Although I have followed the band for many years now, I guess to most people listening to black metal, Svarttjern is still quite unknown. I hope that with their latest album "Draw Blood" this situation will change for the band because they are for over twenty years a stable constant in the Norwegian black metal scene. I had a very interesting chat with their vocalist Hans Fyrste about the album, lyrics and the band. Although some words might be irritating, don't forget that it all is about art and entertainment.

Michael

Hi Hans, thanks for having me here today – how are you doing?

Hey, thanks for showing the interest! I'm fine, just got back from a little trip to Oslo, sat down and now I'm here with you. What about you?

I have a little cold but all fine, thanks. "Draw Blood" – the title sounds brutal and so does the music. You sound much thrashier than before, did you want to create your "Bonded By Blood" with the new album? I mean, you covered the track on the previous album already…

Well, I don't know. The album came together over a time but definitely we have gone toward more rock n'roll, thrashy feel. I think we don't even have a blast beat on the album. We simplified things without being simple, so yeah, it might be a more old school way to go but it just feels natural for us.

What do you want to express with the title?

It kind of depends on how you see it. Of course you can see it in more of an art-see-way where draw blood, opening up the flesh, bleeding out can mean a lot of things in today's modern world like society and all that shit works. To me it's really simple. "Draw Blood" means cut your risks and bleed out. Maybe I have to wash my words but it's an encouragement to commit suicide. But it also means way more. Draw your blood to something, commit to something, and dedicate your blood to something.

You really want to tell the people to commit suicide?

It's a hard question to answer because it doesn't take much before you get pushed into a group or a reference where people may misunderstand and misinterpret things. But in many ways yes, but it is also an artistic expression. From a misanthropic standpoint I would definitely urge people to remove themselves from this world.

Hm…maybe not everybody?

It's kind of a thing – a lot of lyrical themes in Svarttjern has been about hitting people in the sub-consciousness. You can read something and some people will think about the title "Draw Blood" that they get the sense of it, the suicidal aspect. What does it do to you, how does your body feel? Do you get a bad feeling inside, does it move something in you? I think I'm after those things and using Satan and all of that, it's used up. I don't express myself that way. I would much better express myself with a really aggressive way – I've used suicide, murder and grotesque scenes since day one.

I'm asking because an old classmate committed suicide a few days ago and I knew a lot of people who did that before which really shocked me.

I'm really sad to hear that! I have to say that of course I do respect an opinion like that and I would never ever confront you with it. So much of my freedom in my speech comes through expressing myself through music. I'm singing a lot about the real basic instincts in humans but that doesn't mean that I live in a cave. I will not meet a guy at the public and tell him to commit suicide. It's an artistic expression.

I think I understand what you mean. You won't get out and tell everybody to kill themselves.

Haha, it depends on which day you ask me and how much wine I had.

Lyrically you sing about lust and desire but also pain and self-injury and this was always more in the focus than this Satan stuff. What is the philosophy behind Svarttjern?

Misanthropy. It started out with the first album. I was only reading as a teenager when Svarttjern started out, before we even had a demo or anything. I was just reading about philosophy. I discovered that if I want to express myself personally I have to do it in a way that nobody understands what I'm actually telling them. On the first three albums the lyrics are totally fucked up. You can read something but it means something completely different. I got into this numerology and all the lyrics were like coded into messages and a numerology value system which actually on the second album got me hospitalized. I guess when growing older and getting more life experience, I think a lot of the things I didn't want people to understand but to shock with, inflict something in their sub consciousness, today is a big fuck you. Today the lyrics are more straight forward and I want them to be punchy. They must hit you in the guts, I wanted to hurt a bit and it's about playing around with grotesque fantasies and thoughts and urges of death.

The cover looks like a medieval painting with some undead / demons planning something wicked. Did you take it from an already existing picture or was it created for the album?

It's a guy from Hate Couture, he is a good friend of us and we actually bought the rights to do it for the last album "Shame Is Just A Word" but we ended up using something different because it's more of a cross-reference, more of an internal thing in the band. We had a single on the previous album called "Prince Of Disgust" and the guys on the "Draw Blood" album is "The Prince Of Disgust". So we bring him further into everything, also because we sing and write so much about today is kind of rejoiced by him. It has become like a mantra for us, I guess. So it was kind of coincidence when we bought the rights to the photo and ended up using it on a later album where it doesn't really fit but it fits if you know the story.

Your vocals are much more diverse compared to the previous albums. You scream, mourn and yell like never before and this gives the songs this special touch to grip the lyrics…was it your intention to let the listener get more grip to the songs - this suffering, the pain?

First of all, thank you. Yeah, I guess so. It was really cool doing the vocals for the album because the whole band was together while I was doing it. We were really sparring back and forth with ideas from everybody. One of the main things is when I do vocals on my albums everything is first take, everything is just straight forward. Of course it's been planned and written but it's just let's go for it! If it sounds like shit, we just don't use it. I think maybe over the years, with getting more experience and so on, I just really let myself loose and I wanted to sound like me and also different from other vocalists. So yeah, I want people to kinda feel the lyrics perhaps.

As I already said, thrash is even more omnipresent than before and in my review I wrote that you sound a lot like old Sodom, Kreator and stuff like that. Although in "Lick My Flesh" there are even some cool rock n' roll elements that sound like Motörhead. What are your main inspirations when it comes to metal music?

For me it's very hard to answer it in kind of a musical aspect but now that we were doing several interviews I sat down and read a lot of the answers from HaaN who is doing most of the songs. His answer to that is just nothing really. There is nothing that has typically inspired us now but I do believe that if we go back to what we used to listen to when we started listen to metal, it was the Big Four obviously within thrash and that still sticks. I wouldn't say that the album is inspired by it but I believe that it's a product of it.

Where do you get your inspirations for the lyrics from?

From my weird head (laughs). I don't know. I think the inspiration just grows over time. It's like if you're writing a book, the inspiration comes here and there and when I do, I don't have a pen and paper, I have a phone. Maybe I hear something, a sentence or just construct a sentence out of a situation you're in. And that captures me like that's something special and I will write it down. I might kind of build something out of that in a way. I get inspired by being outside in the nature, sleeping in the summer in the forest – just being alone.

Well, that's very misanthropic!

But on the other hand I have two kids and 50% of the time I am a regular dad, you know? So it is misanthropic but I believe to be a modern misanthrope. Also towards Satanism you have to have a certain balance in which role you're taking.

The band exists since 2003 and you have a very stable line-up where only the bass changed sometimes. What's the secret for the band stability?

Alcohol (laughs)! I don't know – when we begun, we all were lucky getting together as guys. For the continued success of actually sticking together for so many years, we never compromised on the individual as long as we move forward as one unit. It's a really weird question! Maybe the other guys have a good answer to it, I really don't because it's just natural for us. We're just a bunch of old friends. When we hit the road and do gigs it's the best fucking time ever! When we're high-fiving at the airport it's like being little kids again, having a good time together. I think it's also a trust aspect: we respect each other a lot, if somebody needs more time in a certain status of life or if somebody needs to be pushed a little bit, we're going from kids or teenagers to adults – I'm getting forty in a few years. All of that evolvement has shaped us as persons and also as a band. I guess none of us is an asshole, if you get it. We're good guys to each other and protecting each other. Malphas is the new bassist and he has been there for ten years – he just fits right in.

Although you released six albums so far, you still have this underground status and aren't one of the big ones in the scene, which I actually don't understand. Do you have an explanation for this?

I guess when we released our first album "Misanthrophic Path Of Madness" the timing was really good. There was a couple of also smaller bands from Norway coming out and a lot of things started to happen, but all the bands were still in the shadow of two generations of bands above us. Of course, the really big ones like Immortal, Mayhem, Emperor from the first wave and so many bands from the second wave. So we got record deals and got things going but we always were pushed down into the underground also because the new black metal, and I would say that I am from that, is really unpolished and brutal and it doesn't fit everywhere. I don't really check out many new bands but I listen to the older bands all the time because I know how it works and I think that and also a lot of the guys not caring so much has led to that really good bands never really got anywhere, whilst other bands really wanted to go somewhere and maybe adapted to there maybe. I don't say that it's negative but it doesn't really fit to us and at one point we got hooked up by NoiseArt Records which is a really big label and we got put on tour with Cradle Of Filth and Behemoth and really got an opportunity to move forward. But when the record label told us that we couldn't call our album like we wanted to do and that we couldn't use the artwork we wanted to use, we just said "fuck it!". If we were making a million bucks, yeah sure, why not but we're not. We're just regular guys with jobs playing black metal. Also we weren't live, timing-wise, it never really worked out for us but that's not negative either. At the last release we were looking at doing something but then Corona came. That's why this release really means a lot to us because we've been like re-united as a really strong force. So I hope that now things really happen and I am ambitious just like the rest of the guys as well to do that. We will remain in the underground but everybody who stands in our way will be pushed aside.

