Obscure Bands: Progenie Terrestre Pura

Italy's Progenie Terrestre Pura is a two-man project which combines black metal with prog and electronic music in new and interesting ways. You can hear or download their 2011 promo on their Bandcamp page (see the end of the interview). I had a chance to talk to them about power metal, the Church, and the impending cybernetization (is that a word?) of humankind.

FMA: To us Americans, Italy is known for cheesy power metal, and frankly we don't like much of it. What is the underground / black metal scene like there? Does your band have any involvement in that scene?

Nex[1]: Cheesy power metal? Try Ufomammut! Joking apart, certainly there are good bands also here in Italy, some active, others now disbanded. For example, recently The Secret signed with your Southern Lord; sometimes, however, Italian bands are underestimated because of prejudices.

We are not part of the scene (provided there is one) simply because we don’t play live and we are not in contact with other bands; we aren't misanthropes or asocial people, but our purpose (for now, at least) is to create music.

FMA: Other Italian black metal bands have mentioned their frustration at seeing the Catholic Church everywhere they look, that it insinuates itself into every aspect of life. Has that been your experience? Does it affect your music in any way?

Nex[1]: This could affect directly our lives (the Catholic Church has great political influence in our country), but has nothing to do with the project q[T]p. There is no single riff or lyric that deal with this subject or any related religion, q[T]p has nothing to do with religions (perhaps in the future with the concept of belief, but not with human religions themselves).


Eon[0] : In a couple of days I’ll go to Rome: I hope Vatican Museums worth the ticket price! Ahah

FMA: Your lyrics are all in Italian, and my attempts to use online translators have not been fruitful. Can you describe their content? Does the band have a message or an agenda?

Nex[1]: Lyrics are really important for us, as important as the music itself. Basically there is a sort of concept: in the future technology will encroach more and more people's lives; ours is a reflection about this subject/future world, the impact of technology itself on the “pure progeny” of this Planet, human beings who are not yet completely absorbed in this artificial future world.

Humanity is practically almost all “pure” now (does a pacemaker make you a cyborg? Probably yes, but you still feel human), but in the future less and less people will be “only human”.

Technology can be either positive or negative, in our lyrics there isn't a fight between good and evil (technology-nature or humanity-machines), but more a reflection about “to be or not to be”: when does the man end and the machine begin?

FMA: When I listen to the promo, I hear a hell of a lot of influences. The most immediate comparison that comes to my mind is Horseback. There's documentary and sci-fi movie soundtrack music (Boards of Canada comes to mind), there's progressive metal, and there's black metal, while the whole thing has a psychedelic feel to it. It also has a strong sense of melody, especially on "Sinapsi Divelte". How would you describe the music and your influences?

Nex[1]: We listen to a lot of music, also lots of different genres (of course we both have our own preferences); probably influences are nothing but a reflection of what we listen to. For q[T]p the initial idea was to combine Black Metal (a mix between Wolves in the Throne Room and Darkspace among others) with electronic music like IDM (Gridlock, Autechre, ecc) and Psybient (Solar Fields, Carbon Based Lifeforms, ecc): here's how the first song was conceived and then developed.

However, “Sinapsi Divelte” shows a different aspect of our sound (more electronica, “post” riffs, melodic passages), probably due to the variety of genres we listen to and the will not to impose limitations on the composition of the tracks (the important thing is not to throw in random genres because of our listening).

FMA: You've told me you're working on an album, and these songs will be a part of it. How has the process been going so far, and when can we expect to hear the finished product?

Nex[1]: A third track is on the way, we aim to achieve five songs and set things up for the start of next year; then we have to record everything, but also find someone for the printing and the distribution of the album (which is not so easy!).

FMA: Do you have any long-term plans for this project?

Nex[1]: For the moment we want to finish the album and, as mentioned above, find a label for print and distribution. Time will tell the future of q[T]p.

FMA: Are either of you involved in any other musical endeavors?

Nex[1]: We both have in mind other projects for the future (not necessarily together), but for now we are only involved in q[T]p.

FMA: If you could force everyone in the world to listen to one album, what would it be and why?

Eon[0]: Nest - Trails of the Unwary: perhaps the man would rediscover the vital link that ties him to the Nature.

Nex[1]: Carbon Based Lifeforms - World of Sleepers: chill down people!