Can you tell us a bit of your history and what releases did you made until this moment?
Eternal Mourning started its activity in 6/94, still under the name of Mortus. Only Zé and myself are in the Band since the beginning. We've decided to create a band for the same reasons as everybody else, I suppose. We wanted to do the music that we liked and we wanted to be as good as >the bands we loved at that time. During that period the Band only did some concerts. A lot of inner disharmonies ended with some changes in the formation. It was an inconstant period in the musical level and within the Band itself. It was at the beginning of ´95 that the Band adopted the name of Eternal Mourning. In the next couple of years Eternal Mourning won 4 music contests and participated, with the track, "Sombras do desconhecido" in a compilation of Portuguese metal bands named High Radiation Vol.2. Until now two Demo-Tapes and an EP have been released: "My Soul's Grief", from ´95(more death metal influences), "Silent Commotions Of The Soul ", released at the end of ´96 (Gothic Metal influences) and now we have the new EP named "Delusion&Dementia".

Your Current release is called "Delusion&Dementia". Are you totally satisfied with it? Dos it still represent what the band can do in 100%?
Delusion&Dementia is our new Ep, and we are very satisfied with the final result. We proved ourselves that we could do the things even considering all the problems and all the disappointments that we have to confront. Before the recordings of Delusion & Dementia EP the Band looses its Keyboard player. Other difficulties were knocking in our door, after the recordings we had some problems with money and because of that we couldn't do anything with the band for four months. Fortunately everything was solved and we have the chance to purchase our work and take our intentions further. The songs on the Ep represent completely what the band is, but that fact doesn't create in us any limitations or any barriers for future creations. We can improve ourselves and do something more intense and, or at least we believe in that!! Inspiration is something that we can't control and much less invoke. It happens naturally, as everything should be in this...Life!! It's like a walk in the woods of decadence, every tree has its own grief and is own beauty, we must only be discovers.

There is already any result for this CD-EP? Did any label showed interest in Eternal Mourning already?
Fortunately we have received some feedback from a couple of labels. At this stage everything is almost arranged and our situation clarified. We hope, if we get involved with any label, that everything's turns out to be very positive for both parts. We will see what happens …

Normally it's this phase, between the "demo-stage" and something a bit more professional, that most of the bands break down and split. How are guys handling this waiting situation? We are handling the situation in a very calm way, we don't have nothing to loose here. I agree with you when you say that this phase is a little bit difficult, but above all we want to create music. No one plays this kind of music to make money, especially here in Portugal. Our expectations are growing and maybe with some fortune we can achieve a positive result and even touch the limits of our own creation! Whatever the future brigs to us will be only one more step further on this endless mourning.

Musically, you stand into Doom/Death Metal fields, but your influences range also Goth to Black Metal. Actually, what bands, books, movies and other forms of art influence you guys to write music in this style?
I think that everything that is pure and sincere has the power to inspire us. But Human feelings are definitely our main source of inspiration. And that is explained by the simple fact that we can always resort to ourselves and to our moments of unhappiness, anger, depression and frustration to compose and to do something that we can be proud of. Just be yourself and you will achieve much more that you ever expected! The presence of depressive melodies and evolving characteristics of a more gothic aspect linked to some influences of the Black metal world It's our universe in this moment, but besides me, there is no one in the band that is too much into all this "Metal world". I'm the addicted here!! They like metal, but in a "different" way. Everyone has his own influences and different perspectives about music, which is very positive for us! Give us a much more wider space for creativity. In a musical level my influences are more Gothic/Doom, I'm a great fan of bands like "My Dying Bride" and "Anathema"!! Another great influence in my compositions is definitely "Fernando Pessoa" and his book " O livro do desassossego", a masterpiece!!!

Do you think the melancholy that come from the Portuguese characteristic nature, weather and people can make the Portuguese bands play a slightly different kind of Doom? What are the differences, in your point of view?
We have some good bands in Portugal; unfortunately almost all have the same problems, lack of support. I don't consider our Doom too much different from others. I don't even know if, as a pure style, still there is a Doom metal universe. Everyone as the same goal I believe, create music that couldn't be compared to anything. A lot of Bands are trying to recreate the style above others recreations, and because of that we are reaching some saturation here. What we are trying to do is "wake up the sleeping originality", trying to reach (in a possible way) some kind of innovation, which comes with a new self-conception and also self-preservation. The only way that we have to achieve something positive in the musical universe is presents us as we are, creating our own music and not what others have created already.

Lyrically, what inspires you? Do you tend to write your lyrics to let you pain go away, as some kind of therapy, or write down a feeling in a lyric don't change the feeling inside you?
Man tends to bee a dreamer and the illusions make so deep scars!! We can feel so much different things, things that we never saw, things that we never seek! Everyday, memories from moments that we can't see, moments that we don't want to see, require us to they're own reason punishing us with strange and pitiless emotions. Sometimes I would like to have the power to write about nothing!, about an hypothetical absence of cleaving time with this strange truth that commands my spirit, but …. Maybe is what I do!! Maybe I can only write about nothing. The nothing which I am!! Above all, when I'm writing a lyric I try to be honest with myself. I resort to myself and to my unconsciousness, hearing the voice of reason and seeking for some meaning. Normally,it doesn't work as a therapy, it doesn't change the feelings inside of me, but it has the power to create some kind of strange and colourless satisfaction!!

