(On March 27th Dying Victims Productions will release Italian Dark Sound, the debut album from Midryasi’s Kult, and to help pave the way our Comrade Aleks conducted the following interview with the founder Geilt — and we’ve included the album’s first two singles as well.)
This story begins in 2002, when the Italian trio Midryasi officially embarked on their own creative explorations in the field of authentic progressive doom metal with a stoner rock edge. This blend fell under the somewhat vague definition of “Italian Dark Sound,” a local subgenre encompassing original bands geographically based in Italy and stylistically associated with the realm of dark prog and vintage doom. The group recorded three eclectic albums and unofficially disbanded for over a decade, but when the first demo (Mountain Devil) of Midryasi’s Kult, led by former Midryasi vocalist and bassist Geilt, was released last year, the situation took on a new dimension.
Although the project has a relatively consistent lineup, all the songs feature Geilt’s participation, and a couple of tracks were actually recorded by the old Midryasi lineup (“Hypnopriest” is taken from the band’s first album). Their new album’s title leaves no room for interpretation – Geilt adheres to roughly the same “Italian Dark Sound” line, relying on harsh guitar melodies alongside pure doom riffs, intricate prog patterns, and an eclectic vocal delivery with a distinctly deranged edge. And the band’s spokesman today is Geilt, of course — here we go.
Hi Geilt! How are you? What’s going on in the Midryasi’s Kult camp?
Hi!! Fine here thanx, wish you as well! We’re living the excitement for our debut album release. We’ve planned the first gigs, rehearsing for them while working on new material between some photo/video sessions in wait for the release of our next single!!
Firstly, you named the band after Midryasi, your other band that has been silent for decade or so, although all the other members have their own background in the metal underground. Does it mean that you consider Midryasi’s Kult as original Midryasi’s disciple?
Midryasi’s Kult was meant to be the original name for what then became Midryasi. Midryasi was meant to be an invitation to the wild, to the deep, the high and obscure. Midryasi’s Kult is a confirmation, a declaration of intent.
A KULT of personality through Art.
What do you mean? What kind of art, besides music, do you aim to channel through the Midryasi’s Kult?
There are emotions beyond the expressions of reason. I use Music, drawing, dancing, meditating, as tools to those feelings. It’s kind of a sacred something at hand, Everybody can have their own tools. The tool is Art. I personally attempt to master Midryasi as an Art.
By the way, what happened with the original Midryasi? I kept faith for years expecting any news from the band and checking metal-archives on a regular basis. Yours and the German band Dreaming too.
Thanx for your appreciations! The band just split slowly, though there were ideas and stuff. We just never took courage to officially bury it. As I was still hungry for the wild vibe, I decided to close the circle just adapting the name. Midryasi was a band. Midryasi’s Kult is born as a collective of artists.
The new album’s entitled Italian Dark Sound, and it’s clearly connected with one of the feature Italian subgenres. It’s a routine question for me, I ask it to all (rare) bands of this kind, however — how do you see this genre? What are its necessary elements?
Italian Dark Sound refers to very different bands. It’s referring both to ’70s dark progressive and to more metal or new wave dark sounding bands.
As I think of it, it reminds me of a pale, white-haired skinny figure, screaming in the dark. Maybe a victim or a haunting ghost, or a witch. It’s when you’re frightened by music. It’s like you fear it’s a dangerous listening.
Okay, and musically? You mentioned dark progressive bands, then we have doomy bands which are considered to be “Dark Italian Sound” like Black Hole, maybe shock rock like Death SS. Even Abysmal Grief, why not? What unites all of them?
In the lyrics of IDS I summarize it like this:
edgy guitar sound, out of tune vocals, roaring bass, buried drums, church organ.
But these are just HOW we do it. The point is WHY we do it. WHAT have we got?
Milleniums of church influence gave us a lot of Christ and a logically equal dose of Devil. A religious sense of life. We live in superstition, that’s Magic. This second it’s so far older and rooted than church in our culture. And this is the point. The occult aura is the linking trademark between old and new bands. For I described apotropaic rituals in the narration, and the last verse is: “The Older is the Spell the Stronger the Inchant”…
How did you work on this material? Do you have a main songwriter in the band? Or do you prefer to share responsibilities in equal terms?
