Interview:

Music is as old as language, and has been with mankind for a very long time. With music comes the live performance, and this was traditionally the only way music was experienced. Music served as a way to pass along myth and folklore as well as having a ritual function. There was a Greek predecessor to our Christian Satan figure named Dionysus. He was the god of sex, violence, and intoxication. The Dionysian rites were rituals that were intended to help integrate man’s beasts from within his psyche. They were a release valve for society. Heavy Metal concerts with their aggressive tonality, dark lyrics, and mosh pit are nothing more than a modern day Dionysian ritual. So music does indeed have a spiritual function because it is one of many ways people can transcend mundane life and experience a link with the divine. In the context of Metal music, it helps us to exorcise the dark aspects of our humanity in a healthy way. Another thing I should point out is that during the live performance, both the musician, and the listener are shifting in and out of consciousness, and in this momentary state they are free to experience the music and the ritual in a purely god-like fashion. What I mean is that when there is an experience without the interference of consciousness, we are truly experiencing life in the moment, and that is the definition of bliss.

“Music does indeed have a spiritual function because it is one of many ways people can transcend mundane life and experience a link with the divine.”
– Colin Davis, guitarist in Vile