Temple Of The Maggot Interview

Temple of the Maggot have a way with words. Usually words of aggression and harsh grim realism but flavoured with a nice sick sense of humour. Barag-aghur Gulugjab, snake-tongued deadite frontman granted us access to his laboratory and the Temple of the Maggot Inner Sanctum to discuss all things perverse.

Although it is difficult to envisage, there must be a creative process to your music. How do you progress from the idea through to the manifestation of a song, is it a careful and considered process or a more instantaneous barrage of creation?

Songs come from both approaches. Sometimes I have the guitar chorus in my mind, sometimes I have the riff, sometimes I have the vocal melody for the chorus, whatever, and then I build up the song based on those ideas. “Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of Death” and “Bloodbath” are clear examples of songs that were composed on the paper and then translated into sounds. On contrary, “Necklace of teeth” came out from pure improvisation.

I was interested to see the excerpts on your Myspace about cannibalism by Japanese soldiers during WWII. Does cannibalism occupy a lot of your time while thinking and searching for inspiration?

When I was studying in my first University, in the Netherlands, I had a subject about the history of food and nutrition. The teacher wanted the students to make an essay on something related to food and culture. All the people chose topics such as anorexia, bulimia, lactose intolerance, coeliac disease and all that usual bullshit. Initially I decided to write an essay about coprophagia, but there wasn’t much information available, so I changed my mind and decided to write about cannibalism.

So I went to the library and spent a lot of time there, reading a lot about Aztec theophagy and other more recent cannibalism episodes during war, or accidents. I’ve always enjoyed staying at libraries, reading all the time. The older the book the better. There are a lot of old books that no one has ever read in ages, covered in dust on the bookcases of the libraries, waiting for someone to open them. Of course I’m talking about national libraries, big libraries.  Anyway, I made a good long essay. I still have it and used it for inspiration to compose some of the passages for the songs.

Thinking of Japanese savageness, I’m sure you’re familiar with the events that took place in the then capital of China, Nanking, in 1937. What are your thoughts on what is often called the rape of Nanking?

Japanese are one of a kind!  Brave and committed people, but sometimes capable of committing the most stupid things (Pearl Harbor bombing, for example). And Japanese women are delicious, of course. As for Nanking, I didn’t know about that historical episode. Thanks for the info: all men killed and thousands of women raped. Well, lesson one: if you had to take prisoners then take women, not men.

Have you ever or would you ever try cannibalism?

We’re all potential cannibals. Thousands of people to the slaughter, being sacrificed at the top of the pyramid. Bodies rolling down the stone stairs forming a gigantic pile of corpses at the bottom. People taking the corpses to later dismembered them: human flesh to feed the elite and the priests. The massacre in the name of God, the sacrificing rituals that were performed non-stop for weeks, each year. The lack of proteins in the diet, the poor Aztec soils. That movie “Apocalypto” is perfect to describe the blood rituals. Temple of the Maggot music would have been the perfect soundtrack for those scenes. Answering to your question: I haven’t, but, under what circumstances would you dare to eat human flesh? Severe lack of proteins in the diet would cause dementia…

With themes based around human depravity tell us what you find so compelling about such actions?

Violence is everywhere, on the news, on the streets. But first and foremost, it is written in our genes. Modern societies are built upon taming people, sleepers. Fucking bloodsuckers: the tyranny of the weak. Nowadays the aggression comes verbally, but it’s always there disguised and masquerading in multiple forms. Human race is a perfect killing machine. So according to you, cannibalism is based in human depravity. Well I say there were physiological strong reasons behind those actions, not just the action of sick minds.

I’ve tried to avoid any questions about your homeland of Mongolia but I need to invoke it for this one. With a background from this vast but sparse nation of steppes and deserts do you find it difficult to inhabit the claustrophobic cities of Western Europe? Do you still need to visit huge open spaces to remind yourself of your heritage and to gather inspiration?

I left Ulaanbaatar when I was ten. I’ve been living in seven different countries ever since. So I was forced to get used to cities, villages, small spaces, residences, shitholes, etc. It’s not the size of the spaces I’m in, it’s about the number of human scum I’m surrounded by. One of my fondest memories of Ulaanbaatar is when I won a contest in the school. But I’ve also experienced very hard situations over there. I went to visit it a couple of years ago since I have a relative and some business there.

Porn is a major influence, excuse the joke, but it comes in all shapes and sizes, covering every perversion you could think of (cakefarts for example), what is the craziest porno you’ve seen?

I find some German and Japanese films very sick and disturbing. I remember one in which the featured obscenities were very hard to watch, but at the same time all the images of either male or female genital organs were censored (!!!!). I appreciate you sent me that video about cakefarting, it was very funny to watch. I have to say that I’m a big fan of some porn actresses of the eighties.

