Interviews

Today I spoke to Raw from Nightgrave – Experimental Black metal from New Delhi India. We spoke about the Black metal scene in New Delhi, Musical Equipment in India and much more – check it out

* Can you tell me a little bit about life in New Delhi?
Life’s hard. It would be a huge surprise if it wasn’t. Living, at least, in the capital of a country gone awry would seem to have a few perks. And they are there, it’s just that the prevalent shitty stuff far outweighs the handful of pleasures out here. Ludicrous traditions, arrogance in ignorance is sadly the norm. Mainstream art is guaranteed to be utter shit. Clubs, pubs only serve the purpose of dishing out exorbitant prices and cringeworthy bollywood hip hop at all times. Live performances mostly revolve around some douchebag pressing play on his laptop and sadly, the hapless, helpless youth eat that up because they have hardly ever known or understood the crushing depth of originality or maybe the mainstream media has them ever so successfully blinded. And the rate at which dumb cunts in the country reproduce is just off the charts. There’s a good chance of getting stuck in a jam whenever you plan to drive. The tube is always a better option but that too is massively crowded more often than not. People aren’t all that bad though or so I would like to think. Nature is within reach. Food’s good too.

* Is there much of a black metal scene in New Delhi?
If there is one, I haven’t seen it. Although I did catch a few black-ish acts about a year ago. It was in a small pub in Vasant Vihar. I can’t seem to place their names but a couple of those bands were good. I don’t think any of them were from Delhi though.

* Are there Indian brand guitars and musical instruments available to play Black metal or do you have all the brand names we use in the USA?
I haven’t been able to invest much time into trying out Indian guitar brands. I don’t think there are any good ones but I could be wrong about this. For now, what I’ve got is a Schecter Demon-7, an Ibanez Rg and a Takamine acoustic.

* How about recording studios? Many bands record at home using their laptop but some people prefer hiring a recording studio – what do you guys use?
As of now, it’s a home studio set up with a fairly decent effects processor running through an equally decent DAW.

* How did you find out about Black Metal?
The introductory phase was initiated by the legendary Emperor. Thank human for the interwebs.

* Which bands are your influences?
Plenty – Emperor, Drudkh, Katatonia, Neurosis – to name some

* Have you seen any European Black metal bands live?
Satyricon and Enslaved about a decade ago. Outside Black, seen Meshuggah, Megadeth in recent times.

* What are your favorite Indian Metal Bands?
I’m sure there are some good ones but nothing springs to mind.

* Can you recommend some Indian black metal bands for our readers to check out?
‘Kouros’, my erstwhile project. It’s not specifically black metal but it somewhat stems from it. ‘Fragarak’, blackened death.

* Do you play live at all? If so do you have any plans to tour India?
Since it’s a solo project, a gig is something that would require a live line-up. I’m looking forward to working towards that and making touring possible as and when the upcoming album is completed.

* How did your record deal with Transcending Obscurity come about?
The usual process, I sent them the links and hoped they liked the tunes which, as it turns out, they did. Mr Choksi got in touch promptly.

* What can we expect from Nightgrave in 2017?
A couple of full lengths and a couple of EPs.

* Any final words to your friends and fans?
Thank you very much for the support.

https://nightgrave.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/nightgraveofficial

This week I spoke to the guys in Sol Sistere – Atmospheric Black Metal from Chile – we talked about South American UFO hot spots, The Chilean Black Metal Scene, surviving some serious Earthquakes and much much more – read on!

* So you guys are from Santiago Chile right? Chile has had a great and long history of classic Death metal bands – but is there a very strong Black metal scene there at all?

Yes, we’re from Santiago, the capital of Chile, which is located at the very center of the country.

As you mentioned, the Chilean death metal scene (same as the thrash scene) dates back to the 90’s, and it’s still strong in the whole country, especially in the old school sound. Regarding the black metal scene, it’s quite rich now, but it’s kind of new, something that has been developing in the recent years, and it’s mostly focused in the center and south of Chile. The sound of the black metal bands is very diverse, you can find mostly dark and raw oriented music, but also some melodic and very few atmospheric projects.

* How did you first hear about Black metal and what was the first band that really won you over? For me it had to be either Burzum or Darkthrone
Actually, I don’t remember the exact moment I first listened to black metal, but I do remember the first band and album that I was addicted to was Darkthrone’s Transilvanian Hunger. I think that album is relevant until today and somehow, even when our music is mostly related to newer or more melodic stuff, you can listen that influence in the speed of our songs or the type of sad melodies of the guitar. Also, other bands that were important back in the day were old Ulver and Emperor, but I’d like to highlight the Swedish bands I later got to know, like Sacramentum or Dissection, which is still one of my favorite bands, and Dawn, who created one of my favorite albums, at least on of my top 5, which is Slaughtersun. In our music, you can hear a lot of that stuff, while trying to keep a modern approach to black metal.

* How did you get your record deal with Hammerheart?
Well, we got the deal in the simplest way: writing an email and asking. Actually, the process of looking for a label was long and it implied writing to a lot of labels of all sizes to see if they were interested in our album, which was already finished. Most of them ignored our emails, as you can expect, but we got a few replies. Of the ones who replied, most of them told us they weren’t accepting new bands or they simply weren’t interested, but even when it took them some time, Hammerheart Records were the only ones who got interested and wanted to hear the whole album. After a while, they told us they thought the album was very good and they were interested in releasing it. That was great, because HHR was in fact the biggest label on our list, so the fact that they accepted us was a big success.

* Have you been pleased with the promotion of the album so far?
Yes, we think HHR did a great job because we’ve gathered more than 40 reviews and a level of notoriety we couldn’t have gotten ourselves. It’s hard to enter the global scene when you come from South America and are actually still based in Chile, so having the support of a European label, especially an old and renowned one, helps us a lot to get noticed. We are still a very small act, but we feel that the reach of this first full-length was a great start for our career as a band.

* You guys sing a lot about life death and rebirth – do any of the band have any pagan beliefs? Wicca? Odinism? Incan?
Not particularly, but those are all interesting topics. Also, when you read a little about the beliefs of different ancient cultures, you see a lot of things in common, like praising the sun, considering it as a deity or a symbol of birth, death, and the cycles of life. That’s in part what inspires our band’s name.

* Is there much religious repression in Chile like many other South American countries have?
Well, there’s a lot of Christianity here, mainly Catholicism. But I wouldn’t say there’s really repression now, there’s freedom of religion, even when there’s basically no other religion besides Christianity, e.g., the number of other believers, such as Muslims, Jews or Buddhists here is so low that it’s probable you won’t see any of them more than once a year. The different churches (catholic and protestants) always raise their voices when it comes to decide on important matters, such as abortion, gay rights, things like that, but I wouldn’t say it’s different from what happens in the US, I mean, they can’t do anything besides propaganda and try to persuade their believers.

I remember that a catholic priest wanted to put pressure on the authorities to cancel a Deicide show back in 2005 because he was worried about the lyrics, the album covers, and the whole satanic gimmick. I recall he even wanted to forbid their entrance to the country, but he obviously didn’t have any right or authority to do so. He thought he would see a black mass on stage or something, but after the gig (which obviously wasn’t cancelled or anything), he then realized it was all just a music show and nothing more. I bet there are guys like him everywhere, but he just had access to the press.

* Are you familiar with this American TV show Ancient Astronauts? If not the tv show is about the belief that Aliens came and influenced the evolution of humanity many times in the past. Many of the historians on the show belief that the Aliens spent much time in South America – do you have any thoughts on this?
Some sectors of Chile and South America are known for being ‘hot spots’ (places where a lot of UFO sightings take place). To a large extent, this is due to the nature of our geography, our climate, and our location on the planet, that’s why we are very privileged to have a quality sky for astronomical observation. This way, indigenous peoples of South America were nourished from this same sky, and through the observation of it, they developed beliefs expressed through their myths, legends, and ceremonies, which altogether created a very special and powerful world view. These beliefs were related to a power and knowledge that come from beyond the stars, and they have been passed on in one way or another for generations, and even though this ancient world view has been lost in modern society, there is still a lot of interest to study phenomena which are hard to explain in a rational way. This is a topic so rooted in our blood that, for instance, in Chile there is an organism called CEFAA, (Committee for the Study of Abnormal Aerial Phenomena) that is an official governmental agency and part of the DGAC (General Direction of Civil Aviation), which is dedicated to the study of aerial phenomena categorized as unidentified flying objects (UFO); and among all case studies, there is a great number referred to openly as UFO (as in the ship meaning of the term), because there seems to be no other explanation. If we are talking about extraterrestrials or beings from other realities, that’s a separate issue, but if we can conclude something for sure, is that it seems to be clear that something is going on in our sky since ancient times until today.

