Many good Black Metal comes from Scandinavia. But can you name a few Armenian Metal bands. I know not one, untill a couple of months ago. When I saw the music video of Blood Covenant – The Blood of the New Covenant. The video can be seen below. I thought wow, and asked myself why have I never heard from them in the past ?
A very good reason to introduce this band in the Netherlands and other countries. We had the opportunity to talk with Segør [vocals and guitar].
TMR: Hello to you from ‘The Metal Resource’ Holland, how are things going there in Armenia ?
S: Hello to “The Metal Resource” Holland! Everything is going very well in Armenia.
TMR: Will you Introduce yourself and the band please ! [name and instrument]
S: Ok, so the Blood Covenant members are:
Segør (Sergey Areskin) – Vocals/Guitar/Composer (2001-)
Garegin (Garik Amyan) – Drums/Lyrics/ Composer(2001-)
Armen Hovhannisyan – Bass (2008-)
Mark Areskin – Guitar (2012-)
Narek Onanyan – Guitar(2008-)
Hasmik Hovhannisyan – Keys (2008-)
Guest members
Arthur Areskin – Clean vocals (2006-)
Vazgen Kondakhchyan – Clean Vocals (2010-)
TMR: Tell us the brief history of ‘Blood Covenant’
S: Blood Covenant was founded in July of 2001 by Segor and Garegin. The band has released several albums, which are: 2001 – “Iron Cross” (Demo), 2003 – “The Day of Lord”, 2007 – “The Blood of the New Covenant”, 2009 – “At the Cross” (Single), 2011 – “Sing of Time”, 2012 – “Hayr Mer” (aka Our Father) (Single), as well as in 2011 the band release a DVD “Live in Yerevan”.
TMR: Why the name ‘Blood Covenant’ ? Is there a story behind it ?
S: When we say “Blood Covenant” we don’t mean any murder or violence. By that we mean the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that was shed for as a Covenant with us.
TMR: Are you guys full time musicians ? If not what kind of job or study do you do beside the band ?
S: Me and Garegin are full time musicians, and we wrok with the worship team of “Word of Life” church Armenia. As to the rest of the members, Narek is an operator, montage worker and a designer. Armen has just graduated from the University, Mark is still studying at a college and he’s also engaged in making cover art for the albums of different bands.
TMR: What is your musical background ?
S: I’m a drummer graduate, Garegin has graduated from the Conservatory as a drummer, the rest have just learned to play music all by themselves.
TMR: Who writes the music/lyrics in ‘Blood Covenant’ ? .. how do you get in the mood for writing music? And which bands/situations have influences you for writing music and lyrics ?
S: Music is written by me and Garegin, who also writes the lyrics. As to the mood, when we know that we’re about to start working on a new album, I just sit down and start writing music during that period. Then I show it to Garegin and we start our elaboration on what we came out with.
TMR: How do you describe the music of ‘Blood Covenant’ the best?
S: The music of “Blood Covenant” is meant to crash down satan’s plans.
TMR: Is there a highlight you will always remember, since the beginning [2001] of ‘Blood Covenant’ ?
S: Of course. For example, one of the highlights of our band was our first show in “N.P.A.K.”. Anothe one was the shooting of “The Blood of the New Covenant” music video, which was our first one.
TMR: And the worst thing were ? [if there is one]
S: Well, the worst thing that happend to our band was when our drummer Garegin was taken to serve in the army.
TMR: How does ‘Blood Covenant’ stands in life till events in the world, religion and politics and in which proportion stands that till your music and lyrics ?
S: Nothing can hold us back from what we do. We know who we are, so no winds of politics can affect our progress. And the lyrics are created as a result of what we get from our spirit.
TMR: For a lot of bands the lyrics are just a accidental circumstance, but for some bands they use them to communicate ! ..can you tell us how that is for ‘Blood Covenant’ ?
S: In the case of “Blood Covenant” the lyrics contain a message, in which we show the kindness and judgement of God towards people. And we also show the way out of the hatred of satan to people.
