.: Elitarian Music Webzine :.

Archive for the ‘2009’ Category

EMW: First off, welcome, and thanks for answering to my questions once again. This time around we’re going to start off from the end: soon, a new chapter of the ‘Ciclo delle Città’ (the interesting series of dvdreleases which document your live shows in the most evocative Italian cities) will see the light. This time,Fenice Nera paid homage to L’Aquila, the Abruzzi town notoriously devastated by the earthquake that happened some months ago, where a metal festival that featured you as a headliner also took place. Which contents are to be found in this new release?

FEARBRINGER: Hi, Cristina, and thanks for the constant interest in my work. As you said, the “Ciclo delle Città” is a complementary project of Fenice Nera that aims to collect all live material performed by Fearbringer concession. The element that characterizes all of thesedvd releases is the attention towards the graphic aspect that distinguishes them. My deep passion for history is also shown through the research and collection of ancient representations of the various towns and territories, especially xylographs, etchings,litographies.  This craze unites with the passion for historical research and need to collect my live material creating a sort of monograph for each town I visited and performed in. While the first two releases could somewhat be considered at the rate of official bootlegs, the newest Iuvetu mortuus non lacrymis sed precibus, supplicationibus et elemosynis is rather a professional dvd, I’d also dare to define it as a monumental opus if compared to nowadays’ Italian average releases on this kind of format. First off, this release is going to be a double album presented in an elegant digibook package: the dvd will feature the L’Aquila performance of September 5^th, 2009, an introduction to the title of the product, an interview and also a photogallery. I would like to make clear that I wanted to give the entire work a cinematographic connotation, thus the choice of a suggestive location for the interview, and the introduction to satisfy my hunger for ancient themes and underline the devotion to my land. The live show also presents a frantic montage, so the union of all these elements makethe vision exciting each time. As I already said, all the work was built around a collection ofL’Aquila depictions, provided through an in-depth research, and even the previously unreleased soundtrack to menu and special contents has been composed at this purpose exclusively. Instead, the cd will feature the whole live show, for about 46 minutes of running time, along with the aforementioned soundtracks available on dvd, for a total length of 30 minutes. To sum it up, it’s really a new Fearbringer release. These songs, among which the single Italia will be included as well, have been composed in honour of L’Aquila, Messina andItaly, in a patriotic impulse expressed with passion. The booklet will include the lyrics to the previously unpublished songs, some pictures of L’Aquila and a brief explaination for the concept of the songs from the live set.

EMW: From your subjective point of view, what kind of atmosphere did you find and which sensations did the exhibition of that night leave within you? Do you think there has been a song from your list that turned out to be tuned with the event and its meaning more than others? While looking back at your performance, do you think that the dvd properly captured the spirit of that evening?

FEARBRINGER: What I can tell you, is that the concert itself has been but a part of my whole experience in L’Aquila during those sad days… First there has been the travel, the documentation, the visit to the town, the narrations of those who experienced the earthquake, so I faced the journey in a very intense way. Beside the pleasure of the concert, that allows one to meet several interesting people, long time friends and also to propagandize, in this occasion I especially felt a strong sense of dedication, but, above all, the need to enter the town with bent head as a sign of respect and devotion to a land full of history and to its strong and proud inhabitants. The songs I played have been drawn from pretty much all the periods of the repertory, for sure the lyrics by themselves did not have much to do with the earthquake and its aftermath, nonetheless I believe that the proneness and feeling we had when we got onstage really meant a lot. There’s one thing I’m definitely sure, which is the fact that this release truly display these feelings of respect and patriotism I told you about. There is a sizable amount of passion within it, and I think it’s plain to perceive. I’d also like to add that the lyrics to the new songs I ideated consequently to this journey are all written in Italian, and they easily are some of the best lyrics I ever wrote.

EMW: The latest concession that came to enrich the already numerous set of projects gathered underFenice Nera’s coat of arms goes by the name of Cittadella. What can you tell me about it? Where did the need to start a new chapter in your discography come from and how would you say the musical style ofCittadella differs from that of the other concessions? Above all, what are the aspects in the history of fortifications you mean to run upon, and why is it?

FEARBRINGER: The 7^th Fenice Nera concession has a strong relation with the Ciclo delleCittà. While in the latter the in-depth examination is accomplished upon the whole urban environment, Cittadella rather shows a specific attention on the fortifications first, and then on the surroundings. Cittadella was meant as a tribute to all those ancient structures that still succeed to astonish for their perfection and lethal model of behaviour, glorious weapons and works of art. Once, every object, whether small or big, was conceived and crafted in an artistic fashion and with the purpose of lasting over times… Nowadays things are obviously not like this anymore. So, honour belongs to the knowing man and sensitive mind who conceived and set up these great deeds (Cittadella is also the concession of human genius), and to deeds themselves, which are unique and unrepeatable for the creative impetus that generated them; for some they’re just ruins or tourist attractions, to me they are pages of history, of our history…  Walls that absorbed the blood of the victorious ones, walls that witnessed the changes of time, faces, idioms, of the colour of the sky and smell of earth… And they keep on resisting in spite of everything, with an unfeigned sense of dignity, edged within the natural contexts which have been kindly granted to them by those who are in command, and respectfully and tenderly beheld by Mother Nature herself, who was not violated as it happens nowadays with factories and eco-monsters, but rather implemented and enriched by these beautiful creations by a man that doesn’t exist anymore. I’m also interested in providing links to a past condition that saw a more glorious and spiritually elevated man.

