Die Sonne Satan - "Fac-Totum" Cassette 1993

God-tier Italian deathbient, envisioned by the enigmatic Paolo Beltram, and released by Atrax Morgue / Slaughter Productions founder Marco Corbelli. The mix, even the vibe, is excruciatingly clear and bright, almost like a Boards Of Canada for satanists. It's warped, twisted, and definitely disturbing, but follows a more airy path than the blunt darkness of say, Archon Satani or MZ.412. Prodigiously conceived and recorded, who would ever imagine such intense transdimensional channeling would ever be so pristinely captured on...A FUCKING 4-TRACK?!?!


http://www.mediafire.com/file/tg9t96ijr9ohe40/Die_Sonne_Satan_-_Fac-Totum_1993.zip

Interview by Per Najbjerg Odderskov...

Not much has been said, written, heard, seen or felt about this old and obscure Italian industrial-ambient project. Still it's one of those band names you remember from when you went through the endless pages of a mail order catalog from Cold Meat Industry. Or maybe you ended up buying one of your favorite post-industrial/ambient compilations and Die Sonne Satans was on it. Or you are just a die-hard fan of that classic era in Italian industrial music history who knows that this act can be linked to the great projects of Atrax Morgue and Runes Order (both on Slaughter Productions of course). Ultimately we can only talk about 3 cassette releases and 2 CD compilations as their discography so why the hell are people still talking about this act?! Yes, I'm going to dissect this mystery once and for all. To reveal information about this one-man band, and interrogate the poor fellow out of his Italian socks!
 

For the first question in this investigation, tell me how, why and when did Die Sonne Satans start?
Die Sonne Satans, who borrows the name of a 1926 Georges Bernanos novel from which Maurice Pialat took the eponymous film in 1987, was born in 1991. At that time I was often in Milan, for study reasons, where a few years earlier I met Stefano Musso (Alio Die) and with whom I began to explore the possibility of producing music. Following a first tape called Opus Vix Inchoatum titled "Nullae Procreationis Germines" I refined my technique and my musical aesthetics by giving life to the project as you know it. For me, DSS has always been synonymous with self-determination, an antidote to the tangle of conventions that I am bound to, and this is the reason why an iconoclastic and nihilistic approach pervades my entire production.

When you started this act, what bands inspired you back then?
When I was young I enjoyed , like most of us in our field, dark wave music, especially the 4AD aesthetics. Then I passed to more experimental listening through Death In June, Coil, Current 93 and Nurse With Wound. I loved so much dark ambient so I can not deny that among my most admired listening were then Lustmord, Cranioclast, Nocturnal Emissions and for other reasons Hafler Trio. I still have a great admiration for Asmus Tietchens, but the record that most changed my listening perspective was Teimo by Thomas Koner. In this sense, "Orbis", taken from Metaphora, is a clear tribute to his work. All the music I loved listening to from my childhood inevitably permeated my sensitivity and poured into DSS.

How was the scene in Italy at that time you started Die Sonne Satans?
At the end of the 80's in Italy, it was an interesting and mature underground scene that was linked to industrial styles, just to mention Tac, Tasaday, Sigillum S. Personally, for geographical reasons, I wound up meeting Mauro Guazzotti from F:a.r., a volcanic person for ideas and energies. However, I have always been quite defined, my own has always been a very DIY and solipsistic approach and this has not led me to share ideas with other projects of the Italian scene, except with Claudio of Runes Order.

You did some collaborations with Claudio Dondo of Runes Order including Atom Infant Incubator, how did you guys meet and how did it work with you two working together?
I met Claudio through Deca (Federico Decaroli) who was a common friend. We immediately got in touch and decided to produce something together. The first Atom Infant Incubator originated from old tape recordings of Claudio's first project, "Order 68", which I added heavy treatments and new tracks, Copula is still a good job, too underestimated, I would like to remaster it and reproduce it in a more consonant design.The second work we made as AII was born from common sessions where everyone has contributed with their own parts and tools. It is perhaps more improvised and paradoxically more composed and contains many of the ideas that I wanted to pour into the DSS's fourth release.

How fondly do you remember Marco and Slaughter Productions?
Marco, for me, was a very important figure. He supported me and always believed in my productions. I'm in debt to Slaughter Productions. I have a good memory of him and as far as I knew he was a kindly person, always very helpful, almost as opposed to what the Atrax Morgue productions might make you think. His sudden death struck me a lot even though we were not in touch for a while.

Have you ever played live, and if so what is the greatest experience of this?
I have never played live, I don't think my music could be suitable for a live performance. And then I'm a very retired person to expose myself in a context like that. Uwe of Dark Vinyl ask me to tour in Germany but I refused.

Are you surprised, that people are still talking about Die Sonne Satans?
In fact, I am very surprised. My production was very small compared to other similar projects. In retrospect, the mystery around my person and of course the music I've produced have helped make DSS a little worship.

