So I sent these questions forever ago, and honestly I forgot I did. But they came back, answered and ready for the world, and I’m happy to post them for you all to read. This is my interview with Sarah Jezebel Deva, enjoy; and look for it to also be in the second print issue of Funeral Rain Zine.
Can you update us on what is going on these days?
There’s loads of things going on these days… What would you like to know? Price of petrol keeps going up 
How would you describe the sound of the new album?
Emmm… Mixed. Its for open minded people. if you are solely into one kind of styled music, then its not for you. Some is metal, some has a BM edge, some is more rock, some is like a movie score and there is a piano song. So its very varied.
How would you describe the lyrical content of the new music?
Well its not a concept album but of course every song has a concept. I do not sing about mincing vampires and the slitting of wrists while bumming on a grave stone, I like to sing about real things like mental illness, sex, hate, disappointment, betrayal, life!
Do you have any plans to do a tour for the new album?
Well we just did our first ever tour in the UK with label mates The Dead Lay Waiting and LOVED it. We have 2 more UK shows with them and then head out to Europe with them for a 3-4 week tour. Can not wait because although The Dead Lay Waiting are totally different in music style, they are so tight, so professional and so energetic. We all gel so well.
You have worked with plenty of bands over the years, which ones did you enjoy the most and what are some of the albums that you have worked on that you are the most satisfied with and do you have plans in the future to work with any other projects?
Every band has its pro and con, its good memories and its shit ones and to tell you the shit memories just wouldn’t be good. My proudest albums are of course my band Angtoria “God Has A Plan For Us All”, COF “Midian” and “Vempire”, Mortiis “The Star Gate”. The Kovenant “Nexus Polaris” and Therion “Vovin”. I am active with The Kovenant again, we just played Inferno festival in Oslo, Norway. We headlined our day and it was amazing. We played the entire Nexus Polaris album from start to finish and we hadn’t all played together as that line up for 13 years. We are all older, maturer and it was just an great experience.
The new album came out on Candlelight Records, how would you describe the support that the label has given you so far?
Well right now, I cant really comment because its only the beginning. I have know Paula for many years and she has been my main contact so far, other than that, I can not comment yet but I am very happy and proud to be on such a well respected label! 
What direction do you see the music heading into on future releases?
This album was a “finding my feet” album… there are ways I worked on this album, that I will never work on an album again. Like recording in four countries didn’t help. Recording with a stranger over the internet didn’t work out as well as I had hoped. The next album, I will work closer to home and not take so many chances. Not saying stick to what is safe, I mean stick to real friends, people who have passion for music and not money. I did plan on A Sign Of Sublime being no fixed style, totally intentional but the next album I want to be more extreme for sure.
How have fans reacted so far to the new album?
Well I can not really comment on the USA/Canada right now, I know a lot of people bought the import and I am so so grateful that they did that as I know it wasn’t cheap. My side of the world, I think its doing ok but you cant expect to sell if your not doing shows and we have only just started, so next year, I hope more and more people will have the album and the shows get bigger and better. So all I can say is, people have been very supportive.
What are some bands or musical styles that have influenced your music and what are you listening to nowadays?
There is just too many to mention. Nothing influences the music for me because then I would be copying wouldn’t I. But bands that I adore are anything from Dead Can Dance to Emperor. Faith No More to Mysticum. My Dying Bride to Moonsorrow. Type O to Gun’s N Roses. As for lyrics, whats going on around me influences my writing. I find it hard to write when I know nothing about a subject, I cant just make things up to fill a song out.
What are some of your interests outside of music?
Right now, the only thing that exists outside of music is my wedding next year. When I am not touring and paying my lovely bills, its wedding, wedding, wedding draining the very life from me ha ha… I have even fallen behind on music. I am so behind, I think the last album I bought was the new Immortal, I don’t even remember the last time I went out to see a film. I am so not grim huh! As you get older, life takes its firm grip and you find yourself having less and less time. When I can think, I am very much into animal rights. I am TRYING to get 10,000 names for an Anti Fur petition in the UK to take to my local MP.
Any final words or thoughts?
Yeah…… We really wanna come to the USA….. We so want to tour. Its been a few years since myself and Gian Pyrez were there, so guys, hate us or love us, give us a chance and check us out! Thank you
Sarah Jezebel Deva on MySpace.
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First off, what’s with the name? Why are you all charging past the horizon? Or are we, the audience, supposed to be peering past that wild red something?
The name has different connotations to each member of the band, and I also think it’s hard for our audience to pinpoint us for several reasons that have to do with that idea. We’re not a band that all stand for the same things. Our lyrics, name, influences and music are all a conglomerate of the individual thoughts and beliefs of each member, so when someone reads our lyrics and hears our music, well, sometimes they just come away confused, like “What are these guys about?” If someone asked me personally what came to mind when I heard the name “ Beyond The Red Horizon,” I would think of the physical limitations of the world we live in. What’s beyond the red horizon? Something greater than ourselves, something unexplainable, something vast; something that can’t be spelled out in human terms.
