by Kenneth Morton

One of the most respected death metal bands in the underground Los Angeles music scene, Letum Ascensus has just unleashed their latest slab of steel entitled Reflections Of Torment. We recently spoke with vocalist Boris to find out more about this tremendously brutal entity...

What are your impressions of our local Los Angeles metal scene, and how does Letum Ascensus fit into the scheme of things.
As someone who immigrated to this country and settled in Los Angeles eight years ago, I am able to appreciate and evaluate objectively the metal scene in comparison to others. It's definitely not what I was expecting, and what one typically hears about the scene. I was hoping to find more professionalism and unity, have people work for the common good of a show and not for personal glorification. There have been times where I am sadly disappointed, but I have been lucky to have found some bands, promoters, and individual supporters of the death metal scene. People who help each other out and help keep this underground movement going forward.
After many years of doing the same thing here in L.A. and elsewhere, I've learned that I can't point fingers, but to learn from others and learn from my own mistakes; it has made me a stronger musician.
Considering that L.A. in general is a melting pot of so many different cultures and is so diverse, this has definitely helped the band fit into the Los Angeles metal scene. The band members all come from different backgrounds but unite with one common goal - death metal. The diversity within the band extends from Sam's old school raw guitars, mixed with Rick's technical progressive jazzy drumming, juxtaposed with Chris's funkadelic bass grooves and my brutal, all guts, growls. Los Angeles has been the perfect backdrop of diversity for a band that is itself so diverse.

What does the name Letum Ascensus mean and what made you decide to use that name?
Letum Ascensus is Latin for "sudden death." The name came about after an acquaintance suggested the name. Before that, the band was called Vivisect. The guys decided to go with Letum Ascensus because it was more true to the feeling and sound of the music we wanted to create - brutal ass death metal.

How easy or difficult was it to self-record and finance your new Reflections Of Torment CD?
Not easy. Tremendous effort was put into recording the album. Personally it has been a life long dream that I have now achieved. Long hours of recording, countless days spent mixing and mastering the sound to perfection for our fans. The album has cost us sweat and blood but all well worth it, the decision to record was easy. The album should have been released years earlier, but the entire process was delayed after having to deal with a local label that didn't have the means to put us in the studio and get it going. Because we self-recorded, we were free to create an album that really represents us without the intervention of any external influences. All decisions were made by us and for us, from the album cover, to the order of the songs, to when we wanted it released, etc. The album was completely self-financed by me, Sam, and Rick. We each put in as much as we could help with. We went to the best sound engineer we could find, Juan Carlos Huerta of JC Studios in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was the person we relied on for tracking and mixing the songs as well as co-producing the album. We knew he had the experience, the technical skills and a heart-felt feeling for our music as well as a strong friendship and bond with all the guys in the band.

Letum Ascensus has been around since 1995. What do you think has been the secret to your staying together as a band after all of this time?
Since '95 there have been a few line up changes, however the current line up has pretty much been around for about the last six years. We are still together because we're doing this for the right reasons. We don't create false expectations of what we can get in terms of money or fame. We do this because it is in our blood; we end our week in the studio after long hours of work and obligation. We end our week in the studio playing death metal. If one of us expects money and fame and expects to pay a mortgage in L.A. from playing in the band, it is a false expectation. We know why we do this.

What initially got you into death metal and extreme music?
I had an uncle that introduced me to metal when I was eight or nine years old by giving me a vinyl LP of Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast album. As a kid, I was completely enthralled and shocked at how someone can make a drum, a guitar, a bass, and vocals sound like that. The entire theme of the album cover awakened my deep passion and interest to find out what metal was all about. As I delved deeper into metal and the methodology of creating metal I fell in love with this type of music. The fact that society labels this as extreme music wasn't my choice, it's all I know.

What was it like playing with legendary bands such as Cannibal Corpse and Morbid Angel? Did you get to meet them at all?
Letum Ascensus played with these bands in the early '90's. Unfortunately I wasn't in the band at that time. But what I can say from Sam's experience is that it was one of the best times that Letum Ascensus had as it established itself in the L.A. area as an upcoming band. They did get to hang out with the guys from Cannibal and Morbid Angel at the shows and other occasions when the bands were in town. In fact, Sam's attention was caught when he saw Jack Owen playing an Ibanez 7 string guitar and starting experimenting with that sound himself.