* I remember Chile has had some serious earthquakes in its time – have you or any of the band ever been caught in any?
Yes, we have a lot of earthquakes, and it’s so common, that we usually consider the non-catastrophic ones as simple tremors, even when they’re actually stronger than the ones in Nepal, Haiti or Italy. Chile holds the record of the strongest and worst earthquake in history (Valdivia, 1960. Richter scale 9.5), and the country is really prone to telluric movements, so we, who were all born before 1985, have lived at least three major earthquakes. Our buildings are pretty well-built, though, with anti-seismic technology, so the damages are mainly in rural areas and/or near the coastline, because of potential tsunamis. Santiago is not near the coast, so we’ve never been caught in a tsunami. Luckily, all of our homes have resisted the different earthquakes.

* How often do you guys play live shows?
Quite often, actually. During 2016 I think we played a gig every month, sometimes twice. We tried to play in different cities. But now we’re resting from live gigs and we’ll work on our next album. We have several songs and we have to rehearse them and look after every detail before entering the studio, which is not scheduled yet, there are no specific dates, so I guess we also have a lot of planning to do, and temporarily stopping our live presentations is important to do it right.

* Do you have any plans to tour countries like Brazil, Argentina and Peru?
Currently, there are no specific plans, but it would be great and we’re definitely interested. We have talked to a couple of Argentinean guys, and I think that’s probably the first place we’ll visit, especially the cities of Argentina which are closer to the Chilean border, but it would be awesome to play in Buenos Aires, which is a massive city. Regarding the other South American countries, I think we have more fans in Colombia than in Brazil, for instance. So maybe that’s another possible destination for a tour.

* Any plans to tour the USA?
Again, we’d love to do it, but we don’t have concrete plans yet. So maybe there are promoters reading this who are interested, and if that’s the case, we’re open to discuss this and actually we would be very exited.

* Do many of the big name Black metal bands Dimmu Borgir, Watain, Mayhem, Marduk etc ever play in Chile?
Yes, all of the bands you mentioned have played in Chile and we have this kind of concerts all the time. In fact, Mayhem was here last October playing the whole De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album, and it was pretty solid. And Borkganar is playing for the first time in Chile next March.

We haven’t been able to share the stage with any of these big bands yet, but the bands we’d really love to play with will probably never come here because they’re not that big, I’m talking about names like Der Weg Einer Freiheit, Wode, The Great Old Ones, Void Omnia, and a long etcetera.

* What can we expect from Sol Sistere in 2017?
We are planning to record our next full-length. As I mentioned before, we don’t really have dates for our new album, but I can tell you it’s going to be similar in style as our first one, but more diverse at the same time. We’ll keep all the atmospheric and melodic elements, and we’ll show a few new tricks.

We’re also planning a short European tour in mid 2017, mainly in Eastern Europe. I can’t give you details by now, but we’re still working on getting dates and talking to promoters.

* Any final words to your fans?
Thank you for this interview and thanks to all the fans who support our music in one way or another. We’ll give you a great new album and we hope to see you on the road.

Today I spoke with the guys in Ordinul Negru – in case you have been living under a rock for the last 11 years these Romanians have been making some of the best Black metal you are going to hear in all of Europe – scroll to the bottom of the page to hear their latest masterpiece “Sorcery of Darkness”

* The name Ordinul Negru mean Black order in English? Is this a magickal path or some occult reference ?
The name represents the hidden, the essence of black metal, an eclectic cult only for a few devoted entities not for the masses, it is a personal approach, we do this for ourselves, for the sake of being alive in an environment that builds shells. This is our primary goal regarding this project, of course we interact with individuals that appreciate what we are doing, we like to play live now and then, we are happy if we receive good words and our albums are spreading into musical world, but we don’t want this to develop into a full-time job, it’s only for the soul because in our opinion this is the true statement of the art: for the sake of art not for the sake of an economic development.

* How is the Black metal scene in Romania these days as opposed to before the fall of Communism
Ironically it is less popular than it was in the nineties…there are fewer bands, but the quality has risen meanwhile…I don’t know if there are possibly ten (black metal) active bands in the scene right now.

* Do you remember how you discovered Black metal? What was the first band you heard that totally blew your mind?
I had a small group of friends and a colleague in school from whom I discovered black metal…I don’t remember exactly but I think the very first black metal album I listened was “Blood Ritual” from Samael…but also the very first releases from the Norwegian scene blew me away, and I still like and listen today to that music…Darkthrone, Mayhem, Emperor…and the second wave Ulver, Satyricon, Arcturus, In the woods…

* You guys have been extremely prolific with your song writing and musical releases – what drives you to be so productive – many bands do not even manage 3 albums in 10 years let alone 7 albums and numerous EP releases in 9 years
I think the passion to express ourselves, as I said we do not look for commercial success, we enjoy the process of composing, doing a pre-production at rehearsals, thinking about the songs, the lyrics, the graphic concept …taking pictures or working with professional photographers…things like that, if you are not under pressure for releasing something you are doing things naturally, without being something artificial, or because it has to be done and to be out at a certain date.

* From memory you did all the vocals up until 2015? Why the change? Do you feel more free now just focusing on the other parts of being in a band?
I just wanted to expand the project, and S is a friend of mine and a good vocalist, so I thought it will be something new and and a different approach.

* I see on your facebook you guys play live with extra members? Do you see the band as a touring entity? or would you rather focus on only playing Special events?
Well now we are a five-piece band, it developed through time, it was nothing planned, actually I wanted to record “Sorcery of Darkness” with Andrei Jumuga on drums and S on vocals, and then to work alone again for another material and to ask them for sessions again…but in the mean time we received some offers to play live and I liked the atmosphere inside this newly formatted group, so we decided to become a band, to play and record together new stuff.

* Your town is Timisoara correct? How is the music scene there? What sort of jobs do you and the guys in the band have so that you can create music?
S lives in Brasov, that is in the middle of the country, and the rest of us yes, we live in Timisoara, that is in the west part of Romania close to the border with Hungry and Serbia.The music scene is pretty decent, we have good stoner/post rock and jazz bands, but into metal or extreme metal territory there are only a few “old” guys that are still around.

Job-wise we are quite different… some are working in the corporate business, one is a professor at the University, others are freelancers as tattoo-artist or working in a musical studio; it’s interesting when we meet late at night how we transform to the other existential personality/dimension and unleash black cords into the rehearsal’s room-air.

* I know that in western Romania there are 3 main dialects spoken Romanian Hungarian and German? Is this why you included some lyrics in German on the Sorcery of Darkness release?
Actually S has German citizenship as he lived there many years, so there has been some musical passages that I though will sound better if he will sing them in German language, there is nothing more to that…also the rest of that song (In ceas de noapte) has Romanian lyrics, it was an experiment…on the new album I don’t think we will do it again, the lyrics will all be in English.

* Historically has there been much bad blood between Romanians Hungarians and Germans?
It depends who is writing that history, in the region we live in there has never been a big problem between nationalities, as far as I know we are the only city in Europe to have in three languages a state theatre: Hungarian, German and Romanian… this is one example; you can also study in this three languages(and others) University degree included…so the bad blood sometimes is provoked by others, maybe occult forces from outside of the country that have strategical interest in this area or left/right side extremists who are taking themselves too serious or have nothing else worth-living to do.

* Have you done much touring in Western Europe yet? If so what are your favorite cities to play?
With Ordinul Negru we played only in Romania until now, with other bands I toured more…I don’t know there have been many great places were I played…in China I had a great time last year for example… festivals I like also because I have the chance to play for bigger audience and meet cool peple…Hell Fest, Party Sun or Kilkim Zaibu in Lithuania (probably my all time fave festival).

