Gateavisa and the death metallers of Eximperitus talk about their new album, DMT and why today’s states, ideologies and worldviews should be thrown to the landfills of history.

John Marti, 1829

“The essence of presence as it is should be erased” – as said by Us to the Abyss.- Inqirad, Eximperitus.

Hailing from Minsk, Belarus, Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum (Or just Eximperitus for us puny mortals) have been known to wreak havoc on numerous website front pages since the band’s inception in 2009. For those in the know, the band is also recognisable for their particularly punishing concoction of tech-death metal and deeply philosophical album concepts. Who are the masterminds behind this Belarusian assault? This is where it gets murky. Apparently, no one seems to know.

Their debut full length, 2016’s “Prajecyrujučy Sinhuliarnaje Wypramieńwańnie Daktryny Absaliutnaha J Usiopahłynaĺnaha Zła Skroź Šaścihrannuju Pryzmu Sîn​-​Ahhī​-​Erība Na Hipierpawierchniu Zadyjakaĺnaha Kaŭčęha Zasnawaĺnikaŭ Kosmatęchničnaha Ordęna Palieakantakta​.​.​.” (Yes, not even the band’s bandcamp lists the full album title) was a pummeling, lo-fi assault on the body and mind. However, it was their 2017 EP “W2246​-​0526” that truly hinted at the direction the band would take on their sophomore record.

This brings us to Šahrartu, released through Willowtip Records on january 29th. This release was different. By all means still a tech-death album, the scope of the songwriting now seems to reach for a different level. Gone are the more or less constant blast beats of their previous full length: Šahrartu is paced like an odyssey, slowing down and speeding up along its course. The use of eastern scales evokes that old Egyptian-themed death metal favorite, Nile, and there are moments on the record where you sense something familiar. But this is a different beast. This is epic death metal, beautiful yet mercilessly brutal. A cohesive, cyclic and strangely meditative journey that seems to catapult you through ancient civilizations, witnessing the rise and fall of empires in the span of less than 40 minutes.

Gateavisa: Tell us about the name of your musical project (and the inspirations and ideas behind it)? What does it say about the philosophical concepts that seem to be so tightly embedded into your music?

Eximperitus: The band name is the author’s individual agglutinative neologism based on Latin, Ancient Egyptian, Akkadian and Sumerian terms. This is the general name for the Universe in which we create personal worlds. The length is a continuation of the general concept. The size of the text titles required a suitable name. If you read the list of Dayana’s or Unpronounceable Names of God, you will realize that this is a fairly common practice for mysticism.

Your newly released album Šahrartu is a composition of six individual movements, each song seemingly symbolizing the different stages of existence, in what seems to be the cycle of life (or the universe) itself. Tell us about the concepts and inspirations behind the album, it’s use of ancient languages and how it should be approached?

“Šahrartu” is the apogee of Chaosgnostic thought and the philosophy of Destructivism. A kind of way to look death in the eye and fearlessly rush forward, asserting one’s own will within a limited time. This is a philosophical treatise on the finiteness of all forms of existence, whose cold and restrained style is a tribute to Nietzsche’s Zarathustra. Each track is dedicated to one of the stages of the existence of the Universe and life in general. This is why the album starts slowly (symbolizing birth), is very intense during the following two tracks (prosperity), then starts to slow down (decline), later becoming viscous (death). For the names of the songs we have used Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, Sanskrit and Arabic. The choice of language was dictated by the deepest understanding in these ancient cultures of the corresponding subject area ontology.

Was there any mind-altering substances consumed during the writing and/or recording process? Or any other forms of meditative practises used to focus on the creative process?

We must probably name DMT as one that was of huge influence between others. The trips were like journeys through the deepest space. We could imagine every molecule of this cosmos, created by our imagination. So probably yes, we tried to realize this through the music on our latest album.

Tell us about your recording process? Being a studio-only project, do you communicate and create mostly through digital platforms or do you rehearse together? Will we ever see you perform live?

It happens in different ways. We prioritize face-to-face communication over digital intermediaries. In addition, we work remotely while composing the material. Sometimes we get together in the studio. Eximperitus is a fusion of purposeful, highly organized individuals, united by a common idea. Therefore, constant communication is very important to us. As for live performances, at the moment this is not relevant for us. We are not a performing group. However, anything can be…

Let’s talk about your sound! The production on Šahrartu sounds massive and is unlike anything you released before, with extensive layering and subtle touches liberally applied all over the record (even some ASMR-ish chirpy sound on “Anhûtu”) How did you go about the production process?

