Good things take time
In October 2020 I discovered more or less by coincident the Bandcamp profile of a band called Verhängnis (the german term for doom or fate), who offered two releases there, a demo and an album. Fascinating, gruff, dragging doomdeath with echoing vocals and expressionistic German lyrics had immediately caught my attention. Associatively, the legendary Australians of Disembowelment came directly to my mind. I wrote to the band to ask if they were interested in an interview and heard nothing for a long time. Then, at the beginning of 2022, I suddenly received a mail out of nowhere that my message must have been hidden deep in the spam folder. Well, almost one and a half years later this interview can take place after all, meanwhile the band also has a second album called "Irrlicht" in their repertoire, which was released in October 2021.
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Hello, please tell us something more about Verhängnis. When exactly and from what occasion followed the formation of Verhängnis?
Hi. First of all, thank you for the invitation to the interview. I'll have to elaborate a bit more. I've been playing in various bands for quite some time and have also been involved in recording technology and music production for a few years now. Together with one of my closest friends, I spontaneously went into the rehearsal room around 2015 and we recorded the demo for our then two-man project Kriegszittern without much prior knowledge, with simple means and a lot of experimentation. Over time, more and more equipment and experience came along and I started working with synthesizers, drum machines and MIDI. Sometime in 2018 I started to combine the two areas and recorded the songs that would later be called "Finsternis" and "Abgrund". I didn't have a fixed idea in which direction it should go and just tried it out. After I tinkered with the two songs every now and then over the next two years, but actually had enough other stuff to do, the pandemic came in 2020 and everything was put on hold for the time being.
Since I still had the opportunity to use the rehearsal room, I sat down again to the two recordings and finally the songs of the first demo were created. The motivation was enough to stay on the project and so I recorded the first tape in a relatively short time completely alone, with programmed drums. That was in principle like a flowing movement and the consequence from the general situation.
Verhängnis seems to be a one-man-band. Only on the latest release you got a drummer named Ben for reinforcement. You yourself seem to want to disappear into anonymity and use the atmospheric pseudonym "Elend", don't you? Is that a very conscious decision, and if so, for what reason? Are there other bands and projects you are or were involved in? Maybe a short outline of your musical socialization and how old you are, that is often strongly connected.
Exactly, I still used the drum computer on the first two releases, but for the second tape a human being was supposed to play the drums.
As I said before, I'm still involved in Kriegszittern, which is more in the direction of old rumbling England death metal a la early Benediction or Bolt Thrower; Necronom, very slow earthhole doom and Morsch are also two combos I'm involved in at the moment. In addition there are a few hardcore punk bands like HPSS. All in all there are about seven or eight bands that are active, a few are just solo or two-men stuff. Most people who know me know that too.
I try to focus more on the music due to the anonymity on the internet. People should listen to the songs without bias and not label the music as a side project of XY. And of course, this also creates a certain mood and mystique around the band.
I was born at the end of the '80s and came to punk, then crust and finally metal when I was about 13/14 years old.
Untypically, there is no Facebook page for Verhängnis besides the Bandcamp account. Is this related to the above mentioned points (media abstinence / anonymity)?
Yes and no. I don't have any social media accounts privately either, and I don't want to start. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook are poison for the scene and only fuel people's short-lived greed for attention. Bandcamp is still bearable. I regulate almost everything via e-mail, even if there is sometimes something stuck and I need almost a year to respond. But that can also happen to you with the above mentioned.
Thus I have also a small filter, because not all have immediate access to the music and those who know where to look still get what they are looking for.
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"Basically I appreciate early 90s demo productions with underground sound very much."
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When I hear doom, bands like Disembowelment, Asphyx, Evoken or Encoffination come to my mind. What were and are your influences or your favorites in this sub-genre? Any insider tips, especially in the doomdeath area it was always very thinned out in terms of number in contrast to countless "conventional" death metal bands.