As cities Paris, I remember it was a very nice experience.

* What can we expect from Ordinul Negru in 2017?
Well hopefully an European tour in march as far as I know from our booking agency; right now there are being made the last preparation before we announce the country’s/cities we will be in.

Also a new album definitely…we are working very hard in that direction these days.

* Any final words for your friends and fans?
Thank you very much for your attention and support!

The Furor are a great Black/ Thrash / Death band out of Perth Western Australia one of the most remote cities in the world. I spoke to main man Disaster this week about life in Australia, the emerging metal scene in China and other parts of Asia and inspiration found in bleak post apocalyptic films. Read on

* You guys come from Perth Western Australia one of the most isolated cities in the world. Do you think that’s a blessing or a curse for the band?
It probably leans more towards the curse side of things I’d say, but it’s still ok, we have enough of a scene here in Australia to keep us busy, and most of the motivation to do this comes from inside anyway. The biggest downside is travel expenses-It costs us A LOT in airfares to leave our hometown Perth, which coincidentally is the most isolated capital city in the world. Touring in Australia can be difficult – eg not too many cities to play, long travel times etc and to get to another country, we pay 4 times as much as anyone else.

When you see an Australian band touring Europe or America, it’s a display of pure heart, because you know they’ve spent their everything to get there. I’m lucky enough to have toured the world a few times already, but many Australian bands unfortunately never make it out into the world. People always seem interested that we are black metal band based in Australia, I guess it’s a novelty to Europeans, but I don’t reflect on it. I just write the music I enjoy. Geography doesn’t really influence my songwriting.

* How did you guys get into Black metal? what was the gateway band or artists for you? How does a “grim and frost bitten” genre of music that started in Northern Europe translate to people living in Australia?
I would generally say Australian Black Metal has more of a Thrash or Death metal influence. That dry, barbaric, straightforward in your face intent is what defines it much of the time. Sure we have bands that hang our in the fog and sing about nature and stuff, but generally I think Aussie Black Metal is more militant in approach. More like the Canadian bands. We don’t have much history to sing about, so often we just sing about WAR and DEVASTATION. Plain and Simple. The bands that turned me on to extreme metal were Napalm Death, Bolt Thrower, Morbid Angel, Terrorizer, Bestial Warlust, Destroyer 666, Angelcorpse, Mayhem, Impaled Nazazrene, Marduk, Impiety, Absu etc I first heard Death/Extreme Metal in 93 and continued from there. It was obviously the most vibrant and interesting music choice.

* How hard is it for you guys to tour down there? I know there are great distances between all the major cities? Is touring even something The Furor does? Many black metal bands don’t tour in the traditional sense but choose to play ‘events’?
The Furor has been inactive on the live front for 12 months now, but we toured Australia a lot between 2004- 2007. We did national Australia tours with Behemoth, Marduk and Nile, plus approximately 70 shows in our home town. I like playing live more than anything,but…….. Touring is a huge fuck around in Australia. A very expensive undertaking. Driving between shows is probably more trouble than it’s worth, so we fly around this vast country of ours, and that is expensive. Plus you can only line up about 5 shows for a tour, so making consistent money is very tricky. I was blown away by how easy it was to tour around Europe. Their definition of ‘hard travel’ is laughable by Australian standards. They have the world market in their backyard.

* As a 2 piece band how do you guys deal with playing live shows?
We don’t play live anymore because it’s too hard to find willing members. The lineup was stable for the first 5 years, but members left the band due to lack of enthusiasm. I reformed a 3 piece lineup for some shows last years, but again, the members could not commit. So I moved on too. I have other bands now that are more active than The Furor. The general lineup is myself on drums and vocals, ‘SOMEONE’ on guitar and ‘SOMEONE’ on bass.

It has varied quite a bit over the years.

* What’s been the biggest live show to date you guys have played? and How was the band received?
The biggest and best live show I’ve played with The Furor was probably with Behemoth in Sydney in 2006. Only bout 300 crammed into a club, but there was great energy. That was on their Demigod tour when their popularity was huge! I’ve played much bigger shows with other bands though. Germany…Wacken, With Full Force fest, Rock am Ring, Rock im Park, Pulp Summerslam in the Phillipines, Dubai Desert Rock fest, these were by far the biggest shows I’ve ever played, 50,000 people plus. A huge buzz. I love it.

* What’s the Black metal scene like in Perth? I have had friends in the death metal scene (in the 90s) tell me they are lucky to draw 40 people to a show yet when a big name band like Bolt Thrower or Carcass come to town 1000s of people show up? Why do you think that is? Do you think Perth people have an attitude..”oh they are from over seas they must be good or they are local they can’t be good”? or is it something else?
People generally do come out for the bigger bands of course, but the turnouts for our local bands on a weekly basis are quite good, bout 100ppl for the average weekend show. Sometime twice a week, every week….not bad for a bumfuck isolated town! A lot of it comes down to the promotion, or what else is on that weekend etc There is a large group of people who ONLY come our for International bands and know little about the local scene, because promotion of the local bands is slim I suppose, or local bands don’t have the same quality as touring bands?? Maybe… Many people can’t afford to see every show, so they just pick the big ones.

* Being closer to Asia than the USA and Europe have the band formed ties with say the metal scenes in Korea? China? Singapore ? Malaysia etc?
Yes, I’m not sure you’re aware, but I also play drums in Impiety, one of Asia’s longest running Black/Death Metal bands. In my years touring Asia with Impiety, I’ve made many strong contacts throughout Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, The Philippines and China. We played all these places and I can assure you, the scene is very active and the bands kick arse.

The Asian scene is often overlooked in the world scheme of things. I was impressed with the intensity of it when I saw it first hand. Not only the metal scene, but Asia is an amazing place to travel in general, so much diversity and history.

* Have any of the band visited the USA before and what did they think of it? Did they enjoy it?
I’ve never toured USA before unfortunately!! That’s one of my dreams actually. People tell me it’s a great place to tour. They say it can be tough, but ultimately, VERY WORTHWHILE.

* When I think of Perth and Armageddon I think of the film “These final hours” an end of the world movie filmed in Perth..have you seen it – if so what are your thoughts?
No I haven’t seen that before? This is the first I’ve heard of it?? I’m a big fan of films AND the apocalypse, so I’ll be sure to check it out.

* Speaking of end of the world / Post Apocalyptic films do you have a favorite?
The Day After was a great one, we used to watch it for inspiration. I’m a big fan of the George Romero Zombi films, very bleak and apocalyptic stuff there. The Quiet Earth from New Zealand was a good one too. The Bronx Warriors Ha! Those 80’s Italian action films set in America were great!

* Your new album is called “Cavalries of the Occult” Do any of you guys practice in the occult arts? If so which ones? and what results have you seen so far?
No I don’t personally practice any Occult Arts, although I believe there can be worth to it. The universe is wired up in a very mysterious way, and with the right knowledge, I believe you can attract certain circumstances and tap into non local powers. That’s my intuition anyway. I’ve not looked into it too deeply. I’m too busy playing music.

I’ve had some very bizarre transcendental experiences on Magic Mushrooms and DMT, so I’ll believe almost anything. Almost…. The term Occult in conjunction with the artwork featured on the cover, seemed perfect. The Furor’s music definitely has a dimension of ‘Occultishness’ to the sound, a violent bombardment of sinister evil.

* What was the recording process like for “Cavalries of the Occult” – do you go to a studio or prefer to record with a home set up?
I recorded everything at home on my own computer. The drums were recorded live in my rehearsal space, and guitars were tracked at a friend’s house. The final mix was done by Nizam Aziz at studio 47 in Singapore. Nizam and myself have a long history together. We toured and played in Impiety for a few years, he’s mixed 5 of Impiety’s previous releases which were great. It was very easy to work with him because of our history together, he knows my style of music extremely well!

* How are the songs written – since you are a drummer and a guitarist, do you start with a guitar riff or a good drum pattern first?
I always begin with guitars. I write enough riffs for an clever arrangement, all guitars, then I write lyrics/vocals, then drums are the last thing to be added. I’ll demo the songs with myself on all instruments, then I write it out for the members to learn. I think our music is actually quite riff based. Some think it’s mostly drums, but I’d beg to differ. Mindless brutality doesn’t interest me too much, even super fast extreme drumming can bore me. I need to hear riffs with intention and a story. The riffs carry the song.

