Interview with Godblood

Do you know any band from Cyprus? Well, there is a little yet efficient scene in that not less little island. From the ultimate confins of Europa comes band Godblood to show how black metal doesn’t need to be played fast to transmit darkness and evil. Sometimes low music makes the message stronger… and that is Godblood’s purpose.

Xaipe, Deceased! Ti kaneis?
Xaipe Andrea, eime arketa kala …

Well, first of all, congratulations for your album. It really rocks! Could you speak a bit about how was it composed, recorded and produced? Are you satisfied with the final result?
– The composition of the songs was mainly done by me and Adorian, changing ideas and thoughts, the final result was ok, a bit rush though, sure it could been better, but of course the result prove our cult feeling.

Godblood released “Those Funeral Times” through your very own label Throne Productions. Did you seek any deal with any other label or you always had in mind since the beginning that you wanted your album to be released through your label?
– From the very beginning of the foundation of Throne I wanted our debit to be released through my own label.

Your style is quite different to what the mainstream black metal bands do. Was it done in purpose to differentiate yourselves from the “common black metal style “or is it just a matter of influences?
-We play what comes from inside of us, this is our cult style and it ends up like that due to our thoughts and ideas and of course our influences … The reason that we are still keep playing is the joy of composition of new dark arts that comes from our personal depression … darkness …

By the way we speak of influences, you seem to be very touched by bands such as Black Sabbath. What do you think? Moreover, which are your influences?
-Sure Black Sabbath is an influence to all the metal bands, we are also influences from Venom, Kreator, Rotting Christ, Celtic Frost … we are listening to variety of styles.

Bearing that in mind, would you call your music “black metal”?
– I dont want to label our music, but is more or less a cult metal release. Just listen to our music and follow that dark trip and be lost forever …

Your flyer says that “Those Funeral Times” will be released in a limited quantity. Why?
– All the Godblood releases are limited, so we want to continue in this way … we think that our releases should be limited for the true fans.

What about playing live? Have you done any concert already? I’ve read you will play with Armaggedon this december and with Rotting Christ soon … what can people expect from Godblood’s lyrics?
-We have played twice with our friends Rotting Christ in 1995 and 1998 and once with Nightfall in 1995. We have played a lot of times with our home mates Armageddon. Playing live is great, we always have great support from our fans. About our lyrics people can expect a free dead condition form in a psychological diversion with sudden change of pictures.

Lyrics: What do they speak about, what does inspire you to write such lyrics?
-They speak about experiences, thoughts, ideas … its a kind of mental disorder in combination with the surprising exchange of insane pictures …

The thanks-list is quite funny: you occupy 28 text lines while all the other members altogether only occupy 5 lines!! Anything we should know?
-I do all the contacts, so I know too many people, I am also the founder of the band from 1991, so that’s why.

Why is Panas credited as Godblood’s drummer if he only played drums in one song (“Spring Delight”) while the other songs were played by Chris Ioannides? Can you explain this?
-Panas is in the band from 1995, due to his military duties, he couldn’t help us in the recording sessions, he is still a Godblood member and he is also our live member. Chris helped us in the past.

Whose idea was to include the acoustic version of “Spring Delight”? I mean, I really like it!!! It was a wonderful idea, indeed!
– The decision to that was made by Adorian, and we all welcomed that idea as it was a great experience and a chance to play something different, acoustic that is with whispering vocals, a different side to the first version, the other mystical side.

What about Throne Productions? Is it difficult to start a label in nowadays’ European metal scene? How were the beginnings and in how far have you been accomplishing your first challenges?
-Yep is difficult, you have to concentrate on your work, my first challenges have been accomplishing, I’ll have new challenges as music is my life.

Let ‘s speak on somewhat controversial issues: What about living in Kypros? How does it feel to live there when there are so many problems with our “friendly” neighbours the turks? How are your relationships with the northern part’s turk invaders?
– This is pity, but due to the American interest and our stupid politicians what can I say.

Last question. What does the word “Enosis” mean to you?
-Nothing, everyone is free

That ‘s all for now; thanks a lot, and may the Gods be with thee!
-Sometimes my mind is drifting away, or maybe all the times  drowned in everything and nothing comes in me, therefore I follow that trip that is free and leads me to something I just don’t know why should I know, memories should leave me alone in time but what is time, I just don’t know, I will follow a black thing  that follows me or flows in me, forever confused into eternity

Contact us, send $ 15 (packing & postage included) for purchasing our cd
P. O. BOX 20414, NICOSIA 2152, CYPRUS
FAX / TEL: 00357-2-332224
deceased@logos.cy.net

Interview with Horrified

Despite being a veteran band, Horrified are not too much known in the European scene, maybe due to their disapparition a couple of years ago. But now the band is back, hungry as an Animal with a great new CD in their hands to offer the public. In this interview band member Adonis Kotzias speaks about the band’s past, present and future …

Haire, Adonis! Your new album “Animal” has recently been released. Could you tell the readers how was it conceived, recorded, produced and released?
It was conceived bit by bit during the last 2 years of our abscence, influenced by a b-movie called FUNNY-MAN and relative literature that i have studied our main character leaves throughout the album. Recording was at LIVE-STUDIOS where MORBID (NECROMANTIA ) and us did the production.

Despite Horrified is a long-known act, “Animal” is only your second official CD. Why has this release needed so much time? Your previous work “In The Garden Of Unearthly Delights” is as old as 1994…
Actually In the Garden ….. was released early 1993 in contrast to our misprint in our biography sheet. Anyway, the circunstances was right only by 1998 so that was the time that ANIMAL could possibly conceived, recorded, and finnally released

The reason by which it has taken 5 years to complete a new album may be due to your split up. Why did you split up, and what did you make re-create the band again 4 years afterwards? A lot of mysteries sorround your disaparittion and re-apparittion, maybe it’s time to sort things out clearly …
OK, some people where involved heavily into drugs and generally problmes with the law, some of uss had music and character differences, then again In The Garden …. wasnt promoted as we expected, i was personally haunting down the chairman of our previews Record company BLACK POWER (BLACK SHIT UP HIS ASS!!) to resolve the differences in lets say Animalistic way. On top of that some people got to the army, i didnt and i wont due to mental state reasons. I think now it is crystal clear.

What did each member of the band during those 4 years? Did you play in other bands / projects, or you just kept music apart from your lifes? 4.You have suffered several line-up changes. Can you explain why has it’s been so difficult to mantain a stable line-up? Can you explain the changes as well? Which is the current line-up?
Stavros was a member of Rotting Christ, during their first EUROPEAN tour, later he joined Septic Flesh but we decided to be again as Horrified so he had to abandon the above bands. Thanos played to some other bands which i do not recall, as for me, i played drums to Nordor and OLETHRIO RIGMA. I also played in some bands while i was to London but nothing special.

