Are you ready for the unmerciful death metal attack by New York's Castrator? Well, I really hope so, because these relentless females are about to dominate the underground masses pretty soon. My questions were answered by their drummer – Carolina Pérez. Now move onto the interview itself and read all the important details about their fresh creation!!!
Hello there! Your long anticipated debut album "Defiled in Oblivion" will be unleashed by Dark Descent Records on the 29th of July, 2022. How do you feel about it? Please tell the readers what they should expect musically from this release.
- We're extremely excited about this release, it took seven years to make and we are in very good hands! What you should expect is a good record that will bring you back in time to the good old school days.
You've already premiered online two videos off of the album, namely "Tyrant's Verdict" and "Inquisition Sins". Both videos are great and serve a very good promotion for the band. Where did you shoot them? Talk a bit about their creation and the process of filming.
- Thank you, we are glad you like them. Carolina, our drummer did all three videos with the help of some friends. For "Tyrant's Verdict" we got all together in Ohio and used the same room Immolation used to record their latest videos with the help of Stephanie Gentry, who is a great photographer, we were able to use different cameras and light and the result was great!
For "Dawa of Yousafzai", she made the lyric video and for "Inquisition Sins" the band wanted to do a full band play through so every member recorded at home and sent the videos to her and she put it all together.
As I've understood from the video clip to the "Inquisition Sins" song and all the other song titles of the album, your lyrical topics are dealing with the medieval history of Europe (holy inquisition, witch hunts, trials, etc.) and different kind of tortures. Who was in charge of writing the lyrics? What kind of books have influenced you?
- The lyrics for the album are all different, there are two period pieces, which are "Voices of Evirato" and "Inquisition Sins". The rest of the lyrics are more current events. There is not one book or movie that inspired us per say. When we pick a subject we investigate and then start the writing process. The lyrics are all written by Carolina and Robin.
The cover art was created by Jon Zig and as usual it became pretty sick. What kind of meaning lies there? By the way, he also re-designed your logo, right? What was wrong with the old one?
- He did. We wanted to create a dismal world that was kind of a hell or another planet and we wanted some sort of Deity that was deformed and he came out with the artwork, and we loved it.
We wanted a fresh look for the logo, we were tired of the old one plus we had a brand new line up, so we wanted everything to be fresh.
Your debut album was recorded at Long Island's Full Force Studio by the supervision of Joe Cincotta. You've been cooperating with Joe since the demo "No Victim" (2014). How was it to work with him on the songs of "Defiled in Oblivion"? Any special or funny stories from your stay in his studio? Apropos, how long did it take for you to complete all the recordings for "Defiled in Oblivion"?
- For this album, only the drums were recorded there, the guitars and bass were recorded in Florida at Feral Cat Studio with Dan Gonzalez and the vocals were recorded in Pittsburg with Jordan Miller.
The whole thing was mixed and mastered by Jarrett Pritchard.
Some of your songs feature guest musicians, like Daniel Gonzalez, Kenny Andrews and Moyses Kolesne. How did you manage to involve these super classy musicians?
- Dan Gonzalez is a dear friend of both Robin and Carolina. When we were struggling to put the record out, he offered to help produce the album and we were very happy to say yes and he did an amazing job, Kenny and Moyses are also very good friends of Robin.
Castrator was formed in 2013 and went through some member changes. So what does the current line-up of the band look like? Please introduce to the readers each member of Castrator and all the active bands/projects they are involved in?
Our current line up is: Robin Mazen (bass) also in Gruesome and Derkéta, Carolina Pérez (drums) also in Hypoxia, Clarissa Badini (vocals) also in Vicious Blade, Kimberly Orellana (guitars) ex-Harlequin.
Do you plan to play some live shows in support of "Defiled in Oblivion"? Is there a release party coming up soon?
- Yes! Shows will be announced soon.
Thanks to Dark Descent Records your new album will be released in 3 physical formats (LP, CD & MC). How did you hook up with them? Did you sign a multiple album deal?
- Yes, we are stoked about that, we got the contact through Alex Bouks from Ruinous and Immolation.
As of now we only have a one album deal.
Let's talk a little bit about your musical tastes. I mean, what bands and releases are the most beloved ones and why? What was the last record you bought?
- Everyone in the band has different musical taste, but we all agree on a few bands, like the classics! You know, Venom, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Immolation, etc.
The last record I bought was Misery Index "Complete Control".
Please unfold any future plans of Castrator for the end. Last defiled words are yours.
- We are planning on touring extensively and hopefully release another album in the next couple of years. We will need the support of the fans to be able to do it though, so we hope to see everyone at the shows and if you can buy our merch we will really appreciate it!