How do you feel about the new post-industrial/experimental scene nowadays?
I'm no longer particularly involved in the industrial scene. Over the years my eyes have been laid on other horizons.

What are the plans for the future. I've heard rumors of re-issues?
I just signed an agreement with a new Italian label that has already released some MZ 412 old and live material. The idea is to release the three tapes and some compilations tracks in new formats (vinyl, cd...) The first work, Metaphora, is finished and the master and new cover art are ready as well. I hope it will be published in the Fall, followed by Factotum and Omega. Maurizio Pustianaz (Gerstein) helmed the remastered versions and maybe in the future we could work together again. I want to also retrieve some materials published with another moniker a lot of time ago and maybe reworking it for a new album. Stay tuned...

Mule Skinner - "Stripped Of Flesh" Demo '91 & "Servitude" 7" '93

Earliest 90's grind/death fusion! Vaguely analogous to Suffocation, but with decidedly shorter songs...mostly around 90 seconds or WAY less...and a bullish preference for consistently chaotic tempos instead of chugs and slams. Well, there's a little chug, a little slam, but believe me their blastbeats come so frequently you'll be reminded more of Terrorizer than Monstrosity. Thick mid-fi studio recording on both releases, with a sharper overarching tone to the demo. They closed their career with a full length CD (which I don't own, otherwise it'd be included here) where they upped the production game an order of magnitude without neutering the nuclear devastation of their style. Yet another demigod who's never been officially unearthed and reissued. Like America's emperor always says: SAD!

http://www.mediafire.com/file/ride1npzw93z1hd/Mule_Skinner_-_Demo_And_EP.zip

Boris - "Vein" LP 2004/2006

Japan's most confusing alt-drone heroes pull tranny moves once again by recording...a NOISECORE LP?! The band didn't indulge themselves in that exacting form of sonic torture just to maintain hipster equilibrium, the end product is actually more art than science, with a great deal of thought put into the zero dynamics and incompetent solos. Feedback assassination (the only hint to their "usual" sound) does introduce or overlap a few of the tracks, but only as an adjunct to songs that otherwise sound like a lost Tranquilizer jam. The Decibel crowd seems to really hate this particular release. If that alone isn't the best enticer, than you obviously prefer music that's been microbrewed and barcoded.

http://www.mediafire.com/file/tpiag8gw1pf3aqw/Boris_-_Vein_LP_%28Hardcore%29.zip

Posthumous - "Deterioration" Demo 1 1990

What didn't I buy from Wild Rags? Grinding Dutch death with the occasional humorous microsong, and a drum machine named Peter (great job Petey). The recording feels 4-tracky, as it has the bassy compression and economical mixing inherent to that technology, but it's produced very well for this perceived limitation and is actually quite heavy. Vocals are deeply hoarse gurgles, where instead of lyrics all you hear being gagged out is "BLUH! BLUH! BLUUUHHH!!!". They're fuckin' ridiculous, but I couldn't picture them being delivered any other way. 8 songs, 13 minutes, so obscure they have no cult...

Golem - "Sadness" 1999 Demo

Nippon sluuudddggge, pulling inspiration...through cold molasses...from slow death metal instead of the arguably cleaner New Orleans sound. Song structures are traditional (there are no feedback symphonies or shoegaze anywhere within the tape's 18+ minutes), with a curious lack of tangible sustain on the guitars. Lurching, shambling, chugging, but never lags with the places it wants to drunkenly wander...which I'm unsure are as metal as their immediate mindset. Ripped / scanned years ago, and good enough to have been pilfered from me for random stranger's youtube videos (yer fuckin' welcome)...

http://www.mediafire.com/file/3021chgxkkgazq8/GOLEM_%28Japan%29_%2799_demo.zip

R.A.W. / Hypnotic 23 - "Evil Baptism" Split Tape 1995

This is it, this is THE tape that indoctrinated me into hXc-techno. It was a few years after it's release, as I was 24 at the time and doing what I still do: gettin' high with homies. One of them threw on a dubbed copy made by a friendly coworker, and I was blown away. That simple. Dark, distorted, repetitive to the point of insanity, and ceaselessly (obsessively) fast, it was a brutal and deeply refreshing sound that matched any punk, metal, grind, or industrial band's own extremity...and it instantly fascinated me!

R.A.W.'s side remains the most intense (coincidentally it was his side we listened to first, officializing Disciples Of Annihilation's opening track as my "first contact" with this scene), but Hypnotic 23's mad skillz aren't afraid of multiple Nasenbluten segues either. My lame n' mundane nostalgia trips aside, the tape holds up incredibly well, not only in track choice and turntable gymnastics, but as one of the clearest snapshots into what O.G. rave culture was really all about: NOISE WORSHIP!!! 

http://www.mediafire.com/file/4jnwd5bt9s14c61/Raw_23_Evil_Baptism.zip