C’tan Worldkiller has been a regular here at DS for ages, longer than I can remember. He is always putting out new music in massive quantities – you might expect that the quality suffers – but it does not. I would say I’ve quite enjoyed these albums I have downloaded as of late. The more I listened, the more I became interested in C’tan’s music – but with all the releases, I became overwhelmed. I thought the best way to learn about C’tan’s music was to talk to the man(?) himself. In the interest of helping everyone understand C’tan’s work, this interview ends up being a sort of FAQ for all to read.
DS: Just to start to get things straight, I’ve known you as C’tan Worldkiller, Chris C’tan, and previously as Cyrax. Is there any other monikers you go by?
Chris C’tan: Just Chris C’tan
DS: You live in the UK, correct?
Chris C’tan: Yup, south England in a crappy village that ISN’T near London.
DS: Now, I know you have many, many projects. Could you run through all the active ones you have going on? And perhaps the major ones you were involved with in the past, plus the albums released.
Chris C’tan: Primary/main projects:
Carnivore Adaption (Tribal themed Death-Robot the main project over ALL)
Two Kinds of Armageddon (split EP with Internal Paroxysm)
Tribe Of Bones (debut album)
Omega Communion (Quake1 themed Death-Robot):
Normality Destroy EP (2003)
Visitation (2004)
Language Of Retaliation (2005)
Shatter The Surface (2008) (later this year)
Ancient Ruin (Necron themed Death-Robot):
Electric Species EP (2001)
Earth Shock (2002)
Modulation (2002)
Extinction (2002)
Resurrection Monolith (2006)
Outsider (2007)
Boron Division (dark-elektro):
The Interface Between Realities (2003)
Edge Of The Universe (2004)
Tides Of Time (2007)
Outside Existence (2008) (later this year)
Tourian (Spacethemed Death-Robot):
Last Strike (demos) (2004)
Forsaken EP (2004)
Purge The Multiverse EP (2005)
Bible Of Machines (2005)
Chapters Of Extermination (2006)
Novus Ordo Machina (Single) (2006)
Tombworld EP (2006)
Astronomicon Ex Machina (2007)
Cyber Warfare is my “label” for Death-Robot only. I have Prophecy Dominion records for everything else that is dark/electronic and Smoking Einstein for anything else.
The Virtual Birdseeds (dub-reggae):
Night On The Hemisphere (2005)
Ten Tegenarias In A Bathtub (2007)
Maggot Spirits (ethnic/tribal/sitar) :
Good Fortunes Come To Daemons (2007)
Eye Of Terror (Psytrance):
Beyond The Warp (2006)
Chaos Gods EP (2007)
Dimension Of Terrors (2008)
Frog Outside (Acid Techno):
Acidic Tentacle (single) (2007)
Poison Refinery (single) (2007)
Toxic Waste (single) (2007)
Super Soldier (single) (2007)
Acid Quake (2007)
Other projects with upcoming albums:
Berzerkers Of Time (Breakbeat)
Existence Form (new EBM project with Phill “the black”)
Tech-Breed (hip-hop project with Phill “The black”)
DS: Now, why have all these projects, and not release under 1 name?
Chris C’tan: Part of the fun for me is all the different names and imagery. I enjoy making up new storylines for each album/project. I also enjoy making all the artwork, logos and stuff too. I will however keep Carnivore Adaption as my “main” project. Another reason is simply because I have the time to make so much music I wouldn’t feel comfortable having 30+ albums a year under one name. As for Death-Robot, I always wanted my own genre, so I do it and control it, kind of like having your own scene – it has its main projects and weekly releases, this also keeps me satisfied and acts as a kind of therapy which greatly helps my anxiety problems.
(I live in) south England in a crappy village that ISN’T near London.
DS: You have pioneered the death-robot genre. Could you describe death-robot, and how it’s defined as a genre, and what sets it apart from other genres?
Chris C’tan: It’s in some ways an electronic equivalent of Metal, with synthy guitars with a heavy robotic feel, a certain style of polyrhythmic beats which are usually somewhat undermixed. The vocal style is obviously the most unique feature and is prominently loud, often drowning out the music to an extent to create a more chaotic and aggressive feel. It usually focuses on overbearing aggression and intensity and ignores other elements like melody and traditional song-structures unlike other “heavy” forms of electronic music. Its purely sci-fi themed around lovecraftian robot storylines, post-universal destruction, pro-logic, war, apocalypse and anti-human themes. It usually uses pads which have a metally/aggressive feel to them and more subdued bass, clicky kick drums and harsh snares. Death-Robot is purely polyrythmic and likes to miss beats especially at the end of the loops with the last 4 bars or so to add “groove” to the mix.
DS: Could you describe how death-robot all came about?
