Hrymr (bass) ‘’Keres were born in 2015 from the ashes of another band, The Crying of Angels, coming from the glacial meanders of Val di Fassa, in the Dolomites of Trentino-Alto Adige. Having had a change of lineup, I (Hrymr), Ares (vocals), and Astaroth (guitar) decided to change the name of the band and propose with the musical project KERES some of our personal passions, mythology, Greek philosophy, and observation of the human condition. Keres' first album, Heresy is in fact a conceptual EP based on some themes of the Greek world. Starting from the name KERES (they are demons who feed on the last breaths of warriors fallen on the battlefield) passing through the artwork with subjects such as the 3 moirai that weave the name of the band like a Gordian knot, passing through the lyrics that transpose the main theme of the Greek myths with their peculiarities into the decadent modern world.
I would say an interesting journey based on the fact that humans have not changed much over the millennia but tend to be victims, prisoners and executioners of themselves, prey to their own egocentricity; rarely judges, except in tragic and inevitable moments such as proximity to the pass away themes that are then explored in depth, but without the meaning of the Greek world also in the new full-length Homo Homini Lupus out on February 23, 2024, for Gruesome Records
Homo Homini Lupus is an excellent new release, yet it has taken a long time for album.
number two?
‘’Homo Homini Lupus is the equivalent of a triplet birth, it was a long process, there were.
setbacks of all kinds and this led to the time being extended, also thanks to the era of the
real or not pandemic of SarsCov2 which with all the resulting limitations made us lose 2.
years. In 2020 we were loaded like springs and most of the songs were ready, then the
aforementioned disaster. The good thing is that we had the opportunity to pay more attention to the songs of Homo Homini Lupus compared to the previous album, Heresy. We also added a second guitar to the Keres ensemble, and we are very proud of it, Azrael is a great guitarist, he is technical and has good taste, a great addition to the band.
Was Delay perfecting the music for assault on the masses?
‘’I would say that the delay, looking at the situation from the positive side, served to help the songs mature and probably us too. Now we are damn ready to attack the masses both, with the album and in the live shows!!!
The aggression and Nihility in your Music are it a product of your immediate environment or society in general?
‘’My personal opinion is that the world without music would be much worse than it appears to us. Many of us metalheads, if we didn't have an outlet to make or listen to extreme music, we would go around with an iron mace blowing heads off and doing other damage, ha-ha. However, the music that we Keres make is extreme, but we hide inside a lot of melody, many details that each musician in the band introduces into the playing of the songs, which makes the experience of listening to the album as a whole a rich experience of inputs Aggression is our way, but this does not mean we neglect the song form by playing what we would like to hear first, but I think this is a common approach in many bands when there is passion for what you do.
Does Oblivion represent that?
''Oblivion represents the human world itself which is annihilated in the slow progression of the millennia, the desire for domination is the worst advisor that whispers in the ears of men and the result will be directed towards oblivion and the annihilation of human society as the last step for the regaining possession of itself by the planet.
Why do we exist for war?
''Because the egocentrism of the human race has no equal in nature, we plunder everything we encounter, and it seems we will do so to the point of total destruction. The concept is concentrated in a famous Latin phrase taken up by Thomas Hobbes in the 17th century Homo Homini Lupus. At this moment on the globe there are 70 states involved in armed conflicts with collateral losses, translated this means civilian deaths, is it necessary to comment further?
The vengeance that runs through Eradicate the Infected Seed? Does its violence represent the ultimate justice?
''I'll tell you the story told in the song: The attacker decides to attack and do violence to a
woman, not knowing that she is familiar with the dark magical arts. He robs her of her dignity and robs her of her few material possessions. Not realizing that she recovers from the attack while he is still too close to not suffer violent revenge, he is in turn attacked by the woman who hits him with all her might. strength she has in her body, and, by killing him, she performs a ritual on him which, by cursing him, makes him awaken ethereally in a place that we could call hell; she wishes to destroy him completely. At a certain point in the video, it seems that she grants him a sort of 'forgiveness' when they meet in limbo, but since his human part is too embodied and furious, revenge takes over, the one that is born deep inside anyone who has suffered a profound violation of their dignity and body. The curse is carried out with all possible fury and hatred; the terror takes such an upper hand (and you can see it in the aggressor's eyes together with the dismay that precedes the violent death) that it does not grant him any return or forgiveness. The punishment he must suffer is being devoured from the inside by the demons and impulses that have condemned him to a voracity that has little of humanity, his presumed virility is eradicated; his humanity and his existence will be erased. The judgment is complete. You can also read it as a condemnation of the part of humanity that allows itself to be dominated by its own instincts, the same goes for both the aggressor and the victim. Individual choice is the real focus in my opinion. But as I was saying, everyone tends to read reality based on their own vision of existence.
Should all art be extreme without compromise?
''My opinion is this: art as such does not need rules, it is extreme by its very nature and lives. without compromise. The moment art compromises, it is no longer art but becomes a marketing strategy, which in my opinion has nothing to do with art.
The question might be: what do we define as art?
Is compromising the ultimate failure?
‘’Selling yourself short may be the ultimate failure, which includes compromising. But perhaps this is more likely to happen in the mainstream.
‘’One of the reasons why we chose Gruesome Records when we were looking for a record. label was the wide margin of freedom they offered. And the freedom to make the music we like without external interference is one of the things we care about most.
Does merging death and black metal represent the most unforgiving form of music possible?
‘’Combining multiple musical genres is a winning choice, black and death... well... do you?
know something more violent?
What drew you to extreme music?
‘’I started listening to rock music as a child with Led Zeppelin and the Doors, as I grew up I got into Heavy Metal when I was around 13, I brutalized my listening more and more over the years and this were also reflected in my way of playing In the band we all had more or less love at first sight with metal as kids so we all had a clear path before our eyes and the Keres ensemble is a crew of fucking extreme music junkies.
And why is the perfect vehicle for delivering your message?
‘’Because it's the music we grew up with, it's in our blood, we love it, it makes us vent and exorcizes our personal demons.
Plans for the future and new releases.
‘’We're already playing around with riffs and new ideas, we don't like standing still, who knows about the future, it depends a lot on the mood in the group, the idea is to continue making violent stuff and playing live as much as possible compatible with parallel projects of the various members. I'll mention them to you as a Daaamm spammer for a moment: Astahrot. and I play in the AnarcA project and Azrael plays in the band called Aasar.
''The mission is to carry the black word KERES as far and wide as possible and have fun.
playing our music.
Top 6 albums of all time?
Uuhh big question! I'll tell you 6 but it would be many more!!
1) Metallica's cover album - The $5.98 E.P. Garage Days Re-Revisited
2) Led Zeppelin - III
3) Meshuggah - ObZen
4) King Crimson - In The Court Of The Crimson King
5) Behemoth - Evangelion
6) Machine Head - The Blackening