INTERVIEW WITH MORTIIS PART I

"So maybe it's not a bad thing that they opened graves now just to make sure, that there are no vampires or undead people?"

Here's an interview with Mortiis. Since it was a more than two-hour conversation, I have divided the interview into two parts. I talked with Mortiis, who turned out to be an extremely nice guy, among other things about Emperor, Mayhem and the Norwegian black metal scene, his side projects, Ancient Rites, Moby, historical misconceptions, lack of support from the record company, vampires and opened graves in Romania and children and their excessive occupation with smartphones and digital content.

 

More or less coincidentally, I'm having "Norwegian weeks" here on my blog right now-after this interview I'm doing an interview with Manheim from Order, who was part of Mayhem's legendary "Deathcrush" release, furthermore I have an interview going on with Jørn Steen, the director of the movie "Saga", which features Sarke and Ted from Darkthrone. Did did you hear something about this movie? I think it's not a serious movie, it's more like horror comedy including a wild mix of black metal, bikers, undead people and vikings. 

What was it called? "Saga"? I know there's been made some Norwegian like horror movies about zombies in the snow, up in the mountains and some shit like that. But I think that's a different movie. So I know I haven't seen that one. Okay, I guess I should keep my eye out for it.

And in a few hours I'm doing an interview with Order, more specifically with Kjetil Manheim.

Yes, the band with personal overlaps to Cadaver, right?  

REVIEW ORDER "THE GOSPEL"

Order from Norway are at the start with their now more second album called "The Gospel". The band, which consists of such well-deserved veterans as drummer Manheim (drummed on Mayhem's legendary "Deathcrush" EP), vocalist Messiah (also ex-Mayhem), guitarist Anders Odden (Cadaver, Satyricon) and bassist Stu Manx (ex-Gluecifer), and this name-dropping is in no way necessary regarding the musical quality, however, live up to its members previous musical legacy. Order manage in a very impressive and intense way to mix old black and death metal with faster eruptive parts to a flowing melange, which in contrast to the debut "Lex Amentiae" goes noticeably deeper and also hits the listener where it hurts.

INTERVIEW HALPHAS

Halphas from Hesse play traditional, rough, but still partly atmospheric black metal, which is skillfully manifested on the two albums so far and a previous demo. Reason enough to talk to drummer Tempestas.   

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Hey, how are you doing at the moment? I saw on your Facebook page that you recently played live again at the Barther Metal Open Air. Was that the first gig after the corona-related break? Soon there will be some more I have seen.

Like pretty much all the other bands, the Corona timeout hit us relatively hard. But it was especially frustrating that this time-out started right after our album release. This took the wind out of our sails and it wasn't easy to get out of this hole. But we started right away with some great gigs. The Barther Metal Open Air as well as the Fimbul Festival were a really magical comeback for us. The magic between us and our fans was unbroken again. That makes us very proud.  

REVIEW ORTUS "AUS DER TIEFE" (ENGLISH)

I already reviewed ORTUS from Rhineland-Palatinate with their debut EP called "Where shadows gather" (see HERE.) This was released in 2018, and in an interview I read that at least a part of the band takes a certain critical distance to the EP and sees this first release retrospectively more as the first steps of musical self-discovery. Well, be that as it may, I was thrilled at the time and still find this EP very good. This release was followed in 2019 by the "Forgotten Memories" EP, which was again very convincing.  

REVIEW ORTUS "AUS DER TIEFE"

ORTUS aus Rheinland-Pfalz hatte ich ja bereits mit ihrer Debüt-EP namens "Where shadows gather" besprochen (siehe HIER.) Diese erschien 2018, und in einem Interview las ich, das zumindest ein Teil der Band eine gewisse kritische Distanz zu der EP einnimmt und diese erste Veröffentlichung nun retrospektiv mehr als erste Schritte der musikalischen Selbstfindung sieht. Nun, wie dem auch sei, ich war damals begeistert und finde diese EP auch nach wie vor sehr gut. Nach dieser Veröffentlichung folgte dann 2019 die "Forgotten Memories"-EP, welche erneut sehr überzeugen konnte.  

INTERVIEW INCANTATION

"In death metal there are no rules, it's just about expressing your inner most dark feelings. We have our own vision and at times the masses didn’t always get it. But I think over the last few years more and more death metal fans understand what we are trying to express with our music. It’s like the scene caught up with us."  

Incantation, who have been around since the distant year of 1989, have been a constant gourmet treat for fans of dark, dirty death metal since their debut album "Onward to Golgotha" in 1992. Fortunately, according to the motto "what goes around comes around", the band's qualities seem to be getting around more and more, so that the latest album "Sect of Vile Divinities" can already be considered the biggest commercial success in the band's history.The author of this blog is a die-hard follower of the band, and so the opportunity had finally come to talk to band founder and scene veteran John Mc Entee, who plays guitar and is responsible for the vocals, about various things. The frontman turned out to be a very thoughtful and reflective guy.

Hey, how are you at the moment? I hope you and your families, relatives and friends are healthy! How is it corona-wise with you in Pennsylvania at the moment?

All is good here. I now live in Greensboro, North Carolina for the last few years and it’s totally amazing down here. For me, the lockdown has been ok. I’m kinda a loner so I don’t really like to be around other people unless it’s friends or horror or metal people. For the band, it has been great, we didn’t know what to expect releasing the “Sect of Vile Divinities” album a-mist the pandemic, but it ended up being a major success for us, which was super cool.

I know it’s been a difficult time for almost everyone over this pandemic and I have sadly even lost a few friends due to it. It's just my personality to want to make the best out of any situation. I’m also very fortunate to have an amazing home life and that really makes everything seem great.   

BERICHT IN DER KÖLNISCHEN RUNDSCHAU

Die Kölnische Rundschau berichtete über das Systematic Desensitization Zine

Hier der Link zum pdf