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It's no secret that the once male-dominated society known as metal has undergone something of a facelift over the past several years, with women becoming increasingly prominent in all branches of the scene. Granted, the vast majority are singers or keyboard players - the latter being an unnecessary evil in many a metal fan's eye - but female guitarists and bass players are beginning to surface within some of the more extreme metal factions, two positions that have traditionally been Guys Only. As such, it came as a surprise to discover the bassist for German black metal act Amok Vedar was an attractive twentysomething female by the name of Desyderia. It's a surprise because the band's debut album, Menschenstaub, is a blastbeat-laden romp through territory once ruled by a young, pre-mega-budget Dimmu Borgir and certainly not for the faint of heart or those afraid of breaking a nail. Sure, the band has its atmospheric goth metal moments - perhaps what one expects of a "mere" woman - and offers the occasional tip of the hat to Iron Maiden, but Amok Vedar is a black metal band at its core.
"Amok Vedar was formed in 1999, and they were a band before I joined," Desyderia says, explaining how she came to be a part of this little terrorgroup. "Their bass player wanted to do something else so they had to find a new one, and they weren't very pleased when I called them (laughs). They didn't want a woman in the band, so they told me to learn nine songs in about six weeks because their next gig was already booked. Somehow I managed to do it and after the gig they were like 'Okay, you were great, you're in the band!' They were surprised."
"There are some people that think a woman can't play bass well enough to be in a black metal band like this, but I think I've got as much right to play bass as a guy," she continues. "I'm not the best bassist in the world, but I'm actually better than some of the guys I know. Of course, when I first joined the band there were rumours that I was just out to pick up one of the guitarists, which explained why the guys were acting strangely towards me at first. That was stupid, though, because I didn't even know they existed before I called them up."
It won't come as a surprise to BW&BK's female contingent of readers to hear that, once on board, it was left to Desyderia to organize the band's collective shit.
"At first our drummer was the one booking the gigs and all that stuff, but he got tired of it so I ended up taking over the business side of things. I guess they're glad to have me around because they know they don't have to pay me for the work (laughs). But, somehow I don't think they appreciate it. It's always like, 'But, we didn't ask you to do that...' (laughs)."
Meschenstaub is a very aggressive sounding album, perhaps made more so by what the band feels is substandard production. It could be better, but it's kinda nice hearing a black metal outfit with head to grindstone and not being backed by an 80-piece orchestra.
"Well, it would have been great if we could have had an 80-piece orchestra on the album but we didn't have the money. I don't know if that's the direction we're going to go - become more symphonic - but our keyboard player is heavily influenced by classical music. He writes the basic ideas for most of the songs and we put in our ideas later. I like the mixture of these aggressive drums and guitars with the softer keyboard parts. It makes the music atmospheric even though it's really heavy."
Adding to the aggression are the vocals, which are all belted out in German. Anyone who knows the language will agree that simple phrases like "I love you" or "Pass the porkchops" can sound like death threats if enunciated properly. Composing the songs in their native tongue has nothing to do with insecurity when it comes to singer Misanthrop's ability to speak English, however.
"No, it was nothing like that," says Desyderia. "We actually had one song in English on our EP, but we decided to do German lyrics for Meschenstaub because the language goes well with this type of black metal vocals. We can also be more creative in German than in English, invent new words like 'Menschenstaub' (translated: Human Dust), and create an identity for ourselves."