Meet: German Black Metal Band Imperium Dekadenz

German Black Metal Band, Imperium Dekadenz, have recently unleashed their latest opus ‘Into Sorrow Evermore’ and have taken some time out to very kindly answer a few questions for Backseat Mafia. 

Hi and a massive thanks for taking the time today, it really is appreciated.

‘Into Sorrow Evermore’ is a sublime album, absolutely fantastic, did you find the writing process during Covid difficult? Do you have any favourite tracks on the album

No, on the contrary. The pandemic started right at the time of our creative phase and
weighed down our time with the compulsory isolation and short-time work. During this time we wrote over 20 song ideas and more or less decided on these 8. Looking back at the other albums, we hardly ever took up surplus ideas again, but with so much material, it might be different for the next album. My personal favourites are ‘Memories … A Raging River’ and ‘Truth Under Stars’.

Do you have any live dates in the pipeline, anything lined up for the festival season

Due to the workload because of the new release, we are a bit late this year, but some shows in Germany are already confirmed. For example ‘The Dark Woods’ in Hesse, ‘Dat Unland Fier’ at the Baltic Sea, ‘Chronical Moshers’ in East Germany and the ‘ZappenDuster’ in Northwest Germany. We are currently still working on two German festivals and shows in Italy. With the new album and booking agency, we hope to be able to play in countries where we have not yet been seen.

Which festivals are favourites of yours to play live

We had a great time on the 2011 ‘Inferno Festival’ in Oslo or the 2017 ‘Gothoom Festival’ in Slovakia. It is always exciting to be a part on one of these huge festivals like ‘Wacken Open Air’, ‘Partysan Open Air’ or ‘Summerbreeze’, but one is missing in our list. The ‘Hellfest’ in France would be great.

Which countries do you find have the craziest fans are there any countries that are favourites of yours to tour

We know from other bands that the fans in South America are absolutely maniacs. Would be great to experience that by ourselves. We played a show in Minsk, Belarus in 2017 which was a real adventure. The people there are extremely hungry for concerts and bands from abroad. It’s probably almost impossible for a German band to play there now, but it was already difficult back then. It was a weekend that we will certainly never forget.

The artwork on the cover of ‘Into Sorrow Evermore’ is intriguing, where did the inspiration, the idea, come from for it

We had the idea to have Simon Stiegeler make a mask. In many evening sessions, we then agreed on a concept with a second mask. Together with the photo studio Void Revelations, we tried out several ideas until we came up with the final image. The graphic work for the artwork was then done by Alejandro Tedin (Heresie Studio).

Are there any bands that you particularly love touring with

Would be great to have a tour with Primordial or Satyricon.

What is next on the Imperium Dekadenz schedule

We made a new deal with the Booking agency Redback Promotion and we are looking currently for further shows and a tour. Imperium Dekadenz will become 20 years next year, so we are also checking out some possibilities here.

Lastly, what are your top 3 albums from 2022

Këkht Aräkh – ‘Pale Swordsman’, 

NONE – ‘Life has gone on long enough’, 

A Plague Tale – ‘Innocence’ (OST)

A massive thanks again to Imperium Dekadenz for affording us the time to answer our burning questions, it really is appreciated 

Find out more about the band via their Website or Facebook

Purchase the album here

Check out the band’s video for Memories … A Raging River, below:

Written by Backseat Mafia