Interview (en): DivahaR

Suddenly there was this all-female black metal group from Armenia. No album released yet, but with some songs on YouTube with an an amazing quality. Soon there even appeared some video clips and footage of live performances. Luckily they were willing to answer some questions.  

First of all: thanks for this interview. DivahaR is an all-female black metal band. Is this a coincidence or a well-made choice?

- Yet in early 2008, when Urubani and I were thinking of forming a band there was no idea or intention of having only female members. Afterwards, when another female musician joined us, the union of 3 girls gave the idea, that it would be nice to form an all-female black metal band. Thus, it wasn’t initially planned and we got the idea by chance.

How did the band members got in contact with each other? How did the band form?

- In that period metal music had even more underground status and very limited audience and most of the listeners knew each other. Soon in 2009 Skadi joined us, and in 2010 Freya completed the line-up of the band.

What is the background of the musicians of DivahaR? Is this your first band?

- DivahaR unified us and induced to band activity: there were offers to perform in line-up of other bands, but none of them were really close and familiar to us. Being a constant part of DivahaR was a new step and beginning for us, and only due to our efforts and struggles it grew sustainable roots.


Who writes the music? Is that a band effort? And the lyrics? 

- All of the band members are involved in composing process. Each of us writes her music and lyrics in her own way, and afterwards we improve and finalize the song together.

Aren’t you afraid that the focus will be on the all-female aspect instead of the music or message?

- Yes, indeed it arrives in some cases. Thought many people think that this kind of line-up is our trump, in reality it’s the most blocking obstacle we’re facing so far. Sadly it’s true, and it’s even absurd that in the “tameless and disobedient” world of metal music there are still some people who refuse to admit the art just because of the stereotypes they have in their head.

Black metal is satanic by definition, in the perspectives of puritans. Do you consider DivahaR a satanic band?

- Certainly not. DivahaR is free of any religious perceptions. What we’re doing is, first of all, an art which reflects our essence and emotions and every “artificial” or “fictitious” element  leads to a disharmonic and unnatural harvest.

So what is the ‘message’ DivahaR is trying to spread?

- Our songs are about the personal as well as impersonal matters that are close to us. We reject many human-made empty idols and values that are spread all around the world. By the songs of DivahaR, we try to kindle and inflame the fire in human souls, the one that is almost dead. We appeal people to struggle for conscience, justice and light: more exact answer to this question you’ll find in our lyrics.

The sound of the band is pretty melodic. Most of the time it reminds me of bands like Dimmu Borgir. Is that the direction the band will continue to follow?

- Thought we were inspired by many genius bands, anyway, from DivahaR’s creation day we never targeted a “unique” band, which would be our meridian to aspire.
This fact will be more evident in the upcoming album, as we haven’t found a band to which we are musically really close.

You didn’t release an album yet, but you released some video’s. Some of these look quite professional. How is this possible? 

- Yes, that’s right, but the worst thing is that we had started to work on the album far before the videos you’ve mentioned were realized. There were and are some blocking points and technical issues, majorly linked to the non-perfection and lack metal-recoding practice in Armenia, which serves as a big obstacle for us.

 I’ve seen a few of your live performances on YouTube and I think it’s unbelievable that a band that sounds so professional still doesn’t has an album released yet. When can we expect it?

- True… having no album realized yet, we’ve surprisingly big audience nowadays, but the album is unspeakably important for us. To go into details, I can say that the recording of instruments is almost done and small things remain to finalize it, so the album will be realized quite soon.

Asked in other interviews you are stating that the 90’s Norwegian bands are being the biggest influence for DivahaR. Are there any newer or more recent bands that can carry your approval?

- Yes, we still listen to the old and familiar bands, even while composing nowadays, as those were the bands we grew up listening to and they were the biggest influence on our musical taste, but you know, at the same time there are many talented new bands we listen to and appreciate, thought they vary for each member of DivahaR.

