Interview with Darko Etinger - Infernal Tenebra, January 2013

P.o.M.: Can you please introduce the band (short version) to our readers?

Darko: Infernal Tenebra started back in 1999, constantly evolving and enduring the hard conditions of the Croatian underground metal scene with two self-released albums “Beneath the Twilight” (2001) and “The Essence of Chaos” (2007). On December 7^th, 2012 we released our third album “New Formed Revelations” through Massacre Records. 

You started  as a black metal band, what is the reason that the style grew more towards death metal? 

Constant lineup changes throughtout the years led us to the current lineup established in 2009. We got our selves together and decided to take the music to a new level. We started writing what was to become our album “New Formed Revelations”. As we’re playing music for so many years, we played all styles and what you can hear now is really something that comes out naturally to us. We’re done with classifications, with genres so we use all we absorbed in years and try to just write good music. 

New Formed Revelations is much more mature yet it retains some elements we used on previous albums. It also adds a whole new layer of sounds that we adopted from or other past bands and projects. It’s also a base for our future music direction. It’s groovy, it’s melodic, it’s progressive but also brutal at moments. I guess it’s all of it, as when we write music, we can’t think one direction. It’s more of a journey. It is challenging to make it sound good, but I think we managed to do it. It gives us a perspective for our future work to be even more focused and even more cohesive. 

Most ideas come from me (Darko - guitars, vocals) and Ivo (guitars) but we all work it out in our private studio and rehersal room. We’re very picky lately and there’s an interesting battle of ideas and stuff happening all the time when we write new music. But I guess it comes out pretty naturally out of us lately. I write all the lyrics and it’s somewhat of a process. I let the words and idea come to me through personal experience, books, movies. Hell, nowadays I record some vocal lines and thoughts even while I’m driving my car hahaha.   

As a matter of fact, it’s all bands we grew up with. We even played with those bands on certain festivals, except Morbid Angel. Gotta do it once, or on a tour possibly. No, really, as a vocalist, I am very picky about vocals in metal bands and for example, Chuck Billy is one of my idols. I mean, there’s so many great bands out there, there’s a strong metal scene going on. But I tend to get more and more unique in some aspects and it will show on our future releases.  

It is a coincidence. It’s a coincidence that Messiah is on Massacre Records, just like us. People find all kind of references in our music, but it’s cool to hear something you’d never thought of.

The Croatian scene is currently going through a cool change. A lot of bands are emerging and following our steps to make more competitive products and break out of national boudaries. You’ll definetly hear about Rising Dream, Gorthaur’s Wrath, Kryn, Avicularia, Rapid Strike, Mass Hypnosis and War-head along with already established Ashes You Leave. 

It was really good. It’s such a cool thing for us to play with such bands. As Croatia was very closed throughout the years, we were happy when we had the opportunity to even see those bands live. To play with them, it’s like a dream come true. 

As of now, we are confirmed for Trondhein Metalfest 2013 in Norway, PPM Fest in Belgium and there’s possibly a Japan tour later this year but it’s too early to talk about. We’re looking to tour with some bigger established bands and I hope we’ll manage to get out there, as we can’t wait for it. We just want to do it right. 

It helps underground bands to get the worldwide exposure but as everyone gets a chance to do it, you end up in a noisy channel where everything is available but nothing really embraced. My view is that there should be a sort of editorial. A label is the one who picks bands that are on a good overall level and capable of competing in the scene. Magazines like yours are here for news, reviews, interviews etc. and it all ends up in a much better experience for the listener. People forget that a band and the whole ecosystem is fragile with real expenses. If it doesn’t pay back it’s just a matter of time it all falls apart. 

I guess our album will be out in 2014, and we’ll continue to release them on regular intervals, now that we have support. Our relationship with Massacre Records is great, they’re really passionate about the music and they treat us as a part of their family. 

We have material almost written for our next release, we’re gonna take time now to refine it and to make it the best possible successor to “New Formed Revelations”. We feel it’s going to be even more intense and wild, as we’re much more free and relaxed to express ourselves. 

It was an exceptional year for Infernal Tenebra. We got signed to Massacre Records, had our album released, played festivals and gigs. I wouldn’t change at all. I wish I could go back in time and do a miracle and get Infernal Tenebra a deal in 1999, but our heritage and the country we’re coming from is something we’re given, so here we are. But we’re done with the past. We’re looking forward to the future.  

Wow, we mostly enjoyed:
Testament - Dark roots of Earth
Kreator - Phantom Antichrist
Paradise Lost - Tragic Idol
Gojira - L’Enfant Sauvage
Ihsahn – Eremita.  

Check us out if your into some true sincere extreme metal music. We’d like to say thank you to all our fans throughout the world and hope to see you soon.

Interviewed by Reinier de Vries