ALLIED VISION place Spain on the industrial map

By: Peter Marks

Release recently interviewed Oscar Storm of Spain's Allied Vision about his new album, influences and thoughts about countries, styles, industrial music and labels.

Future and technology
Allied Vision's new album contains many references to technology and alienation. This is both a window into Oscar Storm's own world view and a part of the band's musical approach.
- Allied Vision was born as the project where I could do what I wanted to do, where all the artistic elements that fascinate me could be expressed. Those elements are science fiction, futurism, technology, mystery and mysticism. The thing is: you use them or they use you, no one is completely independent but with technology and philosophy we can be more independent, more sophisticated and conscious. In a way, we can evolve in thought, and knowledge is raised. The music can be the vehicle to wake up, Oscar explains.
After releasing three albums, do you have any plans to initiate side projects; do you have any, which have thus far remained unknown?
- It is really complicated to have side projects as I run everything - as producer, label manager and owner of my audio store. I’d like to have more time to write more music. I've worked a lot to improve my label and this is getting interesting with the great promotion we are receiving in Germany via a club pool, we are expanding our name as never before.

No futurepop
The world of industrial music seems to be getting really poppy and Allied Vision are sticking to a very angry, disquieting sound. Any reasons for this?
- Yes absolutely! We are not a band attached to fashionable marketing, but a band with our own musical vision. Not many bands can say it these days. It is very important to keep our own style and feelings. I see music as art rather than anything else. We were angry on our previous albums, but with the new “O.S. Bandwidth”, I wanted to do something more polished but with energy. I am not angry, just energetic. I regret that the world of "industrial" is becoming poppy. I remember industrial was a symbol of innovation but it seems the scene is losing its identity, unfortunately.
What styles outside of the music you make do you listen to; which ones really impress you?
- I like movie soundtracks. I love the "Star Wars", "Alien", John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith soundtracks.
Much like many other bands that operate below the commercial radar, Allied Vision have had their share of label entanglements, Zoth Ommog being the most glaring.
- We have suffered quite much with label entanglements in the past, it was really depressing to be treated like that. Zoth Ommog had no respect for the bands. The best advise I can give to bands before signing to a label is to ask the bands currently working with the label how good or bad that label is. I suppose there are good labels out there. But not many.

Shouts from Spain, Mexico and Brazil
Some people seem to listen to bands like Allied Vision, Aghast View and Hocico for the novelty value IE: bands which are in countries that one does not expect to make this kind of music.
- Countries like Spain, Mexico and Brazil provide this kind of hard edge to the scene. I don’t know why we find these bands
from such countries, but someone had to shout out from our countries and we were part of that shout. I hope it never stops. Maybe we are reactions from the boring scene we find there, in my country Spain the scene is really undeveloped. I became a part of this scene in 1987.
Leading bands from traditional countries such as VNV Nation and Covenant are bringing electronic music closer than ever to the mainstream masses here in the United States, will Allied Vision ever be on, say, Saturday Night Live? I can just imagine the mayhem an appearance on the Late Show would cause.
- Well we're preparing a report of our new video clip for a nighttime TV show in Spain in a Sunday night in a month or so. I think the reaction will be positive. People want to see different things, so that's why I think it will be a very good idea. I've never seen an industrial report in Spain. These things are necessary to keep the pluralism of the music and open the field of the music which is really needed.