First of all; did I not insult you too much with my review of ?In Obscure Depths? (referring to Blashyrk and Immortal)?
?In Obscure Depths? was our debut by the current line-up, which had been together for 8 months at the date of release in May 2002. This implies that we were already in a studio after 5 months of really hard working. Everybody was therefore very happy with the CD, although we will not say that it has been the best Belgian black metal release of the past year (certainly one of the best ? John). We came out quite rapidly with our job, and were therefore prepared for some criticism, both good and bad? And when someone comes up with a comparison to Immortal, we can only be flattered.?

Your CD has a very Scandinavian/Norwegian sound; how many people react astonished when they find out that you Panchrysia is from Belgium?
?Few? First of all we have not played that much abroad, and second of all we don?t want to pretend to be a Norwegian or Swedish act.  We announce the songs on stage for this reason usually in Dutch/ Flemmish. I don?t believe there can be much confusion about our origins.?

Musically, there is little to be remarked about the debut album, yet what is the purpose of closing ?darkened Souls?? As I see it, it is just an instrumental extension of the sounds on track 2 (Spiritual Gain ? Bloom Up To The Sun)?
?Generally, we are not that much into slower songs, yet we believed that there should be some moments of ?rest? on a fierce CD (indeed ? John). For these darkwave intermezzos we?ve used ?Thee Disciples? by Penumbra (I don?t know the song ? John). The last, nameless track, which follows after ?Darkened Souls? is an outro, and the coming of that one is indeed announced by short pieces between the songs, like for instance after the second track. The talking of that ?senile priest? on that song, is a speech by Aleister Crowley, which was mixed will all kind of sounds that cannot be defined.?

You are still seeling the second demo (Exaltation for only ª 5,00); What will happen to the songs that were on the other demo, Nimisque Inhumane. Will we ever hear something from those songs?
?That demo is from our death/thrash era by the previous line-up. We do, for those reasons, regard them as the past. Although there is still demand for those songs during our live performances, I am afraid that those songs will definitely remain a past item.?
 
During Graspop 2002 (Belgium?s and nowadays the Benelux most important Metal Festival) I saw the CD disposed at a prominent place (on displays and so on), and not just only at the LSP stand; what kind of feeling does that give to the band?
?Graspop was shortly after the release of our album, which was therefore  a very recent item. And as Graspop is a Belgian event, it seem sonly logical to me that on those stands also Belgian bands are being promoted. Of course it gives us a good feeling, it prove sthat the Belgian metal scene in general can count on a broad and big support, and that is a good thing!?
Speaking about Graspop; I thought the number of Belgian bands to play over there was very little, not to mention the level of those bands that were booked there. Just Manic Movement was a real experienced Belgian metal band, and they had to open the festival on Friday? A pity, isn?t it?
?It is too bad that for many organizers of big events only the commercial aspect counts. The more bands, the more organisational problems, where as the venues are in no comparison with those costs. Festivals take a lot of effort anyway, en each band extra enlarges the time to wait for the audience, which is usually only interested in the main acts. I believe that there are more possibilities in playing as a support act of bigger acts in smaller venues. In those cases, the offer is limited to 2-3 bands and it is less crowded and busy, also for the organizers/promoters. The entire show takes about three hours, and the opening act has the task of ?warming up? the audience for the main attraction. Those are the chances of playing in front of a sold out venue, and if your style fits the one of that main act, you can even count on a rather healthy response of the audience.?

Should the organisation of Graspop read this; next/this year (2003) all ex-LSP bands at Graspop as a promotion of the Belgian scene?
?All the LSP-bands on Graspop is totally irrealistic, just because of the just mentioned reasons. I believe we would be with 15 bands in such a situation. Of course there is some talking and negotiating going on about one (!) or more Belgian bands at Graspop, yet much is depending of the big names that will play there, and whether that leaves some space that can be filled with local acts. I think that that decision will be a true last-minute one?"

