Underground Metal Blog since 2013

2015. augusztus 7., péntek

Hrím

Interview with Hrím 
(Sons of Fenris, Nawaharjan, ex-Morgon)


Hail my good old friend, Hrím, Hellcome to Archangel’s Lantern! How and when did you get introduced to metal music? What were your very first cassettes/LP-s/CD-s? 

I guess I was "introduced" to metal in the age of 12 through a friend of my father. He often brought me some sampler CD´s of various German metal magazines when he visited us. Also I got my first hard rock album from him, it was "Killers" of Kiss. A little bit later I received Iron Maiden´s "Best Of The Beast" on CD and AC/DC´s "The Razors Edge" on tape from my father.

When did you start to play the drums? Which drummers influenced you in the beginning and please name us 5 of your favourite ones! Do you play other musical instruments beside the drums?

-  It was was around 2000/2001 when I got my first drum set. I played just in some small, unserious rock/metal projects during my school time until I joined  Morgon in 2008. As teenager I have often listened to Godsmack and Tool, I really liked their drummers, Tommy Stewart and Danny Carey. Also both bands have fascinated me because of their subtle mysticism and varied musical skills. Other drummers I like and who were for sure an inspiration are Chris Witchhunter, Tomas Asklund and Oskar Karlsson. Beside the drums I occupy myself with traditional instruments and I also started to play bass guitar. 

As Hrím, you are playing in a Dark Heathen horde, called Sons Of Fenris. Enlighten the readers, please all the important information  of this dark alliance.

- Werewolf (the "head" behind Sons of Fenris) is one of my closest friends. At the end of last year he asked me if I would like to play drums in Sons of Fenris and become a constant member, and so I agreed immediately. I decided to leave Morgon because of lasting divergent opinions with the bandmates on a personal level and to focus myself on Sons of Fenris and my new band, Nawaharjan. It is great to be part of these deeply religious bands because they completely consist of spiritually-focused individuals, which is very important for me personally. 
Sons of Fenris is dedicated to the dark Germanic deities and the primordial anti-cosmic forces. It is Their tongue, manifested in black art - a poisonous tongue that preaches devastation among the human race and plants the seeds of desperation and misery in their hearts and minds. It is a loud tremor that affects the cosmic structures, like the roaring of the great wolf Fenrir. 

What we should know about your future plans with Sons of Fenris? (new material, live performances)

At the moment we are planning the release of the first full-length album. After this we will prepare ourselves for possible live appearances, but there is nothing concrete yet so far.


Would you be so kind to talk about the relation between old tradition and your religious point of view? What is your source of Inspiration?

- I believe that tradition is something unique and pre-destined by fate - the Wyrd - and a cultural heritage of the ancestors.  For me personally the religious point of view goes hand in hand with the tradition which I occupy myself with and which defines my spiritual path. I think the religious perspective is the natural conclusion of a tradition you are working with. It is linked with the individual perception of the world and even the whole cosmic creation and the cosmic structures. 
This, what most humans perceive and understand as reality in general, so - the structure of this world - is a constructed lie made by the demiurge in order to fence the human cattle and preventing them from realizing their hidden potential. The gods of the cosmic order, the Aesir, aren´t interested in encouraging the humans to rise, instead they want abulic slaves who worship them. It is up to the individual itself to seek for liberation through knowledge and development and finally to transcend the cosmic lie. The acting and working of the dark Germanic deities (especially Loki as active trigger) against the cosmic forces in order to expose and destroy the illusions which the Aesir have created in their arrogance is honourable and a paragon for the fight for liberation. 
The term "Dark Germanic Heathenism" (which was originally created and used by Orm of the Swedish band Ormgård to characterize a tradition opposed to the pro-cosmic oriented heathenism) is probably the most suitable description and expression for the tradition I follow and which I am working with. 
My "source of inspiration" is my inner burning spirit. It is my engine that pushes me forward to develop and to improve myself. It is the illuminating flame on my path. 

