INTERVIEW - Serpent Rise

SERPENT RISE is a Brazilian doom/gothic/atmospheric metal band that has been around for a long time, and they were founded back in early 1993, back when groups like Paradise Lost, Tiamat, My Dying Bride and Cathedral made albums that already then were considered as classics. SERPENT RISE has to this date only released one album, 1998's "Gathered By...Kharma", after a handful of demo releases during the earlier years of the nineties. 
The album suffered the same fate as many others in this business, and were neglected by the label that was responsible for the release, and consequently they never got the attention they deserved. 
Twenty years later, in 2018, the album has been reissued as a double CD with an entire disc full of bonus tracks, including the demos "Anastendárides" and "Travellin' Free", and all the material has been remastered for the optimal listening experience. The anniversary edition was released by Nuktemeron Productions and limited to 500 copies, and you can read my review somewhere else on this blog. 

Anyone who has followed SERPENT RISE  are already aware of the fact that you are a band with quite a long history behind you. Some of us have not been as fortunate, so maybe you could start off by telling us how it all started? 
Founding member Agnaldo Gomes (vocals) gives the answers:

SERPENT RISE started in 1993, and Julio (Wojciechowski, guitars, bass, keys) and myself are the founding members. During the twenty-six years of the band's existence it has had numerous line up changes, and despite periods where there was total silence around the band, it never ceased to exist. Drummer Luis Henrique and myself live in different cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, but Julio lives 3000 kilometers away from us, in another state called Mato Grosso. We are currently just a three piece band, but on stage we have session members playing bass and keyboards.

Since you founded the band in the days when doom and gothic metal had its golden age, who were your main inspirations and influences to create your music? What inspires you to still make music? 

Well, Julio and I have known each other since the mid-80's, and we have been playing together in several bands since then; Nuctemeron (death/black/grind), Garbage (death metal), Arcanum XIII (Dark metal) and of course SERPENT RISE. We were tape traders at the time, and we received new stuff from all over the world. This helped us to get inspiration and influences for the material we wrote for SERPENT RISE. Nowadays' access to information and music is much easier, with just a click, rather than waiting thirty days for a letter with K7 (demo tape).
This modern way of discovering new bands also inspires us, but we were young when we started the band, and we had not had all the experiences life has provided to us to this day. I am 51 years old, and Julio is very close to me in age, and we were very inspired by all these experiences to make SERPENT RISE's music.

Can you describe how a typical song writing process happens in SERPENT RISE? Who writes the music? What is your inspiration when it comes to writing lyrics?

In the band we have very well defined functions. I write lyrics, and I participate in the arrangement process. I manage the business, and Julio creates the songs in his studio (Loudness Art), where he also records all the instruments. My inspiration for writing lyrics comes from everything around me, whether it's visible or non-visible.

What is the meaning behind your band name? Is there any symbolism involved?

Julio and I never hid the fact that our main inspiration for founding SERPENT RISE was Cathedral's "Forest of Equilibrium" album. I remember Julio brought the name, and there was something about the "Serpent Eve" track that caught our attention, and we decided to naively start off with that name. Shortly after we found out the name is linked to Kundalini (sexual magic), and our name can be interpreted as something that is neither positive or negative. This inspired me to write the "I am the light and the darkness of myself" sentence, because every human being is both darkness and light searching for self-understanding in order to acheive balance.

You released an album back in 1998, after a handful of demo releases throughout the nineties. What happened to SERPENT RISE after the release of "Gathered By...Kharma", and what gave you the idea to rerelease it last year?

In 2009, Julio and I decided that we no longer needed to have a complete line up to move on with SERPENT RISE. Julio started building his Loudness Art recording studio to compose and record the band's songs. I started writing lyrics and working on spreading the SERPENT RISE name around to reach out to new listeners too, instead of letting it just stagnate with our past audience.
The album never ceased to be sought after by doom metal listeners. We received many emails and messages from people who wanted to buy it, so Nuktemeron Production gave us the honor of reissuing a commemorative limited double CD edition, twenty years after its initial release.
The interesting thing is that the album still sounds current and original in 2019. I am biased to speak about it, but I want to invite all readers to have a listen and make their own conclusions.

Are you active in terms of playing live?

Oh yes, we are active and playing live. Of course we are not a band that can play live every day or weekend here in Brazil, but when the offer is made in advance and covers the minimum of our needs, then we're happy. We're planning to make a small European tour when we manage to work out our vacations from our day jobs.

So, at last I just have to ask... Will you be releasing any new material soon? 

Yes, we are working to make this happen as soon as possible. We're working very carefully to achieve a musical and lyrical result that does beyond anything we have done up to this date.

So, if you are a fan of nineties' doom and gothic metal, be sure to visit Nuktemeron Productions's webstore HERE and order your copy of a rare gem from the Brazilian metal scene.