France is a place with a growing metal scene. With the international breakouts of groups such as Gojira and Alcest, along with the long running success of Hellfest and now Download Festival Paris, the future is looking bright for French metal. One of the upcoming acts in the scene is Chabtan. Currently writing and recording their second album, I spoke to them last week about how things have progressed for them since the release of 2015's The Kiss of Coatlicue.
Firstly, for new listeners, how would you introduce Chabtan? Who are the members and what are your primary influences?
Chabtan is a modern death metal project from Paris. We want to do a modern, violent but melodic music, and have a concept around us, and we’ve chosen Mesoamerican mythology. It's a very rich and complex culture with violent and bloody legends which feed our lyrics, imagery and atmosphere in our music. We are influenced by all musical movements, mainly by death metal, but also black, trash, melodic or hardcore metal music. Christofer Rousseau is on vocals, Dimitri Merly and Jean-Philippe Porteux on guitars, Laurent Gasperetti on bass and Charles Phily is our new drummer for more than a year now!
Your first album, The Kiss of Coatlicue, was a relentless barrage of melodic death metal with a latin flair. How are you planning to continue this sound on the next album?
Our second album will have the same influences. But as our concept is that of Mesomerican cultures and mythology, we have really focused on the tribal and epic aspect of atmospheres, more than we had for our first album. So I think that people who loved the first album will find themselves really loving the second one which, in our opinion, will be much more "Maya"!
How has the reaction to The Kiss of Coatlicue been in the 2 years since it was released?
Our first album was very well received, it received good reviews and in the 2 years since it came out, we’ve done everything to defend it on stage, especially during a European tour with Nile and Suffocation, along with several music videos. All that made us want to progress. So we really aim, with our second opus, to confirm our status and we do not want to disappoint the public!
You’re currently writing and recording your new album. How has your approach changed for this album, if at all?
Our approach has remained essentially the same but we have erased some errors we felt that we’d made in the past, we have worked hard on riffs and moods to create a new album more successful than the first one! With regards to production, we recorded in the same way, with Andrew Guillotin, who had already recorded our first album.
Last year saw the introduction of new drummer Charles Phily. How has his arrival affected the band dynamic?
Indeed Charles joined us in January 2016 and it gave us a new breath, a real impulse! We felt that he wanted to create and it also pushed us to consider the composition of a new album. Moreover, Charles is a sound designer, so it is also thanks to him that we were able to work on the atmospheric tribal side of our new songs!
Do you currently have any ideas about what themes you’ll explore? Are you likely to continue exploring Mesoamerican themes?
We decided to follow a main character in our lyrics that we based on a specific period of Mayan history. So we really stay in the theme of the Mayan mythologies and have a real story about our character who will meet many gods in the underworld.
What are you hoping to achieve with this new album?
With this new album we would like to confirm our status as “French metal band” and conquering a wider audience. We obviously hope to grow to be able to play as much as possible on stage, which we like most, obviously. In short, especially progress, is what is really interesting in this kind of adventure and spread our music as much as possible!
How would you describe the state of the current French metal scene, particularly after the international success of Gojira and their latest album Magma?
I think there are a lot of great metal bands in France. On the other hand, I think it is very difficult for a French band to go beyond the borders of France. Conquering America is just very complicated for example. For example, Gojira had to wait 20 years and release several excellent albums before they were recognized worldwide! But, there are a lot of quality bands in our country who are just waiting to be discovered. I hope that Gojira has paved the way!
With the continued growth of French festivals like Hellfest, and the popularity of Download Festival Paris, is it becoming easier for French metal bands to play to large crowds and gain more exposure?
Indeed France proposes a lot of metal festivals, the biggest being the Hellfest and the Download festival. At Hellfest or Download Festival you will not see more than 2 French bands per festival, even in France, and it will be the biggest ones, such as Gojira. On the other hand, there are many smaller festivals like Motocultor Fest for example and there French bands are honoured. But there are a lot of metal bands in France and the competition is tough, so playing festivals is difficult for all French bands!
Have Chabtan toured outside of France yet? If not, do you have any plans to in the near future?
We did a European tour in 2014 with Immolation and Broken Hopem and another European tour in 2015 with Nile and Suffocation. Our objective is currently, with the release of our new album, to defend it on stage during a new European tour. But I can not say any more at the moment.
