As I said in my review of the new album (see here), Mortuus Infradaemoni are a very special band with a profound musical aura that is really not ordinary or profane (to cross-reference the pseudonym of one of my interview partners). Just like this interview, I thank the band for the open words, the detailed, interesting musical recommendations and the word (monstrosity) of the year, see the question about social media.
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Profanatitas: Hello Gerald, thank you for the words! You can see how quickly you can be declared dead, if you don't constantly post some trivial information... But it's true, we have never been very communicative. After 'Imis Avernis' it was the same as after the first album; we were always active in the rehearsal room, sometimes more and sometimes less, then unfortunately life or a creative blockage intervened. But we wouldn't have thought that the album would take 13 years... But it has become our most intensive and most powerful work. Big thanks to Iron Bonehead for the realisation, especially for the possibility to release it on vinyl! The double LP is out since today (8 June), and being the record lover that I am, I couldn't be happier with it - awesome thing!
Nathaniel: I'm not really interested in the scene or what's going on musically in the world. I still like to remember how I used to look forward to the "Rock Hard" every month, read the record reviews first and then bought the 1's (absolutely bad review)...hahaha, those were the days. That also includes "Wehrmacht" with albums like "Shark Attack" or "Biermächt", totally brilliant band, but never got more than a 2... Well, it's been a long time... Joking aside. What was cool back then is still cool today. Off the top of my head: Incubus, Carcass, or Disharmonic Orchestra (does anyone still know them?), the first Pungent Stench, "Misanthropy" by Protector, one of the most underrated bands ever. Nazxul must not be missing and must have: Darkspace II! And of course the old norge connection, but only the old ones! What should not be missing in any record collection: "Blood Fire Death"!
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P: Pretty much the same, we play 'Mortuus-Infradaemoni-metal'... haha! The 'traditional, cold black metal elements' function - probably rather unconsciously - as the basic framework, as that is obviously the music that has shaped us the most and touched us the most intensely. Everything else results from our musical friction points, contrasts and similarities, without us having to change much when a song is created. Our music 'writes' itself, so to speak.
N: I can only agree, it just comes "from the gut", without much fuss...
P: The calligraphic artwork & logos were done by me, the two great paintings (front & back cover for the LP version, inner image & back cover for the CD version) were done by Rodrigo Pereira Salvatierra from Chile with oil on canvas exclusively for the album. The communication with him was unfortunately a bit difficult as he is probably a similar hermit like us, and the main cover also looks a bit different than originally conceived, but it exudes exactly the mood of the music - strange and enigmatic. It couldn't have turned out any better. The man is a fantastic artist!
Does it actually bother you that Mortuus Infradaemoni was somehow often labelled as "ex-musicians of Lunar Aurora" by the listeners because of your past with Lunar Aurora? Especially since the music is stylistically similar, actually all Lunar Aurora fans should be able to relate to you, only the last Lunar Aurora album was a bit different (although also very good).
P: Well, 'ex-musician of XY' is for me more a description of condition than a sign of quality - someone was probably too lazy to deal with our music and then pulled the Lunar Aurora label on it. When I read the reviews at that time, I was more bothered by the fact that we were sometimes called the 'Lunar Aurora side project', which is nonsense because it was badly researched, since at that time both of us hadn't been with Lunar Aurora for a while. Our past there certainly helped us to open one or the other door here and there (also with listeners probably), on the other hand we have been Mortuus Infradaemoni since the beginning and not Lunar Aurora version number 2. The music of both bands differs in my opinion in many points, but everyone has his own views.
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You don't have a Facebook page, which I find basically very sympathetic, especially in times when even alleged black metal bands beg for "likes" and organise competitions on such platforms. The fact that you don't reach some potential listeners through this abstinence is something you consciously accept, I assume.
P: Well, some people can't quite understand that I'm 'so 80s' or '90s', haha! But I'm generally quite an analogue person. Could also be called backward-looking, which seems to be exclusively negative these days, but I don't care. What you describe ('likes' etc.), I just don't understand, because by such behaviour a possible 'black metal ideology' propagated by these bands (if such a thing really exists) is led ad absurdum, so I ask myself what they actually want to represent. (What we represent, I can tell you exactly: listen to our music and think your own mind! Nothing more needs to be said). This excessive amount of self-promotion seems obsessive to me and reminds me more of the music machinery like pop music or whatever you want to call it, where it's not about art, expression and individuality but about consumption and 'sameness'. In any case, it has nothing to do with an 'underground spirit' any more. The less I know about a band, the more intensively I can approach the music because nothing distracting is flying around. Another example: the other day I got hold of a flyer for a CD release box of a notorious Norwegian one-man-project, with an album cover puzzle as a bonus... I mean, what the fuck?! I can only laugh out loud, or not when I think about it. Transfer that to the early Norwegian 90s, heads would literally roll! I know we should look at things in a less narrow-minded way, but I really don't understand that any more.
That's also why I generally reject these so-called 'social media', because in my opinion they are mainly channels for people who otherwise have no life. Some people might actually use these platforms purely for the sake of information, and not for excessive self-promotion or because Icandumpmyintellectualshittherebecausenoonewantstolistentomein reallifeandIhavenofriends, but I don't want to be part of it and will not be. Sorry for the rant, but I'm not much of a people person, and there's a reason for that. Back to the topic: what we really credit Patrick from Iron Bonehead for is that he doesn't put any pressure on us in this respect (it's certainly different with other labels!), even if the lack of a Facebook or Instagram page on our part definitely reduces the sales opportunities for our album, because nowadays hardly anything runs without this massive internet presence and we therefore probably run a bit (or quite a bit) under the radar. But we still do some promotion on our own behalf, the 'old way' so to speak, with flyers and word of mouth and stuff. So guys, check out our Bandcamp page, it's good too! Hahaha!
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P: We have played a few gigs since 2006, which have all been great in their own way (although I don't particularly enjoy playing live). Sindar from Lunar Aurora always supported us on bass and second voice, it was very cool. I don't think we'll play live again though, it's been eleven years since our last gig, and a drummer's body doesn't get any younger.... our songs, on the other hand, more strenuous!
N: We had a few gigs, it was really cool, especially in Arnhem the "afterwards" (Gehenna rules!!), we come from the deepest Bavaria and are therefore quite hard drinking ("mia fadrong hoid wos") (that means "we can drink a lot" in Bavarian dialect - author's note), as well as Gehenna, it was really cool.... We probably won't play live any more, the last years of annoyance (you know what I mean?) have made sure of that.
P: What's fascinating about it is precisely that, 'after all this time': these stories are timeless. They are wondrous, terrifying, confusing, colossal, an inexhaustible source of inspiration. I will spare myself highlighting individual stories, my 'why' would go beyond the scope here. What I also appreciate is the utter rapture of some of Clark Ashton Smith's stories. Literally out of this world.
"Inmortuus sum" would have to mean "I am immortal", if my old Latin skills don't fail me. Is that a good title for the subject matter of the lyrics?
P: Our spelling 'inmortuos sum' is a little modified, but in essence it means something like 'I am not dead'; the album cover can also be related to this: everything is transient and leads to the last big question, eternal death - but at the same time death is always a door to something else, something unknown. Basically, looking back, both of our texts have always been permeated by this, only in different forms and expressions.
The last words belong to you!
P: Thank you for the interview and your interest! The next album is already in the works, it will be released in 15 years... hahaha!