* Was it always your plan to drum and sing? Would you ever want to step from behind the kit at all?
I originally started drumming and singing in 1997 with my previous band PAGAN. Then I wanted to do it for the Furor years later. I love doing vocals and writing lyrics, I always have. It can be physically demanding to do drums and vocals simultaneously, but it’s rewarding. It looks insane and it seems to command respect from people. I also sing in a Black/Thrash band called BLOODLUST. It’s great to play a show as vocalist, it gives you a whole different angle. I mosh my ass off when I’m doing vocals alone. You can throw your whole body into it, unlike doing drums and vocals.

* Do you guys have a ‘bucket list” of shows you want to play any where in the world? if so let’s hear them.
Not specifically, but yes of course, we take our music seriously and want to go to as many places as we can manage. USA tour would be great, I’d love to see your country in full.

* Any final words to your friends and fans?
Check out the new album ‘Cavalries of the Occult’, soon to be unleashed on Transcending Obscurity records. Thanks for the support thus far and I promise to do my best making the sickest music possible. Hailz!!! Urghhh!!!!

I spoke with Roel from the Dutch band Soulemission today – if you like your black metal with Dissection and Emperor influences then check these guys out.

* How did your record deal with Black Lion records in Sweden happen?
We sent out quite a few promo packages to metal labels. There were labels, also one bigger one, that showed interest but nothing really materialized. One day I saw someone on Facebook mentioning the band Hyperion. I checked them out, liked what I heard and then I saw they were on Black Lion Records. I just sent them 2 songs and almost immediately got a reaction that they liked our material and wanted to sign us. So that worked out great. It’s cool to have this album finally released.

* How did you get Niklas from the Shining to do vocals on Seas of Emptiness? Did you guys work together in the studio or did you just do everything over the internet? If you did indeed work together how did you find him to be in real life – I know a lot of people get mad at the guy (which he loves)
Niklas is a longtime friend of Benny, they also work together in Shining.

We thought that “Seas of Emptiness” would fit perfect with his type of vocals, and it worked out great! He recorded his vocal parts in Sweden and then send it to us, easy as that.

I understand if people have difficulties with him but he is a good friend of us and a professional in his job.

* Was it a deliberate choice to not have a drummer in the band? How do you plan your songs? Computers? drum machine?
The way this band started out is that Benny and myself had an idea to make some good extreme metal with variety in it. We threw some riffs around and recorded this at Benny’s home studio with a computer drum program. After this we asked Michel to join on vocals. We looked around for drummers but it’s hard in our neighbourhood to find one that fits our style. So we utalized the skills of Menthor (Enthroned), another friend of Benny, and he did an amazing job. Live we will use a session drummer and bassist for now.

* How do you guys write your songs? Does it start with a guitar riff? A lyric? An idea for a mood?
It always starts with riffs, yes. I have a riff library on my computer and I store riffs that could go together in a song. Then I’ll bring that to Benny and we record it decent on his computer. He puts the computer drums under it, then we check if it goes together with some of his riffs and that’s how we write. When the music is finished Michel will come up with the lyrics.

* What made you guys want to play black metal as opposed to say traditional metal or thrash metal?
We already played in Thrash and Death metal bands so now it was time for Blackmetal….just kidding! I don’t really see our music as pure Black metal. I think it also has elements of Death/Thrash and traditional metal. But of course Michel’s voice is pretty Black metal. What we wanted to do is play a style that was not too limited. We wanted to create strong moods, dark melodies and dynamics but still be raw. We especially like the Scandinavian scene from the nineties because a lot of those bands have these elements. So it was just a matter of playing the music we like and not care about being current or trendy.

* Does the name Soulemission mean in English Soul Mission? Do you believe in life after death? in past lives?
We threw around lots of bandnames and Michel came up with Soulemission. It’s Soul and Emission glued together. You can see it as the process of dying, the soul leaving the body which a lot of people believe. But also the outpouring of our souls into our music.

I believe in Live after Death as being an amazing live album by the one and only Maiden haha! None of us believe in religious fairytales, we don’t need that in our lives.

* Michel has been in Cirith Gorgor and Roel was in the classic band Prostitute Disfigurement when you guys formed Soulemission what did you set out to do different from your previous bands?
Well Benny was also in Prostitute Disfigurement. Him and I go way back and we’ve always been a great team. On stage, in the studio and in the bar! We had a great time in Prostitute Disfigurement and experienced a lot of cool things. The only thing I was missing was being able to spread out musically. So now we can use the occasional acoustic guitar, a synth here and there. That’s very important for me. Because I listen to a lot of different stuff.

*Eindhoven has always been a great city for metal – are all of you guys from Eindhoven or have you come from other parts of Holland?
Benny is from Eindhoven, Michel has been living in Eindhoven for a long time now and I grew up and live in a town next to Eindhoven. Of course it has a great metal history because of the Dynamo bar and festival but there aren’t a lot of metal bands from Eindhoven that made it big. Eindhoven is more famous for it’s rock bands.

* Did any of the band attend Eindhoven metal meet in 2016 ? if so what did you think? I used to attend some of the Dynamo metal festivals in the 90s – you dutch guys know how to host a great party!
Benny attends the festival every year, mostly for his job (sound engineer). It’s a great festival and always nice to meet up with a lot of people from the business again.

* Have you guys played many live shows yet? Are you planning to tour? if so what would be the dream cities for Soulemission to play?
We did two try out shows last summer. One with Dutch band Carach Angren which went great. We are hoping to play more. We are signed to Doomstar booking agency so that’s already a step in the right direction. We don’t have a preference for certain cities but of course for certain festivals…because that’s where you can show yourself to a big audience.

* Any final words for your friends and fans?
I know there are a shitload of bands nowadays and it’s hard to be recognized as a new band but if you like some challenging, varied, exciting extreme metal please take a moment to check out our band. Please leave us a reply and spread the word. And we’ll be eternally grateful! www.facebook.com/soulemission

I spoke with the artist Severoth this week read on to hear about life in the Ukraine, conflict with the Russians, his black metal influences and much more

* You are based in the Ukraine correct? How is life there? Please tell our readers what its like
– Hi, Yes, I’m from Ukraine. Well, I don’t lived in other countries to compare, so I’d say all is OK. At least I’m still alive.

* Your province is Dnipropetrovsk Oblast correct? My Ukrainian friends say this is the big industrial part of the country –  Birmingham England (the industrial part of England) has spawned some of the best metal bands in the world ? (Black Sabbath, Judas Priest etc) do you think coming from an Industrial place makes you become more creative as an artist?
Yes, I live in Dnipro.

This is big industrial city indeed, but I don’t think that this inspires me somehow… I don’t very like big amounts of people (and people at all) and prefer to be in solitude or with my family. I feel much better when I go to my special places outside town or in my journeys through Carpathian Mountains.

* One of my favorite bands Drudkh is also from the Ukraine – why do you think so much good Black metal comes from the Ukraine and Eastern Europe these days?
I think this is connected to history of our land. It filled with betrayals and blood. Our language was forbidden more than 30 times (and they’ve done it. Many people here speak Russian…) Countries tried to occupy our lands for generations (and they did it too with soviet union until 1991). In 1920s  Soviets killed mostly all Ukrainian traditional musicians and then many poets who write in Ukrainian language. They did Holodomor in 1932-1933. I think we have much hatred in our hearts. Good reason to play BM, heh?

* Countries like Poland still have a very strong Catholic influence in the society (probably why so many “satanic” bands come from there) is The Ukraine a Catholic strong hold too?
We have strong influence of church on people, but this is orthodox church. Some catholic influence we have too. in Western Ukraine.

* Is there much tension between people from the Ukraine and Russians? Living in America it is not easy to see through the propaganda of the mainstream media to know what is really going on there.
We have war in country. They started this war. I consider Russians as enemies. That’s all.

* What subjects do you sing about?
I’d call it “Nature Philosophy”. Lyrics are just my minds while I walking among forests and mountains. Also Ukrainian classical poetry influenced me heavily.

