Interview: Question

question-band_photo

Question come from Querétaro, Mexico and create technical death metal in a combination of old school styles. Their debut album Doomed Passages saw release through Chaos Records in early June. Question deliver a very spacious style of death metal reminiscent of The Chasm with some Finnish touches. The guitarist, Rodrigo, agreed to talk to us about the band.

Question caught my eye as an unusual name for a death metal band. What made you choose this name?

“Question” is a name which is coherent with the philosophy of the band and the lyrics; it’s consistent with the context that we want to portray. A friend came with the idea and we thought it fit perfectly with the music that we were composing at the time. It’s not surprising that some think it is a weird or dumb name; you’ll always find people that keep looking for the most rude or evil names, but I think that has become a weak point with the past of the years in the metal scene.

I detect a strong Finnish death metal influence on Doomed Passages. Would I be correct?

Well, we are fans of some early Finnish death metal bands; also we listen to some contemporary bands that have been spreading rottenness lately. However, it’s more appropriate to say that we’re heavily influenced by obscure death metal in general; Mexico has a lot of obscure metal bands and some of them are big influences for us. Also, besides metal, we listen to a lot of punk, progressive rock, etc.

What drove you to create death metal?

Curiosity. In terms of composition death metal has a very vast spectrum of possibilities and we all are very into obscure, heavy and strange stuff, not just music, also books, films, so I guess it’s natural to feel a tendency to create and play this kind of tunes.

Is art separate from entertainment or are they one in the same?

I’m afraid I’ve never established a delimited frontier between these two concepts; any attempt to be objective will fail, however I can resume my thoughts with the following: many expressions of art can be entertaining, but entertainment mostly lacks art. Art is an intimate vision of an artist, and sometimes the vision is shared with some people. In contrast, entertainment is made for the masses, is a guided story that leads to a guided conclusion. Art is more subjective, it makes you think what you’ve experienced.

Tell me about the recording process of Doomed Passages.

We recorded the album in April 2013 at Oz Recording Studios in Mexico City. The process lasted five days and it was the first time for the actual lineup to record something. All went well, the studio is amazing, and we had a really good time, although the mixing and mastering process was more exhausting, as we couldn’t make a connection with Roberto Granados. I think the result is good.

What does the artwork on Doomed Passages signify and how does it tie into what is being expressed musically?

Hector and I wrote a couple of ideas for the artwork based on the lyrics and the band’s philosophy. We send this to Arturo Vargas and he came with this spectral vision that became the cover of our first album. The significance is relative; art should not be restricted to a single interpretation.

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14 thoughts on “Interview: Question”

  1. Richard Head says:

    Wow, this guy sounds brilliant without being stuck-up. Will definitely check this album out. Thanks for the great interview, DMU and Question.

    1. Proghead says:

      I don’t know what is up with you so called metalheads thinking your music is the darkest out there. Just check Shub-Niggurath.
      French chamber act Shub- Niggurath’s first album is arguably some of the darkest music to ever come out of the depths of hell.
      Disregarding the obvious comparisons with bands such as chamber rock legends Univers Zero and Zeuhl innovators Magma, the biggest relation in sound I am reminded of is actually of King Crimson, circa their ‘Red’ album, in which a gloomy bass was used heavily, and the harmonies used were nothing, if not quite unsettling.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtmL5K2p3pA

      1. Richard Head says:

        I don’t know what is up with you so called French chamber music fanboys thinking your music is the gayest out there. Just check blink 182.

        Californian pop-punk act blink 182’s first album is some of the gayest music ever to come out of the heights of heaven.

        Disregarding the obvious comparisons with bands such as pop-punk legends Bad Religion and skate-punk innovators Descendents, the biggest relation in sound I am reminded of is actually of Black Flag, circa their ‘My War’ album, in which a funky bass was used heavily, and the harmonies used were nothing, if not quite homoerotic.

      2. Richard Head says:

        Stuff actually sounds pretty cool, how are Shub Niggurath’s other albums? Red is my favorite Belew-fronted KC album and I definitely see how you get that comparison. The music is not really all that dense or claustrophobia-inducing, there is a wide spacing between the instrument tones, and that makes it sound very open and suggests lots of possibilites in melody. Good recommendation.

        1. Ollie says:

          Here I thought you were talking about the excellent Mexican death metal Shub Niggurath with Julio Viterbo on guitar. Boy did that link take me for loop.
          Check out the The Kinglike Celebration (Final Aeon on Earth). Excellent stuff. \m/

  2. Susa says:

    This (the interview and the music) is indeed pretty good. I’ve been associating south and mesoamerica with mediocre attempts at black metal mostly, but this is nice.

    1. pinger says:

      They got more soul than you white racist assholes! Black mental or not men still are men down there, there music is from the soul and true.

      1. badasshole says:

        “South Americans have more soul than whites! You’re a racist!”

        Dude I hope you stick around for a while. Your posts are so good that I don’t even need to troll tumblr anymore for giggles.

        1. This isn’t a reply to you in particular. It’s an address to all commenters here.

          Ideally, I would run a 100% free speech forum. That cannot happen, first because some speech is illegal and would lead to the end of the forum, and second because people tend to abuse it and drive others away. Sabotage, vandalize, subvert.

          Thus what I have to say here is: free speech is not a right or a privilege.

          It’s a responsibility.

          I ask all of you to keep me and other staff as far away as possible from the role of censor by discussing ANY issues you want, but in a legitimate (e.g. informative, polite, useful) manner.

          1. badasshole says:

            Fair enough. Free speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences of that speech. I’m hardly troubled if you remove my useless comments as you see fit. Otherwise I’ll try to hold my tongue.

            1. pinger says:

              Fortunately badassoul I’m in much too good of a mood right now to be brought down by your cynical logic negativity!

          2. tiny midget says:

            brett please censor me. my incendiary comments are illegal in most cuntries.

            1. Masochist to Sadist: Hurt me!

              Sadist to Masochist: Hehe… no.

  3. Kingdom_Gone says:

    Hey this sounds great! Also the guy interviewed sounds genuine.

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