A new addition to the Romanian black metal scene as of recent is the band Vampir Bei Kerzenlicht, which was fortunate to have started out very strong with their first gig with Diocletian from New Zealand and have since been spreading darkness and misanthropy all over the heart of Transylvania. Along the way they also released their first full-length album "Obscure Lights Through Endless Shadow" on CD via the label Nekro Morgue Productions, founded and owned by the band's guitarist Exu Morte. In this interview, we cover various topics regarding the band's musical background and place of origin, as well as the story behind their underground label Nekro Morgue Productions. If you wish to know more about these crazed vampires that lurk by the candlelight, feel free to tune in and I hope you will enjoy this conversation.

Vladimir

Greetings guys, a heartwarming welcome to you! How are you doing at the moment?

Spvrcat von Licht: Greetings! I'm doing great, still reflecting over our last gig with Crumble and Goatrocity. Such cool guys and epic live bands the organizers were lovely as well with us.

Exu Morte: Pretty good, gettin' ready for the November gigs!

Vampir Bei Kerzenlicht is still a relatively new and unknown band, but nevertheless you had a great opportunity to share the stage for the first time ever with the respected New Zealand black/death metal band Diocletian, and along the way you even released your first full-length album Obscure Lights Through Endless Shadow. So far, how was the general feedback that you got from the fans and other bands that you played with?

Spvrcat von Licht: Well, so far, we played with mostly local bands and obviously the Diocletian/Altars Ablayze gig was the biggest for us. The public seemed pretty intrigued when it came to our unorthodox blend of black and death metal or how someone referred to us as "Deathened Black Metal", quite ironic. Well, as we have more and more gigs, the crowd seems invested like we did not have a show yet where the crowd was fully stale, surprisingly each show was accompanied by chants and mosh pits, quite unusual for a black metal band not gonna lie.

Exu Morte: We got mixed reviews from our fans, but all in a positive way. Some people said we had a horrifying/chaotic live presence, either from the smell, corpse paint, pig blood, incense, etc. Others compared us to war metal bands since we share the same straight edge and serious figure while playing. Most new folks that attended our gigs were really impressed! The bands really appreciated us for the energy we share with the public, even for a first live show as you mentioned, we had no hiccups.

Your band name translates to "Vampire by the Candlelight" from German to English, and although vampire folklore is obviously very connected to Romania, particularly Transylvania, is there a special meaning behind the name? And who came up with the name?

Exu Morte: Mihai came up with the name, but there's no actual "special meaning", it's just a crossover between a vampire doing rituals or some sort. We just tried to be more original with the name and not just be one word, hence the name of the band was just "Vampyr" with "y", and most people still call us like that.

Spvrcat von Licht: Well, the name specifically came from an inside joke I took from Farvann I think, where he commented about the already stereotypical overly complicated foreign language names of some bands. I came up with the name when I remembered a fun moment after a Cradle of Filth show, where Albert yelled at me "Look at him, the vamp" and I also remembered the iconic Pelle picture of him with lit candles in that candle support surrounded by darkness and I thought it could suit me and it is an inside joke cause I and Albert always laugh at people who idolize Pelle Ohlin although they do not know shit about the man behind the white face paint.

Since the band hails from the very heart of Transylvania, it's no wonder that you have some vampiric influences flowing through your work. How do you guys feel about this notable fact? Does it in a way make you feel proud to have this sort of background or do you at least feel honoured when people connect that to you?

Spvrcat von Licht: When it comes to Transylvanian heritage, and the profit factor of vampires and the region itself of Transylvania, it came to my mind quite late and it still shocks me that we as Romanians did not use this more often, maybe it is too stereotypical.

Exu Morte: We are really honored that we show the true face of Transylvanian Vampirism while bringing fresh blood on stage, not how all companies try to change the story of Vlad the Impaler for this shit tourism. At our last concert on the 28th of September, Goatrocity's bassist called us on stage to show the "true side of Transylvanian vampirism" not how fake other bands try to be.

Although the band is still fresh and gradually evolving as it goes, have you guys faced any challenges along the way since the band's formation?

Exu Morte: No, our only problem is rehearsing. V.B.K. isn't a "city band" as most bands are. As Mihai is from Cluj, Daniel is from Oradea, and me and Rareș from Iasi, we can say the band is pretty well spread across Romania, roughly 600km apart. I'm not really happy to say that we are distanced, but we try our best to travel and meet to talk about songs and ourselves, just to keep us "sane" and close together.

