DEFACING GOD have delivered one of the most exciting releases in melodic black/death metal in recent years with their debut album „The Resurrection Of Lilith“. The mixture is not only musically exciting, but also the whole concept around demons, incantations and dark magic is very captivating. Therefore, we talk to singer and band head Sandie Gjørtz in depth about the concept, her inspirations and parallels of the dark story to our real world.
Hello, thank you for taking time to do this interview. How are you these days?
Hello there. I am good these days. Busy with the music and other things. Thank you.
With the recent release of your debut album, most readers won’t know you yet. Can you introduce yourselves and the band at the beginning?
Sure thing.
I founded DEFACING GOD back in 2015 with a clear vision. I´ve been a singer most of my life and I always knew that this was the way I wanted to go but I also knew beforehand that I needed to meet the right people to work with to make my vision come true. It happened when I met my drummer (Michale Olsson) more or less a decade ago. He lives and breathes for music as well and always had the same attitude towards things as myself. „If we do this, we do it properly. Whatever it takes, whatever it costs“. It took us some years to complete the constellation of the right band members though. Around 2017 we had our lineup complete as you see it nowadays. It just clicked and we were lucky in that.
We started out with experimenting with several styles, but mainly focused on the melodic death genre, to create a sound we personally felt complete with and the creative process has been long since then. You can have a vision and a goal, but the funny thing about art is that you never know completely how it turns out. Sometimes things take a turn. I guess my personal interest for the dark and occult shines very much through in our sound and visuals, but it is hard to put us in a specific box since each our personal taste and style are different from each other’s in the band but I think we found more or less mutual ground after years of experimenting. Everyone’s strong side shines through I´d say.
DEFACING GOD is not just about the music, but the whole package. The theatric and cinematic aspect is a big part of it for us as well since I tend to write stories with connecting concepts so one thing doesn´t go without the other.
With Napalm you have a big label as a partner directly for the debut. Why is Napalm the right label for you and how did the cooperation come about?
After the release of the official video of our track “Succumb the Euphoria” we got in contact with Napalm Records. They liked our concept and found the expressions of the topics and theme very strong and that is how our collaboration started. We are very grateful for that opportunity. Napalm Records have shown us such professionalism since day one which is very good for a control-freak like me, so that is how and why I know they are the right label for us to support my visions.
„The Resurrection of Lilith“ was only planned as an EP and much earlier, wasn’t it? Have the plans changed due to the pandemic and how much has the song material changed since the original plans?
Yes, we planned to release „The Resurrection of Lilith“ as an EP but since we came in contact with Napalm during the lockdown/pandemic the plans changed and we decided to work on a full-length debut which I haven´t regretted a second. This process have been extremely rewarding for us as a band. The original plan with „The Resurrection Of Lilith“ though, was to release 2-3 EP´s shortly after one another with a connecting concept, more or less like the concept of anthology films with 4 or 5 small stories but all somehow connected with a few elements. Maybe we do that in the future instead.
Musically „The Resurrection Of Lilith“ sounds to me something like a mixture of Dimmu Borgir and Arch Enemy with a little bit of Naglfar and Satyricon – although it’s hard to say, because the album has a very unique character. What have been your main musical influences in songwriting?
Thank you for your nice words. I appreciate it!
In the very beginning we didn´t experiment with symphonics or orchestrations at all. We only did a few organic choir parts here and there to add some more „grandeur“ so to say but we got hooked on this idea and wanted to explore some more in it, so the experimenting part with orchestrations came later. We didn´t actually do this with inspiration from other bands. We chose to do this because I love the theatrical or rather, the cinematic element that completes the storytelling. Mostly these symphonic elements are used in modern or second wave black metal and not so much in the melodic/Swedish death metal (which is our main genre) and that maybe makes our music a little bit more unusual. Also, if you ask me, I mostly think this orchestration or symphonic element is a bit too overused out there. It can easily become „too much“ and then all the great guitar lines drown in other sounds.
