Interview - CRYPTIC TALES

Martín: Hi Peter! First of all introduce your band CRYPTIC TALES to our readers.

Peter: Cryptic Tales began in 1989. In the 90’s we recorded one demo and three albums.

“The Sign Of The Southern Cross” (demo 1991)
“Anathema” (Carnage Rec. MC, 1993)
“Valley Of The Dolls” (Gamma Rec. MC ,1994)
“The Tales” (Croon/Awaken Prod. MC, CD 1997)

We were one of the “founding fathers” of Polish death metal. We used to play many concerts with big names from Poland and Europe. In 1998 we split up. We’ve been back since 2008 as we recorded „VII Dogmata of Mercy” (Empire Rec. CD, 2008). In 2009 this album has been re-issued outside Poland by an American label Crash Music. In 2009 our older recordings namely „Valley of The Dolls” and “Anathema” were re-issued by Psycho Rec. and Redrum666 respectively.

M: Redrum 666 recently reissued your first effort “Anathema”. What are the differences between the new edition and the original one?

P: There are no big differences apart from mastering which makes the sound quality better. The cover art is different but the artwork guy tried to make it similar to the original. In the early nineties Anathema was available only on MC. Today it is available on CD thanks to Redrum 666.

M: Do you remember the recording sessions of this album? How were recording sessions in 1992?

P: Yeah, we went to the studio with a Bunch of records such as GRAVE, DISMEMBER and we said to the sound engineer that we want to have similar guitars on our album. The studio wasn’t a professional recording site and it can be heard on “Anathema”. It was all we could do at that time. In Poland not many studios were available, there were several of them but you had to pay a shitload of cash for it, impossible for a young metalheads we used to be. Today it is much different. Despite that, I can remember that I enjoyed working on “Anathema”. I can compare the equipment we used and use nowadays and I still don’t know how we managed to record a nice sounding early 90’s album using such shitty stuff.

M: Which bands influenced you in these years?

P: We were under the influence of Swedish death metal bands such as ENTOMBED, GRAVE, DISMEMBER. We loved those detuned raw guitars. Nevertheless we wanted to include our own ideas. We used the keyboards, double bass and classical guitar. This was our way to play death metal in an original way. Since that moment we had a trademark called “additional instruments”.

M: Recently I reviewed the reissue of “VII Dogmata Of Mercy” and I can see the big evolution since “Anathema”. Tell us about this evolution.

P: I think that „modern” CRYPTIC TALES has much conscious sound. Sometimes back there in the 90’s we didn’t know what we want. Often it was a matter of coincidence, and it considerably lowered the quality of sound. Today we know what we want and we make a 100% of what we planned in the rehearsal room. We developed the way in which guitars work. They are more diverse in terms of riffing and harmony. CRYPTIC TALES writes songs which have diverse structure and can touch different moods.

M: Is there a main concept behind “VII Dogmata of Mercy”? What about the lyrics?

P: No. „VII Dogamata of Mercy” isn’t a koncept album. We olny wanted to make it a coherent album in terms of music, artwork, lyrics and band’s image. Lyrics on „VII Dogamata of Mercy” are fictional myths about salvation. There is no ideology behind it. It is a pure epic fantasy.

M: Are you planning to record new stuff? Tell us about the future of CRYPTIC TALES.

P: Yes indeed. We are currently working on a New album. It’s our main plan of action. We want to compose record and release a follow up to „VII Dogmata of Mercy”. We plan to record a video for the new song which is going to indicate that the new album is coming soon. Of course we will play concerts to avoid being forgotten.

M: What can we expect about CRYPTIC TALES´ live on stage?

P: CRYPTIC TALES is not going to change in terms of music. A new album will be a follow-up of „VII Dogmata of Mercy”. We work on new songs and it can be seen that the style is similar to the previous album. Obviously we are going to develop our style not to stay in one place forever and record same music over and over again. We are searching for new fresh ideas. As far as the concerts go I think our shows are quite good at the moment. We work hard to improve them. If we are invited and the conditions are ok we jump into a van and play.

M: Poland is one of the most important countries for Death Metal. How do you see the scene from the inside?

P: That’s true. Polish scene has a big potential for this genre of metal, but I regret that this is only an underground level. Unfortunately it is still hard for a Polish band to get a serious deal with a big label. We are still being treated like a worse quality from the east. The label is more likely to sign a deal with let’s say Swedish band rather than Polish one, although they are both on a similar level. I know this scene from the inside and I can see a bunch of interesting professional bands which are no different from bands from the west of Europe.

M: Thank you very much for your time. Here you have space to write what you want as farewell.

P: Thanks for the interview. CRYPTIC TALES is a band which is still unknown to the public outside Poland, so feel invited to visit our Web page www.cryptictales.pl, myspace page and others. You’ll be able to see more there.

http://www.myspace.com/cryptictalesband
http://www.cryptictales.pl