Spvrcat von Licht: When it comes to challenges, the most prominent one is of course the distance which screws us up when it comes to recording and better communication between us as members of this band. Another one is trying to find the root of this band, trying to summarize its sound into one self-sustaining entity and through this knowledge to help it develop to say so.

Your style of music feels like a hybrid of various forms of black metal, ranging from bands like Von, Beherit, early Mayhem, Blasphemy, and Mortuary Drape to name a few, what can you tell me about incorporating all these various influences in your music?

Spvrcat von Licht: On this topic, when it comes to influences of my sound, I can instantly name 3: Lord Sabathan, Attila Csihar, and Daniel Rosten. For me, these 3 are the peak of the black metal vocalists. Such relentless voices and earraping too, Mortuus showing that especially in Funeral Mist, yet constantly not being shown enough recognition. I try to incorporate a few subtle nods of their stage presence in my persona such as their walk or gestures or even how they present songs sometimes even vocal approaches, for example, I constantly use the same high pitch vocal style of Sabathan live mostly, but these 3 are my big go-to's when it comes to inspiration and motivation.

Exu Morte: Let's say that you can't reinvent the wheel. All our work is indeed inspired by the bands you've mentioned above. Regarding the incorporation of these various bands in our music, we kept the same old-school vibe/sound, on the raw, non-polished side. I really think that most modern bands lack this incorporation, people forget their origins.

Aside from bands, you obviously have various role models like musicians and artists that inspired your musicianship, could you tell me which ones they are?

Exu Morte: For me, I'll pick the famous Abbath, Euronymous, Hoffman brothers of Deicide, Alvaro Lillo, and on the underground side: Fabrizio of Mortuary Drape, Marko Laiho (aka Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance) of Beherit H. Bosch of Caveman Cult, Juan of Proclamation, Caller of the Storms of Blasphemy, Ryan Förster of Conqueror and Cadaveria of Opera IX + many more, I don't have a favorite one, or a leader as such.

Spvrcat von Licht: It might come as a shock, but a bigger influence and inspiration than these 3 I mentioned earlier is Marilyn Manson. I always saw black metal as an advanced form of shock rock and there is no one who embraced the hate, fame, and captivated the eyes of the audience better than him.

This next question goes directly to Exu Morte, and it's regarding your label Nekro Morgue Productions which releases and distributes a limited edition of CDs and cassettes, while currently holding Vampir Bei Kerzenlicht under its banner, alongside other artists such as Mortuary Dripping, Gorthol and Wräthhammer. What is the overall story behind starting a label?

Exu Morte: To make it short, it was my wish to make music affordable for all pockets, because as you know merch got expensive over the years, and also, it was my wish to share demos of new-school Romanian bands, or from abroad. I had almost everything available to record cassettes and burn CDs, so my first experiment of producing and selling stuff was with Vampir, from buying various types of paper to print to ways of designing cassettes and CD disks themselves. I've received various feedbacks so I tried to make everything as professional as I can for a cheap price for starter bands.

I already mentioned that you have recently released your first full-length album Obscure Lights Through Endless Shadow on CD, and so far, it seems that the band has drastically evolved from the first demo Filth Lust & Fukkin Disgust from last year, in terms of musicianship and sound. What can the fans and followers expect from the band in the near future in terms of the musical direction?

Exu Morte: The band will keep the same old-school vibe, but our next upgrade will be technicality in terms of songwriting and even faster songs!

Spvrcat von Licht: Our future is the only thing certain. What we promise to our listeners, supporters or even fans is the evolution when it comes to sound quality, musical sound, and maintaining the same blasphemous and unhinged feeling of our music as before. Big things are coming that is what we promise.

At this point, are there any plans for the band or talks of future gigs?

Exu Morte: The next plan for the band will be to buy a van, and I'm not kidding about that. We will see about future gigs; the next ones are in Iasi with Sur Austru and Bucharest with Akral Necrosis + others. Some Romanian bands like Warhymn, and Mauna Sol already have an eye on us for 2025, but we have hopes for international bands too!

Spvrcat von Licht: Our close future sees gigs alongside Sur Austru and Akral Nekrosis through 2 different fests. The first one is Hillsfest in Iasi, Moldavia where we will be playing with Sur Austru, arguably my favorite band from Romania which is truly an honor for me personally, and the second one is Spears of Wallachia where we will be playing with Akral Nekrosis, one of the pillars of the revival of Romania's black metal scene for a couple of years now. Some bands like Warhymn and Mauna Sol have their sights set on us but we cannot confirm anything yet besides Sur Austru and Akral Nekrosis. We love playing live and we want to do it as much as we fucking can.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I am looking forward to meeting both of you someday and chatting about everything from quality Balkan food to great music. Are there any final words you'd like to leave for the fans?