According to your website all one wanted to know about the band is on your site; yet of course I have some more things to ask... One major issue is that your label, the LSP-Company, has stopped as a label. Regarding that I have some questions?
Has the band played on for instance the Belgian X-mass festival, although there is no label anymore to support the band?
?That gig in Lille (France?) took place on December 8th. The deal was as a matter of fact made throughout LSP, yet the final, concrete details and arrangements had to made with the Matallysee Agency by ourselves. Luckily our manager, Ann Janssens, has kept herself real busy with that, so that all went well on the spot."
There were some tours to be organized with labelmates like Axamenta and Oceans of Sadness; those kinds of initiatives were of course all of a sudden swept away when the label pulled the plug. What are things you miss most not having a label?
?We are convinced that the Belgian scene urgently needs some ?alliances?, if the scene wants to accomplish something. The ?Waterwolves? initiative by Oceans of Sadness was a sound step in that direction. By stopping the LSP-label also the connection between the bands fell away, so that a promotion tour seems less evident now. We do maintain contact with and to several bands, and intend to come up with a likewise touring initiative in the future.
The lack of a label is therefore generally felt in the way that there is no organisation behind you to which you can refer for financial support in individual or collective projects, and the contact you need for things like that; between the bands themselves, yet also with bookers. And you loose, for a small part, the credibility as a band, which results in the fact that it becomes tougher to get shows or booked.?
Are you still in touch with ex-labelmates (support and stuff like that)?
?Especially with Axamenta (see their review here) we are still in touch, as we have the very same goal: to achieve something. We play with them on a regular basis, and do organize a mutual promotion stand during fairs or shows. We do have such appointments with other ex-LSP bands as well. It happens regularly that people come over to our stand asking whether it is a LSP-stand??

You did, in spite of the lack of a label, make a video for the song ?Creation of a Mortal Spirit?. Is this still an inheritance from the LSP-era or an own initiative. The sound on the site is very soft by the way?. What can you tell us about the video? Without corpse paint and on the pictures itself you get the idea of a death metal like clip at first hand, without taking the music into account?
?The idea to record a video clip came only to us after seeing the video made by Oceans of Sadness. It seemed like ?fun? to do that for us, and we were very curious after the reactions that would follow. As we did not have a big budget for the realization, we turned to a friend/acquaintance, who works in the editing room of VRT news. He was into it immediately ? finally something different than assembling boring pictures ? and also took care of the complete ?script? and needed material.
We wanted to do something different in connection to the album?s artwork, but unfortunately the ruin where that picture shoot took place had already been taken down. Eventually we ended up in a deserted military airbase. The brown filters and blurry passages should refer to the dominating green in the artwork of the CD. The battery, worms and pictures of the ?artificial insemination? refer to the lyrics of the song ?Creation of a Mortal Spirit?.?
Why did you specifically choose this song for the clip?
?This one was most suited for making a video, as it is both accessible and yet reflects our style. It doesn?t take too long, it is constructed in a simple way and yet has enough diversion.?

You came forth from the band Zarathustra; apart from the fact that there are more bands with that name (just two signed acts from Germany alone), in which repect did you take some aspects of that past along?
?We did indeed change our name when it showed that it was not unique. In that period, the dominating style was melodic death metal, yet the evolution towards black metal had already started. On changing the name, also in a quiet way the line-up was changed, and the demo ?first in that style- ?Exaltation? was released, at that time without a bass player. You could say that Panchrysia actually came to life in 2001, when the definitive line-up was formed. The only two remaining band members from the ?Zarathustra-era? are Zahrim and Dol.?

Where does the name of Panchrysia comes from?
?The band was named after a Belgian comic-series with that name, ?The Chronicles of Panchrysia?. Panchrysia is Greek and means ?all in Gold?. ?
In spite of the fact that you use stage pseudonyms, you are without factor 12 (corpse paint) on the pictures? What is the meaning behind those names.
?Corpse paint is not really our thing, and does not fit to the more modern image we would like to create. Web (Wesley) and Dol (Gunther) are nicknames that we also use in daily life. Maarten chose Zahrim as a name for himself (and Joris is a very normal name in Belgium and the Netherlands ? John).?