EMW: Do you think this further addition completed the general framework and definitively consolidated the complex ideological equilibriums which are at the base of Fenice Nera and of its reason to exist, or do you rather believe that your research is still far from being over?

FEARBRINGER: My current need is to consolidate the single concessions with further releases and deepenings, but what I can tell you is that there are some elements in my thinking that I need to undertake, so I can anticipate you that there are two more concessions missing.

EMW: Some concessions are keeping themselves operant, some other ones seem to have ceased their activities once and for all… I’m especially talking about Tungus – ka, which (please correct me if I’m wrong) haven’t been releasing anything in years. Is this due to the fact that, being born as an actual band with a proper line – up, this project doesn’t match the one man band formula you successfully bring forth since some time? Or is it rather because you maybe think you’ve already delved into the topics that represented the conceptual engine of the band?

FEARBRINGER: This question is giving me the chance to make clear some misunderstandings that have always been affecting this concession. Tungus – ka were my first artistic manifestation, born from the passion towards ufology of both myself and Destroyer, the drummer I started this project with at that time. From 1997 on, I wrote every lyric and guitar riff of Tungus – ka. As long as Destroyer has been sharing this course with me, he dealt with the the arrangements and recording of drum tracks (If you believe it or notand A Truth of Fear). After Destroyer (with whom I decided to cease the cooperation due to personal reasons) came Mind Extractor, who took the place of Destroyer in the arrangement and recording of drum patterns under my riffs. He took part as a session man to the making of After a Year of Silence, A Truth of Fear 2003, and two unreleased songs to be found on  NonMergitur sed Extollitur. Basically, Tungus – ka has always been a manifestation of my will, and the interpretation of it as a proper band originated from the diffusion of some promotional shoots of those days that pictured me together with Mind Extractor andDharamir; those pictures were only meant to present the live line – up, as Tungus – ka once was the project I used to bring onstage (its place being taken later on by Fearbringer). In order to dissipate any other doubt, I also add that Tungus – ka is definitely still an active concession, with which I am soon going to release a new album dedicated to the myth of Atlantis. This is the more complex among the seven projects, for its themes and collocation that places itself halfway between Fearbringer – the man – and his spiritual tendency.

EMW: Talking about Tungus – ka again, I guess the monicker’s related with the Siberian location where a mysterious yet still enigmatic event occurred in 1908…

FEARBRINGER: That’s right. Some believe it was a meteorite, some others think it rather was a flying saucer stroke by a failure. Such a heinous and charming event provided me with the right monicker for a project that started with the aim to tell about ufology, but it later became a fundamental link in the chain that settles my whole existence.

EMW: Fenice Nera’s coat of arms consists of three colours that present a certain symbolic meaning (red, white and black). Would you mind to sum it up? Moreover, would it be appropriated to hypothesize that each of the seven concessions may hold a conceptual connection with one of these three colours? What would you say the predominant colour of every concession is?

FEARBRINGER: Sure. Fenice Nera’s heraldic banner contains three colours: red, as the fire from where the phoenix arises, within the araldic field it defines the passion for divinity, in my case being Mother Nature and her laws; white, as the air that stands for purity, the moral values, ethic and rationality. The colour that is associated to the phoenix in this heraldic banner in this coat of arms is black, which represents a negative component of man, in this case being myself, so there’s no reference to mankind in general, but rather just toFearbringer as a man, within its journey to spiritual growth. This way, a cyclic process of development outlines, between the vocation towards transcendence and the appropriation of the certain values that confer worth to man. This is my life – a journey through seasons, mistakes, pedagogic pain, the joy of living this stage of existence, the studies, thephysicalness, with the aim to scour off the pitch that stains my own wings. The seven concessions allow me to organize this complex thought and in each one of them, the colours are present in equal amount.

EMW: Is there a concession among others you feel more tied to and in which you feel more involved in?

FEARBRINGER: Definitely not. Every concession sees my total involvement. Each one of them has a specific ambit of competence that within a balance that must remain unchanged in time.

EMW: A little while ago, the name of Fearbringer also drew close to an interesting initiative that goes by the name of Bianca, a pagan comic that holds a special connection with black metal underground scene. Would you like to talk about your involvement?

FEARBRINGER: With much pleasure. As you said, Bianca is a pagan comic centralized around the sensation and feelings that a certain kind of extreme music generates within the mind of its creator Gabriele Cerruto Costa. Since I first met him in early 2009, a relationship of honest support was born at once, and it also has soon flown into a project which I think it has probably never been faced seriously by any artist or band. A digibook containing an unreleased episode of Bianca, in which her cultural background will match the conceptual framework of Fenice Nera, will be released during the first months of the year 2010, and it will show a deepening of the themes I already have been dealing with, as it’s going to couple them with the imaginary context of the world of Lamina, which ideological basis perfectly merges with mine. So it will represent a pleasant digression apart from the main events of Bianca’s history, and a true deepening of Fenice Nera, with important reflections. This issue is going to be released in a digibook format, and it will contain an album with 40 minutes of new tracks composed and recorded by me for this occasion, a true graphic/musical split in a class of its own combining two elements that cannot be treated separately. A great experimentation that may please both Fearbringer and Bianca supporters. Gabriele also ideated some graphics for the next Comunità Fenice Nera concession, and in this way he surely proved to be able to provide great talent and versatility at the service of the customer.

