Sophicide Interview

Adam Laszlo – guitar, vocals, production

Sebastian Bracht – guitar, backing vocals

1. Can you tell us a little bit about the band for those that have never heard of you before?

Adam: Sophicide started in 2009 as my solo project. I wrote and produced a couple of songs at that time and released the first EP for free download. People seemed to be into it, so I decided to continue writing new material when I eventually had the opportunity to sign with Willowtip and finish the upcoming debut record “Perdition Of The Sublime” which will be released August 14th.

Sebastian: I first got in touch with Sophicide after the EP “The Art of Atrocity” was finished. We roughly came from the same scene, our musical preferences were practically alike and he was still in search of a second guitar player so it was a good fit.

2. How would you describe your musical sound?

Sebastian: The dynamic of the songs reaches from chaotic blast beats over doom riffs up to meticulous clean parts. But while the range is wide the very core of all ideas is still about the melody and harmonies behind it. As I am not the one who wrote the songs the sound had something magical to me when I first encountered it. This might come from the influences of different genres of music I was reminded of; like typical sounds and patterns from oriental and classical music. But they are not too apparent either. That is why it felt mystical to me. You can hear the influences but you can not completely grasp them.

Adam: To put it in few words, it’s basically fast and technical deathmetal. The songs sound aggressive I think, yet I always tried to retain melody and groove. There are some progressive, even mellow moments going on, but the overall feel to the music is of fierce nature.

3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

Adam: On this particular record the songs basically revolve around the album title “Perdition Of The Sublime” which also kinda describes the band name. It’s about the intellectual part of society being undermined by people like conservative republicans, fanatic evangelicals and such. Now I know this might sound a bit elitist, but let’s be frank here, in a world where people want to teach creationism in schools and others (or the same) support Rick Santorum’s politics, you can easily tell there is something wrong.

4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the band name?

Adam: “Sophicide” means “murder of wisdom”, you could also describe it with the more common term “anti-intellectualism”, which seems to be an upward trend in modern society. I really think humanity is slowly digging its own grave by being inconsiderate and plain dumb. People don’t seem to care about shit, as long as they’re kept busy with mundane work and fed with cheap meat. It really makes me sick, so this is the basic idea about the band name.

5. I have read that this band started out as a solo project, what was the decision behind hiring a full line up?

Adam: Well, after running Sophicide as my little solo project I thought it was about time to really bring it to life, that of course includes a full line up and live shows. But as for now we’re still in search of a drummer and a bassist, preferably from the same area we come from, which is around the area of Wiesbaden, Germany. So if you think you’re the right guy (or gal), feel free to contact us ;-)

6. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and how would you describe your stage performance?

Adam: As our line up is not complete yet, we haven’t played any shows yet. But it’s just a matter of time and we’re definitely looking forward to it. It’s gonna be a blast!

7. Do you have any touring plans for the future?

It’s kinda said in the previous answer ;-)

8. Currently you are signed to Willowtip, how did you get in contact with this label and how would you describe the support that they have given you so far?

Adam: After I finished the first EP, Jason from Willowtip contacted me rather soon and I must say I was pretty much blown away by this, I mean there are a bunch of amazing bands at Willowtip, so it’s really an honor to join them. The support has been simply great so far, so working together really is a pleasure!

9. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of technical death metal?

Sebastian: Heartwarmingly positive for the most part. People are nice. But while technically the feedback was international I wouldn’t talk about worldwide scale yet.

Adam: Definitely pretty good for now, it feels great when your work gets appreciated. But I hope there’s still a lot more feedback to come, whether it’s positive or not.

10. Are there any other musical projects besides this band or is this a full time line up?

Sebastian: There is another prog death metal project called Dahlian with long-ass songs where the two of us are guitar players and vocalists. It isn’t as developed though so we will see what the future will bring and if we can find other musicians to join us.

11. What direction do you see your music heading into on future releases?

Adam: That’s a tough one, you know, I don’t really plan these things out, so at the moment I can’t tell what the next album is going to sound like. I already started working on some new stuff, but as I said, we’ll see how the new material turns out, so I’m curious about it, too!

12. What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

Sebastian: Every genre has its gems (except for “Schlagermusik” maybe) so there is always far too much stuff that I want to listen to. Right these days I dig the new periphery album and Bilateral by Leprous who are among other bands like Opeth, Cynic and Cloudkicker big influences to me. It’s really hard not to name some more. There are a ton obviously.

Adam: I really like a lot of different styles of music, but the more obvious influences are bands like The Faceless, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Bloodbath, Necrophagist and such. As one of my all time favorites Opeth can’t go unmentioned here, but there are so many more of course. Right now I listen to a lot of stuff like Tesseract and Periphery. A lot of people seem to hate it, but I’m really into that djent stuff.

13. Outside of music what are some of your interests?

Sebastian: Every other source of creativity, admiration of nature, the simple philosophies of life that make it more enjoyable, the deepening thrills of learning and starcraft, I guess.

Adam: Besides creating music I really like everything that’s somehow challenging or involves being creative, like programming or fooling around with photoshop. On the other hand there are days where I’m just lazy and watching Family Guy, sometimes I need that, too. But these days I’m pretty busy, so no time for cartoons, I guess.

14. Any final words or thoughts before we wrap up this interview/

Adam: In the words of the great Charles Chaplin: “Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to the happiness of all!”

Sebastian: Keep being positive!