and before i realise how low on money I am, I end up with an empty fridge and no food to eat. due to this i have thought about laying it to
rest for a few months and restarting it
- In ten years from now, what do you want people to think when the hear Christcrusher Productions?
I'd like people to think of x-crusher prod as a/the home for raw underground black metal. a place where one an go and get some cheap music.
- Both your releases and your distro items are very cheap, how do you manage to keep a healthy business going?
By eating very cheap food heh. i tend to work for it. a fuckload. the only reason to live is black metal, and so i work my job, most people go to work and do this to survive. i go to work and do this to sort my label out, i'll put my label and distro and music before my own health.
- Which of your releases are you most proud of and which one rips the most?
that's very hard to say, i am proud of all of them, the main thing is that i have to say is that having a release out and getting interest for them is like getting your own music recorded and you listen to your demo tape and you think "fuck, i did that!" and this is how i have felt about all of my releases to be honest.
- Wouldn't "Gather Against Humanity" look fucking great on a picture disc, have you ever thought about releasing a full length vinyl?
This is true, or perhaps on a gatefold vinyl, but i have never really discussed it with the bands, and as i dont talk to ThyLord or Humanicide anymore so i doubt this will happen, I thought about it before but i just dont think it will be a possibility.
- Are you into vinyl yourself, what do you like/dislike about the format? Do you have some gems in your collection?
I adore vinyl, i love the way the format is, the way it feels to be holding a cd is nothing compared to a vinyl in your hands, i just like how the artwork looks so much more majestic and impressive, the sound is in my opinion a lot better too, cant describe it, but only another vinyl fanatic would understand how the vinyl pops are so great.
some gems?
MayheM - de mysteriis dom sathanas
morbid - live pic disk 7" tribute to DEAD
Devil Doll - dies irae
Devil Doll - The Girl who was Death
Devil Doll - Sacrilegium
All bathory albums
All Darkthrone albums
3 macabre vinyls
moribund 7"
sarcofago - INRI
Mutiilation - vampires of black imperial blood double gatefold LP (this vinyl would sell for up to 600$us)
there's too many to really list, also have various thrash items.
- Do you have any bands in mind for future releases?
I was discussing with a few bands... ThyLord (estonia) and vinterriket's album on tape. although confirmed releases i will list with the next question...
- How will the future be for Christcrusher, what can we expect from your side?
As for the future there's quite a lot planned for christcrusher prod. In the coming month there will be a re-issue of the ODIUM first demo which was put out on CD-r and was limited to 20copies, i'll be releasing that on tape limited to 100copies. This is great underproduced raw buzzy minimalistic black metal which reminds of ildjarn.
Botulistum LP. this vinyl will contain all the tracks they ever recorded during their 3 or 4 year history plus some live tracks and unreleased tracks. limited to 200copies in perhaps a gatefold sleave (unsure) it will be hand numbered and come with a poster. a number will also be numbered or smeared in blood, whether i am willing to take the blade to myself for getting enough blood to do this will be discovered in the future.. RAW underproduced black metal from Holland
4 or so Vinterriket posters will see the day of light in September.
Vehemence6.2 power Noise/industrial music from USA. this has been delayed for a few month already, it was ment to be out in June, a tape version of the CD-r which the band has ben spreading, but with about 60-70mins of extra music.
There will also be a great mayhem tribute to the old and only true mayhem with only tracks being covered from the demos, deathcrush and de mysteriis recordings. This has been delayed by almost a year and fuck knows when it
will be out.
And the last item which is at the moment confirmed for the future will be a Botulistum/Lugubrum split 7" with both bands recording new material for it.
Info on all this can be found at christcrusher.com though
- Will you share your 3 all time fave albums with us?
Very difficult question...
Shellyz Raven - Desolation, this cd makes me feel like there is more to discover in the world of depression, perhaps not black metal but fuck it.
Gehenna - 2nd spell. This is what opened up my eyes to black metal, i had discovered the music already for a few months, but this cd just made it all much more impressive.
Don't know what I would pick as a third, perhaps vlad tepes/belketre split, or long voyage back's first album, or something by nine inch nails, not black metal, but a great band none the less, it was my favourite band before
i discovered black metal and will probably always be.
- Thanks a lot for answering my questions! If you have something to add, please feel free to do it now!
No Problem, thanks for your support and i hope you enjoy the promotional
material i sent your way~
christcrusher.com