I had to laugh when I heard the new cover song which is "Under My Thumbs" by the Rolling Stones. What the hell did you smoke to cover exactly this one?

We really liked doing Exodus on the last album. It was fun and was like a teenage thing. It meant a lot to us and we headbanged the shit out of heads at that song. Now we wanted also to do a cover and we actually completed a different cover. I can't say which one because we're probably going to release it later. Everything out there today is so sensitive and we're a non-political band. When it comes to race, whom you chose to love, whom you chose to identify yourself – we don't give a fuck. We have no opinion at all. But we did one cover and said that we can't release it because then we would be put into a category of band that disrespects all the movements. This will rob us from opportunities that we want to get. Our drummer Audun got the idea of covering The Rolling Stones with "Under My Thumb". I am a huge fan and I really grew up with The Rolling Stones. The melody and the song has a vibe to it which we wanted to explore. I didn't know how to but the guys did (laughs) and the lyrics are in today's world as edgy as fuck. You're talking about a female who is under my thumb – that's what Mick Jagger is saying. Nowadays it is not okay. But still so much of the album also reflects that – how I proceed myself in many ways artistically. Having people under my thumb myself is also this Prince Of Disgust-thing and the lyrics also matches to us in a weird way. So Audun had it as a suggestion and first I refused. Then we started working o it and it kinda grew on me and I liked it. We had such a good time in the studio while recording it. We had another guy doing the backing vocals, I'm not gonna say his name because we don't like that name-dropping, and he is also talking a lot of shit during the solo which is really funny. We had done the whole day doing all the vocals and we parted in the evening, got up in the morning and we recorded the song, trying to get sober.

Thanks for answering my questions – the final words are yours!

We do really feel people reaching out to Svarttjern and we get this respectful vibe which we weren't really aware of and we appreciate that. We're really looking forward to keep moving forward and getting the support from the listeners out there. That means a lot to us. Thank you, Michael!

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If there is one thing that the Belgian black/thrash/speed metal band Bütcher made sure with their new album "On Fowl of Tyrant Wing", it's that if you're gonna have such an awesome album title and an awesome cover art by Kris Verwimp, you are obviously gonna provide one hell of an album absolutely worth blasting on full volume. It's by far one of the fastest and heaviest releases of 2024 that you can't get enough no matter how much you think you've pleased your appetite for destruction. After revisiting the new album "On Fowl of Tyrant Wing", I managed to get in touch with the band's vocalist R Hellshrieker where we've discussed the latest output of Bütcher, from the songwriting process to the end result. I hope you maniacs will enjoy this interview and make sure to support Bütcher!

Vladimir

Greetings Hellshrieker, warmest welcome from Metalbite! How are you doing?

Hey Metalbite and metalheads, we're good. Reaching the years' end and it's been a very busy year. So we're taking the time to take a breather and enjoying what 2024 has brought us!

Your new album On Fowl of Tyrant Wing is finally out now and there has been such an overwhelmingly positive response from fans and critics, praising the band's performance and overall highly improved songwriting, while still remaining faithful to the core principles of Bütcher. How has the whole journey with the work on the new album been for you guys? What was the band chemistry like during the songwriting and recording process?

Thanks for your kind words. The album has proven more divisive than our previous one, with people really enjoying what we did, diving even deeper into mixing various old metal genres and focussing on more subtle songwriting. The new album is certainly a grower, with a few cuts really taking you by the throat, but others require more attention and repeated listens to appreciate all the layers we put in there. For a minority that made it too complicated to what they expected from us. But that's cool, to each his own and that counts certainly for us as well. We think we achieved what you said: remaining faithful on all fronts to the core principles of the band, and improving our performance. It was a unique approach though, with KK Ripper writing and arranging most of the material by himself. Our previous drummer LV Speedhämmer composed and recorded the drums. I actually wrote lyrics and tried vocal approaches afterwards. Normally we would first finish everything together and then hit the studio, but due to Speedhämmer's leaving we were forced to work within the time frame we had. So for the next one, we'll go with another take on band chemistry again and write in the rehearsal room. It'll be very interesting to see how the next album will differ in those regards. Gonna be fun!

When it comes to the physical release sales for On Fowl of Tyrant Wing, which format was on high demand? Vinyl, CD or cassette?

I should ask our label for accurate numbers, but it seems on shows and what we see on social media that the vinyl is actually in high demand. I have to add that the artwork was really made with vinyl size in mind and it shows. The package is perfect in large format!

For subgenres such as black/speed metal or black/thrash metal, it's really a difficult task to provide any kind of innovation, but you seem to have handled that incredibly well, because your song structures are very rich and complex with constant tempo-changes, sonic riffs, powerful guitar solos and melodic touches here and there. Was there anything specific that you were looking to improve or tweak in your music?

Thanks again! And yeah, it's a balancing act to stay within the rules of the genre (and bend them a bit, of course - because rule breaking makes things interesting ;)) and still sound fresh, contemporary and with new ideas. I think we achieved it, but there wasn't a rulebook we wanted to follow or a list of boxes that we wanted to tick. I think you can definitely hear our influences, ranging from Slayer and Nifelheim, over Primordial and Desaster, to Mercyful Fate and Iron Maiden. We did want to put a bit more US metal into it and the openers of the album (Speed Metal Samurai and Blessed By The Blade) are actually songs we had for an EP on which we really wanted to let people hear more Omen, Liege Lord etc in the guitar work. But we stopped with the EP idea to continue into a full-length.

One song that stood out for me is "A Gypsy's Tale (Of Sex and Seance)", because it stylistically feels like a nostalgic throwback to classic Morbid Angel, with the inclusion of sitar in the background and some King Diamond-ish vocal elements. What can you tell me about working on this song specifically?

Yeah, it's the most divisive song on the album, by far. To us, it made a lot of sense because it's the middle piece of the B-side trilogy. The song tells about the origins of a sensual gypsy woman - who is truly a vessel of the Devil, living through time and corrupting mankind. She was born of ancient entities in the occult Middle-Eastern caverns of the world. That theme gells very well with the occult Morbid Angel riffing - which in turn we thought cool to combine with Mercyful Fate influences, both in music and vocal delivery. We had a lot of fun doing this one, and I'm very proud of it. In the theme of the trilogy it's megacool, though it's not a new direction we're gonna do. Though you can never say never, haha.

If I may be so bold to say so, I think this might be your heaviest and most musically intense album yet, and it really feels like a greater bastard child of 80's Slayer, Nifelheim and Dark Angel, with some instances of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest on "A Sacrifice to Satan's Spawn". Were you guys aiming to incorporate your various musical influences or did it all come out naturally?

Oh yeah, totally. It's no coincidence that the bands you mention are the very ones we refer to when explaining our style and influences. Bütcher definitely is a mixture of all these classic acts, but we don't aim to do anything. It's just a style that comes natural to us, that's why our albums have so many subgenres on it. But we write wherever our ideas on that moment take us.

It might sound like a weird question to ask, but do you guys have any set of rules and ideas that you think a Bütcher song should accomplish? (apart from being heavy and extreme of course)

So this question is actually something I touched upon earlier, and the answer is definitely: no! We have no set rules of ideas about what we think our songs should accomplish. We have a lot of freedom in our minds and a Bütcher song just needs to have the right feeling. It doesn't need to be anything else than that! We only know whenever we try something that is NOT Bütcher material and that comes natural as well. Like: oh this is a cool riff, but this is totally not something we'll use, haha.

This is your second album in a row which features the artwork of the renowned and talented Belgian artist Kris Verwimp, and I think this might be the best art that he has designed for Bütcher yet, although I think we can all agree that he's simply unmistakeable. What was it like working with him for the second time for On Fowl of Tyrant Wing?

Kris's artwork for Goats really helped to solidify that album and even became a bit of iconic in the underground, if we may say so. We were certainly looking for some continuity in the Bütcher brand, so to speak. And it was the most logical step to ask Kris again. And boy, did he deliver. He nailed it again, telling a story of a few of the lyrics, painting eye-popping visuals with a lot of character and personality. This time he even used an orange and purple palette, and to a degree we didn't expect. We gave him some cues and provided him with the music and lyrics. And as he did with Goats, he turned it into a very distinct cover that grabs the viewers attention. We're extremely happy with it.

We all know how Bütcher is highly acclaimed across the globe, but what is the general reception from your local metal scene? Does the Belgian metal scene treat you with proper respect?

Funny thing is that we have more fans abroad than in Belgium, so it seems to us at least. Of course quite some people are respecting what we do over here, but our take on old skool metal just works better in audiences in other countries. It's also a Belgian thing, to prove yourself abroad. Only after, we notice our own talent, haha. And probably this niche we created just has a larger demographic target audience in larger countries. We've played a lot of parts of Europe by now, with even more coming in 2025. In any case, that is truly an honor to do so, and we love how we are received across the continent.

Thank you so much for doing this interview. Looking forward to seeing Bütcher live someday, and continue to keep it true! Any final words for the fans?

