Once again we got great material from the Brazilian soil. This time a band called Blakk Market impressed us with an extreme and technical Melodic Thrash/Death Metal in the Swedish tradition, but mixed with the obscure and underground feeling of the south American bands. Their promo Cd “Hateful Affection” is an interesting and professional multimedia work with just two songs clocked at around ten minutes (in the audible-in-any-Cd-player section) and two more songs, a video, info and pictures of the band in the multimedia section… This work is a good piece of Metal played in the way it should be… So we contact this band and they kindly accept to answer some of our question about their work…Enjoy!

BB: First I would like to thank you for giving us this interview and my apologies for the delay with those questions!! Can you tell us about the band’s beginnings?

BM: First of all, we’d like to thank for the opportunity to be featured on Burning Blakk (!!).

The band started back in 2002, rising from the ashes of a Thrash act called Despotic. After that band’s split-up in 2003, many line-up changes took place in Blakk Market and the group reached some cohesion in the early 2004 as a four-piece. Later that year we exchanged drummers, briefly experimented with a keyboardist and settled down with a guitar duo – the actual line up. Over the year our compositions were naturally developing, and the right time to record came in October, finishing the demo during November. Its release show kick-started a series of gigs around our state and the southern part of Brazil, promoting it, and the audience feedback was awesome.

BB: What are you doing nowadays?

BM: We’re involved in a couple of projects right now: we’re promoting our demo-CD (Hateful Affection) in Brazil and overseas as well as writing new material. We plan to gather momentum with this first effort, and then record a full length album in the near future.

Also, we have just recorded a song for the “Indians… NOT! Brazilian Tribute to Anthrax”, which is being produced by anthrax.com.br (the band’s official site in Brazil) and São Paulo’s Collision Records. The tribute is due out in July and it will feature about twenty bands from the Brazilian underground, showing their versions of Anthrax’s songs. Ours is what we call a “Double K” version of Indians, from the Among the Living album.

BB: What about the band’s name? Why is BlaKK and no BlaCK Market?

BM: After we came up with the name, we thought it was great but a little bit too usual. So we opted for the KK. Besides adding more aggressiveness to the name, “Blakk Market” is related only to the band – if you search for it on the net, you’ll find us a lot easier. And of course, KK is also a lot sexier! (laughs)

BB: Your work is really original and professional, from the music to the format of your promo… Why you decide to promote the band this way? I mean, with videos, pictures, etc…

BM: Since we only recorded two tracks and didn’t have enough money to record more, we decided to take advantage of all the material (some gigs caught on tape, a bunch of pictures and home recorded tracks) we had available. The multimedia section was the way we found to put it all together and make the Demo-CD more interesting for everyone. People usually get impressed when told there’s a multimedia section on the disc; it’s not such a common thing, especially in the underground scene.

BB: About the songs in the multimedia section. Why you decide to left “Putrefaction Guaranteed” and “The Dawn Of The Dead” in this section and no in the audio section?

BM: These tracks were recorded previously, at home, and didn’t have the same sound quality as “Twisted Broadcast” and “The Wheel Keeps Turning”. We didn’t want to leave them behind cause they’re really nice songs, so we decided to put them in the multimedia track as bonus material.

BB: Can you tell us about the recording process of “Hateful Affection”?

BM: It was really quick. It took us about three weeks to finish all the tracks, and a couple more to mix and master it all. We recorded it on three separated studios, and the outcome was finished on AML studios by Alexei Leão.

Some of the recording footage is available in the multimedia section of the CD.

BB: How has been the reception of “Hateful Affection” worldwide?

BM: It was nice! There has been some feedback from Canada, Greece and Austria, and some nice reviews from the specialized media around the globe. “Hateful Affection” had a much better reception than we thought it would. We’re pretty thrilled about it.

BB: The artwork is really great and professional. What’s the concept behind it?

BM: Well, let’s head into the philosophical realm of human relations. It shows a guy, being embraced by his girl - who has a knife in her hand. This image translates these love and hate relations and illustrates the CD’s title, strengthened by the redish background. The concept was created by Fernando Melleu (V), who appears to have a weakness for the antagonic, organized type of chaos.

BB: Have you some specialist manager or something? You seem to have a good “commercial” vision (in the good way) with official sponsors, an innovative promotional format, etc…

BM: In a way, yes. Thiago, our guitarist, has a degree in Graphic Design and takes care of the “Blakk Marketing”. He also designed the CD’s artwork and our web page.

The sponsorship was sort of a natural thing: we had a special price in AML studios and put their logo on the CD. Copetti, a local Lute, builds some fine custom instruments and it was part of an endorsement deal. Soon enough we shall have custom built Copetti guitars and bass...

BB: What do you think about the modern “Melodic Death Metal” scene?

BM: It’s a fast growing scene and it shows a pretty new approach to Heavy Metal: ultra-heavy sound with strong melodical sense. It’s great to blend these two elements, but there are some bands who take this “trendy” way much too seriously. You see, as a very young style, there’s a need for a special care: you should sound “modern” without being “trendy” – trends come, go and eventually die. Even though you're adding new influences to your sound, you should, above all, remain faithful to your roots.

BB: What are your most important influences?

BM: We are into a lot of bands, old school stuff such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motörhead, Manowar, (early) Metallica, Megadeth, Kreator and Annihilator; melodic acts like Helloween and Blind Guardian; intricate sounding bands like Coroner, Nevermore and Meshuggah. Of course, we can’t forget the creators of our style, groundbreaking bands like Carcass and In Flames. It is always a difficult task to talk about influences, but if it’s Metal, we’re on it!

BB: What are your five favourite bands of all times?

BM: That’s a hard one... it’s impossible to narrow it down to five!

Carcass, Nevermore, Testament, Iced Earth and Kreator are some of our favorites. Iron Maiden and Metallica are obviously hors-councour.

BB: Do you like to play live? How are your live shows?

BM: Yes, indeed! In fact, we are sort of addicted to it.
We try to put onstage all the aggressiveness we have inside and all the rage we shed on the lyrics, transforming it into a very violent gig without putting aside the technical and detailed part of playing.

When on places where people don’t know us, they usually buy our merchandise after the gig, which is good.

BB: Brazil has always been a reference in South American and world’s Metal. What do you think about the today’s Brazilian Metal scene?

BM: The Brazilian scene is active and getting stronger due to new bands coming out every day from different cities of our territory and old die-hard bands keeping ‘our metal’ alive. Yet, some bands tend to lack that pro attitude and focus to do it right. As usual, there are some smart asses who try to take advantage of others and end up poisoning the scene, but we believe it’s the serious band’s duty to unite and leave these suckers behind.

BB: What Brazilian bands are you listening nowadays?

BM: Mostly local underground bands, such as Shadow Of Sadness, Mastervoid and Metal Jam. Obviously, we also listen to bands like Sepultura and Korzus, who are national references in metal.

BB: Have you planned to sign with some label soon?

BM: Yes, we have. We’re just not sure if any label is planning to sign us!

BB: Thanks again for your words and your patience. Is there anything else you want to add to this interview?

BM: We’d like to thank you again for the interest in our work and say a big “FUCK YEAH!” to the people in Chile - we’re looking forward to play there and have some beer with you!