Share with the readers please an interesting legend of your mystical and beautiful mountain range, the Harz.

- The Harz is a very powerful, dark and magical landscape. There are many legends and sagas around the region, some of the most famous ones are for sure the legends of the Roßtrappe and the Teufelsmauer (literally translated as "devil´s wall"). Also the Walpurgis Night (the feast of the witches) is traditionally celebrated at the Brocken mountain (Blocksberg) on April the 30th. But what the most people don´t know is that it is told that the forests of the Harz were the home of giants, "Hünen" in colloquial speech , and other malicious beings. For this reason the Germanic tribes avoided to advance further into the deep forests for a long time. There is the legend of the Sargberg (“coffin mountain”) for example, which says that the rocks of the mountain cover the burned ash of a fallen giant king who conquered the Harz with his army of giants who has spread fear and terror among the humans. The large amount of such “sagas” (better said reports) about dark creatures is an evidence of the great and unique magical essence in this area. The world we know is made out of the first giant, Aurgelmir:
Vafþrúðnismál 21:

"Ór Ymis holdi
var jörð of sköpuð,
en ór beinum björg,
himinn ór hausi
ins hrímkalda jötuns,
en ór sveita sær."

"From Ymir's flesh

the earth was made,
and from his bones hills,
the sky from his skull,
of the ice-cold giant,
and from his sweat/blood the sea."

In the Harz, especially at the Brocken mountain, you can clearly perceive his primordial essence. This makes the area to a perfect place for (úti-)seta (a form of [outside] meditation ) and magical workings related to the dark primordial forces. 



Tell us briefly about the Saxons and Thuringians of migration period and their traditions. Do you recommend us some interesting books/documentary movies of these German tribes? 

- Saxons and Thuringians were proud and fearless warriors who fought stubbornly  for their freedom. Glory and honour were the most highest values beside of their deeply religious devotion. The Saxons gained their name from their distinctive weapon, the seax dagger (Old Frisian “sax”, Old Saxon “saks”). Also they have worshipped the (war) god Seaxnēat (Saxnot, who could be equated with Tyr/Teiwaz). The Thuringians were named “Toringi” by Tacitus, and later interpreted as “sons of Thor”,  which seems to be an untenable hypothesis because the god Thor was called “Thunar” in their language. Feasts and sacrifices for the gods were an integral part of their religion and tradition as well as annual gatherings (called “Thing”) with other groups and tribes. The confederation of warriors who have joined up under the leadership of a chief or chosen warrior was the highest and most honourable social fabric.  
I could recommend some general books about the topic here, but all of them are written in German language. Same goes for the documentaries. 

Which places/museums are your recommendations in Saxony-Anhalt? 

There are two really interesting museums in relation to the ancient times, the museum for pre-history in Halle (Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte) and the unique open air museum in Zethlingen. This “museum” is a small  reconstructed village of the Germanic tribe of the Langobards (Lombards), which have settled in the north of Saxony-Anhalt.

Do you have any special hobbies beside the music?

- I like to be outside in the forest, be it for meditation or to go hiking and fishing. I am generally interested in bushcraft, outdoor and survival stuff. Beside my “regular daily” hobbies such as reading and doing sports, I'm also interested in ancient weapons and martial arts.

Which newcomer bands would you recommend to the readers? 
- I wouldn’t say that they are newcomers, but they are getting for sure more and more attention at the moment than before – Mgła and Svartidauði, really powerful and very hypnotic bands. Another refreshing band with an interesting concept are The Committee. I saw them recently and their performance was pretty good. 

Danke sehr, mein freund, Hrím! Send your message please to the readers of Archangels Lantern in the end of this conversation.

- Explore and honour your cultural heritage. Recognize your true self but kill your ego. Deny the consume-oriented materialism – in the end everything will burn. Back into the primordial abyss – Hailaz Abgrundjam! 