Spvrcat von Licht: This was Spvrcat von Licht of Vampir bei Kerzenlicht. Thank you for this interview, thank you to our listeners for your support. Keep supporting the Underground, Stay Blessed and Possessed, and don't forget: KEEP. SUPPORTING.TRANSYLVANIAN. VAMPIRISM.

Exu Morte: Thanks for supporting us in this chaos, but not only us, all the bands in the local underground scene! Stay true to yourself and Hail to Transylvanian Vampirism!

The French duo Vipère, consisting of Saros and Sans-Visage, recently released their first EP called "Sombre Marche" (review on here). According to the French black metal scene, the band is very mysterious. Musically quite interesting and multifaceted, this of course made me quite curious and so I asked the band for an interview, which they gladly did. If you want to know what Vipère is all about and want to know more about them, you should at least have a look at the interview. I think, if you like French black metal, you should have this band on your radar in the future!

Michael

Hello together! How are you?

Saros: Hey. As good as possible and glad to be here to talk with you. Thanks for taking time for us.
Sans-Visage: Hi! I'm fine, happy to answer your questions!

You are a new black metal band, about which nothing is really known. Can you introduce yourselves to us in more detail?

Saros: Yes, we're new and it's a fact that there's almost nothing about us out there. For now, we are only responding to interviews. We don't want to expose ourselves if it's not desired. We both have a musical history in other genres but it's not important here. We just want to focus on Vipère, the label and our BM projects. The thing is we were just two guys worshipping black metal and it felt logical to play together. We rehearsed for about a year, and then threw out all our tries. After that it took only a few weeks to record Sombre Marche and to decide to release it as a digital EP first and then as a CD.

Your EP "Sombre Marche" is a pretty old-school black metal release. I feel like I'm back in the 90s in parts. Is that intentional?

Saros: Yes it is. We're bored by those bands with perfect sound, perfect compositions, perfect guitar tones… We wanted to do it the old-fashioned way. Everything has been made to make you feel in your garage. And it is not a posture, we didn't give ourselves the choice. There was an emergency that we couldn't stop. We wanted to sound raw and that's what we did. Of course, there's a lot of imperfections in the songs or in the recording process. Structures or arrangements might have been different if we had given ourselves time to look back. And so what? I think songs have souls. It's a picture of an instant. I like the way we've made it authentic. When I listen to early Enslaved I'm totally conquered by those raw intros and interludes. It talks to me. I like to think that first opus are often specials because they are made with sincerity and emergency… Last but not least, it's obvious that we are both into 90's BM. We truly like the BM history, myths and legends. The band's chronology along with the evolution of the genre is amazing to study. So, it was an evidence to us to evolve in that kind of ambiance. We hope that we're not just another copy. We tried to have our own atmosphere...

I think I can hear influences like Gaahlskagg or early Ulver in your songs. What are your biggest musical influences?

Saros: Wow thanks man! Early Darkthrone, Ulver of course. The voice of Attila Csihar. But also, stuff like Mortiis, Belenos or Panphage… You can ask me that same question one hundred times and you'll have as many different responses… And that's only for the BM part. I also have massive influences from the noise rock scene or some French singers for example.

Sans-Visage: Personally, I am not influenced by these bands. My biggest influences are Dissection, Mayhem, Black Flag and more recent bands like Grafvitnir, Valkyrja or Ifernach. But when we compose, we quickly forget our influences, we do not try to sound like a particular band.

Lyrically you are rather misanthropic. Do you have a certain message you want to bring to the people?

Saros: I hate that question haha. I'm not comfortable talking about my lyrics. They are very personal. But you're right, they are kind of misanthropic. It's all about depression, fear of others, aging and so on… There's a lot of things hidden behind metaphors or stylistic figures. It's a way to protect myself from the eye of the reader and trying to still say something. Saying this, I realize that's a fucked-up way of doing things. But it's the only way. I don't care about passing a message to people… They'll find what they want in my lyrics and I like to think they act as a mirror.

Where do your lyrical inspirations come from? More from everyday life or literature?

Saros: My life. I'm almost unable to write on anything else. But I'm working on it. For example, Sans-Visage is drawing new stuff and I'm trying to write a new poem for each of his drawings. But even so, there's still a bit of me sweating in the lyrics. I would like to write about other people's lives, but I have to learn to write in the third person. Your question is welcome, because I'm currently thinking about all of this…

You run a small label called Vetus Capra, on which Vipère and Vieille Chèvre are distributed, according to my information. Are there any further plans concerning your label?