What are Beyond The Red Horizon’s goals? What are you guys all about?
Our goals are to keep on creating proggy catchy tunes that try to push our musical abilities and expands people’s preconceived expectations and stereotypes. As long as we can keep doing this, pushing ourselves to become better musicians with each composition/release we create, we will continue Beyond The Red Horizon. And Perhaps one day it will pay off and pull in some serious label interest.
Who would you say your biggest influences are?
We hate naming influences because it really can pigeonhole you as an artist, and we don’t want to be in the shadow of our idols forever. Suffice it to say that anyone pushing the envelope in terms of speed, time/tempo changes, introspective, ideas, and a knack for at least attempting an original sound and progression over various releases is what we’re into. I would say listen to our songs and draw your own conclusions…if you can, haha!
It’s just a huge amount of artists from nearly every genre imaginable; however, our music is influenced as much or more by sources other than bands. If you read a lot of our lyrics, we’re a band that asks big questions about life, death, energy, good and evil, etc.
Space, Philosophy,Thoughts,Inner Struggles,Cryonics,Alienation,Religion, …once again I am delving into our lyrical topics, so I digress, but you get the picture. Personally, along with the aforementioned topics,
Where was that picture on your Metal Archives profile taken? It’s driving me nuts since it looks so familiar…
I actually don’t know haha! I wasn’t in the band at that time. That was the original lineup of Sky (Guitar & Vocals), Vlad (Guitar), Peter (Bass) and John (Drums) that lasted from 2006 to 2008. I think it might be under the St. Johns Bridge, but I could be wrong about that. I think the band has a knack for bridges though, our new promo pics were taken under the Fremont Bridge, but it’s Portland, the bridges are hard to avoid!
With the constant line-up changes, was it hard to discover your core sound? Or was it easier with fresh perspectives? Did it evolve over time or was it set from the get-go?
Our core sound has definitely evolved, Listening back to the 2008 self titled- Demo and the stuff we’re diving into now is like night and day…. and we are all about that lol, but some of it was purely by accident BECAUSE of the lineup changes. Personel changes was the band’s biggest set back from the get go due to the lack of dedication and creative differences. However, every single musician brought something of their own to the mix, which obviously complemented the sound at that particular time Like for every other artist, change is a very natural and sometimes an unavoidable part of their journey so it is true for us.
After the the departure of Corey(Vocals) and Marco(Bass) after the Observance E.P It was very hard to find replacements who are capable of playing this music around Portland, and we were fortunate enought to have good friends fill in for a number of occasions, so before Nathan and Matt entered the picture, Vlad and I felt optimistic enought and kept it going and wrote and arranged the better part of our new material. Between July of 09′ and January of this year we had a lot of time for experimentation with various themes/ideas and we promise it will show!!!!!!!
Where was your 2009 EP, “Observance” recorded?
We recorded that at Robotsatemystudio May-June of last year, with Dan McCall, he is the bassist in a Portland band called A Hope For Home. I think they’re on Facedown records.
You guys seem to be getting around Portland pretty well. Where would you say your favorite place to perform is at?
Yeah, we really have been playing out a lot. Portland has been good to us really… I would say as a whole it’s probably the Hawthorne, the sound on stage there is just phenomenal and the crowd is always receptive. We have played quite a few exceptional gigs in ’09 with Psyopus and later Moonspell Devine Heresy which helped us greatlly with exposure.
One which sticks the most is Playing out with Dark Tranquillity in May, and scoring a KUFO interview and a great response.
Do you guys plan on releasing a full length album any time soon?
We are holding off on a full lenght due to time/budget constrains. However we have a five track independent release in the works in a pre-production stage with some of our strongest material yet.
In speaking of…we are very proud of the new material and the guys with whom we are working right now. It will definitely be a huge leap for us musically, we hope it will speak to a lot of people and raise a few eyebrows.
Tracking Listing For the TBA E.P
The Mythic Image
Walking In The Starlight
Infinity At Our Hands
Storms Within
Into The Cosmic Realms
Is there anything you would like to add for the E-MetalSpace & Funeral Rain audiences?
Thanks for the interview, and thanks to anyone who reads this and comes out to a show or checks out our music.
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Where did the name Titarius come from exactly? Something about astrology and the periodic table?
Alex and Erik came up with the name after our first few practices. Erik said we had to have a constellation and Alex said we had to have a metal, so from Sagitarius and titanium came Titarius.
Is there a particular theme you all are going for in your music?
Yes, the theme we’re trying to go for is music for people that like metal as a whole as opposed to people who like to stick with one specific sub genre of metal. Like grindcore, thrash, death, etc.
