With nearly 25 years of experience, Engrupid Pipol has been pushing the boundaries of progressive instrumental metal, blending technical mastery with imaginative storytelling. Their latest album, Quadragenta at Finem Mundi, marks the band’s first fully conceptual work, exploring the collapse and rebirth of civilization through intricate compositions and diverse sonic textures.
By Sandra Pinto
In this interview, the trio discusses how they crafted a narrative without lyrics, the challenges of maintaining a live-playable trio format, and the philosophical and societal themes that inspired the music. From the incorporation of unusual instruments like the bombo legüero to the influence of cosmic alignment and AI-driven critiques, Engrupid Pipol reveal how dedication, collaboration, and nearly three decades of experience shaped one of the most ambitious projects of their career.
“Quadragenta at Finem Mundi” is your first conceptual album, narrating the collapse and rebirth of civilization. How did the idea for this story come about?
We wanted to do something different; we had already made two albums with songs that were not conceptually related, with diverse themes. This time, the writing process naturally led to the idea of a conceptual album. On the other hand, the theme of the album came from the feedback between our current context as a society. That's how the collapse of our society and the end of the world, as a seriously critical and playfully prophetic vision, became the concept our album needed. We imagined an Engrupid-style apocalypse, with these modern plagues, a universal reset, and the rebirth of life.
The album preserves the trio format without using overdubs that can’t be performed live. What were the biggest challenges and benefits of this approach during recording?
Probably the biggest challenge in maintaining the trio concept for recording the album is achieving a big, powerful surround sound without abusing overdubs and external instruments. Each instrument has to be heard clearly and has its own spatial space. Typically, on most heavy bands during guitar solos, you can hear a rhythm guitar in the background helping fill up and making the song sound nice and heavy. In our case, a second guitar does not exist. We made sure that the bass, a sometimes overlooked instrument in heavy music, sounds as powerful as possible so you can hear every little detail John Dai is playing and won’t even miss the sound of a second guitar.
As for whether there is any advantage, I think that our trio format helps us sound pretty good live. Since there are no vocals, it’s even simpler. As a band, it is important to us to sound as close to the album as possible when playing live. Today, many bands overuse programmed drums, autotune, and various other ways of embellishing a product. In our case, what you hear on the album is what you will hear live.
Each track explores different societal and technological themes, from consumerism to AI and nuclear war. How did you decide on the narrative order and thematic focus of each act?
It was a joint effort with the band. We had the idea for a concept album, and we already had demos for three songs, but they didn’t have titles yet. So, during a night of “theoretical rehearsal,” which is what we call a meeting that involves any kind of artistic creative process, we began to design the concept for the album. That’s where the idea of an apocalypse was born. We imagined each song could represent a different concept, a warning, a reflection of our global reality, and what the modern plagues might be.
Once we had all the songs composed, it was time to decide on the song titles, which, in our case, being instrumental music, are the narrative of the song, which turned out to be quite simple and intuitive. It was as if the songs were born for the concepts we needed. For the order, we knew that the album had to start with Tripel Ultimatum, which is a powerful song to open with and one of the songs that is not a “modern plague,” since the story tells of the last days of civilization, where we are the last post-apocalyptic survivors before final extinction. We also knew that the album should close with Aztral Configureited, a song that talks about the final alignment of the stars for the universal reset, and Ameba Emenens, a song that, due to its acoustic format, reflects the new beginning, without technology or electricity, just a lone amoeba.
So, guided by the music and without any chronological order, we arranged our four modern plagues: Voragine, in relation to consumerism, a world without pause, pollution, etc.; Animal Inteligenz, in relation to the use of artificial intelligence and decision-making by machines and the devolution of human intellect; Inspireichon Burn, in relation to the elites, who from the shadows and mad with power, press the nuclear button. And Vairal Madness, which speaks to us of the illusion of social media, the obsession of going viral and appearing successful and happy, as well as the methods of control and surveillance that operate covertly.
The use of unusual instruments like the bombo legüero and acoustic synthesizers adds depth to the album. How do you choose which sonic elements to incorporate in each piece?
The choice of sound elements is something that, in most cases, comes directly from our gut. They are simply arrangements that come to my brain when I listen to the songs; they resonate within me. The introduction of the leguero bass drum in Astral Configureited was born from the influence of the music of a Chilean progressive rock band called Los Jaivas, who fused instruments and musical ideas, many of them in ¾ time, typical of the indigenous cultures of South America, with rock. On the other hand, the idea of analog synthesizers was always present, since Engrupid Pipol is a band influenced by classic progressive rock rather than modern variants. To add synthesizers, we worked with a
friend of the band, Antonio Godoy, with whom we were in his studio, trying out different alternatives to the sections that needed to complement the soundscape.
