When I visited Dublin, I was introduced to a lad who never told me he was playing in a band, then tow years after he dropped me an email asking if I could review his band. Fuck, I had PRIMAL DAWN "Zealot" MCD in hand. A worth debut of apocalyptic and crushing Death/Black Metal that could be labelled as "War Metal". I decided to give more promotion and sent some questions to Paddy, guitar. Watch over their new releases.

Hail Paddy, what's up in Dublin ? Which beer and LP will you pick to answer this bloody int ' ?
Greetings Erik. Listening to the latest Grand Belials Key presently.

Could you briefly introduce PRIMAL DAWN to us as you're rather unknown in the scene even though your first material was "Primal Dawn" 7EP released in 2000….?
Our first release came out in 2000 and was more in the style of early Death Metal such as early Death/Massacre etc and the next release was in 2002, which again was quite standard Death Metal, but tighter and faster. Neither made much of an impact outside of Ireland, which is good as I hate both releases. We really didn't do that much for about a year between 2003/2004 due to line up problems etc. Really the band has only become a strong, solid and focused unit as of the end of 2004.

I'd like to know what is the concept behind you band name, what do you call the Primal Dawn ? Is it the decay of our democratic and mercantile society ?
In a way, yes. It refers to earlier stages in human development when ideas such as kinship, family, honor, loyalty etc were what mattered most, as opposed to just economics and nonsense such as humanitarianism. The quality of people produced by our current environment is somewhat lacking I find, generally speaking.

You happened to open for Destroyer 666 and Revenge this year for their tour, how was this gig and do you often open for Metal tour in Ireland ?
That gig was really great actually. All the bands were superb and there was a really good atmosphere in the air generally. We try to keep our live appearances limited to good shows. There are only so many times you can play with the same shitty local bands before you get sick of their mediocrity.


Strangely enough, you come from Ireland but don't sound like typical Irish bands such as Primordial, Cruachan, Waylander. Your music is miles away from them, I'd even say that you sometime sound more Canadian than anything else as PRIMAL DAWN could be considered as a War Metal band, do you agree and how does it come you didn't try to play a "softer" Metal ?
It is rather cliché for an Irish band to go for an "ethnic" sound these days. Primordial are the only band of that nature that I listen to. The best way for us to express our concept as a band is through brutal music. It would not have the same impact with Irish sounding melodies.

How does it comes you released "Zealot" by yourself as you've signed a deal with Invictus Productions ?
We had already made preparations for releasing the MCD ourselves before the idea of the 10" came up with Invictus. Unfortunately they will not be releasing the 10" anymore so we will have to find another label to do it.
Let's get into "Zealot" MCD, first of all what does this title mean and what is behind the lyrics of this MCD ?
The general concept behind the band is one of self-elevation, glorification of strength, power and force, reaching ones fullest potential, knowledge of your culture and self, acknowledgement of nature and her laws… zealous pursuit of these ideas. Wrath of the righteous is a nod to the ancient world and their attitudes towards expendable life. Reap the chosen and worlds within worlds have a similar theme, basically about social decline and how the general human is led by the nose and conditioned through various forms of manipulation. One only has to notice, for one example that is everywhere, how fashionable many of the trappings of communism and leftwing politics in general seem to have become among the youth of today, a generation of middle class kids who grew up on shit like rage against the machine, punk rock, "radical" literature which can be purchased in any mainstream bookshop, Che Guevara t-shirts etc, or look to previous generations who believed that Christ rose from the dead and ascended into heaven in spite of the most basic logic. People have always been conditioned by higher powers to be a certain way that suited the agenda of the day, and that has not changed one bit today.
Silently by the sword is about the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in the 17th century in which eleven million acres of land was taken from the Irish people by the invaders. The pattern of land ownership in Ireland right up until the early twentieth century was a result of the subsequent Cromwellian plantation.

"Zealot" is rather apocalyptic with hypnotic blast beats, it sometime reminds me of War Metal scene melted with some early 80's sound especially tune like "Silently By The Sword", do you agree with this review of your way of sounding ?
We didn't set out to fit it into any particular genre, we just wanted to play fast, violent music to a high standard. A few people have made similar comparisons to yourself. I don't think it fits too perfectly into any Metal sub-genre, not to claim that it's completely original either, of course it is not.
When reading to lyrics, you can feel a strong intolerance and straight ideology toward human being and worthless worm. Could you go deeper in your views and how do you see the future of humanity ?
Of course. As I said, the type of people our modern society produces are lacking in many of the things that made our ancestors great. Wealth, comfort, the waning of the will to war, an environment that shields people from the consequences of their actions, encourages mediocrity and rewards idiocy and incompetence are not conducive to the production of great people. Humanitarianism, indiscriminate compassion and belief in the "brotherhood of man" are considered virtues within the context of today's twisted morality; in reality it takes a lot more than simply walking on two legs to be considered to have worth as a human. Status is something that is earned. The idea that people have some innate worth just because they are people is a fallacy. People have lost touch with nature and her laws to a greater extent than ever before and as a result we are in a nosedive towards oblivion.
As regards the future of humanity, we in the west are just following the same historical cycle. Every civilization before us has reached a stage of decadence and "enlightenment" equivalent in some way to ourselves and has subsequently perished. Western civilization will be no different. Whether humanity has a future or not is dependant on the environmental legacy that is left by the west.

I read that your lyrics are established on Darwinian's ideas, I'd like to point that some scientists may disagree with the evolution theory, denying the fact that human could come from an evolution from the monkey. Have you ever read such theories and what is your point of view ?
We are not talking in the scientific sense, but in the social one. Soft, polite people get pushed to the bottom of the pile, weak kids in school get their asses kicked etc. People either toughen up subsequently or fall by the wayside. That is the natural way.

