Interview Svartsyn

"I rather like the images of bands in the early days who hardly took any pictures and didn't expose themselves as much as they do nowadays on social media and without corpse paint."

Svartsyn are a jewel of Swedish black metal and stand on equal footing with such illustrious names as Arckanum, Sorhin, Grafvitnir, Setherial or Ofermod. Five years after the great “Requiem” album, the band recently released a new album via Norma Evangelium Diaboli.  In the interview with Ornias, who has been living in Belgium for several years now, you can find out to what extent this work also closes a circle to the beginnings of the (predecessor) band and why there will  be no more live performances by Svartsyn (unfortunately I missed the band in Cologne on the joint tour with Behemoth and Desaster in the distant year 1997). But read for yourself...

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

Hello Ornias, welcome to the interview.  The new album “Vortex of the destroyer” has been out for a few weeks now, how do you rate the album with a little distance and how have the reactions been so far?

Hello and thanks for getting in touch for the interview. I haven't read that many or seen any reviews. But it seems that people enjoy the album very much. For myself I think the album is very strong but how it stand against all the other albums its too early to say. Since everything is new and fresh I would say in about a year when the recording process and the hard work behind it all is out of the system, than I can judge it a little bit better. But ranking your own albums is hard of course, since every album is taking a piece of flesh from your soul. At least I think all the albums contain high quality material.

Filmrezension "Des Teufels Bad"

"Und weil ich vor Verdruß recht müde war dieses Lebens, so kam mir in den Sinn, begehe einen Mord." -Zitat zu Filmbeginn

"Des Teufels Bad" ist ein österreichisch-deutscher Spielfilm des Regisseuren-Duos Veronika Franz und Severin Fiala aus dem Jahr 2024, der diverse Filmpreise, u.a. den Silbernen Bären der Berlinale, gewinnen konnte und als österreichischer Beitrag für die Oscarverleihung 2025 ausgewählt wurde. Der Film thematisiert ein wohl den meisten bisher unbekanntes Phänomen der Neuzeit, und zwar den quasi-Suizid über den Umweg Mord. Diese meist von Frauen an Kindern begangene Taten resultierten aus der damaligen Haltung der Kirche, dass Selbstmord ein unverzeihliches Verbrechen sei, welches per se den "Weg in den Himmel" versperre und den Lebensmüden insofern ewige Höllenqualen drohten. So fanden hier einige Menschen die "kreative" Lösung, einen Mord zu begehen, um an ihr Ziel zu gelangen: dies gipfelte zum einen so gut wie immer mit der Hinrichtung der Delinquenten, zum anderen konnten die geständigen und reuigen Sünder nach der Absolution durch einen Geistlichen als geläuterte Seelen in den Himmel gelangen. 

So spielt auch der zweistündige Spielfilm, dessen Handlung in diesem Sinne lose auf historischen Gerichtsprotokollen beruht, in der Zeit um 1750 in einer ländlich-bäuerlichen Gegend in Oberösterreich. Die frischverheiratete Agnes (sehr gut gespielt von Anja Plaschg, die unter dem Namen Soap&Skin Musik kreiert, u.a. auch den Soundtrack zu diesem Film), eine sensible und hochreligiöse junge Frau, fühlt sich in ihrer neuen Umgebung fremd und nicht angenommen, leidet unter der strengen Arbeitsmoral der Schwiegermutter und der Gefühlskälte ihres Mannes. Als ihre Depressionen (damals eben als "Des Teufels Bad" bezeichnet) immer stärker werden und Agnes "fort von dieser Welt" will, sieht sie nur noch einen Ausweg, den des mittelbaren Suizids. Einen wesentlichen Beitrag zu Agnes Entscheidung für diesen Weg liefert unfreiwillig der örtliche Pfarrer, als dieser in einer Messe der anwesenden Gemeinde aufgrund eines kürzlich begangenen Suizids erklärt, dass Selbstmord schlimmer als Mord sei und der Leichnam nicht begraben werden könne.