Important links:

facebook.com/pages/Sons-of-Fenris/146461115380778?fref=ts

facebook.com/NawaharjanOfficial?fref=ts

facebook.com/ScytheOfDeathProductions?fref=ts

facebook.com/NineWorldsFall












2015. február 5., csütörtök

Gusthav

Interview with Gusthav 
( Mysteriis, Futhark)


Hail Gusthav, welcome to Archangel’s Lantern! Tell us first of all, when did you become as a metal warrior and what was your very first band?

Gusthav: Thanks to Archangel´s Lantern for the interview, greetings to the readers.
I began listening metal in 1987, when I was in high school in that time I was listening some glam, hard rock and heavy metal bands,  later I was listening Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Testament Venom and Hellhammer, after that I knew more metal heads and they introduce me to more bands as Possessed, Bathory, Destruction, Death, Kreator, Sodom, among others...

If I’m not mistaken, you started with your black metal band, Mysteriis in 1995. Would you be so kind to share with the readers all the important details about this horde? (I’ve noticed, Mysteriis had a demo in 1997 and after then the band released a split with Futhark and an EP called ”Southern Storm” in 2013). Who write the music and lyrics? What we should know about lyrical conception? 

Gusthav: That´s right, Mysteriis began in January of 1995 when Ivan and I left Apocriphal and decided to create a new band with a couple of songs of the previous band "The Wine of Immortality" and "Tale From Forest", we found a drummer and the band begin to create more songs for the recording of a demo, but a year later Ferath, the drummer must leave the country to live in USA.
In October of 1996 with a new drummer, Ihstath from the hordes Lemures and Drakar, Maleficiere Te Deum of Maleficarum playing bass guitar, Luna Roja in female voice, Ivan in the voices and Gusthav playing guitars and keyboards, we recorded our demo tape "Fullmoon Shadows", with 11 tracks, and a good review in some Latin American zines, but after the release of the demo Ivan left the band, and later the drummer Ihstath must leave due to their obligations with their main bands.
Mysteriis was on hold for 10 years waiting the perfect time to come back to the scene...
In 2007 with new members, Mysteriis begin to rehearse and give shows in our city and for the year of 2010, Ferath came back from USA and got the drummer place again.
In this 4 years some majors changes again in the line-up, we passed from a band of 5 members to a 2 members band, after our bass/vocals Sigurd left the band by work compromises.
I take the role of vocals and guitar and Ferath kept in  the drums.
In May of 2013 Depressive Illusions Records of Ukraine release the split CD-R "Tale From the Ancient Wisdom" with Futhark, another band where I play guitars, this split was produced in a limited edition of 33 copies and in August our demo tape was reissued by Ultrametal Productions - Iron Goat Commando, this time in CD format and 6 bonus tracks from rehearsals in 1995.
For December of 2013 we travel to Guayllabamba in Ecuador to play 1 show there and 1 show in a Colombian city in the border line with Ecuador called Ipiales, for this shows we release an EP in CD-R called "Southern Storm" with 2 intros and the songs "The Dark Grave" and "Tale from Forest" recorded in 2012.
Chivo Negro Productions from Ecuador, got license to the re-edition of our split with Futhark in a professional CD.
The 7th of December of 2014 Nebuloza Productions - Sabbath Productions release our full lenght "Crypt of Evil Sacrificial Rites" intro, interludio, outro and 8 tracks in the same vein of the ancient compositions but more technique and energy in the sound, 2 of them were present in our demo tape but now with better arrangements.


Give us more information about Pagan metal band, Futhark.

Gusthav: Futhark was the project I started with 2 friends in 2002, we wanted to do a kind of black metal mixing some pagan influences from Europe in a comparison with others from our land, we had some difficult at the beginning and some line-up changes, we have 1 demo tape, 2 promo CD-R’s and 2 splits one of them with Mysteriis and another with Invocacion, this was produced by my label Sabbath Productions in December 30 of 2013.

Enlighten us please about your activity in following hordes, as Nastrond, Grimm Winter, Vinterdød, Acromegalia, 666.