Hope so too! Thanks for the interview and to the fans I'd say: thanks for your dedicated support. See you Maniaxxxe on the road, URGH!

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For anyone who has followed the longest enduring acts from the 90's Norwegian black metal scene, you have most likely heard the legends of one they call Lord Kaiaphas, the once former vocalist of the band Ancient who had recently returned to perform with the band to support the anniversary tour for "The Cainian Chronicle" album. Ever since his triumphant return, the band Ancient all of a sudden seemed to have such a resurgence in the black metal community worldwide, even though the interest for the band has always been there throughout the years. This time however, it is a very exceptional case that sparked such positive fan feedback throughout the entire year and luckily, they are planning to keep on going. Sadly, I was unable to attend the band's show on the Explosive Stage at the Exit Festival 2024, which is held every year in my hometown of Novi Sad at the Petrovaradin fortress, but I was very fortunate to get in touch with Lord Kaiaphas and do an interview with the man himself. We talked about his return in Ancient and we also covered his history with the band since he joined in 1995, while discussing other subjects such as the work on the beloved "The Cainian Chronice" album, the story behind the shooting of "Lilith's Embrace" music video, the development hell behind Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends, his involvement in other projects such as Thokkian Vortex, Le Chant Noir, Minimal Criminal and Dream Invaders, and we also talked a bit about his passion for travelling all around the world as a very hardcore globetrotter. I hope you will stick around until the end and if you enjoyed this interview, I would highly appreciate your feedback.

Vladimir

Hey, Valerio. How is it going?

Hey, buddy. You were at the show. Yes?

You're talking about the show at the Exit Festival this year?

Yeah.

No. Unfortunately, I was not able to attend the show because I was in Sweden around the time.

Okay.

I'm kinda pissed off because this was actually our honeymoon we got as a wedding gift, and I wasn't even aware that Ancient was gonna be performing in my hometown of all places. So, I was really let down by that.

Oh, well. Okay. It was a good show.

Was this your first time coming here to Serbia?

Yeah. At first, we spent some days in Belgrade and we liked it. We enjoyed it. And then, and then a shuttle came to pick us up from Belgrade to Novi Sad, and then we did the show there. And then back to Belgrade for another day or 2, and then back, back home. I thought it was a very nice city. I even had some nice craft beers. I'm a big fan of craft beers and they had some good ones there. I brought back a can from Serbia. And the thing that made an impression is how hot it is. It's like it's the hottest place we've ever been to, and I'm from Brazil. It was incredibly hot, because we were told that because of the buildings and the asphalt, the heat just remains, and there was no air conditioning anywhere. So, it was like we could not believe how hot it was. We were not expecting it to be that hot in Serbia.

Yeah. It was above 40 degrees this Summer, and the worst part is that it was near 50. I don't recall if one day it was actually going 50 degrees, but this was a very strong heat wave that even struck the north of Europe, like Sweden. They had this same scenario in September. But when I was in Sweden around that time, the temperature was very good. It wasn't so hot that you couldn't breathe, because it's not so closed and asphalt all over you like Novi Sad. And I think that's the biggest problem because we lack nature. We lack natural resources. We don't have as many trees and grass. When a guy from Brazil such as yourself says it was hot, it was hot. So, I believe you.

Yeah. And I live in Israel, and here we get temperatures like high forties in the Summer. But they have air conditioning everywhere. Like, all the shops, all the buses, everything in the house, we have central air conditioning here. And in Belgrade, we didn't see much of that. Just maybe a few places. It was very hot.

We're very known for the fact that we don't actually take care of this kind of stuff, so I believe you. I believe you completely. Even if you drove with our city buses, you would have died. Trust me.

No. We walked the whole time.

Good. I think it's safer to walk or to go by car with air conditioning on. Never take a bus.

Yeah. We had a good time. It was cool. Very cool. Enjoyed it. Hope we get some other gigs in Serbia in the future.

I know you're quite a person who likes to travel. I mean, judging from all the posts that I've seen on your social media, how come you're such a globetrotter? How come you are so excited to travel so much?

Well, I'm from Brazil, but I grew up in America. I started living there when I was 6 years old. So, every summer vacation I would fly back to Brazil to visit the family and then back to America. So, I've been flying since I was a little kid. And I had these two cultures. And then when I joined Ancient, then that's when I got to go to Norway and Sweden, and then we went on tour across Europe. But the traveling bug didn't bite me until years later, like around 2001. I went to Morocco, for a trance music festival over there. And that's when I got the idea "Hey. Traveling is cool. Checking out other cultures and eating other foods, the sites, the smells, all the new stuff". And then I decided to go back to live in Brazil, explore Brazil more. And then from that point onwards, every year I would go somewhere new and I had a thing. I have to go to a new place every year, at least one new place. And then, because I also make trance music, I had gig offers in different countries as well. So, because of that, I got to go to Australia to play in Australia, Turkey, other places in Europe, obviously, Brazil. And now back with Ancient, we've been playing a gig almost every other month. So back to traveling.

Since you came back to Ancient, did you travel more, i.e. do more extensive tours than you did back in the 90's when you originally joined the band?

When I was in the nineties, we had a couple of tours, two main ones. One was supporting Dark Funeral, and one where we were the main band with Behemoth, believe it or not, supporting us. That was the second tour and it was basically 22/23 gigs back-to-back, a couple days break, on a tour bus with 20 people, double decker bus, like hardcore, just going to European countries. It was two tours and then we did one mini tour in America that we played just like 5 gigs up and down the East Coast, and that was it.

You've been absent from Ancient for quite a while now. All of a sudden, people got so excited to see that you came back. So, what's actually the story behind you rejoining Ancient?

I've been in touch with Aphazel for all these years. You know, off and on, we would talk and stuff like that. So, I've always been aware of what they're doing. I went to Greece in 2003 and I was talking to Aphazel and he said "Hey. We're gonna play some gigs in Greece. Why don't you join us on stage for a couple songs?" So, I was in the way. I sort of got a ride to where I was going through them. I played a couple gigs with them and then I kept in touch with Aphazel. And then they started having talks about The Cainian Chronicle, because then the 20-year mark or 30-year mark or whatever hit, I'm not sure how long. And then, maybe we should do an anniversary tour. They started doing the Svartalvheim anniversary, so the next album would be The Cainian Chronicle. So, we were talking anyway. He came here to Israel to visit some years back, like 10 years or whatever back. So, it was in the cards. It would have happened sooner or later.

When you came back, did you feel more optimistic about being a part of this band again more so than you were back in the 90's?

I've changed a lot. Not changed, but I guess, there's lack of a better word. Back when I was in Ancient in the 90's, I couldn't compose my own music. All I could do was write lyrics, vocals, play drums, so I didn't have a creative outlet for my music. Since then, I've learned audio engineering, music production, things like that and I've acquired the skills that I can make black metal by myself now. I can write the guitar parts on the midi keyboard and have someone play them, and I have my project Thokkian Vortex. So, that means that I can satisfy my musical needs for creativity and expression, no problem. So, I can join another band and be able to step back. I feel a lot better. So, being in Ancient now, I fulfil my role, which is the vocals and to interpret the music and do that better. I don't care about writing music for them or any of these things. Back at the time, I was frustrated because I couldn't write my own music, and the music wasn't going the way that I wanted it to go. And then I went through a period of confusion and all this kind of stuff. I don't have any of that anymore. I'm obviously much older. So, yeah, I feel great about being in Ancient.

Since you mentioned Svartalvheim, the album actually turned 30 years old last week. It's crazy to see how Ancient has been around for so long and you joined Ancient somewhere after that album was released. You originally joined as the drummer for the band and then you also started doing vocals for Ancient. Do you recall how you joined Ancient back in the mid nineties?

Yeah. I remember very well. Before I joined Ancient, as you may know, back in the day when you didn't have the Internet, bands and fans would communicate by letters, snail mail. So, he was one of my contacts. I traded my demo tape for the Ancient 7 inch, and I got the CD. Somehow, either I ordered it or I got it from him, and we wrote back and forth. So, he knew that I was a drummer and vocalist, that I did both from my demos. Ancient at the time was him and Grimm, and Grimm was the drummer and vocalist. Grimm left the band, and then Aphazel just got a contract from Metal Blade Records, but he needed another guy. And because he was talking to me and he came to America, he visited me, and he was aware that I was capable of playing drums and doing good vocals, he was like "Hey. Would you like to join Ancient?" And it was a very easy decision. It was like "Do you wanna join a band that has a contract with Metal Blade Records or do you wanna stick around with the band where you don't even like the guys that you're playing with? The guys are going nowhere, so do you wanna stay in Virginia or do you wanna join a Norwegian black metal band on Metal Blade?" It was an easy choice.

Yeah, especially around the time when Norwegian black metal was a very popular thing.