* Which bands inspired you to become a Black metal musician?
Burzum

* How do you write your songs? Do you start with a keyboard part? A guitar riff? or is it more the idea to create a “mood”?
Definitely a guitar riff. Often I hear some melodies in my head and then I pick them on guitar.  All keyboard layers I do after guitars are done.

* As a one man project do you have any plans to play live in the future? If so would you play with backing tracks or would you prefer a live band?
I don’t think that there would be some live performances of Severoth. My other project MOROK has much more chances to do live shows. I know some good friendly musicians, so gather a live line up would be easy to do. Also I already play live as drummer in Endless Battle.

* Have you traveled to many countries outside the Ukraine? If so what were your favorites?
I was in Latvia once. We play gig with Endless Battle there. To get there we crossed Poland and Lithuania. Good countries. I liked that I saw there.

* Have you ever visited the USA? If so what did you think about it?
No, I’m never been in USA.

* What can we expect from Severoth in 2017?
Third album. I’m working on it right now.

* Any final words to your friends and fans?
Be yourself.

regards!
S.

I spoke to Brisbane Black metal band Graveir’s singer, Gloom on life on the gold coast (Think The Jersey Shore), Black Metal in Indonesia and the wall separating God from Humanity – this was a fun interview to do – so make sure you read it!

* So first and foremost you guys are from the Gold Coast in Australia..What’s it like to live there ?
We are actually from Brisbane, the Gold Coast is a separate city further south. Personally having lived in a number of cities I enjoy Brisbane, despite its humid and unpleasant summer the lifestyle is far more relaxed than other cities and it is close to nature. It has developed its own character in recent years with a number of restaurants, bars and music venues opening.

* Is there much of a metal scene in Brisbane? I would imagine its predominately techno party music there..no?
It’s in reasonable health with a handful of good bands, venues and regular international and local shows. As always the number of people attending shows could be better but this is a problem everywhere.
I don’t really pay much attention to forms of music I am uninterested in so I can’t speak to that in any detail. Brisbane/Gold Coast/Sunshine Coast has always seemed to produce a large number of death metal bands. Portal, Temple Nightside, Disentomb, Laceration Mantra, Impetuous Ritual and Grave Upheaval are some of the current bands that spring to mind.

* How hard is it to keep a group of like minded band members together? I speak to a lot of BM bands that end up being one man projects or duos just as its so hard to find 4-5 guys all on the same wave length?
It is both difficult and incredibly easy at the same time. Creating the right environment and bringing in people in who will thrive in that environment is the key. Graveir had been something I had been working on for a number of years prior to moving to Brisbane but it was always intended to be a band. I was content to let it sit for as long as it needed before entrusting it to others so have been fortunate enough to have chosen well to the point where we all hold ownership of the band and have the same understanding of what is and isn’t right for Graveir.

Everyone owns the band and must take responsibility for its well being by word, thought or deed. The greater quantum of effort goes into creating and maintaining a collaborative and productive working environment. It is natural for everyone to have periods where motivation waxes and wanes, the other members should act as the counterbalance to that.

* Growing up what got you into black metal? I know Death metal has been huge down there for a long time and bands like the Berzerker did well down there (In fact doesn’t Luke Kenny spend half his life in Brisbane these days?)
I’d say it was a natural progression of constantly searching for new music and moving to things that are faster and heavier until you reach a point where you want more than just heaviness and go looking for deeper emotional and philosophical content and a sense of conviction within the music.

Queensland produces quite a few death metal bands and it is a style that continues to be well received. As for The Berzerker I don’t believe they have been active for some time at least not to the best of my knowledge.

* Unlike many Black metal bands these days who record on home studios you guys hired the local professional studio – what made you guys choose this route? Was it easy or tough to get the in house engineer (producer) to go with your sound?
Recording at home is an option however would require far more time and effort on our part, we have enough comfort to demo material and to record dry guitar tracks but a bigger project would be a large learning curve and perhaps not the best way to properly present the material. Choosing to record at Adversary Studios in Sydney was an easy decision for us. Aaron has been a friend of ours for many years so already understands us and were looking for recording wise intrinsically and he shares similar tastes and interests so is very much in his element from a recording standpoint.

* From memory Queensland used to be very conservative back in the 70s and 80s? Do you still get many upright concerned citizens turning their noses up at you (or worse) when you play local shows?
It’s never occurred in the time I’ve lived here. Queensland is conservative but that’s somewhat split between those who are conservative versus those who would just prefer the government had less interference in peoples day to day lives. I think the areas that are largely conservative tend to be further north and fall more into the latter category.

* Do you guys play regular shows in Queensland or do you have to travel to NSW and Victoria to do so?
We have had a pretty steady run of shows along the east coast this year (Melbourne, Wollongong, Sydney, Brisbane). As far as shows are concerned it is our preference not to play more than 2-3 times a year in any one location. Furthermore we choose to do shows based on our interest in the lineup and will not do shows simply for the sake of doing a show. Playing shows is not a money making venture so that leaves personal interest as the only valid reason to do anything.

* Have you toured the whole country yet? Unlike America I am sure there are very few places to play out side of the major cities?
You are correct, outside of the capital cities and the smaller regional cities there are very few places to play and the distance between locations often necessitates long drives or costly airline travel. The east coast run is the cheapest and easiest to do by far. If the right lineup was put together we’d welcome the opportunity to play some of our more remote capitals like Adelaide, Perth and Hobart

* Have you guys made contact with Black metal fans in Asia at all? I know China has a big BM scene although I would imagine places like Indonesia would not take kindly to any form of “blasphemy”
We’ve has very little contact with Asia thus far, but hopefully that will change this year. You may be surprised about Indonesia. It has a number of large metal festivals and is by all reports an excellent place to play with attendances in the thousands. Indonesians tend to favor grindcore and brutal death metal and the president Joko Widodo is a Napalm Death fan. In comparison Australia has no real large scale extreme metal festivals and attendance would be in the hundreds at best.

In fact, Japan and Indonesia are probably the two main Asian destinations as far as playing shows is concerned. As far as blasphemy goes I think most countries couldn’t care less unless you blaspheme against the dominant religion. Any anti-religious themes within our music tend to be more by implication and subtext rather than overt blasphemy so it would be a difficult to mount much of an argument.

* How did you guys get to be on that Terrorizer compilation cd? You get any interesting feedback because of that?
Promo is a surprisingly not as difficult as people may think. Either one of two things happens someone approaches you with an offer or you approach them and you take things from there. In the case of Terrorizer I simply emailed them an enquiry and they got straight back in touch with me with the terms to which we agreed and that was it really. Bands will regularly get approached with various offers or requests.

If you are going to spend money do some research and spend wisely. Any major publication is guaranteed to require payment, Terrorizer is no exception however it was reasonable for what they were offering and there has been an increase in activity on our websites so I would consider it a wise investment.

Nothing by way of feedback as a result but as a wholly independent, self-managed band it never hurts to have another channel to get your music out to people.

* Iconostasis by definition is a wall of icons and religious paintings – why did you guys decided to name your latest album that?
The title was XI’s idea and one which perfectly reflects the band. An Iconostasis is more specifically supposed to be a representation of the link between God and humanity, however common people are forbidden to enter the doorway in the Iconostasis so from another angle it may also be viewed as the wall separating God from humanity reflecting the arrogance of organized religion and the submission of those it considers inferior. At yet another level it can be viewed that religion is the wall separating individuals from the God within themselves which is each persons own ability to project the force of their will, strength and intellect into the universe and by doing so shape the world around them.

A lot of our lyrical content focuses on the exploration of the sacred and the profane often being one and the same dependent on perspective so the title and artwork seemed a perfect distillation of that concept.

* Are any of you guys practicing pagans in real life? if so what faith?
Not really no. Religion holds more of an interest for me as a sociological construct. Religion makes far less sense today than it ever did. For example polytheistic religions such as the Greek and Egyptian pantheons of Gods made far more sense representing facets of nature or of humanity. These gods were used as a form of explanation of the operation of nature and society and these gods having been created by humans were not infallible all powerful beings, they were subject to cruel, petty and irrational behavior and in that regard were no better than the people who worshiped them.