Saros: There is and there is not haha. We take things as they come...

Sans-Visage: For the moment, we do not want the label to grow. Vetus Capra is, above all, a way to highlight our projects to Saros and me. The situation can change if you want to…

What is the situation in the French black metal underground? The bands that were underground 25 years ago and in a way also pioneers for today's bands (I'm thinking of Blut aus Nord or Deathspell Omega) are now in a way quite hip.

Saros: I have the feeling that French black metal is often seen as an avant-garde. Maybe it's true in a way but I'm not comfortable with this. Of course, bands like Blut Aus Nord are huge beasts but there's a bunch of followers that do more harm than good in the scene in my opinion. I prefer my black metal raw and obscure. And in a way it's kind of a hype too. Every release is a limited edition and then there are special editions, first press, second press in splatter with a bottle opener and so on… Hmm I digress… The French black metal scene is rich and complex of course and there's different levels to discover. The very underground with small labels like Transcendence for example and the big ones like Season of Mist.

But I guess it's the same in every country, no?

Sans-Visage: For my part, I don't know anyone from the black metal scene. And it is very well like that. I need this mysterious aura to appreciate this music, it inspires me a lot. Regarding the two bands you mention, I listened to them very little, so I won't be able to talk about them... Personally, underground or not, I especially like when the music sounds sincere, and I think it is still the case with these two examples ....

Did you already have the opportunity to perform gigs in your still quite young career? Are there any plans to play concerts when the pandemic is over? Or are you doing it more like Darkthrone and avoiding gigs?

Saros: No, never. In the first place we just wanted to create something concrete with a record. We were not really a band until we released the EP I think. So, we were not planning to perform gigs at all. I love playing live, but it is not planned at all for now. First we do not have a live lineup and we don't want to seek people to join us. Everything will come in time if it has to. It's still something that I have in mind. For Vieille Chèvre, it's almost impossible, it's kind of an experimental project. Everything should be reworked. Maybe it would be pleasant… Honestly I don't know…

Sans-Visage: To be honest, black metal is a style that I enjoy mostly alone, on record. I'm not closed of course, but I don't think I want to play our songs live.

I want to come back to Vieille Chèvre. You are also involved there. What can you tell us about the band? Here you rather indulge in the classic French black metal à la Vlad Tepes, Torgeist or Belkètre.

Saros: As soon as I started listening to BM, I started experimenting with guitars and a mix of various instruments. Naturally I mixed up BM with my personal musical background which is noise rock oriented. Everything has been made in my bedroom without any plans in mind. Finally, I realized that all those rushes could be assembled. There was a natural coherency. It's not a 100% black metal project at all. The spirit is here but musically there is so much more. For example, I like ambient or repetitive music a lot and you can clearly hear this in the album. Of course, the 90's French black metal scene has a huge influence on me. The Black Legions are a reference musically as well as in terms of mindset. The homemade aspect is the key here. I'm also impressed by the work of Striborg. His musical independence is whole-hearted.

What about further release plans for Vipère? Sans-Visage has already let it be known that you have further plans for this year...

Saros: We just started to rehearse again. With the sanitary context it's not easy to find a way to meet up. But it has been very rich and productive. We're on our way to release something else for sure. We cannot say everything here but there will be some surprises I guess. Drawings, texts and music will be entangled in a new way compared to Sombre Marche. By the way we're very excited by our new project. There's a chance that you can hear something new by the end of the year!

Sans-Visage: We work quietly for the future, as long as we have the fire and ideas. We do not set a deadline, but yes we have already thought about our next mischief!

Which bands and/or releases can you recommend to us?

Saros: I did not follow the black metal news too much these last month's, so I do not have fresh stuff to give… I recently bought the last album of Nuit Noire. It's excellent, dark, and unique. It is a mix between BM, punk and cold wave I'd say… I have the last album of Isengard too. It's a bunch of unreleased songs from the 90's. I have not been disappointed. Oh yes! There is the first album of Warmoon Lord, really excellent. And of course, the last Paysage d'Hiver… I really like this one-man band. It talks to me so much. And last, go check Vargrav if you haven't heard of it yet...

Sans-Visage: If you are a fan of simple, efficient punk that makes you want to break everything, I recommend the Australian band Primitive Blast. Otherwise, I also recommend Ferriterium, a French melodic black metal band. I just got the last tape from Arbre, an experimental French black metal band. It's quite intimate but it's very good.

The last words of the interview belong to you!

Sans-Visage: Thanks for this interview, it's really nice to give us the floor on MetalBite as we are just getting started.

Merci beaucoup pour l 'interview!!!