TMR: Name some of your favorite bands to play with live [past and future] and tell us why ?
S: Actually, I don’t know which bands I would like to play with, but I definitely have favorite bands.
TMR: First record you bought?
S: For me it was Petra’s record.
TMR: What makes you laugh?
S: For example, when we are rehearsing our songs and all of a sudden start playing a totally different genre of music, for example, Armenian folk (otherwise known as “Rabiz”) music.
TMR: How do you promote your band and shows ?
S: Mainly we promote our band via internet as well as selling our CDs. And sometimes we have concerts.
TMR: How do you prepare for a show?
S: We do a lot of rehearsals three months before the show, we pray for that show, so that the Lords power helps us during it.
TMR: Describe your show, visual and musically ? And tell us about your next shows and why we should be there.
S: Every show is somewhat different. However, as far as we don’t do many shows, we mainly take part in festivals. Actually we are very scrupulous regarding the sound, and we want every instrument to sound precisely. Our next show will probably take place in autumn, right now we are having rehearsals. As to why you should be there, there is only one reason: our fans love our band.
TMR: What is the dumbest question you have ever been asked?
S: The dumbest questions were like this “Why do you sing only about Christianity? Don’t you want to sing about something else? Is it necessary to sing only about Christ?”
TMR: Do you have a life philosophy?
S: Generally we think that philosophy has nothing to do with Christianity.
TMR: Are you visiting many gigs and what do you listen to these days?
S: Of course, we visit different non-Christian concerts from time to time, just because there are no Christian bands here. And also we attend those gigs to have a little sound check. I listen to “Extol”, “Antestor”, “Slechtvalk”, “Crimson Moonlight”, “Narnia”, “Petra”, etc.
TMR: As far as I know, you are one of the few Christian metal bands from Armenia. So tell us about the metal scene in your area/country please?
S: In my country there are only a few metal bands. I would say that we have quite a poor metal scene here.
TMR: What’s your outlook on the record-industry today?
S: I think that regarding Christian bands the record-industry doesn’t have a very high quality, as compared to secular bands.
TMR: About your latest album ‘Sign Of Time’, tell us about the songs, the recording process, artwork etc.
S: The idea is based on the 24th chapter of Mathew where Jesus talks about the sign proceeding the Rapture. The recordings took place in the studio called “Art4God” which was founded by us (particularly by Segor and Garegin).The process of recording was very fun but at the same time quite torturous. All artwork was created by our guitar player Narek.
TMR: The album is released by Russian record label ‘Darknagar Records’, how did you get signed by them ?
S: As far as our 1st DVD was released by them, so they suggested us recording our releasing “Sign of Time”.
TMR: Where can people buy the ‘Blood Covenant’ albums ?
S: You can buy our albums from here:
First Paradox
Darknagar Records
Nordic Mission
TMR: What about your plans for this year or the near future ? [New album / European Tour ?]
S: As I previously mentioned right now we are preparing for our show with new materials from new album. And maybe we will release a new album in 2013.
TMR: What advice would you give to fellow bands?
S: I would advise them to never compromise.
TMR: What are the biggest obstacles for bands ?
S: The biggest obstacles are lack of money and time.
TMR: Guys thanks for your time and the interview, we wish ‘Blood Covenant’ all the best … Is there anything you wanna say at last? [any final statement ?]
S: Thank you too for your time. It’s been my pleasure to answer all of the questions. God bless you!
Band members:
Segør [Sergey Areskin] – Vocals/Guitar/Composer
Garegin [Garik Amyan] – Drums/Lyrics/ Composer
Armen Hovhannisyan – Bass
Mark Areskin – Guitar
Narek Onanyan – Guitar
Hasmik Hovhannisyan – Keys
Discography:
Iron Cross, demo [2001]
The Day of Lord [2003]
The Blood of the New Covenant [2007]
At the Cross, single [2009]
The Blood of the New Covenant DVD [2011]
Sign of Time [2011]
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