Dionysus is death/doom metal band from Lahore, Pakistan. We spoke with band’s guitarist, Sheraz Ahmed, about their upcoming album ‘Hymn To The Dying‘ and more.

Hello, Sheraz. Greetings from MetalIndia Team. How are you doing? First of all, please introduce your band to our readers.
I am doing good, thanks. Dionysus is a Progressive Death Doom band from Lahore Pakistan. Our music cannot be classified as simple Death Doom, it comprises of elements of Neofolk, black metal, progressive rock and a lot of things blended together. We never limit ourselves to one genre and it can be seen in our music. Dionysus is Waleed Ahmed (Vocals/Guitars/bass/production), Umair Ahmed (Guitars) and me Sheraz Ahmed on (Guitars/drums). Waleed records and produce all of Dionysus’s music. I write the drum parts during the writing process along with guitars of course. Waleed Ahmed plays the bass live. And we’ve a live drummer Sam Morbid for gigs and stuff, a pretty good drummer for our kind of music I must say.

I’d like to start from the beginning. Please tell us about the formation of the band, and major events that followed.
Dionysus was formed in summer of 2010. First time we ever performed as Dionysus was at a local backyard metal gig named MOSH PIT 1, organized by a friend. Since then we’ve done many shows and went through many line up changes till Waleed Ahmed joined the band, after that its been me Umair and Waleed. And I can say its the best line-up we can ever have. We released Burial ground after Waleed Ahmed joined the band and it got good response on internet. Got featured on websites like SMNnews.com and many other metal websites, blogs and compilations. After that we released another neofolk instrumental Glimpse of the beloved, it was again well recieved by the people from everywhere. After that, we started writing songs for our forthcoming EP Hymn to the dying, till now we’ve released 2 tracks from the EP on the internet “Valor of the phoenix” and “Angels of heaving lights”. We’ve an whole album material written right now that just needs to get recorded. We might release the EP on the internet and full lenght on the CD through Wartorn Records. We’re giving it a thought, lets see what happens.

The band is working on its debut EP ‘Hymn To The Dying’. Would you like to throw some light on the concept and lyrical themes of the EP?
There is no core concept of the EP, some songs are related to each other, some are totally different. Most of the lyrics are poems written by different people associated with the band. There will be two kind of songs on the EP, some can be called darkfolk/atmospheric doom like “Angels of heaving lights” and “Glimpse of the beloved” and others are fast paced death doom songs like “Valor of the phoenix”.

Two tracks from the EP, namely ‘Valor of the Phoenix’ and ‘Angels of Heaving Light’, have already been released. Both of the tracks are very different from each other. How has been the response so far?
Response has been really great. Its not a new thing for us, all of our songs has been different from one another. Its kinda like the quality of the band. We never limited our selves to one genre and would never do that. Its not interesting that way.

What writing and recording process do you guys follow?
Hahaha There is no proper writing process. We don’t sit togather as a band to write songs. Me and Umair are brothers, all of us live in the same society so its like Waleed comes to my place sometimes and I go to his place sometime. We just pickup our acoustic guitars and start playing whatever comes to our minds. Thats how most of our songs are written, “Valor of the phoenix” was at first an acoustic song. LOL. Same with all the other songs. We do follow a proper recording process though, Waleed has a studio in his basement. All of the Dionysus’s songs are recorded there and mixed and mastered by Waleed himself. He also produces songs for other musicians.

How would you describe your music to anyone who hasn’t listened to your music? Which bands/artists do you draw your inspiration from?
Well, if anyone asks me what do we play. I’d simply say one thing, and that is Doom. We’re influenced by many different bands, to name a few Anathema, Katatonia, Agalloch, Dissection, Dismember, Unanimated, Cardinal Sin (swedish), Novembers doom, Edge of sanity, Opeth,  Empyrium, Ulver, Art of empathy, Camel, Deep purple, Candlemass and the list goes on.

Your debut EP will be released in April/May. You have released only few singles previously. When you play in a gig, which songs do you like to cover, apart from playing your original compositions?
We played at Aftermath 1.0 in Lahore on 21st January. And our setlist consisted mostly of originals. We also covered Eaten by Bloodbath for fun. We’ve also been jamming to Dissection, Asphyx, Dismember, Anathema and Katatonia.

The band has faced few problems regarding drummer few months back, which led to line up changes a couple of times. Is the problem fixed now? Also, what qualities do you want a drummer must possess in order to be a permanent member of Dionysus?
Yeah.. Finding a right drummer is a pain in the ass in most of the places. But now that problem is fixed, we’ve a really good live drummer Sam Morbid. And I write the drum parts in the studio. So its working well that way.

Tell us in detail about the side projects you are involved in. Shall we expect some release from those bands also, in near future? Are other band members having any side projects?
Besides Dionysus, I’ve 3 other side projects. Foreskin (crossover/thrash) , Multinational Corporations (Grindcore/Deathgrind) and Ilhaam (atmospheric black metal). I’ve released music with all 3 of em, you can find em on youtube. All 3 of them are on hold right now cause other band members are busy. So thats why I am working only on Dionysus these days.

We, in India, are very much aware and dedicated fans of many giant Pakistani Rock bands. But we barely hear any Pakistani Metal band doing any groundbreaking stuff. What is the reason behind the less popularity of metal bands of Pakistan?
Well, from what I’ve observed. People in Pakistan are not that much aware of the metal as they need to be. We don’t have any international metal bands playing here like in India, so that public can get aware of the metal customs. But now the situation is better, metal bands are showing up from everywhere, writing music and releasing stuff. Metal underground gigs are happening in Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, and people are showing up at the shows. So the situation might get better in few years. But if you ask my personal opinion, I don’t seek popularity. If the people who needs to know about my music, knows it. Then its all good for me.

The reason I asked the above question is that I’m not much aware of the metal scene in Pakistan. Would you like to share it with us?
There is no proper metal scene in Pakistan, sadly. There are many bands writing music and releasing stuff. But there are not enough shows. There is like one metal gig in 3 or 4 months, so you get the idea.

Suggest our readers few good Pakistani metal bands they must check out.
Yes, there are many metal bands in Pakistan. But few that I like haha. You should check out Myosis from Karachi, their vocalist Agha Majid also wrote the lyrics for our song Valor of the Phoenix. They’ve got some crazy stoner doom shit going on over there. Necktarium (ambient/shoegaze/blackmetal) from Rawalpindi is also a great band. Probably the most original music from Pakistan. You should definitely check em out. Dementia (Groove/metalcore) from Lahore have produced some good stuff as well. Also check out my other bands Foreskin and Ilhaam.

How much do you know about Indian metal scene? Are there any Indian metal bands in your playlist?
I’ve many friends in India who listens to Dionysus. They’ve introduced me to many indian death metal bands and they are really good. I listen to Dormant Inferno every now and then, i like their approach towards music and I can relate to it.

Thanks a lot Sheraz, for your time. Really looking forward to the release of ‘Hymn To The Dying’. At last, anything you’d like to say to our readers and your fans and supporters?
Thanks, it was an honour. I’d like to tell the people who listens to our music to keep an eye out. There is lot of new music coming up soon. May God bless you all.