Filmrezension "Heretic"

Mit einiger Spannung erwartet, liegt nun endlich "Heretic", der in Deutschland am 26.12.2024 in den Kinos startete, als Blu-ray vor. Der sympathische Hugh Grant, eher durch Liebeskomödien und Artverwandtes bekannt, spielt in diesem Film den zumindest anfänglich sehr netten älteren Mr. Reed, der von den zwei jungen, attraktiven und etwas naiven Missionarinnen der Mormonen, Schwester Paxton (Chloe East) und Schwester Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) im Rahmen eines Hausbesuches vom "richtigen Glauben" überzeugt werden soll. So weit, so langweilig, könnte man sagen. Nachdem die zwei jungen Frauen im Haus angelangt sind, drängen sie dezent darauf, die Gattin von Mr. Reed zum theologischen Gespräch herbeizuholen, da ihre Religion es verbiete, allein mit einem fremden Mann in einem Raum zu verweilen. Mr. Reed serviert Blaubeerkuchen und vertröstet im Laufe des Gespräches immer wieder die Mormonninen, seine Frau werde bald dazustoßen. Der halbwegs aufmerksame Zuschauer ahnt es schon - die Ehefrau existiert überhaupt nicht.

REVIEW CHAOS INCEPTION "VENGEANCE EVANGEL"

Chaos Inception is a death metal quartet from Alabama, USA, formed in 2008 and has released three albums to date - with a slightly different line-up in some cases. To my shame, I have to admit that I have not yet consciously taken notice of the band, which also has (former) members of such illustrious bands as Monstrosity and Diabolic in its ranks. Fortunately, this has now changed with “Vengeance Evangel”, which was released in mid-February via the Czech label Lavadome Productions almost 13 years after its predecessor. As much as the label praises the band, these words are justified, at least if you are a fan of brutal, but at the same time technically demanding and sometimes tricky arrangements. The band naturally draws from the pool of American death metal and, in addition to the aforementioned Monstrosity and Diabolic, the usual suspects such as Immolation, Hate Eternal, or, in certain, particularly rhythmic parts, Deicide can also be cited. In contrast to many of their American colleagues, however, Chaos Inception seem more chaotic, impetuous and wild, despite their sophistication and technical demands.

REVIEW DEINONYCHUS "FATALIST"

Seven years after their last album “Ode to Acts of Murder, Dystopia and Suicide”, Deinonychus released their new album at the end of last year on Ván Records. Good things take time-so “Fatalist” is another great work that combines all the typical Deinonychus trademarks and should not disappoint any fan of the band. It should be clear that this style-ultra heavy, often tough, slow compositions in the intersection between doom and black metal-won't win any popularity prizes. Consequently, despite nine albums to date and a history stretching back over thirty years, the band is still - at least in comparison to other bands from the black and doom metal genres - an insider's tip and deeply rooted in the underground. But as is so often the case, the most demanding and intense works are to be found there, their depth disqualifies them as offerings for the masses, this applies to metal as well as to popular music, literature or film - as always, exceptions prove the rule.

REVIEW MACERATION "SERPENT DEVOURMENT"

The Danes from Maceration released a very strong comeback album at the end of 2022 with “It never ends...”, after the band had been on ice for years following their 1992 debut album and a 95 promo release. Now, a little more than two years later, the next album by the men around Jakob Schultz, who was also active in the legendary thrash metal outfit Invocator, is already available. “It never ends...” convinced both fans and the press with its great, convincing and catchy old-school tracks (read an interview with Jakob Schultz from last year here ). Appearing once again on the great Danish label Emanzipation Productions, the extraordinary cover artwork once again shows the octopus-like underworld creature typical of Maceration. Like the artwork of the previous album, this cover was also drawn by Ola Larsson, who has once again created a wonderfully atmospheric artwork with a great light pale blue color scheme. 

REVIEW TOTAL HATE "FORTHCOMING AGE OF THE REAPER"

Total Hate from the beautiful city of Nuremberg - which, among others, have personal overlaps with the "predecessor band" Seeds of Hate (maybe not quite right, I always felt that way), the awesome Deathronation (if something came along again, that would be great...) and the now also quite well-known Goath -  honored us at the end of last year with their already sixth album called "Forthcoming Age of the Reaper" via War Anthem Records, after the predecessor "Marching towards Humanicide" was released just 21 months before the current work. In this case, quality is definitely not at the expense of quality, friends of traditional black metal sounds will hardly find anything better at the moment. The usual suspects can be mentioned here as name droppers, so anyone who counts bands like Gorgoroth, Carpathian Forest, Urgehal, Armagedda, Craft, Graven, Horna or old Darkthrone among their favorites will be perfectly served here.