Exactly in what way, as you state, do cheap hot whores influence your music? Have you recorded them opening their labias or pissing on your musical instruments?

I’ve talked a lot with whores, some of the stories they tell are fascinating. If you really want to know about the underworld, etc there’s nothing like a good chat with a whore. Besides, for some few bucks you can do anything you want to with them. It’s been a long time since I didn’t fuck cheap whores. Now I only go for high-class blonde whores, or Asian whores. And no, they never piss on any of my musical instruments, but I remember I made two of them shitting on each other just for fun, for a few bucks.

These women, are you in a sense paying them to be the research for your music – like TotM’s lab rats? How do you transfer the act of intercourse with a haggered, toothless heroin addict into music?

No, when I pay a whore it’s just for the pleasure of breaking a tight ass. I never fuck intravenous junkies.  Most of the high-class whores I fuck do cocaine, but that’s all.

With such an intense and varied style of composition, how are you going to keep your ideas flowing and fresh and build upon the music in this album? Will you have to explore new themes and search for new sources of inspiration?

I read a lot about destructive cults and sects, killing and torture rituals, etc. And of course, every time I walk the streets I find more and more inspiration to hate human scum. I went to visit Thelema Abbey in Cefalú (Italy), and it was very inspiring.  Now it’s a house all in ruins, but it still gives creeps. Asia is also full of interesting sects and cults.

Speaking of which, have you begun getting material together for a follow up or are you not as prolific a writer as that?

Yes we have. We already have one song finished (“Inexhaustible harvest of dismembered bodies”) which is posted on our webpage for one month. And we’re preparing some new ones (“Acephalus”, “Brutal kuolema”, etc). I´m now finishing some songs for my parallel project called Morgue Fornicator.

I know you said you’ll never play live but describe the terrible acts and fucked up imagery you would want to use if you did?

A massive orgy of sex, drugs and blood, with all the audience fucking, doing drugs, and some whores on-stage at our service with their asses well oiled for us to sodomize them. It´d be also great to have some chambers with some stupid fucking depressive assholes locked in. We’ll feed them with massive amounts of antidepressants, throwing pills at them like if they were monkeys in a zoo. We’ll watch them kill themselves. Also, an altar of sacrifices with a couple of Chac Mools would make a perfect set. To me black metal should be a personal experience. Black metal should be listened to in complete solitude. A festival full of greasy assholes headbanging to the rhythm of a black metal band is a complete nonsense to me.

On a personal level what is the most aesthetically pleasing part of your music for you?

That we´re no copycats.

You have a side project, Morgue Fornicator, tell us about it and how it differs from TotM?

Morgue Fornicator is an original project from Ed/Antihuman (Satans Millennium Productions). He composed a collection of songs that he thought worked fine as a whole to become a new project. He sent me the songs and invited me to contribute with the vocals. I really liked the insanity and abrasiveness of the music he created so we started to compose together. I encourage everyone to take a listen (www.myspace.com/morguefornicator). How it differs from Temple of the Maggot? Well, I think Morgue Fornicator is a direct trip to the mind of the butcherer just the moment he’s performing the atrocity, whereas Temple of the Maggot is the compendium of blood rituals, killing protocols, etc the butcherer shall follow up precisely.

I noticed the sentence on Myspace warning about receiving hostile messages, have you had any and from whom?

No, never, that’s just a warning to potential assholes or stalkers. In the beginning the page was run by two Spanish friends of us, now the page is run by four different people, including the two of us.

If you were to become infamous for perpetrating an atrocity of some description tell us what you would do and to whom?

I’d need ten pages to describe a master plan to erase 2/3 of the global population.

Your slogan is: Violent extreme Misanthropy – what aspect of your fellow man is most dispicable to you?

98% of the human population is scum, useless stupid parasites. I belong to the elite.

What is the most disgusting thing you can think of?

Tough one, but I think you’ll love this: I’d prepare a mixture of infected blood, semen, urine and liquified shit in a syringe previously used by a dying junkie, and then I’d fucking stick the needle into your eye and empty the content. Once you fell to the floor in complete pain I’d boot your fucking head until I crushed your fucking skull. Then we’d celebrate a black mass and defecate into you coffin, for our feces to accompany you in your trip to fucking hell. But of course I can imagine lots of interesting variations…

Temple of the Maggot thanks Waffen and Hell Furnace BM Zine for the interview

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Tags: 2010, Mongolia, Satan's Millenium Productions, Temple of the Maggot

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010 at 22:16 and is filed under Black Metal Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.