The promo-Cd I have from Black Lotus Records doesn’t provide the lyrics. Could you tell us what are the lyrics about? Especially, what do the lyrics speak about in “Evol Morena”, “Funny Man” and “Davolja Varos” ?
Generally the album title explain a bit of our stand, FUNNY MAN our main character is playing a role very discreetly to allmost all our tracks. Evol Morena is a track about Morena a servian goddess of evil and lust and is a song describing her in detail . She also plays a role in another song in the album. Davolja Varos it is about Knes Lazarus a leader of a 30.000 soldiers in Servia again. He took 30.000 man to a sure lost battle and everybody died, then Morena cursed him to be in Vlasina (village of servia) and move arround the islands untill he remember all his soldiers first and last name. The actual battle really took place, and there, there is a geologicall phenomeno that no scientist can explain, where small pieces of earth are moving into this pond the legend sais that Nes Lazarus is doing that to remember the battlefield and consequently his soldiers names. Funny man is the well known figure of the Joker cards he is the ironique killer a symbol of our animal ensticts that kills chops and laughs because he has to do it.

Black Lotus Records is a quite new label. How do you feel in such a young label (even though the guys behind BLR are well-known in the greek scene)? How did you contact them? Are you satisfied with the budget they gave you and the conditions of the deal?
They contacted uss and they offered uss a very good deal. Sometimes is better to be in a small company because you get the best possible attention, If you are in a big company is difficult to survive maybe in the future we will reconsider some of our views, but now anything we wish is provided by BLR and after all, all the guys are nice characters which is the most important think.

“Evol Morena” has undoubtely a Spanish flamenco touch. I congratulate you as it is one of the songs I like most, but what did you make compose such song with such a (supposedly) alien style inserted into your death metal? Which is the story behind this song?
The lyrics as i mentioned before is about a godess of evil, enormously beatyfull but at the some time seductivly evil and mysterious and basically with an easter churm surrounding her i think that answer your question, why the Spanish flamenco touch. As for the alien style it is one more new point of view of uss to this kind of music, it is an attempt for something new. I’m very pleased that people like you and athers enjoyed that song.

One of the things I have noticed more is the inclusion of great guitars solos and a more “happy” touch in several songs. You play death metal, right, but it seems to be with a fine sense of humour … Am I right ?
Yes you are. There is a sinister approach to irony, the evil grace of humour the darkness that surrounds characters as the Funny Man, i was very sceptical of how it was going to be received from the public. I didnt wanted to thin of it as a cheap joke, luckily it seems that the right message was passed.

What about live touring? You played quite a lot after the release of your old 7 “EP” The Ancient Whisper Of Wisdom “, are you playing live soon? If yes, where and when? Only in Hellas by now?
We just played to ATHENS RODON with Septic Flesh, we might also play in May with DIMU BORGIR again in Athens. There is also a European tour on plans with Rotting christ. We have an open offer though, to anybody that can provide tickets and a place to stay, we gonna be there and play.

Ok, that was all. Close this interview as you like most …
Hello to MARICARMEN SELMA-JUAN from Valencia, good luck to you and your magazine, and a big thank to all the people that listen to our music either you buy, or copy, our CD.

Interview with Evemaster

1.-Hails, Jarno! What’s up in cold Suomi? 
Greetings Andreas. Actually we are having quite warm autumn although it is far away from what you have there in Spain.

2.-Evemaster is (yet) not a very well known band. Could you speak about the band’s history?
We formed this band in August 1996 and we recorded our first demo “In Thine Majesty” in the end of year 1996. Yes, we know that we did our first demo quite fast, but T.Mykkänen had some kind of picture and some ideas for this band almost two years before it was possible to form EVEMASTER. The demo itself got very good reactions from the underground and we got few interesting answers from 3 labels. All went a bit deeper with KTOK Records, so we recorded our 1st full-length CD to them in February-March 1998. A note to people who think that we used two months to record the album: We used only weekends, so it took all in all 9 days to record the album. The result was very good in our opinion and the reviews we got so far approve that as well. Here we are nowŠŠŠ.

3.-I’ve noticed that there are only two people playing in the band. How do you manage to write the songs since you two only have a microphone and a guitar? 
Yes, you are right. It’s not the easiest thing to write songs when you don’t have a real band with which you can rehearse and arrange those tracks better. All honour about our songs goes to the other part of Evemaster, T.Mykkänen, who has done all the songs, lyrics and played guitars, programmed drums and Synths. Although it took much, it is also very free to write songs by that way. I have usually some effect to the arrangements to the songs and of course I try to create something special to our music with my vocals.

4.-How would you define Evemaster’s music if had to explain to anyone who has never listened to Evemaster?
Well, I think it´s just metal with dark feeling. I would not describe it as black metal, because our lyrics are not dealing with satanism and stuff like that. We try to create music that has a lot of atmosphere with moody melodies and harmonies combined with aggressive elements.

5.-What is the meaning behind “Evemaster”? 
Eve word in our name means eve of the nightŠthe time of day, which is dark and very atmospheric like our music. We don’t our music to be called as black metal, because it is not the whole truth. We have a lot of more. Master word is just to describe that we are masters of our own music.

6.-You seem to invest much interest in your website. In how far do you think the WWW can help an underground band to be known? What do you do on the Net to promote your band? 
Yep, of course we want to put much effort to our home page, because in the future the web will be used more and more to spread the information of everything. And as we wanted to have a home page, we wanted them to look as good as possible and include as much as possible information about our band. But to be honest, web isn’t everything we have, because I think people still read more likely the normal magazines etc. We have sent a lot of promos and most of them have gone to normal paper magazines. We have on our home page everything you need to know about our band.

7.-You use many song titles in Latin. What does Latin so attractive to you?
Tomi: Yes, it really seems that way…. well, don’t know actually ’cause I haven’t thought about it really. Maybe they’re better sounding and cooler… ? Well, I have some ideas for new songs already and they aren’t in Latin… Maybe should come up with some interesting names for the next album too…

8.-By the way, my fave mankind age is ancient Greece and the mighty Roman Empire. Which is yours, and in which age and place would you have loved to be born? 
Although I like to read about ancient Greek mythogies and stuff like that I wouldn’t like to born there, because did they have stereos, CDs, computers or metal? No, they didn’t. So I rather stay were I am now.

9.-Your vocals are quite passionated and quite Swedish-styled. Is that done in purpose? Do you feel yourself to be influenced by the Swedish extreme metal scene? 
Done in purpose? No, never!!! I don’t want to sing just because I want to sound like some one else. To be honest, when I started my “vocalist career”, I got my influences from Mille of Kreator and he used to sing that way much before this “Swedish style”. As you can hear, I don’t sound like Mille, because my voice has developed during the years. I did my first projectŠI think it was somewhere in 1991. I have also noticed that voice varies a lot, because of the style of metal you singŠif you sing the songs that have a lot of emotion like our songs, it is so natural to add more emotion to the vocals as well.

10.-What are the things that inspire you to write the lyrics. They are quite “ethereal” as for its meaning is concerned… 
Tomi: The main inspiration is my own feelings about what I see and feel and think. But I can’t deny the fact that I’m a Finn and proud of it and the whole way of living here is a big inspiration for me. The whole ethereal-thing comes from the fact that I don’t want to write those straight forward, to the point lyrics at all. I try to give listeners something to think, you know?

