TO MEΓA ΘHPION, Greek for "The Great Beast" is the output of Tyler Viscerine. Tyler started creating music in 1991 and has been in several bands and projects over the past 15 years. Varying in styles such as, Death metal, Doom Metal, Hard Rock, Industrial, Industrial Metal, Synthipop, Dark Ambient, Electro, Power Electronics, and Power Noiz, TO MEΓA ΘHPION is a mixture of Dark Ambient, Power Noiz, Power Electronics, and Electro experimentation with an occult, post apocalyptic, dark spiritual theme. For more infos check out:
http://www.tmtlegion.com/ or http://www.myspace.com/tomegatherionmusic
Introduce yourself; who are you / what do you do?
I’m Tyler Viscerine and I do all the producing and writing for To Mega Therion. I do have a co-producer, Vuxnut of W.A.S.T.E. who helps out with what I call nuts and bolts stuff.
What is To Mega Therion? How did you choose the name?
To Mega Therion is Greek for ‘The Great Beast’ and I got the name from occult literature. I took it directly from the name they used to call Aleister Crowley, The Great Beast 666. To Mega Therion’s numerical value is also 666, so with that, I had to call my band the same.
What do you hope to accomplish with To Mega Therion / music in general?
With To Mega Therion, I hope to establish myself in the music industry and to bring to the world a new flavor of industrial music which I call Black Noise. In general, this is just a stepping stone to much bigger and greater musical endeavors I plan on getting to in the near future.
What inspires you to make music?
That one is very hard to answer. I don’t get inspired by the same things most people do. It’s a pretty natural thing for me and whenever I sit down to write, it just comes. But to write anything worthwhile, I do need the right space and time to do so. Like if I had a really shitty day or are depressed, it just doesn’t work, so I don’t even bother at those times. And that’s something that inspires most people, but not me.
Your bio says that you’ve been working on music for quite a while before TMT came into existence. Can you briefly describe your own musical evolution and how you eventually came to To Mega Therion?
Well, it started when I was 14 and I was in various metal bands of various genres going from one instrument to another. That went on for many years until I found a guy that shared the same vision and drive for music. With that we constructed Bleeding Scabs studio and began doing everything on our own, on our own terms. Of course doing that soaks up quite a bit of time in just learning how to record, mix, use gear properly, buy the right gear, etc. Then once we got all that red tape sorted though, he passed away right when we got our project going correctly. That took a long time to deal with and in 2005 with the encouragement of Vuxnut, I was able to start demoing stuff out again which quickly became this current project, To Mega Therion.
Tell me about your upcoming EP ‘The Blood Rituals’ on Sistinas records. What was the process of making it like, what can we expect from it?
Making it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. I had done noise material in the past but never to this focused of a level. But it’s an EP that is extremely dark, brutal and brooding. It’s the most extreme material I’ve ever written or been a part of, even compared to my death metal, black metal, and grindcore past. I have been a fan of industrial and power noise for many years and wanted to see if I could mix that with the themes of black metal and the occult, which I think I did successfully. I hope to push that envelope more so on my follow up full-length, Black Noise.
I have heard that you have a very intense live show and that you currently have a four member live band. For those of us who have not had the opportunity to see a TMT show, can you give us some insight as to what they are like?
It’s very theatrical in nature. That is also another thing I wanted to bring to the noise underground which I felt it was severely lacking in.
We wear near full body makeup which is then covered in scabs, cuts, and gushing blood. Veins are exposed and blood runs from our eyes and mouth. We are then covered in dust and come out in ritual robes that conceal our bodies and face until later in the show when we take them off to reveal our terrifying selves, lol.
I also wear full eye covering contacts that make my corneas black and my iris red, my favorite and most hated part of our stage show. They look great, but feel like hell.
Stage wise, we have strobe lights attached to our tables and drum kit, that and a few fog machines, some flood back lights, and a couple of movers that are all controlled by our LD. With all that going on, our stage looks like it’s exploding at times and constantly shaking to the sound.
I also have a couple of stage props that I use during the show, one being my casting staff that is a bloody skull on a stick that has horns and a snake coiling up the staff and attached to the back of the head. I use it to cast a spell over the audience.
Besides that, we are very violent on stage, constantly beating our gear up, and beating each other up, it’s a riot.
You mentioned working with Vuxnut and you’ve mentioned to me that you have recently worked as a part of W.A.S.T.E (a.k.a. Vuxnut). How did that come about and how is working on that material different from working on TMT material?
Yes, in recent times I have become a member of W.A.S.T.E. as Vuxnut has become a member of TMT. I have just begun writing some material for W.A.S.T.E. and yes, it is very different in that it’s not horror or occult infused. It’s cold, it’s war, it’s violent, and huge sounding. It’s also quite a bit more experimental, so I don’t really worry about structure as much as effect which is easier and harder at the same time. I have to really pay attention to how the track is effecting the listener on a different level then I would with TMT. It’s hard to explain.
You’ve been remixed by a number of artists and you have also been remixing a number of artists. How do you feel about remixes in general? How is the process of remixing for you different than working on normal material?
Yes, the remixes have gotten out of control. I love getting remixes and I love hearing how someone interprets my tracks, and so far, they’ve all been very good. I feel remixes in this scene are very important for getting your name out there. Because we aren’t on MTV or in Rolling Stone magazine, we have to spread the word any way we can. And the best way to get someone’s attention is to have them hear you and in this scene, remixing is a great way to do it.
As for my process, I try to approach every remix I do as if I am doing a To Mega Therion track but with someone else’s sounds or riffs. I don’t think it would do To Mega Therion much justice if every remix I did was a dance remix because then it wouldn’t relate to our normal material. A lot of times I have been more proud of my remixes then my actual album material, lol.
What is the scene like out there in California ? It seems like there are a lot of noise-y bands out that way (many of them also signed to Sistinas). Is there a big interconnected network of power noise people out there? How does this affect your music?
The scene out here is probably the best there is, but still not huge compared to other scenes of course. It is nice that most all of the artists are very friendly and believe in making a brotherhood out of it. Most of us all know or get to know each other very fast and keep in contact with what’s going on and who’s doing what. With that, it affects the music greatly because it’s not such an effort to get your material heard or in the right hands like it is in other scenes. I can just make a call, give or send a disc and get something I made played at a club or book a gig anytime, it’s really great.
What are the top albums that inspire you?
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Depeche Mode - Music for the Masses
Swans - Children of God
Jarboe - Sacrificial Cake
Converter - Blast Furnace
Throbbing Gristle - all of their material
Lycia - Ionia
Venom - Black Metal
Candlemass - Tales of Creation
Sabbat - History of a Time to Come
This list could go on forever
What are the top books that inspire you?
The Demonologist
Anything by Aleister Crowley
Anything by H.P. Lovecraft
Graves End
Once again, this list could go on forever, but anything on occult themes, magic, hauntings, strange phenomena, and music history.
What are the top movies that inspire you?
The Burning Moon
Boardinghouse
Dark Waters (the Italian film) aka Dead Waters
The Blind Dead quadrilogy
Videodrome
The Unholy
The Amityville Horror
Demons
This can also go on forever, but all zombie films, Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento, Lamberto Bava, etc. etc. and in recent times, spaghetti westerns!
What can we expect in the future for To Mega Therion?
Music videos, a new stage show, more remixes, the full-length Black Noise, more merch, and hopefully if all goes right, a US and European tour.
-[.d4n b4rr3tt.]
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