Speaking of live performances, did you do a tour already? How many concerts did DivahaR perform? Where they all in Armenia?

- It’s always hard to handle recordings, participate in concerts and compose simultaneously; in addition each of the band members is overloaded in her daily routine, that’s why we’re not focusing on a quantity, but on the quality of concerts. Indeed, we had many concerts both in Armenia and outside of its frontiers, thought I can’t recall the exact number.

Any plans for a future tour? And if so: when and where?

- We are going to play in ‘Carpathian Alliance’ metalfest in 2014. Maybe we’ll perform at some European fests as well. We have several offers for the upcoming months, but we have a target of finalizing the album before thinking of overseas concerts.

Thanks again for this interview and all the best for the future!

- Thank you to and good luck to your site !


DivahaR can be found on Reverbnation, Facebook and YouTube.

Interview (en): Ondskapt

It's been a while since I did an interview with Ondskapt front man Acerbus. So, time to catch up!

- I’ve seen your performance in Arnhem with The One and Somrak last year and I must say: quite impressive. How did you enjoy that tour? Any highlights worth mentioning?

The Ominous Worship of the Divine tour. I enjoyed the tour, the shows we played were in venues of more intimate atmosphere. I think that one of the best shows on that tour was when we played in Berlin. The show started with at first a passive audience and ended with a good climax of channelling energies.

- I heard some people in the audience saying that you used fake blood, and some guy that performed there that night mentioned fake blood as well, but near the stage it smelled like pig blood. So, what was it?

Oh really, although typical in a way that small minoritys within the audience say these things due to mearly having their voice heard. I can assure you that the blood is very real haha. We use ox blood mostly due to its disgustingly thick and almost at times purple color.

- In our previous conversation you mentioned that you would like to do things on stage that no law would let you do. Did you succeed in that? Any extremities happened? And what kind of things would you like to do on stage?

Haha, its kind of funny. "Nabemih" our former drummer and I used to sit and talk about the "perfect" show to play. And the idea got so absurd... At the time, talking about this we had never played live before with Ondskapt so now its quite some time ago. The idea was to first of all to have a projector showing pictures of all kinds of sick shit. To force all the women in the audience to bare a "burka" and then on stage we would have crack-smoking dwarfs and a masturbating she-male dancing on the stage like zombies. Also later in the show we would shoot fireworks into the audience and drop animal cadavers and rotten blood from the ceiling down onto them simultaneously behind LOCKED doors so that no one could get out of the venue.

We will have a better possibility to do this(without the burka, locked doors, cadaver and blood) in a controlled environment, but basically We will in the future try to all the time make our live shows as interesting as possible, to strive for the utter perverted state of mind through the music mostly though. We will always try to enhance the atmosphere of death to the fullest.

- Any idea when a new European club tour will be started? Maybe finally one with Ofermod?

Next year we will most likely tour with Endstille and Koldbrann on a European tour that will take place during the spring. I have no idea about Ofermod and Ondskapt yet, although this is one of my priorities to try to fix such a tour.

- The last few months a few very interesting books were released. Two in particular: Fosforos by Joahannes Nefastos and The Catechism of Lucifer by the same author. Have you heard of them, or even read them? If so: what’s your opinion about the books?

I have not been studying occultism for a long time, and no I have not heard about these books.
- The quite infamous O9A also released some older texts in book form again. What’s your opinion about the O9A and their theories?

In my opinion the ONA seemed much more appealing eight years ago. In my opinion it is a bit like a Freemasonry Order. I do enjoy reading some of their teachings but have never had contact with them or felt the need to. They seemed to be more interesting in my mind when I was younger.
- Do you have any other recommendations in occult/satanic literature?

Since I didn't recommend any so far I will not start now. I have no ambition to insinuate certain books, to try to wield or impress with my very limited knowledge of such things. If a person is truly interested in this type of thing he/she will know their own individuality within its vast halls.