I like to find the balance between too much and too less of the orchestration without drowning the guitar completely so to say. If symphonics or orchestrations are too overused, then the music somehow lose the whole essence and groove of the track and the guitars are still and will always be the most important for our sound. It is really a fine line and also hard to find that balance, but somehow, I think we really managed to do it with the right dose of everything. The orchestrations are just a spice to our music and not the load-bearing element.
And no, with this said, I am not saying or referring to that we innovated the use of symphonic elements in extreme music. Far from it. I´m just saying that we have chosen to connect some genres and styles in a more atypical way so it is not the usual symphonic black metal act that you would normally see. We like to be unconventional while at the same time we love and adore the traditional Swedish/Scandinavian genre, namely the melodic death metal and that will always be an inspiration to us, even though that is not normally the genre you would connect with symphonics. Yes, we do also have some black metal influences because it adds to the darker atmosphere and makes the occult themes more obvious. So, what I am saying is; No, we didn´t invent a completely new genre (was never the intention) but yes, I´d definitely say that we have experimented a lot and therefor interpreted existing genres in our own way and made it way more personal or maybe even unique this way.
And while we are at it, I can also tell that we actually heard a few times from a few people that we didn´t create anything new… I don´t even know why some people who probably don´t even play an instrument are even busy with if a band invented a new genre or not? I´d say these people should be my guest and learn to play instruments and show the world this new genre they have in mind so badly then. (laughs) There is the genres there is out there and that’s it. The art in it is to be creative and make it personal so to say! But yeah, it is partly true that we didn´t invent a new genre, as symphonic elements in extreme music have been used many times before by other musicians. The same goes for the melodic death metal, thrash metal, black metal or „whateverthefuck“-metal – you name it! but at the same time by some people saying this, they can´t also decide whether we are similar to for example Satyricon, Arch Enemy, Dark Tranquility, Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir (As you also mention) and some have even said we sound similar to Amon Amarth! Well…Look at that. Compared to so many bands that are so very different from each other in terms of style and expression and yet, no one can´t really decide which box we belong to or where we fit in completely because we mix so many different elements but at the same time we try to collect and maintain it with an occult and dark atmosphere and expression. I guess it is just like this with humans, right? We simply need to compare things to comprehend it.
So yeah, own sound… or not? I´ll let the listener decide since the experience of art happens on an individual level but with the fact mentioned above taken in consideration, I know what my answer is. I mean, we must have hit something right since no one can make up their mind. (laughs) Anyway, one thing is for sure; Our sound is my own personal interpretation of an old, beloved genre. Simple (or complex) as that and that is what makes it unique I´d say.
Anyway, that was a „sider“… my final point on this is that films, storytelling and the theme itself inspired us to work with all these extra elements and to mix and balance between styles. We like to challenge ourselves so we didn´t take other bands in consideration because there are simply so many out there that it is hard to follow and each of us in the band are so very different from each other anyway when it comes to taste and style in music. These extra elements simply just create a deeper and darker atmosphere which helps the listener to evoke deeper emotions when listening to a story. That was my goal and I am far from done with experimenting and developing our style. Let´s see what the future brings!
What other topics are influencing you when it comes to writing songs and lyrics?
In general, I personally find most of my inspiration in other things than just music, such as movies, books, history, folklore, occultism, witchcraft etc. I also do travel a lot and dig to visit places with a darker vibe; Abandoned places, burial grounds, museums with a grim or grotesque theme and I love to hunt for gothic architecture. Almost every city or place has its own dark or occult story and I like to take advantage from that. The way I write songs or come up with ideas for the composing is mostly ideas that comes from visuals and the feelings I got through those visuals. My mind wanders everywhere in a chaotic way and sometimes my own thoughts even scare me.
