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GORGOROTH
- It Begins
By Aaron McKay
Incipit is Latin for 'it begins.' And so it does with the release
of Gorgoroth's new album, Incipit Satan, progressing retroactively
through their illustrious career, seemingly from end to beginning.
Gorgoroth formed in the early 1990s, taking their antediluvian name
from the breeding dungeons of evil in J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Lord Of
The Rings.' Firmly establishing themselves with 1994's powerful
first album, Pentagram, Gorgoroth incorporated many celebrated musicians
in their ranks, like Vrolok and Ares of Aeternus, Frost of Satyricon,
and Samoth of Emperor. After wreaking havoc on black metal fans
world-wide with their Destroyer release, Gorgoroth now prepares
to regenerate order with their newest offering, Incipit Satan.
U!: First off, thank you for this opportunity to converse with you,
Tormentor. How was the European Festival Tour late last year with
Morbid Angel, Amon Amarth and God Dethroned?
Tormentor: Great! I think it's the best tour I've ever been on.
It's also an honor to play with Morbid Angel, one of the true originals
when it comes to playing extreme metal. Krisiun (Brazil) was also
on that bill -- one of the best bands around right now!
U!: I understand that some of the members of Gorgoroth are university
students. Is this still the case? If so, how would you say this
affects the style or otherwise?
T: Well, I don't think it affects the music directly, but when we
start making material for a new album, we usually work from a concept.
This concept might of course be affected by the stuff we read. Anyway,
I think that everything we deal with gets (consciously or unconsciously)
itself into the music somehow.
U!: Can you shed some light on where Gorgoroth draws its inspiration
from?
T: Gorgoroth picks up inspiration from a lot of things... Mainly
satanism and writers/poets/philosophers who deal with the concept
of satanism. On Incipit Satan names like Nietzsche, Baudelaire,
Crowley are important to mention. For me personally, it's a lot
of philosophy involved. Heidegger and Spinoza are also names worth
mentioning.
U: Incipit Satan is the new release's title. Where did this title
concept derive from?
T: The title means "here begins Satan/here begins the opposite"
or something like that. It's kind of a proclamation of something
new to come. Conceptually, Incipit's a follow-up to Destroyer --
it's the creation of new and healthy values after the destruction
of the old Christian and social-democratic values. That's what I
mean by unhealthy values (Christian and social-democratic values):
they suppress everything individual and unique with man. It's conformity
a la grande and should be abolished! Satan means a new start for
the human.
U: To me, Gorgoroth has more or less established a formidable reputation
as an exorbitant gathering of some pretty noteworthy black metal
musicians, wouldn't you say?
T: Thanks! It's good to hear. Well, I've always seen Gorgoroth as
quite retro, and that is because we stick to certain elements in
black metal which I believe are essential. The theatrical, for instance!
That's a totally necessary trait with BM in my eyes. I think people
into BM see such things (often unconsciously) and appreciate it.
Gorgoroth has it!
U: I have likened Destroyer to being "recorded chaos." Tell me how
you think Incipit Satan differs from Destroyer. Personally, I believe
the new release to be infinitely more clear and developed. True?
T: That's true. Destroyer mainly deals with destruction and chaos
(which I guess can be heard) since it's the denial of Christian
virtues and morals through ravage! Incipit Satan has a lot more
order, both technically and musically. And that fits perfectly to
the concepts of these two albums. We also wanted to have more clear
sound, but still very brutal! That's why we went to Sunlight Studios
in Sweden. We're satisfied with the sound and the album as a whole
'cause it's raw and brutal and pushes forth a lot of energy. That's
what we want. Too clear (of a) sound is not good....
U!: How did the band come to include Sgt. Erichsen (drums) and King
of Hell (bass)?
T: We checked them out when we were rehearsing for the Incipit Satan
album. They were good musicians so we found out that it was good
for Gorgoroth to include them. Especially King of Hell. (He) is
a musician who really brings new impulses, musically, into Gorgoroth.
Sgt. Erichsen quit just after the album was recorded so now we have
a new batterist. He played in a band called Det Hedenske Folk.
U!: Was the band comfortable with the amount of time between the
release of Destroyer and Incipit Satan?
T: Yeah, I guess so. It was plenty of time though. A couple of members
were in jail in the meantime and we had a lot of time to find ideas
for the upcoming stuff.
U!: Do you have a favourite track on the new album?
T: I still like the title track and "Litani til Satan" very much.
At the same time, I must say that I think the album works good as
a whole. All the songs fit perfectly together.
U!: Are there any other black metal bands that are impressing you
currently?
T: An unsigned band named Nidingr is great.
