Moonkult Interview!

Deep from the Finnish vast & old forests the Moonkult comes forth!

1. Thanks for doing this interview!
    How is it now under this album "Profane Nightmare of Seers" release days? Hectic?

- Thank you! Well, somewhat hectic. There have been now representations of the songs on two radio channels (Radio Heretica and Radio Revolta) also there has been talks that Moonkult will be given radio time on Radio Killers channel and there are new songs on the works as well. I have been in contact with some zines for reviews and one other interview is coming. Also, I'm composing new songs for a coming split release.


2. As i understand Moonkult was first a one man band and released one demo called "Teers of Seers", how & when & why did you connected with the rest of the current high quality( comes from Azaghal, Wyrd, Malicious etc) line-up?

- Well, I met Niflungr after their gig in Steelfest 2012. After that we remained in contact and then when I needed somebody to play bass for "Profane Nightmare of Seers" debut album I asked him and he agreed. Riku Polameri(known as R.I.P in Moonkult) I had met earlier in some ordinary beer party which I can't really remember exactly and I had been in contact with him occasionally. After I (Moonlord Akhkharu) released "Tears of Seers" demo in summer 2012 which was done with drum machine he heard it and he thought it needed real drums. 
Then I said I have enough material to make an album, so we started rehearsing the songs and then we recorded drums and guitars.
Of course all of us are from the same town in Finland, known as Hyvinkää.Up to this point Niflungr and R.I.P have been just session members but atleast Niflungr is now a full member of Moonkult.


3. Describe the Moonkults new and first full albums sound & aim?

- Aim for the first album "Profane Nightmare of Seers" was basically to make Black Metal in the style of the beginning of the 90's, to stand out against the "modernization" of the scene. But I wanted to spice it up a bit so I made a story album and the goal was to make the songs represent different parts of the story. I also had a very ambitious plan to make the songs to create varied emotions in the listener and to add the story like lyrics then the listener could vision a "movie" in his/her head.

So I was planning to make a musical dark fantasy short story. This I didn't implement too much though and I wanted to have unity in the album so instead majority of the riffs are made with a "punk" formula. The basic 3 or 4 chord riff formula spiced with minor chords, of course there is some dissonance effect created with two guitars so it's not that straight forward. Some variation between songs there is anyway.

4. How did you come in touch with the superb artist Rafael Tavares who did your cover art?

- He did the cover art for Azaghal's "Nemesis" album and also made a t-shirt art for them. So I was searching for an artist and then Narqath and Niflungr suggested me to contact him. Rafael also did the art for Moonkult t-shirt which is just modification of the album cover art.


5. I am a bit curious about the music you work on to the split! What i understand will this songs be a bit different from the albums?
   Tell about the artistic goal here & which band do you share this split with?

- The other band is a hungarian one-man band called Solus. At first I made some songs with a new style, I tried somewhat using the methods that Hollywood uses to create movie music.
Then I couldn't even myself get a hold on what is going on in the songs, there were no clear structures and one song had almost like 10 riffs... So now I toned it down and I am trying to approach songwriting  just with variation in the moods of the parts in a song. 
Let's see what comes out :D
But I think there is not too big difference to what is on the debut album, still mainly dark and aggressive Black Metal I suppose.
Rehearsals for this split start in June and I hope to have it mixed down by July. Same timeline for Solus as well.


6. Do you have any gigs planned now under this coming tormenting summer?

- No gigs planned and Niflungr and R.I.P have been busy with their other bands, Azaghal and Malicious respectively.


7. There seems to be an forever stream of black metal bands from Finland these days and many of them is grueling good also if i may say so, whats your own opinion about the BM climate in your home country?

- Well, the biggest (and oldest) bands in Finland I guess still continue to make stuff in their own style. I really liked Baptism's new album "As the Darkness Enters". Also I have heard Horna's new album as well as Behexen's new album but to me they didn't strike as good as their earlier stuff was. 
Luckily in Finland we don't have(anymore) some sell out acts, instead bands stick tightly with the underground and many bands still maintain the poor production even though there are computers etc.


8. apart from the obvious great bands is there any new band or bands that should get more focus then they gets?

- There have already come great new releases from bands in Hyvinkää(the town in Finland) this year and more are to come!
To name some of them: Sawhill Sacrifice, Hautakammio, Kalmankantaja etc.


9. And you have the last word!

- Long live our original true pagan spirit!