With nearly 25 years of experience, how has the band’s collaboration and artistic vision evolved from your early works to this project?
The band started in 2000 under the name Sifilis. We were very young and unpretentious, where the important thing was just to have fun and play wherever we could, no matter what. Our songs were more like musical stories. Lots of riffs per song, trying not to repeat, lots of energy and overflowing creativity, but little coherent structure. The song would start here and end there, with too many melodies and riffs for the listener to remember. As Sifilis, we released two albums, “Sifilisacion” and “Paranoia en Paragua,” recorded almost in demo quality. At some point, around 2009-2010, we began to mature and decided to take things more seriously. By 2016, we released a new album as Engrupid Pipol called “Essenchial Engrupid Element.” This was not just a name change; it was the beginning of a new, more ambitious stage with short- and long-term goals and objectives. The experience of the previous years in life and as a band was reflected in more mature, better-crafted, and produced compositions. So was the studio work, with much more professional preparation and execution, as well as the quality of the studio.
“Ameba Emenens” closes the album on a hopeful note after chaos and destruction. How do you see the role of instrumental music in onveying complex emotions and narratives without lyrics?
As a band, we have always believed that music is a complex language in itself, without the need for lyrics. And in emotional terms, it is perhaps even more complete than what we can express in words. The transmission of emotions in music is quite subjective. Although we know that a major chord will be happy and a minor chord sad, it is impossible to reduce the musical message to just that. Sometimes music makes us feel something that we cannot describe with words. As an instrumental band, all we can do is suggest the journey (the narrative) to the listener through the title of the song, which is born from listening to it. However, that does not mean that the journey is mandatory. Each
person, from their own musical being, can also discover an alternative to our story. What is most important is that we feel the music we are making and playing, independent of the narrative we may offer. Our instruments are our way of expressing ourselves, and hopefully that comes through, and that can touch the listener without the need for lyrics.
“Tripel Ultimatum” introduces the story’s three survivors of a nuclear disaster. How do you approach storytelling purely through music and composition?
The first thing for us is to listen to the song that has been born from within. It comes from our unconscious, so the concept it will convey is usually unknown and must be deciphered. Once the song has been worked on for a period of time, it suddenly reveals itself to us and gives us its title; we then have the concept of the song. Music can be a highly complex language that goes beyond what our reason or logic can understand, and it is also a unique message for each listener, which is why my feelings may be the same or different from those of another person. We deliver our vision, our feelings, what the music conveyed to us, and we interpret it into a concept.
“Animal Inteligenz” offers a satirical take on AI and the rise of evolved animals and machines. What inspired this critique of technology and human intellect?
We are from a generation that was born without the internet or smartphones. We have seen these amazing tools appear, and now seeing the effects these have on future generations. Technology, when used wisely, can be of tremendous help in different areas of people’s lives. However, the global educational and cultural level is not keeping pace with technological advances. We are like monkeys with knives. Although AI is used wisely in some fields, in most cases, it makes us use our brains less and less to solve tasks. Worse still, it is being used in different creative areas, specific to human development, such as imagination and creativity. We are slowly creating an army of zombies that solve everything with AI, which has no capacity for questioning, critical analysis, or participation in decision-making.
The album combines progressive metal with acoustic textures and even death-metal influences. How do you balance these diverse styles while keeping a cohesive sound?
In the early days of the band, it wasn't something we cared much about. The songs from our first period together, when the band was called Sífilis, were a collage of many different parts, strung together one after the other without repeating many motifs; the idea was more to surprise you with a new part every couple of seconds rather than making a cohesive song. It was what we might call a musical story rather than a song, since the songs began in one part and ended in another. One of the things we changed when we decided to change our name and start a new phase as Engrupid Pipol was the way we composed. We started writing songs with fewer parts and began using more traditional compositional elements such as choruses and melodies, leitmotifs, intros, codas, development of ideas, etc. However, the idea of fusing different styles never went away, and it is part of the dynamism and originality of our compositions. What did change was the way we integrated and mixed these elements, putting the riffs at the service of the music and discarding ideas that, although interesting, entertaining, and musical, simply did not fit or were poorly assembled in the song.
Funding from the Chilean Ministry of Arts, Culture, and Heritage helped with production. How did this support impact the creative process and final sound of the album?