11.-What are your views towards religion? 
I am very neutral about all of these religion questionsŠwho wants to believe something, believes. I rather just believe myself and all the things I am doing, but as I said before everybody should have a opportunity to choose their religion by themselves when they are old enough to do independent decisions, and not for example by their parents.

12.-Ok, close this interview as you like most. Kiito kaikesta! 
– Eipä kestä kiitos vaan itsellesi. (My pleasure, thank you!). Everybody that are interested in us should visit our home page from address: https://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/7015/. There are a lot of info about our band, samples, lyrics, etc. Visit there and sign the questbook. Our Lacrimae Mundi CD is available from us, send in 80Fmk/16USD to get it.

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Interview with Ochros Iskios

1.-Hails, Iskios! To start off somewhere, could you introduce with a few words your band Ochros Iskios? What is exactly Ochros Iskios?

Ochros Iskios was started by me as black ambient / darkwave project with all music made exclusively with computers. I started the project at the same time as my black metal band HYDRA, in late 1995. I created Ochros Iskios because I felt that I had some music that only would suit with synths. But some of the Ochros Iskios music was first arranged for guitar in HYDRA, but later I changed it so it would suit in the Ochros Iskios songs. When you hear the forthcoming HYDRA demo “POLEMOS” you will recognize some music from Ochros Iskios. The influences of Ochros Iskios are quite varied but I usually say it’sa mix of N.A.O.S. and Ordo Equilibrio, judge yourself.

2.-So far you seem to have recorded 3 demos (Makedonias, Achaia and Efthanisia). Could you speak a bit on them and which are the concepts / lyrics behind them?

Basically it tells about stories about every of these locations. Eftanisia is about legends and myths from the seven Ionian islands. That’s why you can hear a litlle folk influence on this demo. Achaia is about the proud men and warriors of Achaia, that’s why I’ve got marching drums in every song of that demo.

Makedonias tells not only about Filippos and Alexandros land but also about the recent quarells with the ex Jugoslavians.

3.-Ochros Iskios is a one-man band. Why is this so? Moreover, how do you manage to do it all yourself? I know technology plays an important role in it all …

Ochros Iskios is a one man band because there can only be one Iskios. Everything is made with one computer and the most of music just comes to me when I work so then it’s just to type in the music.

4.-My fave song is “Achaian Storm”. Could you tell us how was it born, and what is the meaning of the song? Is it in any way a tribute to the legendary Achaian warriors?

“Achaian Storm” is also the song I’m most satisfied with and the main melody was something that I had played with for a while on the guitar. Then I played it on piano and realised that it was sounding very good. Later I found out that it sounded even better with marching drums. The rest of music was just something that came to me while I was writing the song.

5.-It seems to me that you’re extremely influenced by mighty Hellas. What are your feelings towards Greece?

I see Hellas as the cradle of culture and the birth of western civilazation. I don’t want to write my poltical opinion here, as I have recieved lot of shit after my statements about the Turks on Cyprus.

6.-Moreover, how do you foresee the future for Hellas when so many incidents and conflicts happen so oftenly around Greece with Turkey, Cyprus, Albania, the ex-Jugoslavian republic of Skopje (who claim to be Macedonians)?

I think that the Cyprus question will be solved some time. First of It’sa Greek Island, the Cypriots speek Greek, but in 1974 or when it was the Turks got the idea to invade Cyprus beacuse the turks of Cyprus felt threatened. Anyway if the Turks want to become a member of the European Union (EU) they will have to release Cyprus that’s said by someone, I don’t remember who it was. But when will Turkey be able to become a member of the EU? Their human rights are a joke. Military everywhere, even on the beaches. I mean how fun is it to take a swim when there’sa drunk Turk with a machine gun watching you. But Turkey and Greece will not start a war, you see both countries are members of NATO. I don’t think NATO would allow any of it’s members to fight eachother. In the Albania question I’m not so well informed so I don’t to say something in this except that there’s coming more and more albanians to Greece every day. If Albania wasn’t so fucked up as a land Greece should invade it, it was once ours. In the Macedonia question we all know how it is, these skopje clowns are fakes. They have nothing with our ancestors to do. And the idea that they wanted the sun found on Filippos coffin is a fucking joke. They have nothing to do with it. Macedonia – 3000 years of Greek civilization!

7.-By the way, one of your songs is titled “Makedonias”. It is a very repetitive and monotonous. Was it done in purpose to create an aetherical atmosphere or what?

The whole demo is very monotonous, and that’s because I was in that mood when wrote the music. I believe that music should be lengthy to get the right atmosphere.

8.-I know that you play along with Ochros Iskios in several other bands. What are their names, and what kind of music do you play with them?

Well first of all, we have HYDRA. This is my greek black metal group in which we play primitive black metal, some say it sounds like a little more melodic than Darkthrone. The remarkable thing about HYDRA is that we don’t use any keyboards, acoustic or clean guitars or clean vocals. It’s just extreme black metal. There has been various line-up changes, but today it’s as follows: Iskios-guitar / backing vocals, Dusk (from Siebenbürgen) – vocals. We are the two stable members of HYDRA, then we have a session drummer and bass player.

The second of my bands is NATTFROSSA. This is the group which I lay most of my time on. We play folklore metal with female vocals. Two demos has been released and a third will follow in the Autumn.

Then we have DIMNESS, a Death Metal project started 1993, later it turned more black metal. Nowadays we hardly ever rehearse, but it’s said that we will release a last Death / Black demo which will kick ass for the lord.

At last we have our drunken metal project FUNERAL FUCK, we play bloodcore, with bad music and musicanship and that’s beacuse we are drunk we record. Anyway it’s fun.

9.-You seem to be a die-hard black metal fan. What does black metal make so special in your eyes? How do you see the scene?

Well, I can’t say that I’ma diehard BM-fan. As first of all I’m no Satanist, I’m an Atheist and I can understand Satanists as I also dislike christians and I see those as the weaker ones. But I am a patriot.The black metal I like is (Of course) the Greek one. Especially Agatus, Zemial, Legion of Doom. Otherwise I don’t like international black metal that much. With the exception for Darkthrone (Nor) and Sigh (Jap) which are two fucking great bands. The scene is quite fucked I think with a lot of shitty bands. Anyway other great metal is German Kreator and Accept, that’s what I call metal.

10.-What about the future? What are the next moves for Ochros Iskios? Maybe looking for a deal?

Actually I don’t know for how long I will continue with Ochros Iskios as I dont feel any inspirations for making this kind of music anymore. But this will probably change when the summer’s over. I think I will send the Achaia demo to some companies, maybe “Cold Meat Industry” or something like that.

11.-Ok, that’s all. Close this interview as you like most, and may the gods be with thee.

