(Here we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of Ivan Bloodhunter, founder and vocalist of the Mexican Epic Doom band For Centuries.)
Epic doom metal from Mexico is a really rare thing, and it’s good to have such an opportunity and to talk with For Centuries from Guadalajara about their first full-length album Before the Eyes of Doom (Per Sæcula Sæculorum). This band was founded in 2017, so their underground career is relatively short, yet the material which fills Before the Eyes of Doom is absolutely worthy of listening for fans of traditional and, yes, quite epic doom metal.
For Centuries rely on the classical sound of good old doom metal with lyrics based on medieval prejudices and stories of the deviltry. As you see, the vibe is already very old school, so you know what to expect from them. However, I’ve always preferred interviews over reviews, because this way it is easier to discover what the authors put into their music, much better than trying to interpret it yourself.
Today I invite you to make a trip to the Mexican underground with Ivan Bloodhunter, the band’s vocalist and founder.
Hi Ivan! How are you doing? What’s going on in the band?
Hi Aleks, first of all, we really appreciate your interest in interviewing our band, it was a pleasant surprise, I also apologize for being such a lazy ass and taking so long to respond to your questions. The band is actually in a recording process, and soon we will show the world a piece of what we are doing…
Ivan, please accept my condolences. I know that For Century’s drummer Charly Agartho passed away in May 2023; how did you endure that? How did it influence the band?
I think we cannot believe it still. In my case he was not only our drummer, but was also a personal friend for over 10 years, and his passing affected me completely; we really miss him. But on the other hand we always thought the band is an entity with a life for itself, and even he told us to not give up and that the show must go on, so here we are persevering.
Ivan, you started in the death-doom band Asgard back in the early ’90s, and then you spent a few years in the progressive death band Under Moonlight Sadness. You’ve played in a lot of bands since then, so what led you to epic doom metal?
Yes, I’ve been sliding in different metal styles like a serpent lol. Well I think this incursion is due to my complete immersion into metal music, but in this particular case it was due to a friend of mine and my girlfriend who pushed me to start a “heavy metal” band, which after mixing it with an obscure theme turned out to be something more like if Mercyful Fate meets Candlemass, so people started to call it Doom Metal or even Stoner (not at all guys!), but it ended to be something more similar to the Epic Doom Metal.
Who was the mastermind behind For Centuries and how did you manage to gather the lineup in 2017?
I started the band with this mentioned friend and recorded a two-song demo with electronic drums, in order to search other musicians, which we achieved with our first drummer joining the band and bringing a bass player with him; this last one is still in the band these days. This guitar player left the band and we managed to get a replacement with whom we recorded our first EP. Centuries of Black Fire.
What was the most difficult thing for you when you started the band?
The most difficult thing is that this is not something anyone tried before in Mexico. Epic Doom or what I like to call “traditional” Doom metal is not a very liked metal style here. Mexican people are more into Death or Black metal. Also the thing that all our backgrounds are more into Death and Black metal for almost the entire For Centuries line-up made it more difficult for us to find our way in into this part of the metal world. Hey, we ended up playing with lots of Black and Death metal bands before we started to get concerts with more “alike” bands.
Your first EP Centuries of Black Fire was released in 2019. What did you aim to bring forth with this material?
We pretended to show our music to the world, we knew this was something people elsewhere could get into, but it ended up being liked even in our own country, which was something really unexpected for us but at the same time very welcome.
Did you play gigs during those first years? Did the EP draw attention to the band?
It did. One of those memorable gigs was to be invited to be the support band for the local show of the legends Master’s Hammer; it was such an honor and make people at our city to start talking about us. This EP opened the gates for our band to do many other things. It brought even international attention with interviews and good reviews for our recording, and we knew we were on the right direction.
Which influences shaped your perception of proper doom metal?
Our main influence is Swedish titans Candlemass! But we also take influence from Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble, and the masters of the dark sound of metal Black Sabbath of course. But the band is not only influenced by that, we also take influence from bands such as Root, the mentioned Mercyful Fate, Satan, In Solitude, Reverend Bizarre, The Devil’s Blood, Triptykon, and a lot of other darkened bands here and there.
For Centuries took part in the split-release Mortuorio: A Mexican Doom Metal Compilation. Did it work in the end? Did it make it easier to organize gigs at least or something? Is it difficult to keep on running a doom band in Mexico?
