The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Adres from Deadly Carnage

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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I make extreme music that aims to create atmosphere rather than sound aggressive and I do it keeping in mind that music does not end with sound; the music, the concept and the artwork travel on the same tracks for the same purpose. How did I come to do this? I couldn’t explain, I think it’s a mix of conscious choices and unpredictable events that happen in life: having seen a film, talked to a person, visited a place…

Describe your first musical memory.

This is not a simple question! I have many memories related to music from when I was a child, but probably the first ever memory is my brother playing the classical guitar, my brother is six years older than me and as long as I can remember he has always played the guitar, often as a child I watched him play, first the classical guitar, then the electric guitar. Thirty years have passed since that period, but my brother and I still talk about music and instruments every time I meet him, he is also a musician; just a few days ago he sent me an audio to let me hear the sound of his new guitar.

Describe your best musical memory to date.

Ok, that’s a much simpler question! Surely for other people it’s nothing special, but it was for me. I was around sixteen years old, I had been listening to extreme music for at least a couple of years and I was becoming interested in black metal bands from my country (Italy); at that time I was listening to a lot of Frogotten Tomb (who weren’t yet as famous as they are today) and Opera IX. One day, when I was sixteen years old, they did a concert together in my city and for me that concert was special! Two black metal bands I loved, in my little town and a lot of distros to buy CDs from, it was one of my first extreme music concerts, maybe nothing special, but I will remember it forever! These things are important and fundamental when you are sixteen.

When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

I admit that I thought a lot before answering this question, it is not a trivial question at all, after thinking about it a lot I think I have not yet found myself in a position to seriously put one of my beliefs to the test, but I still have a long life ahead of me (I hope).

Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

I think the best thing about making art, in whatever form it is, is that you don’t know where it may lead. You can know the starting point, you can know the intention, but you cannot know the arrival point, just as all the intermediate points often remain unresolved. Sometimes it’s nice not to know, mystery is nice.

How do you define success?

Maybe I’m not the right person to ask this, in fact I’m a rather solitary and reserved person, my concept of success could be strange compared to what most people believe. For me, success is fully satisfying yourself, being proud of what you have done, then everything else is secondary.

What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

Surely in my life I have seen unpleasant things, things that have hurt me, but I think that currently there is nothing that I want to forget. Even painful things make us who we are, not necessarily better people, but still they make us who we are.

Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

For a few years now I have been thinking about the idea of creating a small shady garden where I grow sarracenias (a carnivorous plant that looks like a flower). I’m not very good with plants, my current garden shows it, but I can learn, I like plants, maybe one day in the future I will be able to do this project.

What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

I believe that art should not have a merely practical use, let me explain: for me all things like “music for exercising” or “music for driving” are bullshit! For me, music and art in general must not have a practical purpose, it must nourish our spirit and our mind; a beautiful painting has no use other than making us feel sensations, whether bad or good, and that’s how it must be, you can’t think that a painting is as useful as a fork or a chair.

Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

I’m a big fan of old B-series horror films, once or twice a year I meet up with some friends (who live far away) to spend three or four days watching these types of movies, I honestly can’t wait to organize another of these meetings, in recent months I have found some movies that are right for us!

https://deadlycarnage.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/DeadlyCarnage/
https://www.instagram.com/deadlycarnageband/
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6Smmabcnt0gxJ3PnXAFq1L

https://www.atmf.net
https://www.facebook.com/aeternitas.tenebrarum
https://www.instagram.com/atmf.official

Deadly Carnage, Endless Blue (2023)