A Ritualis Metallum Infernalium tem o prazer de apresentar mais uma vez uma entrevista a uma grande banda, de qualidade inquestionável e de classe mundial!
Desta vez a banda "escolhida" foi Augury, mestres do progressive death metal, que misturam influências tão díspares como o death, opera, black, flamenco e hindu nas suas magníficas faixas.
Tivemos a oportunidade de fazer um pequeno conjunto de questões a Patrick Loisel, vocalista e guitarrista, mentor da banda, aproveitando o facto de estarem em Tour com os gigantes Dismember.

Ritualis Metallum Infernalim is proud to present you once again with an interview with another world class band.
This time the chosen band was Augury, masters of progressive death metal, mixing such different influences like, death, opera, black, flamenco and hidu in their tracks.
While their are on tour with the legendary death metal act Dismember, we had the oportunity to ask a couple of questios to Patrick Loisel, vocalist, guitarrist and the mastermind behind the band.

Here's the result:

1 – Greetings Augury! I must thank you, first of all, for having accepted this interview, it is wonderful to have the possibility to make you a couple of questions about Augury. Please tell me how did Augury started as a band and what objectives did you have in your minds, upon the creation of the band, and finally, why have you chosen the name "Augury"?

Patrick Loisel : The very idea of the band started when me and Mat met in 1997, but we couldn't start to jam together for real until mlike five years later du to other commitments. Mat had already jammed with Arianne (soprano on 'Concealed') and Forest shortly before that. Me and Mat had to quit our previous bands to concentrate on our work together. Our friend Mathieu Groulx helped us with the drums at the begining the Etienne came in early 2003. The name comes from the felony of 'augury' which was the legal term used during witches trials in colonial United States. Any unusual knowledge or practice could be used to bring people to court under that charge. The 'prediction' part of it is collateral. The lyrics do imply some foreseen event, but all of those happened in the past, it's a cycle.

2 – You know, I always loved bands that were related with Universe. I admire Universe in its entirety and it is pleasing to see a band that includes the Cosmos in its lyrical themes. Reading your lyrics is like reading a science fiction novel, which is absolutely great, given the fact that you deal with Space and with people and their feelings simultaneously. What are your biggest sources of inspiration, when it comes to instrumental and lyrical composition?

PL: It is some kind of semi-fiction. I draw from obscure conspiracy theories, adding conclusions of my own because I've bee reading about it for over 25 years and I kind of connected the dots between the most plausible and recurrent elements.. I was reading about the Bermuda Triangle and UFO underwater bases, secret societies and all that stuff before I hit high school. My band mates like to read related scientific texts as well and we share an interest for Nature, science and other interesting subjects. The lyrics are made in a way so a seemingly poetic phrase could simply be an indirect reference to a piece of work or a known legend. We are not firm believers in any of those, though, but some key elements can be debated... and dramatized.

3 – Your debut album, "Concealed", was one of the biggest surprises of 2004, delivering a progressive death metal assault like I rarely see. It has received an enormous amount of good reviews, ranging from great to excellent. For me, "Concealed" was one of the best death metal albums of 2004, but to restrain "Concealed" to the death metal label is simplify in the most extreme way. How does a band create such an excellent album in its first release ever? Do you have any kind of secret?

PL: Well, death metal is some kind of a back bone to the band's music, in my case I would say more black metal but with a death metal edge. There is no secret whatsoever, we just try to write good songs and let them flow naturally. We took our time in everything, and the songs got their last polish in studio, because we heard them sound good and wanted them to sound even better.... We get our inspiration from a multitude of influences, classical, flamenco, gregorian, and of course prog and extreme metal bands.

4 – Obviously you are not rookies among the scene. I mean, the Canadian death metal is one of the best out there, together with the Swedish. Names like Quo Vadis, Kataklysm, Neuraxis, Martyr, Cryptopsy and Gorguts are all from Canada, which says a lot about your death metal scene and most of you came from already existent bands from that scene. So, basically you are veterans who have got nothing to prove, not some 20 year old guys, beginning your musical crusade. In what way, has the Canadian death metal scene influenced you in order to create this album?

PL: Well, our musical crusade began years ago, but we just started recently to get broader attention. They are indeed a lot of Canadian bands that we loved over the years so there is an influence, like we draw from Scandinavian and American bands as well. But I cannot pinpoint a direct influence other than the likeness for space ambiance and overall eclectism. Some of this influence surely came by the virtue of direct contact ; like, when I was younger, I spent a lot of time with the guys in Unexpect. They are a top fave of mine, as well as old Cryptopsy and Voivod. The bands mentioned in your question are very good friends of ours BTW!