EMW: Which bands did represent the most important inspiration for your career of musician and songwriter? Of course I’m not just strictly talking about metal music. Since you have done covers ofBathory and Darkthrone songs, I guess these two bands can fit the aforementioned category, isn’t it?

FEARBRINGER: First, you have to keep in mind that I grew up listening to several different kinds of music, and nowadays I pass from a genre to another as well without any boundaries. The two bands you listed have all my respect, albeit for different reasons: Bathory, for setting the coordinates for two subgenres of metal, such as black metal and pagan metal,Darkthrone for proving that attitude, trust in one’s actions without caring about anything else are elements that the musicians in our same field should keep in mind always. I also want to make the point that I’m especially attached to Bathory, because they have been the link between myself and a certain kind of extreme metal.  Under the Sign of the Black Mark made me realize there was a form of art that went beyond simple music, something really able to touch one’s spirit, making you face sensations never experienced before, which could not be communicated with any other type of music.

EMW: What about Ancient Skull studio? Are you running it on your own, or do you avail yourself of somebody else’s help?

FEARBRINGER: Ancient Skull was born several years ago from the urgent need to be independent in the production of my own material. As far as the recording sessions of the products are concerned, I work in total autonomy. Nevertheless it also happened that I availed myself of the help of external professionals for some recordings and mastering, but nowadays I have all that is necessary to self – manage my work at my own disposal.

EMW: The interview is over! As usual, you have the last word (and I have the last but one: thanks again)!

FEARBRINGER: Thank you, Cristina, for this intelligent interview and good luck forElitarian Music Webzine. I’d like to point out the release of the new double albumFearbringer - Iuvetur Mortuus non Lacrymis sed Precibus, Supplicationibus et Eleemosynis andCittadella – Maiestas, first release of this concession, dedicated to the fortifications theRepublic of San Marino. I invite those who are interested, to visit Fenice Nera’s official sites, www.fearbringer.com and www.myspace.com/fearbringer07 for further updates, or to e – mail me in order to require any information.

EMW: Hi, Gabriele, and welcome on EMW. Perhaps it should be my duty to explain the readers the presence of a comics author on an extreme metal (with a sharp tendency towards black metal) webzine, but in this case, who better than yourself could explain the apparently unsuspected connection between your brainchild Bianca and this kind of music?

G. C. Costa: First off, I’d like to thank you for the space you’re granting to my Bianca. Even if you wouldn’t tell by her kind of ‘manga’ appearance, she often finds herself at ease among black metal savants rather than inveterate comics’ enthusiastics – and here I link to your question: you talk about an ‘apparently unsuspected connection’, the one between my comics and black metal culture… Indeed. Those who open a volume of Bianca, find themselves dealing with weird beast-faced beings, pseudo steam-punk atmospheres, arcane machineries and big robotic hapes dressed in papal garments. In short, no burning churches (ehm… almost), chopped goat heads or Viking pillagings are to be found in Bianca’s stories, and I’m making this clear especially for those who still have a somewhat static and retrograde view on black metal. Yet a deeper analysis would start to disclose graphic connexions with certain extreme metal: for example, the obstinate use of black and white, or even the Bianca logo, which can remind of the logos found in black metal ambit, but, above all, the constant presence of mighty nature that overhangs the creatures within my stories and wraps them up. As the slogan ‘Underground Pagan Comic’ (placed on every issue of ‘Bianca’) suggests, the true connection with black metal has to be seeked within the philosophical/spiritual field. And the task of grasping it is up to the reader/extreme music lover.
EMW: In ‘Bianca’, the approach to paganism is lived in a primordial and silent manner, do you think this kind of connotation may somehow represent a sort of antithesis to the growing ‘spectacularization’ of paganism which is gaining ground within the metal scene?

G. C. Costa: It’s plain to see that the paganism in ‘Bianca’ is not made of beer fests and metal revelries. However, as you hint, this festive way of intending paganism mostly belongs to the actual metal world. I feel more tuned with the black metal scene, especially the most underground and transcendental one. The paganism in Bianca is primitive, wild and bashful. It is the total absence of any institutionalized religious worship, a communion with cosmos, the renouncement to a wrong humanocentric mentality, the awareness of the fact that the breath of a human being matters as much as the breath of a tree – the difference is that men need the breath of trees, but not vice versa.
EMW: Do you think your visual representation of your way of intending black metal ideology may result in a starting-point of thinking over for all of those who are involved in this movement?

G. C. Costa: Uhm… In a nutshell, we could say that, with Bianca, I have offered an ideal representation of the concept of ‘black metal’, through the image of a completely white creature with youthly features, often naked and depicted in animal attitudes, surrounded by a mighty and savage nature. This representation could also get a feeling of ‘atavic’ sweetness across the reader, and pretty much moves away from what is normally associated to black metal movement, still it seems to me like a symbolic representation of the purity of black metal itself. Bianca is like a Paysage d’Hiver riff! See, just as I write down these lines thinking about my pagan brainchild, I myself am brought to think over black metal and its culture, therefore I hope I have been able to prime such mental constructions within the minds of extreme music followers, too! Moreover, it wouldn’t be bad at all as a goal, to arouse, through Bianca, the curiosity of the readers who have nothing to do with the hermetic and harsh world of black metal. Mostly because, according to me at least, several present black metal acts provide a sound that transcends black metal sonorities turning into pure sonic experience.
EMW: If I’m not wrong, you already had many chances of introducing Bianca to a non properly black metal audience (I’m especially talking about the prestigious editions of Lucca Comics you took part to), gaining an excellent feedback. In your opinion, what’s the key of success of Bianca among the average ‘normal’ readers? ….