U: How does Gorgoroth feel about working with Nuclear Blast? Also,
why did the band choose Sunlight Studios? I would have thought Gorgoroth
might have chosen Peter's Abyss Studios. Any particular rationale
for Sunlight Studios?
T: Gorgoroth is satisfied and happy with being on Nuclear Blast.
It's very easy to work with them, and they are fast, something which
is very important. We are also totally free when it comes to the
artistic freedom. NB never pushes us about anything. We do exactly
what we want, and that's necessary when you're gonna make decent
music. Sunlight was chosen because I think it made a whole lot of
cool albums in the beginning of the '90s. Swedish black and death
metal anno '87 'til '92 is often incredibly cool! We went for Sunlight
'cause we knew Mr.Skogsberg could give us a brutal sound with a
really "gorgorothish" edge!
U!: Again, Tormentor, thank you for your valuable time and respectfully
end this interview any way that you would like...
T: The Sin of Satan is the Sign of Gorgoroth! Support us.
IMPALED
NAZARENE - The Laughter Must Finally Die
By Chris Bruni
What a great feeling one can succumb to when putting on the latest
slab of goat-ramming black metal from Impaled Nazarene, for these
Finnish monsters have undoubtedly put out their best album since
Ugra-Karma. Nihil sees the band return to form, and then some. The
addition of their newest full-time member, Children Of Bodom mastermind
Alexi Laiho, has made the band's metal touch more potent while still
maintaining the band's blackened, perverse ways.
But in corresponding with singer Mika, definitely one of the scene's
most notorious characters, one can conclude that Impaled Nazarene
are a very misunderstood act. Maybe people got the wrong message,
or point, with their last album Rapture, which solidified the tag
of Motorhead black metal with punk elements, and the people who
dug Rapture made the emphasis that Impaled Nazarene truly rock.
Will people see what really lies beneath all of this with Nihil?
It seems that this is one of the more darker albums, thematically,
that Mika has penned, and this proves that there is more to this
band than simply humour and fun. Well, anyway, read what Mika had
to say, the frontman being somewhat of a cross between an introvert
and a crazed lunatic. "We are extremely satisfied with it," begins
Mika about his thoughts on Nihil. "We worked our asses off, making
sure there was no punk riffs or crust beats as we were fucking sick
and tired of people telling us we sound like punk. It doesn't rock
though; it hits you directly to your face."
So what finally led to the decision to get a lead guitarist in the
band?
"We had been looking for a lead guitarist since Latex Cult as I
felt our band needs killer solos (as I am sucker for leads). We
did a show in St. Petersburg, Russia, together with Bodom in September
1998. We had a party at the hotel and I just happened to mention
the fact that we are looking for a lead guitarist. Alexi offered
himself immediately and we thought he was fucking around. It turned
out he was/is a big I.N. fan and later we found out that Bodom had
been doing our covers in their live set. The thing with him is that
he can adapt to any music style as he is such a fucking great guitarist
and he fits mentally to I.N. There were lots of cool guitar players
out there, but none that we could imagine to be part of our band
as far as mentality goes. You need to be insane (to a degree) to
be in I.N."
So I take it he fit in well, especially since you need some sort
of demented and sick mentality if you were to join a band like Impaled
Nazarene.
"Like I said, he was fan. He wrote 'Cogito Ergo Sum' and 'Zero Tolerance.'
In the beginning he was really afraid to do solos -- he was saying
it is going to change our sound too much. I just convinced him that
the reason we took him was to have leads all over. I played him
a couple of Running Wild tracks (!) and said, 'Do your leads this
way -- melodic.' He was like, 'You gotta be joking.' But then he
kind of understood what I was after. I wrote 'Nothing Is Sacred'
and I just explained to him how the solo must go and he executed
it exactly what I had in mind."
Do you feel that some people will be taken by surprise when they
hear some of the harmony stuff, especially on the title track (which
is the best song you have ever written!) and especially when you
guys ease up on the gas with 'When The Laughter Died'? Do you feel
that I.N. need to bring in something new with each album, a different
element to distinguish from the rest of the albums?
"Last time we had so many mixed reactions was with Suomi Finland
Perkele. Either people like it or they totally despise it. We don't
think like, 'Now we must do something different.' We write what
we feel is right for us. If the guitar riff needs to have a slow
tempo, then it will be a slower song. Personally for me Rapture
was a 'back to the metal roots' record. It is easy to point out
the errors of that CD. One, it is way too long -- eliminate four
songs. Two, the guitar sound is what makes it sound punky -- it
sucks ass. Three, the cover artwork was a total mistake. Like I
said, we were sick and tired of people telling us we sound like
punk, so when we started to write Nihil, it was clear we were gonna
make an extreme METAL record. We had written some songs before Alexi
came in, and once we got him, he was like the missing piece of a
puzzle."
