EXCLUSIVE: Tim Pope on The Amenta's Return, Occasus Live, and Black Planet. Industrial Extreme Metal at it's peak.

 EXCLUSIVE: Tim Pope on The Amenta's Return, Occasus Live, and Black Planet


Devils Horns Zine sits down with Tim Pope ahead of an exclusive show — and a genuinely exciting future, as always with this band.

Watch the full interview here: https://youtu.be/O9R4eqn0KoM

There's a reason this one's an exclusive. The Amenta aren't just back on stages this year — they're back with the voice that started it all. Cesium 137, the vocalist who fronted 2004's Occasus, has rejoined the band, and with him comes a run of shows built around playing that debut in full for the first time in over two decades.


We sat down with founding member Tim Pope to talk through what that return actually means — not the easy nostalgia version, but the real one: relearning a record written twenty years ago, figuring out what a voice like that sounds like stepping back into itself, and deciding what comes next for a band that's never been interested in standing still.

The return

Pope walks us through how the Cesium 137 reunion came together, what's changed in how the band moves ahead with that powerhouse voice now versus in 2003, and whether this is a resurrection of the old Occasus-era sound or something else entirely wearing its skin.

Playing Occasus live, front to back

Two decades on, the band is relearning a record they made in their twenties. Pope gets into how the record has held up, how easily the magic flowed from the start — plus why the Occasus shows are landing alongside Ulcerate, a pairing that says as much about lineage as it does about a great bill.

Black Planet — the exclusive


This is where it gets real for us. Black Planet, next weekend, is the show this interview exists to hype — and Pope gives us the read on where it sits in everything else happening around the band this year, and what the set itself looks like on the night.

Essence Festival, October

From club-scale album shows to a festival stage — Pope talks through the excitement for Essence, and how The Amenta reads next to whatever else ends up on that bill.

The wider scene

The Berzerker are back too. We put it to Pope directly — is this an actual moment for Australian industrial metal, coincidence, or something else — and asked whether the term "industrial metal" still means anything close to what it meant when The Amenta started.


Legacy

Two decades, some heavyweight tour bills, and a debut album that's aged into a reference point rather than a relic. Pope reflects on where the touring history sits in how he thinks about the band's legacy, where Occasus actually sits in Australian extreme metal's story now versus when it dropped — and what The Amenta still has left to prove.

The Amenta play Black Planet next weekend — full Occasus set, full intent. Don't sleep on this one. They follow it up at Essence Festival in October.....and a record in the near future also!!!!

Full interview exclusive to Devils Horns Zine and Black Planet — link above. Share it, watch it, and get to Black Planet.

THE AMENTA

AS PART OF:

BLACK PLANET
25TH JULY TWO VENUES THREE STAGES 21 BANDS


O come, creatures of the night!
Bear witness to BLACK PLANET: A Celebration of Australian Dark Music.



Descending for the first time as a full-spectrum gathering of darkness, Black Planet hosts 3 stages across two iconic venues: The Bendigo Hotel & Nighthawks. Built for devotees of sonic extremity and shadow culture, this inaugural edition transforms the night into a living cathedral of sound, atmosphere, and chaos.

The night will be separated into 3 spaces:

The Ossuary (Bendi Main Room) - A shrine to brutality and all things heavy
The Void (Bendi Upstairs) - A chamber devoted to noise, ambient, drone and experimental
The Black Hearts Lodge (Nighthawks) - A sanctuary of goth, darkwave, post-punk and nocturnal romance


Headlining Black Planet 2026 is THE AMENTA - One of metal's most uncategorizable acts, THE AMENTA have been synthesising the ugliest aspects of death, black, and noise into a unique maelstrom for over 25 years. Well-known across the world for their intense live shows, THE AMENTA combine speed, anger, and a weird sound with smoke and strobes to create a brutal, overwhelming experience.



Joining them across the 3 stages are: Mammon’s Throne, Hybrid Nightmares, Victoria K, Küntsquäd, Bentham’s Head, Knife, Npcede, Živa, Inaugural, Chiffon Magnifique, Blood In The Champagne, Dystropolis, Palliative, Blood of a Pomegranate, Military Position, Anocht, AnnaBortionist, Serene Ailment, Angellis Taliuu, and Koolooz.

THE AMENTA LINKS:






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SO GRAB A TICKET ASAP AND START WORKING OUT HOW YOU CAN SEE EVERY BAND...SOMEHOW



KILLER PRICES TO BE HONEST;
Both venues: $75+BF
The Bendigo Hotel Only: $45+BF
Nighthawks Only: $35+BF






AND IN OCTOBER THE GLORIOUS ESSENCE FESTIVAL IN CANBERRA:


ALL PICS ARE FROM THE ARTIST OR BAND'S SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES


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