G. C. Costa: For sure her uncommon and alien nature. You can barely cathegorize Bianca in a precise comics’ subgenre, and my own stroke does not immediately show references to other authors. This wasn’t meant as a boasting, however, rather as a realization based on the comments by those who have read ‘Bianca’. Her innate diversity is actually rooted in a very simple factor: Bianca was born from my listenings rather that from my readings, and this apparently makes her at least a bit unique. This characteristic of her makes me quite proud, and made me meet some deep-thinking and careful readers… And this is also the characteristic that is probably going to keep Bianca from reaching the mass audience!

EMW: Would you like to list the various chapters (‘rituals’) of Bianca’s history that you published so far?

G. C. Costa: Sure I would, and indeed I’d also seize my chance to shed light upon the most obscure issues.- First ritual: “Il Regno d’Inverno”; this is Bianca’s actual debut, it was published by Absoluteblack editions in 2008. It’s a tale of 32 pages, without talks, structured as a sort of pagan rite.- Second ritual: “Eisprinzessin”; the number of pages duplicates, arriving to 64, and the contents get deeper. The world of Lamina, with its inhabitants, culture and landscapes, starts to loom. The narration gets more adventurous and explicitly anti – religious. The volume has been shown at Lucca 2009! Beside the main issues (‘albums’), there are also some ‘mini albums’ (to remark the link with the world of music), which are short rituals with a symbolistic connotation. Here they are:- Zero ritual “Il Risveglio di Bianca”, a seven pages history presented on the issue number 2 of Concrete magazine by Absoluteblack, subsequently made available for download from Bianca’s MySpace page. - “Foresta di Spettri”, a very dark ritual available on Concrete 3, again published on Absolute Black.- “Mond”, a ritual of twelve pages printed on ivory paper and hand-bound by myself, available with the limited edition of “Eisprinzessin” (fifty copies).

I’d like to specify that every issue of Bianca is self-conclusive and can be read autonomously, which is something I’m going to keep in the future issues.
EMW: Among the next issues of the series, a cooperation with Fearbringer and his Fenice Nera is also scheduled. What is it going to be about?

G. C. Costa: This is a meaningful and original project about which both me and Fearbringer care very much. It’s a real fusion of comics and extreme music, a Bianca tale based on Fenice Nera’s music’s atmospheres will be put side by side to an actual album of Fearbringer songs. In the tale itself, Bianca will be joined by the bianc-esque version of Fearbringer, the Black Phoenix King, who will officially enter the world of Lamina! The releasedate for this opus is set for the first months of 2010, and if you visit the MySpace page www.myspace.com/fearbringercomics you can already take a look to the drawings I’ve made for the character Fenice Nera.
EMW: Are there other black metal artists who whet your artistic vein? Who would you like to start a similar cooperation with in the future, and why? Even dreams are allowed!

G. C. Costa: There’s plenty of black metal artists who provide inspiration for Bianca’s stories, but I must admit I think acts such as Striborg, Drudkh, Paysage d’Hiver and Darkspace would really suit my little pagan creature because of their unique and dazing sonic language, characterized by horizontal melodic progression that transcend black metal to become pure primordial sound. This fits ‘Bianca’ quite a lot! As for ‘dreams’, it would be awesome if Lunar Aurora could come back on the scene to write songs for Bianca… I must say, that, moving away from the extreme field, one of these ‘impossibly impossible’ cooperation could come true as well. It’s not something that’s going to happen very soon, but I want to reveal the name anyway: Martin Walkyier!
EMW: Do you think you’ve somehow embarked upon a sort of ‘journey’, if we can call it so, that brings you to evolve in parallel with your character (Bianca)? What kind of changes have been brought in your life by a cathartic process such as giving life to a product of your creativity?

G. C. Costa: For Sure, Bianca, during her albeit so far short progress, has already provided a large amount of satisfaction. First of all I have to thank her for bringing me to start to contrive with pencils on a daily basis again, after a two years period of disinterestedness and disillusion. Bianca also opened the doors of the comics’ world to me (and, talking about this, I have to thank Absoluteblack’s Luca Belloni for welcoming Bianca while she still was at an embryonic stage), and allowed me to get in touch with musicians whom I esteem and who return my own admiration. Above all, the biggest satisfaction comes from the awareness of having created something more than a ‘cartoon’: Bianca is also a projection of a part of myself, a very uncommon, silent, primitive and feminine part! Bianca and her world are constantly evolving, even when the pencil doesn’t touch the sheet. And every blow delivered from Bianca together with the Picco brotherhood against the church of emperor Gibbone surely is a source of satisfaction and personal enrichment to me!
EMW: Beside comics, what else do you like to read? Are there any specific authors you appreciate? Could we say Bianca was also influenced by some kind of literature?

