Dysthymia with Nestor Carrera
Art: Unggun Yullanto
Escarnium’s music is like a tone hammer hitting your ears at 120m/h. Making music in Escarnium is realising a couple of dreams. First, to be in a band, and second, to travel worldwide. I intend to keep doing this for as long as possible, as it means everything to me. It’s incredibly wonderful if, on top of all, we have good feedback from people worldwide – we’ve been fortunate in this respect thus far.
Dysthymia was the culmination of our pandemic anguishes. While being stuck at home for so long, feeling the weight of our depressive thoughts and disbeliefs, we started to share some riffs and ideas between us online (we all live far from each other, so that is the most viable way), so we could adapt those raw sketches. Once we could plan to get back together for touring, we had the whole foundation for the album written, so we went into the studio for a few days before the tour to cut the edges and hit REC. Most of the stuff was made by Victor (guitar, vocals) and myself, even though the whole band had its touch on the final product.
Since the band’s beginning, we have always tried to approach lyrical themes that reflected the essence of what humankind can cause to the world and itself, and Dysthymia is no different. In this release, we talk about psychological issues, depression, etc. The song Far Beyond Primitive, in particular, was inspired by the Barbacena asylum, which was a place in Brazil where people with mental illness, homosexuals, and all kinds of people were once seen as “not normal” for society back in the day, were thrown in to rot and suffer without any care or humanity, becoming some “far beyond primitive” life forms… This place is extinct, but people must know that this atrocity cannot be forgotten or repeated. Our dedication to our art is fed by the need to shed light on some important topics that are sometimes undervalued in our community.
I don’t know if I would call it fixation, but I’m addicted to knowledge and understanding “the whys” of everything. I’m generally a sceptical person who believes science is our best friend. I can’t even say at what point I shifted my life towards heavy metal, but I remember being that one kid in school with leather boots, a black t-shirt, silver rings, and an uncompromising attitude. The first time I heard any metal-related music was from an Iron Maiden bootleg collection containing nearly 20 songs from all eras of Maiden. That shit blew my mind cause I was just a kid in Salvador (a city in Brazil where rock and metal are far from popular genres). After that, I started searching for heavier stuff – as it usually goes – and one day, I found a street vendor downtown with tons of bootleg metal albums. I was 12~13 years old, asking him for suggestions to start, and the guy gave me a copy of Vile from Cannibal Corpse. You can imagine my face when I hit play – hahaha!! Devoured by Vermin started, and I was like, WTF!?!?! After that, I just wanted more, and here I am. I don’t think there is a “best album of all time” because music needs to fit the moment. Every moment of our lives deserves a soundtrack that fits it, but Blackwater Park from Opeth, Nothing from Meshuggah, Icons of Evil from Vital Remains, and Vile from Cannibal Corpse all have a special place in my heart.
Nestor: Music is, without a doubt, the most beautiful art form. Even if you can’t hear it, you can learn how to read, write, and feel it physically and emotionally. It is a proven therapy in so many ways. It doesn’t matter if we speak the same language, live in the same culture, or are of different ages; we can all relate through music and its power. I am not an exemplary musician, but I do it as passionately as possible. The entertainment part is real and is considered in the creative process because we are a band. A band needs an audience, and to get there, we gotta make it enjoyable and entertaining, but the most important part is doing what we believe makes sense according to our philosophy and making sure we will have fun with it. That is what keeps us moving forward.
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