Although it has taken us so long to go through with this interview, here we go at last, with an interview with Torfrom, another Chilean death metal band doing it the old school way. We asked Carlos (drums) a bit about their "Demo 2001", their plans for the nearest future and other things... leaving no doubt about the ever growing antichristian feeling in the air...

1. Hi Carlos, would You tell us to begin, how has been the response to your shows promoting the Demo 2001?
     Hi there! We've had good response from the people on most of the shows, the bad thing is that on some occasions something went wrong - was it the sounding or the organization of the show. On the worst shows both things failed. Anyway we're really pleased as the band is getting to be much better known.

2. Well, Your Demo 2001 is quite old as it was recorded in 2000. Have You worked over new songs and are you planning to record anything in the nearest future?
     Yezzz!!! We're working on several songs these days, some of which were presented on the Ataque Metalero II (25/01/2025) in Melipilla. These are as much new songs as some older, as the bands is around for many years. We've got plans to release another demo this year, which will probably consist of six to seven tracks. About the first question, we recorded it in 2000 and as it was totally self produced release, it took time to gert the money needed, do the artwork, the printing, copying and so on. So we had everything done a month before the show with Massakre (August 2001) where we had the release date planned.

3. You recorded Your demo on a four tracker, yet the outcome is quite good actually. It has that dark and evil feeling to it. Are You satisfied with it?
     Mmmm... It's hard to get 100% satisfied but in our case, having in mind that it's our first demo, and that Jorge (guit/vox) recorded it all we think the production was worth it. As You just said, it has that feeling to it and many people told us that, we think the same. The sound we got works perfectly with the kind of music we play, raw, straight in the face with this dark and evil atmosphere created - which would be harder to get with a sound better produced, polished and stuff.

4. I found it to sound a little like Autopsy... Do You feel any influenced by that legend?
     I think we all agree in the band, that Autopsy were one of the greats of Death Metal and even though I've listened through all of their releases, they are masters of a kind. All the stuff we listen has some influence on our music at some point, yet I don't think that Autopsy is here to be seen as one of the direct influences.

5. Amongst the hellos placed on the Demo 2001 You mention a "...Porno Star"... What's all this about?
     I don't know this guy, Jorge knows him. He lives on the Maipo Island and of what I know he's got all his house full of porn movies and they called him that way as it was the main thing he'd talk about.

6. How did You feel sharing the stage with Massakre (Chile) for the release of Demo 2001
     To share the stage with one the those bands that have been around for so long was a very nice experience for us as a band, one always learns from bands like that, we've seen their professionalism and of course they're one the best live bands around these days. We could observe it all, "take note", analize and compare how do we feel as a band, the quality, life performance, etc. They're really great people apart from being one of the greatest Chilean bands, which is very important these days as you see all these shitheads around that won't give a damn about anybody else and act like "Rockstars". These guys were really sincere, straight people. It was real good to see Yanko and Lalo put all the power into their metal, the feeling, passion - that makes one think, you know, how will you be in the future, to keep fighting to maintain that black flame of the Chilean Underground burning for ever.

7. Of what I know You study psychology... do You feel like evaluating every person that comes in You way ?
     No, sure not. Let's put it this way. Going to some party and not drinking you'd go like: "Shit, these guys get real stupid when they're drunk", and it's cool not to drink some times just to see how stupid your friends get. You get to understand some things... Take for instance the typical thing when one starts to fight with a friend whilst drunk... you get to understand other things, you start to interpret some things in other ways. Yet it would be wrong not to drink just to see them drunk every time and start spreading shit around them... You know what I mean... It's like I'm there sober to take the positive things out of it, not to make anybody else feel bad about it or take advantage, sort of thing.

8. Just like some other bands You have a couple of songs in English and three sang in Spanish... what was Your motivation to do it that way?
     Nothing in particular really, just when they where done Jorge used both languages as English is sort of a universal language to sing, but our latest offerings are all in Spanish.

9. Would You explain us the meaning of the name Torfrom
     We took that name out of a dream our vocalist Jorge once had. It's a word made out of an Enlish word and a German one, which means something like "From The Portal". Personally I like to put close to some Nietzche's thoughts of being like above good and evil, sort of having no morals much further than just having crossed the "portal" and dominate what's on both sides of it.

10. Torfrom's lyrics are pretty dark and definitively antichristian. What are Your main inspirations, motivations?
     Torfrom was born under the Dark Flag of fight against Christianity, which we hate as much as a man can hate. We chose to rise sort of a tribute to darkness and to glorify the Fallen Angel as a symbol instead of falling into that regimen. That's what leads us to seek that blasphemous brutality within our death metal - as Torfrom we're totally against the taking away of liberty and freedom off the people which the catholic religion does (neurosis of humanity). We fight to put an end to all universal "truth" (false), all that hypocrisy and submission. What we are into is a war against this great lie and to take the cult of the dark as a way to self evolution and achieving self glorification.