In terms of composition, it forced us to work a little faster than usual. Normally, we take the writing process slowly and let various ideas or arrangements mature or develop over time. This time, when we were awarded the grant, we only had three songs advanced and still had four songs to compose from scratch and about three months to go before entering the studio, which forced us to dive headfirst into composing and rehearsing so that, in a short time, we would not only have the compositions with all their arrangements, but also be ready to enter the studio and perform the songs better than ever before in our lives. It forced us to push ourselves to the limit as a team and as musicians. From a technical standpoint, the state’s contribution is essential. For the first time in our history, we had the opportunity to record in a world-class studio, Estudio del Sur. The recording room, control room, preamplifiers, microphones, equalizers, etc., are all top-of-the-line equipment that we had not been able to access before, and that finally allowed us to achieve the sound we were looking for: warm guitars, real drums with a room sound, and a powerful, devastating bass that does not go unnoticed.
“Vairal Madnez” is described as the most collaborative track. Can you share how this track came together and why it stands out for you?
I remember arriving at Kaztrol’s house, our guitarist, with some ideas with the guitar tuned to D. I showed them to him, and immediately new ideas began to emerge. I sang the riffs that came to my mind while he searched for them on the guitar. In this process, some mistakes happened that sounded better or gave birth to a new idea. On other occasions, we kept the original riff, or Kaztrol came up with a different idea, etc. It was a very productive night, and we composed a good part of the song. For his part, John Dai had already composed some riffs in D, which fit perfectly into the song. Of course, in the end, each of us added and modified different elements that enriched the song.
The album was created over three years with only three rough demos at the start. How did you manage the pressure and maintain creative focus during this intensive process?
Although our latest work, Engrupid Divais, was released in 2022, the compositional process for Quadragenta At finem Mundi did not begin immediately. John Dai, the band’s bassist, brought us Animal Intelegenz about a year after our last album had been released. Time passed, and we made Inpireichon Burn and some of Vorágine, but it wasn’t until we raised the funds to make the album that we got fully involved in the composition. That was a period of about three months, during which we were locked away working on the new compositions and arrangements. It forced us to give our best, both as people and as musicians. Those were very intense days, with a lot of work. We had to
put our daily activities on hold, ask for time off from our jobs, and hope for the understanding of our loved ones, while we devoted most of our time to focusing on getting the job done.
“Aztral Configureited” reflects on cosmic alignment and the rebirth of life. How do cosmic and philosophical ideas influence your music composition?
In Engrupid pipol, the three members of the band compose, each in their own particular way. I believe that the compositions, rather than being inspired by a particular theme or idea, arise unconsciously, as a reflection of what is happening in our lives. Several songs are humorous or lighthearted, especially on our early albums, as we have always liked the idea of laughing a little at everything and not being so serious in our themes. But life is much more than that, and difficult and reflective moments are part of it. In this way, much more introspective themes naturally emerge, oriented towards communicating with our souls and what they want to express. In the case of our new album, being conceptual in nature, it is the first time we have taken a decidedly more philosophical and critical approach. Once again, rather than a preconceived idea of a concept album, the album was born conceptual, as our realities and the current global context were expressed in our music. All we had to do was discover the message of each song.
How does Engrupid Pipol approach live performances of such intricate and conceptually rich material, especially considering the complexity of the compositions?
For us, playing live is the most important and gratifying thing about being in a band. We strive to sound the same or better than on our albums, which is why we rehearse our shows well in advance and are very well prepared when we take the stage. Part of our musical vision, as reflected in our last two albums, is to maintain the trio format live and not deliver material that cannot be played the same way on stage. That’s why the use of sequences is essential in songs that have synthesizers or other special effects recorded on them, in addition to the technical equipment necessary to achieve our sound. Nevertheless, it’s important that the songs are strong enough not to depend on these
sequences and can stand on their own by just us three playing our instruments. Sequences our just a little extra and never overshadow us. Being connected with each other and flowing with the music we make is essential in order to connect with the audience and give them a kick in the brain and all the energy that Engrupid Pipol projects.
Looking back on the album’s creation, what has been the most rewarding or surprising moment for the band during this journey?
Probably the most surprising moment was when we found out that we had won the Chilean government grant to finance almost the entire process of recording and distributing the album. We knew that our project was strong, but the level of bands applying and the competition is very high, so it is very difficult to win, and when we found out, we couldn’t believe it and jumped with joy, and immediately knew that we had a ton of work to do! The most rewarding thing is to see our work finally captured on an album, which made us give 110% as people and musicians. Tears, passion, hard work, sleepless nights, and brotherhood of 25 years are all embodied in our latest album, which is now finally available to anyone who wants to enjoy a good dose of progressive instrumental metal.
https://www.portaldisc.com/contenido/disco-engrupid-pipol-quadragenta-at-finem-mundi
