There comes a time when the music fan does not want anything original or unique when it comes to what they want to hear. Sometimes the listener gets nostalgic and wants to hear the type of music that got them into the scene that they love all those years ago in the first place. The first time I heard and reviewed The Frozen Casket by Cist, I couldn’t believe my ears as I thought I had transported back in time. Elements of Death, Asphyx and Pestilence was the order of the day but Cist add their own delicate touches to keep the listener interested and wanting to press the repeat button on each listen. I managed to catch up with guitarist Nick Komshukov where we discussed the current Russian scene, the opportunities for bands to record music in Russia and the future plans for the band Cist. This was a really enjoyable read from Nick and I urge all of you to give The Frozen Casket a listen if you ever want to know how good things were in the old days. I wish Nick and the band Cist the best of luck in the future.
First of all, thank you for taking the time to answer these questions for our readers at Moshville Times. Let’s start off with an easy one first shall we and tell our readers how things with Hell’s Thrash Horsemen ended and Cist began?
Hi everyone! Thanks a lot for your interest in the band. What about HTH, we split up in 2014 a few days after the show in Moscow. The reason was the booze. After Fedor Masuev (the drummer) left the band there was a period of stagnation. We were in search of a new drummer and at the end the guys became too laid-back – less performance quality and more alcohol. After the line-up was settled we resumed our concert activity but it was pathetic as the guys got drunk all the time and ruined the show. I just realized I had been wasting my time, that’s why I broke up with them. During the stagnation period I thought about building up another band. By the time of HTH’s decline, Mick Shapovalov (drums, ex-HTH) and I had a few rehearsals together. In June, Stas Salnikov (bass, ex-HTH by that time) and Vitaly Lushchenkov joined the band.
As stated earlier, Cist was formed from the ashes of Hell’s Thrash Horsemen. Obviously the music is completely different but what made you become an old school death metal act?
Cist was meant to be a logical extension of HTH (analyzing the music within the band’s life, you can hear how HTH became more fast and aggressive). The unreleased material was executed on the edge of classic thrash metal and death metal like Devastation (TX), Exhorder, early Sepultura, Attomica etc. Thus Cist evolved into the old school death metal and as we stuck to it we want to develop in the frames of this genre.
You must be extremely proud of The Frozen Casket as you are not only making us older fans, like me, relive the glory days but establishing a fan base with new younger fans. How have the press and the metal world accepted The Frozen Casket?
Thanks for a kind word! To our surprise The Frozen Casket was accepted very positively. We didn’t expect it to have such an impact and draw so much attention to the band. We just wrote the songs, recorded them ourselves in quite unfriendly conditions, mixed the recordings and let them go without any thoughts of big success. We’re happy to incite such reaction with our music.
What would you say you have learned in between your debut EP Chemical Tomb and the new EP to make The Frozen Casket sound the way it does?
That’s not easy to figure out. We wanted to make it sound good and make it sound right – including the style and the atmosphere of the classics. Thoroughly putting together the riffs and the lyrics for each song. Obviously we acquired something while working on it but that wasn’t the target.
How often is the band able to get together and rehearse in the studio? Â Where do you get together and record?
We rehearse twice a week – to keep fit, get ready for the shows. The process of creation takes place at home. I work on the composition of a track, share it with the others, Vitaly works on the lyrics, Mick memorizes the basic rhythms and reforms them at his own discretion. The final version of the track is being worked out at rehearsals. We rehearse in a garage adjusted to be a private rehearsal basement. We pay for it as we had to leave our own basement – where The Frozen Casket had been recorded, an unheated accommodation not fit for recording. Chemical Tomb was recorded on a professional studio in Mogilev, Belarus. And the first demo Synthetic Life was recorded on a Smolensk studio SLS Records. We’d like to record our future release on a professional studio.
What are the facilities like to rehearse and record in Smolensk? How often do you get together to rehearse and record?
As I said we gather twice a week for rehearsals. We make recordings in case we have a finished material. Then we look for a studio or do everything ourselves (as with The Frozen Casket) and record the tracks. There’re lots of rehearsal basements in Smolensk, a vast range of equipment – depends on how much you’re ready to pay. Many musicians have their own basements in garages, buildings, offices. We’re looking forward to make our place as well – for rehearsals and maybe recordings. There’re less studios but their number grows year by year.
Is there a vibrant local metal scene where you are from? Do bands find it tough in Russia to play metal?