Yeah. That was the beginning, because what happened at that time was that all the labels were looking for Norwegian black metal bands to sign and a lot of the bands were signed already, like Mayhem, Emperor, Dimmu Borgir. They were snatching everybody and so Metal Blade was like "We're taking Ancient". That's what happened. We all have to thank Varg Vikernes and Euronymous for the incidents that led to the rise of and the noticing of black metal in the 90's. That was a big push.

Yeah. It's a weird balance. Something bad has to happen in order for something good to happen for black metal.

Yeah. There's a saying in America. They say that "you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs".

That's it, that's actually what I had in mind. But generally speaking, since we're talking about Ancient, which is a very traditional Norwegian black metal band, and you're someone who's from Brazil. Brazil has its own extreme metal bands, from Sarcofago, Mystifier, Sepultura and Vulcano, and they are very different bands. These are very aggressive and extreme bands and you're from that background. How did it feel to be a guy, from a different extreme metal background, be a part of a band which was fresh around the time with that kind of cold and grim black metal from the north?

Well, I was into black metal and bands with satanic lyrics and all that early thrash stuff since '86. Before that, I was a heavy metal fan and the most extreme band that I knew was Metallica. And it was, you know, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Scorpions, all the classics. In '86, I discovered Slayer, Kreator, Destruction, Sodom, Venom, King Diamond, everything all at once. And I discovered all of that stuff in Brazil. So, in my first pile of records that I bought that year, I also had the first Sepultura split with Overdose and the first Vulcano, the first Vulcano album which was a live album. So, all of that was part of my influences. In America, in Virginia, in the early 90's, I joined the scene there, the death metal scene there. And then I got into the underground and stuff like that. So, it was just an eventual step. Then the black metal stuff started coming out. Before the Norwegian stuff, I was into the Greek stuff and Finnish bands like Impaled Nazarene and Beherit. I was really attracted to the satanic bands, because that was something that I was into more and that type of sound, the raspy type vocals versus the death metal stuff. I like some death metal, but black metal is the stuff that really hits home. And what the Norwegian guys were doing was a new black metal based on Bathory and the stuff that came before. And I was like "That's the sound". That's the right approach".

You found something that you could easily relate with at the time.

Immediately. Yes.

Speaking of joining Ancient and finding the right place for you around the time, for me personally, I think The Cainian Chronicle is an important Norwegian black metal album. It doesn't get mentioned as much as the early Norwegian black metal albums, but when you see people who are very enthusiastic about it, you sometimes see people talking about Ancient and saying "This band made a fucking awesome album based on a biblical story and revolving around that concept". The best thing about it was that the album was produced by Dan Swanö from Sweden. And he was working with bands like Dissection, but mostly with the Swedish melodic black and death metal bands.

A lot of bands. Abruptum and Dark Funeral.

Even Marduk at some point.

Marduk as well. Yeah.

When that album was fresh and new, what was the initial reception that you got from the fans and the media?

It was a bit of a hit at the time. The people liked it, responded well. I mean, Metal Blade, Records, it has a big outreach. I mean, it's a big label. Like, probably one of the very first extreme metal labels, like they're legendary. I was very, very happy to be on Metal Blade Records and so it got a lot of promotion and it was in many magazines. It was everywhere. So, it got good reviews and then we did that crappy video which got played on MTV in Europe and then that also propelled the band forward. And so, we were able to sell a lot of copies of the album. So yeah, it did well at the time.

The funny thing is, since you mentioned the "crappy video" for Lilith's Embrace, that's how I discovered you guys. And the funny thing was, somebody put you in a compilation for one of the worst black metal music videos ever.

It got number 1. I saw one that said it was number 1. So yeah.

Number 1? Okay hahah.

Number 1 worst video.

Hahah, oh my god. I don't know how that is possible, I've seen worse things. I mean you could see it is like a DIY kind of video, but still for fuck's sakes, the song is so great and I cannot even imagine the song without the video itself. Every time I listen to the album, I just see the images from the video in my head. So, after that, you cannot listen to the song without connecting it to that video. So, for a black metal band on MTV, it's weird how much black metal stuff was on MTV even if it was late hours.

They had like 10 videos at most. Not even Cradle of Filth had a video yet at the time. They just had the Immortal video.

They had Hecate Enthroned.

Hecate Enthroned video. Like, almost nothing. Root from Czech Republic. Like, very few. They had almost nothing to play and then they had the Ancient, and that came from Metal Blade. So, like "Oh yeah. We're gonna play this one".

Yeah. That's a bit more serious since it's a major label backing up the band.

Yeah. And we had the worst video in their entire roster.

That video still holds a special place in my heart.

Yeah. People like it, because it's like a guilty pleasure type of thing.

Yeah. I guess it's safe to say so. I mean, there's a lot of things that you can love and hate about the video, but I guess the thing that I liked the most about the video was where you guys were playing, the background where the fire was being set and it was a very dark background.

Yeah. That was like in a parking lot close to a forest that was in view of these apartment buildings and there's a satanic panic in Norway during that time because of all the church burnings. So, older people were like looking out for Satanists and stuff. So, somebody in the building up there, they saw that there were these guys with paint and stuff with fire, and they're like "There are Satanists right in front of my building", and the police showed up while we were filming. And then Kjetil, the drummer guy who was a good talker, went and talked to them. I don't speak Norwegian, but I understood what was going on. He said "No. We're just shooting a video. It's just a music video", and the cops were like "Ah, okay. So, it's another one. So please, guys, do it fast and get out of here because you got neighbours calling".

Oh my god. So, there's even a story behind it. I cannot believe it. I always love when I hear stories about the making of music videos, but this one, I actually had a similar situation, but mine was a lot worse than yours, and I won't go into that. I'll keep on going with the subject of The Cainian Chronicle. Back then, Kimberly Goss was the keyboardist and the backing vocalist of the band. I think she added a lot more to it aside from the great black metal music that you guys have already had since Svartalvheim and developing. It was weird to see how she went from Ancient to Dimmu Borgir. I recall one interview where she called you guys out saying "This shitty band from Bergen called Ancient". I was like "Why are you doing this?". I thought it was a very immature thing to do, because I was like "be grateful for the fact that you were in a black metal band and you joined another black metal band later". I mean, was there any rivalry with Dimmu Borgir at the time?

No. I met the Dimmu Borgir guys, the year that we recorded the album. I met Shagrath, the main guy. And this was when they had just recorded Stormblåst and it was just about to be released. They just had a new label, and all they had as far as releases was the For All Tid album and the Devil's Path EP. And he gave them to me, like he just gave them to me and he was super cool. I remember he was very cool at the time, so I'm unaware of any kind of rivalry of any sort. I don't think they ever paid much attention to that. It was mostly Kimberly, because we had to kick her out of the band after our tour together, so she probably had sour feelings. And then, that's why that stuff happened.

Was she a difficult person to work with in the band?

It got like that. At first, no. But then it became like that, and then it was a problem. We had to do what we had to do.

Yeah. I mean, I'm very sorry that it had to go that way. But, in any case, I hope that the shoutout she gave at least opened some interest for Ancient around the time because that was a German interview, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah, I think it's on YouTube even.

Yeah. It is. That's how I found it. I mean, back then, when I heard her say that, I wasn't sure if she was talking about Ancient or Ancient Rites because it would usually confuse the two.

Yeah. It was definitely us, because at the time in interviews, she also said negative things about us as well. It was brought to my attention. Different fans would say "Hey. Have you seen what Kimberly said about you?" And I was like "I don't really care, but okay. Show me". Okay. Yeah. Whatever. I mean, I'm good.

I'm glad that you guys weren't highly affected by her response and what she said about it.

It just makes her look bad if she's the one complaining. We had nothing to say about that.

Indeed.

She did vocals on The Cainian Chronicle? She didn't do the synth on The Cainian Chronicle. That's all Aphazel. She did just the vocal parts. But on tour, she toured with us alongside Dark Funeral and Bal Sagoth from England and on that tour she did play the synth and did more backing vocals. And it was good. It was good. I mean, it was good while it lasted but then after that, we had some problems. She had moved to Norway and she stayed, she just went back home to Norway. It was not like we kicked her out and she had to go all the way back to the USA.

I understand. Did this whole situation affect how you worked on the next album Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends?

No. It was different. But, looking back, I have a lot of things to say about the Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends because I'm very disappointed by that album, in particular the production.

I'm actually curious to know more, because the direction that the band was going was much different, from The Cainian Chronicle. It wasn't as complex in structure and it wasn't as progressive or as epic. It felt very much like it was trying to go for a more atmospheric approach, but in a way so that it would feel moody. I remember when I listened to the album, the first thing I noticed was different production and it is a bit of a step back from Dan Swanö. I am also interested to know why was the direction of Ancient changed for that album?