Thanks a lot for the interview Andreas, and remember …. The Members of the HYDRA order recalls: “If you choose to criticize, you choose your enemies. “

Interview with Nightfall

Ok, here is my interview with one of the best bands in the well-known (yet still undervaloured) Greek scene. Nightfall have become the flag of their label Holy Records and their last album overpassed all expectatives, so i decided to ask these questions to Sir Efthimis Karadimas, the mastermind behind this great Athenian outfit…1.-Geia xara, Efthimis! Ti kaneis?
I’M QUITE OK MAN, THANK YOU.

2.-Well, first of all let me ask you about your last album “Lesbian Show”: By the release time of “Lesbian Show” you said you expected it to sell about 20,000 copies. Have you already achieved it? Do you know how many copies have already been sold?
YES, WE’VE ALREADY ACHIEVED THAT GOAL, EVEN THOUGH WE COULD HAVE SOLD MUCH MORE IF HOLY HAD OFFICIAL DISTRIBUTION THROUGHOUT AMERICA TOO. I’M NOT 100% INTO THE EXACT NUMBER RIGHT NOW. HOWEVER, EVEN WHEN I’LL BE , I WON’T MENTION IT DUE TO I’VE SEEN A LOT OF BULLSHIT GOING AROUND THE SCENE NOWADAYS; I’VE READ NEWSLETTERS OR INTERVIEWS OF BANDS WHO SELL 2 OR 3 OR 4000 COPIES WHERE THEY SPEAK ABOUT 10 OR 15000 COPIES SOLD, OR EVEN MORE! SO, FANS GET CONFUSED AND ANNOYED AS WELL!..

2.-“Lesbian Show” has many connections with sex. What are your views on it? Do you think Christianity has satanized sex because of its judaic roots? Our kinfolk Indo-Aryans conceive sex as a medium by which reach divinity…
YOU CANNOT BE OBJECTIVE -100%- WITH SEX; IT’S SOMETHING THAT EVERY INDIVIDUAL VISUALIZES, EXPERIENCES OR WHATEVER IN HIS/HER OWN, UNIQUE WAY. I DON’T LIKE PUTTING SO SPECIAL THINGS TOGETHER. MOREOVER I ALWAYS PAY (TO BE HONEST, I TRY TO UNDERSTAND) AN EXTRA ATTENTION TO EACH ONE’S “EGO” AND ITS REFLECTIONS ONTO REALITY. “SEX” IN LESBIAN SHOW IS BEING USED AS A MIRROR THROUGH WHICH EVERYBODY CAN REALIZE THE TERRIBLE YET SWEET SPIRITUAL DECADENCE OF OUR…ADVANCED/MODERN CIVILIZATION.

3.-Moreover, do you think (like me) that paganism fits much better to our nature than Christianity, and that paganism helps man to live in accordance with mother Earth while Christianity (along with Judaism and Islam) is the antithesis of this “kinship” with Nature?
OH YES, CERTAINLY! HOWEVER, CAN YOU IMAGINE WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO THE WORLD IF MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF UNEDUCATED, CLOSE-MINDED PEOPLE WOULD’VE BEEN SET FREE FROM RELIGIONS’ CHAINS? TOTAL CHAOS! THAT’S WHY I’M TRYING NOT TO MIX THINGS TOGETHER; HOW MANY TIMES YOU’RE GOING TO SCREW YOUR LADY OR YOUR BROTHER, UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES, AND WHETHER YOU LIKE TO EAT CUM WITH YOUR BREAKFAST OR NOT IS A STRICTLY PERSONAL CASE! THE RULES ARE ALWAYS HERE FOR THOSE WHO NEED THEM. FOR THOSE WHO FEEL UNSAFE WITHOUT THEM!

4.-On your website appears an article written by you on the relationship between man and the divine. Can you summarize it in a few lines?
WELL IT’S BETTER OFF FOR EVERYBODY TO CHECK IT OUT BY HIM/HERSELF AND COME UP WITH HIS/HER OWN CONCLUSIONS. SO,GO TO https://www.lut.fi/~mega/muzac/Nightfall.html EVERYBODY IS WELCOME TO CELEBRATE THE NATURE OF MAN.

5-In the article you oftenly refer to authors like Jung and LaVey. What are your views on them? Are you interested in philosophy? If yes, which is your favourite philosopher?
MY FAVORITE PHILOSOPHER?? IS THERE SUCH A THING? PHILOSOPHY IS THE WAY TO FACE YOURSELF; YOUR LIFE; YOUR NATURE, ETC… I BELIEVE I CAN DROWN MYSELF INTO THE STARRY NIGHT OF MY SOUL FAR BETTER THAN ANYBODY ELSE CAN DO FOR ME! THE SAME GOES FOR EVERYBODY TOO!

6.-What do you think of the Nietzschean idea of the “übermensch” (“overman, a man whose moral is beyond good and evil”)? Do you think it exists, it can exist, or it has ever existed?
AS FAR AS INDIVIDUALS CANNOT LIVE ALONE BUT NEED ONE EACH OTHER “GOOD” AND “EVIL” WILL EXIST. EVEN MORALS’ GOD(S) ARE GOOD AND EVIL JUST BECAUSE THEY’VE BEEN MADE BY HUMAN NEEDS…

7.-In that interview you said and I quote: “My aim is to learn everything”. Do you still wish to be omniscient? How can one try to be that?
MY AIM IN LIFE IS TO GAIN AS MUCH WISDOM AS I CAN! I PREFER TO LIVE MY LIFE RATHER THAN TO…SERVE IT.

8.-Talking about culture, which do you think is the reson why we all Greeks feel so much pride of our blood? I know that by mythology we’re descendants of our fathers the gods…
SORRY BUT THE REASON WHY ALL “MODERN” GREEKS SEEM TO BE SO PROUD OF THE ANCIENT GLORIOUS DAYS IS BECAUSE NOONE OF THEM HAS TO PRESENT ANYTHING WORTH MENTIONED NOWADAYS! YOU’RE LIVING AWAY FROM GREECE OF TODAY, THAT’S WHY YOU FACE YOUR “FATHERLAND” IN A SO ROMANTIC WAY TO SAY SO. REALITY IS MUCH MUCH DIFFERENT AND BELIEVE ME WE’RE TRYING BADLY (THE FEW EXEMPTIONS-AMONG THEM NIGHTFALL AS WELL)TO CHANGE IT. YOU KNOW ANDREAS, CHRISTIANITY HAS RUINED ALMOST EVERYTHING; WHAT WE CALL “HISTORY” THEY CALL IT “MYTHOLOGY” AND SO ON… IT’S A PITTY BUT IT WON’T LAST FOREVER!

9.-By the way we speak on gods, in “Macabre Sunsets” you have a song dedicated to “those who didn’t betray the Byzantine empire by leaving it to the hands of a fake god” (more or less, since I don’t have the booklet here right now). What does this sentence mean? Do you consider the Greeks who converted (or were converted) to Christianism as “traitors” since they abandoned the elder gods? Who do you blame for bringing Christianity into Hellenia?
YOU’RE QUITE RIGHT. I DON’T BELIEVE THAT CHRISTIANITY AND ITS DOCTRINES FIT TO ANY GREEK, MOREOVER TO ANY “MEDITERRANEAN” PEOPLE. IT’S NOT THAT CHRISTIANS “ABANDON THE ELDER GODS” BUT THEY TRY TO REJECT THAT SPIRITUAL FREEDOM WITHIN. CHRISTIANITY (AND ALL OTHER RELIGIONS) IS A STATUS QUO SITUATION SIMILAR TO THE ONE EXISTS IN PRISONS: ONE LEADS, FEW CONTROL, AND MASS BLINDLY FOLLOW.

