Conquering the underdeveloped humanity

Kataplexia have always delivered Archaic Metallurgy their albums. During the years the band have grown into an unstoppable force. It was about the time to contact the initializer behind the band, Rodrigo "Fatality" Artiga.

AM: How did you become a metal-head, and who are your all-time favorite bands and musicians from the youth? Why did you decide to become a metal musician?
Any tales about Kabak you can share with us (and possibly, any other bands you've been in)?
Any tales about Kabak you can share with us,and possibly, any other bands you've been in?

Rodrigo Artiga: Hello Lane, Thanks for the time that you're spending on this interview. Let's see if I can explain and answer this 1st question shortly... Hehehe!
If I remember right, I became a metal lover when I was about 13 years old when my brother gave me a Black Sabbath album 'Paranoid', that's how it starts. After listening to some heavy metal acts in 80's some childhood friend of mine came from USA to El Salvador and brought me some metal bands' tapes to listen at (I think it was Metallica, Sepultura, Kreator, Slayer, Anthrax, D.R.I., Suicidal Tendencies and some others). I thought it was the strongest / heaviest stuff I can get on those days but suddenly my cousin found out that I was listening to metal bands and he came once to my home and asked: "Rodrigo, haven't you heard Napalm Death? Death? Meat Shits? Impetigo? Blood?" Plus hundreds of underground acts in Europe and USA at that time (beginning of 90's)... I was first perplexed and laughing at the names and though he might be kidding with those names, but he brought me the records and since that... I really found my path! Ha ha!
But it wasn't till he brought me Suffocation's 'Effigy of the Forgotten' tape when I decided to become a loyal, true lover of brutal death metal and decided to become a metal musician.
Kabak is the first death metal band ever I have been involved in, we had our first concert in 1994 and since that I haven't stopped playing death metal.

AM: You are from El Salvador. How come you chose, from all the countries of the world, to move to Finland? How do you feel living in Finland compared to El Salvador, especially as extreme metal musician?

RA: It's a really long story about the fact of why arriving in Finland? And why staying here for living? And why I'm still here? Hehehe! All of them are different reasons so it would be too long to tell.
The life in El Salvador is completely the opposite way of life in Finland and the taste of metal styles too, the underground scene is bigger in Central America and big quantities of death metal heads love to show up at the gigs, it has been hard to be a extreme metal musician in Finland and it will be on future too but as far as I like what I do, I won't give up! But then, there is also so many good facts why Finland is giving me a better life as a musician, the equipment is easier to get because of the salaries, the honesty of the people is something to be proud about it and the skills and experience what musicians have here is highly different, so it's a challenge for me to try their level, and learn from the big ones is the the best school! I just hope that someday the show organizers can be more open to extreme bands like us because we aren't the only ones in Finland who follows this style, there are many bands nowadays playing good extreme stuff...

AM: Can you recommend some good metal music from El Salvador?

RA: Yeah, first names which across to my mind are: Raices Torcidas, Dreamlore, Berserk, R.C.P., and I guess there is new bands I haven't heard, it has been already 8 years since I moved to Finland.

AM: You joined Finnish death metallers Deepred in 2002-2004. Have you any stories about this period?

RA: Of course I have great stories, and few bad ones as well... Hahaha! Deepred was definitely one the best death metal acts in Helsinki, I was their fan before I joined the band, I had their records before I moved to Finland and many doors were open since I joined them, we were touring Latin America and Europe and several shows in Finland. It was a great band, undoubtedly!

Kataplexia line-up (left to right):
Davi Moreira (guitar),
Mikael Da Costa (bass),
Rodrigo "Fatality" Artiga (vocals).

AM: Deepred quit in 2004 and you went to form Kataplexia. You already had Kataplexia in your mind when you were in Deepred. What kind of goal did you set for Kataplexia?

RA: Yes, unfortunately those guys decided to quit the band just before we were asked to support Vader in Finland and an European tour with other 2 bands.
Kataplexia was born when I was still with Deepred, there was too long periods without practicing or doing something with them and for me it was boring to be in that way, so I pulled up Kataplexia as a "project band".

