ITSEMURHA Interview!

1. Greetings Kadotus!
How are you on this suffocating summers day? (the questions was written some month ago...)

- Greetings from the Finnish darkness. The summer here has come to pass again and the autumn gloom is upon us. Things for me however today are most positive as there are big changes in my personal life and also just got the drums recorded for the second ITSEMURHA demo.

2. Your debut demo "All My Life for Satan" is out of the forest for what i
understand, how has the process of creating this piece of bleak art been?

- The process from the ideas and visions to a complete demo was quite smooth. Writing the lyrics was like the words just poured out of my soul and the music accompanied them perfectly. The vocals were a painful process as the agony and despair of the lyrics really pushed me to scream my lungs out and throat sore. But it was all worth it. Still, the final complete demo leaves some space for improvement but I see ”All my life for Satan” as a decent debut release for ITSEMURHA.

3. How has the reception been also? How many copies was made and was it only
released on tape?

- The demo was also released as a professional digipack CD-R with altered artwork. Both tape and CD-R version were made 100 copies so far. Actually there hasn't been much comments about the demo yet. A few of my close contacts have praised the demo but haven't seen reactions from the bigger audience. ITSEMURHA is a young entity and yet quite unknown. I'm sure it will catch the attention of a bigger audience at some point. But then again if not I'm not bothered. I'm not exactly aiming for the stars with ITSEMURHA. If a few tortured souls can relate to the art I create I'm more satisfied than being listened to by the brainless masses.

  

4. As your bandname Itsemurha which means suicide in finnish i can assume that
the sweet topics in the lyrics is somewhat centered around this subject?
And is the "use" of Satan here a destructive force for you or empowering?
Maybe Both?

- I chose the name ITSEMURHA because it's perfectly fitting to sum up the melancholy of this entity. Suicide is the utter peak of despair. It's the hopeless cry for help, often left unheard. To choose to end your life, to break the natural cycle of life.. It's a taboo in all religions, the ultimate sin. Suicide is also a Finnish phenomena. 

We are on the top of the highest suicide rates along with Japan. There's a lot of depression, anxiety and other mental problems here in Finland because of the extreme climate. And by this I mean the Finnish Darkness. The summers here are bright but short. The rest of the year it's more or less suffocating darkness. Finnish people are introverts, shy and suffer from low self esteem. Suicide is very common here and I'm sure that every Finn knows someone who has ended their life.

The topics of ITSEMURHA deal with suicide, despair, sadness and melancholy. But there's also the aspect of examining the subject of suicide from the angle of a sort of cosmic view. I do believe in the soul and that the soul doesn't die when the physical body dies. What happens to the soul when you strip your own life yourself? When you deny to exist in this world of suffering. Birth, death, rebirth... The cycle of existence and then you choose to break it, skip to the death part. What will happen then? Is there a karmic consequence?

Satan is both destructive and empowering yes. 

Satan will tear your life down and bring you misery but then you will rebuild your life to something better, from a new foundation. I feel Satan as a dark force that drives me to improve myself. Satan challenges me to overcome myself. Unlike the deities of the religions for the masses Satan does not redeem you or help you because you're weak. Satan is the painful slash of the whip that hurts you so that you will accomplish something bigger. 

I feel Him as a guiding fallen angel who has been watching me all my life. The debut demo is about giving all my life for Satan; living by His code of honour and strenght but also the title track describes the final offering for Him, to give your life for Satan. Personally I have still much to learn about His mysteries in this current life not to end it but there have been inviduals who have been ready to close this chapter of existence and pass on to the next in praise of Satan. Like Jon Nödtveidt of DISSECTION.

5. Do you have any prior band experience or are you current active in some
other band one should know of?

- I consider ITSEMURHA as its own, separate entity and it's hard to discuss about my other activities when talking about it but yes, I have been creating Black Metal since approx. 1996 or so. The main bands people know me of are CALVARIUM, ANAL BLASPHEMY, MUSTA KAPPELI and BLACK PRIEST OF SATAN. I've been participating in others as well but I'd consider these worth mentioning here.