G. C. Costa: I’m kind of an atypical reader when it comes to books. While being utterly curious for new comics’ issues (and even more for musical releases), I barely enter a book store searching for something new. I’m very selective with books, there are a few ones I truly appreciate and always come back to. For example, I’m very fond of classic fantasy literature: Howard and Tolkien for sure, but above all Moorcock, who sketched out, with Elric, a fundamental character for my idea of fantasy. Lankhmar cycle by Fritz Leiber I also find very amusing and witty, too bad it’s almost totally unknown in Italy, and I also think Lovecraft’s inventions are fundamental. Instead I find quite revolting the fantasy-soap-opera à la Zimmer Bradley and quite sickening Terry Brooks’ serial sagas. Other books I like to read over and over are: Sayings and Contradictions by Karl Kraus, The Dawn by Nietzsche, Why we cannot be Christians (much less catholics) by Piergiorgio Odifreddi, God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne, and Lao Tse’s Tao Che Ching. There’s probably a bit of all of this in Bianca!
EMW: I read that, beside black metal, you’re also into rock music in general. What are your all-time favourite rock bands?

G. C. Costa: Ah! Where did you take this one from? Well, anyway that’s right, I’m a huge rock fan, and I’ve been collecting records since fifteen years now! Moreover, after the smarting passion for norse black metal during early 90’s, and the total loss of interest for this genre during the symphonic black metal era, it was the consequent exploration of the wide rock spectrum that rekindled my attention towards black metal a couple of years ago. Getting back to ‘extreme’ sounds with a non-metal conscience has been regenerating, as discovering how underground black metal had in the meanwhile given up to all of its properly metal vestiges! To avoid an endless list, I name a few bands I’ve lately been listening to (excluding black metal): Cathedral (a band I’ve always been fond of!), Hawkwind, Broadcast (awesome electro/psych/pop act), Supergrass, Skyclad, The Gates of Slumber, Placebo, Coroner, Mogwai, Judas Priest. But, if you really want me to name a rock album, my personal highlight of this year has to be Black Crowes’ outstanding double album, “Before The Frost… Until The Freeze”!
EMW: And now, the last question: what’s in the future of Bianca?

G. C. Costa: I’m already at work on the last Bianca ritual, ‘Microcosmo, which will be produced in occasion of Lucca Comics 2010. Once again, the volume will be sixty-four pages long, and there will also be new characters and populations, such as the Inquisitors and the Army of Pigeons. There will even be a little novelty: the cover is going to be coloured (… not so much, a single tonalty!). In order to appease the wait, I’ve also scheduled a very special little volume. Further news will be announced on Bianca’s MySpace profile!
EMW: Many thanks for fulfilling my curiosity, you have the last word!

G. C. Costa: First of all, I’d like to remind that, proudly being Absoluteblack a self-produced and self-distributed publishing, the best way to request Bianca for those who may be interested would be to get in touch with me through her MySpace page ( www.myspace.com/biancapagana ) or to request a copy from the publishing house website ( www.absoluteblack.net ). Beside that, I let the master Sin Nanna end this interview in place of myself, reminding you all that ‘Black Metal is the Forest Calling’!

[Another rather old interview - one of the very first ones, dating back to Dordeduh's very onsets. Despite the fact that I had deliberately chose not to delve too much into the conversation not to bother my interlocutor, this is an interview I truly treasure.]

EMW: Hello, and thanks very much for accepting to answer our questions. You’re currently busy with the recording sessions of Dordeduh’s debut release, which kind of turn is the new material taking, musically speaking? Is the music of Dordeduh going to keep some kind of connection with your black metal roots?

Hupogrammos: Hello! The pleasure’s mine as well. Yes, we are currently busy with the studio job. We will actually record two songs that will be released on a 7’vinyl, printed in a limited edition probably, that will be hopefully available for 24^th of January, the date of our first live appearance. At the same time we are in the middle of the composing process for our first full length album, “Dardeduh”. Musically but also conceptually, the band’s direction will represent a natural continuation of our work invested in Negura Bunget. Judging by what we composed by now, I can already say that musically and conceptually things changed, although it is very difficult to capture the final vibe to represent the music of Dordeduhwhile we are still in the middle of song writing. Appreciating based on our previous experience, things can change drastically in terms of form and vibration, every instrument added during the composing process bringing its own contribution to the overall result. The only thing that I can tell at this moment is that the songs are the most organic musical pieces that we ever wrote. As far as our musical and conceptual roots into the black metal field are concerned, I can say that things were reshaped into a new form but they are still there and probably they will always will be, but I think this aspect was adapted to the nowadays direction and necessities; by this I mean that every pulse and every wave of global predispositions affect generations in different ways. Black metal was more than essential for the 90’s and it belongs to that period. It defines some moods and experiences particular for those days and I believe that back then there were people to express those things very well, even though most of them were not even fully aware of the things that they were expressing. Nowadays things are different; there are different necessities in terms of collective consciousness and of human experiences. The speed of inner experience changed. The expression of the black metal concept transformed too and I feel that at least in my case it would be a pity to not accept the new predisposition. This aspect of the world’s development and change will be noticeable also musically and I think that more and more bands will accept such a provocation, while others will still preserve the initial path, and that’s the way things should be.

EMW: Do you still perceive some kind of spiritual connection with those which are the principles of black metal and do you still consider it as an appropriate vehicle to express the interest towards the esoteric disciplines?