- There are not too many real black metal bands left. We spoke about that before. I could imagine that you would want to keep in contact with some other serious bands. Are you in some way in contact with such bands? Or isn’t there a network at all?

We are always looking for “serious” bands to emerge from the surface unto our mutual ground. The answer however is yes and no concerning our involvement with other bands. I have seen that even though one would like to have a closed circle of bands/members within some kind of “common” grounds amongst other artists it is hard to have restrictions concerning free-will. We are used to being under our own flag so to speak, now more than ever.

- One of the authorities in black metal in my vision is the label Norma Evangelium Diaboli. Any chance you will release future albums there? 

We have no contact with this particular label. I think they are doing a good job and so forth. At the moment we are getting the new Ondskapt material ready pre-production wise and we'll see during that time which label/labels may be interested in releasing the new album.

- A few months ago I read somewhere that Ondskapt will release a new album soon. Is that true? Nowhere on the internet I can find something about. All announcements are gone.

As I said, at the moment things might look a little bit dead but I think that when we are ready with our pre-production of the whole album we also will have something to show for recording in the studio. I must admit however that we might have been slightly too confident concerning announcements made through our FB page. We'll see, I feel none the less optimistic about solutions to this matter.

- Probably you’re busy writing new material constantly. In what direction are the new tracks developing? Indeed in the direction of Draco Sit Mihi Dux as you stated before?

At the moment the material is new and sounds old haha... I think that you will hear a mix of “Draco...” and even some “Slave under.....” influences when listening to the new album. But a lot of it is also very new and atmospheric audial listening. All I know is that you will know directly that it is Ondskapt while listening to it.

- Not too many people actually pay for the music they listen to any more. Does that make it hard to be able to record and release new material?

In a way yes, but in another way no. You see... for about ten years ago the market was still controlled by the bigger labels and now its an open market where labels in general are struggling to maintain their positions as before or at least do extensive damage control due to the “free market place”. Nowadays its easier for basically anyone to create the music and get it out to the public, this is and has been a problem ever since the internet became available to civilians. Labels nowadays have much less money to sign new acts or even old ones.

- Black metal is quite popular on vinyl again. Some bands even only release their albums on vinyl. How do you think about this revival?

I think its great because it makes music more nostalgic that way. I always remember that “old” feeling one can get from the vinyls, its great!

- Talking about new releases: any recent releases that you admired? 

Yeah but you wouldn't know them and its too inappropriate to mention here haha.

- Some other bands released live DVD's or even music videos. Is that something Ondskapt would ever do?

In time I think that we will. I have wanted to do this for a long time, I believe this will be possible even this year, I don't want to say to much until things get confirmed, also concerning the booking details of that particular show.

- Thanks for your time and I hope to see you again soon!

On behalf of Ondskapt. / Acerbus.




Ondskapt records and merchandise are available through Osmose Productions.
We're still on Facebook.

Watain - The Wild Hunt

Kort geleden bracht Watain al een single uit van de nieuwe plaat en nu is er het volledige album. Watain heeft als black metal-monument absoluut een naam hoog te houden en dat hebben ze tot nu toe dan ook altijd gedaan.

Bij het beluisteren van  The Wild Hunt liggen de verwachtingen dan ook al direct vrij hoog. Dit moet goed zijn.

Het introductienummer, Night Vision, heeft vrij weinig om het lijf, maar dat zij ze vergeven. Het tweede nummer, De Profundis, hakt er wel direct in. Blastbeats, gierende gitaren, de agressie van zanger Erik, het is er weer allemaal. Dit is gewoon degelijk.  Bovendien lukt het Watain hier weer om duisternis te combineren met agressie en dat was op de eerder uitgebrachte single All That May Bleed zeker anders. Dit nummer gaat het live heel goed doen.