Well, mostly because the album was not composed solely by Aphazel. You see, The Cainian Chronicle had already been written. Practically, the whole album had already been written by the time I joined. He sent me a cassette tape with all of the songs and all I had to do was write lyrics to them. Now I remember that that riff from "Lilith's Embrace" stuck out. Like, I said "Wow. That song is cool". For Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends, we kind of wrote some songs together. I had a little bit more of the input when it came to arrangements and we also brought in my friend Dave into the band who was in the "Lilith's Embrace" video and was also the bass player on The Cainian Chronicle tour. He had joined in as guitarist for that album and he actually wrote some songs. You know, he called himself "Jesus Christ".

Like the former vocalist of Venom, Clive Archer. He also called himself Jesus Christ hahah.

Well, it's a silly name. But anyway, he wrote some songs and we rehearsed in my basement in Virginia. So, there was more input from different guys. It wasn't just Aphazel and Aphazel wrote some stuff and I pushed for different types of things to happen in the album. I wanted the album to come out a lot grander and different than what resulted, but another thing is that he had plenty of time to do The Cainian Chronicle. I imagine at his home in Bergen, he wrote by himself nicely with his drum machine, whatever and Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends was done in a rush. Like, we have so many months to write this album because Metal Blade wants to release another album. There was some pressure at the time. And a lot of responsibility fell on me and I was not very responsible at the time. So, I went in and I found the studio for us to record, but it was the wrong studio. Not that they didn't have good equipment. It was a very well-equipped studio, more equipped than Dan Swanö's studio. This was a studio equipped to record an orchestra. They had like aquariums and various rooms, and wood finish and it was a beautiful studio and a giant mixing desk that took up the whole room. It was really a fancy studio. However, the most important thing, the engineer/producer had no experience in recording and producing extreme metal. And as I discovered many years later when I became a producer myself, that extreme metal, in particular death metal and black metal, are the most difficult types of music to record and produce properly, because you have everything going at the high volume, high distortion. It's high speed and so forth, it's very hard to balance everything. If you're just a rock band or a blues band, just go on record. That's it. You can get a good sound quite easily, and that's what he was used to. So, when he heard all that crazy shit, he didn't know what the fuck to do. And there was a lot of pressure, and there were a lot of people in the studio. We had friends come over and it was like a party and stuff, and he couldn't concentrate and it was just a big mess. So, it was not recorded under the greatest conditions. It was recorded in a rush. We weren't really ready to record. There was no process of like "Maybe we shouldn't have this song, maybe we shouldn't have that song". We pretty much released everything that we recorded, and that's why it ended up the way it did. But surprisingly, there's still many people that like that album.

I've seen people showing more support for this kind of stuff that was either overlooked or critically bashed, because they found something that they didn't find on their first hearing. Speaking about that part of production, about, you know, extreme metal genres being extremely difficult to produce, that's true, because you gotta find the right sound for those kinds of riffs, for that kind of style that the band plays, and even I know that from my own experience. The funny thing is, nobody is as lucky as Mayhem was when they did Deathcrush. I mean, the guys who did that album, they thought they were gonna record this reggae or ska band because that's what they got used to. And they were like "Uh, we don't play reggae or ska. We play metal". And what they ended up with turned out pretty great. I mean, it's fucked up when you don't have the guy with a very trained ear for all kinds of music. Even if it's not something he listens to, at least sonically if he could understand like "okay, this riff should sound like this or these songs should sound like that", because with a good production, the music stands out more, at least from my point of view.

Yeah. The main problem production-wise, or sound-wise with that album is the drums. I play the drums on that. There's no low end on the drums or the bass. You can't hear the bass. There's nothing. There's nothing on the low end at all. As if you took an equalizer and you cut all the low-end frequencies. It's inexcusable. I'll take a lot of the blame for that, because I should have known a bit better. But the thing is, I didn't have studio knowledge, audio engineering knowledge the way I do now. Now I can look back and I know every single mistake that was made. I would know how to fix it. I would be able to remix that album much better today if only I had all the recordings, which are lost. Like, we asked Metal Blade, and they're like "I don't know where they are. I have no idea".

I guess the master tapes are thrown in the trash bin.

Something like that. Like, they don't have the individual recordings, which is unfortunate. This is what happened. I recorded my drums, and then I went into the control room, and then I said "Let me hear the drums". And then he played the drums. He played it and the drum sounded big and fat, big snare, big everything, because he had the reverbs and everything on the drums. It was like "Excellent! Keep them like that". I have nothing to worry about. I felt like I got nothing to worry about, he's gonna keep the drums like that and that's it. But when it came to the mix, I didn't know that there was gonna be a final mix and everything was gonna go back to 0 and he was gonna do everything. I didn't know about this stuff. So, when he did that process, no more reverb. I don't know what happened to the bass. They mixed it all wrong. In the end, that's what happened and then I discovered it. I listened to it at home and stuff, and I was like "Oh my god. What happened?", and it was too late to fix.

It's a sad circumstance, because I think that this album was approached by someone who might be a good experienced producer, but I think it was approached from a point of view of somebody who doesn't know what black metal should sound like or thinks what black metal sounds like to their ears, that's how you they made it. As somebody who has a very kind surface level thinking because there are a lot of idiots who think that black metal should sound raw and should have no low end.

Yeah, but even all those old Darkthrone albums, Transylvanian Hunger and so forth, they have low end. They have oomph in them, old Emperor too, the demos and stuff. They do because they didn't cut that out in the mix. This engineer must have been like "There's a rule. You have to cut this much out of it". I don't know what happened, what he did. I wasn't in there for the mixing, I was somewhere else. But there is no low end in that.

Were you at least able to support the album on tour when it was released?

Yeah. I told you earlier that we went on tour for that album to support that album, and we were the headlining band. Behemoth were the co-headliners according to them, but like, it's the only three bands. It was Belphegor, then Behemoth, then Ancient. And we did a similar tour, like the previous tour, for The Cainian Chronicle, in a lot of the same cities.

So, it all went great, even though the album didn't turn out that great in the end?

Yeah. We still had good turnouts, and I think that crowd-wise, it was a little bit less than the previous tour because the previous tour, Dark Funeral were headlining and they brought I guess they brought more people. Maybe in retrospect, Ancient wasn't ready to be a headlining act on the tour, but it was still good. We still had like 200, sometimes 300 people per gig, you know, small clubs. It was good.

What eventually led to you leaving the band, after that album had been released?

Well, I don't know how to explain it. I was going through a lot of confusion and I was sort of growing as a person, but going through some difficulties. I had some issues, different kinds of issues. And when it came to the band, I felt frustrated because I wanted to have more creative control. Even though I couldn't compose music, I still felt that I wanted to have more creative control. I thought that it was difficult working with Aphazel at the time. Now it's not any kind of issue whatsoever. But at that time, the truth is that I didn't really know exactly what I wanted. I thought I did, but I wasn't sure. So, I figured "Okay. I've had it with Ancient. I'm gonna do my own thing with my friends". We had Erichte, the female vocalist, and her boyfriend. We were good friends and they were talking to me about starting a gothic project together, like something cool and we got along very well. So, I figured "Okay. So maybe I'll start a project with them and I'll have more creative input with that". So, the truth is that I didn't really think very well. I didn't think about it. It's not like I weighed the pros and cons and made an intelligent decision. You know, when you're in your twenties, you do things on the spur of the moment. You don't think about stuff so much, unless you're really wise and I wasn't, you don't think about it. Because looking back now, it's very clear that it was absolutely a mistake. I would have been able to accomplish everything that I accomplished after that, even if I had remained in Ancient. Like, there was no need for me to leave. I should have stepped back and said "Hey man, you're the vocalist and lyricist for this band. If you wanna do something on your own creative thing, simply do it on your own. Like, have a side project". There was nothing holding me back from that, but for some reason I was despairing. I was like, "Oh, no. I'm too frustrated". And that's what it was. And also, at the same time, Aphazel also had his own plans to maybe move to Italy to reform the band. I'm not sure exactly, but that's precisely what happened at the time, very shortly after I left. I think one year later , within two years or less, he already had another album. I mean, that's just how things turned out.

A lot of things going around at the time, and the decision that you made, it was a very conscious decision based on how you felt. I mean, nobody basically blames you. I mean, everybody makes their decisions based on the way they feel about certain things. Maybe it was a good decision after all because you see how things changed when you got back and how there was this whole resurgence. And the best part is you were still active musically. People associate you with many different projects. They know you for Le Chant Noir, they know you for Thokkian Vortex, and they also know you for the trance project that you have, which is Minimal Criminal. You've had that for 20 years already, if I'm not mistaken.

Yeah. I started that with a buddy when I was living back in Brazil in 2004, and then I left Brazil in 2007. And then, eventually, me and my ex-partner, we split up, and then he started doing his Minimal Criminal, and I started doing my Minimal Criminal. And then lately, for the last couple of years, I have a synthwave project with my wife called Dream Invaders. And we make some retro synthwave nostalgia for the 80's. And we also make some horror synth/dark synth, style, which is influenced and inspired by 80's horror movies. And very recently, we composed the score for a horror documentary called In Search of Darkness.

Oh! You did that?

Yeah.

I didn't know you did that. I know the documentary, but I didn't even know you were involved to do the score.

