Inside Amplifest: Utopium
Grind is usually about exceeding, both in pace, noise and decadence. It is punk hardcore in its most extreme form, tearing our guts with frequencies so violent you actually feel them with your skin. Utopium add to the most aggressive of sounds their one of a kind philosophic and metaphysic approach to human condition, taking grindcore to a whole new conceptual level. We can say the Lisbon outfit is not only about breaking your spine and ripping your skin, because that’s the least to be expected. But take notice: Utopium shall make you think about each and every bone they’ll break during their performance at Amplifest.
But before that, we had a little chat with Utopium during which they answered our usual questions:
What do you expect of the Amplifest audience?
We’ll settle for the unexpected, to say the least. We pour everything we have into our live show and we purge ourselves till a state of nothingness is achieved. If we’re able to shudder at least a few souls’ cornerstone, then they’ll get a glimpse of how we feel, and that’s as much as we can ask for. Ultimately, not withstanding how the audience reacts, it’s that cyclic energy flow that will set the bar.
We like surprises, but what can we expect from your show?
A keen dose of intensity, between elation and despondency, would be a way to put it, even concerning the thematic conceptualization of our new album “Vicious Consolation / Virtuous Totality”. We do have a couple of surprises in line though, so let’s not be eager to give those away.
Which band do you really want to see at Amplifest?
If we had to choose just one, we’d go for Chelsea Wolfe, although we’re quite curious for many other acts.
If you had to pick a band or a musician of this Amplifest edition to play with who would it be?
Such call could presumably fall on Pharmakon, just to turn the whole experience noisier and even more abrasive.
What records have you been listening lately?
An amalgamation of Hoax’s “LP”, The Haxan Cloak’s “Excavation”, Zola Jesus’ “Conatus”, Youth Code’s “Youth Code”, Holy Other’s “Held”, WIFE’s “Stoic”, Clutch’s “Earth Rocker”, Nick Drake’s “Pink Moon” and Rhye’s “Woman”.
Enough about music, Amplifest is also about other arts. What books have you been reading and what movies have you been watching lately that you want to recommend?
Latest readings comprise William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies”, Haruki Murakami’s “1Q84”, William S. Burroughs’ “Junky”, Andrew Childers’ “Compiling Autumn: The Making of Discordance Axis ‘The Inalienable Dreamless'”, Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and Stephen King’s “The Stand”. As for movies there’s the likes of Bryan Bertino’s “The Strangers”, Gavin O’Connor’s “Pride and Glory”, Michael Mann’s “Heat”, Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins”, Dan Harris’ “Imaginary Heroes”, Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers” and Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler”. Different strokes for different folks.