What about the title of the album and the awesome cover work and
what it represents to you, since I.N. does come up with bizarre
album covers...
"The artwork was done by French artist Fournier, who did the new
Ugra-Karma cover. Unfortunately it has no connection to the lyrics
at all -- as a matter of fact this should have been the 'Rapture'
cover, as this cover is exactly what 'Rapture' was about. He just
wanted to listen to the music and it is his vision of Nihil. He
didn't want to see the lyrics"
The band also got the tag of having this sense of humour in the
music. This seems to have been a staple of the band, but here is
where the misunderstanding can occur. I mention the perceived humour
and irony to Mika as well as the philosophy of the band having fun,
to just rock out. But in reality this is not the case, as I would
eventually find out the real truth.
"I had the shittiest year of my life in 1999. My best friend killed
himself and I lost the only relative who understood me; he died
of stomach cancer. I rewrote the whole album 10 days before the
studio. I had lyrics ready, but I just took a look at them, they
were in the old style and I realized it is time to change things
for good. Nihil is basically about me. It deals with a concept that
in order to survive, one must destroy his/her conscience, shut down
all the positive feelings, just keep the hate alive. Be an emotional
zombie, fuck the consequences, don't care. Why Nihil makes such
an impact is the fact that it is based on reality instead of biblical
mumbo-jumbo like the previous five albums. Nihil also deals with
the fact that Armageddon did not happen. I was fool enough to believe
that something would happen. All the prophecies failed, so I am
bitter and I feel like an idiot for believing that crap. I realized
I had become a nihilist. I believe in death -- that's it. The only
time there has been intended humour in my lyrics was with 'Let's
Fucking Die' and 'I Eat Pussy For Breakfast.' The rest of the songs
are brutal. Rapture was fucking hate-ridden album. I don't get that
at all when people are saying we have humour in our shit...or then
it is our own fault, I did write that in our bio for SFP that we
have black humour in our lyrics, and ever since it has stuck with
us. Well, read the lyrics of Nihil and you won't find anything 'funny.'
When we are on tour then we can have fun and get drunk, but the
sex, Satan and rock 'n' roll was buried with Rapture for good. It
is harsh reality nowadays."
So Impaled Nazarene have had an illustrious career, making a name
for themselves, gaining a reputation, making their mark. Reflect
on your career and where you are heading in the future -- the Impaled
Nazarene philosophy as you see fit in the year 2000...
"We take it as it comes. We have seen trends and bands come and
go and come back again. All in all we have had very good career
so far, we have been to lots of places most bands only dream of
going to. Been there, done that. And why we have managed to do all
this is because we keep everything on our own hands. We have no
management, we book our own tours and shows. And we are lucky to
be on Osmose because our relationship is based on friendship, not
business. We do what we want to -- that's our philosophy. And we
are not gonna stop yet..."
Website: http://www.iki.fi/mega/IN/
OBTAINED
ENSLAVEMENT - The Path Of The Shepherd
By Chris Bruni
Obtained Enslavement definitely possess some of the best musicians
in the black metal scene. All this I discovered after hearing their
masterpiece, Witchcraft, an album which stands as the best classically
influenced true black metal album. Here was a band, with members
who trained in the art of classical music, that took the standards
of black metal art and wholly conceived their own shape. They were
a band who used classical elements like no other, way beyond your
typical keyboard-driven black metal band, but their use of keyboards
presented mesmerizing wonders atop their black metal malevolence.
I mean, here was music that was composed on a real piano first,
and then adding layers and layers of texture.
Their follow-up (and first album on Napalm), Soulblight, continued
in that tradition -- more crazy dynamics amongst this wall of sound.
But with their new album, The Shepherd And The Hounds Of Hell, a
new direction has been taken. No, the band are not using samples
and drum machines. Instead they have taken a back-to-basics heavy
metal approach, with more punch and flair, without a trace of keyboards
to be found -- a new sound formulated in a new studio with a new
producer. Now things will take another turn for the band, The Shepherd...
being the last testimony with singer Pest (one of the best in the
scene) as he plans on moving to Tennessee, of all places. But anyway,
drummer Torquemada had some explaining to do to this scribe still
obsessed with their past, traditional sound.
"I wouldn't call it a coincidence," begins Torquemada, "because
after Soulblight we wanted to do something new, both musically and
with the production, and therefore we also decided to change studios
which was a part of that position, to create something new from
Soulblight and Witchcraft. Those two records are not the same, but
they have the same sound and it's very much the same music."