They have a new one that has just been released, the digital release, which is In Search of Darkness 1990 to 1994. They're interviewing horror icons, directors, actors, makeup artists, so forth like Pinhead and many famous people like Tom Savini and they're talking about different movies from 1990 to 1994. And Dream Invaders, we did the score for the documentary. And, next Friday, we're going to release the score on all platforms like Spotify, Bandcamp and iTunes, everything.

I'm actually very glad that you're also doing synthwave, because I love synthwave. Not just the modern artists like Mega Drive, Perturbator, Carpenter Brut and Dance with Dead.

They're all great artists. I love them.

Yeah. For me personally, it all started with John Carpenter's movies, because of the soundtrack for his movies. I'm glad that you found that. Were there any plans to do physical releases?

Yes. There are. I want to, but Dream Invaders is a very, very new project. Very few people know about us. So, we'll see what we can do, but it'll be great to get some more physical releases. But so far, we have a cassette. This small label released a cassette version of the first Dream Invaders album. I'm into it, I like vinyl. So, for me, having a Dream Invaders album released on vinyl would be fantastic as well as Thokkian Vortex and stuff. There's a new Thokkian Vortex album that's going to come out next year as well. It's ready, mastered and everything. I'm just going on a label search at the moment.

I would love to see Dream Invaders, because synthwave on vinyl for me is very authentic. But it's not just for the sake of authenticity, having an album on vinyl is very special. It's a very special item. It's a very special way to experience the music itself. So, there is of course that famous channel, New Retro Wave. I don't know if you guys ever got in touch with the guy who holds that channel, but I think it would be awesome if you could have him release the album itself.

We have released an EP recently through a label called Retro Reverb Records from Italy. But the New Retro Wave label is pretty much like the biggest synthwave label out there, and it's very difficult to get on their roster. You can't just write to them and expect them to listen to your music. However, they are the label that is providing the soundtrack to In Search of Darkness, because In Search of Darkness, you have the soundtrack with just synthwave tracks and then you have the score which is some synthwave mixed with everything. Like, we did even some grunge tracks, because we compose what they ask for. So, you had these two different albums being released. So, because of In Search of Darkness, I'm in touch with the guy from New Retro Wave. He hasn't responded yet. So, let's see what happens with that. If we get on that label, that would be the ultimate.

I mean, what can I say? Best of luck. I hope you will get your record deal and I hope you will be able to release Dream Invaders on a 12 inch.

Yeah. Well, we're gonna keep doing it. So, like, it's maybe sooner or later. We'll see.

Thank you so much for this opportunity, Valerio. It was a very big pleasure and a big honour to talk with you, man.

Likewise.

Thank you. I hope you will continue being as excellent and keep on pushing your efforts. Any final words you'd like to say?

Yeah. I'm gonna keep making music. I think Ancient, we're gonna be doing this Cainian Chronicle tour for as long as people want it. We might even do Mad Grandiose Bloodfiends, because there's been some request for that too. We might do that. Thokkian Vortex is gonna continue, with a new album coming out next year. I intend to keep making my own black metal as well. Minimal criminal, I still do that. It's a little bit on the back burner because I have multiple projects. I can't dedicate equal time to everything. I'm only one person. But still, I'm currently working on a Minimal Criminal track for another label, so I'll keep making that kind of music as well as Dream Invaders. So, I'm not going anywhere.

Previous Interview Shadows Fall with Matthew Bachand (guitar/vocals)	Next Interview Gardenian with Jim Kjell (guitar/vocals)

One-man project Vrazorth is a new gem in the black metal scene and self-released its debut album "Emergence" a couple of months ago. Now the album is going to be released as vinyl and CD via the Italian label Avantgarde Records and that might be a good chance that the band gets the well-deserved attention. Musically the band offers some really spacey black metal tunes with quite a mystery behind that. Maybe you can see a little bit clearer after you read the interview I did with Vra – enjoy reading, check and support the band!

Michael

Greetings unknown entity of Vrazorth! I guess you are a human being so I can ask how you are feeling?

Vra: Your guess is inconclusive, but I am doing well thank you.

I stumbled over the band because Andrea from Avantgarde Records posted a couple of months ago your Bandcamp link. Would you be so kind to introduce Vrazorth a little bit more to the readers of MetalBite?

Vra: Vrazorth is a one-being black metal project based in Sweden. Vrazorth combines cold industrial percussion, raw black metal guitars and vocals, and a dash of early-electronica/ambient inspired synthesizers. I want the listener to feel like they are being sucked into a wormhole and experiencing both the beauty and absolute terror of such an occurrence.

When I first heard your album "Emergence", I heard a lot of similarities to good old Mysticum. The vocals, that industrial sound, the drum computer…I guess they were a huge inspiration for you? Or do you even have anything to do with the guys?

Vra: Funnily enough, Mysticum was more of an "aesthetic" inspiration rather than musical. I was drawn to their use of cold, industrial drumming and gabber kicks combined with more traditional black metal. Other than the production aspects, I don’t really have much to do with them as a listener. In terms of musical inspiration on the cosmic side, I feel like I take far more inspiration from bands like Darkspace and Mesarthim. The bombast of Mesarthim combined with the more murky and occult elements of Darkspace. Of course these were not intentional influences, they just happened naturally and I can reflect on them in retrospect. I have seen a couple of comments comparing the music to Strapping Young Lad, which is interesting because I love that band but I have never considered them an influence on my songwriting.

Where and with whom the album was recorded  and produced or was it all a DIY project?

Vra: The music was written, recorded, mixed and mastered by myself. I find with this sort of music there is a sweet spot between "this sounds good" and "this sounds bad"... that is where the atmosphere and magic lies. It is hard to explain this to an audio engineer who knows what they are doing, because on a technical level it is "incorrect", however on an emotional level I think it gives the music so much more character.

Apart from this a lot of science fiction stuff must have been a creative source for you. What are the most remarkable works in that genre for you?

Vra: None whatsoever - Vrazorth transcends science fiction.

I already mentioned Avantgarde Records; they signed you and released "Emergence" as a physical edition, at least I got that information. But still I cannot find it anywhere to buy – are there currently some issues with the pressing company?

Vra: Yes I think there were some delays with the pressing company, hopefully they are cleared up asap. In the meantime, CDs and LPs can be ordered can be made here:

https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/emergence

Avantgarde Music did an amazing job with the layout and vinyl cover, which I look forward to seeing in person.

The front cover of "Emergence" shows a very impressive picture taken from the NASA. Which stellar nebular does it show and does it have a very special meaning for you?

Vra: No particular meaning other than it perfectly capturing the theme for the album- an indescribable monolith emerging from beyond.

What's up with the album title – is it about the big question where everything started with?

Vra: As mentioned above, the overarching theme of the album is the emergence of a being coming to light. This can be a reference to the music itself, the lyrical themes and the artwork.

The lyrics deal with space and time – is there a common thread in them or do you want to tell a very special story or philosophy with it?

Vra: There are stories and themes within the album, however I deliberately wrote the lyrics in an obtuse way to both have the listener draw their own conclusions as to the content presented. The lyrics will be printed in the physical copies of the album.

Do you have any plans to step out of anonymity in the future and maybe even do some live gigs?

Vra: The first Vrazorth performance has been announced as May 9th, 20225 in Stockholm. As opposed to a band stepping on stage and "rocking out" I want a Vrazorth live show to be an experience, and I am working hard to bring that to life. Beyond that, I have a festival to be announced in late 2025 which is going to be an honour to play.

Will there be a so to speak Episode II by Vrazorth in the future?

Vra: I have already started composing music for the next album and am very excited as to where it is heading. Now that the debut album is released and there is a somewhat "established Vrazorth sound", I am looking forward to expanding on that in every which way.

The final words are yours – thank you very much for the interview!

Vra: Thank you for the interest - HAIL SATURN.

Previous Interview Shadows Fall with Matthew Bachand (guitar/vocals)	Next Interview Gardenian with Jim Kjell (guitar/vocals)

One of the greatest and very unique Greek black metal acts which has been around for more than three decades now, but have rarely seen getting any shoutout from people, is none other than the cult band Zemial. Zemial has been a very dominant force in the Hellenic black metal scene thanks to the amazing contributions of the mastermind Archon Vorskaath, known for his past involvement in other bands such as Varathron, Agatus, Proscriptor McGovern's Apsû and many more. Zemial had returned back in 2022 with a four-track EP called "To Slay with Silent Dagger", which featured guest appearances of his brother Eskarth the Dark One, Proscriptor of Absu and the band's live guitarist Anceorg. I was very curious to see if anything fresh and new was brewing in the Zemial camp, so I decided to reach out to Archon Vorskaath and ask him some questions regarding Zemial, the current status of his label ΝΥΞ, the 30 year anniversary of Varathron's debut album "His Majesty At The Swamp", and we also brought up the subject of Agatus and Proscriptor McGovern's Apsû to see what's happening there. If you are diehard fan of Greek black metal, but never heard of Zemial or listened to their music, I highly suggest you check out their killer discography before reading this interview, and then feel free to join in on this epic journey of legends and conquerors with the man himself, Archon Vorskaath.