I usually came with the main music and just let the other musicians arrange, add, and trace their mark. I cared for all the lyrics and artwork.
Did you come to the studio with already composed songs? Did you improvise there or firmly follow some plan?
Just a handful of parts were jammed. Most came into the studio already composed.
It’s said that up to eleven musicians worked on Italian Dark Sound. What’s the band’s core line-up and who were your guests during these sessions?
The KULT has recently fixed with Wrathlord on drums and Dull the Dog on bass for the recording of “Italian Dark Sound”, “A Taste for Damnation”, and “The Cellar”. While “Mountain Devil” and “The Slow-Ther” were recorded by me, GAbry “The Way” Strada, and Avenir. I succeeded to record “MIM” and “Hypnopriest” with original members of Midryasi. Then there was a featuring of other underground musicians for solos, choirs, santoor, and some music. GAbry Strada is at the same time our producer and credited musician. Avenir is currently on guitar. I cared about bass in four songs and all main vocals. In the future other musicians are gonna be involved.
What about the live aspect of the band? Do you play your stuff live and do you play Midryasi’s songs as well?
We’ve not played live yet but we’ve planned some dates. We’ll play “Hypnopriest”. But it would be cool to resurrect some other fitting numbers.
How do you plan to perform gigs with Midryasi’s Kult, taking into account these lineup issues? Or do you have a separate live lineup?
The live lineup will feature the musicians playing on ” Italian Dark Sound”, “A Taste for Damnation”, and “The Cellar”.
There’s a “Hypnopriest” song on the album, and I remember that original Midryasi had a song with the very same name on their debut album recorded twenty years ago. Is it the same? Why did you choose it?
The song is not properly the same; there is a different structure and different arrangements, though the core music’s the same. We chose it because it was part of the Black, Blue and Violet chapter that we’ve closed with the song “M.I.M. Mayhem” and the rest of the album. Both “M.I.M.” and “Hypnopriest” are recorded by the original Midryasi line up.
By the way, on which occasion did you record “Hypnopriest”?
If you refer to this album version, the song was recorded live in studio by Midryasi about ten years ago with “MIM” and another song we’ll release.
Why didn’t you record the entire album with the original Midryasi group, as you’ve known each other for ages?
Because the other Midryasi members are not playing anymore… but they are glad to hear that the unreleased stuff can now be released. And it has been a lot of fun having Paul P. for the solo on “Mountain Devil”!
At the same time, you have a song “The Lost Son of Sylvester Anfang” connected with a Mayhem song with almost the same name. Which role does Mayhem play for Midryasi’s Kult?
First Mayhem are a strong influence in terms of rawness and obscurity. I was always fascinated by the “Anfang” intro, for it’s martiality and strangeness. That outro of mine reminded me of it and I thought it was cool to pay a tribute and leave a clue!
Geilt, any news from Doomsword’s camp? Does the band exist still?
The band exists and it’s close to the end of the recording of a new album. But when you speak about Doomsword time is an unknown guest.
Do you mean that there aren’t any other things you can share about this forthcoming album? No label, no dates, nothing?
An agreement with a label is on but I can’t share this detail. 2026 could be the year of release. No dates.
How would you resume your plans for 2026?
Preparing for some spring shows and summer festivals. Shooting videos and the interviews we make to underground artists on our channel. Maybe a split with the band Entirety, an EP, and carrying forward the recordings for a new album.
Thanks for the interview Geilt! And good luck with both Midryasi’s Kult and Doomsword! Any last words for our readers?
Thanx so much for the wishes and thanx for the interest you’ve shown in Midryasi and Midryasi’s Kult or Doomsword. Hope the readers will enjoy.
Keep the KULT!
www.dyingvictims.com
https://dyingvictimsproductions.bandcamp.com/album/italian-dark-sound/
https://midryasiskult.bandcamp.com