The Heathen Scÿthe , a group from São Paulo, brings not only a unique image, but also quite interesting music and lyrical themes. Addressing occultism and paganism from various countries, they released their first self-titled EP in 2024.
With each of its members playing a different character, there's a whole narrative behind the band.
In an exclusive interview with Wikimetal , vocalist Tato Deluca , who performs as DA'AT, discussed the new music video for the song "Casting The Circle," the story behind his look, new albums, and more!
Check out the full interview below:
Wikimetal: You recently released the music video for "Casting The Circle," which features several animations. Can you talk about the process of conceiving and creating the work?
Tato Deluca: Our goal with the music videos is to build the universe in which the band's story is set. With "Into the Fire" we introduced the band and our costumes; with "The Heathen Scÿthe," we presented time travel as it works in this universe; with "Welcome," we wanted to show our stage, sets, effects, how the band performs live; and with "Casting The Circle," we wanted to take advantage of all the versatility that animation brings to show what the post-apocalyptic future we come from would be like, present a bit of the spiritual side, the image of the guardians of the four cardinal points that we invoke in the song, and mainly show the cartoon version of the band's characters.
WM: Do you guys want to make more music videos in this style?
TD: Yes, we're already producing the next one, which will be for the song "Spiral Dance – The Egregore". We're going to take advantage of the versatility of animation to teach the audience how to do the "Spiral Dance" that we sing in the song. Explaining it is very complex, teaching the audience how to do it during a show would be impossible, so we decided to draw it. It's a dance that, if we manage to get it going with large audiences, will become a trademark of our shows, like the "Viking Ship" or the "Wall of Death". It will truly be a very exciting sight to see a festival audience doing this dance.
WM: In 2024 the band released their first EP, which is self-titled. Are there plans to release a follow-up? Perhaps in album format?
TD: Yes, the album has been recorded since 2019, it contains 12 songs, it will be released "single by single" like we did with the EP, and it's almost completely mixed and mastered; we're just making a few adjustments. It will be called Grimoires: Index Librorvm Prohibitorvm and will greatly expand the band's universe, both musically and conceptually.
WM: The Heathen Scÿthe has a very interesting approach to the themes of its lyrics, bringing up songs about the occult and pagan culture of various countries. Do you feel any resistance from the public because of the music you make today?
TD: Not at all, in fact we've felt that the audience becomes much more interested when they realize that there are layers and layers of hidden knowledge in the lyrics, every symbol we make with our hands at the shows, every phrase that seems "meaningless" in a lyric, everything has meaning. We want to deliver a complex puzzle to our fans, so that they can discover what we mean little by little, even decades from now there will still be things to discover in the lyrics and the structure of the songs, everything has been very well constructed, and we're not going to explain everything on a silver platter. That's part of the entertainment.
WM: The band also has a very unique and distinctive look. How do you think that contributes to the band?
TD: The visual aspect proved important right from the start; as soon as we released our first music video, we knew we were on the right track. There are very few bands in Brazil that bring this kind of visual theatricality; off the top of my head, I can only think of Gangrena Gasosa and Teatro Mágico , but they are very few, and we felt there was this "gap" in metal. Abroad, this isn't new; Ghost showed how much this visual appeal can help a new band reach the top. Of course, it all comes from the past, with Kiss , Alice Cooper , King Diamond , but after 2010 came Ghost, and a huge wave of European bands followed this trend. Here in Brazil, we wanted to be pioneers, and we feel that many doors are being opened because of it.
WM: Each member has their own character, with their own story. Where did this idea come from, and how did you work to develop these concepts?
TD: In order to discuss paganism from various different places while maintaining a certain "authority," we created the concept of the sect originating from a post-apocalyptic future to convey the message that each people must reconnect with their pagan roots and Earth religions, aiming to prevent the end of the world as we know it. With this in mind, we began to explore what the world would be like in that future. We created the characters, chose names that represent them on various levels of understanding, created symbols that also have their own meanings, the names of the clans, their histories, etc.
Therefore, we can explore these stories in different media; we'll bring them into music videos, costume changes, album artwork, and eventually comic books, short films—it's an ocean of possibilities that will be explored as the story evolves.
What I can say in advance is that we have at least 12 albums and several EPs planned, including provisional song titles and themes for each one. People just need to follow along, follow the band on audio and video platforms, and social media, and rest assured, there's a lot more to come.