Vladimir

Greetings Vorskaath, heart-warming welcome to you brother. How are you doing?

Hello, hello! Doing very well thanks Vlad. Preparing for what is shaping up to be a very busy and exciting 2025.

It's been a while since we heard any news regarding Zemial, but the most recent activity you had was the return with the four track EP "To Slay with Silent Dagger", almost ten years since your previous full-length album NYKTA. Was it a simple matter of taking a short break from Zemial to slowly get back on track or have you been busy working on other bands and projects you're involved with?

I have always tended to do various projects and not put all my energy in just one. So my course is not always linear. But I tend to do a new project every year or two, and also organise re-releases in between. I worked on "The Eternalist" by Agatus in 2015, then I worked on the debut album of Locust Leaves in 2016, and you forgot Zemial's "The Repairer of Reputations" which was released in 2017 (and recently released as a vinyl LP). I then also briefly joined the Death Metal band Plague in 2019. In the meantime, I have composed four Zemial albums, one of which was recorded during the pandemic in 2020 and should be released this coming year. So I do keep busy behind the scenes. Zemial remains a one-man project with absolutely everything from composition, to recording, mixing, releasing, distributing and promoting going through my hands alone. That takes longer for me than a conventional multi-member band. But this has been my path for years. The music is ready when it's ready and I am always digging deeper.

Nevertheless, your EP assured fans that Zemial is back in action and is strong as ever before, showcasing that you are still keeping it true and heavy after all these years. It features guest appearances such as Proscriptor of ABSU, Anceorg and the former Zemial guitarist Eskarth the Dark One, with whom you also play in Agatus. What was it like preparing this latest EP, and how was the overall work alongside these notable guest musicians on these new tracks?

Well the maxi single or mini album or whatever you want to call it, is part of the recording I have done for the new album. So it wasn't a separate session as such. The album itself is a complete Thrasher, and my way of paying tribute to the golden age of Thrash Metal that inspired me to begin with. Yeah it was nice working with these people again even in this limited capacity. All three of them understood the direction of the release perfectly and each added a special touch that I am very grateful for. My brother is obviously a long-time collaborator as we have been playing together since 1991, so we tend to have a good musical understanding. That also extends to Anceorg who has been Zemial's live guitarist since 2016 and an exceptional musician overall. My connection with Proscriptor also extends deep into the past and we have collaborated several times in the past in Absu, Equimanthorn and Zemial. Most recently he joined Zemial as a live vocalist and I joined Absu as a keyboard player. These days I also play drums in Absu and we have exciting news ahead.

Zemial has certainly evolved stylistically throughout the years and one can notice the constant shifting in ideas from one album to another, but with the latest EP, it seems that you have decided to go back to a slightly simpler approach than NYKTA which was much more progressive and complex in structure. What led to the decision of reshaping Zemial again since its return?

It all came down to the year 2019 that marked the 30th Anniversary of Zemial. I thought back on those 30 years and decided to do an album that would be my homage to bands that inspired me in the early days: Bathory, Celtic Frost,/Hellhammer, Sodom, Destruction, Kreator, Venom and Slayer specifically. And so I went through my database of material and after combining, re-arranging writing and concocting, I came up with the album "To Slay With Silent Dagger" from the sessions of which these songs were taken. Directly after this album comes yet another turn in Zemial's path: something darker and heavier. So yes, things in the Zemial are constantly evolving and pushing the boundaries in various directions. That is particularly evident if you compare "To Slay With Silent Dagger" to the "The Repairer of Reputations" LP, both of which were released just about a month apart from each other. One jumped out of the mid-80's Thrash scene whilst the other is akin to a 70's prog-rock extravaganza, if I may say so.

What's interesting is that Zemial's discography predominantly consists of multiple EP's and only a couple of full-length albums. Can the fans expect a new full-length album as a follow-up to the EP "To Slay with Silent Dagger"?

Yes. As I stated earlier, the music from this maxi is taken from the session of the full-length album. So far we have 3 full length albums and I also count "The Repairer of Reputations as an album since it is almost an album duration, but a complete work nevertheless.

Since I already mentioned your work on other projects, I'd like to take a second and talk about Proscriptor McGovern's APSU, which was formed around the time when there were some legal disputes surrounding the original ABSU in 2020, which were eventually resolved in 2024 and the band came back in this original incarnation. What is the current situation regarding Proscriptor McGovern's APSU since the issues regarding ABSU have come to a conclusion? Have you prepared any new material as a follow-up to your self-titled debut album in 2021?

The news is that Absu and Zemial have united as one band to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Absu's album "The Sun of Tiphareth" with a world-tour in 2025, starting this coming February. That will keep us busy for the entire year, after which, we will consider how things will proceed. Certainly I can tell you that the name Absu is back and more music is planned. Proscriptor McGovern's APSU was used as a name for that album only, as a way to get around a legal problem that had arisen from factors that are beyond what is my place to talk about. Now that chapter is closed and Absu is back. And with Zemial in their ranks.

Among your other notable projects we also have the band Agatus with your longtime partner in crime and brother Eskarth the Dark One, which at this point is still considered to be active since 1992. Its third and highly acclaimed album The Eternalist was released all the way back in 2016, and it also seems to have gone quiet for a while now like Zemial, and the interest towards Agatus remains high. Are there any plans to resurrect Agatus as well in the near future or will you be reading for the "right time and right place" to make that happen?

A correction once again for the record: Agatus has been active since 1991. Not 1992. With regards to your question - I have decided to step back from playing in Agatus. I have continued to help my brother by recording and doing various demos for the next 1-2 albums he has prepared, but I have formally left the group. We haven't made a big thing out of it, but it is so.

Anyone who is familiar with your work knows that you were once a member of another respected Greek black metal band Varathron, and you were particularly a part of the band's debut album His Secret Majesty At The Swamp, which last year turned 30 years old and is still regarded one of the most important Hellenic black metal albums of all time worldwide. How do you look back on that period when you were in Varathron and also the work on that debut? Do you have any special memories from those times in 1993?

The early 90's were such an incredible period to be active! We all knew that there was something new happening globally and it was being formed day by day, release by release. So much unique music from all over the globe really. That was when Black Metal and Death Metal were diverse and unique and every band had a different sound and approach, which made it all so rich to experience. How do I look back on that album and period? I am quite pleased with my work on "His Majesty At the Swamp". It was my first time recording guitars, bass and drums for a full length release and that multi-instrumentalist role remains my modus operandi to the present day. That was also one of my earliest attempts at composing music for concepts, which I still do today. So you could say that "His Majesty… reflects my embryonic musical development and vocabulary, along with the work I had previously done for Zemial and Agatus. I know that the album has the distinction of being the first Greek Black Metal album ever to be released. The right place and the right time I guess. So if by nothing more, then by virtue of the timing itself, it is a significant release in the early development of Black Metal globally and of the Greek scene - which was the underdog and arguably the strongest scene next to Norway. So yes, it's important to me and I am glad to know that it is recognised for what it is. Not that I, or any of us ever expected it to be so - it was all very romantic and underground then. Some background for your readers then: I formally joined Varathron on the 3rd of October 1992. There were no rehearsals and no band meetings prior to the recording. Jim and I lived far from each other in Athens whilst Stephanos the singer, lived in a city in northern Greece. So it was a common vision that drove us. Besides, there were only two of us charged with writing music. Within the first few months I had completed Son of the Moon, Unholy Funeral and The River of My Souls. In spring, I met with Jim Mutilator just twice to collaborate and exchange ideas for two more songs. Furthermore, Sakis of Rotting Christ contributed a song to the album – it's easy to guess which. Stavros Mitropoulos, my predecessor in Varathron also contributed the fantastic closing composition. Themis of Rotting Christ played drums on that song and Yiannis of Danger Cross played the second guitar. So it was largely a collective at that time. Unfortunately, these players were never credited. But that is now changed; a historical 30th Anniversary Edition was released by Black Hearts Records (Brazil), featuring 3 previously unreleased bonus tracks from the demos I did for the album, as well as a complete essay on the making of the album, commentary on each song, as well as the equipment we used, etc. It also features an alternate mix of the album, which I had on DAT tape. Unfortunately, (or fortunately), it seems that my DAT copy of the mix is the correct final mix and not the one that was eventually used. This edition also features the entire line up of participating musicians that were never credited as well as a full list of credits for posterity and to finally put things right and give recognition to those who helped us. Anyway, I think that fans of the Greek scene and of the particular album are going to love that edition, so get a copy from the Zemial store on Discogs or directly from Black Hearts Records whilst you can!

On the subject of past releases, I think you are one of the quite rare and exceptional examples of metal musicians with such a solid record of albums, with no bad entry in any of the band's discographies, and is always lucky to still be associated with them years after. Do any of the albums, either from Zemial or Agatus discography hold a special place in your heart for any specific reason?