AM: Question about the band's name: How the hell did you choose something like Kataplexia, as cataplexy means muscular weakness "which may range from a barely perceptible slackening of the facial muscles to the dropping of the jaw or head, weakness at the knees, or a total collapse; usually the speech is slurred, vision is impaired (double vision, inability to focus), but hearing and awareness remain normal" [retrieved November 26 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cataplexy]? I mean Kataplexia is far from lame, weak music...

RA: Hahaha! Well, the name came from a Kabak's song title I did long time ago... We used to write pathological stuff with them so I knew what Cataplexy means and it sounded good for a brutal death metal band, hehe! I just changed the first letter from "C" to "K" and spell the rest in Spanish language, that's how it turned to Kataplexia.

AM: Kataplexia's debut album 'Morgue's Reality' was created and performed by you alone, with some help from producer Jani Loikas. How do you feel it turned out?

RA: That's true, The first album was just a solo project band... I was expecting something really brutal and with really rustic sound but it turned out brighter and cleaner... Hehe! But I was happy about the final result because it was composed, performed by my own. It was a bit complicated to record drums without hearing guitars or any instruments and trying to remember all the riffs I did, then I recorded guitars and bass, and at the end the voices... It was a funny experience. Jani Loikas helped me a lot on this record. He rules!

AM: How did you find Brazilian death metallers Mikael Da Costa and Davi Moreira to reinforce Kataplexia? Did them both move to Finland? (If they can answer: How do Mikael and Davi enjoy it here in Finland?)

RA: I met the guys in some death metal show and also in Deepred shows, they were already living in Finland so it was easy to ask them to join the project band.

AM: Kataplexia's sophomore album 'Catastrophic Scenes' was released at the beginning of 2005. How do you see it now, close to 4 years later?

RA: 'Catastrophic Scenes' is the second album of Kataplexia, the first one with 3 members in the band. The first material I did with the guys. In my opinion it is brutal enough for my taste, maybe the sound I was expecting to have in 'Morgue's Reality' (dirty, brutal, rustic, rude, fast and with tons of low/mid frequencies), but it was very simple composition, riffs and easy structures. Straight to the point! Hehehe!

AM: What happened between 'Catastrophic Scenes' and the last album 'Supreme Authority', as the time between two the prolonged to 3 years?

RA: Well, the band was on stand by for a year or so, everything stopped because of my health problems, I got a serious problem in my right hand apparently a tendinitis based on the first doctor's diagnostic but it got complicated all the time, the health care centers and doctors never found out what's wrong with my right hand and they gave up, they were just sending me from specialist to specialist and I was over a year without a clear diagnostic, sad but true!
Suddenly I decided to visit my land and find out what's wrong with my hand and that trip helped me a lot so I could continue with the band stuff and the composition of the newest album... This time not anymore as a drummer and singer but as a front man in the band.

AM: Why did you choose to take the vocalist spot in the band?

RA: There were 2 big reasons, the band needed a front man to make the shows more dynamics and energetics. And the main reason was of course because I couldn't play anymore so hard the drums... Hehe!

AM: Kataplexia does everything better on 'Supreme Authority' than ever before. The album sounds and looks totally professional. Are you happy with the result?

RA: Yeah, definitely. We are all happy about the results because it was the first time we recorded an album by ourselves in our guitarist's home studio (Davi Moreira), and the effort in this album was completely a team work! The band got more unified than ever before and big sacrifices were pulled out on this record.
Of course we would love to have the budget of the biggest bands around and the support of bigger labels to record a better sounding album but since we are a total underground band, this is the best we can do.

AM: Is Timo Häkkinen, the Sotajumala drummer, now the permanent drummer for Kataplexia too? How you see his work on the new album?