6. One of the songs is named "Finnish Darkness", how would you in just words
describe that darkness?

- Finnish Darkness, here up in the north, can be a suffocating thing as I mentioned earlier. We have really bright but short summers but when the autumn arrives its darkness is quite overwhelming. The Finnish Darkness is truly pitch black and crushing. During the darkest of winter we only have sunlight for like 4 hours and that ”sunlight” is actually just grey sky making the day like dusk so no real daylight in winter time. It has even physical effects on people because the lack of vitamin D etc..

I consider the Finnish darkness in ITSEMURHA's theme as this unique kind of dark here that exists also in the souls of northern people. I see it as a concept of ITSEMURHA, full of crushing unlight, insanity and bleak hopelessness.  It's also the Darkness of Satan, His leathery wings across the horizon and the heart of a man.

7. As i understand you live in a town called Tampere in Finland? Compared to other
Finnish towns like Kuopio & Lappeenranta that has some prominent hordes what has
Tampere to offer? I think Hornas "HQ" was or is placed in your city which is mighty...

- Yes I live in Tampere. 

At some point most of the Finnish ”scene” seemed to immigrate here. We have some great hordes residing in the Tampere area like BEHEXEN, BAPTISM, HORNA + some a bit lesser known like FLAME, URN, DIABOLI, SACRIFICIUM CARMEN, RIIVAUS, SATURNIAN MIST etc.. Tampere is one of the biggest cities in Finland after Helsinki and is located quite in the middle so it's a natural choice for people to move to. HORNA's ”HQ” indeed is located in Tampere now since Shatraug moved here so eventhough the other Horna guys except Vainaja don't live here I'd consider HORNA and other projects of Shatraug to have their HQ in Tampere. Lappeenranta is of course home to SATANIC WARMASTER and GOATMOON which both are very big names now and the origin of HORNA as well. Kuopio is an important town too since the ”old school” bands originally hailed from there like BARATHRUM and URN. Also Holocausto/BEHERIT lived there for a while at some point. Other important cities for Finnish Black Metal are Jyväskylä (WARLOGHE, ALGHAZANTH), Lahti (CLANDESTINE BLAZE, SACRILEGIOUS IMPALEMENT) and Turku. The capital Helsinki has its own scene but I don't consider any that important bands to come from there.

8. So now you have the debut behind you are you working on new music already?

- Yes definitely. I've already composed 4 new songs for the second demo and the drums have been recorded already. Can't wait to start working on the second demo as I have many things I wish to improve since the first creation. Would be great to do a theme 7” EP as well if I find a label to release it.. 

The second demo will most likely be released by Spread Evil too and released also as a CD-R. 

4 tracks full of utter despair, melancholic rage, suffering and praise of Satan, all blessed by Finnish Darkness.

9. I saw the good looking t-shirt you had for sale, i guess they are sold out?
Other plans for the rest of this year?

- The shirt is so far limited to only 10 copies and still some sizes left. If I sell them will do a reprint maybe. Other plans I have is to finish the second demo and possibly get it released even. But we'll see. Recording something is a long and rough process for me as I play everything myself except the drums. But there's no rush. Nothing waits for me but death in the end.

10.Thanks for this interview. 

The final mourning is yours.

- Thank you for the interesting interview and interest for ITSEMURHA. Supports to your zine. Witness the reality of death as the eye of Satan burns through your soul.. 

All my life for SATAN! 

In His darkness I shall dwell..

INFESTUS Interview!

 

1. Now when you have been around the battlefield for ten years i thought it would be a good time to go back from the start! The first dark shimmering release was your demo "Of Ancient Splendour", how was that period in your life and whats there to tell about this demo?

-You really want to know? 
Well, this period of life wasn’t a good one at all. 
And this situation lasted a very long time. 
However, in 2003 we (Harbarth, Dagon and I) founded Infestus and released this demo in the same year. Back then, I played drums and bass. 
Nothing more to be said about it.

2. Then in 2004 you created the debut album "Worshiping Times of Old" and you released it all yourself in what I understand. Did some label later on release it? How does those nine songs feel nowadays for you?

