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King Satan is a very interesting and (certainly) different industrial metal band. Coming from Finland, they combine EBM / Dark Electro with extreme metal and black humor. We bring you this super cool and revealing interview with King Seth Aleister Satan, talking about occultism, difficulty in labeling bands’ genre and other cool stuffs.
For us it is a pleasure to interview you, because I think King Satan is a different approach from a very old genre. Starting our interview, could you tell us your story with music? When and why did you decide to become a musician?
Greetings! Appreciate the words and pleasure likewise. As long as I remember I have wanted to make music one way or another, so I don’t remember ever really deciding to become a musician. But if I did, it had to happen at very young age, as I started making electronic music already when I was 9-10 year old, inspired by The Prodigy. But maybe the crucial turning point for me was when I got my first electric guitar at the age of 13, because before that I was on the fence about what I want to prioritize in my life, and with my brand new electric guitar I decided music. I founded my first band 2 weeks after I got the guitar hahaha. Then I was part of several bands during the years, mostly underground black metal bands, and in 2015 I founded KING SATAN.
I’ve listened your work with Saturnian Mist and it is fantastic and completely different from King Satan (and a grateful surprise, because a lot of metal musicians don’t know how to work with electronic music). For me they are complementary, but different. How do you manage two so different bands with so different audiences?
People ask me that a lot. I think artists don’t get to pick the audience, but the audience picks the artist, and I am grateful that there are devoted audiences for both of my bands. I am very creative person and I like constantly to challenge myself and experiment with different styles, so in order to have two important bands with different focus and different band members to work with is something that allows me to exercise my creativity at fullest. I just have strong passion for both, primitive and harsh which is fulfilled by SATURNIAN MIST, but also for more electronic, synthetic and eclectic which I exercise with KING SATAN. For me KING SATAN and SATURNIAN MIST are other sides of the same coin, dealing with the same lyrical themes with different approaching.
Industrial metal is a genre that we, from Groundcast, appreciate much and, unfortunately, we didn’t get on these bands for interviews. I know Europe and USA have different “schools” of industrial metal, as, i.e., Rammstein as a strong name and, in the other hand, Ministry for Americans. How do you describe your music?
I find it challenging to describe it to the point, but after some years I have learned that it is challenging to labels and promoters too, heh. I guess this is always sort of a burden with genre-fluid bands like us. We are something you can head bang or dance with, or both! Occult industrial metal with carnivalesque touch and melodic death metal twist is still the best description I have came across (Thank you Jaakko!), and couldn’t describe it better myself. This is why I love industrial music, as it is not really clear where the boundaries!
What are your influences? I note, in previous works, a bit of Rammstein but, at the same time, some parts reminding me dark electro groups as Hocico, Suicide Commando, Skinny Puppy and, in your last single, a lot of references of Symphonic and Epic Black Metal.
Our two first albums were more aggrotech infused extreme metal I think. So yes, our new single ”This is Where the Magick Happens” is much more metal oriented than before, and at the moment it seems that so are the other new songs as well. We started adding more live band and organic elements into our stage performances during our 2nd album live performances and they added so much energy into the music, so we wanted to do it on the recordings as well. I also worked now more closely with our keyboardist HEKATE ”KATE” BOSS with compositions than before, and she takes lots of influences from movie soundtracks and symphonic music, which you can already hear in our previous releases for some extent (like song Raison d’être song in ”I Want You To Worship Satan” album). But also one big change towards this new form, is the drummer PETE HELLRAISER’s joining to the band in 2019, as all things recorded after that, are recorded completely with real human drummer instead of drum machine and beats meddling the sequencer. So there were lots of organic development there. As for me, my biggest influences are between the lines, behind the music and they are always searching new forms to manifest itself using me as a mere vessel. I take lot of influences from literature and movies as well. But yeah, in the beginning my recipe was to see what happens if I combine influences from The Prodigy, Deicide and Turbonegro into on package. You know, electronica, death metal and punkish attitude. I also do have strong roots in black metal scene, so it will always influence me one way or another. But I must admit of course, the bands like Laibach, Suicide Commando and Hocico have influenced me A LOT as well, especially Laibach. I get influenced by lot of things and my general recipe is really to do whatever I feel like is necessary to channel the ideas I am having. I don’t give a shit about any genre boundaries or conformity in any scene.
What is the importance of occultism to you? Reading some lyrics, I see a very respectful approach in themes like Thelema, Satanism, but with a lot of humor as an intensifier to these contents not as a mockery.
You are very perspective there. We see existence is absurd and irrational, so the use of carnivalesque dark humor, blue comedy, blasphemy and satire is something that comes naturally for us and it is one of the founding ideas of KING SATAN, inspired all the jester versions of archetypes of Devil found from the world of mythology and folklore. With carnivalesque approach you will denounce the status quo, which is also an ancient idea of this so called ”left hand path” approaching towards spirituality and human existence. We do intensify the message this way, yes, but also attack towards fundamentalism in all of its form this way, not only religious fundamentalism, but secular as well. And those who gets offended by this or take it as a mockery, are the ones who also should be, you know? If you take yourself too seriously, you are not serious with the things you represent, but it’s either psychological learning phase or worse, defense and projective denial. Real ”Gods” don’t care about profanity. Clowning is serious business. Things you are not allowed to criticize (or mock) are the ones that controls over you and in order to seek katharsis or enlightenment, you must be aware of this all. We want to find these blindspots, and of course we understand the controversy we cause with this, it means it is working! Someone once said that the world is so fake, that ”the truth” actually hurts the people. Of course this is not the whole package with us, but most visible and loudest.