Gusthav: Acromegalia was a Death Metal band where I played bass guitar in 1994 with some partners from the high school, never recorded, just a few songs in a rehearsal session, this band had a short live.
Grim Winter and Vinterdød were side projects with some members of Futhark, but there´s nothing solid, just a few songs composed and soon the bands end.
The same for 666 a band we had with Río de Muerte From Oscuridad, Dark Moon From Erzebet, Azaigoth from Lemures and Alex from Mardraum, just 2 songs written and the band soon falls into oblivion...
Nastrond is a black metal band of 2 friends they're active since 2002 and invite me to play with them in 2008, the band has 3 demos and a compilation CD y had recorded 1 song with them "Nocturnal Fly" appearing in this compilation CD.

When did you start to play the guitars? Which guitarists and vocalists influenced you?
 
Gusthav: I begin playing guitars in 1993 when I buy my first guitar and play with Eternal a thrash death metal band with my brother and a partner of high school (Now they play a symphonic-gothic death metal).
Guitar players  that influence me many of them but I could mention right now Tom Warrior, Quorthon, Tonny Iommy,Sakis,  Vorphalack, vocals I must say again that Quorthon, Tom Warrior and Vorphalack and I must add Dead, Ventor, Mille Petroza and Grishnack.


What is the situation about your live performances in Medellin? Recommend us please some hordes from your local scene.

Gusthav: Actually we don´t performed live frequently, our last show in Medellín was in with Mara,  Futhark, Aorta and Beelzebul in June 29th of the last year, we´re planning some shows in other Colombian cities as Facatativa and Villavicencio in march and maybe in Medellín later.
There are a lot of recommended bands in Medellín, I could mention Masacre, Infernal, Beelzebul, Erzebet, Revenge, Witchtrap, Legacy, Esquizofrenia, Aorta, King, Death Kult, Sauthenerom, Morbid Macabre, Nightmare, Iron Command, Hellrider, Metal King, Futhark, Gomory and the list goes on...

Name us your 10 all-time favourite albums.
Gusthav: To name just only 10 albums its very difficult, but to answer your question I choose this ones in no particular order:
Slayer "Show no Mercy"
Accept "Metal Heart"
Death "Leprosy"
Kreator" Endless Pain"
Samael "Blood Ritual"
Bathory "Blood, Fire, Death..."
Venom "Welcome to Hell"
Black Sabbath "Black Sabbath"
Darkthrone "A Blaze in the Northern Sky"
Celtic Frost "Morbid Tales"

What means the paganism for you: religion or something more? What is the main thing for you, ideology or music?

Gusthav: Paganism for me is freedom, a way of live and the relationship with other people and the nature, not a religion, this world is plagued with religions that doesn´t give nothing but slavery, I have paganism as model of live or a way of act consequently with pagan concepts and beliefs of ancient people, they have to much wisdom, pride and respect for their traditions, this is something that modern people doesn´t have or likes because their minds are infected with religion, mass media and modern technologies.
For me there must be a balance in a band, the ideology is a very important element and people in many cases gets identified and gets involved with this, but music is essential to transmit different kind of feelings and ambients, so it must be a perfect mix of both elements to get excellent results with a composition.


Have you any favourite books and/or movies? Do you have any special hobbies?

Gusthav: Favorite books: Dracula, The Lord of the Rings, The Da Vinci Code, Futhark hand book of runemagic, EL Caballo de Troya.

Favorite movies: The Terminator, The Lord of the Rings, Braveheart, Die Hard, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Back to the future, Conan, Red Sonja.
Special Hobbies: listen music, taking pictures, travels through nature and beautiful landscapes.

Have you ever been in Europe? (if yes, where?)

Gusthav: not yet, I hope to go to Europe someday…


Muchas gracias, Gusthav! Send some thoughts to the readers of Archangel’s Lantern, please.

Gusthav: Thanks Georgius for the interview, everyone interested in know about Mysteriis or Futhark could check our sites:

Mysteriis:

Futhark:

or write to my e-mail gusthav@gmail.com