-Yes, this one was the first full length album. We produced and released it ourselves. 
Within this period of time we were still trying to find our style. Harbarth and I were writing riffs independently and tried to blend them together. 
I never thought about re-releasing it via a label. Also, I don’t listen to those old records. In my eyes, they represent a band that doesn’t exist anymore. And that band has not much to do with the actual INFESTUS nowadays. 

3.Two years later a split with Lost Life was made and you contributed 4 tracks to that, it got an official release through Fullmoon Funeral Productions(Asag,Atopie etc). whats to say about this one?
Did you get some good connections?

- As for these four tracks, I took over most of the songwriting but holding back the really personal riffs for a potential solo-project that I already wanted to realize back then. Harbarth left after the release of the split in 2005 and I saw the opportunity to take over the whole songwriting without having to make compromises. Using INFESTUS for a far more personal expression was now evolving. I like to see the period from 2003-2005 as a period of shaping the entity INFESTUS, comparable to the situation of a foetus in the womb. 
I never cared about connections. Actually, I don’t have much to do with the scene. I am creating music primarily for my own purpose, as a valve for all those things that need to be processed somehow. All that comes with it in addition is secondary.

4. I guess you felt quite uplifted when Debemur Morti Productions signed you up? And they release your second full album "Chroniken des Ablebens" in 2008, did it become as you wanted it to be?

 
- When this album was completely recorded I was looking for a label that would fit to the ideology of INFESTUS. Debemur Morti was the only right choice. And I was quite happy to have this unique label releasing my album. In my eyes, “Chroniken des Ablebens” was the first real INFESTUS album. 
Only Dagon and I were left. I was responsible for all instruments and the songwriting, Dagon contributed 50 percent of the lyrics and did the vocals. This album showed me where I can take this and that I don’t need anyone else than myself to completely shape this musical demon. 
Yes, it became the way we wanted it. 

5. In 2011 you created the epic third album "E x | I s t", as it stands out a bit from your early works a conclusion for me was that both your technical skills and your emotional creativity had grown and become "sharper" & deeper in a sense.

 
- Yes. I wanted to dig even deeper into my spiritual abyss, trying to process very dark life periods. I worked out a very intense concept and put everything together piece by piece. 
This project became so personal that Dagon decided to leave the band. It was a logical step. 
Over the years I continuously took over more and more of INFESTUS until finally it became the very mirror of my soul. Although it is a very hard and demanding task to really doing everything yourself (the whole songwriting/concept, guitars, bass, vocals, drums, recording and mixing, graphic layout) it is also a way to personalize the music even more. 
This fact made “E x | I s t” an unbelievably intense album which stands for itself. Of course, over the years skills increase. And there will also be a noticeable progression in skills for the next album. This is something that comes naturally. 
I don’t force this to happen. 

6.And now in 2013 you are in hard work for your next release, please tell something about this and what we can come to expect of it?

 
- At this point of time I don’t want to tell too much about the new album. 
But what I can say is that it once more increased both compositionally and musically. It draws from a wider range of musical aspects united in its shape, but it is still a very dark and quite aggressive album, held together by its consuming hopeless atmosphere. 
This album is by far the most work-intense I ever have ever produced, talking of wrong decisions and numerous things that went wrong beyond my control which as a result literally forced me to give evidence of my indestructible devotion towards it. I think many people would have failed on this path. My dedication towards my music is unbreakable. The deep emotional connection I have with it makes it very authentic. And this is what people are feeling when they listen to my music. Pure authenticity, no stereotypes, no cliché, just the very pain of existence. 

INFESTUS is 100% the personification of my darkness. 

7.Whats on the planning table for the rest of this year?

- As I have established a live lineup I will make use of it for some shows. 
In October 12th we will play in Kaiserslautern, Germany and on December 1st we are performing live in Paris. Besides, I am busy mixing the upcoming album. 
Mastering will take place sometime in January. Further information will be shared on my page.

8. Good luck & Thanks for your time!

-Thanks for the interview.

Terrorsaw - Demo 2012

Last year these Italian unholy bastards released their debut demo tape to the unsuspecting surroundings!

These four songs creates a wholeness of a trashing & pulsating horned beast!

