Long story short: we started playing doom/death at the end of the 90s, when the italian cult act Ras Algethi disbanded. Silvio (former drummer) and Huldus (former lead guitar) asked me to join for a new project.

Since then we’ve had some line-up changes, ending with me (Lorenzo) as guitar, vocals (and bass on our first releases) Silvio on drums, Leo on keyboards and Daniele on lead guitar. On 2002 we released our first CD (Enuma Elish La Nabu Shamu), which got very positive response and quickly sold out. Matter of fact many underground label showed their interest in the band; in 2004 we released our second CD (Tetragrammaton); some problem inside the band prevented us to gave it the proper promotion; nevertheless we’ve stayed active in the underground, so -when we had some new material- a label asked us for a promo-song. We were just about to sign, when everything blew up. I don’t know why, but the label preferred another band at the very last moment (our only comfort is that the  band really sucked and the cd sold but a handful of copies). We solved to release the promo as a free EP downloadable from our site (The Dreaming City). Some other personal problems led us to a pause, until we released our new Sumerian Chants in 2013. We were looking for an underground label that respected our sound and wouldn’t try to make us sound as fringed eyes-painted and self-cutting kids. Satanath was a natural choice and we suddenly felt in sync with Alexi, who showed up to be a very professional and devoted guy.

We moved from doom/death as was intended in the 90s, for bands as My Dying Bride, Unholy, Thergothon or early Paradise Lost. There was no big genre division at that time… When zines started reviewing our first CD, they all labelled it as funeral doom, something we never heard about by that time (it was 2002). But, well, they were damn right. Somehow our style evolved during the years, but we still consider Enoch as a doom/death band. Beside ones written above, my main inspirations are Celtic Frost, Kreator, Bathory, Darkthrone, first Katatonia and really many more. I listen from power to funeral and I enjoy Bunkur as much as  enjoy Freedom Call (so to say), therefore is really difficult to say where my influences come from.

I think that our music is quite unique. I don’t mean that we’re better than other bands, but I cannot find someone playing like us. Our music is about babylonian and sumerian myths and we try to translate this in music, both trying to use oriental melodies (something in vein of Nile or Orphaned Land) and keeping a dark and oppressive mood. You’ll find a doom CD, but not in a canonical way. I believe that doom metal is more about feelings than about a defined style: people should feel oppressed by the "heaviness” of the music, get some dark and evil landscape. The intent is that, once you finish listening to the whole "Sumerian Chants” you’ll feel like if a heavy weight was crushing you and has been lifted as soon as the music ends. 

This is our fourth release. Both "Enuma Elish…” and "Tetragrammaton” sold out so, in early 2013 we reprinted them in a more professional packaging, with a richer and annotated booklet. As far as now we got only very positive reviews. Maybe people who didn’t like our music, found worthless to talk shit about it. I don’t know. I was really surprised, when I started a Facebook page one year ago, to see the "likes” grow up to 1600 (that’s a big number of a really small and underground band that hasn’t released anything since 2008).

We’re gonna support the new CD with some kind of live activity. I still don’t know how we will do, for many reasons. First of all we have to find a good way to present our music so that the live experience will give the same feeling one experienced on CD, then we have to find some venue and some band to play with to share the costs.

There’s really nothing more to know about us: we don’t live of our music, nor we want to. We play our music because is kind of an urge for us: we have to play those songs and record them, simply because it’s what we feel and what we’d like to listen to, but we cannot find many bands that play in the same way and give us the same feelings. I guess this is even why the press and the people in the biz should be interested.

Now we’re promoting the new CD. We have some new stuff, but I guess it’s too early to start rehearsing on a regular basis, now. Playing live is another goal and, obviously, we want to see what the press and all the metalheads will say about Sumerian Chants. We play for ourself, but we recorded a CD because we want people to listen to it (and fuck all those poser evil-wanna-be that says: I don’t care what people think of my music. I f you don’t care, you play in your garage by yourself or with your pussy friends).

All our old stuff can be listened on bandcamp (http://enochdoom.bandcamp.com) or on our youtube channel (http://www.youtube.com/sumerianterror). "Sumerian Chants” can be bought through the label on discos.com (http://www.satanath.com/shop.html - http://www.discogs.com/buy/CD/Enoch-Sumerian-Chants/137058780?ev=bp_titl) for as low as 4 or 8 $ (with or without jewel case), so… grab it ! Satanath relies on Solitude Productions for distribution and wholesale, so you can even get it on Solitude webstore ( https://solitudestore.com/en/product/enoch-2013-sumerian-chants/ )

March 2014