Dan Black Flames March. Het nummer begint lekker slepend, maar gaat dan vrij mat verder. Vaak is dat de opmaat voor een uitbarsting van agressie, maar op dit album blijkt dat een voorproefje te zijn voor dat wat gaat volgen. Black Flames March blijft vrij tam. Er zijn hier en daar wel wat afwisselingen te vinden, maar echt goed wordt het nergens. Halverwege leeft het nummer nog wat op met een traag, beukend deel, maar dat is niet genoeg om dit nummer echt goed te maken.

All That May Bleed heb ik eerder al vrij uitgebreid besproken. Er is sindsdien wat tijd verstreken, en het nummer heeft kunnen bezinken. Jammer genoeg is er aan mijn oordeel niets veranderd. Het blijft wat mij betreft een ongeïnspireerd rommelnummer. Er zijn goede stukken te vinden, zeker. Jammer alleen dat het zo raar aan elkaar geplakt is.

Het vierde nummer heet The Child Must Die. Watain heeft het al eerder als voorproefje op YouTube verspreid. Het begint direct vrij pakkend. Lekker lopende drums, een makkelijk in het gehoor liggende gitaarlijn en dat zet zich ook zo voort. Sommige delen hebben zelfs wel iets hardrock-achtigs. De overgangen tussen de verschillende delen zijn nog wat opgeleukt met variaties.  Het resultaat is alleen weer niet echt geweldig. Het is zeker niet slecht, maar ‘niet slecht’ is niet goed genoeg. Zeker niet voor een band als Watain.

En dan krijgen we They Rode On. En dat is wel even iets om bij stil te staan. Ik geloof niet dat er veel mensen zijn die hadden verwacht dat Watain ooit nog eens een ballad op zou nemen. Erik zingt zuiver en dat doet hij helemaal niet onaardig. Bovendien zit het nummer op een heel mooi verborgen manier best aardig in elkaar. Het lijkt vreselijk cliché, zeker wanneer de eerste gitaarsolo begint, maar toch heeft dit ergens wel iets. Het lukt me alleen vrij moeilijk om deze muziek te combineren met de stinkende bende die Watain live is. Dat zal het punt dan ook wel zijn. Maar hoor ik nou een achtergrondzangeresje? Dat zal toch niet?

We gaan verder met Sleepless Evil en dat nummer gaat meteen flink van start. Blastbeat. Staccato. Hier is Watain weer even zoals Watain kan zijn. Na een minuut of twee gaat het roer om en volgt er na een overgangsdeeltje een veel trager, zwaarder deel. Dat komt het nummer niet ten goede. Ook de versnelling die daar op volgt kan weinig meer goed maken. De sfeer is er alweer uit.

Tijd voor het titelnummer, The Wild Hunt. Het is traag, maar dat wordt nu tenminste niet onderbroken met geforceerde wisselingen. Wel zijn daar ineens achtergrondkoortjes. Er zullen ongetwijfeld mensen zijn die daar warm voor lopen, maar ik doe dat niet. De slepende gitaarlijntjes zijn wel aardig. De catchy bedoelde zanglijnen zijn simpelweg kut. Is dit nou die satanische afgrond die Watain zegt voor te stellen? O ja, en we sluiten nog even af met een Spaans gitaartje. Gezellig.

Outlaw begint vrij groovend met een soort bezwerende zang op de achtergrond en daarna barst Watain weer goed los. Zo kan het dus ook zijn! Outlaw blijkt een verdomd fijn nummer te zijn dat alles in zich heeft waar Watain goed in is. Agressie, snelle wisselingen, pakkende gitaarlijnen en ga zo maar door. Dit verwachtte ik van het hele album. Een hoogtepunt van het album.

Igni Vene Mittere dan. Wéér een soft gitaarlijntje, wéér een melodieus vervolg, en dan wéér het softe gitaarlijntje terug. Het begint me flink tegen te staan. Zelfs als er geprobeerd wordt om met een gitaarsolo de sfeer op te pakken van het geweldige Waters of Ain van het vorige album. Bands mogen nooit ophouden met het verkennen van hun grenzen, maar een beetje reflectie kan echt geen kwaad voordat je besluit een album op te nemen.