Everything rumbles on with a blackened death mental brainblasting agenda, the old school alcohol infused chaotic riffing is also marinated with a fitting dose of groove which would fit the last party on this earth, the same statement also fits all the rest of the instrument compositions as well as the mean rough singing.
Even if it has a old school sound it infuses nice personal bits and pieces here and there in all tracks and gives this demo a great extra kick!

Now one only hopes for a full album to arrive sooner then later from the black abyss!

Tracklist:

1.     Terrorsaw         
2.     Defiler Messiah         
3.     Sorcery & Artillery        
4.     Sabbath of Metal Violence

Carthaun Interview!

1.Hails!
So how is it hanging in Carthaun camp?
are you maybe secretly composing new cannon fodder for the next release?

-Indeed! I finally found a new guitarist and drummer in Cologne, where I have lived for a few years now. We are working on a split that will be released in October via GodeaterRecords if everything will work out as planned. Furthermore there will be some gigs in the next months.

2. I guess you are looking forward to the Little Devil gig in september with Gestalte, Celesterre & Asgrauw?

-Of course, it’ll be a pleasure to play after 5 years of abstinence.

3. So... you have been active now for like 13 years?! Thats a accomplishment in itself i think but lets give your respective releases a little brief description of theme and how it was at the time creating them and the responses from the outside world!

4.Demo 2004:

- A small demo, self-produced with poor means. Raw and simple stuff- we started using poems as lyrics, mainly about nature and war - we had no permanent guitarist at this time and we could not play or promote the songs live, therefore there was not much feedback - we only gave some copies to a few friends and one or two Fanzines and sold maybe 10 – I remember a review that said “quite okay”- whatever that means – I don’t know if anyone really liked it. 

5. Demo 2005:

- Was only a small promo to get some ideas on cd and send them to some labels.

6. Einheit 2005:

 - Few months later “Powerrocker Records” was interested in releasing the first album, we recorded it in their studio, which meant better sound quality compared to the demos – apart from that there was not much development, still raw and simple stuff.

- 7. Blutt und Threnen 2008:

 - Self-produced second album – not as harsh as the releases before. I started using samples between the songs to install an atmosphere that fits the lyrics of the next song or let’s say “connects” each song. 
We again used a lot of poems and the album was divided in chapters.

8. Brachland 2012:

 - Third album, which developed quite long and is more personal than the others. I could not find steady members, thus I had to arrange most songs on my own. 
Once again I used self made samples and several archaic instruments between the songs to give the album a deary, dense atmosphere. I wanted the audience to experience the sound of war and battle but also the effects that war has on human life and landscape: emptiness, loneliness, desolation. It’s up to you to decide if I managed.

9. With all this years of enrichment carved in your soul (for good & bad), how would you say you have transformed from the man you were before to now?

- That’s hard to tell in a few sentences. 
To cut a long story short: the older you become, the easier life gets. I wasted a lot of time in the past by thinking about the so called “right ways”, how things should be done, look or sound and how they might be assumed, what people should or should not do and so on. 

- I don´t care about this today – I recognized that most things are not as important as they seem, including me and almost everything around me. 
Having this in mind I embrace the questions of life with a certain serenity, it makes me take things as they come - there is not the one and only right way – the only important thing is to stay true to oneself and to your principles.

10. How does the rest of this year look like?
Any more gigs then the one in september & if one likes to buy some band t-shirt etc where should one turn to?

 - We planned several gigs in the next months and I´m sure some more will follow. As I have already mentioned we´re looking forward to the next release and maybe there will also be new merchandise then. In the meantime you can get our stuff that’s already been released in several mailorders and online shops – seek and you shall find. 

11. Thanks for your time!
The final blast-off is yours!

- I thank you!!

Gestalte - Ashes of the Soul

From South Holland with hate!

As this debut album starts off soft with an acoustic guitar melody with clean voices this record enters my mind sideways and makes the following dark and grim transcendence the more effective.

This whole album is dipped in primitive and negative energies where the melodies includes all from straight out cultish misanthropic vibrations, somewhat suicidal tunes is intertwined with the occult blasphemies, the raw guitars drives on like gloomy death march and the drums follows through side by side. the bass gets some nice appearances and fills a void and flows into some compositions smoothly.
Singing is quite varied which is nice but overall it has a growly and hateful spite to it and sometimes my minds thinks about Mayhems album De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas.