In the 90s and early 00s Smolensk’s music scene used to be one of the most prominent in Russia. There were lots of events on where bands of different genres shared one stage. They were all friends, hanging out and creating something together. Now the scene is mostly scattered. Bands don’t hang out with each other anymore, the activities became more narrow-focused and less large-scale. There is no metal scene at all. But if you look 10 years back, not mentioning the 90s there was quite a bunch of metal bands. Speaking of a metal band’s life in Russia in total, it’s the same as in other countries. Recording the material, touring, making merchandise – all that is paid by the band. I don’t think the conditions here are more tough than in any other country. Good music has a value everywhere.
One of the many highlights of this EP are the vocals from Vitaliy. They’re a mix of Schuldiner and Van Drunen in their purest form. Listening to all the releases from Cist, I think it’s fair to say this is best performance yet. Had Vitaliy prepared differently for this release?
Vitaly always makes a professional approach to performing and recording. He really does it at high level! I don’t think he prepared specially for The Frozen Casket but I can say that he worked on it with a 1000% recoil (as well as on the other releases). He records his party 3 times (it’s a classical approach to recording), thus when you hear one Vitaly on the output, initially there were three of them, that’s the way he fools you!
Again another highlight were the guitar solos from Nikolay as it just sounded like Rick Rozz and Chuck Schuldiner with other influences being Patrick Mameli in the solos and got this old headbanger reliving the glory days. How difficult was it for Nikolay to change his guitar style from thrash to old school death metal?
I didn’t change it. I think the solos in Cist are the same as in HTH. In my opinion there’re no boundaries in the soloing parties between thrash and death metal or between metal and fusion for example. If there’s a difference between those two in my solos, it’s more likely due to development as I develop together with the bands I’m playing in.
How hard has it been to juggle the touring side of things with the everyday jobs? Do you have plans to go on bigger tours and further afield in 2018?
All the events are planned in advance. We discuss with our employers the days we need off or arrange a substitution with our colleagues. It happens that someone is not able to go for some reason. What about the long tours, there’re no such plans so far. This opportunity is available for professional bands only. To engage in music professionally means to have enough time for it so first you should leave your job. But music doesn’t guarantee a stable income – that brings the risk to leave your family starving. That’s why music is not more than a hobby for this moment. It could be more in certain conditions but there are none so far.
It’s very clear that you are influenced by the Floridian death metal scene and especially Leprosy-era Death. There are also the more European death metal acts in your songs with early Pestilence.  There are also your own touches to your songs but where do you see Cist going next?
It’s surprising that people compare us with Leprosy-era Death. That’s not bad I suppose but I didn’t follow suit this album while writing my songs. I prefer listening to the underground bands. We try not to pattern anyone so I can’t really say what impression our music would make.
There seems to be a resurgence of old school aesthetics and releasing cassette versions of EPs/albums. Is this something that you see yourselves continuing in the future?
I think that any physical media nowadays is exclusively of collectible interest. Every format has its specific sound. In my opinion the cassettes, vinyl and CD of course will exist for a long time in the future as it’s a way of supporting the band for a fan and a way of inciting a collector’s aesthetic orgasm.
So how are things progressing with the next Cist release? Â What are the plans for the rest of 2018?
We’re starting to write new material for a future LP. I should confess it’s not a fast process and it’s bond to the scrupulousness I mentioned above. And then we’re to take part in Nukstock Open Air, Germany on 24-25th of August, we invite everyone to visit this event – there’s gonna be a lot of good music.
How hard is it for an extreme metal band like Cist to survive in the current climate where bands have to tour non-stop and sell merchandise in order to bring money back into the band?
Very hard. Also considering the fact that the band is a source of income for anyone but the band itself. Everyone wants his bite: labels, booking agencies, clubs, studios etc. Rarely the band is able to bring the money back.
A fun question to end this interview. Â If you were a DJ and were allowed to bring 5 CDs to the party, what would they be?
If we’re talking of a party I’d like to bring the records of Lost Years, the best of Deep Purple and AC/DC, Gorky Park and something of the Soviet pop scene.
Any last message for our readers here at Moshville Times?
Thanks a lot to Moshville Times and to everyone who supports us and metal scene in general. Listen to good music, go to the shows, communicate – music unites us.
The Frozen Casket (Redefining Darkness release) is out now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C08IKQuttwY&t=466s