How did the show with Archemy went Sunday December 1st; A bracer after the past months?
?The show itself went far more easy than X-Mass fest in Lille; playing in Biebob (a wellknown Belgian metal venue ? John) is always fun, in spite of the tight time schedual. We know the venue, there is always decent equipment, a good monitor mixer, and we can bring along our own sound expert. So therefore the show was solid. And we had nothing to compare about the response as well, so it is certainly worth while repeating that one..?

During September and October you played quite a large number of live shows; how did you get to do those without a deal? An active manager or in spite of all a great demand for Panchrysia?
?Indeed there has been quite some demand, yet usually this concerns smaller shows in youth centres and so on? The larger shows we owe to our manager Ann, who crosses throughout the country to talk with organizers and bookers. For instance, we play at the 013 Batcave in Tilburg (a well known Dutch venue), after which there will be following more gigs in the Netherlands?"
Too bad I have a drinking appointment with Sakis from Rotting Christ that very day elsewhere, otherwise I would have certainly been there!

It has been a while since the recordings took place.. Anything known already about the sequel (new songs, albums)
?Around September 2003 we wish to re-enter the studio again, so we do have some time. We do have five new songs that do not sound that bad. We wish to have an adequate number of choices this time, so around July or so we would like to have 15 songs finished, and we can really study and get into eight of them, which will appear on the CD. A digipack would be nice??

As far as I know no LSP band has succeeded in scoring a new deal? I sure as hell may hope that meanwhile this has changed, especially for Panchrysia?
?We have understood that Axamenta is negotiating with a label. As far as we are concerned, a deal with Soulreaper (the metal division of Good Life Recordings) is close to being made. There are some details to be finished, and we expect to come to an agreement at the end of January 2003.?

How about the heritage of deals made with LSP regarding a possible new label; have there been made agreements about that?
?LSP hoped when they stopped the label activities to transfer all the bands to a different label, yet in these times that is no longer a realistic goal. For a moment it seemed as if we would round up in an impossible situation, in which we would be legally tied to LSP, even as they do not release any albums any more. Under those circumstances we could impossibly turn to another label, and it seemed af if we were doomed for the coming four years not being able of recording and releasing a new album.
That situation has been solved rather quickly by closing a deal with LSP that they would maintain all the (exploitation) rights of ?In Obscure Depths? , yet that we are free to sign with another label. And as per January, I believe (ye am not sure) this goes for all the other LSP-bands??

Some famous last words to our readers?
?We wish to thank the Belgian fans especially for their support, and those in the Netherlands (and elsewhere, Vampire Magazine writes in English) should certainly keep a close eye on our site, which is www.come.to/panchrysia. And thanks for the interview.?

Upcoming shows Panchrysia:

05-01-'03 013, Tilburg (NL) with Corpsecandle
01-02-'03 Mundo, Zottegem (BE) with Emptiness, Thus Defiled, Demonizer
22-02-'03 JH Hobnob, Brasschaat (BE) with Ill Fares The Land, Batallion

Want more info on Panchrysia?
Visit Panchrysia's band information page!

Other articles for Panchrysia:

Album review		Deathcult Salvation»	by Neithan 01 May, 2008
Festival		Arnhem Metal Meeting 2007»	by Kimberley 14 Feb, 2008
Album review		The Ultimate Crescendo Of Hell»	by Filip 24 Aug, 2006
News article		announce split release»	by Filip 25 Feb, 2006
Concert review		18/12/2004 Biebob Antwerp Belgium»	by Filip 20 Dec, 2004
Album review		Malicious parasite»	by Filip 16 Aug, 2004
Album review		In Obscure Depths»	by Neithan 26 Jun, 2002