Holocaust Dawn heeft zijn titel mee. Dit moet wel goed worden. Het stelt dan ook niet teleur. Ook hier laat Watain weer horen dat ze het echt nog wel kunnen. Draai dit op een donkere winteravond en het komt helemaal tot zijn recht. Dit heeft weer die ziekelijke sfeer die black metal als genre uniek maakt. Toch zijn ook weer in dit nummer de vreemde tussenstukken niet van de lucht, maar doordat het nummer op zichzelf sterk genoeg is kan het dat nog wel goed hebben.

En dat was dan de nieuwe Watain. Bij vlagen geweldig, maar over het geheel gezien toch enigszins teleurstellend. Watain blijft een legendarische band met een geweldig oeuvre. The Wild Hunt is daar een wat magere aanvulling op.

Wie The Wild Hunt toe wil voegen aan zijn collectie kan kiezen uit allerlei formaten. Ten eerste is er de vrij uitgebreide boxset met daarin het album op vinyl en cd, een exclusieve EP met bonusmateriaal, postkaarten, een altaarkleed, een poster en nog wat andere dingen. Bij Watains officiële webstore kan er een gelimiteerde versie daarvan besteld worden met rood vinyl, bij CM Distro is er een gouden versie beschikbaar en bij allerlei andere tussenhandelaren is er de reguliere versie met zwart vinyl te koop. De boxsets zijn met hun prijzen tussen de 66,66 en 80 euro overigens flink aan de prijs, maar gezien de totale oplage ervan, wordt er blijkbaar verwacht dat ze toch flink zullen verkopen.

Dan zijn er nog de reguliere vinyl- en cd-uitvoeringen. Ook die zijn inmiddels vrij algemeen verkrijgbaar. Vinyl voorlopig alleen in zwart, van de cd-versie is er naast de standaarduitgave ook een limited edition.

Watain - All That May Bleed

Sinds ik Watains vorige album uit mijn hoofd ken, kijk ik al enorm uit naar nieuw materiaal van de band. Tussendoor kwam er nog een tweetal heel mooie boxsets uit. Eerst een met een concertregistratie op cd, lp en dvd en daarna nog de prachtige houten kist met daarin alle albums tot nu toe op vinyl. 

Nu is er eindelijk een voorproefje op een volledig nieuw album verschenen. Voorafgaand op Lawless Darkness bracht de band de single Reaping Death uit en die gaf wat betreft sfeer en agressie een redelijke indruk van de rest van het album. De single die Watain nu uitgebracht heeft is naar ik hoop niet representatief voor de komende langspeler.

Niet dat het zo verschrikkelijk is, maar dit valt wel gewoon tegen. Het klinkt absoluut als Watain, maar het is simpelweg niet zo sterk als het voorgaande materiaal, terwijl een overtreffing daarvan bij mij wel in de lijn der verwachting lag.

Veel black metal heeft wat meer luisterbeurten nodig om helemaal tot zijn recht te komen, maar na All That May Bleed een keer of tien gehoord te hebben kan ik nog steeds niet zeggen dat ik erg onder de indruk ben. Het nummer klinkt alsof het bestaat uit aan elkaar geplakte ideeën die nog ergens op de plank lagen. Sommige delen klinken wel lekker goor in de vertrouwde Watain-stijl, maar andere stukken zijn bijna kinderlijk.

Watain heeft een video geüpload waarin de tekst te lezen is en die tekst laat heel toevallig hetzelfde beeld zien. Jammer. Geen aangrijpende satanische beeldspraak, maar platte stoerdoenerij. Ver beneden het niveau van Watain.

De single zelf is redelijk mooi uitgevoerd. De hoes ziet er als vanouds duister en smerig uit en ook de bandfoto laat de drie-eenheid weer zien op de manier waarop ze inmiddels overbekend zijn. Je kunt de stank er zelf bij denken. 

