This obscure entity formed in 1998 by Daniel Pharos (“The Doommonger”) and Max Varnier (“Fucked Up Mad Max”) has been preaching darkness and misanthropy since the very year of its formation. Unfortunetly Max decided to end his life in 2001, after this regrettable event the band was apparently lost… but Daniel decided to continue with the band releasing a couple of splits before this brand new full length entitled “Dooom”, an absolute masterpiece of Funeral Doom Metal of the highest calibre… So, after receiving (from the hands of Daniel himself) and hearing to this majestic piece of misery, we arranged this interview to know more about the present and future Worship… here’re the results.

BB: First I would like to thank you for giving us this interview; it’s an honour to have you at BurningBlack… Can you tell us what is Worship doing nowadays?

The Doommonger: Answering interviews, setting up some gigs for 2008. Soon we will start rehearsing with a new live crew.

BB: I was really surprised when I knew this long anticipated brand new album will be finally released, after your split with Loss I even thought Worship was forever gone… How you decided came up with “Dooom”?

The Doommonger: The first years without Max, it was too weird and painful to continue, but I was kicked so often by friends of Worship, that I slowly realised how much I want to continue the band. 2 years ago or so, I started revamping the songs, even adding new ones and replacing old rather weak ideas. Now in a rather short period I forced it all on tape so to speak. I recorded two albums in about 3 months, I’m still rather fatigued.

BB: Why this album took so long to be released?

The Doommonger: I don’t know. I had my active band Beyond The Void who recorded 4 releases in that time. They kept me pretty much busy. It took a while for modern Worship to creep up on me. Today, both bands are equally important for me.

BB: According with the official info this album was recorded in 2000 but completed this current year… Can you tell us about this process?

The Doommonger: I took what we had recorded in 2000 and looked at the mess. There were many gaps, some songs were really unfinished or weak. I worked on and off for 2 years on the stuff, then I merged old recordings with new recordings and then it was Dooom.

BB: Are you satisfied with the final results?

The Doommonger: I am never completely satisfied with anything I do. I am my worst critic. In the end of the production I lost footing and slipped into the Worship hypnotic swamp, recording 16 hours a day. I can’t remember much, but when I regained sanity it was done. Of course there are mistakes, of course I would do things different now but that’s nothing special. In the end, I like it. It means a lot to me. And that’s it.

BB: How has been the reception of “Dooom” so far?

The Doommonger: On Doom-Metal.com some people remarked that it is suspicious how good the reviews are and how much good feedback there is. That it is a reason to hate the album unheard because it is so praised. That it aims for being commercial. That it’s tame compared to the shocking first tape.

Well I can only say, I tried to make the songs as good, intense, emotional, as I can, I tried to please the expectations how Worship should sound, I tried to make a massive, sad funeral sound. I tried to make a very painstaking packaging no b/w copied crap. I did not try to piss people off or to try something shocking, totally unexpected of Worship or trashy. I have no interest in that. I don’t want to hurt the fans with doing suddenly black metal funk or doom reggae. I don’t care for screaming provocative lyrics just to shock somebody. I don’t have the urge to do it so I don’t.

Is there a REAL adult band out there that doesn't aim for a good record? "Hey, let's do a really bad record!" <- is that standard nowadays?

I am only interested in massive, sad doom with good melodies. Some people liked the “new twist” of Worship in 1998. I cannot be that “new” thing 10 years later. To be a “new twist” again, I would have to change a lot although I don’t want to, I feel good where we are. That would also piss off the true fans. Some people liked the obscure rare xeroxed cult-shittyness. Well I never liked bad packaging or cheapest production, Max did, it would be very fake and calculated to do them although I hate them just to seem cult, rare, obscure and underground. I love the underground but that’s weird. Would be like rich rockstars in dirty ragged 10 Dollar clothes. Faking slum to be cool.
I could now limit everything to 66 copies, make it sound and look shit, and only sell it on Ebay for 200 Dollars. But that would suck a lot and would be lord of fake.

BB: How do you felt when re-started the recording of all these material? I guess it must be quite intense and exciting to blend the past and present of Worship in a single whole…

The Doommonger: It was rather sad, to hear Max on tape and do it without him.

BB: I understand you and Max shared the composition duties… Who was the main responsible for the composition and lyrics in “Dooom”?

The Doommonger: I have written all Worship tracks so far. I have written most lyrics on Dooom because the old lyrics (which we had written together) were lost with him, he wanted to type them into the PC. As I cannot understand all his growls, I needed to make completely new lyrics to combine with his growls.

