ACCURSED WOMB interview
Hi! Most bands use compilations simply to gather old material in one place. Hymns of Blasphemous Fornication feels more like documenting a mutation in progress. At what point did you realize these recordings actually formed a narrative rather than just a collection of separate releases?
Just an evolution of lyrical content and just not rushing anything...
Instead of presenting the songs chronologically, you deliberately scramble the timeline. What does that sequencing reveal that a straightforward historical order wouldn't?
It's pretty much new to old, if I remember to be honest.
Listening across the compilation, it's obvious the band gradually moved away from death-doom toward something more violent and unpredictable. Was that evolution intentional, or did the music simply become more unhinged as the lineup solidified?
We always are listening to different stuff than death metal, sometimes that sick shit oozes into our tunes, or even something like Yellow Stitches making me want to make the newer songs have more lyrical hooks. Having a drummer not taking short cuts though was the game changer we wanted since day one.
Your music often feels uncomfortable in ways that go beyond heaviness. There are riffs that almost seem designed to make the listener lose their footing. When writing, do you consciously pursue that sense of disorientation?
I love mushrooms, not too much but a few trips a year... I always want our music to be like a nightmarish trip off some bad sonic mushrooms but in the best trip of your life if that makes any sense... but it's meant to just be fucking wild.
The band takes its name from a Cryptopsy lyric, yet the music doesn't sound like an exercise in worshipping Cryptopsy. At what point does influence stop being homage and become something entirely your own?
Over twenty-plus years I worked on my vocals until I finally settled on something I'm hyped on... but I always thought Graves Of The Fathers was one of the best Cryptopsy lyrics and the lyric "A MOTHERS CUNT IS UNPURE" always cracked me up but also sounded evil as fuck!
Mike Stevens of Timeghoul appears on "Womb of the Ibex". Timeghoul's influence has only grown over the years despite their tiny discography. What made his involvement particularly meaningful for this project?
We love Timeghoul and I was doing guest vocals on a Grevlar record...
There's an almost black metal mentality behind some of the songwriting - not necessarily in the riffs themselves, but in the willingness to abandon comfort and structure. Do you think death metal has become too predictable in recent years?
Well, we love Black Metal, and always have tried to have a bit of an influence, but we like to keep people guessing and not give them the stock metal by numbers nonsense so many kids fall for.
The title Hymns of Blasphemous Fornication is impossible to ignore. Beyond its shock value, what atmosphere or state of mind were you trying to evoke with those words?
It's a continuation of an idea that starts with our first comp, which has two different titles depending on what press you have: Hymns of Death And Misery, And Hymns Of Misery And Death are the names of our first comp, so this is just a continuation of a theme.
Some bands become cleaner and more technically polished over time. ACCURSED WOMB seems to have become tighter without sacrificing the sense that everything could collapse into chaos at any second. How difficult is it to preserve that instability once the musicians become better players?
I know PH busts his ass with the riffs and he is also writing for Adabesi Lives/Frog Myst so he's been a riff machine lately but even though we play live with our two other bands the ACCURSED WOMB is our top priority musically!
Philadelphia has quietly produced a number of bands that approach death metal from unusual angles rather than simply recreating the Swedish or Florida schools. Do you feel connected to a local tradition, or has ACCURSED WOMB always existed in its own strange corner?
I feel zero connection to the philly scene these days outside of the homies in PISSGRAVE... they do their own thing and we think that's fucking sick!!! It's all about who you know not how you sound it seems sometimes.
The compilation opens with your newest material rather than your oldest. Was that your way of telling listeners, "This is who we are now", before inviting them to trace the path backward?
Nah, just figured start with a bang as the promo doesn't have a physical release yet outside of this CD so it's cool having the songs on a real media format not just some digital shit.
Extreme metal often celebrates ugliness, but there's a difference between something that's merely filthy and something that's genuinely unsettling. Where do you think that distinction comes from?
Listen to a band like Swallowed, then throw on some Krypts... they are cut from the same cloth but have very different sounds... we just like to keep people guessing though for the most part not just jock Formulas era Morbid Angel All Day Every Dayю
You've hinted that these recordings point toward the direction of the debut full-length. Looking back at everything collected here, what is the one habit or approach you've consciously left behind?
Part of me doesn't want to do a full-length SADISTIC INTENT style but... IT MIGHT BE IN THE CARDS!!!! "INTO THE NECROVAT...." COMING SOON!! We just need a label!
After hearing almost fifty minutes of ACCURSED WOMB's evolution in one sitting, one thing becomes obvious: the band refuses to stay comfortable for very long. Is unpredictability something you deliberately protect, even if it risks alienating part of your audience?
Kids have such a low attention span these days we do keep that in mind on our new material... but it cuts the fat so it's all for the best. We never want to bore you.
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