When surrealism meets Egyptian & Greek mythology – if I should summarize SepticFlesh I’d definitely say that. The Greek death metal band had a great concert in Hungary in April. Before the show, we had an opportunity to chat a bit with the frontman, Seth Siro Anton.

“I’m quite okay after 23 shows and have 22 more, or the opposite, I don’t know. It’s 45 gigs, we are in the middle, we are tired and the pressure (what comes with it), you know… If you’re not tired, you’re not going to win.”  Although Seth said he was tired, it didn’t appear during the show/interview. Actually, I was very sad when I saw that the concert wasn’t a full house at all – I don’t know, how did the sales perform in other countries, but I felt sorry, they deserve much more attention. (I read the same opinions on the event’s official Facebook page, so I’m not alone.)

Well, anyway – did you know, that Seth is actually a cat person? “I have a really special cat, he’s really sensitive. It’s a sphynx cat and when I bought him, the owner of this breed told me that if I’m going to do too many trips or I won’t be at home in general, then I shouldn’t take this type of cat, because they are really sensitive and connected with humans. But Sethi is with my girlfriend right now, so everything is okay. If he has food and someone to hug him, he doesn’t care then.” And does he love metal? “Of course! He likes, many times he helps me also to prepare the albums. (laughs)”

And what about lifestyle? “I can’t say that I’m fit, but I’m trying to don’t be fat. To be honest, I have some – let’s say – addiction issues, which is not really bad, but I like wine, for example, I drink almost sometimes every day one glass or two. But in general, many-many years now, I’m trying to you know, run, to make some exercises at my home, I have a treadmill and all these equipment. I have my personal – let’s say – gym, you know. A small one, so yes, I’m trying, because it’s difficult.”

Note: Good news to the fans, that the band started to work on their next album after the tour. Seth shared the following statement: “We will start slowly-slowly, you know, pre-record and compose some stuff.”

“For sure we are going to keep – let’s say – the standard formula what Septicflesh has all these years after Communion. We are going to use the orchestra as we used, and for sure we will try this time also some more riffs and guitars on this album as it was in Codex Omega.”

Did you know, that Seth is actually responsible for the visuals? I was curious: does he design the stage clothes as well? “No,” – Seth replied – “but I was like a supervisor. I had some ideas and I gave those ideas to a special text guy. His name is Prokopis Vlaseros and he is a great special effect designer, and actually, he is one of the best in Greece. After many negotiations, sketches and mockups, we created the stage clothes for Codex Omega and Titan. This guy works with foam latex, which is something you could only see in movies like Batman and Superman. I really like the final result of the stage clothes.”

“I follow my instincts. I studied fine arts, so for me it’s easier, because I have the technic to decode and you know – I visualize easily my inspirations. When I have a gut instinct I try to give the best result that I can do.”

As I mentioned, some SepticFlesh songs are inspired by Greek and Egyptian mythology. “Yes, we and Sotiris V. – the guy that is responsible for the lyrics all these years – are inspired in general since the beginning of SepticFlesh. Sotiris V. is indeed inspired by the Sumerian and Egypt mythology, even from our mythology, from ancient Greece. And in general, we are open and we are trying to start and record the full civilizations that exist, even from Inkas.

Sotiris most of the time tries to make a game between the words and sometimes he is ironic in many parts. And this is a nice part of Sotiris. For example, he could say something really bad about religions, but it would offend others.”

Actually, SepticFlesh was formed in 1990 by Sotiris, Seth and his brother, Christos Antoniou. I was curious about their parents’ supportiveness back in the days when both of the boys had decided that they wanted to be musicians. “I have to say that they supported us a lot from the beginning, when we said that we are going to be artists. He studied classical composition in London, I studied fine arts. Our parents supported us a lot all these years to become what we are right now. “

-If you would be an ancient god, which would you be and why?

-I would be Seth. (laughs) Set actually is my artistic nickname because I really like this ancient god from Egypt. He’s the god of storm, and let’s say: the dark god of Egypt.

About his biggest challenge in life: “I had many challenges in my life, you know. It’s not only one. Everything… You know, even SepticFlesh is a great challenge. Even if we play in front of 3000 or 300 people. It’s a great challenge. Our special show in Mexico – that we had with the orchestra – it was a great challenge for all of us also.”

Seth also adores surrealistic paintings. “Of course, you know the first painter that you have always in your mind when you say surrealism, it’s Salvador Dalí, Magritte and I really like the person that created surrealism, Buñuel – he wasn’t a painter, but he created the Surrealist Manifesto. But my favorite painter and artist – who inspired me a lot – and I strongly beloved all these years, is Francis Bacon. He is not a surrealistic painter, but it doesn’t matter.”

“When we’ll stop Septicflesh I will concentrate on my paintings, for sure.”

“Right now I don’t have so much time for painting, but I have the best result when I start nowhere, without any concept – just put things together, and then like a puzzle I put together the pieces, then I have the whole composition of art. It’s the surrealistic way of expression because surrealism says that you take things out of logic, out of moral rules, thoughts and combine all those things together and at the end – after all these chaos – you have a great balance of the composition.”

Don’t forget to check out the full gallery of  SepticFlesh gig at Dürer Kert, Budapest.

Interview: Afrodite Szeleczky
Copy editor: Alexandra Égi
Photos: Péter Tepliczky

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