I'm basically a big fan of Scandinavian and British death metal. Obligatory are bands like Rippikoulu, Decomposed, Eternal Darkness, Crypt of Kerberos, early Paradise Lost (demos), early Sentenced (demos), Moondark, Inversus and stuff like that. Delirium from Holland I can highly recommend. Sororicide from Iceland have been with me forever. Even if all this can't be counted directly as death-doom, the sound has influenced me massively.
Basically I appreciate early 90s demo productions with underground sound very much.
As I just said, I prefer the dark demosound of the 90s. Meanwhile there are of course some bands that try to imitate this style. Some of them do it quite well. But the real shit is just the real shit.
The preference also comes from my musical development. I've never heard highly polished test tube bands and I can't do much with them. They certainly have their justification, but it's not my cup of tea.
How were the reactions to your music so far? I saw that Rock Hard Magazine had reviewed an album / demo very well. Did you send it there or did the label?
In general I get quite good feedback. Since I don't spend much time on the internet, I don't get that much, but I do see that the releases are uploaded on Youtube and the feedback is mostly positive there as well.
The fact that the first tape ended up in Rock Hard Magazine had friend-related reasons. I wouldn't send out music if there wasn't interest beforehand.
Are you a tape lover and therefore the limitation to this medium? Why no CD? On the other hand, would you like to release Verhängnis on vinyl? And is this level enough for you or would you like to elevate Verhängnis to a somewhat larger platform if the opportunity arises, maybe even a record deal with a somewhat larger underground label? Because the music has the quality without a doubt.
Thank you, haha. I am actually quite open. But since there is a certain bottleneck in record production at the moment, I don't hold out much hope. Sure, a vinyl release would be great. But tapes do it as well. They have something original.
I find CDs actually less good. I've only had to do with it once so far and that was rather bad.
If a relaxed label gets in touch, I won't say no for sure. But I have no desire for fixed contracts. If I produce new stuff, then it happens, if not, then not. I actually just let it happen. I also realize that no commercial label can work like that, but that's just the way it is.
If I look at the lyrics, I could say that they are not untypical for death metal, just in German. Partly I felt reminded by the short, concise lyrics to Totenmond, from the mood partly to H.P. Lovecraft. Are there any special influences for the lyrics or also for the overall package Verhängnis - also things besides music, books or movies?
I don't really have a concrete source of inspiration for Verhängnis. I take most of it from nature and my surroundings. Most of the lyrics have something to do with animals. It's often about insects, decomposers, deep-sea dwellers, parasites and stuff like that. That often comes from documentaries or from observations. I describe small everyday situations that seem disastrous from the right point of view. "Irrlicht" is actually about a wasp that flies into a ceiling spotlight and burns there. I came up with the text of "Saprobiont" when a peach went moldy on me. "Hematophag" describes interacting with a mosquito in the bedroom.
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"It depends on the angle from which the will-o'-the-wisp is viewed and what it is to you. Sometimes it's the light at the end of the tunnel, sometimes it's a train, sometimes it's a frogfish attracting prey, sometimes it's a firefly attracting a female."
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I actually deal rather little with poetry or other literature. I actually try to find my own sources and not use what I've already thought up for the lyrics. With "Hypothermia" I just wanted to try this stylistic device. It turned out a bit strange on balance, but I'm happy with the end result.
Most of the lyrics also have a certain ambiguity. The covers should also reflect that. There is no right or wrong. It depends on the angle from which the will-o'-the-wisp is viewed and what it is for you. Sometimes it is the light at the end of the tunnel, sometimes it is a train, sometimes a frogfish attracts prey, sometimes a firefly attracts a female.
It may well be that we chase after will-o'-the-wisps in life. There are certainly many that attract us and then burn us. But the only thing that is certain is death at the end of the journey.
The last words belong to you!
Thanks for the interview, thanks for the support. Continued success with Systematic Desensitization Zine! I hope I could answer one or the other question satisfactorily. Stay Death!