10.-In an interview with Italian mag Grind Zone you said: “The Greek civilization doesn`t exist due to Catholicism”. Could you explain this sentence? Did you really mean “Catholicism” or simply “Christianism”? I know that before the cismas (Arrianism, Orthodoxism, Protestantism…) Christianity was homonymous with Catholicism (I’m sure that you, since you are Greek know the meaning of the word “Catholicism”…). Moreover, which Christian branch is less bad: Orthodoxism, Catholicism or Protestantism?
NO, I SAID “LIKE CATHOLISM HAS DONE TO THE ROMAN ETHICS…” (Oops, sorry Efthimis, but in the Spanish version what i quoted is EXACTLY what appeared, maybe there was a mistake in its translation… -ed!) FOR JUST LET THE ITALIAN INTERVIEWER UNDERSTANDING BETTER MY POINT OF VIEW. AS FOR THE BRANCHES YOU MENTION, I BELIEVE THAT ALL OF THEM HAVE EXPERIENCED MOMENTS OF MERCY AND CRUELTY; IT’S ALWAYS BEEN UP TO THEIR LEADERS AND THE SITUATIONS THEY HAVE TO FACE… EVEN A BEAST SOMETIMES LOOK LOVELY!

11.-Let’s change the topic. As far as I know, you belong to the so-called “Temple Of The Vampyre”. Could you explain what is that about?
NO, SORRY. SUCH THINGS ARE PRETTY PERSONAL.

12.-What do you think of legendary band Rotting Christ? Do you see yourselves as in competition with them in order to be the band number 1 in Hellas?
WHAT?? EVEN THOUGH BOTH NIGHTFALL AND ROTTING CHRIST DO ADVERTISE THE GREEK SCENE ABROAD (MAINLY BY TOURING) EVERYBODY IS LOOKING FORWARD THAT MOMENT WHERE THE SCENE OF GREECE WILL HAVE A PROPOSITION FOR ALL THE TASTES (LIKE IN GERMANY; SO MANY GOOD BANDS, SO MANY STYLES).

13.-Rotting Christ have played in America. Will we ever see Nightfall in the other side of the Atlantic? Have you thought about it?
YES, WE’RE ABOUT TO GO TO BRAZIL.

14.- By the way we speak on playing live, do you like touring? Are you still underground enough so as to travel by van / coach? Do you like it? Any anechdota to tell our readers? 
THE LIFE IN THE TOUR BUS IS SOMETHING WHICH CANNOT BE DESCRIBED EASILY. WE DON’T LIKE IT, WE ADORE IT! ANECTODES? WELL, WE USUALLY HAVE A TENSION TO REVEAL OUR SELVES WITHOUT CLOTHES AND STUFF IN FRONT OF SERIOUS-LOOKING PEOPLE! PROVOKING “POLITICALY CORRECT” INDIVIDUALS IS OUR TOUR-HOBBY INDEED. SORRY BUT I CANNOT DESCRIBE A TSOUTSOUNI FRONT OF A SHOKING FACE… IT’S FUNNY ANYHOW!

15.-Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to see you live in my hometown Barcelona. A couple of months ago, though, it was planned to play in Barcelona and then in Madrid, but finally you only played in Madrid with Avulsed and another band. How was the gig? What do you think of the Spanish audience? Can you point out the best European audience? Why? And the worst one? Why?
THE BEST CROWDS ARE THOSE OF SOUTH EUROPE, INDEED. PEOPLE THERE ARE REALLY HOT AND WHEN THEY COME TO SHOWS THEY TRY TO GET RID OFF ALL THOSE SHITS THEY HAVE WITHIN. WORST… MAYBE IN THE MIDDLE OF EUROPE WHERE FANS ARE SO MUCH INTO BANDS’TOURING THAT THEY DO NOT REALLY FEEL THAT SPECIAL FEELING A FAN HAS WHEN HE/SHE SEES ONLY 8-9 BANDS PER YEAR.

16.-By the way, the rating I gave to “Athenian Echoes” in the reviews section in my webzine was 9.9 with this closing comment: “They don’t reach a 10 because perfection is impossible”. What do you think?
YOU’RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! (Hehehe… Well, it was well deserved, really! -ed!)

17.-Let’s finish this exhausting interview with kind of a game: Say a short comment on each of these geographic places:

Hellas: SHE HURTS ME BUT I LOVE HER!
Finland:WE’LL BE BACK SOON!
Spain:RULES! DAVE OF AVULSED IS REAL’S MANIAC, WE DID A FEW JOKES TO HIM AS WE PREFER BARCELONA! L’ESPERANZA…
Germany:I LIKE THE FACT THAT PEOPLE THERE DO REALLY WORK HARD.
European Union:LETS FUCKIN’ DO IT! WE HATE NATIONALISM!
Barcelona:OLE!
Ilioupolis:OLE TOO!
Turkey:UNBELIEVABLE CROWD.
Kemi:COLD AND DRANK.
Mount Olympus:THE REALM…
United Kingdom:OPEN MINDED?!
France:CRAZY FANS.
Cyprus:…LOOKING FOR BETTER DAYS…
Rome:AND MILAN AS WELL!…RULE.

Weird, huh? Yes, my interviews are very particular…
KEEP ON!

18.-O.k., that’s all. Evharisto, file Efthimis 🙂 Please close this interview….
THANX A LOT FOR THE SUPPORT ANDREAS. THA TA POUME SYNTOMA APO KONTA! TAKE CARE EVERYBODY AND CHECK OUT BOTH OUR LESBIAN SHOW + OUR WEB SITE! ANTIO, E.K./NF

 

1

Interview with Gunther Theys

1) Hails, Gunther! What´s up in Belgium? 
– Greetings Andreas! What´s up in Belgium? Haven´t got a clue! For one month I am in Germany now working with A.R. on the new album. Our producer is on internet so this is almost our only link with the outside world: The guy responsible for the A.R. page and e-mail address keeps on sending us the received mail. At night I check out the received messages so here we are. –

2) Well, needless to say that since you´re recording your new album these days some questions will refer to this subject, so…First of all, do you know the title and the foreseen date of release for the new cd? 
– Title of the cd is “FATHERLAND”. The album shall be released in june. –