Thank you for your very kind words. For better or for worse, I don't follow the "industry standards" in terms of releases and business and I release music when I feel it is ready. I am not doing it to stay relevant or to be popular. Both my brother and I play music because we really love it! It's that simple and that old-style. From Zemial I like Face of the Conqueror because it's a real thrasher and I also like The Repairer of Reputations LP that Iron Tyrant released this year, because it turned out so authentically 70's-like. From Agatus it's hard not to like The Eternalist, which was received so well globally and which by all accounts, represents my swan-song with Agatus.

I know you also have your own label ΝΥΞ which released and re-released some of Zemial's discography throughout the years. What is the current status of the label? Is it still active or has it gone on hold?

I still release things with ΝΥΞ. The latest release was in 2022 in the form of "To Slay With Silent Dagger in 2022.

I assume you're quite the busy man, but I generally want to know: Do you have any time to follow up on what is going on in the world of metal music when it comes to new bands and new releases, be it locally or on a global scale?

I have removed myself from the scene for a long time as I do not like the way things are done and I don't like the (mostly) plastic sound of modern bands. It's like the concept of Welcome to the Machine - no thank you! I have the occasional exposure to newer bands and the one that has truly driven deep into my heart is the last album by Malokarpatan. All the right elements combined to help the listener relive the glorious early 90s along with some nice, out of the box moments.

Thank you so much for the interview, Vorskaath. I am highly looking forward to anything you do in the near future and as always, best of luck to you brother. Are there any final words?

Thank you very much for your support Vlad. It has been enjoyable running through this. There is lots of music coming in the very near future from Zemial and people can contact us directly to obtain music and merchandise via: zemial.official@gmail.com A closing thought: as time passes, it becomes increasingly clear to the conscious experiencer that life is very sweet and very short. As we focus on what we love doing and experiencing, time seems to inexplicably slow down. Get off the screen!

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Mentioned in this same line with such powerhouses like The Gathering or Moonspell, in only three years Lacuna Coil achieved a remarkable status of one of the most recognized dark-gothic bands. The combination of Cristina Scabbia’s seductive appearance with magnetism of her unique voice makes male fans wet their pants during the live shows and incites jealousy among her own gender. Although Italy is known as a county of never-ending siestas or happy sounds of italo-disco, "Unleashed Memories" takes us into an even darker and more melancholic side of the band. Female vocalist Cristina Scabbia shines some much anticipated light on my questions...

Chris


Cristina, first of all what such a beautiful woman is doing in a metal band?

[laughs] Thank you very much. Well, it’s nice, very nice because I always meet very respectable people and they are always nice with me, the fans are not aggressive with me so it’s a pleasure.

Is it something you always wanted to do?

Yeah, I mean it’s weird ‘cause I don’t consider myself as a diva or stuff like that, but I’m happy if people can dream about me with my picture even if they really don’t know me. It’s nice if you can please someone.

Have you ever thought of singing in a pop group? You never know, you might be even more popular than with Lacuna Coil.

I never thought about it before I entered Lacuna Coil. I used to sing in some occasional dance projects and stuff like that but just giving my voice without giving my name and image because I didn’t like that music. I wasn’t proud of it. So, as soon as I met the other members of Lacuna Coil and I met the metal scene I realized I want to be a metal singer.

Rather than asking are you happy with "Unleashed Memories", is there anything you don’t like on it?

I really love it and I think it’s perfect even if sometimes you would like to change something. But not in the structure, for example we just had four weeks to record this album and, of course, when you have just four weeks you have to prepare everything before entering the studio. You cannot improvise too much ‘cause you don’t want to risk that something might go wrong. So as soon as we composed the music we recorded everything as it was and we didn’t change anything at all. Of course when you listen to it later on you might want to change little things, maybe to sing one part better, maybe change the guitar sound, stuff like that but we are really, really satisfied.

Looking back are you satisfied with your previous releases?

When taking a look at them right now, of course I would change a lot of things because we were more immature, the structures are not as beautiful as we can do them now and you can feel it because we weren’t that much sure about ourselves as we are now. I mean, I like them, but I consider "Unleashed Memories" the most mature album of Lacuna Coil.

But then, it also seems like from album to album your sound is getting a little softer. Is this the direction you want to go?

I don’t think I would agree with that. I mean this album is much more melancholic but not necessarily softer. I think that you can give power even if you play some mid-tempo songs, you don’t need to have fast drums to give power, and you can give intense feeling even with those slow songs. I can’t tell you what music we will do in the future. For sure we will stay metal and go with this direction, maybe we add more growl vocals and stuff like that.

Have you ever thought you would achieve so much success in just 3 years?

No, absolutely not. As soon as we released the first EP we had so many good reviews but it happened so many times to a lot of bands that I didn’t realized that’s the beginning and we will be popular in 3 years. But it also happened because we work a lot, we did many interviews and we played all over the Europe.

Over the last 2-3 years Italy has delivered many metal bands into the international scene (Labyrinth, Rhapsody) with recognized success like Lacuna Coil. Have the people of Italy had enough of italo-disco and are looking for a heavier sound?

To tell you the truth I don’t know why people outside of Italy realized now we are able to do good music too. Maybe this is due because Italian bands learned to work in a more professional way. To give you a short example when we were searching for a deal we just sent a promo tape to some labels around the Europe but we recorded this promo tape with a very good sound quality, we included very good pictures, and a full biography. Not something funny or anything like that. We just put it in a very professional way even when Lacuna Coil didn’t have a deal with any label. I think right now Italian bands improved in a more professional direction and they know how to work in the studio, how to do a good gig and stuff like that and now people outside of Italy are realizing that.

How big is the underground? Do you know any new interesting bands?

Not that much cause we are so busy with our music we don’t have time to listen to other bands. We do a lot of interviews, tours and I only have time to read some metal magazines so I know only names of the bands but not their music and I can’t judge them.
I would love to find the time to do it but for now I have to postpone it a little.

So are you listening to any music at all, if so what is it?

I listen to everything. I always said I love music itself and not just a style or an artist. For example I love Depeche Mode this same way I love Meshuggah and this same way I love classical music. As long as it’s a good music I listen to it.

Do you have a favorite band or CD?

I would say Depeche Mode, Typo O Negative, Paradise Lost as bands but I don’t have a favorite CD that I would say I will play all my life.

Italy is recognized as one of the most beautiful countries, blue skies and gorgeous weather. Where then are all those sad thoughts coming from?

You don’t have to live in awful country to have sad thoughts. I mean everyone has its personal moments and it’s easier to look inside yourself when you are sad or depressed. It’s not the blue skies or beautiful monument that makes you happy. Personal problems will make you sad and you can be inspired by this feeling and transpose it into the music and lyrics. You can also be inspired from the sadness of another person and just try to describe his feelings. You can be just reflexive, not sad.

Does any member of Lacuna Coil play in any side project bands?

No! We are totally concentrated on Lacuna Coil.

Are you nervous during the live shows?

Just a little bit before I go on stage. As soon as I’m there I’m completely comfortable. I’m only nervous when I know I can’t give my best because I’m sick or really tired and of course you can’t cancel the show.

Have you ever had unpleasant situations during the live performances with male fans?

Never, to tell you the truth the girls are much worse. They a more arrogant, they just want to touch the guys, to kiss them. I always met guys that kissed my hand, talked to me in a very sweet way but I never met a tough guy that wanted to touch me of stuff like that they are always nice.

So, are you single?

No. [laughs] Marko, the bass player is my boyfriend.

You just toured with Theatre of Tragedy and Beseech. Did anything unusual or funny happen during the tour?

Because we had incredibly good relationship with them a lot of funny things happened. Guys from those bands are very nice people and we still write to each other. Something funny? Well, maybe the last gig. I don’t know if you know about it but during the last gig you can do whatever you want to other bands. So the guitar player and the drummer from Theatre Of Tragedy came on the stage and were improvising on guitars without really playing them just to have some fun with us.

What are your tour plans for "Unleashed Memories"? USA?

USA? Maybe. We were in Mexico in December where we played two gigs and after that we were suppose to have a tour on the east coast but we would have to drive ourselves to reach the venues and we didn’t want to give a terrible gigs just because we were tired. So we decided to organize it better and come over in the future.

What is your most embarrassing moment on the scene?

Most embarrassing? Let me think... oh yeah. [laughs] You know my hair is very long now but in the past they we just up to my shoulders so for the shows I used to wear a fake tail. Once during a gig I lost it and I didn’t realize it till the end of the show when I went on stage to say final thank you to the audience. I looked at my feet and there it was I don’t know if people saw it but that was the most embarrassing moment of my career.

Later on I laughed for about 2 hours...

Leave us some last words...

If anyone wants to write to us or has any suggestion please visit us at www.lacunacoil.it we will answer all your letters and I hope you will enjoy our new album.

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