Interview with Sean Worrell of Nero Di Marte: New album is gonna be faster and proggier!

19/06/2022 Video Interviews Share

Lo and behold! Recently, Nero Di Marte and Imperial Triumphant had a show in Belgrade, Serbia at KC Grad. We couldn’t resist not interviewing both bands. This is actually my 3^rd interview with Sean Worrell of Nero di Marte, but the first video interview and a very first beach chair interview ever! We were short on time since Nero Di Marte was about to play and I also had to interview Imperial Triumphant so that’s why our discussion was just 16 minutes long.

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We started the interview talking about the postponed Immoto tour. Sean Worrell recalls:

'It was very unfortunate. A lot of plans got postponed. We had some offers, to do things and then, it never fell through, because everybody was stuck at home. We managed to do a few shows, even despite the pandemic. In Italy, mainly. Last year we played the Desert fest in Belgium, but apart from that, this is our first time outside of Italy. So it feels great. We are running off of steam from two years ago, at this point…from an album but, you know...'

Regarding the reception of the latest album, Immoto, Sean stated that they had a 'great response' from the fans. 'All things considered, I think that Immoto is the difficult album to understand, compared even to our previous albums. For those who understood it, we got a good response from them. at least.'

Then, I asked him about the lengthy-song-approach on the latest Nero di Marte album. 'I don’t think it was a choice. It just took a lot of time and a lot of ideas grew and grew, and we tried to create something that was organic, even if it was very long, so it just took a long process of writing, and that has just developed into a more abstract form of songs. So yeah, I think that’s the main reason. We just made the approach longer, so the songs were longer. In a way. And then, the last song on the album, “La Fuga”, that was the last song we wrote for the album and it was the final sprint that we needed, like the shorter song that contrasted everything else.'

When asked why he wrote all of the songs in the Italian language, Sean said:

'I think it has to do with kinda accepting that our language, the language that I communicate with my band mates is Italian. And so to better communicate the ideas and the metaphors and symbolism and you know, the significance of the lyrics…I think subconsciously since I was making music with them, I was using the language, I was communicating with them. And since we always think of music in a sort of, images, and also words, I think it just came out naturally,it became like a subconscious decision. In a way…I write lyrics in a very weird way…I don’t even know where they come from sometimes. I just listen to the music, over and over, until the words come out. I go kind of in meditation, a trance state. And stuff comes out. Sometimes it’s in English and sometimes it’s in Italian. For this time, I was more connected I think, to giving more meaning to the songs in a way.'

He also underlined that writing in the Italian language is not hard for him, since he, as a guy from Detroit, had gone through the Italian education system as a child.

Then, Sean talked about how his manager got in contact with Imperial Triumphant’s booking agent. He also stated that Zachary Erzin of Imperial Triumphant saw Nero di Marte play live with Gorguts at Saint Vitus.

After that, Sean Worrell discussed the upcoming Nero Di Marte album:

'Everybody during the pandemic, I think, there was a pressure to be productive. Even if you are staying at home. And for me, it was, you know, the pandemic helped me re-establish what the band was. As you know, Francesco and Andrea left the band. Francesco decided before the album came out but we recorded and we played a few shows before he left. And Andrea, after he moved to Rome, he decided that he wanted to quit most of his musical projects and focus on his other things…So for me, the pandemic was a way to reaccess the dynamics of the band, who was playing, finding the right people, and starting to accumulate the new material. And we’ve been…I have been accumulating a lot of the material. Alessio, the new guitar player is like a volcano of creativity. And Georgio, our new bass player, is like the perfect…he is perfect at adapting to whatever we do. We had actually a process of creativity which was like him re-doing all the bass parts for all the songs we’re playing live. So that was already like a way for him to get into the creative side of the band. So now we’re… Starting this summer, as soon as we get back from Hellfest, I want to start recording these demos and my plan is to, we would like to record something next year. We have a lot of material…As I think I said to you in the past, we have a lot of accumulated stuff.'

When asked how many songs they have, he stated:

'I would say there are, like, different ideas that could be a song. I would say like, there are 10 to 15 different things, but we want to make something that is more specific this time, I think it’s that kinda the direction that we want to go into. Not as long as an album as Immoto, but something shorter and more focused on a single atmosphere or direction. And go each album, do something, instead of trying to fill everything in an album that we wanted to do, do one thing here and move on to do another thing and the next thing. So we can be more focused on single narration as well.'

Sean stated that he is drawing inspiration from the works of Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Oranssi Pazuzu for the upcoming album. He also stated: 'It’s gonna be a lot faster, I think, also. It’s gonna be a lot more proggy than before. It’s gonna be a lot less meditative. It will be meditative in a different way compared to Immoto.'

Then I moved on to ask him about the infamous 10 euro gig in Budapest when Nero Di Marte was on tour with Gorguts, Dysrhythmia, and Psycroptic. Laza, the organizer of the Imperial Triumphant + Nero di Marte show in Belgrade also went to that show with me and few other people.

'I don’t have a really particular memory of that show but the tour, in general, was fantastic. Hanging out with Gorguts and Dysrhythmia, they’re the best people ever! So it was a really cool tour and kind of a…It was the first time we were on a bigger thing with a night liner, and we finish a show and you go on a tour bus and you wake up in a different city. It’s like a time travel machine. It was a privilege, really. I hope Gorguts do something new soon, and I hope that we can play with them again.'

After that, I asked him whether he knew Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder (RIP):

'I spoke with him a few times. He was…As with many bands, underground bands, he was a big supporter of anything he was listening to and he would promote it. I spoke with him a couple of times. I didn’t get to know him personally. It’s a shame what happened. He is actually from Detroit, where my parents are from. So it was a big shock to hear what happened. But I can’t really say much else. I wish all the guys in that band the best. It’s tragic. We were supposed to play a festival in Romania with them this summer at Rockstadt. But unfortunately, I won’t meet him.'

Sean then talked about the name of the band. He changed the band’s name from Murder Therapy to 'something that wouldn’t scare away our mothers and fathers. We made the tough decision because we had a crowd even back then, and some fans. We made a tough decision to change our name, do a new album, new lineup, and everything.'

Sean Worrell then mentioned some albums that he has been listening to recently. He mentioned the new Artificial Brain album and the new Imperial Triumphant album – Spirit of Ecstasy. Near the end of the interview, I realized that Josh Elmore of Cattle Decapitation came to see the show. That was cool!

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0:46 Immoto failed tour

1:44 Reception of Immoto

2:18 Lengthy songs on Immoto

3:20 Italian language.

5:22 Tour with Imperial triumphant

5:58 Belgrade show

6:34 Upcoming album

9:48 Influences on the new album

10:34 Tour with Gorguts, Dysrhythmia and Psycroptic

11:53 Trevor Strnad of The Black Dahlia Murder (RIP)

12:58 Nero di Marte's name

14:23 Albums in his playlist

16:02 Final words

Nero Di Marte - Live in Belgrade (2022 Photo Gallery)

Interview with Sean Worrell of Nero Di Marte (2015)

Interview with Sean Worrell of Nero Di Marte (2020)

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