Vreemd genoeg staat er op het etiket dat het plaatje op 33 rpm afgespeeld moet worden. Mijn platenspeler vindt van niet, want dan klinkt frontman Erik ineens als Tom Waits. Maar dat is niet eens het ergste foutje. Dat vind je namelijk op de b-zijde. Godverdomme, wat is dat slecht. Neem dan niks op. En meer woorden ga ik daar niet aan vuil maken.  

Wie graag een exemplaar van All That May Bleed in de kast wil hebben staan, kan daarvoor op diverse adressen terecht. De beide speciale edities (rood-transparant en een picturedisc, beide in een oplage van 500 stuks) waren al binnen een paar uur uitverkocht, dus alleen de reguliere zwarte versie is nog leverbaar. Twijfel niet te lang, want er zijn er slechts 2000 geperst en daar blijft het ook bij.

Boek: Black Metal - Beyond the Darkness

Er zijn inmiddels redelijk wat serieuze boeken over black metal verschenen. Niet allemaal zijn ze altijd even goed onthaald. Het fotoboek dat fotograaf Peter Beste in 2008 uitbracht wordt nog altijd gezien als een monument, terwijl Lords of Chaos van Michael Moynihan nogal eens neergesabeld werd.

Maar sindsdien zijn er meer interessante uitgaves verschenen. Een daarvan is het boek Black Metal – Beyond the Darkness. Volgens de tekst op de achterzijde wordt er geprobeerd om eens verder te kijken dan de inmiddels overbekende gebeurtenissen in Noorwegen van begin jaren ’90, want daar zouden we inmiddels meer dan genoeg over hebben gehoord en black metal is volgens de auteurs zoveel meer dan dat.

In het boek heeft een aantal schrijvers de mogelijkheid gekregen om een essay te schrijven over een bepaald aspect van het genre. Opvallend is dat er direct begonnen wordt met de zoveelste herhaling van juist die Noorse gebeurtenissen uit de jaren ’90, maar daarna is er al vrij snel ruimte voor meer.

Jammer is dat dat ‘meer’ in eerste instantie lijkt te bestaan uit aandacht voor de Amerikaanse black metal. Het lijkt er dan ook al snel op dat het boek voornamelijk bedoeld is om de Amerikaanse black metal-scene een steuntje in de rug te geven.  

Gelukkig gaat het boek wel verder dan dat, hoewel die Amerikaanse invalshoek wel redelijk constant aanwezig blijft. De laatste tijd is een meer theoretische benadering van black metal populair geworden en dat is dan ook de richting waarin de essays in het boek zich begeven. Op een redelijk intelligente manier worden er verschillende aspecten van de black metal onderzocht en beschouwd. Daarnaast krijgen diverse personen flink de ruimte om hun kennis van de black te delen.

Helaas blijkt ook hier weer de Amerikaanse invalshoek. In Europa is de zogenoemde orthodoxe black metal sfeerbepalend, terwijl Amerika het meer moet hebben van bands als Wolfs in the Throne Room en suïcidale metal. De orthodoxe black wordt in het boek vrijwel volledig genegeerd. Dat is allemaal leuk en aardig, maar daarmee zegt het boek weinig over de breedte van het genre. Het negeert zelfs de kern ervan.

En dat is meteen het grootste kritiekpunt op dit boek. Black metal – Beyond the Darkness lijkt bedoeld te zijn om op de een of andere manier begrip en respect te kweken voor black metal. Alsof daar behoefte aan is! De essays zijn best, of soms zelfs heel interessant om te lezen, maar missen juist de scherpte en het provocerende dat black metal black maakt. Het boek lijkt het genre te willen bagatelliseren. 