Also, humanity and life in general inspires me in my daily life. Everything that has to do with darkness, sorrow and horror inspires me as well. I can´t say exactly why but that is just the way I am as person, I guess. I find the darker sides of everything intriguing.
And which bands originally brought you to metal and influenced you personally the most?
I grew up with rock and heavy metal. Especially Black Sabbath/Ozzy, Judas Priest and Testament has been a part of my childhood. Later on, I discovered Sepultura, Morbid Angel, Slayer and Cannibal Corpse. I guess these bands influenced me the most back then. Nowadays I also dig bands such as Lord Belial, Nile, Marduk, Deicide etc.
DEFACING GOD as a band name implies that you personally have had bad experiences with religion or the figure or representation of divine images. Is that the case or how did you decide on the band name?
The name DEFACING GOD simply just stuck to me. You can analyze it into many things. Mostly offending, I guess. For me it litterally means that we remove the mask from the so called „God“ and behind that mask, you’ll find humanity exposed. It´s like defacing the image of God, remove the mask and smash it into a wall to reveal what´s behind it so to say. Destroy it or write over it you know.
Religion and the term „God“ is by fact created by humans and the name of God has been used in many cultures to cause fear, to manipulate or control a certain group of people and humanity has even killed and justified it in the name of the so called God many times throughout history. The name „DEFACING GOD“ is for me a term used to destroy that cover up and expose people and hold humanity responsible for their own deeds and behavior, not hiding behind some celestial being or creature. That is what the name means to me. I don´t have a problem with the religions itself. It can even be interesting to read about all these ideologies and then wonder who decided that. I also kinda get the idea about living your life out from certain rules. I think it makes some people feel safe if they have something to live up to like that. I just want to be free though and do whatever the fuck I want to. People learn, grow and develope through life, so we can´t avoid to change a bit over time, so for me it would be like living in a prison if I had to stick to certain rules like that.
I´d also say that people can believe in exactly what they want to (that is their freedom exactly) but the minute they pull it over the head of others or use religion to judge or manipulate others for their own favors, then it becomes toxic and it is simply not okay. Everyone have the right to live life on their own terms and there is nothing I despise more than fanatic religious people who practice social control over others to keep them as prisoners or to control them.
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The cover artwork shows an oppressed woman being held down by servants of the church, among others. What is the idea behind the artwork and to what extent does it stand for the story of the album?
You are completely right. We worked together with Peter Sallai from Mortpaintgraphics on the cover artwork and it simply symbolize a woman held down by people, most likely servants of the church but also all the expectations from the society that surrounds her. Out of her chest you see the hand of her inner Lilith breaking free from her chains. What actually happens is a kind of revolution inside her. She breaks free from the invisible chains that held her down, her own negative thoughts and self-restrictions and she will rise as a new, stronger version of herself and we wanted to visualize that in the whole picture of the album.
The opening words „Zi Kia Kanpa, Zi Anna Kanpa“ from „The Invocation Part II „Jezebel“ are from the Necronomicon. What fascinates you about it and in general about the Cthulhu myth or the world of HP Lovecraft and what influence did all this have on your music and the shaping of the band?
Yes, I use the words „Zi Kia Kanpa, Zi Anna Kanpa“ in the invocation songs. Other than that, HP Lovecraft and the Cthulhu myth haven´t been a part of my thoughts on this album at all.
I found those words by coincidence when I was reading the Necronomicon years ago and they were used to invoke some of the demons you can find in there so naturally I was inspired to use it as a part of the invocations as well. The words have their origins in Sumerian mythology and is commonly used for magical purposes.
Abyzou is according to demonology and among other stories and tales known as a female demon connected to the Sumerian myth of primeval sea from which the world was created in the Sumerian belief system. She is pictured with fish or serpent-like attributes with a greenish face and serpent-like hair and her body is covered in darkness. She never sleeps but wanders soul-forsaken alone in the desert to find women about to give birth so she can strangle the child. She herself is not able to give birth and I wonder if that is why she is pictured the way she is?