When it comes to occultism, it is not in contradictory with the carnivalesque side all, on contrary! And as a practicing occultist it is no secret that occultism is one of my main inspirations and influences. It is very rich source I must say, because there are not really one way to put it or understand it. Occultism, mysticism, esotericism… They have become kind of synonyms for me over the years, and I think there are points of view for the matter as much as there are practicers. I have said it before frequently over the years, that I don’t regard ”Occultism” as an ideology actually, I think it is a method. Like science is also a method, not an ideology. Thelema, Satanism, they are philosophies, ideologies formed around occultism, which both I do respect a lot, and which both have influenced me great deal among the other occult or mystic movements thorough the history. It all seems to drawn from the same archetypal origin. But ideologies are the conceptual systems which tells you what to do or how to interpret the acquired information. And for me all information, feelings and experiences acquired via occult method are still in its pre-conceptual form of understanding in so called ”Occultism”, which to me is most authentic level of understanding, before ideologies (or human minds) conceptualize them. Occult is the religion of art, or art of metaphysics if you will.
For you, how is the Finnish metal scene? Here in Brazil we have a living scene, but without variety in bands’ genre. It is very difficult to have an industrial metal band or something with more electronics, although the people here love bands as Rammstein, Ministry and Marilyn Manson.
Finnish metal scene is very active, we have here most metal bands when adjusted into population. Of course Covid-19 took the live shows away, but the scene is more than just live shows. However, Industrial metal is kind of fragmented genre and scene here (like everywhere I reckon), just few active industrial metal bands here besides King Satan like Fear Of Domination, Turmion Kätilöt, Ruoska and Black Light Discipline etc. Industrial metal, it’s like not quite metal, not quite industrial, but still both, so the bands submerges into other scenes like Gothic and all-around metal quite seamlessly. We have performed in metal festivals, gothic clubs and supported such acts as Perturbator and Carpenter Brut during the years, and it all fit very well for some reason.
When I read the release about King Satan, it had described as “similar to Combichrist, Ministry, Deathstars”, but, for me, your sound is closer to electro-industrial acts and black metal music. What was the better (or worst) description that someone gave to your music?
Heh, this is the challenge I referred earlier in the interview. I guess it comes with the territory when being genre-fluid band like we are, since we usually don’t fit into any established boxes or definitions which causes confusion from time to time. Hard to pick which ones are better descriptions, but maybe besides the description I mentioned earlier in this interview (Occult industrial metal with carnivalesque touch and melodic death metal twist) My favourite description which I have came across has been by one Belgian journalist who described us as ”What if Slipknot and Rammstein had a baby? And maybe a little of Die Antwoord”. I think it says a lot but also explains the challenge when it comes to the defining our work. Worst descriptions are more fun! With me using top hat, we’ve been said to beKing Diamond rip off/influenced. With stetson hat, Rob Zombie ripoff/influenced. And with woolen hat, Tom. G. Warrior rip off/influenced. I find it amusing how much fuzz can come from the choice of hat! But generally speaking, the worst descriptions are usually related into the inability to understand our satirical / dark humor side. Are we serious? Yes. Are we joking? Yes. We can be both. World is not so black and white. Clowning is serious business.
I’ve seen your new videoclip for the single “This Is Where The Magick Happens” and it was interesting, because it is different from other “serious” industrial metal bands and I love the mix between a very burlesque humor with some sexual references. How was the process to make this video?
I love exploitation films and 90’s music videos, so as a director I wanted to embrace this side now with full focus with ”This is Where the Magick Happens” music video. I am also big fan of absurdism and surrealism, so I wanted to use all these elements submerged into our carnivalesque style. And I like to play with contrasts very much. Lyrics and themes are actually very heavy ones, so honoring our style, I ”carnivalized” it.
I made a loose screenplay for the video based on lyrics but as always I leave lots of things open, up to improvised on location. As a director I really do not want to plan everything before hand. I believe in spontaneity as well as careful planning. I had established very nice filming crew during our last album music videos, who helped me with castings and producing this time much more, and this time we got lots of help from volunteers and extras as well. Filming took 4 days actually, longest music video project during KING SATAN’s history, and it was a riot! Especially the working girl scene, one of the most fun moments to film. There were music festivals happening next to filming location, so it added the absurdity of the situation a lot, hahaha! And also the water gun fight with priests was surreal to pull off. There were actually wedding happening on the background while we filmed that part. I worked so closely with the main actor Niko Kontiainen and cameraman Joonas Juntunen, in very much ”Guerrilla style”, so we actually had much more footage than ended up into the video. And some of the things I re-wrote based on how the story developed. Mr. Kontiainen wanted it to be spiritual experience helping him to deal with his own personal things which he could relate from the lyrics already, so it kind of developed the script while we filmed. All in all very rewarding experience and I am very happy with the result and the effort of all involved.
This year you will release a new album with King Satan. Could you say some words about it?
Well not actually anything sure yet. We are still working with the new album, so it is not ready yet and therefore there are not yet confirmed plans when it will come out. It might go be 2022 still though, Covid-19 has been hard on music world you know, so all previous plans kind of rendered obsolete. ”This is Where the Magick Happens” might be a good preview I guess of the new album, it will be of course included there too. The new album will show more metalized, versatile and powerful side of our works, and in the studio we did work together much stronger together as a band than ever before, and it really shows! Can’t wait to share the results.
We are a Brazilian webzine and, of course, I need to ask you: do you know any Brazilian bands?
I think everyone in metal worlds knows Sepultura! However Sarcofago’s I.N.R.I. was one of the first vinyls I ever bought myself as a kid with my own money. Pretty killer album.
Thank you very much for this interview. It is the time to let a message to our readers. Let’s go!
Thank you indeed! I hope to perform in Brazil very much in future, in the meantime; FUCK THE REST SATAN IS BEST 666
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