Is het dan allemaal flut? Nee. Zeker niet. Zoals al eerder gezegd: de teksten van het boek zijn van een flink niveau. Die theoretische benadering is soms storend, maar het biedt in ieder geval een nieuwe invalshoek. Daarnaast is de presentatie van het boek prima. Het is mooi ingenaaid, terwijl het tegelijkertijd de klassieke underground-tijdschrift-stijl weet na te bootsen. Bovendien is de prijs heel redelijk.  

Kopen dus? Ja, zou ik zeggen. Voor een ruime twee tientjes schaf je een boek aan waarmee je je uren bezig kunt houden. Ergernissen zijn er soms, maar dat wordt ruimschoots gecompenseerd door de rest.

Interview (en): Aosoth

A few weeks ago Aosoth released their fourth album, An Arrow in Heart. More and more reviews are published on different websites and in magazines, so I didn't quite see a reason to add that I think it's brilliant too. A little walk through the album should be very interesting though, so I asked guitar player BST to help me with that. 

- First of all, thanks for this interview. I’d like to have a walk-through with you through the last Aosoth album and in the same time have a slight look at the band’s perspectives. To start with the artwork. Who was responsible for this? It looks like it’s painted.

That magnificent cover is indeed a painting by Benjamin Vierling, an extremely talented artist with whom we already have had the honour of working a couple times for merch design and other artworks.

- Aosoth has an origin within the ONA, correct me if I’m wrong. How much of that theme is still represented in the music and the lyrics?

Originally, indeed, the lyrics to Aosoth’s early works were chants from the ONA. Our singer has had connection with that organisation, and although he follows his own spiritual path, he still uses elements of their perspective in his lyrics, with many other elements that are more personal to him.

- The new album caused a huge response. I’ve never seen an Aosoth album getting so much attention. Reviews are everywhere. How are your feelings about that?

We’re not desperately seeking the approval of others, if we were, we probably wouldn’t playing that
kind of music. However we’re are surprised by the massive amount of feedback we’ve been getting. When coming from people whose opinion are interesting to us, compliments are appreciated. And if gaining notoriety allows AOSOTH to have access to greater means to do things properly, without losing too much money, or having to focus on other things than art, then I guess it’s a good thing for us.

- An Arrow in Heart seems to have a much more heavy sound than the previous releases. Is this a band decision, or a natural development?

It’s a natural evolution in my opinion, we had found an interesting guitar tone on the previous full length, and we worked on it to perfect it, make it a bit more focused. I wanted our overall sound to be as clean as possible, and make the music’s dissonance the main source of dirt. In a way the aim is to be more honest, not hide the music behind low quality recording, but rather render it clearly. 

- But let’s get to the stuff that really matters: the new album. I’ve had quite a few listens and I must say it’s an incredible leap forward. III was very impressive, but ‘Arrow’ is so much stronger in every way. Do you agree with this? And how do you think about the older albums now?

Each album is a marker in time, we were different people then, and the project grew and developed as we did. We are very proud of this new album, and we do feel it is the best so far. There is no regret whatsoever over the mistakes we might have done in the past releases, as it was all very spontaneous, and was never meant to be perfect. They’re just steps we’re taking...

- The album starts with the title song, An Arrow in Heart. Immediately the dissonants are obvious and so are the typical vocals of MKM. Of all the tracks on ‘Arrow’ this one has the most resemblance with III. To my concern though. Am I correct? Is this the reason to make this the first track?

The tracks are on the album in chronological order, actually. It does make sense that this song would remind of the previous album, as it was written a long time ago, not so long after “III” was released. There was quite a gap of time between that one and “One with the prince...”

- The first track has an intermezzo with percussions. Are they real or are they from a drum computer? Talking about that: are the drums in the rest of the album from a drum computer? They sound extremely natural.

Those percussions on the ambient part are North African drums, it’s a drum loop from my database... The remaining drums on the album are programmed, and thank you for the compliment, I have spent quite some time working on them so they could sound as realistic as possible.

- After the percussion part the apotheosis is there. It reminds me very much of the atmosphere of De Misteriis Dom Sathanas. Does it have any relation with that? Is older black metal in any way an inspiration at all to you?