DØDSFALL - Slangens Kall (OFFICIAL ALBUM TRACK)

Get a venomous single taste from DØDSFALLs upcoming album "DJEVELENS EVANGELIE".

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-806qise0M

Djevel Interview!

As the cold moon rises again over us the devil shows its unspeakable face for its second time!
The norwegian Djevel is here with its sophomore album "Besatt av maane og natt"!

1. Greetings!
    Thanks for taking some time off for this talk on RAW WAR!

- Ave- Appreciate your support .!.

   
2. Now when the time is ripe for Djevels second full album people seems to be rightfully eager to
   get their filthy hands on it!
   And it is not so strange when you read some of the reviews you got on it! Overall very positive!
   Do you feel the surroundings has grasped "Besatt av maane og natt" as you hoped for? Are you as
   satisfied yourself?

- Well the album is not out yet, only two songs that we leaked ourselves. I do notice that people are much more interested now  than  when we released our first album in 2011- Obviously we have made a name for ourselves. I am extremely satisfied with this album, i believe it is on another level than Dødssanger- Its more complicated and intense, but still holds the melodies and atmosphere that i see as important for the black metal i create.

3. As i understand the main focus on all of Djevels lyrics is about worshiping the devil in the old Norwegian ways, as an curious bystander do you have any litterature tip if one likes to deepend one's knowledge of this old tradition?

- I highly recommend the book "Trolldom i Norge" (" Wichcraft in Norway") written by a Norwegian professor named Ørnulf Hodne- Not sure it its translated to english though


4. As you have stated "We’re not a live band." how do you feel about the only (?) gig you play at Bunker 2013 Music Festival in Oslo (22 august-24)?
    Is it the same for the other band in your coven Nettlecarrier? Your FB teaser text "We are allready preparing something special for this night .!." gets ones evil juices flowing anyway...

- Since we played one gig last year and will play again this year i probably have to change my statement to saying that we only play very special events.
I was very uncomfortable last year when we played, and i did not enjoy being on stage. On the other hand i appreciated all the people traveling from abroad to the show and i must admit that it feels good to see such devoted people.
 This year i feel more secure about the whole thing and i am actually looking forward to playing- Yes its the same for NettleCarrier- we will play 2 or 3 songs from that album as well.

There will be an announcement later on that will tell more about what we are planning...

5. Will there be some nice merchendise from Djevel at Bunker and/or directly from you?

 - There are some shirts from Aftermath now available with pre-orders limited to 50 x, and we will print some more with different designs


6. How many x did you press of the limited 2 track 7″ EP  “Besatt av Maane og Natt”  you released last year? And does the songs differ from the album version?

- I think it was printed in 250 X- Those versions on the 7" are demo versions. They differ from the album in many ways. The drums are different as well as the guitars.

7. Now that the summer is approaching fast will there be time over for some tenting trips with Fenris?

- Yes. We are actually heading to the mountains in a few days for our first trip this year. I am extremely eager to get out in the woods and inhale the pagan Norwegian air.


8. When will the vinyl outing of the new album "Besatt av maane og natt" be out?

- Its scheduled for release on may 31st, so i hope that it will be on time


9. Best of luck to you at Bunker and all! Any last devilish warnings?

- Thanx for your support.

Tornekroner og Geitehorn!

Vobiscum Inferni Propaganda!

Embrace the Brazilian satanic horde Vobiscum Infernis creations of death & torment! And stay tuned for the interview that soon will show up here!

For more info:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vobiscum-Inferni/232319933555488?fref=ts

RAW WAR Issue 1 Promo

Arckanum - Fenris Kindir

Arckanums new album is out now!

And you can listen to it all for free here first:

http://loudmagazine.net/arckanum-fenris-kindir-para-audicao-integral-em-exclusivo/

 

then BUY IT!

Huldrefolk Interview 2013

As one of Belgiums more horrific & great black metal bands Huldrefolk decides to leave the putrid swamps a final chat is the least one can do for a fitting closure.

Respect to Drang and the pestkult!

1. How,when & why did you start this Medieval Trollish Pestkult called Huldrefolk?

- Somewhere in 2004 Leshyj and I started jamming. Leshyj played guitar, me on drums. Our actual plan was to make pagan black metal but due the big trend of pagan metal coming up that time, I decided to stop that and concentrate on another theme. A few moments later we found Hammerman who was quite enthusiastic about our plans. Because of the fact that medieval history was and still is interesting stuff for me, I decided to write lyrics about the dark ages, when superstition was very common and late pagan belief was mixed with early christianity.
I decided to make a concept about trolls living in the swamps, brewing pestilence to unleash upon mankind. That’s how Medieval Trollish Pestkult was raised out of the filthy swamps of Flanders.

