DEVILYN – Interview with Bony

First off congratulations on success of your most recent release “11”. It has become one of my favorite CDs of the year the more that I have listened to it. Are you more satisfied with the representation of Conquer Records than with your previous dealings with “Blackend” and “Plastichead?”

I'm really glad that You like our album. We're proud of what we've achieved on 11 and we plan to continue to develop this style. As far as the label, the cooperation with our present one is not really different from the previous ones and we still hope that someday our band's promotion will be really professional cause we deserve it.

The band formed in 1993 under the name “Cerebral Concussion” but decided to change to “Devilyn.” Could you elaborate the reasons for the change?

We really liked our previous name Cerebral Concussion, but people from the outside had problems memorizing it, so when we were signing a deal with Listenable Rec., the label's manager suggested changing the name to DEVILYN. I think it was a great idea and actually turned out better for us, cause this name represents our music the best.

Since you guys have been in the underground scene so long you have been involved in several other bands. Tomasz is currently involved with “Gortal and Michal and Erian are currently involved with “Whichheaven.” Can you tell us what is going on with these two bands?

Devilyn's members are involved in other bands, but I really don't have time to observe their achievements. Whenever Erian records something with Whichheaven, he always drops me a cd to listen, all I can can say it is a very good band that plays good music on a high technical level.

The lyrics on “11” have an interesting phrasing to them which adds an element of barbarism to the songs.. Do you find it difficult to write lyrics initially in Polish and then convert them to English?

The lirycs on our latest record are very important. First of all they are very realistic at moments and are based on true life situations. They can be hard to understand for many people, cause their author Ataman Tolovy used many metaphors. Our lyrics are being written in Polish and then translated to English-it's not so easy to translate them accurately.

Is the effect translation of your lyrics a concern when you are writing them. Are there specific song lyrics which you feel lose some of their strength or phrasing structure in translation?

Ataman Tolovy is the author of lyrics for 11 and he knows the matter the best. I guess that he writes them in a way that there are no differences after the translation.

I am a big fan of the Polish metal sound. It has a very distinctive way of utilizing modern, aggressive song structures while maintain the old school metal sound. Do you think there are specific regional, historical or political elements that have resulted in this distinctively Polish metal sound?

Actually You've spotted few aspects that no one ever before noticed in an interview with Polish band. I think that we, Poles have death metal in our veins and I guess it's a part of our nature. As You have mentioned it has something to do with our history and our natural illingness to fight. As our ancestors, we also fight bravely on the battlefront and never give up.

What is the significance of the title “11” for the CD? It seems a very simple title for such musically complex release.. Is there a deeper meaning or reason for choosing “11” as the title?

“11” is a symbol that appears in our lyrics. There was a certain reason for choosing this number, cause it concerns many situations that happened in my life, that also are described in the lyrics. I've realized many times that numbers are not just ordinary figures, but fractals that exist in our lives and somewhat determine them. 11 is a number that has been haunting me for years and we've decided to portray that. To achieve that, Tolovy used his industrial imagination in which he created a vision of a dark world, in which a day has only 11 hours and everything is heading for a downfall. FAITH”, “GOD EATER” or SEVEN VIRTUES OF DIVINE are examples of that.

Devilyn will play Merciless East Festival II – August 13. Are there other bands on the fest that you are especially looking forward to seeing live or sharing the stage with?

I'd really like Slipknot and Slayer to play on this festival hehehe..

Thank you for your time and for the interview. I will leave you with the final comments.

Hello to all Devilyn fans, I hope that someday we will visit Your country to sow the seed of destruction.