How do you guys best describe your sound?
Blender Metal. or The sexual act of eating fruit loops.
How did you guys manage to convince Gunner Dhillon to join your outfit?
Peer pressure and a six pack.
Aside from Gunner’s work with Motorbreath, do any of you have any other side projects? If not, are you all open to ideas?
Gunner and Erik are starting a side project where Gunner is playing guitar and singing and Erik is playing drums.
Do you all have a favorite venue to tear up?
The BAMF house and the Red Room.
Do you guys have a particular set of goals in mind? Like a label you have your eye on? Or maybe something a bit smaller?
To play shows and get drunk and see what happens.
Who drinks what when you’re waiting to go on stage?
Jordan – Dead guy
CJ – Arrogant Bastard
Alex – Dead guy
Erik – Mirror Pond
Gunner – Long Island
Is there a full length release in Titarius’s future?
There is but it’s untitled right now. We’re working on a name. Sometime in the future. Also CJ says he’ll “give all your mom’s full length releases”!
Is there anything you’d like to add for the E-MetalSpace & Funeral Rain audience?
Eat pussy!
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So, Mary’s Abortion… going for the classy crowd, were you?
With the name I wanted to project the message & image rolled into one before you hear a single chord or verse let alone song..
To me the name is as Edward Norton would say in American History X “This means not welcome”.. I don’t want their to be any misconceptions on what we are about.. I don’t want the mainstream crowd or some Christian kids coming to our shows & then thinking “I liked them until they started badmouthing my beliefs”.. I want everyone to assume what they’re in for at least.
How would you describe the metal that you all play? Genre or otherwise?
I like to look at it as majorly blackened death metal influenced by sometimes the speed of thrash & the unrelenting brutality of grind… but also /w/ some accessible parts from what’s (I’d hate to say mainstream but..) more well known in metal… but the heavier bands you hear of that most fans of metal know (Devil Driver, newer Chimaira, Lamb Of God)… We are basically an Extreme metal band.. We have varied aspects but we like to stay pissed off & keep it as heavy & fluid as we would for a show.
With Mary’s Abortion’s turbulent history, was that there a lesson to be learned? Or was it all just a bunch of unfortunate happenings?
There was a LIFE lesson learned man. I’ve been through friendships because of this band… it was the springboard to show me a lot of people’s unreliability, & no matter how tight you were as friends or “are” for that matter you just can’t keep giving chances & assuming things will be different.
If someone doesn’t put forth the effort you’ve got to simply let them go.. they’ll just anchor a ship you want to sail..
But to elaborate, some people just didn’t have the time initially but they overall never had the devotion. I personally am an extremist. If I want to pursue something I absorb myself & their’s no half assing involved. But these people just wanted the glory of being in a band /w/ none of the work.
Once I moved on I realized it was more than just for the band but I couldn’t have these people in my life anymore, & I couldn’t make excuses for them anymore whether it be in this band or my personal life.
Who would you say are your biggest influences?
Musically I’d have to say Morbid Angel is the biggest by far, Goatwhore, Watain, Marduk… so on & so on …but then visually I’d say 1970′s era Church Of Satan rituals, any type of sacrilegious horror movies.. A lot of stuff based in the occult…
Now, lyrically their is an underlying positive message… sure it’s opposing religion but it’s also for those afraid to say they do not believe or those saying they are Christian (or whatever denomination) /w/out believing but only out of knowing they’ll be accepted for it & looked at as a horrible person if they said they in fact don’t believe in this corrupt belief system..
It’s for them to possibly be there empowered with like minded individuals & to possibly give them strength or insight through what I’m saying as possible ammunition or rebuttals or knowledge to back up their own views.
Is the metal scene around your neck of the woods bountiful? Or is West Virginia as dull as it seems (in terms of metal support)?
Well for awhile their seemed to be bands popping up out of every nook & cranny, but we
all know this is not a particular good thing… Some are fucking horrible (or were).. Alot of the so called scene fizzled out, but in local music in general it is it’s own monster.. their’s alot of shit out there but metal is a smaller crowd outnumbered by the hippies & hipsters & reggae fans & country folk & everyone stuck in the 90′s still calling things “grunge” & “alternative”..
Sadly Byzantine who had some great success called it quits, but their’s still bands like Karma To Burn & they are becoming this LEGEND status which is really exciting I feel for anyone from West Virginia that is a fan.
I think the support is here but just more scattered & less organized…
Does Mary’s Abortion have any demos or whatnot circulating?
Sadly no… by now if I knew all the obstacles I would encounter throughout the almost 10 years of trying to get this tangible I would’ve fired everybody & just learned how to play everything myself during that wait. But I suppose at least by learning the hard way you become more cautious so that it doesn’t repeat… plus I’m working /w/ killer people right now & it works for what I had in mind all along.