Another topic from your lyrics is the reverence of your noble ancestors. Ireland suffered a lot from English supremacy throughout many decades, but in the other hand the English gallantry and noble side of men/women during Medieval times were known all over Europe, is that this value you're dealing about or is it about the proud of fighting for his country ?
The English gallantry you refer to are not ancestors of the Irish people, although it is true that many, such as the FitzGeralds of Desmond for instance, pretty much became Irish through intermarriage/adoption of the Irish language, customs etc. The English were an occupying force for 800 years and there is much pride to be taken from the fact that the Irish people resisted for 800 years despite having no prospect of a military victory. It is a pity that the Irish people of today are such a disgrace to their ancestors. Culturally we have become nothing but a nation of mini-Americans.

Excepted me being wrong, the cover of "Zealot" looks like being a painting from Normans chivalry with probably Saxon (I'm not really sure for the Saxon). Could you explain us a bit the meaning of this cover and are you attracted in medieval times ?
Of course I am, I am a history buff in general. It depicts a medieval battle scene. It is not to tie the period in with the lyrics particularly; it is to express the idea of war and being in battle which obviously must be one of the most intense feelings imaginable.

I happen to know that the early days of PRIMAL DAWN were much more directed towards Thrash Metal, is that right and why did you change your music ?
Yes, a couple of us had a band back in the late '90's which was Thrash Metal; we released one demo and then the remains of that band became PRIMAL DAWN. We were quite limited with the drummer we had at the time, and that seemed to be the only way some of the other guys in the band knew how to make music, so we had a crude combination of thrash metal songs with simplistic death metal songs which didn't fit together. The change was just a case of natural evolution which occurs with greater musical skill and finding the right people to work with. Thrash Metal is a very limiting style of music (hu ??? sorry but I can't agree with that statement -ed). Extreme Metal gives you far more room to maneuver musically.

Ireland and Irish people could be considered as unique and more or less of friends toward each other, as many others people who live in islands. When I was in Ireland I really felt that from people from over there, I don't know if you get my point. Do you feel what I'm trying to explain you and how proud are you being from Ireland ?
It is very hard to be proud of being Irish these days. Irish people are degenerate losers for the most part. Like everywhere else in Europe, people are very quick to sell out their heritage and their morals for a bit of extra cash in their pockets. Also it is quite violent in the cities and towns here. It is not difficult to find yourself in a fight on a Saturday night.

There's a point in B.M that is rather controversial, many bands shout their hate toward mankind and their love for Satanism, but in opposition to that they publish records that will be listened and supported by fans (so human beings). So, in one hand they despise humanity but in other hand they need these people to explain their hate…have you even analysed this point and what's yours ?
Black metal attracts a lot of dysfunctional, socially inept idiots who are attracted to extremes for no reason other than they need a crutch and to make themselves feel important. Many of these morons live in a fantasy world and are probably blissfully unaware of the double standard you mentioned.

According to you, what are the bands and the releases that really turned the Metal scene into much more evil one it was before ?
That depends on what generation you came from. For me, getting into Metal as a kid in '91 or so it was Morbid Angel and Deicide more than anyone else, as the Satanism seemed more real than with other bands. Especially Morbid Angel as they had a certain sophistication about them that others lacked.

Let's keep on this topic, what is your regard of the early Metal band that branded the Hard Rock sound such as Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Black Widows, Pentagram, and Thin Lizzy ?
I'm not pushed on most of it really. Judas Priest is as far as I ever got into that stuff. I fucking hate Black Sabbath.

Do you think that the extreme Metal scene, I'm dealing with the Death/Black one, is as interesting and as evil as in the early 90's ? I mean when Blasphemy, Beherit, Profanatica came with their releases they stroke everyone in the scene. That's something that hasn't happen since a lot now…
There was a naive sense of genuine Satanism and darkness from a lot of the stuff then that would be impossible to reproduce now. Society has changed so much over the last fifteen years or so. That was music for it's time, the sinister effect it had would be lost on most people today.

I don't know if you read "Da Vinci Code" from Dan Brown, but there's an interesting theory in this book, even though it's a fiction. But, there's no scientific evident that Jesus Christ has really existed as a human. Early Gnostics thought he's like a myth, a kind of deity who had a brave life to influence early Jews and Christians. Seeing that for instance the snake that asked Eve to bite the apple would symbolise the knowledge, and not the evilness. In consequence, God would be seen as deity who prevented Adam and Eve to be wise, that's the opposite of the current bible. What's your view about that point ?
I've never read the book, I have too much other stuff to be reading without reading novels. There are many ways of interpreting biblical stories such as Adam and Eve. Some of these stories do have worth, just not in the way they have been interpreted by the priesthood for mass-consumption.

 

 

 
The bible was edited down to its current form for political reasons; as I said above, people are easily conditioned to certain ways of thinking with skillful methods of manipulation; the soul of man has not changed over the centuries, just his environment. His stupidity and gullibility remain intact. Regarding Christ himself, obviously the historical figure differed greatly from the cartoon character we were thought about as kids in church. The effeminate weakling we learned about of course never existed, but the man that all the rubbish was based on did (depending on how much you believe in the truthfulness of history of course).

Finally, could you tell us what the future will be for PRIMAL DAWN, is there an album scheduled or gigs ? Would you like playing in France ?
Yes, there will be an album recorded probably by the end of this year. We are working on the songs now and it is coming together very quickly. The next release will be a split 7", but more on that nearer the time. We have a couple of gigs lined up, for the next few months. It would of course be great to get to France sometime. I have never visited your country.

Last but not least, are you the son of John F. Kennedy ?? hu hu ? Do you think you're an angel witch ahaha ?
I'm a bit young to be the offspring of JFK. As for being an angel witch…I've been touched by an angel or two in my time does that count ?