Hupogrammos: Black metal changed many lives in many ways. But very few chose an esoteric path through black metal. I am one of them. This does not represent an advantage or a disadvantage; it is just a predisposition. In my case, back metal stays at the basics of my esoteric education and it will remain like that forever. Besides my personal affinity with it, I see black metal as one of the most competent and effective principles ever, applicable to every aspect of life and not only to music. These principles affect directly the quality of one’s expression. Like this, one’s way of expressing becomes something more related to a set of behavioural conducts that, in time and through practice, can become a natural option for acting.

EMW: Are the incoming albums with Dordeduh going to further the conceptual evolution you were achieving with your previous band’s albums in an on-going way of continuation?

Hupogrammos: Until now every album that we made represented, besides a step forward to a new musical achievement, a goal and a provocation in our personal development. It was also an illustration of our capacity to materialize our concepts and our musical ideas and to weave them together.  In this regard things are not different in the case of this new challenge that lies in front of us.

EMW: Again it seems there will be room for traditional instruments as well; did your approach with the influences of Romanian musical tradition undergo some kind of variation that will also affect your way to integrate these instruments into your music?

Hupogrammos: What it will be a bit different is the musical approach. At the same time I don’t think that the listener will feel there are any drastic changes compared to “OM”. I would like to point out an aspect that was somehow misunderstood. We (Sol Faur and I )were never really big fans of Romanian traditional music, but we really enjoy musical variety expressed through different instruments. It is a real pleasure to experiment with different instruments, every instrument inserting into the music its own vibe.

EMW: Speaking about Romanian traditional instruments again, I think one of the most interesting ones you ever used is the long, wooden horn you also used to bring onstage, one of its main denominations should be tulnic if I’m not wrong. I know that it’s an instrument with a very ancient history and a strong symbolic connotation, so I’d like to have some more precise elucidation about it.

Hupogrammos: Yes, you’re right. It is called tulnic. It is an instrument that belongs to a specific geographical space, the Apuseni Mountains. That area is probably my favourite part of Romania, geographically and culturally speaking. These mountains are really pleasant and welcoming, they are not very high (less then 2000 m), with a very diverse relief and the autumn is simply a joy for the eyes over there. Culturally, it is a place that conserves traditions and habits older then 2000 years. How long this instrument has been used, nobody really knows. But what I can tell you is that it was used especially with the purpose of communicating information, through different signals, from one mountain side to the other. The instrument doesn’t allow a big range of diversity while playing because you cannot perform more then 5 concrete notes all through, but it allows you an interesting and unique way of expressing emotion. Esoterically speaking, it is an instrument that extracts its primordial energy from the earth, it leads it through all the energetic spheres of the human body and releases it through the air. It is an instrument that purifies the human consciousness by circulating the energy of the earth through the body. Playing this instrument brings also a curative result.  It would be nice to remind people that in the Romanian areal there is another instrument of the same family of instruments, looking the same as tulnic, but providing different sonorities. It is called bucium or trambita and it has the same utilization as the tulnic, to communicate and to cure at the same time. Bucium belongs to the Moldavian geographical zone (one of the three Romanian areas, one being Transilvania, one Valachiaand one Moldavia) and more precisely to Bucovina (the northern part of Moldavia). It can also be found in the Ukrainian territory.

EMW: The bandname itself looks more like a compound word made of different terms from Romanian language that hint a nuanced and distinguishing concept, would you give us a closer explaination of it?

Hupogrammos: The name of the band is comprised of two words, very rich in signification in our language: “dor” and “duh”. The regular meaning of the word is the word “dor” resonates directly from the solar centre into the entire human body and it drives the way of the heart.  It is translated as missing, yearning or longing for something; a sort of deep nostalgia for something ungraspable, an intuition that transcends the borders of the casual perception and goes far to a dimensionality already forgotten by the contemporaneous human being. It is a word overwhelming for the heart with a recall of an experience from a subconscious contend which can go back to a lost primordial or even archetypal state, where the human soul can reach its belongings. There is no doubt that the way of our heart is one of the few things that make us human. And humanity represents one of the aspects thatDordeduh wants to promote through the music.  The other aspect is described by the second word included into the band’s name: “duh”. This word can be translated as “spirit”, sometimes the “soul of the spirit” and it can be taken as a synonym for the word “consciousness”. It is often related with the airy or insubstancial state of the spirit that describes something transcendent. It also represents an attribute for all types of supernatural beings, forces, and it often can describe a ghost’s or a phantom’s immaterial form. At the same time it can define the one’s inner state, but the most important aspect of this word is that it refers to the ethereal substance of every living consciousness. It is the living glint of the universe that lies deep inside of every being. In this universe, all that is alive and has a wears and consists of “duh”. These two words are best describing the relation between humanity, seen as our autenthic nature, and everything else existing in our universe, all connected through this etereal common substance that is the spirit.

EMW: What about the choice of involving not one, but two different drummers (Thelemnar and SergioPonti)? Moreover, while the relation with Thelemnar may result quite obvious, I’d like to know how did the cooperation with Sergio start.

