26/12/2025
INTERVIEW: Moenos ( S*x Messiah, Immortal Death , Moenos)
S*xmessiah, a diabolical bedlam devoted to blasphemy, from the land of the Rising Sun.
Tradition. Intolerance. Militia. welcome Moenos (vocals, guitar, and bass), of the Impure Horde!
1- Moenos, it's a pleasure to have you here in our bunker. S*xMessiah is a blasphemous creation, formed in Japan in 2008, and since then the band has gained a certain relevance in the impure underground.
What feelings and satisfactions have you gathered over all these years?
M: Hello. Thank you for giving me this kind of opportunity.
To be honest, it’s not satisfaction that I have; what I’m always carrying with me is frustration. Things never seem to go smoothly and I’m constantly struggling, but because of that, I think I’ve been able to keep doing new things even after many years of being in a band. If I were to become satisfied, I feel like I would lose the very meaning of being alive.
2- Every ritual you compose is shrouded in singular and eerie atmospheres, like a mystical ceremony.
How would you describe the band's sound from its inception to today, and what are the essential elements in composing your ominous art?
M: I’m simply collecting only the things I love and that excite me.
It’s difficult to explain why I like the things I like. I love mysterious and taboo things that’s my fetishism. I’ve decided to record only sounds that can put me into a state of ecstasy. In that sense, I make no compromises.
I think most black metalheads are the same, but I feel nothing toward the kinds of things that ordinary people tend to like. Since childhood, I’ve been strongly drawn to aesthetic, immoral, and beautiful paintings; perverse incidents and novels; occult rituals — and I’m simply expressing what I believe to be the correct form of those things.
3- "Eastern Cult of So**my" (2018) and "S*xus-Mortem, Ouroboros" (2024) are forged in the murky sound of black/thrash and extol shameless human be******ty.
In your analysis, what similarities and differences are there between these albums?
M: Around the time of the first album, I was very particular about being a "band" and about being BLACK METAL. Since my musical background was different from the other members, I thought that bringing in things that the other members couldn't really understand wouldn’t lead to good results. I also believed that by limiting my own scope, I could create something more refined.
As for the lyrics, I wrote them by likening my devotion to BLACK METAL to the way Aum Shinrikyo followers were devoted.
The collage-style artwork was also created by gathering material from tabloids and weekly magazines that covered Aum Shinrikyo.
When it came to the second album, it was just me and the drummer left in the band, so I changed my approach. I decided to express everything that represented my life, everything I liked and everything I could create.
When I was a child, I studied classical music. I liked old music, and even though I was an atheist, I enjoyed religious music like Gregorian chants, Italian Renaissance music, and Japanese Buddhist chants during my middle school years.
If I go further back, when I was in elementary school, I watched a documentary on castrati on TV, and I was shocked.
"To be castrated for singing songs dedicated to a non-existent god! Music is just vibrations in the air!"
I thought that non-religious music was created to please patrons and was corrupt.
I probably didn’t like commercial music from that time onward.
My voice and piano teachers were collectors of ethnic instruments, and they would let me play them. They also introduced me to Balinese gamelan music and Terry Riley’s works.
When I first started listening to rock, I became obsessed with Japanese psychedelic rock, such as Les Rallizes Denudes, High Rise, and Kousokuya.
From there, I started listening to hardcore punk, then discovered black metal, and my life changed dramatically.
I decided to engage in black metal with religious devotion.
Before the second album, I tried to reflect elements I gained from psychedelic rock, contemporary music, and classical music into my solo project as much as possible, but I felt I had lived long enough and that what I needed to do before I die was to express myself more.
So this time, I removed all the limits I had placed on myself. The artwork, like last time, was entrusted to the original vocalist of S*X MESSIAH.
He understood my intentions well and created something beyond what I had imagined.
4- On the albums "Metal del Chivo" and "S*xus-Mortem," Ouroboros, the lyrics are in Spanish. (For those who don't know, the band's drummer is Bolivian.) Do you think this idiomatic choice gives S*xmessiah a more evil aura?
M: Actually, this was a passive decision. The drummer said he wanted to write the lyrics, so I decided to let him do it. He said he would write the lyrics in English, but he sent me lyrics that he had written in Spanish and translated into English using a translation tool. Naturally, it wasn’t very good, so we decided to sing in Spanish in order to preserve his original lyrics.
These small issues ended up making the song better.
5- After Sadistic Blasphemer (vocals) left the band, you're now the one spewing profanities behind the microphone, with devilishly excellent results.
How did this choice come about, and are you satisfied enough to continue singing?
M: I wanted to express my own talents more directly. And now, since the drummer has left, S*X MESSIAH has become my solo project."
6- Entering the lyrical underbelly of S*xMessiah, we find a connection with death, the exaltation of perversion, and especially a rejection of Christian dogma, even though this religion is a minority in Japan.
Do you consider yourself a spiritual person and what does belonging to the "dark path" mean to you?
M: In the 16th century, Jesuit missionaries came to Japan, and there were a certain number of Christians. In particular, it is said that in cities like Takatsuki and Ibaraki in Osaka, the majority of the population were Catholics. While many countries in Asia and South America were exploited by Europe alongside the spread of Christianity, Japan managed to prevent that. The Japanese government at the time expelled missionaries, and those who remained were killed, thus protecting Japan. There are many depictions of torture and crucifixion of Christians and foreign missionaries from that era, and these are even included in elementary school textbooks, they are so famous.
Japan was originally polytheistic and did not care about or interfere with what others believed in; it was tolerant. I believe that monotheism, including Christianity, has caused many of the world’s problems. In Japan’s religious view, gods or Buddhas reside in each individual’s heart, and it is not problematic to pray to multiple gods at the same time. Mantras related to the sexual rituals of Tibetan Buddhism were brought back to Japan in the 9th century. Homosexuality was also considered normal in Japan until Western influences became stronger.
We, as Asians, cannot understand how Christians, Muslims, and Jews, who believe in the same god fight over sacred lands. The honest opinion of Buddhist countries in Asia would be, “Why don’t you just stop this foolishness?”
However, Buddhist countries are peaceful and do not impose their beliefs on others, so there is nothing they can do about it.
I truly dislike monotheism as a whole.
When I was a teenager, I was a devoted fan of Marquis de Sade. This also influenced my anti-Christian views. I loved European decadence literature and art, such as those by Hysmans, Bayros, and others, and those introduced in Japan by Ryūzō Shibusawa and Kōsaku Ikeda. These have become inseparable from my music.
I’m not that spiritual of a person, but Japan has many mountains where monks have been training for over a thousand years, and I enjoy visiting those places. There is something called “Ikigami,” where monks of a particular Buddhist sect would perform a ritual of self-sacrifice in the mountains.
They would chant mantras while waiting for death in caves.
When I go on tours abroad, I try to visit such spiritually charged places related to death.
I don’t know why, but there is a power I can’t gain anywhere else unless I go to such places.
7- The influence of the timeless South American Old School style is evident in S*xmessiah's music. It's no coincidence that you released a split album with Impurity (Brazil). Beyond that, a pulsating vein of old-school punk is evident.
By combining these elements, you've consolidated your identity.
Tell us how you developed and achieved this result...
M: It's not that I had a firm determination in mind that led me to create this kind of music, but your insight is correct. The music of S*X MESSIAH is a collection of things I personally like. Living in Japan and being exposed to extreme music, I couldn't help but be influenced by Japanese hardcore punk.
The influence of GISM and ZOUO is especially significant.
When I first heard Hellhammer,
I thought, “This is kind of like ZOUO.”
Regardless of genre, I searched for music that could evoke fear and listened to it endlessly.
When I first started playing guitar, I was obsessed with Sarcófago and Colombia's Nebiros.
Playing songs made by others felt boring to me, so as soon as I got a guitar, I started making my own songs and recording them with a cheap tape recorder for meetings that I bought at a thrift shop.
The result of that was the three songs on S*X MESSIAH’s first demo. I never thought about creating something new or paying homage to something else neither of those ideas crossed my mind.
8- Immortal Death, a very interesting chaotic gurgle.
How and why did this horde come about, and what are your future plans?
M: Bassist Hellstorm moved to Osaka, where I live, and hit it off with 062, the original vocalist of S*x Messiah, and they decided to start a band.
They asked me if I could write some songs.
These two are the people I trust the most in my life.
The artwork and concept for Immortal Death are handled by these two.
S*X MESSIAH is almost like my solo project, but IMMORTAL DEATH is a band.
I often draw inspiration from the time I spend with the members.
I am preparing new songs to record an album in 2026.
9- Moenos is the name of another project born from your creativity. Listening to this nefarious abomination, Abruptum came to mind. What do you want to express through this chaotic cacophony?
M: I was aiming more for drone and psychedelic things.
Since I do things freely, following my mood, I can’t really define my own music, but the first tape starts with G, repeating the beauty of overtones and the unsettling feeling of detune before returning to G.
I borrowed the title from Terry Riley’s *In C*.
I started my solo project when S*X MESSIAH, wasn’t going well because we didn’t have enough members.
I admire the Italian Paul Chain, and even after he quit his band, he continued making music freely with various instruments and vocals, right?
I want to live that kind of life.
Until then, I only played guitar in S*X MESSIAH, but if the members disappeared, I wouldn’t be able to do anything.
So I started experimenting with analog synths and organs, openly showing influences from psychedelic and classical music, and decided to just keep making music no matter what.
11- The title *Stay Offensive, F**k Humanism* prompted a question. Lately, extreme metal has become increasingly popular with those who are "tearful" and prone to ridiculous sensibilities that often lead to censorship.
In your opinion, why is this happening, and what's the explosive recipe for bringing this genre back to its ancient, primitive, and vulgar essence?
M: Freedom of expression must be continuously protected.
In Japan, in 1959, the translator and publisher of Marquis de Sade’s Juliette were prosecuted for distributing obscene materials, and in 1979, a publisher that released an art collection by Franz von Bayros was raided.
The judiciary wanted to distinguish between art and obscenity, but art is art. It is impossible to draw a clear line anywhere.
The common sense of the majority has always been wrong.
I want to be surrounded by things I find beautiful, and I want to keep creating them. Those who don’t want to see it can simply not look, but there are always people who deliberately seek it out to attack it. What I like has never been something welcomed by the majority, but I think it seems much worse now because of the overabundance of information. Humanity does not evolve at all.
Ultimately, I believe our forms of expression will return to analog.
The problem with the internet is that too many unnecessary eyes can see things.
I am not looking for weak music that would stop just because it got blocked on Bandcamp or Spotify.
When all that remains are uncensored hand-copied cassette tapes and paper fanzines, how many people will still be left?
12- Japan is an unstoppable machine capable of churning out many bands related to extreme metal.
What is your opinion of the current Japanese underground scene?
M: I don’t really see it that way. Especially when it comes to black metal, I think the scene in Japan isn’t very good.
I find noise/industrial and hardcore punk more popular and interesting.
I organize most of my own band’s live shows in Japan. There’s a black metal band from Osaka called Iron Bludgeon. Their sound is be***al and amazing, and we often play shows together.
13- Moenos, our interrogation has come to an end. Many thanks again for this opportunity.
Last words to you...
Hail Metal Del Chivo!!!
M: This was the first interview where I spoke so deeply about my inner self and my roots! I would love to perform live in Italy someday. Thank you!！
