This Serbian death metal band have recently unleashed their debut album Ternion Demonarchy on the world, and what an album it is. full of blasting aggression and deep, daemonic growls, the band waste no time in showing that they have what it takes to compete in the international underground death metal arena. I managed to catch up with guitarist Milan Dobrosavljev to find out a bit more about what makes Sacramental Blood tick…
How did Sacramental Blood form?
In mid 2001 I decided to disband my first band Androphagous, since we had constant line up problems and couldn’t find a drummer for the last 3 years. A few months later our drummer Ivan heard we were looking for a drummer and contacted me for audition. I wasn’t sure about it and I told him the band was done but he kept insisting and I finally agreed to give it one last shot and few weeks later the two of us met in the studio. It seemed he could do the job so I gave him few weeks to get back in shape and in January 2002 we officially started a new band, Sacramental Blood. I didn’t want to have any connection with previous name, that just seemed wasn’t meant to be and we decided to start new band, under a new name, with completely new line up, keeping only a few songs from Androphagous era.
What are your influences?
We are all mostly into extreme metal. I come up with most of music and my biggest influences are early Suffocation, Monstrosity, Sinister, Disincarnate, Luciferion, Seance, Nocturnus, Sadus etc. I’m also into some thrash acts like old Forbidden, Dark Angel, Megadeth (only Rust in Peace), Nevermore…Other guys listen more or less similar stuff and they could also add Possessed, Vader, Vital Remains, Nile, Dying Fetus, Tony MacAlpine to the list.
Name five things you’ve listened to recently that you’d recommend
Recently I’ve been listening a lot to old stuff, like Deicide – Legion, Dementor – Enslave the Weak, Ophiolatry – Anti-evangelistic Process, W.A.S.P. – Headless Children, Pestilence – Testimony of the Ancients etc. and my recommendation definitely goes for mentioned Ophiolatry and Dementor albums (I believe Deicide or Pestilence don’t need any recommendation). Right now while I’m doing this interview I’m listening to new album of Rotting Christ – Rituals, that is very good continuation of their previous album “Kata ton daimona eaytoy”.
Tell us about Ternion Demonarchy
We recorded basic tracks during 2009 in Wild Cat studio (Kragujevac/Serbia), the same studio we used for the recording of our first demo “Inception of Ceremony”. At the end of the same year we had run into line up problems and postponed work on album until 2012 when the new vocalist/guitarist Srdjan Todorovic re-recorded vocals and half of guitar solos in Archsound Studio (Belgrade). During second half of 2013 Stefano Morabito (known for his work with Fleshgod Apocalypse and Hour of Penance) took over the project and reamped, mixed and mastered it in 16th Cellar Studio (Rome). CD was released worldwide on 6th of May, 2016, through Japanese label Ghastly Music (sublabel of Amputated Vein Rec.). Miner Records (Swiss) will release it on vinyl worldwide as well as on CD for ex Yugoslavia territory. 2 weeks ago Rebirth the Metal from Germany also released a cassette version of the album.
What’s your favourite song on the album and why?
I can’t pick just one song. There’s no filler songs and not even 1 filler riff on “Ternion Demonarchy” so every song is kind of special for some reason. I like some songs more playing live and some others I like more when they are played on CD player. However a few weeks ago we made a special version of track “Sanctimonious”, for release of “Destroyer of Thought and Form” single CD through Miner Records. It’s enriched with lot of keyboards and it sound very fresh and new to me so at the moment that version of song stands out amongst others.
How do you write your songs?
I come up with riffs first. If the other guys have some ideas they play them to me and I turn them at home into a song. When the song sounds completed I show it to our drummer, riff by riff, and when he learns it then the whole band starts rehearsing it. I also write the lyrics and work on vocal arrangements after the music is finished and talk to the vocalist about what kind of vocals would fit each verse.
How important is good album art to you?
It’s very important. Many times I picked up some albums just because of nice artwork that immediately caught my attention. Artwork is integral part of a release and it should reflect the lyrics and music and complete them visually, so we made sure we picked up the right guy for the “Ternion Demonarchy” cover. We hired amazing Spanish artist Juanjo Castellano Rosado, who did killer artwork that fits perfectly our music and concept of lyrics. It’s catching absolutely everyone’s attention and many say it’s one of the best metal artworks in this year. It put the album on a whole new level and I just can’t praise his work enough.
What are your ambitions for Sacramental Blood in the future?
Our drummer is temporary disabled to play with us so we are rehearsing right now with new session drummer. Hopefully we will be able to start playing shows from September this year. We want to promote CD as much as possible and we believe it will open many new doors for us. Hopefully next year we can book a few summer festivals and arrange some EU tours.
What does the rest of 2016 hold for you?
Single CD “Destroyer of Thought and Form” should be out by the end of the month. Vinyl is also late so it’s something we are waiting for impatiently. In other news, we’ve just joined the Lab 6 Music rooster. It’s a Brazilian label and distributor of music instruments and they will spread around 1.000 promo copies of “Ternion Demonarchy” in the territory of Brazil and Paraguay. That should help us build strong fan base there and rise the interest in band. Who knows, maybe we can soon tour South American soil. Stay tuned!
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