Hupogrammos: I consider drums and percussions the heart of the band, because they regulate and adjust the temporality that you want to deliver. It’s the engine of the band, the one that makes you move; and I always wanted more diversity on the drum / percussion section. So the idea of having two drummers that share the percussions was quite an obvious choice for us. We still have to see how this possibility can work in the live shows because it takes a lot of effort and planning to make it happen.  We met Sergio while we were touring in UK. He was there with Ephel Duath and even if we didn’t had too many conversations during that tour, we stayed in contact; then when Dordeduh came into being, he was the first drummer that I contacted. He’s a professional drummer, a very kind and pleasant person and what I really liked about his drumming is that he’s not a metal drummer, even though he played in metal bands. This was one of the aspects that I was looking for, especially for having the possibility to create authentic contrasts. One thing is to ask a metal drummer to play some rock grooves for example, and another thing is to have a rock drummer who performs rock grooves by default. The result can be edificatory.

EMW: Dordeduh’s first gig ever is about to take place in occasion of a special night named Echoes from Transcendence Evening, scheduled for January the 24^th, 2010 in Bucharest. I guess it means something important for you as it will be the first chance of introducing your new brainchild to the audience, how are you feeling in expectation of this concert?

Hupogrammos: Yes, that’s true; it will be a special evening where two bands will play live for the first time. We are looking forward to be on the stage again and to present to the audience something representative for Dordeduh; actually this is our main preoccupation, besides preparing and organising things for the show. We are aware that people expect a lot from us and the media is highly involved, which puts a sort of pressure on our shoulders. Anyway, we prepare ourselves intensively for the show and I hope that it will turn out to be a nice beginning for both bands.

EMW: Will there be any chances for Dordeduh to come to Italy throughout 2010?

Hupogrammos:  I hope so. After our first album will be out, we will arrange for a tour to promote it. Hopefully we will be invited to play in Italy too. But for the moment I can’t give you any concrete dates.

EMW: When I received a newsletter concerning the reissue of Negura Bunget’s Maiastru Sfetnic, I’ve also noticed that, within your statement about this re – release, you also listed the monicker of another brand new band named Sunset In The 12th House as your new upcoming project together with Dordeduh, what can you tell me about it?

Hupogrammos : Yes. Sunset in the 12th House is a completely new band that started for a long time in my mind and that was materialized as a project with a couple of people fromDordeduh and some other musicians that I crossed by during the time. It is more about the fruit of a musical and cultural community that was born as a result of our journeys in different places of the world. This project gathers the finest people I’ve ever met into one band with very wide cultural horizons. This cultural aspect will be represented also conceptually through a large variety of mystical believes coming from a multitude of cultures.  Musically, it is a rock based band that uses lots of instruments from different cultural areal fields, with some extreme metal infusions and lots of psychedelic vibes. I can tell you already a couple of concrete things about this project: we prepare a promo for Sunset in the 12th House that will be released next spring and after this the first album will be scheduled for the end of 2010. I would like to organize a couple of shows with this band but it will be very difficult to bring all the people in one place for these events. But time will tell…

EMW: The next question’s going to be more about the ‘pragmatic’ side, how is the current situation inRomania nowadays and what advice would you give to a person who wanted to move there?

Hupogrammos: I think it depends on the perspective of interest but I think Romania is following a general European trend. Some things may be better here, other worse. I can’t tell you too many things from a financial or political perspective (which are not subject to my interest), but I can tell you about the cultural and social perspective which are not very bright. In this crisis period, crisis seems to be the only thing that counts, so cultural projects represent no interest and have no support at all. Everybody is concerned about money and how to get it. Anyway, the cultural matters have been in a huge decay for the last years inRomania and this affected the education and erudition of people. From this regard things are looking very bad in Romania. But I think at the same time there is a cultural descend trend in Europe and we are following the general context, which I’ve noticed all over the continent. My advice would be to move into the mountain area, where one can enjoy a quite beautiful and unique nature and be far from any urban buzz. If there’s any anthropological interest one should search for what remained from the local traditions.

EMW: The questions are over, is there anything else you’d like to add in conclusion?

Hupogrammos: I thank you for your interest and support and I would like to invite people to keep an eye on our activities at www.dordeduh.com (the official website is under construction at the moment) and www.myspace.com/officialdordeduh.

[Interview answered by Mickael André, bass player of the band, a couple of weeks after the debut album release.]

EMW: You’ve just released your first album Hydra Lernaïa, through the worldwide famous label Metal Blade. How would you describe the evolution of the sound of the band since the debut Ep The never ending whirl of confusion?

Mickael André : We, in the band, all agree that everything on this record has pushed further than the E.P; I mean there is much more melody, much more aggression, I think we can feel much more expression from these songs that sounds richer, It’s also due to the difference between a 25 minutes E.P and a 55 minutes album, , the E.P was a kind of introduction to the band, I think most of the people who have heard the EP were having an idea about the band’s evolution, we have many musical directions that we will keep exploring through our next records.

EMW: Are you satisfied with the result of your work? Do you think that something might have been improved as well?

M. : Concerning Hydra Lernaïa we feel quite satisfied with the whole feeling coming out from this album, I mean songs, lyrics, sound and artwork are what we wanted it to be at this time. Since the band is working hard and so evolving some of us think that the drum sound could have been different but we did it this way so focusing on the next record I think it will be one of our main goals, trying to get this drum sound we want now, something more “roomy” because it’s important for the dynamic of a song to feel these variations of intensity coming from the drum or even the guitars, it’s something that is quite rare in a metal record and something we’re more and more focusing on.

EMW: The songs on ‘Hydra Lernaïa’ are all quite long and articulated, any particular reason for this choice?

