With:	Andy Techakosit
Conducted by:	Baz Anderson (e-mail)
Published:	06.08.2007
Band profile:	Sarpanitum
Album info:	Despoilment Of Origin

01. Seducing The Phallus Throne
02. Halls Of Decadence
03. Ascending The Divine
04. Provocation Of An Eternal Odium
05. Dusk Over Assyria
06. Cur Defilement
07. Dawn Of Enthrallment
08. Despoilment Of Origin



01 Seducing The Phallus Throne
This was actually the last piece we wrote for "Despoilment of Origin" and we felt it began with a slow moving dynamic that would suit an intro track to the album. Tom Hyde wrote the majority of the song whilst I helped structure it. We actually had the lyrics for the track for quite some time, and in fact the song was totally rewritten for the album, however we felt the concept for this song was something definitely wanted to use for our debut. The brief outline of the concept is basically a story of greed and corruption inflicted upon a once all powerful warrior who became seduced by the pleasures of the flesh and falling captive to its power.

02 Halls Of Decadence
This is the first song ever written under the Sarpanitum moniker, and was composed by original guitarist, Jack Galbraith, back in 2003 when the band was still a mere two man studio project. It's arguably the heaviest track on the album and is a live favourite. The concept for this song is based on Ishtar's journey of descent into the underworld.

03 Ascending The Divine
The second track we made available prior to the official release of the album. This song is predominately written by me, however does contain sections written by both Tom Hyde and Innocenti, as well as the long solo section towards the end of the track. I feel its one, if not the most, powerful Sarpanitum track on the album, as well as on a live stage. Along with "Halls of Decadence" it's the most tiring song to play live (drum wise) with double bass drumming in 16ths extending for very long periods throughout the track.

04 Provocation Of An Eternal Odium
This song is one of my personal favourites, in that it has all the elements of the band in one track in my opinion. It has a very slow moving and heavy intro, which moves into a more aggressive and visceral section, accompanied by darker and even some black metal influenced passages. Both Tom Hyde and Tom Innocenti worked with me structuring this song; however the majority of riffs were created by them alone. This song alone with "Ascending The Divine" was one of the songs we initially wrote solely for the album after the demo was released.

05 Dusk Over Assyria
The acoustic and almost instrumental synth track brought a lot of comments on towards Sarpanitum and to what purpose the track might serve on a Death Metal album. I definitely feel having such a diverse track on the album made the record feel like it is in two parts, and makes welcome rest bite before the "Cur Defilement" intro kicks in. This song was actually composed in the studio after we listened to the album through and felt there was something missing atmospherically. It is compromised solely from original ideas that Tom Innocenti had for the writing of the album.

06 Cur Defilement
Even with a big intro section, this song is one of the most relentless tracks on the album. Tom Hyde had most of the riffs down for this song before him and I met and structured the song. Heavily influenced by the likes of Morbid Angel and Suffocation, "Cur Defilement" has what I would probably consider my favourite outro sections on any Sarpanitum song. This song was written during the transition period of the band when we switched from utilising drum programming to our first proper drummer, Phil Mosely.
The lyrical theme for this track is based around the Mesopotamian tale of betrayal between Sarpanitum and Dumuzi; a coward whom forgot what he once was and despite the loyalty of his partner became so involved with the all powerful deity he felt he now was, he selfishly chose his life over his so-called beloved. The spirits gave him the choice of dying respectfully as a deity or living but in the form of a mere snake. The lyrics for this song are some of my personal favourite pieces written for Sarpanitum.

07 Dawn Of Enthrallment
"Dawn?" is probably the most straight forward no-nonsense death metal song on the album. At 2min50secs it's also the shortest track on "Despoilment Of Origin" and being the first track that we made available for download prior to the album release, it is a popular opener in our live set.
I wrote this song solely and the lyrics are courtesy of our last vocalist. The music definitely has a hint of that aggressive and semi-melodic Behemoth/Malevolent Creation vibe to it I feel, further emphasised by the energetic C# tuning and almost constant double bass drumming throughout the song. I'd say this song is a good introduction to what our band is about.

08 Despoilment Of Origin
Aside from "Halls of Decadence", this track is the oldest on the album. Written by Tom Hyde and Tom Innocenti originally for their old band "Tenebrous Aeon", it was drafted into Sarpanitum when we decided to pull the project up from a studio band. It's also the most primitive sounding piece I feel, with a lot of aggressive thrash influence. The concept for this song is the climax to the overall story surrounding the album; Sarpanitum's final confrontation with her sibling deity Ereshkigal. The album artwork portrays the goddess naked and as mortal as you or I in her last moments of life?the final lyrics of the song and subsequently the album about the goddess are "Diverge to carcass?Lynched to the wall" - a fitting ending to a story which poses a passionate argument against the age old saying that "blood is thicker than water".

Thanks go to Leon Macey of Galactic Records for organising this, and Andy Techakosit for his time.