Hailing from Switzerland, Ernte is a black metal duo who has released three albums so far. Their last one, "Weltenzerstörer" found its way into our tops of June so I felt the need to find out a little bit more about this mysterious band. I sent some questions to their vocalist / bass player Askahex and I guess out came a very cool interview. Enjoy reading and support the band!

Michael

Hails Askahex, it's a pleasure having an interview with you for MetalBite. How are you doing?

Askahex: Hi Michael, thanks for having me here at MetalBite. I am doing well, enjoying the late summer heat in Switzerland – toward all evil metal clichés, haha.

Can you introduce Ernte a little bit more in detail to our readers? Maybe you can also explain a little bit more the meaning of the band's name, please?

Askahex: Häxär founded ERNTE in 2020 during the Corona pandemy. He was looking for a singer and after some other tries, he finally found me and it matched perfectly from the beginning. We quickly created our debut album "Geist und Hexerei" which was released in 2021 by the German label Vendetta Records. And we never stopped being creative : We released a 7" and 2 other albums within 3 years. Regarding the name, it was Häxär who came up with the idea. ERNTE means "harvest": in the end, we all will reap what we once sowed.

With "Weltenzerstörer" ("Destroyer Of The Worlds" you just released your third full-length album. Is there a specific thing or person you had in mind when you chose the title or is this more or less a variable for different things / persons everyone is free to choose?

Our Weltenzerstörer is destroying the world of sick thoughts. The world of false feelings. The world of consumption, the world of manipulation. The world of religions, which we all deeply despise.

Musically you sound pretty similar to old Burzum - what are the main influences that you had while writing the album?

This is nice to hear. The named band is one of Häxärs main influences since a very long time. But there are a lot of other influences too, consciously or unconsciously. For example, we do love and listen to bands such as Mayhem, Darkthrone, Kampfar, Khold, Merrimack, Beherit, Sargeist, Krieg or Behexen… We especially love the Finnish and French scene.

Is the writing process more an individual work or do you write together with your other band member Häxär?

Häxär is the main songwriter – I only wrote 2 or 3 songs for ERNTE until now. My part are the lyrics – and the arrangements, which we always do together.

Of course it is impossible to do a two-man-live show so you had live musicians in the past. Are they some kind of stable line-up for you or do you always have to look up for new members while going on tour or playing single gigs?

Luckily, we have a constant live guitarist, Vekum. He is also a good friend of ours. On the drums, we had a lot of changes and are actually looking again for a new session drummer for 2025. We would like to have one constant person too, though… So if a drummer is reading this interview and wants to join us for live concerts, don't hesitate to contact us!

When I compare the predecessor "Albsegen" to "Weltenzerstörer", I would say that you sound much more depressive and less hatred on the new album. Would you agree to that and what would you say is the biggest difference to the last album?

Yes, we agree to this – it was just the time to slow down the pace a bit, giving more space to atmosphere, darkness and gloom. Plus: The overall production is better than on "Albsegen". We learned a lot regarding the engineering work in the past years. But the next album will be more hateful again. We already have some new songs in the making.

You always choose German album titles but have English song titles (except the two intro titles on "Geist Und Hexerei" and "Albsegen"). Is there a specific reason for that?

I don't write many lyrics in German, I prefer to do so in English or French, but we still wanted to make a statement of our German roots. All album titles will remain in German. We just like the sound of these German words.

Is there a certain philosophy or religion that you as a band (or as a person) follow and if so, do you think it is important to spread that kind of view in your songs?

Basically, we have a satanic and misanthropic, nature-bound philosophy - this can also be found in my lyrics, obviously! But we don't want to spread some specific message or to convert people to Satanism.

What are the plans for Ernte for the rest of 24 and 25? I guess another album next year since every year you release a new one?

We have to find a constant session drummer and then we want to play some more concerts. By now, we have 3 live appearances coming up. Next one is MehSuff!-Festival in Hüttikon, Switzerland, where we will share the stage with bands such as Emperor, Vreid, Overkill and Paradise Lost.

Then, as you correctly supposed, we are about to release another album, probably in late 2025 or 2026. The creativity never stops.

The final words are yours! Thank you very much for taking the time!!

Thank you for the interview! Keep the black flame of the ancient spirit burning!