M. : Hard to say and always a great band discussion. Finding a kind of equilibrium to a song is quite hard, most of the songs on Hydra Lernaïa have been worked during a long time trying to make them sounds “finished” I mean we were’nt trying to put all our ideas into one song but we wanted each one to be strong and at that time it was by including a lot of details into each parts, I don’t know what it means when it comes to songwriting but one more time that’s the way we did it. A song like “Through Dark Skies” is a kind of reaction to that creation process I think, this is one of the last songs we wrote for the record and when Yann (one of the guitar player) came with the main riff we felt like it was time for building a song around a strong melody and everything came pretty quick, It showed us that there was time for complex structures, time signatures and guitar riffs and times for more straight forward songs…

EMW: Do you think you will ever be emphasizing the dark and sick atmosphere of your music by the use of any other kind of instrument or the adoption of different stylistic solutions?

M.: Totally I guess, there are a lot of ideas about trying to emphasize this feeling with different sounds but we have to be careful with keeping it homogeneous and usable on stage, we have a lot of things to try with the band but we’re not sure about when…But it can also comes from the lyrics and the artwork, it’s something truly exciting to think about all the possibilities like the video we did for the song “The Decline And The Fall” it’s really where we want to go, trying to create something strong and close to what we fell deep inside of us.

EMW: The lyrics of ‘Hydra Lernaïa’ album show an unusual and interesting approach towards the subject of human feelings, using the mythological nine – headed water beast of the title as a metaphorical symbol of them. Considering that, as told in the myth, the only way to prevent regeneration of the heads has been to scorch the neck stumps after decapitation, dare we say that the lyrics may represent a sort of ‘invite’ for the reader, to reach the deep origin of the most hidden and undesirable feelings, in order to nullify them?

M.: You’re pretty close to what Mathieu (our singer) wanted to express but this idea of nullify them by going closer to our inner feelings could be opposed to the fact that the more you fight against them and the more they grow stronger, that’s also about the Hydra Lernaïa mythological episode when heads are growing multiplied after cutting them down. Funny that most of the people talking with us about these lyrics have taken it by this side while you have taken it by the “right side” if I can say it like that, you must probably be an optimistic person!!

EMW: What kind of concepts are you going to explore within your next releases?

M.: It’s a bit early to speak about it but from what I could read in rehearsal, Mathieu is actually writing something more open on what’s happening around him, Hydra Lernaïa was very self-centered, it was about his personal feelings and what he was going through at this time, and it seems that it’s time for him to look around him, he’s always trying to find an kind of guiding line for his lyrics and as a very sensitive person he feels very worried about what he see around him each day, it’s of course everyone’s life but I think it’s very intense for him as a human being.

EMW: You seem to perform gigs on a regular basis, although your music has not the typical ‘easy listening’ sound that is supposed to suit the live situation, so I would like to ask, what happens during an Eryn Non Dae concert? What’s the main factor that allows you to involve the audience in your music when you play live?

M.: We’re very conscious about the difficulties for someone that doesn’t know the songs before to feel involved in our music at the first time, some manage to and other don’t. I think some songs are more catchy than others on stage but beyond that our shows are often described as intense, I guess that’s the reason why some people manage to love the band at the first sight, but we can’t lie on stage we just let the music play its role on us and on the audience and if it works, great and if it doesn’t, no matter we’ve been honest with our self and with our music, I don’t know it’s quite hard to answer that since I can’t see Eryn Non Dae on stage but why not make us come to Italy to check that?! Haha!

EMW: Do you guys currently manage to live on music or do you have ‘normal’ jobs instead?

M.: We’re a little new coming band and we’re really really far from getting a single euro from Eryn Non Dae. Or even any other musical activities since none of us are teaching music or recording bands or whatever, the little money that comes from gigs or merch are used to pay other merch or the studio or the artwork or anything a band has to pay for. We all have regular jobs. And to be really honest I just can’t imagine how anybody making extreme metal is able to live only with the band activities or maybe with touring 365 days a year…

EMW: What’s your opinion about nowadays’ metal music industry? The main care of the public opinion seems to be the damaging consequences of file sharing and such, but what about the huge major labels’ profits and the notable business mechanisms that came to characterize the on – high environments of metal music?

M.: Well I think it’s a part of the game, as a musician it’s always sad to hear guys from a label saying about a band who is looking for a record deal “It’s a great album but who will buy that?” and I’ve already heard that. If it’s not totally emo or any other style that can be easily defined labels just don’t want to take the risk but of course we all understand why, labels have to get back the money they put in a band but it’s more and more often with depends on quality and creative bands. And then finally as huge music fan the most important thing is the music! Since I didn’t knew the music business 20 years ago I can’t really make a comparison but nowadays I’m not sure about huge profits with a metal band unless you are Slipknot or Metallica but the main thing for a band coming into the business is to know what they want and what they don’t want, it’s easy for everyone to criticize music industry and major labels but if you really know what you want you are free to step in or not. I guess my opinion will change later with a few bad experiences with labels…haha… one more time we are more focused on writing music for the moment.

EMW: Well, the interview is over! Thanks for your time, is there anything else you’d like to say in conclusion, to your fans and supporters?
M.: Thanks a lot for your questions and it’s already been told but if you are interested in Eryn Non Dae. Or any other band go buy the albums and come to the shows because these are the most important things when you like a band.
Thanks !