2. Whats does Huldrefolks lyrical themes consist of?

- All our lyrics are about the middle ages. Most of them about the negative and cruel facts like famine, pestilence, natural disasters and social problems by then.

3. Please describe each of these vibrant musical releases!


Pest Alchemie:

- Our demo, was recorded at a rehearsal with very very low quality, I think we only used one micro hanging in the middle of the room. That was also in the time MySpace was popular and useful for bands. A few months later Slava Satan discovered us on Myspace. 100 pieces were made (50 tapes and 50 cds) and it was all sold out very soon, despite the horrible quality. I didn’t had a good voice by then, it developped better after this one.

Eeuwenhout:

- First full album and first with a complete line-up. Was recorded at the homestudio of Hammerman. Some songs of Pest Alchemie were re-recorded and you can hear there’re sometimes a lot of difference between the songs. Hammerman did also the mix and that wasn’t a very good move because he wasn’t very experienced by then. Drums were way too loud, guitars and vocals too silent. Also the whole stuff wasn’t mastered at all. But also despite that, the thousand pieces were sold out quite fast.

Morbide Elite:

- Also with full line-up and this time the lyrics were way more poetic. The songs were more similar to eachother. The theme was “elite” on this album and also our looks changed. The dirty old destroyed shirts were changed to capes with hoods and huge boots. The story was that the drunk dirty trolls got very rich of brewing pestilence and became “morbid elite” now. 

We used also samples of the old Swedish film The Seventh Seal in the intro and outro. 

But, same problem as on Eeuwenhout, Hammerman did a better job but again the drums were way to loud, and guitars too silent. 

We got a great deal with Iron Age to release the album. Unfortunately we got many gigs cancelled because of several reasons, so we never had a good chance to promote this album.

4. I know that you have been clashing heads with human dumbness like back in 2010 with your gigs in Roermond etc, have more or less Huldrefolks existence been "under attack" or was it just this sole time?

- It was that time and it was mostly our own fault. We were a black metalband, so we liked to provoke a lot by playing with the “wrong” and we thought we would win sympathy of people thinking we “dare” to play with these bands. But actually it turned out differently. 

We got sympathy but it’s negligible, we were punished a lot by cancelling many concerts. Still people think we are dealing with politics, while there’s nothing we say in our lyrics about that.

5. I guess your real audience see you what you really are and are fans by the correct reasons, how has the responses been from your "followers"?

- We got and still get great responses of our fans. Sometimes I couldn’t believe people knowing Huldrefolk in their country or seeing people on festivals wearing our shirts, that’s of course amazing. For that reason we also receive many sad reactions when I announced our split.

6. Can you tell us why Huldrefolk is closing its swamp filled crypt now?

- We weren’t all three fully committed anymore as we were before. For me, Black Metal was once a very important part of my life, but I developped and my visions do not fit anymore in a typical (negative) blackmetal atmosphere. 

Don’t get me wrong, I still listen to BM and I still stand for 100% behind the words I wrote for Huldrefolk. But other music and things started getting more important. That’s also the reason we didn’t had any time left to write a new album. And I didn’t wanted the band bleeding to death like so many bands.

7. Are you satisfied of the art & legacy that you leave behind or is there something you would like to have been differently?

- Of course I am very satisfied and I’m sure we could have pushed it much further in Black Metal. If I could change something it’s probably the production of both Eeuwenhout and Morbide Elite, but without that we wouldn’t have learned so much. Same with dealing with politics. It was actually because I hated (and still hate) bands with statements on their website like “we are not a political band blablabla”. How on earth can you be credible when playing the most controversial genre on earth (black metal) and while making statements that you don’t want to hurt people’s feelings? But of course we could have avoided problems by avoiding some things, without making stupid statements, but it’s too late for that.

8. As one gate is closing another is opening they say.... can you share with us some future visions?

- We’re all in several bands right now, and some of them aren’t black metal. In my bands are no other members of Huldrefolk.

9. Thy last & final words is yours to have!

- I already said thanks to all our fans, bands and labels, but I forgot to mention you guys of the zines, like you! So thanks for your time and effort. 

You will hear us again soon and maybe you won’t get it that it’s us, so, up to you to find out! Sieg Pest!