Posts

Oraculo Magazine - Interview with AUTARKEON

janvier 31, 2018

AUTARKEON INTERVIEW

1. Autarkeon is a French project created by Haskel in 2011. What was the reason that encouraged you to be the only member and not have other people?

 I played in many garage bands a long time ago. So I perfectly know, the problems linked to the good functionning of a band (like conflicts of competence, interest, personality clashes,  "wars of power", compromises generating frustration, lack of real involvement of some members, and so on ...) For my project called "zero,0" before Autarkeon, things were different. Autarkeon is also a "one man band". But it was also a duo. And occasionally a trio. We were very close. Everyone knew perfectly well how the others worked. Circumstances made that I had to go on playing alone. I have never looked for other partners (finding musically compliant people by recruitment, is not extremely difficult, but creating a band with people with a high level of relational compatibility, complicity is almost an utopia) . It was for me like the end of a cycle. I like my current way of working. It suits me perfectly. I do things on my way. I could not do otherwise. 

2. To date you have released two full-length "Éternel Conflit" and "La Grande Menace". How was the whole process  of the composition until the final product of both albums?

The process was the same for the 2 albums (and there will be no change for the 3rd album). Each piece was / is broadcasted as a single, as soon as it is released. Making an album takes a lot of time. And between each album, I wish to be able to share new material, in a short time. It is better for a band, a project (especially in the "Underground" area), to show that it is still active. Singles allow this. And I also want each song to be heard individually and not as part of a whole. I want people to know/guess in advance what the upcoming album will be about. No question of choosing songs that would be supposed to make the best promotional material. Everything is broadcasted. If there must be a or favorites songs, it's people who will decide.

3. "La Grande Menace" is the second album released in 2016. What do you want to express with the graphic concept of the album and what kind of threat do you want to refer to?

The grimacing faces on the artwork represent anger, cruelty, fear. "The Great Threat" has many faces, it has many names. The roots of evil are: religion, politics, money ... Autarkeon's lyrics are mainly about manipulation of the individual, the mass (whether directly, apparently, or aggressive like in some dictatorships nor "nebulous", attractive, reassuring, like in our "pseudo" democracies ), all forms of extremism, intolerance, violence in all their every possible form. From this blindness, came those impulses that lead man to repeat his mistakes, to infinity. The individual is not just a victim or an executioner within a system. Individually, each is a potential danger for the others. Intimately, he is also a threat to himself. And also, victim of himself. It goes beyond the conception of good and bad. Some lyrics of Autarkeon, more introspective talk about our inner conflicts. The man is in balance between his instinct of conservation and his self-destructive impulses. It's a question of balance. All this is precarious. We are like those chemicals that are sensitive to storage conditions, transport.

4. In 2017 Autarkeon released two singles titled "Aliénation" and "A La Derive", which will be included in the new album. Tell us something about what will be the third Full-length and at what stage of production is it?

The 3rd album will be more than ever Old School Death Metal  (some songs on the first album have Thrash influences, there's even a Black Metal-inspired song). This album will be even more "compact" than the second. But each track will have its own identity. A third single: "The Lost Illusions" was released on January 14th. The fourth is in preparation.

5. We wish you many successes and thanks for granting the interview. Do you want to add some words?

Thanks to you too for this interview. I would like to say to all who will read this interview that every support, comment, like are important for a band, and especially an  Underground project like Autarkeon. On social networks, the Website, please do not hesitate to support, comment and share. Thank to you all.