Judging by the sound of the heavy riffs, it seems that the band
have taken a back-to-basics approach, kind of putting aside the
trademark of the band.
"We did. When we got into the studio we hadn't taken a decision
yet to not use keyboards. This decision came after some weeks in
the studio after we saw the product really didn't need the keyboards,
and I still think it was the right decision to do it. But of course
there was this problem with Obtained Enslavement's stance and the
trademark as you said, because I believe absolutely all reviews
of Witchcraft and Soulblight have emphasized the use of keyboards
and classical elements, and that is something which everyone identified
Obtained Enslavement with. But I don't think the classical elements
are totally gone on the new album. I still think you can hear some
of it in the guitar lines and melodies, but not as much in the arrangements
as before, and of course the keyboards were a great part of this
sound.
"Especially Witchcraft is a great album," explains Torquemada. "But
you can't make the same album over and over again; you got to make
something new. So the decision to do an album like The Shepherd...
was also a decision done on the background that we weren't quite
happy with the sound we got on Witchcraft and Soulblight. The music
on those two albums is pretty intense, vast arrangements, a lot
of music on it, very complex. We didn't think, at least I didn't
think, that we got the right production for those albums. I won't
criticize those records, but the sound got a bit messy at times
and it wasn't quite fair to the music."
He does have a point there. Witchcraft and Soulblight were created
in the legendary Greighallen studios, and both had a sound that
at times didn't give the musical quality much justice. But how did
they come up with the decision to record in Soundsuite, especially
since that studio seems to be the hotbed for a lot of the Norwegian
gothic metal bands?
"T. Reaper (Obtained Enslavement bass player) has his band Malignant
Eternal, and they have done three records at Soundsuite and he recommended
this studio. I was very skeptical because most of the metal bands
that have been there before us were goth bands, so I was very skeptical
because our music differs a lot from these bands, and even Malignant
Eternal have a more industrial sound than we do, and I didn't want
an industrial sound. I wanted a clean sound but not an industrial
sound or come out from the studio with a gothic album or anything.
I was skeptical, but it turned out great."
What about the ways of composition? How much has that changed? "It
changed because in the process of making the songs, Heks (guitarist)
didn't use any keyboards this time when he created the songs because
we were all aware that we wanted to have another sound. So we said
to him, and he totally agreed, not to use any keyboards for now;
if we decide to use them we'll use them in the studio and fit them
on the tracks, so all the composing was done on the guitars."
Hence the more thrash elements within...
"This was something we all wanted, and you can hear it. I have said
in some interviews when we released Soulblight, when people ask
'What will Obtained Enslavement do next?' and I said if you listen
to 'Chrage,' the last track on Soulblight, you will hear some of
the same things done on this album. That song has a very heavy metal/thrash
approach." How much are the band fans of traditional metal? I mean,
I do hear Judas Priest riffs on this new album.
"I love Judas Priest and personally I listen to older heavy metal
bands. Not everyone, but especially me and I guess Pest is very
much into older heavy metal. But Judas Priest is one of our favourites."
Can't deny Pest's vocals. Easily his best performance to date, and
that's including his appearances on those Gorgoroth albums.
"Yeah, and we had to push him to do it (laughs). That was very consciously
done before we recorded. We decided to do something different with
the music and we were all very clear that we wanted to do something
different with the vocals -- more varied. Therefore also the use
of clean vocals and choral stuff that he has done, not only the
raw black metal vocals, which are cool, but on Soulblight they were
like a monotone line over the entire record. So I think this time
the vocals are very much better than they have ever been."
So what is the situation with Pest now since he will be moving to
the States?
"He's moving to the States in July, so we will have one gig here
in Bergen before he leaves and that will be the final statement
from Obtained Enslavement with Pest."
Who do you have in mind to take over?
"It's very likely you will hear T. Reaper as the new vocalist in
Obtained Enslavement. We have started working together, and it works
great."
How much of the lyrical content is reflected in the new music? Does
it still carry the philosophical leanings of Witchcraft and Soulblight,
or, as it seems, are the lyrics more to the point?
"It doesn't change too much," Torquemada replies. "Of course on
Soulblight it was a concept album concerning the lyrics, but not
musically, and all the members contributed with the lyrics on Soulblight.
But on The Shepherd..., Pest has written all of them except the
first song, which was written by Doden. It's mainly Pest's work,
all the lyrics, and it's also for entertainment."
And will the new material tend to follow the path of The Shepherd...?
"I do think we will continue somewhat the path we started with The
Shepherd... probably. T. Reaper will bring some things with him
into the band, but he's also a heavy metal fan. Pest and T. Reaper
have different voices, but it's really too soon to say. But my guess
is a continuation of the path of The Shepherd..."
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