Hello, soon your first album "Total Heresy" will be released via Ván Records. What can you tell us about the making of the album, probably all three of you never met in the studio together and Vargher recorded his part in Sweden, right?
The album came about pretty spontaneously. After our EP released in 2019, I asked Vargher 2021 if he had any ideas for a full length album. About three weeks later he sent me nine songs. Then everything went pretty fast: Tormentor rehearsed the songs on the drums, I wrote the lyrics and shortly after that everyone went into the studio for the recordings. We never met each other for that. But with today's possibilities this is not necessary anymore.
To come back to the beginning of Trinitas, you already worked with Vargher in Eudaimony (will there be anything more?). How did the collaboration with Tormentor come about, did you know each other a long time before, maybe through his work with Desaster?
To the first part of the question: We are planning a second album with Eudaimony. There are a few songs and basic ideas for it. To the second part of the question: All three of us have known each other since the 90s, because we often met at concerts together: Vargher through Naglfar, Tormentor at that time still with Desaster and I at that time still with Dark Fortress. At some point the idea came up that we could start a project together and pay homage to the old times. That's how Trinitas came to be.
When I listen to your music, I spontaneously think of five or six bands - Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Armagedda, Graven and Carpathian Forest, and of course Celtic Frost as the original godfathers, so to speak. Since Trinitas exists consciously as an antithesis to today's bands and originality and "newness" are not desirable goals for you, were there any bands you particularly referred to or which - perhaps unconsciously due to frequent listening - possibly had a special influence on the creation of the record?
No, we didn't have any particular bands in mind for the songs. It was more about raising the old feeling from the dead. Straightforwardness was important to us, both musically and lyrically. Just like in the 90s: Don't think and discuss for a long time, just do it. No impossible song structures to create, but pure feeling in its simplicity. A homage to what once was.
Both the cover, as well as the new label form in my opinion the appropriate environment for a traditional black metal work. And even though probably everyone this music appeals to can understand this for themselves (and others) anyway: What exactly fascinates you so much about 90s black metal? Is it possible to separate sound, aesthetics and also aspects like nostalgia - if that makes sense is another question.Sound, aesthetics and nostalgia are of course three important factors in this context. I think it was above all a different time and above all a completely different scene. A scene that was more manageable, in which there was sometimes friction and escalation, but in the end people fought for the common cause. Black metal at that time was simply pure rebellion and an attitude towards life. And this fire, which was still burning in the respective protagonists back then, was also reflected on their albums. Only where heart and soul are fully involved, something authentic can arise. This was not only true for music, lyrics and visuals, but also for the respective productions. Just take the vast number of bands that recorded their classics in the Grieghallen Studio back then as an example. Every single one of these albums has an individual production. A sound that suited the respective band. That was also a big factor for me, which brought out the maximum in terms of atmosphere. Today, on the other hand, most productions sound too uniform to me - like mass-produced off-the-shelf goods.
I find your conscious demarcation to today's black metal basically very comprehensible. On the other hand I have the impression that today - or rather since a few years again - there are a lot of bands that play this raw, unadulterated sound. They are not as well known as the idols or formative influences from the 90s, but purely numerically there are almost more traditional bands nowadays than in the 90s itself, or at least one can discover them much better through the internet and has access to them. Are there any recommendations on your part and do you stick more to the classics when listening?
I don't really deal with today's scene anymore. What I have heard in recent years, in "new" bands, has left me mostly cold. Therefore, I mainly still listen to the classics from the 90s. In the 2000s, only two "newer" bands could really inspire me and those were Nehemah and Akhlys. A few days ago, through TT of Abigor, I discovered a comparatively new band for me that reminded me of the mysticism and purism of the past: Adaestuo.
Will there possibly be one or the other live performance of Trinitas, or is that something you are not interested in at all?
I know what you mean. Basically, one look at the terminology is enough to realize that the two are per se mutually exclusive: black metal and social media. Black metal was never social and only took place outside of society in the 90s. None of it was mass compatible. In the meantime, unfortunately, that has changed and black metal (or at least what calls itself that nowadays) has arrived in the middle of society and thus also in the platforms you mentioned. On the other hand, it's probably also a natural process. Back in the days before the Internet and before social media, bands sent tons of flyers all over the world because that was their only tool for self-promotion. Today, they do it figuratively on Facebook and the like. In that respect, at least, it's understandable. Nevertheless, Facebook and Co. were, in my opinion, the final nail in the coffin for black metal. Because thereby the final demystification and devaluation was accomplished. Before, you only knew music, lyrics, pictures from the booklets and isolated interviews of the bands. Thus, black metal also took place even more in the head of the listener, because a certain imagination belonged to it. Today, on the other hand, you are bombarded with a flood of useless information about all the musicians and bands on Facebook and the like. For example, you first see photos of a beach vacation in the Dominican Republic with cocktails and umbrellas, and the next post is the same musician with corpse paint at an evil posing at a concert of his "black metal" band. At this point everything is told for me.
