How has been "Locus Horrendus" received up to now?

FLAME - We have obtained some excellent reviews so far, a bit from all over the world. Locus Horrendus was the album of the month on Doom Metal.com from Holland, on Nocturnal Hall from Germany, we were the band of the month, as also the album. A little bit from all over the world, the reactions has been excellent and we also had some 10/10 ratings in other publications.

Next step is the distribution in European countries and abroad, which is also a very important part of the deal, but as you all may understand, since this is a self released album, things may take a few longer, because we are doing everything by our own...

Why did you choose Mika Jussila to master "Locus Horrendus"?

FLAME - Besides this is a self-released album, we wanted that everything should be done with extreme professionalism, and after recording and mizing the album here in Portugal, we thought something was missing, to complete the work. We entered in contact with Mika, and he showed interest in working with us. Then we traveled to Finland and meet Mika which is a very professional mastering engineer, so, it was excellent to work with him. Besides its professionalism we kept a good relation with him and we liked our work so much that he commented with us that we were one of the most original bands that he worked with. Thats a hell of a compliment!!! We are totally satisfied with his work on our new album and the results are more than visible.

What does the title "Locus Horrendus - The Night Cries of a Sullen Soul" means?

FLAME - This album is a part of a concept started with Infinity... album. This time we opted to make some kind of a flashback to the concept, starting from the end to the beginning, lets say...

Since this work is lyrically speaking, very influenced by the romanticist poetry, Locus Horrendus (in this kind of poetry) can be described as a the place surrounded by darkness, where dark souls live and die alone... Thats the main ambience portraid in this album, and this was the only possible title to this new opus...

How do you think was the evolution from "Infinity..." or "Pentacrow" to "Locus Horrendus"?

FLAME - Well, firstly, I think that to develop, doesnt mean necessarly to change, and this was what happened with DESIRE. I think we developed our style and creativity, into something extremely dark and tragic, but still romantic, in a point of view. During the past years, we all grown not only as musicians, but above all as human beings, and Locus Horrendus, is surely a reflex of it. In terms of overhall sound and production I think theres no doubts that this is our best work so far...

How do you achieve the darker than hell sound that is characteristic of Desire music?

FLAME - Darker than hell... ah ah! Thats an excellent compliment... WELCOME TO HELL!!!!

Our sound is fruit of the passion that we have for dark and melancholic music and subjects of life. In DESIRE nothing appears as fruit of casuality. Only through music we can put our inner feelings outside and show then to people, thats why nothing here is fake, is pure tragedy! Through the years, we have been working searching for this dark sound and we feel tha tnow we are closer than before to achieve our main goals, even musicwise or lyricwise...

Why did you decide to not work anymore with Skyfall Records?

FLAME - We rescinded the deal with Skyfall, due their bad conditions of promotion and distribution of our previous albums. After the release of Pentacrow, we noted that Skyfall was going down and down, and we decided not to get drown with them... It was the right choice, since now, Skyfall exists no more...

How do you see the dark metal scene in Portugal?

FLAME - Back in 93, after the release of our highly acclaimed promo-track Death Blessed By A God, we were the pioneers of this music genre in Portugal. The first ones introducing such a mounful and dark sound into our scene. From that day on until now, I dont know any bands in Portugal playing such kind of music, so I guess the dark scene in Portugal is DESIRE...

Why did you choose to change your name from Incarnated to Desire?

FLAME - We decided to change our moniker around 1994, because the scene was infested with bands with similar names as Incar... Since the beginning we tried to create something original and the name of the band is also part of theat originality. Also the name DESIRE, reflects much better the musical and lyrical content that we-re creating and developing...

Which are your memories on the "Death Blessed By a God" recording?

FLAME - Memories are great! It was our first studio experience ever, and besides that we recorded almost everything at the first take. Later when we released it, it was extremely positive to watch the media reaction to our debut work. We never expected that much. In some national metal radio-shows that existed at that time, we were in 1^st place for several weeks with this track, competing with bands already with a CD at that time. So, it was a remarkable experience that opened some doors for us...

Any final thoughts?

FLAME - Well, for now we are trying to promote our new album as much as we can, not only in Portugal but mainly abroad. We have just recorded a video-clip for the track Dark Angel Bird (A Poet Of Tragedies), which is one more promotional effort, trying to reach new horizons.

Anyone which felt identified with this interview, must enter in contact with us through the following addresses.

DESIRE, c/o Flame, PO.Box 21.380, 1132-001 Lisboa, Portugal

Previous releases available for 11euros, new album at 13euros

Interview by Federico Marongiu