INTERVIEW UDÅD

When I listened to Udåd 's debut album, I was immediately hooked. I hadn't been so enchanted by a piece of music for a long time. This piece of raw, dark, but also partly very melancholic black metal is a reminder of long-forgotten times. During the creation of the album, factotum Thomas Eriksen, known as the protagonist behind Norwegian band Mork, was inspired by the 1989 cult movie “Der Todesking” by Jörg Buttgereit from Berlin, who is well-known in horror film circles. So read what Thomas has to say about the making of Udåd's debut album, among other things...

--------------------------------

Hello Thomas, the Udåd debut is really phenomenal, I haven't been so fascinated by a black metal album for a long time. The album also brings back memories. Tell us, when did it first occur to you to release black metal apart from Mork? And how long did it actually take you to write and record the songs?

Greetings! Thank you for the praise. I have since the beginning been fond of the thick and grim atmosphere in primitive and “nekro” black metal. Mork started out that way too. The first couple of albums are of that style. Since Mork went from being a side-project to being my main focus, I didn’t want to keep it stuck in one sound and feel. So, it started evolving alongside myself and my own journey, so to speak. The last time I produced something in that vain deliberately was the track “Pesta” (2020).

However, back in late 2022 I decided to create an alter ego to Mork, to be able to dive back into the “nekro” way of things, and Udåd was born. It all came together the same way which the first Mork album was made, actually. I got hit with an acute wave of inspiration and wrote and recorded the album over a span of a week or two.

I read that you were very inspired by Jörg Buttgereit's film “Der Todesking”, both in general and with regard to the texts. When did you first come into contact with this movie?

I was introduced to this film and director whilst being tattooed in Bergen. Jannicke Wiese-Hansen who is famous for drawing the first Burzum covers  is also a skilled tattoo artist today. She was involved in a small festival a couple of years back where they flew in Buttgereit for a panel discussion or something, related to the influence “Der Todesking” had on early Norwegian black metal. It turns out that the movie inspired Burzum as well, and there is even a couple of tracks that is directly influenced by the movie’s soundtrack.

I returned home and tracked down the movie and it was really inspiring.

This movie is indeed really very morbid and dark, Taake, Carpathian Forest and other black metal bands also integrated musical themes from the movie into their songs. Does “Den Evindelinge Ende” also contain some motifs from the soundtrack?

Yes, that opening track is influenced by the movie. Or should I say, the vibe of the movie. It’s more about the hopelessness of life and harsh realities. Which is the theme and influence of the entire album.

And what is your opinion of Buttgereit's other films, especially “Nekromantik” and “Nekromantik 2” or “Schramm”? Do you know the movie-not by Buttgereit-"Man bites dog"? What other obscure, dark movies can you recommend?

I did see his other movies, but they didn’t hit as hard as “Der Todesking”. I suppose that one is more special as it was the “first” one that I experienced. Though I do like the vibe in the others too. I have not seen the one you mentioned, thanks for the tip!

Well, have you seen “Begotten”, for example? 

No, I haven't, but what I've read about the movie sounds very interesting, I'm going to watch it! But let's get back to Udåd, will it stay with this one album, as a creative outlet for more primal black metal, so to speak, or could you imagine to continue creating and releasing new material with Udåd?

As I am still carrying these emotions and fondness for that kind of music around, I will probably keep feeding Udåd. I have basically never had several projects running at the same time, I suppose I could try to maintain at least two.

Will there be any more material from The Deathtrip, or has the band been laid to rest for good? And you don't do your podcast any more, do you?

Regarding The Deathtrip I did only contribute bass on the latest album. It is Host’s band and I have no knowledge about what his plans are for the future of the band. I did however enjoy the album I played on, as it has a good Burzum’ish vibe to it.

The podcast was a pandemic project, so to speak. As the world shut down together with shows and all, I figured I would try out that format. It has gained alot of listeners and people keep asking me for new episodes, which obviously is positive. Maybe I’ll do something in the future, but it’s nothing that I am considering at the moment.

The last words are yours! Here you can get rid of everything you haven't said yet…

Thanks for the questions and for the interest. I hope Udåd can be as impactful to others as it was for me creating it.