As mentioned yes, as an Epic Doom metal band it is hard to get into gigs, because they don’t know whether to put us with Black Metal bands because of our theme or to put us beside Heavy Metal bands because of the sound, or even to play with other Doom metal bands more into the ’90s sound. Because, well, we are not a sorrowful band. I think even in the metal style we play we can still be a very powerful live act.
Mortuorio was a project I started with my friend, also called Ivan, from the Mexican Steel seal. He had these two Doom Metal bands in the line waiting to get an album under this seal and we were two bands signed with no particular seal, so it sounded like a great idea. I am not sure it influenced to get us more shows, but definitely people from all over the country started to turn their eyes in this direction.
By the way, how far did you tour with For Centuries? Is there a firm opportunity to play in the US or South America?
So far we’ve only managed to tour our own country; the furthest we have come is Oaxaca, in the south part of the country (like 18 hours driving from our home town). We made a tour last year only to be interrupted by the passing of our dear friend and former drummer. We managed to get a replacement since we were invited to play at the Candelabrum Metal Fest al Leon, Mexico, one of the biggest rising festivals, so we thought even Charly would have wanted us to continue, so we did, and a year before we managed to play at another huge festival called Hell & Heaven.
Now with Jorge on drums who has really proved himself, we are planning some dates at maybe Colombia, Honduras, or Ecuador, but also with plans to have a mini tour of Europe in 2025. The US will have to wait due to the current visa issues for musicians. We have to see how this will affect the festivals and shit, but we really have festivals such as Hell’s Heroes or Metal Threat as our main targets!
How long did you work on Before the Eyes of Doom (Per Sæcula Sæculorum)? What was the most difficult part of the process?
We worked on it for a year and a half, before we started the long recordings, and it took almost another year to finally see the light. We had to deal with our drummer leaving the band at the time, the pandemic, the recordings at different studios, the search for a recording label, etc. It really was blood and sweat left on the process of the album. We self-financed almost all the expenses but the making of the CDs, and that lucky for us Abyssmo Productions was willing to do. We have had great support from Dany and his recording label, and we have nothing but gratitude for him, at the end it completely worth it!
And how did you work on the album’s lyrics? Which themes were your priority?
We started making obscure lyrics on our first EP, and the very first single for this full-length was “Prometheus, and the lignum scientiae” or the tree of life, which basically talks about the devil giving knowledge to mankind; we are not a satanic band, but from time to time we talk about the obscure powers of evil. We believe the lyrics at this genre should have a touch of evil and darkness, so we talked about different themes, having no particular topic but the horror and blackness of the human soul and mind.
The album was mastered by Andy La Rocque himself; how did you manage to get him?
Yess!! Such an honor to work with him, and it’s actually a funny story. Yul, our guitar player, once had a MySpace fan page for Andy and King Diamond, and one day Andy contacted him to thank him for this site, and they started to communicate from time to time. When he told us the story we ask him to contact him and ask if he was available to do the mix, and he was willing to do it, and what a wonderful job he did. We cannot be happier about this.
Which samples did you use in the “Before the Eyes of Doom” song?
We used a sampler from the speech of Roy from the movie Blade Runner. While rescuing the blade runner he talks about not wanting to “die”, about watching great things in life, and how we take the journey towards death, with such emotion that it gives you the chills. We cut a few sci-fi parts to make people feel what we needed to be felt with that song and as a preamble for the next track “Vultures of the Dark”.
Did your collaboration with Abyssmo Productions help you to reach doom-followers abroad? Did you manage to build contacts with foreign bands?
Dany and his label Abyssmo Productions did it great, we are very thankful, he was nothing but supportive with us. But his reach was only within Mexican soil, and actually we are looking to get a re-edition in the USA or Europe for our full-length, or even better a vinyl version of it; we think that could be a key to open new international doors. We managed to contact a few bands so far including Stygian Crown, Metallus, Deathgrave (yes those guys were watching us during our presentation at Candelabrum fest and we became good friends), and a few more.
What are your plans regarding For Centuries for the rest of 2024?
We are about to finish recording two songs, but we want to make it a surprise for your readers and yourself — I think at least one of the songs will be something you would never expect from an Epic Doom Metal band. Besides that we only have two more shows at a couple of cities in Mexico, north from here, and we are planning to get to Europe next year, so we need to start working on that asap.
https://www.facebook.com/ForCenturiesMx/
https://forcenturiesdoom.bandcamp.com/