Pervertor. Interview with Necroar

Interview by Andrew Stanton

Pervertor are one of the best New Zealand bands I have ever heard. Andrew Stanton talked to frontman Necroar about their new album.

- Can you tell our readers a bit about your history, please?

“Pervertor was originally formed as a Black Metal side project in 2001 under the monicker "Cereberus". The lineup consisted of 3 quarters of Christian Combustion, with myself - vocals, Carnage - bass, Solrack - drums. We only recorded 4 tracks on a primitive 4 track, Solrack was ejected from the band and we ceased activity not long after. In 2008 Pervertor was born with myself on vocals, Carnage - bass, Inebriator - Guitar & Rots - drums. In 2009 We started playing shows and decided from our second show onwards to go for a slightly filthier image to compliment the band name. All but Rots started wearing panties on our heads at our shows, Carnage and Inebriator continue this practice to this day!! That year we unleashed our first demo "Metallic Possession" and the following year recorded our debut album "Into the Alcoholic Abyss". This release wasn't mixed for a couple of years, due to 2 of us venturing back overseas to live for a time and finally saw the light of day in 2013. We recorded our 2nd album "Perverted Tales of Depravity" throughout 2014 and this one finally spewed forth in 2017 (so at this point, it basically took 3 years from the infancy of our recordings to mixing/mastering for our albums to finally materialize haha). However, our latest album "Putrid Dominion was recorded throughout 2020 and was unleashed in 2021. COVID slowed things down a bit with this one, but we still managed to get it released in half the time. All of our recordings have been self-recorded with Inebriator taking care of recording and mixing.”

- What bands did you like growing up?

“I first started getting into Metal when I was 14 and the earliest Metal bands I listened to were Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Slayer etc. and not long afterwards became possessed by late 80’s/ early 90’s Death Metal Obituary, Suffocation, Deicide, Cannibal Corpse, Morbid Angel, Carcass etc. It wasn’t long before I was introduced to Black Metal through the Necropolis Records compilation “Tribute to Euronymous” which introduced me to the likes of Mayhem, Enslaved, Emperor, Dissection etc. and was completely obsessed with Black Metal for a number of years before branching out deeper into further metallic realms.”

- Your lyrics don’t seem to be stereotypically Black Metal. Is Satanism not something that interests you?

“Satanism isn’t really something that the band is influenced by. Certainly, Satanism was of more interest to me when I was younger but I am more inspired by Satanic imagery and aesthetics than ideology these days. Lyrically I prefer mine to be dripping with perversion, death, Metal and alcohol amongst other themes!!”

- When I first heard Putrid Dominion, it was very much Black Thrash meets Black Grind. How do you describe your sound?

“I must say I have never heard anyone define our sound as Black Grind, so that is interesting to hear. However, I agree with Black Thrash, we are oozing with both those genres!! I would say our music consists of 3 quarters Black Metal, 1 quarter Thrash Metal. I feel more Black Metal riffage has seeped into our music with “Putrid Dominion” and has continued to with our newest material. I tend to come up with a lot more Black Metal riffs and Inebriator conjures up a lot of our thrashier riffs!!”

- Whenever I hear Black Thrash, I always feel it’s targeted at older Metalheads. Is this intentional?

“I had never thought of it that way. I can’t really say we are targeting a particular age group; however, it is always a bonus if older Metalheads like it!! Can’t speak for what other Black Thrash bands are targeting though!! As an older Metalhead myself I am definitely drawn to Black Thrash and some of my favourite bands are masters of this style!! We have been lucky enough on this remote rock to have been able to support the likes of Sabbat (Jap), Destroyer 666 and Aura Noir!!”

- What can fans expect from Putrid Dominion?

“A relentless barrage of frantic riffing and a bombardment of blitzkrieg drumming. A full-on assault on the aural senses!! Putrid Dominion is by far our strongest album to date, with by far our best mix and was mastered by Enormous Door, who has mastered albums by the likes of Darkthrone, Isengard, Antichrist, Aura Noir, Mork etc.”

- Are you touring anywhere?

“Not currently. We started a couple of dates to promote “Putrid Dominion” and planned on some more dates, however then the country got shut down once again with more bullshit COVID governmental restrictions. We have since been busy working on material for the new album and haven’t lined anything else up yet, so as far as promoting Putrid Dominion, probably missed the mark there!! Hopefully better luck when album number 4 is released. We are on the bill for a show out of town in 2023 that has not yet been announced but otherwise nothing lined up currently. “

- What other New Zealand bands should our readers check out?

“Execrate (Inebriator & Carnage’s other band), Exordium Mors, Winter Deluge (RIP), Methchrist, Stalker, Exaltation, Stormforge & Forsaken Age. A couple of new local bands that have recently put out demos and played debut shows i would recommend are Total Violation & Gutter Killer.”

- Do you have a message for our readers?

“Pervertor are currently close to finishing writing album number 4 and hopefully this will be unleashed sometime in 2023. Also Inebriator is currently remixing our debut “Into the Alcoholic Abyss”, so expect to see a re-release of this at some time in some capacity in the near future!!”