Finally, are there any other French bands that you think readers should check out?
Oh yes! Do not miss Dagoba, The Arrs, Eths, Myrath, Rise of the Northstar for example!
Firstly, for new listeners, how would you introduce Chabtan? Who are the members and what are your primary influences?
Chabtan is a modern death metal project from Paris. We want to do a modern, violent but melodic music, and have a concept around us, and we’ve chosen Mesoamerican mythology. It's a very rich and complex culture with violent and bloody legends which feed our lyrics, imagery and atmosphere in our music. We are influenced by all musical movements, mainly by death metal, but also black, trash, melodic or hardcore metal music. Christofer Rousseau is on vocals, Dimitri Merly and Jean-Philippe Porteux on guitars, Laurent Gasperetti on bass and Charles Phily is our new drummer for more than a year now!
Your first album, The Kiss of Coatlicue, was a relentless barrage of melodic death metal with a latin flair. How are you planning to continue this sound on the next album?
Our second album will have the same influences. But as our concept is that of Mesomerican cultures and mythology, we have really focused on the tribal and epic aspect of atmospheres, more than we had for our first album. So I think that people who loved the first album will find themselves really loving the second one which, in our opinion, will be much more "Maya"!
Our first album was very well received, it received good reviews and in the 2 years since it came out, we’ve done everything to defend it on stage, especially during a European tour with Nile and Suffocation, along with several music videos. All that made us want to progress. So we really aim, with our second opus, to confirm our status and we do not want to disappoint the public!
You’re currently writing and recording your new album. How has your approach changed for this album, if at all?
Our approach has remained essentially the same but we have erased some errors we felt that we’d made in the past, we have worked hard on riffs and moods to create a new album more successful than the first one! With regards to production, we recorded in the same way, with Andrew Guillotin, who had already recorded our first album.
Last year saw the introduction of new drummer Charles Phily. How has his arrival affected the band dynamic?
Indeed Charles joined us in January 2016 and it gave us a new breath, a real impulse! We felt that he wanted to create and it also pushed us to consider the composition of a new album. Moreover, Charles is a sound designer, so it is also thanks to him that we were able to work on the atmospheric tribal side of our new songs!
We decided to follow a main character in our lyrics that we based on a specific period of Mayan history. So we really stay in the theme of the Mayan mythologies and have a real story about our character who will meet many gods in the underworld.
What are you hoping to achieve with this new album?
With this new album we would like to confirm our status as “French metal band” and conquering a wider audience. We obviously hope to grow to be able to play as much as possible on stage, which we like most, obviously. In short, especially progress, is what is really interesting in this kind of adventure and spread our music as much as possible!
How would you describe the state of the current French metal scene, particularly after the international success of Gojira and their latest album Magma?
I think there are a lot of great metal bands in France. On the other hand, I think it is very difficult for a French band to go beyond the borders of France. Conquering America is just very complicated for example. For example, Gojira had to wait 20 years and release several excellent albums before they were recognized worldwide! But, there are a lot of quality bands in our country who are just waiting to be discovered. I hope that Gojira has paved the way!
With the continued growth of French festivals like Hellfest, and the popularity of Download Festival Paris, is it becoming easier for French metal bands to play to large crowds and gain more exposure?
Indeed France proposes a lot of metal festivals, the biggest being the Hellfest and the Download festival. At Hellfest or Download Festival you will not see more than 2 French bands per festival, even in France, and it will be the biggest ones, such as Gojira. On the other hand, there are many smaller festivals like Motocultor Fest for example and there French bands are honoured. But there are a lot of metal bands in France and the competition is tough, so playing festivals is difficult for all French bands!
Have Chabtan toured outside of France yet? If not, do you have any plans to in the near future?
We did a European tour in 2014 with Immolation and Broken Hopem and another European tour in 2015 with Nile and Suffocation. Our objective is currently, with the release of our new album, to defend it on stage during a new European tour. But I can not say any more at the moment.
Finally, are there any other French bands that you think readers should check out?
Oh yes! Do not miss Dagoba, The Arrs, Eths, Myrath, Rise of the Northstar for example!
Don't forget to support Chabtan on Facebook as they record their new album (title and release date TBA).