As much as I love that album, I don’t think I had it in mind when this riff was written. By older black metal, I would think you’d mean Bathory, Hellhammer... Those bands have a huge impact on the way I write music. The old Mayhem stuff probably influenced me at some point as well.

- Speaking of Mayhem, are you one of these musicians that still see ‘De Misteriis’ as the best black metal album ever made?

I would not say that, if I really had to chose one album that pretty much sums up the essence of that kind of music, I would have to say “Under The Sign Of The Black Mark”, by Bathory. I guess that’s a pretty personal choice.

- But let’s continue to the second track of the album. The Prince With a Thousand Enemies. This track has a few classical influences. Am I wrong?

Probably, but as I said earlier, the way those songs were composed is very spontaneous and instinctive, not calculated that much, but rather felt. We do enjoy some classical music, but there are many other kinds we are inspired by.

- I really like these parts. It’s a shame the lyrics are not included, so I can’t be sure, but the music in this track sounds pretty… Majestic, in some way. Is this song built around the lyrics, or are the lyrics built around the song?

The lyrics are actually included with the DLP, on a insert, written in braille. Mkm’s lyrics are always pretty cryptic, and asking him to explain them isn’t really something that works. I guess those who truly want to know have to decipher them by themselves, and make an interpretation for themselves.

- The Temple of Knowledge then. Is this concerning ONA thematics?

Same response as above...

- In Under the Nail and Fingertips there’s quite a lot of cymbals. Why is that? Is this a turning point for the album? 

That’s an odd remark, it’s really not something we thought about, or even noticed ourselves. I’m not

sure if you could say it’s a turning point, but if one were to divide this album in chapters, this track would definitely be the end of one of them.

- This same song has some guitar parts that are difficult to follow, but listening to it I can’t imagine how you’re going to play this live. Is the bar not too high in this case?

For now we’re not planning on playing it live, those songs are very long and we had to make choices in order to be able to fit as much music as possible in the 40 or 45 minute sets we usually have. However I don’t see that one as such a challenge, it may sound strange but it’s not that complicated to play, not the worst of the album anyways... It’s quite physical because of its length, though.

- Is the music in songs like this built around lyrics, or are the lyrics built around the music?

Aosoth has always functioned as two separate creative forces, MKM writes the lyrics, and I am in charge of the music. Most of the lyrics are written with no direct link to the music, although they sometimes are slightly adjusted on the day of the recording. So none is built around the other, it’s a parallel writing process.

- Broken Dialogue I is in a cynical way about christianity. That reminds me of the last album of Funeral Mist. Was that album in any way an influence to this track?

I suppose you have felt this way because of the sample, and I see what you mean in that case. That album, as well as the previous one, most certainly has had a pretty important impact on how Aosoth sounds. We have a lot of respect for that band.

- Broken Dialogue II is about Satan. Where are the samples from?

They’re taken from a movie from the early seventies called “The Devils”. Very good movie.

- The last track of the album is for me the absolute best part of it. It keeps kicking me in the face and it does it for fourteen minutes, though it succeeds in staying interesting. What was the thought about unleashing such a track on mankind?

I knew we had to finish the album with an epic and very long song, and I instantly knew how it should feel, so I sat in my studio without any precise idea, and just started playing and recording ideas, and it simply came together naturally. In a way, it is divided in three chapters within it. Composing that song felt like a state of auto hypnosis. It was a very interesting experience.

- The official video has a shortened soundtrack. Do you think the music is compromised by that?

As we had a very low budget for the video, we were forced to edit the song, and I do feel sorry about that as I think the full song is a lot better, however Matthieur Spinazolla, and David Fitt did an amazing job, and the result is beyond anything we could have hoped for.

- So, that would be it. Any last words for the readers?

Thank you for the interview. AMSG.

An Arrow in Heart is available through Agonia records. 
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