Immortal is another famous European band you opened for. What was that experience like and did you get to party with them?
First off, let me say it was amazing that we, an underground death metal band, were taken into consideration for opening up for such a huge act. For us it was an awesome feeling while at the same time a big responsibility put in our hands. We felt as if at that point, we needed to represent the entire underground extreme music scene from Los Angeles, we were the first of its kind to play that venue. It was an honor. We got to deal with people on a different level, professional booking agents, promoters and a Hollywood landmark, The Avalon (formerly The Palace).
Yes, we did get to hang out with the guys, during sound check and after their set. As a matter of fact, Horgh (drummer) was there when we were sound checking and commented on what a great sound we had. We had a great experience with their management, Hakon Grav, he and the band were so professional, down to earth, and kickback. There were no rockstar attitudes at all, just good people. After the set we got to hang out in their room, at which point my wife and I presented a little gift to them, an Immortal cake showcasing their old school logo. The Immortal guys were so grateful and Abbath let me know that no one had ever presented them with a cake before; it was a good feeling.

Has Letum Ascensus done any touring or do you plan to do so in the future?
Yes, we have done a couple small west coast tours. We've played Nevada, as well as San Francisco, San Jose, and down south in San Diego and past the border to Mexico, Tijuana and Mexicali. We have pretty much played every venue in the Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino counties.
Currently, we are working on trying to schedule another tour to promote and put the new album out there. There are plans for a couple shows out of state as well as out of the country. There are a bunch of shows in the works and we're just working on locking them in.

Where do you get the ideas for some of the lyrics you write?
Most of the ideas spring up in moments when my mind is just going 100 miles an hour, through different emotions, and I need to get them out of my head and onto paper. Writing has always been a way for me to release my stress and tension. Of course, I try to keep them far from fantasy and concentrate on real events and actual happenings. You'll never hear me singing about a monster with seven heads - I've never seen one. There have been times where depression and frustrations were on the daily menu as well as anger and hatred. I was in a mode of trying to protect myself and protect my mental health by excreting the beast within and transcribing it all into words, without being afraid of what I have to say. It has helped me cope through life's bullshit and get over whatever comes my way.

Tell me about the haunting CD cover art for Reflections Of Torment, who did the artwork and where did you get the idea from?
We definitely did not want to go with the typical cartoonish artwork. Nothing against those artists, we just didn't want the album to look like everyone else's. Sometimes, it just happens that bands find cool looking artwork and use it as the album cover. This was not our case. I developed the concept for the artwork myself and worked with graphic artist George Hierro to create something that represented our music, our lyrics and the entire sound. Most people just label us as satanic or gory, but if you look deeper you'll understand that there is a social, political, and anti-religious message. The album artwork portrays that message.

What are the future plans for Letum Ascensus?
On my behalf, I plan to continue putting forth all my effort as a display of continued gratitude for my fellow band members. I know we all share the desire to continue writing music and continue playing death metal while always seeking to improve upon our skills and acquire more knowledge regarding not only creating music but the business aspect as well. We'll continue to keep educating ourselves on what it means to be a part of this big machine - the music industry, while keeping true to our underground death metal roots. We'll keep creating hard hitting precise drums, choppy low tunings with aggressive bloody riffs, and monstrous gut-chopping inhuman vocals.

Any messages for fans here in the Los Angeles area?
We want to say that we really appreciate the support from everyone that has been there for us, no matter what venue, what day, what time, what cost, or what line up, they have always been there for us. I would need at least four to five pages to express my gratitude to those individuals. To the old school fans THANK YOU. To the new fans, WELCOME. I offer an invitation to the new fans and upcoming metal heads to be an active participant of every event and help each other out in making the scene more cohesive, bigger, and stronger. Hope to see all your sick motherfucken faces out there.

Letum Ascensus links

Letum Ascensus on Myspace: The Official Myspace Page for Letum Ascensus!
The Highwire Daze Home Page: Return to the Main Page!

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