RA: Timo is absolutely, undoubtedly a big part of this record, the level scale we have been looking for. He is a nice friend and an amazing drummer, his skills, dedication and responsibility makes the difference between him and tons of other drummers around. Timo is still a session drummer for Kataplexia (unfortunately, hehehe!), but we are satisfied about his work and he has helped and will help us with important shows. So... Don't miss a Kataplexia show!! Hahaha!

AM: Lyricswise, earlier album it was gore and such, if I'm right? On 'Supreme Authority' there's more "otherworldly" and social issues. How do you see the lyrics have developed during the band's history?

RA: Yes, I decided to quit writing gore and concentrate in fiction, subliminal terror, natural catastrophes which torment the existence, the issues of what we are afraid about, and supernatural power. It's completely a new concept for us.

'Supreme Authority' line-up (left to right):
Rodrigo "Fatality" Artiga (vocals),
Timo Häkkinen (session drums),
Mikael Da Costa (bass),
Davi Moreira (guitar).

AM: What's in store for Kataplexia now? Do you plan for touring or gigging for 'Supreme Authority'? Other near future plans?

RA: Right now we have some merchandise available, almost sold out: 'Supreme Authority' CD and 'Supreme Authority' t-shirts, you can check them at the Kataplexia's official website or myspace site.
We are planning a more active year with Kataplexia, I can already tell you guys that we will have 2 shows on England in March, I'm trying to book 3 shows in Finland at April, 1 show in Sweden at May and apparently a small tour in Spain at June. Those are the nearest plans for the band!

AM: You have a new band called Thrashgrinder going on. What can we expect from it?

RA: Ohh... How did you know about it? Hehe! That's a thrashcore band mixed with old school grindcore, I had this in mind long time ago, few years back, but I didn't have the time to start it... I still don't have the time but it feels I need it now! Haha! I want to go back to my roots and play something a bit different than brutal death metal and complex stuff... This is gonna be something more simple, catchy riffs, pure moshing parts and tons of thrash-speed-crossover compositions and mixed with small passages of grind core. That's it.
I also would tell you about another project band called Estrangulados in which the style will be different than Kataplexia and Thashgrinder as well, old school death metal ala Obituary, Six Feet Under, Brujeria, etc. This will be out of the dark, into the light before the summer. Stay tuned!

AM: Here's a few "this or that" choices for you pick, and comment on your choices, please:
1. Suffocation or Morbid Angel?

RA: This isn't fair!!! Haha! Pete Sandoval is my compatriot,a national idol for us the Salvadoreans! But in this case I will choose SUFFOCATION.

2. Blonde northern babes or dark Latin amazons?

RA: Hmmm.. Physically? Or Mentally? Blonde Northern Babes! 200% haha!

3. Finnish or El Salvadoran beer?

RA: Mmm... Finnish Beer.

4. Karjanpiirakka (Karelian pasties) or pupusa (stuffed corn tortilla)?

RA: PUPUSA!!!!!!! 500% hahaha!

5. Summer or winter?

Summer is my favorite, we play faster then!

6. Drumming or vocals?

RA: This is difficult... 2 different sensations and attitudes... I miss playing drums a lot! But I choose vocals!

AM: What or who is your favourite music and musicians nowadays?

RA: I have always been a bit open minded with different styles and music... But I think my favorite music for the last 10 years has been brutal death metal and thrash core. Musicians from all times are: Mike Smith, Pete Sandoval, Frank Mullen, Alex Webster, Chuck Schuldiner, Mark "Barney" Greenway, Tom Araya, Mike "Cyco" Muir, Scott Ian, Cavalera's bros, etc. etc.

AM: That's about it. I'm out of question... Do you still got anything else to tell for people out there? It's free speech!

RA: I would like to say thanks for you and the zine for giving me the chance to tell more about Kataplexia and my personal experience, thanks for the fans and followers of brutal death metal and extreme metal in general who support the underground scene!!! Don't let it die!

AM: Thank you, too, for the very open interview. Hopefully brutal death metal fans will find Kataplexia. Good luck with the gigs. Keep it brutal!

01/12/2009 17:14