Jezebel´s cultural symbolism throughout the ages has been with deception, manipulation and seduction and for more than two thousand years, Jezebel has been labeled with a reputation as the bad girl of the Bible, the wickedest of women denounced as a murderer, prostitute and an enemy of God – actually Israel’s most accursed queen and wife of king Ahab of Israel. It is said she was notable for a form of rebellion against God through promotion of Witchcraft and ruthless persecution of the biblical prophets, through her husband. Because Jezebel steadfastly remained true to her own beliefs, she met a gruesome death, led by Elijah, the prophet of the god Yahweh. There was a contest between Jezebel and Elijah, related as a battle of the religious future of the people of Samaria. Jezebel ended up with being thrown out of a window by her own people. She splattered on the walls and were trampled by horses and eaten by stray dogs.
Originally I only wanted to use the spell words for Abyzou but decided to use them for the invocation of both to keep the connection between them. Considering the history of Jezebel and Abyzou and the way society pictured them, I consider them to be made of the same mold and material as Lilith. You find similarities between these female demons no matter what story or tale you choose to get the inspiration from. I wanted to keep clear lines cause i simply se them as one, so that is the story behind the using of the spell after all.
Although, and as far as I know from a few researches, many practitioners thought of the terms „Zi kia kanpa, Zi anna kanpa“ as being relative to what the Simon Necronomicon spell book defines as „Spirit of the sky, remember. Spirit of the earth, remember“ and that is also a reason why I was inspired to use the words, but apparently this definition is entirely different according to others who studied the Spell book much deeper than myself. The definition of the terms can apparently be found in another book listed in the Necronomicon´s bibliography, entitled „Chaldean Magic“ written by Francois Lenormant. The book is supposed to be written in the late 1800´s and is an examination of some of the Assyrian magical texts that were found in Nineveh, dating back to the 7th century BC. I still chose to go with the spell book definition though, but it is quite interesting stuff to dig deeper into and you´ll easily disappear into a rabbit hole if you go for it. All demons, all the magical terms and all mythology can always be connected more or less because of similarities.
In addition to the album title, you name also bears the name „Lilith“. What does the demon Lilith mean to you and to what extent is it the focus of the album or the band?
There is a lot of messages from the band and especially on our debut album that you personally can define or analyze into whatever you want but especially the album does touch many aspects of what burns in my heart and what I stand up for as a human being. Every song on the album tells a story and draw parallels to the ancient, but also the present world where many people (in Lilith ́s point of view, women) still have to fight for their freedom and justice. A world where there are still people being oppressed and held down either because of their gender, ethnicity or their personal conviction. Lilith stands for power and independence for me, so the strongest message here must be that you should always stay true to yourself. Always stand tall and don´t let anything stand in the way for your dreams and visions.
I chose Lilith as my „thing“ and my Alter Ego in DEFACING GOD because of that fact but in real life, she is actually not a person as such to me. I just transformed her into one and personalized her in our storytelling. In reality, „she“ is more a philosophy to me, but I chose to give her a face and a character in our act so that people can relate to something. „She“ is more like the way I see the world and the way I act and interact. „She“ is what I do, what I think, what I want and the way I live my life on my own terms. A big part of my personality.
I couldn’t care less about the expectations of others and Lilith is a pure symbol of that independence, female power and also empowerment. „She“ is pure rebellion, made of strong opinions and feels strongly about sisterhood. Lilith is more specifically in DEFACING GOD, a voice for those who never got any throughout time and I´ve always said that if you have a Lilith inside you as well, you are not in doubt! It is a strong force, a power and a muse that make you and keeps you passionate and strong in life.
The album is about, among other things, the summoning of demons, witch burnings and the devil. What connection do these themes have to our real world and what is currently happening in the world, and to what extent do the lyrics represent that?