11. Do You feel there is a great come back of death metal on a South American level?
     I think you're right, I know quite a lot of bands of different countries that are into extreme music as much death as black metal. There's no need saying Brasil is has one of the top death metal scenes these days with such monsters like Krisiun or Rebaelliun just to name a couple. We also see here in Chile many great bands of all styles. There is Cerberus, Totten Korps, Necropsia (Iquique), Catarsis (Rancagua), Godless (Talca), Harasser (Arica), Melektaus, Sheolgeenna, Orategod, etc, etc, etc and all of You out there reading this got to support these bands as they're doing it all for our Chilean Underground!

12. In between all this heavy metal trend how come a twenty year old guy goes into death metal deep enough to play for this demon named Torfrom?
     Mmmm... well, I don't feel like being encapsulated within death metal only although it is my favorite genre for sure. I feel influenced by other styles as well including heavy metal, but definitely not nu-metal! Also, only shitheads and posers follow trends!

13. How many copies of your "Demo 2001" have you spread altogether?
     Uffff! Not much really. It has been about 250 copies in total, of which about sixty percent went out for promotional use only and the rest got sold here and there, we've done trades, gave some away, etc. Although there's been quite a good promotion in magazines, the bangers are not that keen to get copies of the material really. It holds back a bit our motivation in a way. On the other hand, we've had much support from magazines, the editors and the maniacs as well that once they've heard our material, support us afterwards on our shows or get in touch with us in anyway. And that does the job.

14. What's your opinion on the fact that, anytime there's a bigger band coming on southamerican tours, there's always this group of bands that are given the possibility to play with the biggest and the rest, even though many times possessing much more potentials, are never given the chance to play for a major audience..?
     Pfff... That happens on every level of our society really. This country is a good example of a country of those who've got "contacts", those who don't have them are simply fucked. Can't find a job, can't get a fair trial, always FUCKED! Of course, that is also the case with the shows. There's not much left to do really apart from believing in a change and to fight for that change in any possible way.

15. Did You play any shows these past months?
     Yeah, sure, we played mostly within our region, that is Santiago, Melipilla, El Monte, Isla de Maipo and Peńaflor. We had a few shows in Santiago, as those guys there have something in their heads, that doesn't get them bored to see many times the same bands live, yet rarely take bands from the outsides that do need the support and chance to show their material live. That's the reason why, when we organize shows, we always try to invite at least one band from another region.

16. What CD's did You get lately?
     Well, the truth is that lately I've not been buying much CD's because of the damn lack of money. I've traded materials with our friends from other bands, which would be Catarsis - "Paganismo" and Godless' CD with both their demos (2000, 2002). I spent my last cash on Death Living's FUO&M.

17. Where do You see Torfrom in say another 3 years?
     I hope we'll keep improving and releasing even better material, a couple of demos maybe, with a vision of a path onto the international scene and most of all a steady position on the Chilean Underground. Sure heaps of work to be done, dedication and I hope to get the possibility to go live to as many cities as possible.

18. Have You guys been through many line-up changes through the years?
     Yes indeed. The band was brought to existence in '91 by Jorge Arancibia (guit/vox) and Nibaldo López (drums). From then many people have passed through Torfrom. In '98 the line-up consisted of them both and Juan Tapia on bass. A year later Pedro Ramirez joined the band on second guitar, giving the band a much heavier sound. The same year they started having troubles with the drummer, which resulted in his departure out the band. On summer of 2000 after some conversations and beers I joined Torfrom taking the drummers position. We've not had any line-up changes since that day.

Alright Carlos, thanks a lot for Your time and this interview, would You tell us what are your plans for this 2025 and a bit further?
     The most important thing for this year is to play as many shows as we can and get the name of the band known as much as possible. Another thing which need much more work to be put into it, would be, as I mentioned You earlier to record another demo or a MCD with new tracks and try to make Torfrom known on an international level. Of course, I'd like to thank you Blasfemo for this interview, which is to help our band, for your concern for the scene of our country. For that are reading this interview, all of us are those who are responsible to keep our metal scene alive going to shows, paying for the damn ticket, buying the releases of national bands. This is how we can help the bands, give them motivation to release even better material, hitting for better quality with each consecutive release! That's it. Anyone who wants to buy a copy of our "Demo 2001" just contact us!!!

Torfrom

http://www.torfrom.tk