3) What about the songs? How many songs did you have already composed when entering the studio, and in which direction do they go? Do you already know titles/concepts. Are there any improvements, arrangements or concepts worth to be known by our readers? 
– Of course we had our material ready when entering the studio but lots of it has been rearranged. Both our producers are very talented musicians (who work on a completely different musical field than we do), they really are demanding. Every single note has been double checked. It was truely hard work, but absolutely well worth it. I am convinced it is a way of working which is quite unusual for musicians in our style. There was a good studio budget available which results in almost unlimited studio time. A lot of time is spent on details. As is known we have a new line up, the new musicians are very talented and dedicated to their instruments, obviously this reflects on the songwriting as well. Sound and production are the best we ever had. We always try to improve with each release (without rejecting the previous A.R. material) and I believe we have succeeded again. A lot more variety is offered. The concept is still typical A.R., a dedication to ancient/medieval history and the Darkside. Only all is presented in a more professional, mature way. I like the fact we actually have medieval parts in the songs itself sometimes while in the past these touches were only present in the intro´s/outro´s and intermezzo´s. The songs are more compact. Some song titles are „Fatherland”, „Dying in a moment of Splendour”, „Rise and Fall (Anno Satana)”, „Aris” to mention a few. –

4) About the recording itself, how is it going? Could you tell us the time you´ll be in the studio? Are you satisfied with MASCOT´s budget for this record? 
– As I said earlier it was really hard work, frustrating sometimes even, but it pushed us to higher musical levels, Since there was no time pressure in studio I believe we have no reason to complain about the budget. I guess we´ll be spending one more week in studio for production. –

5) Besides playing at A.R. you also have a side project called DANSE MACABRE with Greek B.M. godfather Magus Wampyr Daoloth, Sotiris from SEPTIC FLESH and MORTIIS ex-EMPEROR. Are there updating news? What is the situation right now in the band, and how do you manage to write the songs considering you´re from 3 different countries? 
– The first DANSE MACABRE tracks were recorded in Athens with Sotiris and Magus a few years ago but they never saw the daylight because the label we recorded it for ceased to excist. For a while the project was put on ice but I knew the saga would be continued. MASCOT were interested in releasing a full lenghth album so when guitarist Jan „Örkki” Yrlund from Finland (ex- PRESTIGE/TWO WITCHES/LACRIMOSA) joined ANCIENT RITES I asked if he also wished to continue the work with DANSE MACABRE, he agreed and soon we entered a studio in Holland to complete the album. Several guest musicians appeared during the recordings. The DANSE MACABRE album will be released on the 13th of april. I found it an interesting idea to collaborate on an album with musicians who never even met each other. The album is entitled „TOTENTANZ” and really turned out fine, far away from our main metal bands but the essence (Darkness) is the same. D.M. is our channel to express different musical instincts, another kind of darkness. It is no problem we live in other countries it fits perfectly to the transEuropean character of DANSE MACABRE. Also in ANCIENT RITES nowadays there are musicians from different countries who have to travel many hours every week just for rehearsals (one guitarist lives in the North of Holland, the Finnish guitarist lives in Amsterdam. Our session keyboardplayer is of Greek/ Austrian origin. This dedication a band needs. Mortiis is not involved with DANSE MACABRE. With him we are working on another project which is put on ice for a while. His contribution is ready but for the moment stocked in Greece.

6) By the way se speak on MWD, what do you think of NECROMANTIA´s ep „ANCIENT PRIDE”? Moreover, what do you think of those bands which mix folk music with an ultra-nationalist thought? 
– I appreciate NECROMANTIA´s work because of it´s originality. Too many bands nowadays are copying each other in our scene and even get away with it! At least NECROMANTIA is one of the exceptions. Concerning Folk and Nationalism: it is a bit natural when one plays traditional music one relates to his/her ancestors. I too feel pride when thinking of my ancestors the Celtic/Germanic tribes or medieval Flanders. I don´t think feeling a certain pride for the own culture has to lead towards hating another culture. For instance my culture differs a lot from the Hellenic one but this doesn´t prevent me from appreciating and praising that one as well. I love to travel and learn about a people´s history/culture. Everyone´s a child of his/her people and I see it as a positive thing to cultivate this but it shouldn´t be taken too far. Of course one relates to certain cultures more than to others. For instance I think it´s a pity what is going on in the middle east where moslem fundamentalists/terrorists are slaughtering everyone they believe unfit for their cause. So they murder tourists, however I find it even more strange they even slaughter villages of their own, where islamic people live! Syria or Egypt have such a rich history, brilliant civilizations thousands of years ago, a pity that nowadays these countries (to mention only two) are guided by religion that much! It really prevents development. For this I feel no sympathy because it is taken to the extreme. When I travelled to North Africa, a few years ago, I already felt the animosity towards me. Obviously I didn´t fit to what they have in mind. –

7) Apart from DANSE MACABRE, you also performed as guest musician THOU ART LORD´s album „EOSFOROS”. How was it? You also shared a split 7″ with THOU ART LORD which was released through MOLON LAVE RECORDS…How successful was it? By the way, do you know why MOLON LAVE RECORDS dissapeared? 
– I spent a lot of time in Athens and on one occassion I was there together with Mika of IMPALED NAZARENE. I know almost everyone involved in the Hellenic scene (from rock to grind bands) so the people in THOU ART LORD asked us both if we would appear as a guest on their album. It went really fine, in studio the vocals of Mika and me were done in two takes. Now THOU ART LORD are searching for a label, they asked if I could do something for them. So I contaced our label, hope they will sign them because they are worth it. It´s not up to me in the end. George of MOLON LAVE really was a great guy. We drank a lot together, so actually I miss the guy a bit whenever I´m in Athens. He used to run this underground Metal shop in the center of Athens where we organised drinking/eating parties during the opening hours! Total madness. Once he was so drunk he started to destroy his TV in the shop and threw around his fax machine and in the end he attacked his desk with a hammer. That party really escalated, police came and everything. I remember once he bought tons of confetti and silly hats and organised an over the top carnaval party in august, at three o´clock in the afternoon in his shop. There were only three people invited and everyone who entered the shop could party along. We recorded this split ep for him because he helped to organise our very first concert in Athens and really took good care of us. We still were a quite unknown band (with only one demo and one ep released) and he took the risk to bring us to Greece were actually about 400/450 people showed up. MOLON LAVE was a very underground orientated label so we decided to push him as well a bit and agreed to record a track for him on a non profit basis. It were the days when underground values still mattered, long before Black Metal became a manifactured/trend guided by commercial principles. George decided to end with MOLON LAVE and his shop because for almost ten years he tried to get things going, he really did a lot for the Greek underground, but he didn´t see any progress. His distribution didn´t improve because bigger companies controlled the market and he felt kind of stuck in his little shop day in day out without seeing his work rewarded. He was a Slovenian immigrant who hadn´t seen his home for ten years. One day he told me he would leave everything behind and move to the States after visiting his relatives in Slovenia. We said good bye and hoped to meet again. The last thing I heard from him was a post card from Slovenia saying „HELL-O, You son of a bitch, greetings from home”, later he moved to the USA and we never heard from each other again. He tried to start a label in the States I believe but it didn`t work out in a country where the underground is even more spread. A pity. Absolutely fun guy it was, a bit crazy but the best friend one could imagine, at least to me. Always in for a joke (or two)…