No songs except one ends under five minutes which means they get some time to evolve internally and flourish which they also do, often it goes in mid tempo but also speed it up or doom it down. 

The production is good and let every members work to be heard.

A bleak and sometimes a depressive album but in a way which dont feel forced, natural suffering & it grows nicely from each listening to the other.
Recommended.

My pick up tracks: 4,5,8

Track list:

1.     The Beginning of the End        
2.     Onder de Zuilen des Doods         
3.     Beyond Cosmic Thresholds         
4.     Ashes of the Soul         
5.     A Red Black Holocaust Sky in a Nightmare Dimension        
6.     Een Verleden Niet Vergeten        
7.     Op naar het Woud der Smarten (Deel 1)     
8.     De Boom der Smarten (Deel 2)        
 

Sarkrista - The Acheronian Worship

"From the forests of eternal mourning I came
To bless the holy creatures of dark might

So furious
So brute
The raging thoughts of a fiery soul

Hate and madness
Still in Me
Spark the torches of a new era"

It all begins with an melancholic & ancient sounding keyboard intro with some military drums hunting forward... a feeling of the old wolfs is reincarnating to violently take back whats rightfully theirs!

And thats just what you get! First song burst out in hunger for blood!
Grim emperoristic shrieking and commanding is the vocals which suits the compositions perfectly.
Everything really flows together in a stream of both harsh sounding tones and clear mixed epic & melodic melodies. This German satanic horde has evidently a soft spot for Finnish Black metal like sargeist, Satanic Warmaster, Behexen, Horna etc which suits me more then well!
Even if this inspiration is clear Sarkrista dont fall into the boring hole of worshipping but instead brings new flesh to the sacrificial table.

The mixing as i said above a sweet mix of raw and balanced which means you hear all instruments well, drums is tight and alive and so is the guitar & vocals is brutal in the right kind of way.

All the songs works great together and on their own, strong melodies fills each track up to the brim and it feels like all the creative outbursts this band had under the birth process went smoothly... it sure sounds like it anyway. Dripping pure satanic air!

All the 8 blasphemies that this debut album inherits makes up a wholeness thats is very satisfying for a BM listener and i recommend it without a blink of an eye!

My personal pics would be song 2,5,8.

Track list:

1.     Introduction        
2.     Grim Satanic Vengeance        
3.     Funerals and Flaring Torches
4.     Ruthless Winter        
5.     Messenger of Harm    
6.     Realm of Eternal Coldness    
7.     Wrath Incarnation    
8.     Black Clouds of Revelation

Skuggan - Kejsaren av ett svart rike

Just like a hellish cataclysmic smash does this anticipated debut album plunges off !!!

 
I have heard some song samples earlier that has wetten my hunger and to now get to eat the whole bloody
cadaver in one go makes a hellhound like me more then satisfied!
The riffing is icy and melodic like the old cults & it hunts you down the trollish cavern and strikes you to a pulp. The vocals sounds often like a resentful & hatefull backward spitter! Wardrums thundering on firmly and some sparse tastefully keyboards can be heard, even some sounds of nature for good sakes is in place.
(Love the cover! You get what you see really!)

 Against modern times and values the album takes on the frontlines with confidence and sharped spears.

My mind wanders sometimes to bands like Arckanum & some "second wave" hordes which is a good thing for me (and it should be for everyone!) but it has enough of strong personal spirit and composings to stand on its own arms & legs.

This is a recommended buy! And you do it at Ewiges Eis Records page!
Favorite is tracks: 1,5,9. but i see no direct weak ones either.

Track list:

1.     Graven i skogen
2.     Mörkret inne         
3.     I Djävulens skuggan        
4.     Fördömde till avgrunden     
5.     En nattlig kamp        
6.     Den mörka lågan - instrumental
7.     Trolltjärn         
8.     Jonsereds strömmar         
9.     Kejsaren av ett svart rike

Now...when do the vinyl version come out?!