My Last Chapter - brutal musick in all its gory glory

Temple of Torturous is to me a very interesting label, seeing as you seem to focus on signing very special, unconventional at times, acts. You put a lot of effort into each of your releases, and your limited editions include such varied bonuses as handcrafted deer bone jewelry and rat preparation. You also utilize the artwork to great effect, having some talented artists provide spectacular visuals. What’s the philosophy behind the label, or what are your thoughts on releasing uniquely packaged, and musically, records?
[Fu]: Thanks for your compliment, my mate, I do appreciate it. Well, the main idea to have this entity back then was try to spread underground black metal records within Chinese territories, to act as a bridge between the Chinese black metal worshippers and European / US scene, after 3 years of existence, it was quite natural for us to setup a record label ourselves (we had some great contacts with the bands when we were still a distributor) in order to support the artists in a more direct way. As for the packaging and visual presence, first, we are trying to support the bands as much as we could, to help them get the artwork done properly is just part of that, in our opinion, the artwork is just as important as the music itself, it should convey the message from the artist on the first place when it is shown to the audience; secondly, we are not a supporter of current digital abuse in this industry, therefore we think it is also very important for us to make the physical records as unique as possible in order to tell the customers there "hey, there is something you can not get from the digital files…"

Have you ever had any thoughts on releasing genres other than black metal, that would still fit into the gloomy roster of the label?
[Fu]: Yes, we already have something more than black metal, like Echtra who is more for drone and ambient music; Vom Fetisch der Unbeirrtheit is on the other hand more experimental as well as electronic. We are definitely not limiting ourselves to black metal, but as you said, it is such a dark and cold realm, so even I am myself a big fan of Post Rock music, it is very difficult to get some of the Post Rock artists featured here in some cases…

The label was started in China, a country not many people would think of when talking about black metal, but you’ve since relocated to Sweden. Have you noticed any differences in working from the Scandinavian region in comparison to Asia?
[Fu]: Well, it is both more difficult as well as easier for the label due to the relocation, on one hand, we do need to overcome all the culture differences and so on, especially the language difference, but on the other hand, it is a great chance for us to take a further step for the label so that we can run it more officially here in Sweden, also it is easier now for customers from most of the places to access our releases when it comes to the shipping duration and so on, but Sweden is NOT well-known for its low postage price, hehe…

Despite only active as a label for three years you’ve already got a dozen releases out. Will you continue releasing in such a degree, or have you just had the fortune of finding so many suitable acts in a short time?
[Fu]: Well, there is no definite agenda on the label, and for us quality is much more important than quantity, so it all depends if we can get suitable acts as you mentioned…

Fyrnask’s Bluostar is the latest release, an album that’s received great media feedback, and a personal favourite of yours if I’m not mistaken. Are you satisfied with the reception of the release?
[Fu]: Yes, you are completely right, Fyrnask is definitely one of my personal favorites, it was such a surprise for us back then when Blutaar (known from Drautran, Arstidir Lifsins as well as the great The Pagan Herald zine) got in touch with us and showed us the demo of Fyrnask, we were just impressed by the quality they have and had to sign them right away, and it turned out that it is indeed a correct team up. As for Bluostar, this is the album where we put most of the effort here, and yes, we are quite satisfied with the overall reception, the band is now working on the second album already, which will be for sure even better than Bluostar!

Any upcoming releases you’d like to promote, or reveal?
[Fu]: Yes, soon enough, we will see a first t-shirt design from Fyrnask. We will also release IC REX –Vedenjakaja DLP as well as 2 shirt designs within the course of 2011.
Next year, you guys will be challenged by the new album from Echtra called "sky burial" (a track can already be found on Echtra's myspace page) as well the well-anticipated Spectral Lore – III.

If there’s anything else you’d like to tell us about the label now’s the time, if not I thank you for agreeing to this feature, and best of luck in the future.
[Fu]: Thanks for your feature as well!

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