Chris C’tan: The vocals were inspired by Games Workshop’s Necron range and looking at their artwork I wanted to make music that reflected that kind of imagery. I always wanted a music-style that had a pure robotic outlook in that lovecraftian style, and I was very disappointed by how heavy-electronic music styles sounded and wanted to make a new style that would fill the hole of what I wanted so I could be personally satisfied and have the kind of music I always wanted to hear. I wanted to hear song-structures the same as Metal bands like Will Haven and Meshuggah, and I wasn’t interested in melody, dance/club aspects, understandable vocals or the powernoise/noise styles either. After years of playing with sounds and vocals I managed to get a “perfect” formula for myself that was exactly what I wanted to hear in heavy-electronic music, and I called it Death-Robot after the “Deaths Origin” story I wrote where the grim-reaper gets his new metallic body and is free from hell to pursue his ideals of logic and seed his universe with machines in his own image.
DS: Back to the project list, are there any other members to the band, or just you?
Chris C’tan: Other than the ones already stated, everything else is me, but I’m always up for collaborating if I feel I can work with the other person.
DS: So Phill “the black” is part of 2 projects? What are the duties of each of you?
Chris C’tan: Phill is a huge fan of my death-robot stuff and its because of that we got in contact and realized we both work in similar ways and have similar ideas, he’s still learning his software and such so for the hip-hop and EBM projects he will just be doing vocals, while I make all the music. When he feels comfortable enough with the software I am hoping he will contribute to the music.
DS: Carsten is part of The Virtual Birdseeds; does he only play bass on studio recordings?
Chris C’tan: For the moment yes, but id like him to contribute synths and textures as well, we’ll see how that goes.
DS: Cyber Warfare records is your own label, correct? It is MP3 only, right? Why not release on CD?
Chris C’tan: Cyber Warfare is my “label”, if you want to call it that, for Death-Robot only. I have Prophecy Dominion records for everything else that is dark/electronic (breaks/psytrance/techno/ebm/dubstep) and Smoking Einstein for anything else, although I plan to put out friends stuff under that label name as well. I don’t put stuff out on CD because it costs too much and I’d most likely lose money, and I don’t think most my music would do very well either. And the main reason is because I would rather put that money into funding my lifetime long dream of making professional looking science fiction shows which are very expensive, so I choose music as the hobby, and the other I try to be somewhat professional.
I called it Death-Robot after the “Deaths Origin” story I wrote where the grim-reaper gets his new metallic body and is free from hell to pursue his ideals of logic and seed his universe with machines in his own image.
DS: Why only free releases, have you thought about attempting to put music on Itunes or the like?
Chris C’tan: I’m not the most technical minded person; I have no idea how to do things like that at all. It might be a good idea for my more accessible work though, so I keep the option open.
DS: So is there a main website for both Cyber Warfare and Prophecy Dominion? is there a discography for every project with links to the albums?
Chris C’tan: My good friend Helen will be making a website for Cyber Warfare eventually, with a sub-site for Prophecy Dominion. The sites will include full discographies for everything iv done since 2005.
DS: Have any of your projects appeared on other labels?
Chris C’tan: Not yet. But I’d like some Carnivore Adaption, Eye Of Terror or Boron Division to appear on some compilation CDs. That would make me very happy.
DS: The burning question in everyone’s mind – how do you do it? How do you release 30 albums a year?
Chris C’tan: I’m INSANE. I also have too much time on my hands, and too many ideas and I just have to do it all. Its a mental and physical need.
DS: What are the plans for each of these projects as well as the label?
Chris C’tan: To take them all as far as I can, to try and push the limits and fill holes in the music-world and perhaps inspire others – hopefully show that there can still be new styles and new sounds to be explored, despite some people thinking “its all been done”. My plan for Carnivore Adaption is to do an album every year, exploring each of the “Tribes” concepts iv written about and hopefully eventually make an accompanying sci-fi show or music-videos. For Boron Division, I want to take the dark-elektro genre as far as it can go, in terms of brutality, and continue exploring new-sounds while avoiding clichés of the past that made me dislike the genre. For The Virtual Birdseeds, I have employed Carsten (of Tau Factor) for bass guitar and we shall hopefully get a new album out in the next few years. Tech-Breed I’d like to get an album out when my MC is able to visit me, and if he decides to live here, we shall do it live. There will be a third and final Omega Communion album out later this year. Ancient Ruin and Tourian are dead as I feel iv taken the themes and sounds of those projects to the limit, and there is nothing more I can do with them. For Eye Of Terror, I’m hoping to get an album out sometime later this year; iv been working on it for 2 years so far.
DS: Awesome, I look forward to hearing more material in the future. Thanks for your time.
Chris C’tan: I really appreciate this, thank you.
For More information on C’tan Worldkiller:
Official C’tan Worldkiller Website
C’tan Worldkiller on Myspace
C’tan Worldkiller DarkSonus Profile
About the interviewer:
hEADaCHE is the founder of the band CEOXiME, long time member of the DarkSonus community and remixer extraordinaire. You can get more info on hEADaCHE at the official CEOXiME website located at: http://ceoxime.com
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