8) Before releasing the above mentioned split 7″ your first work as A.R. was 1991´s demo „DARK RITUAL”. However, in your bio it is said that A.R. members are in the underground since early 80´s. Is it true? What did you do between 1982 and 1991? Did you play in any other bands? 
– A.R. was created early ´89. The demo was released in 1990. The foundation for the band was in 1987/88 when PHILIP (our first guitarist who died in a car accident) and I were playing with several musicians to have the band started but it always went wrong because the people who joined weren´t really dedicated or interested in our style. One mustn´t forget B.M. was totally „uncool” back then, it were the Hardcore/Bay Area days. A band in leather with inverted crosses and Satanic lyrics didn´t really draw any crowd. It is true I started my music career in 1980. Played in several bands but they never went anywhere apart from a few gigs. In ´84 I tried to form a band called NECROPHILIA (not a very original name I know) and played with several musicians but the line up almost never got completed and the constant line up changes didn´t improve the situation either. No one was interested in a Belgian underground B.M. band and we were too young and without car so we couldn´t search for musicians in other cities. It was a very isolated feeling. Between 1980 and 1984 I played in extreme underground bands, it were very misanthropic lyrics combined with a sound that could be compared to early DISCHARGE, primitive and brutal. I still like that kind of stuff. The A.R. members lived in other cities and tried to do their thing but faced the same problems. It is strange we often visited the same concerts but we never met because we simply didn´t know each other, I remember hanging out with SODOM back then, also WALTER was there but we were not introduced. Today there are musicians in A.R. from different countries even. Guitarist Erik (ex- INQUISITOR) lives in the North of Holland, guitarist Jan „Örkki” Yrlund (ex- PRESTIGE, LACRIMOSA, TWO WITCHES) is from finland who moved to Amsterdam and our session keyboard player is from Greek/Austrian origin and lives in Holland. All of us have to travel hours every week for rehearsals but it is possible because of the true dedication and having a car. It was impossible to achieve this without own transport or a reputation in the scene. Now A.R. is known so it is more easy to attract musicians from anywhere. –

9) You also seem to be a good friend of IMPALED NAZARENE´s screamer Mika Lutinen. Can you speak of your relationship with him? Is it true that you were his wedding´s godfather (best man)? I could never thought that a cyber-satanic-sado- masochist sick as mika to marry…Was it a wedding by the Church of Satan or what? Some gossip please… 
– You seem to be extremely well informed! Are you a member of State Security or a private detective? Indeed I was his wedding´s godfather (best man). He didn´t marry in any church but at the city hall. Afterwards there was a party with only five people (including the married couple). Mika is a sick guy but we get along really great. He simply doesn´t care about what people think of him, he has many enemies because of this but that´s ok. Actually he was in Germany in studio with us two days ago to appear as a guest vocalist on the remake of our ancient demo track „Fallen Angel”. He said that his appearance would cost us many fans. Mika ordered that demo back in ´90/´91 and was totally into this so we thought it would be an interesting idea to ask him for this song. –

10) I got astonished when I read that you used to work as a painter and a clothes designer. Could you explain this? Bearing that in mind, I wonder if you yourself design A.R. ´s merchandise items/T-shirts/gadgets…Do you still do it or can you now earn your living off your music? 
– I used to earn good money because of this but now A.R. needs all my attention. My financial position is not as good as it was because of my choice for the band but sacrifices need to be done. I made the „DARK RITUAL” cover and designed the lay out for the „EVIL PREVAILS” ep. Also my art work was used for the first A.R. T-shirt. Today I still do the lay out for T-shirts but I prefer to use other people´s artwork, specially artwork which is created centuries ago because it fits to the character of our work. Authenticity is what we are after, most modern artists are not able to catch the same dark (fear even) atmosphere as the medieval masters did. These medieval painters actually LIVED those times and were influenced by superstition, fear (for cruel diseases, civil wars, plunderings, very short life expectation etc) so they could better put their world into a painting. Earning our living off our music? The music industry is organised this way that first promoters and labels and distributors get the money. On our previous Europe tour only our roadies and merchandise people got payed! Sometimes we win money, sometimes we lose money. It´s a risk to play in a band like ours. We are professionals but our style isn´t popular enough to earn a good living. „Sad but true” to use the words of a band that actually earns millions ah ah! –

11) By the way, could you sell us the sales figures of every work you´ve released since the beginning up to now? About the new cd, how many copies will be pressed? 
– I don´t know how many demo´s we actiually sold. The first printing (a few hundred) sold out throughout time. The first printing of „EVIL PREVAILS” (about 600) sold out fast, so we printed another 600 who sold out as well. WILD RAGS RECORDS released the same sessions in the USA with different cover/pictures and printed them on 1000 copies I believe, they sold out years ago too according to Richard C. Mauricio of WARMASTER released the „EVIL PREVAILS” sessions as a split lp in Colombia (600 or 700 copies? I don´t remember) and they became a collector´s item for already several years now. The split ep with THOU ART LORD was printed several times (don´t know how many George printed) but they are sold out as well. Even in his very own store they couldn´t be found anymore for a longer time. Concerning our full length albums? Don´t have a clue! As you surely know (since you seem to be extremely well informed!) AFTER DARK RECORDS released our debut „THE DIABOLIC SERENADES” but ripped everyone in the scene, including us and each other off. The first 1000 sold out fast. I believe they printed 1000 more who sold out as well. Because of their dishonest behaviour they owed money to OSMOSE who took over „THE DIABOLIC SERENADES” and started to print and distribute the album. Don´t know how many they sold. In Poland MORBID NOIZZ took over the record as well (all business transfers we had nothing to do with) and I don´t know how many they printed and sold. Today MASCOT is printing and distributing the album, I HAVE NO CLUE ANYMORE. Fact is we invested our money in this album, WE payed for the studio, artwork, pictures, mastertape but we never got anything back except a first payment. Concerning „BLASFEMIA ETERNAL” (everyone writes „BLASPHEMIA” but we on intention used the Spanish grammatica which no one, except the Spanish speaking, seems to understand) I only know we sold about 5000 copies within one week in Belgium and Holland. Our label informed us it keeps on selling but I have no details. MASCOT prints without limits, I know for sure there already have been two printings of „BLASFEMIA ETERNAL” because on the first version (much to my regret) the lay out person made mistakes in my French lyrics! At least now the album is available with no mistakes which indicates the album is already printed twice. –

12) Now kind of a game as a break in the middle of this long and indepth interview: I provide you with different words/names and you´ve got to bring a short comment on every one, ok? Here I go: 
– Interesting. I´m into games like this.

VENOM: Fantastic. When they released „WELCOME TO HELL” back in ´81 I knew this was the kind of „music” I wished to play. „BLACK METAL” is one of my „all time faves”. I think their reunion is only because of the money which can be understood but a pity nevertheless.

SATANISM: So many different ways are possible of celebrating Satanism. I relate to certain philosophical aspects like the cultivation of the own inner powers and all (positive and negative) aspects of one´s personality. Personally however I am without any god, my approach is not of a religious kind but philosophical.

