Hail Erick! BESIEGED and I are well.

So, Concerning your cd Akeldama, what does the name stand for?

"AkeldamA" is an ancient Arabic word derived from a prophesy regarding what some of Arabic descent believe will be the final war to end mankind. The word refers to a sea of blood on the battle field that is said will be up to the limbs of the trees there-on following this battle.

What made you think of the name Akeldama for the cd?

Jason (guitar/vocals) approached me with the title when the studio work for the CD was nearly complete and it just seemed to fit the severity of the material.

What is it you like about mid-evil ages?

I suppose it is the brutal nature of those who lived during that period.. People were harder and the views were more black & white. If you wanted a man dead, you went and killed him.. The Medieval period was a time when man could express his brutal human nature without such an act resulting in global anialation. Modern man is a more subdued, diluted being because now we attempt to suppress our aggressive nature.

In the lyrics to allot of your songs it speaks about sacrificings and rituals to "gods" and much more concerning the supernatural, do you practice any forms of witchery?

No, we do not practice any form of witchcraft (although people tend to assume that we do). I think the lyrics of such songs as "EngulfeD" have been misconstrued because people tend to take the mention of such things as human sacrifice literally when they read it.. The lyrics of "EngulfeD" are merely intended to be a third person account of someone wittnessing such a sacrifice. The ritualistic and sacrificial content is intended to be symbolic of how people can become "engulfed" in their own spirituality or idealism.

When I read the lyrics to your songs, the only thing that i could see in my mind when reading them was a altar and a person in black clothing ready to slay people for pagan "gods" which affected deeply inside me for some unknown reason. What is it that gives you such inspiration for such deep spiritual writings?

We are spiritual people (not really in any typical sense) and I think that aspect of our personalities comes through in our music and lyrics. Our lyrics are spiritual and unusual enough that people gather many different meanings from them.. My personal inspirations are primarily art, fiction and poetry such as H.R. Giger, M.C. Escher, Anne Rice, Patricia Cornwell, Poe, Hemingway, Lovecraft, Crowley, etc..

I read in your profile that you are into Vampirism and other stuff concerning the undead, what is your fascination with it? Immortality; the conquering of the spirit over the flesh. I think it is just human nature to be facinated with the prospect of never dying.. Vampirism is just one of the more common strains of immortality so the shear volume of information concerning it makes it the most accessible to study.

Well back to the music. Can we be expecting a new cd anytime soon? Is it going to be any diff from your style now?

Yes, we are currently working on new material for the next CD and hope to be back in the studio by mid 1999. The new material will be in the same vein as our previous releases in that it will be brutal, death metal but the new material is much more melodic and I think superior to the material on "AkeldamA." We were breaking in a new drummer when "AkeldamA" was recorded and we are a much tighter unit now. Until the new material is released "AkeldamA" can be purchased from the J-Bird Records web store at: http://www.jbirdrecords.com(or) call toll free: 1-800-568-8809 "Selection #JBD80149."

Well thats all the time we got. The BesiegeD webpage has been taken down so I have no links at this time. You can e-mail Scot at besieged@icx.net
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