INTERVIEW: Abaddon Incarnate prepare for Monsters of Rot...by drinking and the eternal war with slam pornogrind

COME August 1st Monsters of Rot will once again see metal rise from the mists, a beast of a festival slobbering and dragging its primal body rising from the bogs, its roar shaking the forests and terrifying residents across the land.

Emerging from the land called Letterbreen in the County of Fermanagh, a land steeped in mystery and myth the Monsters of Rot enters its fifth incarnation - and amongst the bands set to send tsunamis across Loch Erne are Abaddon Incarnate, a ferocious extreme metal act that have been tearing up cities and laying waste to unsuspecting souls from the early 90s.

But way back then, did the band actually still expect to be playing midway through the second decade of the 21st Century?

"Yeah," said Stephen of AI.  "It was totally consuming on many levels and I could never see it not existing, just as now, it will always exist, its a institution now."


But like all institutions the band draws those that want to attach a label to them - a lazy, shorthand description. AI have been dubbed by some as 'deathgrind.

"All labels hinder bands, anti cosmic black metal people wont go to shoegaze post black metal gigs and slam pornogrind people avoid cavernous death metal metal gigs," said Stephen.


"In the 90s in Ireland, metal was metal and all these bands would be on the same bill. Its so segregated now. Which is why I like festivals like Monsters of Rot, their is a rich variety of stuff there to cater to everybody's needs.

"I don't think we are a death metal band or wholly a grind core band, but somewhere in the middle, but you know back in the day there is little difference between death and grind, check out the grind crusher compilations for example. or in crust in we trust, all death metal bands and grind bands under the one banner, fucking 'A'"

Recently we caught Abaddon Incarnate with Basement Torture Killings lay waste to Belfast's Warzone Centre and we wanted to know what sort of preparation they put in for tours and festivals.

 

"We just play the same as always, we jam once or twice before a tour because everyones so busy," said Stephen

"Johnny plays in several bands now, Altars of Plagues, Malthusian, Dread Sovereign, and I live in the UK so its hard to do anything extra other than work out a setlist over emails and meet up twice to nail the set.

"Its handy we're all good musicians we can pull that shit off. Playing live is the best part of being in the band, especially touring."

In terms of touring Stephen reckons that Russia and Peru have the "most insane fans", but we were curious as to whether Abaddon Incarnate prepared any different for festivals....and Stephen spilled forth.

"This will be our current bass player's Steven Finnerty's final gig with us so it will be special and a sad occasion no matter what," said Stephen. "We will play some tunes from every album, we should have the 'Pessemist' vinyl to sell at it, but preparations for festivals usually involves drinking a lot the night before travel, drinking during travel, losing an instrument or two, mislaying the odd passport, but as this is in Ireland and we are rehearsing the night before the gig we will probably drink before travel, drink during travel and lose a bass player so yeah always the six 'P's.

"These are piss poor preparation prevents proper performance, or proper piss up prior to performance prevents vinyl sales...or something. I don't know, but I'm sure it'll be grand.

"Anyway we're looking forward to seeing Jobseekers, Okus and Gutwrench...it'll be a blast!"