Monotheism if anything is lazy creative writing, where stories, powers and characters can be condensed into a single being with no explanation other than “God is all powerful, just because”. Monotheism starts from the position “there is only one true God, and it is mine” which must inevitably result in conflict where more than one religion exists. Polytheism allows for the worship of any number of gods for any number of purposes without one necessarily being true over another. I’d identify more with trying to act consistently in line with one’s own personal code of ethics and morals over blindly adopting someone else’s. This is a sentiment shared by the other members as well.

* Does the band have any goals to play Europe or any of the Americas?
The goal is always to play on lineups that we would go see if we weren’t playing on them. Whether the opportunities present themselves here at home or overseas is of no consequence. The chance to see more of the world is always welcomed however.

* What can we expect from Graveir in 2017?
There will be a number of smaller releases throughout the year which should keep everyone busy while we work on the follow up to Iconostasis. We have some plans in the works with regards to shows but discussions are still in very early stages.

* Any final words for your fans?
We are humbled by the support. 2017 will not be an idle year for us.

Murdryck have been around for some time now and just seem to be getting better and better I spoke to Skärseld from the band on their “reboot”, the various metal scenes in Sweden, how come some many great metal bands come out of a country the size of Sweden, growing up in Scotland and much more.

* You’ve been at this for some time now – my biggest question to you is what made the switch between your dark ambient sound to a more classic Black metal sound?
Ok, well I think it’s fairer to say the band is a reboot and the Black Metal angle wasn’t something we drifted into. It was never my intention to move Murdryck towards a new sound. The intention was to start a new Black Metal band that had the key ingredients I wanted to hear. After trying to come up with a name for a new band I decided to take the name with me to the new style. Murdryck was never a band that was well known on the scene at the time or at any point afterwards so it seemed a reasonable idea to keep the name.

* Does the name Murdryck mean anything in English?
It’s a made up word. At the time of Murdryck’s original creation I was extremely inspired by the more ambient side of Black Metal and became immersed in the atmospherics people were adding to their albums in the mid 90s. I’d always liked soundtrack music with dark synths and simple textures. I think simple music can be entirely captivating when done in this way.

* You are based in the town of Vänersborg Sweden? is there much or a metal scene there or does everyone just converge on Gothenburg? If so how far is Gothenburg from you?
People always ask about ”the scene”. I don’t think there’s ever been a scene anyway for this kind of music. At best, a large group of associates who know each other or of each other. I’ve always been a satellite my whole life. Never really part of anything just doing my own thing. We do have a rockbar, Backstage, in the town adjacent to Vänersborg and that’s pretty amazing in reality that a town that size can sustain a rock bar. It’s the local hangout for people of all ages and all musical forms from punk to metal and the subgenres contained within. Backstage do a lot for the smaller bands by giving them gigs without asking for anything. They also manage to bring in more known touring bands sometimes which is pretty cool. Paul Di’Anno has played there, Chris Holmes from WASP, Anvil have played there. Gothenburg is about an hour on the train. I rarely go there. I rarely go out to be honest. I just can’t be fucked with a night life. Plus I’m pretty asocial anyway so these things are just a hassle for me rather than things I enjoy.

* Do you think there is much rivalry between the cities of Gothenburg and Stockholm?
I don’t think there’s any rivalries within Metal music at all. Swedes are not culturally bred for confrontation anyway. If you play with a band at a show you usually get to know them and they become friends or at least an acquaintance you can call upon if you need help with anything. I’m not the kind of person who goes around being everyone’s best pal but I’m happy to help anyone if they ask. I do think a lot of other people have an agenda when they befriend another band and suddenly they call them their best mates or brothers in arms and all that crap.

* The Country of Sweden is smaller than New York City – why do you think so many good bands come out of Sweden? is there something in the water there?
I can’t offer anything other than my limited perspective since I wasn’t around in Sweden at the time a lot of black and death bands were kicking off in the early 90s and becoming recognized for being a quality act.

I am from England originally and spent my formative years in Scotland. I had one friend who liked metal back in those days and I was treated like a total outcast for being into metal. Like some kind of zoo animal almost. There were few opportunities for me to play in a band or even see gigs. I’d have to travel to Glasgow which was a long way. I’d watch bands like Carcass and Cradle of Filth play to around 30-50 people back then. For me, being into metal was a completely private affair but it was exciting. I’d order mail order cassettes and CDs from small distros and read fanzines. I’ve been in Sweden 16 years now and my experience here is that people do not follow any rigid social structures like other countries. You can be whatever you want to be an no one gives a shit. On the other hand, Sweden does have a kind of copy-cat culture. As soon as any trend kicks off in the US people here are doing it. Hanging around in clown outfits or whatever, we are doing it.

The people here are quite peer influenced. It’s incredible how many people do the same cultural stuff despite having completely different interests. So to answer your question I think not having any social stigma to being a metal head means the number of people listening to metal per capita is quite high. The copy-cat culture creates a diverse musical platform. There’s another reason too…getting a rehearsal room here is cheap as you can get subsidies for it. It means anyone at any age can play music and not be restricted by lack of income.

* What bands were an inspiration for you to get into Black metal?
The inspiration to get into Black Metal came from the early days. Burzum, Gehenna, stuff like that it. Originally it came from Norway because that’s where the music came from. I think what I share with a lot of Swedes though is a love for Iron Maiden and bands from the 80s. Megadeth, WASP, Slayer. I think musically I am more inspired by these bands (as are a lot of Swedish BM bands) but have added the black influence from the bands from the 90s. We get compared a lot to Dissection. Which is great but at the same time it’s odd cos I’ve never been a big fan. I’ve heard them. They were ahead of their time in their day but I can only name a couple of songs when I hear them. My guess is that Murdryck and Dissection are influenced by the same things. It would be a lie to say a band like Dissection haven’t influenced in some respect. The BM bands Murdryck are inspired by have been inspired by Dissection. So a more indirect influence I guess.

* Your lyrics have a biblical theme to them – do you believe that we live on after death? That we have had past lives?
Metal Archives is great for spreading false information. The lyrics have never been biblically influenced. The lyrics are dark in nature but somewhat semi abstract. They are thematic but they are not biblical.

I don’t believe in life after death. You go out as you were born. There was nothing before you were born and there will be nothing afterwards. I dislike the term Atheist. It tags a lack of belief as a belief system. But we don’t have words for not believing in Fairies or Father Christmas. You don’t say ”I am an a-fairyiest. I don’t believe in Santa I’m a-santaist.”

* You seem to write most lyrics in English – I know many Swedes are extremely fluent in English yet some bands choose to sing in Swedish?
English is much more diverse language than Swedish. You don’t realize it as a native speaker but it’s fantastically rich. There are hundreds of ways to say the same thing. It’s an art form to write English. I think Swedish is a little less expressive in that sense but Swedish can be very cool to write in when the music calls for it. We don’t consciously aim to capture a greater audience but a universal language is easier for people to catch on to.

* After making so many releases now you guys must be seasoned veterans – what in your mind is the best way to record your albums now?

I consider this a new band. The only thing seasoned about me is my age but I have been inactive from music for a long time previous to this incarnation of Murdryck. I played bass guitar for a short period with Lord Belial to help them out with a few gigs when their current bassist couldn’t commit. I guess from there I caught the bug again to get creative. I’ve always had an interest in recording and mixing music so for us the home studio is where all our creations happen. I usually make the songs on the computer in demo form then the arrangements are made from the demo. This comes from jamming mostly. Unfortunately, I am not the kind of person who has music in my head that I can pluck an idea and write it down. I jam until i get something that I think has potential. This can inspire to hear something in my head later or to add a texture but the songs are rarely formed without improvisation. Sometimes a song can develop and the end result have none of the original ideas.

Finally, everything’s redone properly in a studio environment at my house. It makes no sense for a band this size to be spending money at a studio. The results wouldn’t be as good either because I can spend as much time in my studio as I like perfecting everything. If we had a big budget and several weeks to record and mix I wouldn’t mind letting someone else have a go to see if a producer and professional mixer/mastering engineer can make a big difference to our sound. But the recording is a big part of the creativity for me. Bands our size and even larger are spending their own money to finance studio recordings. I’d rather put hat money into something I can keep or use again. At least owning a studio I have a chance to recuperate some costs doing mixing work for others. Not wishing to toot my own horn but not everyone has the capability to record and mix at home to a good standard. It takes years of practice and knowledge to be able to mix well and understand all the software and hardware in the studio. I couldn’t go to a professional studio and mix though. I’d be lost. But in the environment I control I can do a pretty good job.