Glad you found it so! Yes, it was an untraditional mixing/mastering process. We used a lot of producer/sampling/sound-design expedients to create the world inside the songs (or songs inside the world) we have created. Anyway, this is the way we wanted to work for upcoming records. It helps us to describe the details of the music to the listener, to bring forward certain visions. And, of course, it makes Eximperitus sounds different.

Please tell us about your musical inspirations and what kind of music that influenced the sound of Šahrartu. Do you currently have any favorite albums?

Perhaps we have already crossed the line when certain specific albums can inspire us to write material. We ourselves are the result of listening to all of the albums. Every day for us is the discovery and rediscovery of certain bands and releases. But Šahrartu is basically inspired by classic Florida Death Metal.

Lately there seems to be renewed interest in this existencientally gazing, “transcendence-of-everyday-human-bullshit” type of psychedelic extreme metal, with acts like Blood Incantation and Tomb Mold’s latest record Planetary Clairvoyance coming to mind. Where do you think this new momentum of extreme metal is going? Any musical acts right now you would like to recommend to our readers?

Yes, both of these releases showcased a kind of different viewpoint on creating extreme music in the last few years. And at the same time we must say, these albums had some really amazing responses. The fact that these phenomenal albums enjoyed this kind of popularity in the days of their actuality is great, as this does not necessarily happen all the time. But in our opinion, this “new momentum of extreme metal” is always somewhere deeper in the underground. What we mean by this is that, if you want to find – you need to look. It’s not enough to only listen to popular albums. Try to go through the real underworld. We highly recommend you to follow such labels as Dark Descent, New Standard Elite, Profound Lore and, of course, Willowtip Records. These guys are bringing the best acts nowadays. You can see that they are doing it with passion and not just trying to sell you something or release something that kids will like. And we also wish to name the last Ulcerate and Defeated Sanity records as a couple of examples that blew us away, and at the same time enjoyed huge success!

Can the album be seen in the context of the situation you are experiencing in Belarus in any way? Like the corrupted empires of the ancient past, the state crumbles under the greed and malevolence at the hands of its leaders and internal struggle, before eventually reaching rebirth, genesis? Do you have any hope of change, a revolution, in your lifetime?

Šahrartu covers the period from the moment of the Big Bang to the moment before the Big Crunch. But although the album was formed a few years before August 2020, it certainly became a kind of reflection of our everyday reality. Especially considering the fact that we brought the final touches to the recording against the background of explosions of light and noise grenades under the windows of our studio, aimed at passers-by and passing cars. And as much as we may not like it, this album, the name of which is translated from Sumerian as “Devastation”, will be firmly connected with this period of life.

The revolution, in the form and understanding in which it is accepted to understand it, is archaic in our society today. It’s like solving the problem of air flights by building zeppelins. We need a revolution in our social consciousness. It is necessary to nurture a kind of personality in humans that puts public good above their own. Destruction of centers of indifference and apathy. Despotism and excessive brutality of the Belarusian government has already given the course of these processes. But there is still a very long way ahead.

In all forms of life, we have always tried to abstract ourselves from the state and its institutions. And in the future we do not expect any benefits from them. We do not want any revival of it. We are absolutely not satisfied with the replacement of one state regime with another. We do not need any reforms and promises of new characters who want to renew the accepted forms of the state. Tyranny has finally revealed its true appearance to the whole world, hidden for decades. Once again, we saw what civic indifference leads to, shifting responsibility for their lives onto third parties and a lack of connection with reality in people, whose consciousness is like Windows 95 installed on an Apple iMac.

The only hope that glimmers in the depths of our consciousness is the evolutionary development of mankind. Rise to the next level, at which a person will not need the state apparatus, prisons, punitive organs, religion, hierarchical domination, achieving domination through annihilation and exploitation. No matter how distant it may seem, the events of the last year with its cops’ lawlessness, the strengthening of the state’s power, the suppression of dissent around the world, only brings the inevitable closer. The individual will finally get tired and throw off the shackles. From the point of view of eternity, this has already happened. As the Romans once cursed royal power and persecuted any striving for it, so contemporaries must destroy any sympathy for the known forms of government. What forms can and should take the future is a topic for another conversation. One thing can be said – none of the ideologies, dogmas, worldviews and beliefs is relevant and viable at the moment. These are all the ghosts of the past pulling us into the era of their finest hour. We need a new look and a new approach to solving new problems, and not the idealistic verbiage of the dreamers of the industrial age.

And lastly, did we miss something important?

That is all. Thank you for your questions and interest in our work. Our second album Šahrartu is already available all over the world. Be sure to listen to it if you haven’t already.