NIETZSCHE: Great personality. I relate to many of his statements. Full concentration is needed when reading his works which is always nice, it pushes a person to higher intellectual levels, no matter if one agrees or not.

KWIK: How do you know this? It is one of the biggest newspapers in Belgium which can be compared to gutter press like the English „SUN”. We were headline story two weeks in a row when hell broke lose everywhere and the Satanic Terrorism thing started. In Norway the killings started (and KWIK heard about the fact we know the involved people) and also in Belgium church burnings and grave desecrations started which were organised by our following. State Security was on our back and everyone in the country knew we were the first and only band in the Belgian scene, the center of it all so to speak. Declared public enemy number one in the country. Of course they made things look a bit worse to increase the shock effect.

VARG VIKERNES: Creates interesting music. He used to spread A.R. flyers while Eurony- mous sold the „EVIL PREVAILS” ep in his HELVETE shop. I think the murder on Euronymous was an unnecessarry thing, after all they used to work together. Was it about leadership? jealousy? Money? Mutual Threats? We´ll never know and it is not our business anyway. But when people belonging to the same cult start killing each other something definitely is wrong. I am always into diplomatic solutions and never losing control, outbursts I dissaprove. There are situations when it is impossible (when one´s life is endangered) but normally I settle for diplomatic solutions.

COMMUNISM: As in all political systems there are good and bad aspects. In practise systems have this tendency to fail in the end.

FASCISM: As in all political systems there are good and bad aspects. In practise systems have this tendency to fail in the end.

IRON MAIDEN: Together with MOTÖRHEAD (my fave HM act: „ACE OF SPADES” is the essence of Metal and Rock´n Roll), JUDAS PRIEST and BLACK SABBATH the top of Heavy Metal. I really loved the first two MAIDEN records and also „Numder of the Beast” (with Dickinson). Respect them a lot. Never liked the joke METALLICA used to do during their „RIDE THE LIGHTNING” tour, they always played a part of „Run to the Hills” out of tune to insult MAIDEN. At least MAIDEN remained METAL throughout their career and METALLICA USED to be great.

MANOWAR: I like „BATTLE HYMNS” and „INTO GLORY RIDE” but I never really related to the image/attitude of the band. Like the pictures with stuffed falcons or some of their lyrics. It sometimes seems a bit too naive and over the top. But I appreciate their technical skills.

LACRIMOSA: Ah ah! Our guitarist Jan used to play in this band. He´s in the next room may be I should call him? Life can be strange. When we toured Europe last time we were filmed by German television. Later on I received a video tape of this music program and also LACRIMOSA was featured. There I saw Jan for the first time on the „COPYCAT” video clip and I truely liked it. Also the RUNNING WILD drummer was involved. A few weeks later an advertisement in Dutch AARDSCHOK magazine was placed by a guitarist who searched for a band. The advertisement did not say anything about the past of this musician. Our guitarist phoned the guy and he came to our rehearsal to try things out. Afterwards we found out it was the same guy who played on the video I was watching some time before. Also he used to play in one of the first and most known Finnish Speed Metal bands PRESTIGE. That´s typical Jan: modest all the way, an attitude I like a lot.

ISRAEL: From a political point of view they are not always correct, sometimes they have an occupation policy. But I respect their well organised secret services and the fact that a small country like Israel can survive surrounded by enemies. I am not a supporter of SADAM either but I also respect his dream to restore the Babylonian Empire. I can respect without having to approve everything if you know what I mean…There are always two sides to every coin and I have this tendency to go into things a bit too deep so I usually end up without really chosing a side.

PAGANISM: Makes more sense to me than imported religion. I took part in a traditional Germanic/Celtic Pagan feast some time ago to celebrate the season`s change. I like the fact that this huge circle of people (of all ages) hold on to traditions of our ancestors, as if the son of god never arrived if you catch my drift. Why turning to a god from the middle east? A celebration of the own traditions and nature is more natural.

FLEMISH-WALONS Belgium is divided by language borders. In such a small country three groups of people are living each in their own region. I belong to Flanders (Flemish/Dutch speaking) which is the majority, than you have the Walons (French speaking) and a minority of German speaking. We have seperate governments and often it causes problems. Belgium is created by the French speaking upper class and they used to oppress our language/community. Today the Flemish community is the strongest (above all in economy) and a Flemish independant Republic is what certain parties have in mind. The French speaking politicians do not like the idea because of economical reasons. A seperation would have a negative effect on their economy (because money of Flanders is now also used to help their community). I dislike the lack of respect towards our Flemish language and that they turned Brussels (which is situated in Flanders) into a French speaking place, now they wish to take this same policy to the villages/cities surrounding Brussels. I have many friends in the French speaking community as well, but I try to speak their language it never is the other way around. I see Flanders as my country, not Belgium although I have nothing against the French community. On the other side of our country the same is happening between the French and German speaking community. The communities put graffitti on top of the road signs which are written in the other language or destroy the weapon shields of each other´s community where the language borders are situated. It is a schizo situation. Only positive aspect is I know how to speak the three languages.

CHRISTIANITY: An imported religion from the middle east. Here in the North of Europe Christianity is losing it´s strength. The majority of the people who still go to church are quite old.

ISLAM: A different story. Fundamentalism is increasing and imported to Europe by immigrants. Recently the Moslem community in my city were responsible for the closing of the only Metal pub there was in my region. The pub was situated where they live and they dissaproved of the „unholy, decadent character” of the place. Our mayor who wants to be over the top „politically correct” thought it was a sign of good will to the Moslem immigrants to close the place down. It is a pity that the Islam religion has this amount of influence on the cultures of the middle east. This way intellectual development will never be achieved. It is a danger.JESUS CHRIST: One of the countless profets there were throughout the history of mankind. I think he must have had a perfect management or the right public relations to have that much influence on humanity, even to this very day. Hope ANCIENT RITES will find the same manager.

 

13) Right, back to „normality”. In an interview for Spanish Metal mag METALI- K.O. you said that BURZUM attacked NECROMANTIA and that ROTTING CHRIST and IMMORTAL can´t stand each other. I had no idea about this, so, could you explain? 
This was many years ago. Well I remember Magus (NECROMANTIA) told me while I was in Athens he received a threat or something from Varg. Ex- ROTTING CHRIST bassplayer Mutilator once said that during the ROTTING CHRIST/IMMORTAL tour there was some tension between the bands. But it was a funny thing I remember, I believe on the tour bus one of the ROTTING CHRIST members was that drunk that he puked on the bag of an IMMORTAL member and it had a bad impact on the atmosphere, ah! ah! No big deal really. Besides concerning this BURZUM versus NECROMANTIA thing: I believe ANCIENT RITES was one of the very few non Norwegian bands Varg DIDN´T threat so… May be I mentioned this in the interview after a question concerning the relation between B.M. bands. It were different times and a certain kind of paranoia was going on in the scene back then. But we never interfered with those situations. I know most people in the scene personally, also IMMORTAL and ROTTING CHRIST and they are great guys. Probably it wasn´t even worth mentioning. –


The interview goes on here.

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