You can draw so many parallels from the past to the present world. Oppression still exists many places around the world and that is why I feel so much rage towards our race. I chose to express myself through the above-mentioned themes to make it more interesting and story based, and I do in general like horror, occultism and darkness so I like to find the connections that all roots underneath the surface. The witch hunt was (and are) very real and it is a very dark and shameful spot in our history of man. We do not specifically burn anyone at the stake anymore, but we do so many other horrible things that can be compared to that. Just open your eyes and take a look around. The answer is right in front of us. The elite, the „great“ or just humanity ARE the demons, if not parasites. Depends on how you view the world. I can also see lots of beauty and hope if I want to and that is why I believe that we as human beings has a responsibility to be the change that we wish to see in the world, but yeah, even though I also see beauty in this world- I still can´t deny the fact that evil does exists. The only way to get rid of these frustrations, is to express myself through music. Music and art tend to have a positive effect on us. We definitely need it to survive in this world.
Your videos are stylistically very cool and fit perfectly to the music with their gloomy look. How important are the videos for you and how much fun is it to plan and shoot them?
Thank you!
I love to work on new setups but it is also painful and comes with lots of suffering to shoot videos like that if you choose to do things authentic, outside of a comfy studio.
Walking on your bare feet through a Scandinavian Forest for many hours during the winter is painful. Being outside in the cold, performing for 15 hours in a row is also pretty painful! Inhaling the smoke and standing in the heat from big torches in a cold abandoned church is pretty uncomfortable too. Licking blood out of an old´n rusty metal chalice is quite disgusting and discomforting as well! I mean, there is just a lot of uncomfortable things you have to do to achieve what you want visually. Mostly we freeze our asses off and curse ourselves to hell and back when shooting videos. A four-minute video easily takes up to 15 hours of shooting and that is all the hard work behind that people don’t see. They only see the result. I am sure people would appreciate art just a bit more if they really knew what some artists go through sometimes to create something. (laughs) But when we as band see the results, we always forget about all the pain and suffering. When you have the result, you instantly get reminded of why you do this. Simply because it´s a thrill to see your hard work coming to life. I´ll do it again… again.. And again, for the sake of my passion and the visuals and videos are such an important part of DEFACING GOD. It completes the storytelling.
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Let’s conclude with our traditional brainstorming. What comes to your mind first when you read the following words?
Current favorite album: No clue.
Best Movie-/Series-/Book-Universe: I can´t name only one of each. There is so many. But one of my favorite author is Dean Koontz! His way of writing is just amazing. You can smell, taste and feel every word he writes and I´ve read most of his books. I like the mind of Stephen King as well but his style of writing doesn´t appeal to me as much as the way Koontz write his stories. When it comes to movies, I dig all the “Alien” movies. Also, I loved „Creepshow“ from 1982! It reminds me of amazing childhood memories. I loved the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” – Serial killers in general is a thing for me and I am a huge fan! Some of the old zombie classics is also a part of my top list (I dig zombies!) well, what´s more? “Poltergeist”, “White Noise” and films such as „The Others“ has a beautiful, dark and gothic atmosphere. I am addicted to horror games as well. All the old “Resident Evil” games, “Silent Hill”, “Outlast”, “Phasmophobia”, “Silent Blood Curse” and recently I just finished a newer game called „Home Sweet Home“. Pretty amazing horror from Thailand! Damn, there is so much out there that I really love and things that inspired me through my life.
Nature: Hmm… Mountains and trees. In autumn. Autumn is my favorite season.
Future: Hopefully you´ll find me on the road on my way to play a show somewhere.
Something that makes every bad day better: Music. My loved ones.
Best way to relax: Reading or hiking in the forest.
DEFACING GOD in ten years: As mentioned above. Hopefully busy with travelling and playing shows around the world.
Thank you once again for your time! The last words are all yours.
Thank you so much for having me. It was my pleasure. Take care and I hope to see you out there soon! All the best.
29. September 2022 Stefan Popp
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