Describing themselves as "abysmal horror doom," Costa Rica four piece death doom band VoidOath formed in 2018. Maturing like a fine wine, they've taken their time to bring us some quality music in the form of Illumination Through Necromancy, a three track EP in 2020, a dramatic and dark offering reflecting the mood of the time. Then releasing their first full-length album Ascension Beyond Kokytus in September last year, a horror themed concept album based on John Carpenter’s The Thing. We caught up with VoidOath’s guitarist Jose Rodriguez to find out more about the band, their inspirations and what is next for them.
Scene Point Blank: Hello and a huge thank you for taking part in this interview VoidOath. If you would like to kick things off by letting us know who you all are and where you are from, please?
Jose Rodriguez: Hey! We’re Jose Rodriguez (guitar), Allan Salas (bass, vocals), Gabriel Ortiz (drums), Christopher De Haan (vocals/guitar). We’re all from Costa Rica, San José and Heredia specifically.
Scene Point Blank: Where did you get your name from and how did things start out for VoidOath? Have you played in bands together before?
Jose Rodriguez: The name is just a name. We had our first album done, and we didn’t have a name yet, so we thought VoidOath sounded cool and we went with it.
Christopher and Gabriel have been bandmates in Age of the Wolf, Allan and Jose played in other bands from the scene, and that’s how we knew each other, by going to shows and hanging out afterwards.
Scene Point Blank: What influences you musically, as a band and individuals?
Jose Rodriguez: VoidOath has a very specific concept, which is to take our interpretation of a horror work, can be a book, movie, video game, etc, and then turn that interpretation into a record. As individuals, we listen to all kinds of music, and we try our best to make those diverse influences come through in our music.
Scene Point Blank :Your first EP, Illumination Through Necromancy is one hell of an introduction to the scene. Talk us through the processes you went through to create it.
Jose Rodriguez: Illumination Through Necromancy was our first attempt at making music together, we had some rough ideas of how we wanted to sound, and we started rehearsing until we had the record we wanted. Once we had the songs, Federico from Harmful Existence Records helped us record it and put it on tape.
Scene Point Blank: How was Illumination Through Necromancy received locally and on the broader scene?
Jose Rodriguez: Illumination Through Necromancy was very well received locally. I think the tapes were sold out really fast. Outside we got some nice notes from outlets such as Decibel Magazine and Cult Nation, we were very happy with that.
Scene Point Blank: Does horror play a big part in your influences and, if so, what made you decide to theme your debut album Ascension Beyond Kokytus on Who Goes There? and The Thing?
Jose Rodriguez: Yeah, as we mentioned before, we base our music on works of horror. Ascension Beyond Kokytus was based on The Thing from the start. We wrote the songs with that intention. We went with that because we all love that movie. We were watching it together one day, and we decided to go with it as a concept for the new album and we did.
Scene Point Blank: In a lot of ways the album seems to be your musical interpretation of the story and it works so well. How did you go about writing this? Was it something already forming in your mind or did you go by any of the visuals?
Jose Rodriguez: We watched the movie several times and we kind of broke the story down into some chapters or events, then we wrote the songs to represent those events. Christopher writes the lyrics, so he expanded upon those events with lore from the book and other sources.
Scene Point Blank: Anyone that has heard Illumination Through Necromancy and Ascension Beyond Kokytus can see that you have a real talent for blending horror, darkness and macabre into your music and we are all wondering... what is your next recording going to be about?
Jose Rodriguez: We have picked our next concept, and we are already working on it. It is based on horror stories like our other records. It will probably have a bit more death in it than our previous records.
Scene Point Blank: How is the doom/sludge metal scene in San Jose?
Jose Rodriguez: It has started to bloom; we have seen other bands release music in a similar genre. The scene is still dominated by death and thrash, there are some very good bands in those genres, but we appreciate that some diversity is popping up in the scene.
Scene Point Blank: Are you a band that like to get out and play live shows?
Jose Rodriguez: We do enjoy playing live very much. Costa Rica is a very small country, so it’s hard to play very often, but when we do, we really enjoy it.
Scene Point Blank: What can the audience expect from a live VoidOath Show?
Jose Rodriguez: Loudness and dread.
Scene Point Blank: What do you consider your greatest achievement to date?
Jose Rodriguez: We’re very happy with both our records. We’re definitely proud that ABK was produced by the band entirely. We hope we can keep it up for a long time.
Scene Point Blank: What is next for VoidOath?
Jose Rodriguez: We’re working on the next record. We hope we get to play live overseas and locally, and get more people to listen to our music.
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You can check out VoidOath for yourself by visiting their socials and Bandcamp for current releases:
