If you think Portuguese metal starts and ends with Moonspell you are dead wrong. We were floored when we heard the massive songs contained in Process of Guilt’s second full-length Erosion back in 2009 and could not believe it did not get the attention it deserved. Now, almost two years later, the Evora based quartet is releasing The Circle, containing five new versions of their classic song of the same name as interpreted by artists such as Sanford Parker, Bosque, Sons of Bronson and more. This shall be enough to entertain us while we await their new material. On the other end is guitarist and vocalist Hugo Santos. Read on and spread the word...

DS - You guys come from the city of Évora, which has been ranked as the second most livable city in Portugal and has been designated by the Unesco as a World Heritage Centre. Living in a beautiful city like that how is it that Process of Guilt end up playing the most morose and depressing of metal styles?

The place where we are from, the music we listen to, our personal experiences, all have contributed in one way or another to mold what we want to play. In the end we really are a sum of all our experiences and, through music, we try to express our darkest ones, almost like a purge, while trying to exit from our everyday routines. Évora and its surroundings, where the isolation factor plays a significant role, definitely served as an inspiration to create the type of music we do. Nevertheless, it's a small town in the interior of Portugal and being the second most livable city doesn't mean a lot when there aren't almost no opportunities left to someone who wants to start their own business or even find an available job. It's a beautiful town, architectural and historical wise, no doubt about that, but as far as making a living in Portugal, right now, it's definitely not the best option around here. I'm not living in Évora for almost 7 years now, as well as Nuno (guitars), but we still go there regularly, as the other members are still living in there and that's where our rehearsal room is located.

DS - The name Process of Guilt, please talk a little bit about this. Why and how did you choose it? What is the process of guilt?

The “Process of Guilt” name came up after a little bit of brain storming trying to find a moniker that was really fitting to our musical intentions. Which, by the way, comprehended the making of meaningful slow music since the beginning. In the end, it turned out 'process of guilt' is really a psychoanalysis expression regarding the larger process occurring devoid of any single tragic scene as, according to some psychoanalysts, there's a process of guilt, anger and sadness to overcome before returning to a life of hope, calm and sense of normalcy. It was a coincidence that the expression had this meaning, but somehow we found that to be a nice meaning also for our music.

DS - It seems as if the Portuguese scene is slowly creeping up. Please talk a little but about the metal scene in Portugal?

The Portuguese scene is slowly developing into something bigger, since there's an ever-growing number of bands, promoters and a few labels that are still trying to take the Portuguese underground to a new level. Right now I can mention quite a few relevant names in almost every underground sub-genre that you can think of. From Corpus Christi (black metal), Utopium (grind/crust), Profan (doom/drone), Bizarra Locomotiva (industrial), Bosque (funeral doom/drone) to The Firstborn (“ethnic” metal) there's plenty of quality music for such a peripheral country as Portugal.

DS - Is there a scene in Evora?

As you might guess by now, Évora doesn't have a 'proper scene' besides two or three local bands. As more than one third of our population is located in Lisbon and Oporto, those are the places that congregate the majority of underground bands and where gigs happen in a very regular basis.

DS - How important would you say Moonspell have been to expose your country to the outside?

Moonspell have played their own role in, at least, attracting some attention to Portugal. They are, indeed, the only ones who achieved international recognition by now, but somehow they also represent another era where bands were 'bigger' and had other means and more label's money to spread there music, regardless of their quality. I don't identify myself with their music for a while by now and they definitely don't represent the underground music that's being made in Portugal right now, but their persistence in pursuing their own goals it's unquestionable and some credit for this should be given to them.

DS - I am not all that familiar with your early work (Renounce and the demos that preceded it), but just by checking the titles it is clear that thematically, the band was very focused on some pretty morose topics. Like your Metal Archives page says, ‘desperation, sadness, suicide, sorrow’. Have these subjects changed at all? Did Erosion also focused on these?

The subjects we focus on to write our lyrics are tendentiously dark - not so much as the tag-line at Metal Archives - but definitely inspired by our darkest experiences in our day to day life. In «Erosion» the lyrics were still based in our experiences, but subjected to a new approach. We found that the association between natural elements (and the physical process of erosion) and our own thoughts towards life acted as a suited vehicle for the feelings we were trying to express through with that record.

DS - Let’s talk about The Circle, which presents five reinterpretations of a song contained in Erosion. Why did you feel that this was necessary?

The concept behind «The Circle» EP was first approached during the «Erosion» recording sessions. «The Circle – Erosion Part I» was conceived as an instrumental piece, after a variety of forms assumed while in the composition process. Given the possibilities provided by both song's structure and ambient, we decided that this track was suited for experimentation in a different approach than the one provided by the band. As we're indeed fans of a lot of different music from different backgrounds we decided to contact some artists, whose work was regularly not associated with the doom genre, in order to take our music to a dimension never achieved by us only. It's definitely an experimental approach to our music,and something that turned out great to our ears and that added another musical dimension to Process of Guilt.

DS - You’ve had some pretty cool people work on these reinterpretations. Sanford Parker, Bosque, DJ Mofo, Sons of Bronson, Echoes of Yul. First, how did you pick these specific artists and what was your communication to them?

All quoted artists are, in one way or another, related to the band, and speaking only for me I'm a fan of the music of everyone that worked on «The Circle». When we first started to gather some names to invite to this project, the list was pretty much the same as the one featured in the final CD layout. There were a few setbacks, but overall, the ones involved in «The Circle» are the same we initially thought of as able to provide that diversity of deconstructions around the theme. All the process was made through the internet and I, basically, asked everyone to play around with whatever they wanted to, tuning, changing the bpm, adding sounds, voices, basically everything, until they were totally pleased with the track! It was awesome to have such different approaches provided by so many great artists with different backgrounds involved in the reinterpretation of a song crafted by us.

DS - The band has stated that The Circle opens the door for the composition process of the third record? How so? Have these reinterpretations given you a new insight into how to work out songs?

When we stated that «The Circle» opens the door for the composition process of the third record was mainly in the context of closing the «Erosion» cycle, as this was something we were dealing with since 2009. There are some details in the reinterpretations that obviously have made a big impression on us but, as far as changing our own approach goes, we really need to record a new one in order to find out if we will do something alongside this lines in the future. «The Circle» represents an experimental approach to our music, but not so much the next step for the band.

DS - As far as new recordings, when and what can we expect from Process of Guilt? Will the music keep on trudging the same territories or can we expect changes, experimentation perhaps?

We're now working on a new full-length record and, hopefully, we'll be entering the studio still in 2011. We're still trying to develop our music further, as we're open to almost every sort of experimentation within our concept of how Process of Guilt should sound. We just expect our music to be intense, crushing and with an hypnotic edge, and that's what we're aiming for in our next releases.

DS - Hugo, you also sing vocals for Before the Rain, which is also primarily a doom band. How do you separate the two? How would you say both bands differ from each other?

I've only played guitars for Before the Rain between 2003 and 2007, and, at the time, I could relate myself to much of what they were doing musically wise. Back then, at least for me there were a lot of differences between both bands. Before the Rain was definitely more orientated towards the sort of traditional death/doom practiced in the early nineties while Process of Guilt is a totally different band with different goals and definitely not so averse to experimentation. In the end, Process of Guilt was always my main band, my primary way of expression and, after a while, I've just decided to fully concentrate myself on this. We're still good friends and, as far as I now, they have a new cool record set for release in the next months.

DS - Finally, what are you listening to right now?

It's always hard to quote the latest music I've been listening to, as something worth of mention is always forgotten, but I'll give you my playlist for this week: *Ramesses* – Take The Curse, *U.S, Christmas* – Run Thick In The Night, Khanate – Khanate, *Electric Wizard* – Black Masses, *Deathspell Omega* – Paracletus, *Nails* – Unsilent Death, Rotten Sound – Cursed, Trap Them – Darker Handcraft, Disfear – Live the Storm, Coffinworm – When All Became None, Eibon – Entering Darkness and a few Woven Hand and 16 Horsepower albums that are always at hand....

DS - Last words?

Thanks for your words and support. If the readers of this interview relate themselves to something in the above lines be sure to check us out (just click the digital store link http://digitalstore.processofguilt.com/ at our website http://www.processofguilt.com/>and you can listen to our latest releases for free) and, if possible, attend one of our gigs.

Live images by Pedro Roque