BB: I read somewhere that Max was the main responsible for the most aggressive and blackened side of your music and you were behind the most introspective and depressed atmospheres… Is that correct? …If it is, how you conjugated so accurately both, apparently opposed, visions?

The Doommonger: That is true! Max was wild, untamed, rebel, shocking. I was several years older and was more into sad, deep music. I wanted to depress them, he wanted to shock and disgust. A nice mixture which made us what we were.

BB: …And now, how has been working with Satachrist these last years? I understand you both are long time friends… Besides of his notable guitar contributions is he involved at the composition process as well?

The Doommonger: I worked on the songs alone very much, changing them quite often. I wanted to have them solid before showing them to him, quite late in the day. We worked out his guitar parts in studio.

BB: …By the way, what happened with Kuolema? Was he ever a stable member?

The Doommonger: We met only once, he is a studio owner and the guy behind Unpure To Christ. I liked his work, he liked mine, so we decided to record at his place the 2 Eps, one of them still coming up. He was Worship member but he couldn’t play live anymore due to health reasons, so he missed out on the 3 gigs we had. Also, he was a 7 hours drive away. I realised, if I have to go that far all the time, Dooom will never be. Too time consuming, too expensive. So we had to part again.

BB: How do you think the absence of Max have affected the actual sound of Worship?

The Doommonger: His main influence was vocals. We wrote the lyrics together, he provided some very bleak, partially provoking words, and had a lot of anger in his voice. With all due respect, the music has not changed so much because all songs were written by me before and after, and I have not really changed in what I like, only in what I can pull off. I am getting really tired of this comparison. Max never heard one song before it was quite finished. I like him very much and Worship would never be without him, but where this “complete uncomparable” difference comes from, that some people see between old and new, I have no idea. I find this annoying but also amusing because I know how all releases were done.

BB: As I wrote in my review, the music of “Dooom” is only comparable with Worship’s previous works… why do you think is that? Where do you think all this originality relays?

The Doommonger: Interesting that you say that. Music comes to me by itself, ideas swim through my head, I write songs while walking around or doing something else. That’s why I shut out outside music as good as possible, or I would have other people’s melodies in my head. Hence, I am interested in and care for the doom scene, but I do not listen to other bands. When I crave music, I must create it myself, that really has results I like very much. I would like to do nothing else all day.

BB: There’re some extremely hateful atmospheres in your music, rarely heard on a Doom Metal album… in fact, those sounds to me pretty closer to Black Metal… Considering you and Max were also involved in a Black Metal act called Kult, do you think this style has or had any incidence, ideological, musical or whatever, over the music of Worship?

The Doommonger: I would label Kult grindcore, and it was just a project that lived 1 day. I heard Black Metal in the 90ies, and it has some unique atmospheres that might creep into my music. I don’t know, I try to dig inside my flesh for ideas and emotions and don’t really know where my ideas come from. They pretty much have me under control. If it feels right, if it moves me, it will be done.

BB: What bands influenced you to start playing Doom Metal?

The Doommonger: My first doom bands were Solitude Aeturnus, Candlemass, Count Raven, later old Anathema and old My Dying Bride…

BB: What do you think the future of Worship will be? …What about a future release?

The Doommonger: I am trying to release my next album end of 2008! I am really keen on Worship. I would like to spread my music as far as possible.

It is my dream to work less and less beside music. Maybe, if I can publish good stuff with my bands in shorter periods, plus do more soundtrack composing and reach everyone out there who would care for that stuff, I might do it full-time one day. :) This has nothing to do with sellout, it’s just that I would like to focus on things like Worship with full energy. I wouldn’t make it more“commercial” or such shit. If you do everything yourself, band, recording, label, distribution, you can cut out all those money leeches that feed on bigger bands. That way, a small band like Worship can already make a small plus with an album without ripping off anyone. But I have to work day and night. If I continue in this vein, and increase my fan base by solid work, I have to work less beside my bands, and can reinvest that time into my bands = quicker releases, more time to make them detailed and so on. Well let’s see how far I can go on that road.

BB: Your previous discography is really hard to find! Have you ever considered the possibility of re-releasing some of the old material?

The Doommonger: Last CD Before Doomsday is available here www.EndzeitElegies.com and contains the first release and the 1st EP. I have no interest to re-release the other EPs, they were limited! The only reason for re-releasing that EP #1 song was that many copies of the EP were lost. That is all material there is. Maybe a greatest hits one day? ;)

BB: Thanks once more for your time and congratulations for your great work… these last lines are completely yours…

The Doommonger: Thanks to all the followers who make Worship what it is. See you on tour (though I don’t know if I will make it to your contintent)? Thanks for an interesting talk!