German death-rock outfit Rope Sect burst onto the extreme-music scene in 2017, with two acclaimed releases, the debut EP Personae Ingratae, followed by the 7-inch Proselytes. Their sound isn't goth for the lace and black roses crowd. This is goth for the corpse-paint and spiked gauntlets horde, hard-edged, Spartan and nihilistic. As such, Rope Sect were quickly embraced by likeminded scene leaders such as King Dude and Grave Pleasure's Mat "Kvohst" McNerney, the latter of whom took the group on tour in their homeland. He's since collaborated with Rope Sect bandleader Inmesher on two songs off the band's gripping, twisted debut LP, The Great Flood, which is due out Wednesday, August 12th, via Iron Bonehead Productions.
Today (August 10th), Rope Sect have teamed with Revolver to premiere said full-length. Stream it — and read our brief chat with Inmesher about the project's origins, vision and struggle — below.
IF YOU HAD TO DESCRIBE YOUR BAND'S MISSION STATEMENT, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
INMESHER Dealing with Rope Sect is joining a dance near the abyss, a walk on ruins, a final revel in the face of man's downfall and craving for the ultimate freedom that either relieves or destroys you. Venerate the rope, fear the rope.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO METAL AND DEATH ROCK — A FRIEND, PARENT OR SIBLING, A PARTICULAR SHOW OR ALBUM?
It has been a natural process. I have always been surrounded by music and gradually developed my own taste, went through different genres and noticed the attraction to darker music and art quite early. When starting to play the guitar, I have also started buying some metal magazines and just loved to discover bands that follow and guide you through life. There hasn't been any particular album that marked the entrance into darker music, but I definitely have to mention Katatonia as a major influence, especially when starting to make own music. In fact, I got into death-rock and post-punk much later than metal and I didn't grow up with all these old goth or wave bands that are often mentioned in connection with Rope Sect.
BEING IN A BAND, WHAT'S THE HARDEST CHALLENGE YOU HAVE COME ACROSS SO FAR, AND HOW DID YOU OVERCOME IT?
Well, as we are not a typical band in the sense of rehearsing regularly, playing lots of concerts or being on the road for a long time, we haven't really faced any tough challenges yet, at least from my point of view. We have been in a quite comfortable situation so far with only a few tiring situations on the road. Apart from that, a personal challenge was to settle my own claim when writing and finishing the debut album that I wanted to be coherent in terms of concept, sound and visuals. However, inspiration, passion and commitment are always the right guides to come to fulfillment, eventually.
TELL US ABOUT KHOHST'S INVOLVEMENT. HOW DO YOU GUYS KNOW EACH OTHER AND HOW DID HE COME TO COLLABORATE ON THE TWO NEW SONGS?
We've been in touch since 2017 when Mat asked us to support Grave Pleasures for a few gigs in Germany, and the plan to collaborate on a record has been developing naturally with the writing process of the album, so we agreed on contributing lyrics and vocals after sending him two possible songs which he liked. He came up with great ideas, recorded them and so it happened.
IF YOU COULD ONLY PLAY ONE OF YOUR SONGS FOR SOMEONE TO INTRODUCE THEM TO YOUR BAND, WHAT SONG WOULD IT BE?
It would be "Quietus" because I think the song combines the key elements of Rope Sect — somber lyrics, catchy yet melancholic music, a rugged sound and variable genre influences.