* Are any of the band practicing pagans..if so what faith?
Fuck no.

* I know you are planning on live shows and tours soon – in an ideal world what would be your two most interesting countries to tour? Japan? South America? Russia? etc
Touring is an unrealistic goal for us. I don’t have the motivation to spend weeks away from work and home. I don’t really like it that much anyway. A few gigs here and there can be fun but usually it’s a pain in the ass. I’d like to be able to go and play in Germany. It’s close enough and far away enough to be interesting and is culturally rich. Japan and South America would be cool I guess but it’s not something I dream about. Being asocial and a bit stuck in my ways I am not the easiest person to be on the road with. I don’t like going out for beers every night and the routine of gigging isn’t really that fun. It’s just a lot of work and little time to do anything. There’s so much wasted time just hanging around waiting for things to happen.

* Have any of the band been to the USA before and if so what did they think?
No.

* What can we expect from Murdryck in 2017?
Well, there’s been no official announcement and this is the first interview I’ve done for a few months but we have had a restructuring in the band. Our bass player moved to guitar and vocals. Our guitarist and left and returned as our bass player. The previous vocalist is no longer with us.

Right now I am working on the recording of our new material. It’s more than likely to be an EP and appear around April 2017. I’d like to do an album though tbh but we have agreed with the record label to try and have at least an EP ready for March/April. With the way it’s going it’s doable but we don’t have enough new material for an album as of today. If we miss the April deadline then I think a new album is more likely around October 2017.

* Any final words to your fans?
Yeah we appreciate all our fans that take an interest in the music but the people who are prepared to put some money into our digital downloads or buy our physical CDs are really our supporters. I personally believe if you spend money on something you have a deeper connection to what you buy into rather than if it’s free. When things are free you’ve nothing to invest in. If you pay for something you’ll get more out of it. It also goes some way to helping the band recoup their costs.

Thanks for the interview! // Skärseld

I recently spoke with legendary Greek Black metal band Kawir – we talked about what it takes to be in a band for over 25 years, the Greek Black metal scene, being a practicing pagan, playing shows in South America and much more.

1.Kawir has been going for over 3 decades now – why do you think you have managed to keep going for so long – especially when the average band lasts about 5 years? What’s the secret?
Well you have to have confidence in your ability and the fire inside you otherwise as you said you will not last.

The secret is that I never saw it as an obligation so when I was feeling that now is the time I started to compose and recording,that’s why in almost 25 years we have released 6 full length albums!

2.You had an early release on legendary label Cacophonous – how did that come to be?
Yeah back in 1993 we were in contact with Mirai(Sigh) and we anted to make a split together so we sent the material to Cacophonous they liked it and release the legendary split!

3. Greece has been known for its Epic metal bands but not so much its black metal – how did you discover black metal and what attracted you to playing it more than say Epic Death metal?
Actually as a part of the scene from the end of 80s(Nocturnal Death,Zemial) I was listening more Classic Heavy Metal and the first albums of Morbid Angel ,ASPHYX etc. but in the start of 90s I was felt more close to the black metal as it was more Philosophical and rebellion against the monotheistic religions.

4. How is the black metal scene in Greece? Are some towns stronger than others for our type of music?
Well Athens were always strong but the last years Thessaloniki started to have a good scene also.

5. Some non English speaking bands make a point to sing in English however you guys have stayed true to your native tongue which i think is great, do you feel it limits foreign audiences at all to enjoying your songs?
No there is no limit ,we are keeping the ancient values ,Ancient Greek language were the official language of the known world for thousand years even in Roman Empire all the books were written in Ancient Greek but also the new testament which is paradox for me as the First Christian Emperors were forbidden the Ancient Greek Language!

6. You guys sing a lot about Hellenic paganism – are any of the band members practicing pagans? if so what faith?
Actually yes I am practicing ,the correct term is Hellenic Polytheism.We are fighting for our recognition and our rights to perform our rituals again in our Ancient Temples.

7. You guys played Brazil this year – was that your first visit there? how did you enjoy it?
It was our first time in the American Soil (Brazil ,Chile and Canada).We liked it a lot ,the crowd was perfect gave us a lot energy and our performance there was total crazy.We gave them a promise that with the next album we will be back.

8. Have you done much touring of the USA? If not are there any places here you would love to play?
We never had the opportunity to tour in USA we would like to come and see the life there and play for the maniacs.

9. I know the band has played Finland before but have you ever played Norway or Sweden? If so how were you received playing there?
Yeah we have a lot of friends in Finland, we had a Finish tour back in 2007 with Skyforger and we played in Steelfest 2 years ago.Great memories I have to say.

It was supposed to play in Norway back in 2007 but it was canceled so we never played till now in Norway and Sweden.

10. Any final words?
A big thanks for all the support form our fans all these years I have to say the best are coming.Hails!!!

In case you missed it Sweden’s Seedna  released one of the best Atmospheric Black Metal albums of 2016. As you know if I’m into a band I have to dig deeper and want to know more about them. I spoke to the guys in Seedna this week and we covered everything from the “Lidkoping Sound” to playing in a stone cellar to 6 people in a tiny village to multi instrumentalist Olle’s departure from the band – read on.

* You guys are from Lidkoping if I am not mistaken..how is the music scene there as opposed to the more well known cities of Stockholm and Gothenburg? Americans talk about the Gothenburg sound – do you think there is a traditional “Lidkoping sound?
Erik – Lidköping isn’t a very big town, around 40000 people live here, so the music scene is rather small and the bands that form here are everything between Punk to Metal. It´s scattered between the genres, a typical Lidköping sound doesn’t exist I believe. Not compared to the Gothenburg sound anyways.

Max – With the internet, I think stuff like that is less present. Many parts of the world have access to everything now and get inspired from all kinds of people and places. I have this idea or impression that the local scene in different cities was more prominent and alive before the internet. It surely exist to some extent. But not so much around here, what I can tell. Definitely not in our kind of genre.

* How did you guys get into Black metal? What was the gateway bands for you guys?
Erik – The band that got me interested in the more extreme form of metal was Cradle of Filth, a friend sent me some song when i was 15-16 years old and told me to listen to them. It was nothing I have ever heard before and I was mesmerised with the evil sound. I later came across Dark Funeral and got totally sold on Black Metal for a while.

Johan – It all started with Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, but I like most kinds of dark music.

Max – Mayhem, Burzum and Dissection were probably the first bands mostly responsible for bringing me into the different areas of Black Metal and beyond.

* What inspired you guys to take Black metal in the direction that you did?
Erik – We didn’t have any particular genre in our minds when we made “Forlorn”, at least not me. The biggest inspiration i have is my own emotions and creating music is a very good way of channeling them.

Johan – What keeps me going is actually playing and performing the music. It’s so much fun to play music, that is why we do it. Atmospheric music is the best music sometimes and we needed the whole kind of atmospheric vibe to create Forlorn, not only the heavy metal parts. Kind of inspired from old school stuff too I guess. I think we all like these mood-changes, differences and happenings through the record. It connects to your inner self, filled with many different feelings. You never feel the same all the time.

Max – We don’t really think of it as we are taking a certain genre in a certain direction. It just happened to be that the outcome of our different inspirations forged together with the vision of creating something that is dark and ambient sounded like “atmospheric black metal” to most people.

* What kind of music do you guys listen to in your free time? Any surprises for us?
Erik – For the most part it is Post-Rock, Post-Metal and Doom. Black Metal and Hardcore is something I listen to as well but not as much.

Johan – Check out the records Catch Thirty-Three with Meshuggah, Land Of The Evening Star with Dark Forest , Runaljod trilogy with Wardruna, Visor Om Slutet with Finntroll, Dakhmandal with Dark Buddha Rising, Ghosts I-IV with Nine Inch Nails, Udu Wudu with Magma, The Rifts with A Swarm Of The Sun, Untitled ( ) with Sigur Rós, Drifters/Love Is The Devil with Dirty Beaches. Some of my favorites.