Since you are and were musically quite active, among other things actually also with Gràb, are you one of the musicians who listens to his own music - at least occasionally - from whatever point of view or are you rather to be assigned to the category of musicians for whom a recorded and published record is only past and who already tackle the next thing?
That has always been different for me over the last 30 years or so. Specifically, it depends on how satisfied I am with the album in question. The "Stab Wounds" album by Dark Fortress, for example, I can still listen to today, the "Profane Genocidal Creations" album, on the other hand, I could no longer listen to right after the recording, because I had hoped for too much from the production in the Grieghallen and also some other things bothered me about the album. The extreme opposite of this for me is Gràb: I actually never had such a case myself. The album was already finished a year before the release date and since then I still listen to it regularly - that is, for two years now. Because for me, almost everything about the album is just right.
Or from another perspective: Is every release for you also a kind of manifesto, something that remains in the world, regardless of how well-known or widespread the work is? In an interview about Gràb, you said that you see the lyrics to the "Zeitlang" album as your legacy. Is every release then also catharsis?Every album of mine is certainly a kind of catharsis. At least when I can sing my own lyrics on it. There are certainly albums of mine that are many times more personal than other albums I'm on. "Zeitlang" by Gràb is such an album. It's a soul journey for me from beginning to end, which I relive every time I listen to it. Accordingly, it is anything but easy to share something like that with other people by printing the lyrics in the booklet. With Trinitas, on the other hand, I have deliberately kept the lyrics primitive. Here, too, death and the devil dominate, but just like the music more with this "in your face" character.
Ancient Rites: A band I have respect for because they have stayed true to their roots all these years.
Desaster: Were pioneers for the German black metal scene in the early 90s. Musically, Desaster had their best time when they had more black metal influences. The time when Okkulto was still around. Especially the "Lost in the Ages" demo, "A touch of medieval darkness" and the "Stormbringer" EP were and still are some of the best German black metal has ever released.
Morbid Angel: "Altars of madness" and "Blessed are the sick" are still milestones. But I was never the biggest death metal fan. If then rather the Swedish direction like Dismember, Entombed or Gorement.
Abigor: For me pioneers of black metal. Already in the 90s they created their own interpretation of black metal. Although similarities to Norwegian black metal were definitely present, nevertheless the whole melody line, the drumming, the vocals were completely independent. For me, "Verwüstung" and "Nachthymnen" are still among the best that has ever appeared in black metal. They still go their own way continuously and unswervingly. We have different approaches, because they probably want to reinvent themselves on every album. I don't have that claim to my music. Some of their last albums were too complex for me. But in the end it only underlines their consistent way.
Behemoth: "And the forests dream eternally" and "Sventevith" - That was Behemoth for me. Then they turned into the death metal corner at some point. Extremely talented musicians all the way through, but by now it's all too artificial and not my cup of tea anymore.
Bewitched: With Bewitched Vargher had released some classics in the 90s. It was a wild mixture of thrash, black and heavy metal. But it was a perfect homage to the metal of the 80s. I'm curious to see what else he does with Bewitched.
Throne of Ahaz: "Nifelheim"! Absolutely underrated album, but for me it has always been a complete cult. Honestly, when we formed Trinitas, we had even discussed internally whether we should continue under the name Throne of Ahaz because of Vargher, instead of calling the project Trinitas. In the end, however, Vargher decided against it out of respect for Beretorn, the singer at the time.
Nordlys: They started around the same time as we did with Dark Fortress. But there was never any contact or relation. I only saw them in 1997 at a concert of Nagelfar and Lunar Aurora.
Enthroned: "Prophecies of pagan fire"! In terms of atmosphere a very strong album with great guitar melodies and keyboards. Since Sabathan left, Enthroned have completely degraded in my opinion.
Satyricon: I'm ambivalent about that. "The forest is my throne", "Dark medieval times" and "Shadowthrone" were and are top albums for me. However, the pseudo-star airs of the "good" Sigurd W. are completely ridiculous. As if he would be a superstar. A promoter in Hamburg, who had been doing the job for many years at that time, once said to me on the common tour with Satyricon in 2006: "I've never encountered anything so ridiculous and arrogant. I've worked with Motörhead and Iron Maiden, but no one had such airs and graces as this Satyr." I can't take him seriously anymore. But then, his music has long since disappeared into irrelevance. If he had ever internalized the feeling for black metal, then it has long since given way to the greed for the filthy mammon.
Absu: black/thrash metal in pure culture. "Barathrum: V.I.T.R.I.O.L." and "The sun of Tiphareth" were their best albums for me, even if their best song is "Highland Tyrant Attack" from "The third storm of Cythraul" album.
Watain: I never understood the hype around that band.
Landshut: Home.
Ván Records: For me already a cult label. Ván have the right feeling. Many of their releases stand for the true underground cult. The spirit is still right. Whether heavy, death or black metal. For me therefore the best underground label these days and the decision for us was immediately clear that we do Trinitas with Ván.