If you could get anyone to do cover art for a release of yours, who would you nab and what would you have them draw?
Actually I already have the people I wanted for the cover as soon as we come up /w/ all the money to do it… Chad Ward from Digital Apocalypse & Crash (the model from Godsgirls I believe).. I can’t say much about the cover but people are going to shit themselves when they see it.. it definitely lives up to our name.
But otherwise if H.R. Giger would actually create something new & to specifications that would be awesome, or anything collaborative with Paul Booth would be amazing as well.
Does Mary’s Abortion have any bitchin’ live performance stories?
Well regretfully no due to people’s unwillingness to actually treat it as a band in the past… But where that never happened the lifestyle was that of all 3 Pantera home videos combined.. I do not shit you this… We all consumed so much alcohol back then it was the thing of urban legend!
I remember once between me & the original drummer alone killing roughly 30 some beers a piece on top of splitting a BIG bottle of Crown Royal… when I say big I mean the ones /w/ the handle in the back.. that big…
I always wondered how I didn’t die.. & I lived like this , we all did for months on end… starving but somehow being in a continuous stupor… their were crazy nights of fighting, to jail visits, to public sex /w/ chicks, everything you could expect…
Put it this way.. if that 1st line up succeeded their would have to be 3 Behind The Music Specials on it because I don’t think any of us would’ve survived the experience.
Who’d win in a fight: Hedonism Bot or Zombie Jesus?
Zombie Jesus hands down! I’m partial because for 2 years straight before anyone ever annexed those words together I dressed up as “Zombie Jesus” for Halloween.. gore & all.. I love that outfit.. ’07 & ’08 I believe… plus zombies are the most badassed horror creations EVER!..
Is there anything you’d like to add for the E-MetalSpace & Funeral Rain audience?
uhmm sure… Although their is nothing posted on our page musically their will be. We are working on stuff now & trying to have something on the Funeral Rain Records Compilation before the deadline.. something that’ll preview our album.. which is very likely.. we are also having session drumming on this album from a legend amongst Death Metal.. an innovator.. I won’t give that info up yet but.. think of possibly your all time top 5 death metal drummers & I guarantee you he’s in that list.
Anyways thank you to E-MetalSpace & Funeral Rain & to anyone generally who took the time out to read this interview. For more information about us add us on MySpace www.myspace.com/marysabortion & in the immortal words of Mr. Phil Anselmo… “Eat Pussy ’til your jaw breaks!”
SIN:JoRdAnHeStOn
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Thanks for requesting this interview! It’s always weird to have bands come to me and ask for one. I’m always like, “Dude, have you even read my blog? It fucking sucks!” But, I don’t have to worry about that with you guys since I’ve already reviewed two of your demo and this will be our second interview.
It’s sites like yours that keep metal alive and well! Keep up all the good work!
Thanks! So, Reinig Records huh? That’s awesome you guys! Congratulations!
Thank you! Jojo has a good thing going down there in the bay area. Lots of great old school sounding thrash bands coming from the black pit of Reinig Records! We are fortunate to be a part of it.
When do you think you’ll be putting a full length record out?
Well, we’ll be hitting the studio on May 26th to record our first full length! no date right now for release but hopefully sometime around late summer early fall!
There was a HUGE difference in quality between Gasmask Future and Sacrifice Of The Blessed. Was it just a lessoned learned, did you have better equipment or what have you?
Probably a mixture of the two. When we recorded “Gasmask” we were all 15 or 16 years old! Now we have a lot more experience, and much better equipment.
Any luck in finding a bassist or drummer yet?
Our quest for a 4 string slayer has yet to come to a end! If any of you reading this right now can make the low end bend over, contact us!
Have you guys been slowly changing the metal climate in Vancouver from lukewarm to a Nuclear Winter?
I’d like to say that Vancouver has a blossoming metal scene but really everyone here plays hard rock or hardcore. With the exception of Spear Induced Carnage and a few other bands, no one in this shitty city plays metal! Portland is the place to go for good heavy metal!
Who are your favorite bands to play along side?
We’ve had the pleasure of sharing the stage with a lot of good bands. Excruciator and Cemetary Lust would be my choices.
The last time I interviewed you all, I asked if you had any unusual happenings happen at your shows… you said no. So it’s been a year, has that changed at all?
Yeah! We’ve had a few good fights and shit go down during our sets. Through an alcoholic haze I recall a house show where some dude got hit in the face by some spikes and got all boodied up. Always good to see people get pissed off and hurt each other to some evil music!
If there was an official corn chip of Nuclear Wasteland, what would it be?
Whatever is at the Plaid Pantry when the weed takes its toll, and chips must be ground to a pulp and digested slowly in our festering abdomens!
Is there anything you’d like to add for the E-MetalSpace/Funeral Rain audience?
GIVE US ALL YOUR BEER AND WORSHIP SATAN!!!!!
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