What's your opinion on the anger in most of the world? Do you think it's inevitable, or is a consequence of developed countries' hypocrisy? Explain please…
I believe that we're in a world of fools and living by the words of fools!! Everyone think that they're the ones having the power to judge others actions and thoughts, and that fact only proves they're prepotency and arrogance. The main problem, for me, is the lack of respect!! Man tends to forget that he is simply the personification of nullity and because of they're actions he becomes also the personification of stupidity. From knowledge I only know its absence, but at least I know something, and I'm not a preacher or a tyran trying to tattoo my thoughts and beliefs in others minds. Everybody has a brain and should use it, at least from time to time…

You come from Alentejo, a Portuguese region very low in occupation and very high in suicide. Why do you think this happens?
There are a lot of different views about this subject. Isolation could mean a lot of different things!! Isolation could be freedom, could represent identity. As Fernando Pessoa wrote " you can be free if you go away from other men … if you can't live alone, you were born a slave ". But at the same time you have a natural inclination to formalize all kind of different realities and to evaluate your actions and thoughts with a very critical view. Everything could exist because nothing really exists, if you get what I mean. You start thinking about your agonies and pains; they are like an immortal mark that beats you without mercy. They beat you constantly, but they never win the war. They prefer winning the battle and make you suffer even more! … The essence of sadism! We are like puppets, our own puppets! Suicide for me is more than a simple act of quick self-destruction; it could be also a form of art. I really would like to have the chance to talk with people that tried it but failed. I think a lot about this kind of stuff, and I consider suicide as a possible alternative. The one that lives just to"be alive" is someone that despises life. Sometimes I despise life!! Suicide is not a victory/defeat or also something extremely selfish, maybe something in between. No one has the right to judge others actions. For me it's to soon, but maybe one day it won't! ….

Do you believe a man truly can love, or is love a society-made thing and men, just like any other animal, only want to procreate and keeps it's species?
William Blake once wrote "He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence". I think all Men have a natural source of desire that cannot be restrain! We have a natural energy, and we must use it in some way. This is our animal instinct, we all have it, and we all must deal with it. That doesn't mean that I don't believe in true love. Love is a very strong feeling with a lot of great potentiality. Someone that never loved is someone that never lived! Sometimes, among all this sadness, grief, mourning, our dreams come true (even considering the fact that I could never define the limits and forms of what I've dreamed), and some happiness and joy make us discover another beauty side in life, which is love (apart from the beauty of sadness, the beauty of all beauties!!). Love is a very sweet emotion that has the power to "hydrate" our mind and body, but it could be also the simplicity of a coloured disguise!

Do you fear death? Do you believe there's something after, anything?
Sometimes, In my eyes, only few things are really alive!!, few are the things that I feel and need to see alive!! Sometimes, in my eyes everything sleeps in the essence of is own death! How can I, in moments like this ones, fear death?? Everything is already dead or is dying; people just pretend not to know that. Maybe my vision is too much apocalyptic and these words are only the personification of my dementia, but this is not, for sure, only a world of beautiful emotions and sensations. There are moments where the only thing that we can see is blindness!, the only thing we can feel is despair!, everything is to much synthetic, even our breaths! After death, I believe there is nothing! …

What is, for you, the most precious gift: life, beauty or love?
For sure, life is the greatest gift of all!! I know that, if we analyse my last answer, this sounds like a contradiction, but it is not! Without life we can't experience the poison and his antidote, we can't experience all the good things and bad things of this theatre where we live. We have also good things to get pleasure from; life isn't always "Eternal Mourning"!! Our imaginary world is a place where we can be everything where we can see and achieve everything! Our imaginary world depends from this hypothetical "real" world where we stay. Everyone seeks happiness, but not to many knows where to find her, or what it is!!

Do you believe in fate? Do you think one person's fate can be outside his/her will and in the hands of a superior power, like a nature or astral reality? Explain please…
This is a difficult question! I believe that there is a superior power, but inside of us! Everyone has that inner "energy", a strange source of power that can resort in very difficult moments. I believe we are the sons of our time! We are the word that once was written! We are the voice that once was heard! We are nothing and because of that, we are everything! With luck, we are the dreams that some day, someone will dream! If there is a superior power that commands our actions and wills I don't know, but for sure we have some strength (our power) that give us the chance to survive, to enjoy and to suffer. Everybody is looking for something, and if we have the chance to stare with passion into our ambitions and our frustrations is because we aren't indifferent to life! The only reason that I can find for this indifference inability is our incapability to control all the things around us, our need for this strange desire called destiny! If you have the power to control all your desires, you have the power to make life synthetic and useless!

How do you guys are seen by your neighbours? Do they understand the kind of art you're doing?
Even considering the fact that renegade views and words from the humane reality build indifference to life, what others may think is not so important!! We prefer to paint the picture with our own colour. A Colour yet to be discovered! Without any predetermined objectives we do what want to do!! Everyone could have dreams, but not too many have the fortune to fulfil them!! It's necessary to dress our mind with the important things and not with futile impressions from sterile minds! We have the support from family and friends, that's what is important!!

What are your future plans?
Maybe what we are looking for is just a different life, without that ordinary monotony that fulfil peoples minds. We all love music and we all know the beauty and danger of dreaming. We just want to have the possibility to create something and show that "something" to others that may like it.

What bands do you recommend from the Portuguese scene?
Well, we have some good bands in Portugal! Some of theme has the fortune and talent to achieve a higher status. I like Moospell, I believe that they are a band with talent but above all they are very professional people (I think a big part of their success comes from there). A band that I really recommend on these days is Sirius. A band with young people, which creates great music! They have a lot of inner potentiality and with fortune they will become a great reference in a short future. I hope so! …

Ok, that's it. Thank you for your answers. Any final message?
I would like to tank all your support and wish you all the best. By W.Blake"; to create a little flower is the labour of ages", we aren't also immune to that!!