Whiskey Ritual from Italy is one of the few Black Metal bands of its kind. With a self-destructive attitude in a world of drugs, drunkenness, prostitutes, pacts, banal scenes from an 80’s movie, they mix Black Metal, Punk, Rock n’ Roll and they are ATTITUDE! The band emerged as a project in 2008, but after that it became a full-time band. Whiskey Ritual is here to stay and the latest album “Black Metal Ultras” proves it! I got to talk to Dorian vocalist of the band and it was really interesting and fun. Black Metal isn’t just the “angels” versus “demons” shit that most Black Metal bands insist on doing. FUCK OFF!
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So the project Whiskey Ritual is born in 2008 from an idea of Dorian Bones (Caronte) and Plague (Selbstentleibung) to create an old school black metal band, like Venom, the first Bathory and Hellhammer. How do yiu guys feel when you look it back since the beginning until now 2021?
Actually, things haven’t changed so much. People have changed, of course they change, but whiskey ritual is such an extreme band in some ways that it can never change. We started from a small town, from the asshole of the world, in which we wanted to mix rock’n’roll with black metal, and today we find ourselves as the standard bearers of this genre. Between fights, broken bottles, whores, fights, people leaving the band, desperation and drugs, I must say all in all that we still have a splendid gypsy smile.
The main lyrical theme are about drugs, satan, whores, booze, did I forget anything?
The Spleen. Many idiots think Whiskey Ritual is about drugs, the streets and whores, as mainstream stupid groups talk about pirates or Vikings. It is not so.
First of all, unlike most of the scene, what you hear in our lyrics is real life. Real life. Don’t bullshit. Then our vision of the world has an hellish irony.
The worst people in this environment, which tend to be at our concerts, are all people who have understood this side well. If you talk to someone who follows us maybe he is high, or has a black eye, but when he comes to his senses, he will explain that he follows us because we have something that others do not have. We are who we are on stage. And when we go down there is no backstage, but the bar of the club face to face with all the people.
Black Metal ultras.
What are your main influences? Did they change through the years?
The influences are always the same. Early Venom, early Bathory, Carphathian Forest, late Darkthrone, Impaled 
Nazarene, Satyricon, and lots of other friends who built that fuck-you-all sound. All mixed with Maximum Rock n’ roll punk rock.
As far as I know, Whiskey Ritual was a side project for everyone involved. Do you guys still thinks it’s just a side project or you are really a full time band nowadays?
When we talked about “Side Project” we used a lot of cocaine and thought we would live on music. Now that we are more disillusioned and see our lives and that of others falling apart, we are happy to be able to say that we are a full-time project.
If it weren’t for the fact that we spend more time at the bar than at rehearsals, we would already have the new record ready, but as an old mafioso from around here told me: “If you don’t go to the bar then you won’t get the songs out”
How is the black metal scene in Italy? Do you guys feel part of it, or the punk side of the band feel uncomfortable about anything?
The Black Metal scene in Italy as bands that supports and esteem each other? We, Fides Inversa, Darvaza, Selvans, Homselvareg, Kurgaall and a few others. We are truly the scene in the sense
that we know each other, we party together and preview albums with each other. Then there are many other cool bands, even historical names, but they go their own way. We believe that the real concept of the scene is to really support each other and party together without rockstar’ s bullshit.
What could you guys tell me about your projects? If “Whiskey Ritual” was at the beginning a side project, what are your main projects?
I play with Caronte, Asher plays with Forgotten Tomb and Mitja plays with Distruzione, an Italian historical death metal band active since 92. Old sea dog.
How’s Italy nowadays with the COVID19 pandemic? Hope you guys are safe.
One of the things I said to A. was: “If after 10 years of Whiskey Ritual we die from a Chinese virus, it would be a real comedy”. Having said this, here in Italy: deaths, layoffs, families on the streets, suicides.
Not bad.
Black Metal and Punk metal, what are your main punk influences and why mix it with black metal….I mean, black metal is so rigid about those kinds of mixtures.
It just depends on who decides what the parameters are. I’ve never met anyone who could talk to us as an equal in terms of credibility and be able to say such a thing without sounding like a chicken.
The old people of the scene have understood well what we do, those who have a closed view of the thing are linked to a world that could have worked in the days of tape trading, but today with the internet, you immediately understand if one is a jerk or not, you no longer save yourself with a couple of photos in the backyard.
Then, however, if any of those internet freaks have doubts, they can write to us and we’ ll give them a ticket for one of our concerts, if they come out they will get the first hairs on their beard.
Nowadays ANTIFA is bringing censorship to a lot of bands and events. Have you guys ever suffered anything related to that?
No. I think they would feel foolish to give fascists to people who talk about drugs, driving drunk, coffins carried by transexuals and other things that they may have only seen in movies.
The last album is “Black Metal Ultras” (2019). What are your plans for 2021? And how was this album received by the public? You have many sold out albums on your career.
– We are very happy with how things turned out. Honestly, the audience has grown dramatically without us realizing it year after year. This I am sure derives both from the quality of our records but also from the fact that we have never changed in mentality. And we will never change under this name.
Galking about splits, the last split you released was “Worms, Blood & Pills” with Surge Assault. How did this combination happen? Black/Punk x Black/Thrash. Great mixture!
We have known each other for years, they are good friends, so when two swiss friends of us told us that they wanted to produce a a split EP with both the bands we simply thought “Why not?”
If you look at WHISKEY RITUAL as a band, what are the strong characteristics you could nominate?
Credibility and drunk driving.
What are your top 10 album from all time?
They always change depending on how many drinks I’ve had
What do you know about Brazilian Underground bands? Anything comes to your mind?
– Holocausto! Morbosidad!
When you compare Black Metal from the 90’s and nowadays black metal. What have changed since then?
I believe that black metal today has a lot of quality stuff. The Finnish scene above all, then the French one, and then the Germans, the Italians, there is a lot of cool stuff around. People with different visions of what Black Metal is, but linked by an invisible thread together.
When I refer to the past it is because in those years, in the early years, there was a light heart, a discomfort, a purity, difficult to equal. Before fashion, before it was cool going to a black metal concert it was a world of violence, death, depression, pure chaos, and in those old records, when you listen to them, you can really hear the devil whispering in the feedback.
Thank you very much, now it’s up to you send us a message!
– Be good, hope to see you around asap!