Max – I’m mostly into old school type metal and bands that have that special spirit and energy. It’s something that is hard to put into words but appeals to me very much. But I am also interested in other genres outside of metal like for example dark ambient, traditional and classical music. Even some electronic and experimental stuff.
With to many bands to mention I’m just going to recommend a few very dear albums from different Swedish metal bands that comes to mind. I think they are well worth checking out if you haven’t heard of them. “A Flame To The Ground Beneath” by Lost Horizon, “Sister” by In Solitude, “Wolverine Blues” by Entombed.

* Were you guys pleased with the amazing response you got from your latest album “Forlorn?”
Erik – The response we got for “Forlorn” was beyond my beliefs, it is a powerful feeling when something you have laid down a lot of emotion and work into gets so much positive critic. I am very happy for all that.

Johan – Yes it was really great for us and we are very thankful.

Max – It has been very inspirational and rewarding to see that this record that we worked so hard on is appreciated by others. Firstly, we do it for ourselves. Chasing this vision, trying to make it into an actual piece of art that we are satisfied with and proud of. Then, if others appreciate it and get something out of listening and experiencing it is just great. That is some sort of proof that we are making an impact on people and hopefully bring them to open their minds and think.

* What was your favorite review of the album? Which publication?
Johan – ..maybe No Clean Singing.

Max – For me it was this one from Angry Metal Guy when he began describing a nightmare. Later contemplating whether falling asleep to “Forlorn” was the cause of this dream haha. “Falling asleep to” can sound negative, but I see it positively. In a way, we aspire to bring the listener to another “dimension”. As pretentious as it may seem, a dream world is the perfect place really haha.

* How did you approach writing the album? Did you start with moods or was it like a traditional band – a guitar riff and then built upon it?
Erik – When we create music it usually starts with us jamming and improvising with things we have had in our minds for a while, sometimes we all get in a sort of trance and just keep going without stopping. It is in those times we know we have something good going so we start to jam and improvise more on that particular sound or riff we liked, and we lay down structures as times go by. For “Forlorn” we had a somewhat clear concept of the feeling we wanted for the album so we jammed a lot with that in mind.

Johan – I’d say that most of it was created in the rehearsal room, but of course some ideas comes even after rehearsing, when you’re home doing something else. We have tried to build on guitar riffs but it’s not our way of doing it. We often just start playing, everybody at the same time or maybe two at a time or maybe even one of us play solo for the others. Then you listen and work with what you hear. I think that is what is happening every rehearsal now. So we are very much a band that is working in different moods, modes, themes, scenery and atmospheres. And then you start answering a lot of questions that comes from within, is it dark? is it powerful? is it sad? You have to know what you want and then you try to grasp it. Find those dark tones, combined with the heavy sound, some touch of sadness, a sparkling of melancholy and a soft distant trembling earthquake, to link up with those burdened feelings you can get sometimes from everyday life.

Max – Starting out jamming on ideas that would become “Wander”. Wanting to make this massive epic song that was like a journey, a story. I think we talked about making it a “one-song EP” haha. But the story grew, as did our vision. Different events and atmospheres in the story pushed for more and different kinds of songs. Some we made with the specific mood in mind. Some ideas were written before, and we thought their feeling fitted perfectly.

* I presume the hourglass on the cover of Forlorn is representative of Life and Death – I am a great believer in Life-Death – rebirth. do any of the band hold these kind of beliefs? Odinism? the Old gods or ??
Johan – I admit that I am fascinated by the old norse religion. And of course something comes after death. Why wouldn’t it. Even if it’s nothingness, our perception of time wouldn’t exist anymore, I really wonder what would that be like. An eternity through time passing by in the blink of an eye? The world is exciting with all these questions we can’t answer.

Max – There is this mystery. Not knowing what comes next when we die. The whole spiritual world. Ancient and modern religions. Forces of nature. The meaning of life. The whole concept about the album is really up for interpretation, if you want to read between the lines and project your own thoughts. It is not about preaching and give you answers. But rather about making you question.

* I know Olle played some traditional instruments on the recording of this album. Was that something he learned just for the album or was it something he had been doing for many years now?
Erik – It was actually something he learned for live performances, we want the feeling of us performing a ritual live. So Olle started to experiment with a lot of different traditional instruments to get the ritualistic feeling and it all just fitted so well in “Forlorn”. Rainmaker, Singing bowls, Seadrum and Spring Drum is just some of the instruments that was used.

Johan – Music to me is a bit different than just being tied to one or different instruments. An instrument is a tool a musician uses to create music and to express feelings. I actually think anyone can pick up any instrument and join in and make sound to add to the music. And for us all to listen to and enjoy.

* Can you talk about Olle leaving the band? How do you think it will affect new music from Seedna?
Erik – When Olle told us he wanted to leave Seedna it came somewhat of a surprise to me, we had just released “Forlorn” on Transcending Obscurity and got amazing response and great reviews. It was a rough time for all of us when we wrote the music because we all have very strong opinions of how we want our music to sound, but I believe it is because of our strong personalities that we were able to create good music. So it was a sad day for everyone in Seedna.
We had to cancel our plans for playing live in the autumn. Me, Max and Johan agreed that all of us should do vocals from now on and it worked out great!

Johan – We still feel good, I mean, of course there will be change in how things are done. Less involved in creating means more of those involved in creating.

Max – To me it wasn’t a big surprise as he had been a bit absent in the last months following up to his departure. He wanted to take a step back, focus on other stuff in life. Ultimately he also wanted to take a different path musically, which is totally fine and understandable. This experimental approach that we have isn’t for everyone. It is kind of like a new era for Seedna. For our latest music video we made a recording of “Frozen” to show the new sound with the three of us screaming together. Seedna without Olle will definitely be something different lyrically and in the vocal part of the music. We are very excited to see what we will come up with in this new formation. So far it is feeling really good and promising.

* What can we expect musically from Seedna in 2017?
Max – We are working on new material at the moment. Talking about probably recording this year, not promising anything tho hehe. We are developing, as always, new sounds and themes. Our next release will be different from our previous ones for sure. But that has been the thing about every recording right from the start anyway haha.

* I know the band have toured Sweden and some parts of the Norway – what’s been your favorite place to play live so far?
Erik – A small village called Uddebo in Sweden. We played in a stone cellar of an old, almost a dilapidated house were 6 people lived in a collective, they were so nice and welcoming. Everyone knew each other, I guess it’s like that in small villages.

Johan – Uddebo as Erik said, we had to improvise our intro a little bit because of a faulty cable to the bass, I recall. So we jammed until Erik fixed it. And the smoke machine added an insanely amount of smoke that quickly filled the whole small room we played in. I couldn’t even see the crowd, nor could they see me. Imagine this together with the crowd already having a good time and then add dark atmospheric drone-music for what felt like more than 5 minutes just as an intro. And then we started our setlist.

* Is there much difference playing to Norwegian fans than Swedish fans?
Erik – I can’t really say that it is a lot of difference between the two, both countries like to get drunk and head bang!

Johan – No idea, I can’t really focus on much else but the performance and what the other members are doing when we are playing, keeping an eye out.

Max – If they are not drunk, and if it is not a “big” band, Scandinavians can in general be a pretty lame crowd for local scenes in my experience, sadly. Not that it affects us negatively like it could with “rock’n’roll” kind of bands.. We get a positive response from many of them anyway, as we can be kind of an introvert experience.

* Are there any plans for the band to play the USA? Also have any of the band visited the USA before and did they like it?
Erik – Currently we have no plans to play in the USA, but if we get the opportunity we will take it for sure!

Max – We would love to go there. But it seems to be a lot of work getting it all together with the visas and stuff. Since we aren’t an established touring band yet, we will most likely tour Europe first when we come around to it.

* Do the band have any “wish list” places they would like to play?
Erik – Every country is on my wish list but Japan and Russia is my dream countries to play in.
Japan because it such a crazy country and have a lot of good and interesting music.
Russia because we simply have a lot of fans there, would be awesome to meet them.

Johan – Finland and Iceland.

* Any final words to your friends and fans?
Erik – Hail Satan Worship Doom.

Johan – What he said.

Max – Agreed. And hail to all our supporters.

Thanks guys and many thanks to Kunal for making this interview happen!

Listen to Forlorn here: