Dani: Hey folks, this is Dani from Nocturnal Hall. How's it going up there in the north?  Early Autumn atmosphere here in Austria, which is great!
Robert: Hey Dani! Still summer here actually, more or less. Seems like it’s been going on forever, but it’s been a good one, so that’s cool.

Dani: The Chifra MCD is about to be released. Can you name a concrete date or is this matter still not sure enough?
Robert: As I’m writing this, we’re finishing up the video for Hogtied Angel that is going to be included on the MCD. As soon as it is done, we’ll set a date for the release. Hopefully it won’t take too long, but we’re kinda used to heavy delays. Hydra, for instance, took over a year to get released, counting from when we started recording it. And I think our debut album, Lady Lust Lilith, took even longer.

Dani: In info notes it was stated that Chifra will close a cycle or chapter that was opened on Hydra. Are the songs on Chifra freshly composed songs that happen to be dealing with the same issue as on Hydra, or did you pick remaining songs from the Hydra-pool (also regarding the music, the instrumental aspects)?
Robert: The songs are all new, written just prior to the recording. But since the lyrics deal with roughly the same subjects as on Hydra (the existence and importance of free will) you can call it a continuation. And as we plan to do something entirely different, lyric wise at least, on the next album it sort of is the end of a chapter.

Dani: Which topics catch your attention that would be worthy enough to create SATARIEL lyrics? Do you have a sort of lyrical concept for the following full-length album? Will there be more clean vocals?
Robert: Chifra has got tons of clean vocals, but I don’t think the next full-length will have even more. We’ll always keep the growls and shrieks, and as we probably will get a little angrier and heavier in the future, I don’t think there will be an increase in clean vocals.
Mike: And lyric-wise, we give Pär free hands, as always.

Dani: What's your impression of MySpace so far? Good enough for spreading the word of SATARIEL or rather a random, additional tool?
Robert: I’m not too impressed with MySpace I think it’s kind of a mess. That being said, it seems like a useful tool for spreading the word about the band, and it makes it really easy to get the music out to the public.

Dani: Would you welcome another participation of Messiah Marcolin on a SATARIEL album, or is one time cult enough and not to be repeated? Are there any guest appearances planned for the next album?
Robert: It was a blast to have him as a guest on Phobos And Deimos and I think his contribution was awesome, but we don’t really want to be known as Messiah’s side project. So I think it was just a one-time thing. It would be really cool to have him as a special guest live, though. But I don’t really think he would have the time for it. Guest appearances are fun, but as of now we don’t have any planned for the next album.

Dani: All SATARIEL albums sound considerably different to each other. Is this intended or just happens, what's your explanation? Personally I like this variance, and despite the great differences among the albums, there's always the strong and unique SATARIEL feeling coming through. Is SATARIEL rather a studio band, or do you work out all details in the rehearsal room?
Robert: A lot of time has passed between the albums, and things change I guess. We did make a conscious choice to slow down and get heavier before Hydra, but the other changes have come naturally. After the first album, none of us were really into the whole Swedish black/death-thing anymore, so those influences more or less disappeared. Now, after Chifra (which is very melodic) I think we have developed an urge to do some angrier and faster songs. We’ll see how it will end up.
It’s really cool that you can experience a SATARIEL feeling throughout the albums, that’s what we’re aiming for.
We’re not really a studio band, but as we live scattered all over the country we cannot rehearse as often as we would like. So usually we just rehearse once or twice right before gigs and recordings.
For Chifra, however, we never rehearsed the songs as a band at all.
Mike: And seeing as how we’ve been a band for more than twelve years, we’re quite in tune with each other. So, writing material hopefully automatically gives it the SATARIEL-feel. However, we (or at least I) try to break that pattern as much as possible.

Dani: There is always passing so much time between the record releases, and from what I gathered, it's always a label-matter. How do you cope with that? Do you actually care or got to a point of indifference?
Robert: Well, the labels are not all to blame. After each release we have taken quite some time just doing gigs before we’ve started writing for the next album. After Hydra however, we didn’t want it to take another 3-4 years before there was another sign of life from SATARIEL, so we decided to do the Chifra EP and then start work on another full-length at once.
We have hade quite some label-issues over the years, though, but we’re hoping that it’s sorted out now. We haven’t really got to the point of indifference, but I guess we have developed a healthy skepticism towards promised release dates.

Dani: How would you judge or guess your fan-base in your homeland and outside?
Robert: I really have no idea. Lots of people seem to have heard OF us, but not as many have actually heard us. There is definitely an interest, though. It’s real fun, and kind of surprising, when the audience is singing along with the lyrics at gigs.
We did a European tour supporting Necrophobic back in early 2003, which was our first chance to interact with the audience abroad. It would be really cool to get out there again, it seems like we’re a bit better known now.

Dani: Was the SATARIEL logo on Hydra intended to be so light? It's hardly visible. (On Chifra there seems to be a better contrast given by the blue part of the background.)
Robert: Yeah, Pär did the whole artwork, so everything is as intended. I agree that is kinda hard to make out, but it fit the cover best that way.
On Phobos And Deimos, Hammerheart (our label at the time) wouldn’t let us use the pentagram logo, because they thought it was too hard to read. But with Hydra, we didn’t have any such restrictions, so we went with the real logo. And we will in the future, too.

Dani: The lyrical concept on Hydra is built upon the topic "will", and you're leaving it all open to the reader's imagination. What is your own attitude towards "will"? Lead, free, nihilistic...?
Robert: It’s an interesting subject. I personally don’t believe in fate. "No fate but what we make", to quote Terminator 2 :-) So, free will it is.
Mike: I agree, if we don’t believe in free will, how can we motivate our actions? We have to take responsibility for everything we do, and not blame something else. (See Occams Razor - Non est ponenda pluralites sive necessitate.)

Dani: Pär, since you seem to have dealt with your amount of philosophy, do you believe in "occult traditions" and related things or was this rather to broaden your horizon? Is there an attitude or philosophy that you find totally irrelevant, none-sense even – why (not)?
Pär: I really don’t like the word "believe"... I practice certain things that I have found to be working for me. Attitude or philosophy... Hmm... Lets put it this way - I think all people should think more for themselves rather than be depending on religions or philosophies made out by others.

Dani: What will the video on Chifra be like? Could you give some details, please? (Live video, or rather a short story? Connected to the lyrical content of the song or far away from it?)
Robert: The track is Hogtied Angel and it will be basically be a performance video. We shot the scenes of us playing the song a while back, and right now it is being edited and fitted with effects. It’s more or less zero-budget, but it seems like it will turn out cool nonetheless.

Dani: What's the weirdest thing or assumption you ever heard, SATARIEL related?
Robert: Sometimes you hear a thing or two that really confuses you. Then you realize the person has got Setherial and SATARIEL mixed up. It happens from time to time.
Another common misconception is that Messiah sings on Coffin Gateways from Phobos And Deimos. I read a review of Hydra where the dude complained that we lacked ideas since we „brought back Messiah to do all the melodic vocals again“. I wrote him and told him that Messiah never had anything to do with Hydra, but he wouldn’t believe it. Then as „evidence“ he told me that he had compared the melodic vocals on Coffin Gateways with the ones on Hydra, and they sounded „exactly alike!“. Well... yes, they do.

Dani: What was the most stupid thing you heard about?
Robert: I don’t know really, but what comes to my mind right now is that Big Brother-bimbo and Sweden’s greatest attention whore Linda Rosing has started her own political party...

Dani: Some headwords that are important for you or that define your life/doings?
Robert: I’m not very complicated, I take each day as it comes and try to make the most of it.
Mike: Curiosity, fun, kindliness and justice.

Dani: Are there other involvements or participations of SATARIEL members in other bands or generally in artistic projects? If yes, which ones? (By the way, fancy idea with the hover-links in phonetic signs on your website! Finally I can say that :D)
Robert: We all dabble in projects from time to time. Sniper and Pär are involved in Torchbearer, a band that also plays melodic death metal (but in a whole different way than SATARIEL) with two albums out. I play drums in a few projects, ranging from semi-serious to completely stupid.

Dani: Thanks for your time! I'll keep waiting for Chifra and the new full-length...
Robert: Thanx a lot for the interview! You’ve certainly done your homework and that makes interviews so much more fun to answer. Cheers and take care!