5 – In "Concealed", you had this "operatic contribution" by Arianne Fleury as well as a vocal contribution from Gabrielle Borgia, something that felt really connected with the album and had a rare feeling of cohesiveness, together with the male voice. How did you discover those two beautiful voices? It also seems that they are now part of the past, since I saw their new "post" as former members and the promo demo released on 2006 didn't feature any female vocals. Does this mean that we won't have any female voices on the future efforts from Augury?

PL: First, Gabrielle only sang live with us, and throat problems prevented her to record on the 2006 promo CD. We decided to make female vocals an occasional element of our music, since we mostly had ideas for non operatic songs in the future. We had Roxanne from Unexpect sing a part on the new album, but that's pretty much it for female vocals on the new material. I am using my higher clean vocal tone is some parts of the album, if it can fill up the void

6 – As I previously said, on 2006 you have released a promo demo with two new songs "Skyless" and "Faith Pupeteers", another two great songs but different in some way, comparing with those belonging to "Concealed". "Faith Pupeteers" seems more straightforward and relying on heaviness more than ever. "Skyless" maintained the heavy guitars and vocals but delivered yet another decent share of progressiveness and dynamism. Despite the obvious quality of this promo demo I am forced to ask, what was the purpose of releasing this demo with only two songs?

PL: It was meant to be a business item, like a port folio or a business card, yet people asked for it. We used it to contact labels and medias, to give a glimpse of the new material. Both those songs have been recorded again for the new album.



7 – Your influences range from Faith No More, Emperor, Meshuggah, Testament, Voivod, Strapping Young Lad, Bach and Enslaved. It's nice to know that you've tried to add the most influences possible, together on one record, especially the black metal elements, which I found very interesting, mixed together with the neo-classical and pure death metal sections. Does it get complicated to mix all those elements in one or does it come naturally?

PL: We didn't try on purpose to cram the maximum amount of different influences in our music. It came naturally, like, in my case, I have embryos of songs playing in my head that go more and more precise with time, until I can actually play it to somebody. We always weed the songs out of whatever doesn't sound natural. WE are big fans of Emperor, Borknagar and al. so it's normal that such ambiances show in our music. I was personally into those dream like sounds before I knew of Black Metal. Stuff like St-Preux, Mussorvski, Bartok, Enya, Celtic music.... I discovered that I was very fond of Pop Hindu Music and all off Dany Elfman's work. Mat is a classical and flamenco guitar buff, he and Forest listen to such obscure prog bands... so playing this kind of stuff is simply for us the natural thing to do!



8 – I was informed that you intend to release your new album in this Winter (2008/2009). With such a great debut and demo, people are eagerly awaiting your new effort and personally, I can't wait to get my hands on your new album. What can people expect from this new work from Augury? Will it deliver a considerable different sounding from what people are expecting? Why this four year gap (excluding the demo) between "Concealed" and "Fragmentary Evidence" (the new album's name)? Why do you choose "Fragmentary Evidence" as its name?

PL: The title is Mat's idea, as well as most of our artwork. It is a complement to the written message. All the lyrics subjects have been assembled from bits of information gathered from multiple sources. There is no smoking gun, no consistent body of work that will prove anything from beginning to end. The primary witnesses are quite rare, documents are copied from one another, we are in total mystery. It's an ever changing puzzle.


9 – "Augury" is in this precise moment doing a tour with Swedish giants "Dismember", an almost legendary band, together with Grave, Unleashed and Entombed. Have you been getting along well? How are Dismember guys, behind the stage and on it? Do you sit around and drink some beers with them? It must be a pleasure and an honour to share the stage with Matti Kärki, as well as the other band members, right?

PL: Ah, Matti is such a gentleman. He even helped me when my van broke and gave good advice with my sore throat. They are a professional and quiet bunch, seemingly looking serious at first, but then playing a prank when nobody is expecting... and they really have fun together on-stage. We indeed had beer and tea together and they were overall really cool with us, given the fact that the touring conditions were far below what they were used to. Lots of experience shared with us.


10 – Finally, I reach my last question: Have you ever thought of doing a European tour? It would be really great to see you live and I'm sure you would be received in a fairly apotheosis way. If you could come to Portugal it would be even better and I'd definitely be in the front row, to presence your show in its entirety in the most passionate way. Is there any possibility of this happening one day?

PL: We've been thinking about Europe since we started the band! We just wait the right moment. There must be enough shows, enough people interested into seeing us live and support the band. Some people don't prepare properly and come back home drowned in debts. Simply crossing the ocean is quite an expense, but we know that we will do it, sooner than later!



11 – Thank you for your time and patience, it felt really good to do you some questions, I hope to see you live on day and I hope to get my hands on "Fragmentary Evidence" as soon as it's released. Do you have anything else to share with the readers?

PL: Thank you very much for the attention and help. We are eager to tour your magnificent country as soon as possible. Obrigado!