Metal Army caught up via email with GRAND MAGUS front man JB. The band has an excellent new album out, The Hunt, their first for Nuclear Blast. JB is never shy about his feelings on many topics and it was cool to touch base with him about what is going on with the band.
MAA: Please tell us about the writing process of The Hunt?
JB: The Hunt was a bit different than our past records because of the drummer situation. We knew that Sebastian (Sippola) as going to leave the band so we needed someone else to play on the album. At the same time we had tours booked that Sebastian had committed to do, so we couldn’t just bring in someone new for the writing. Anyway, three of the songs were written – jammed together- by me, Fox and Sebastian. The rest were written mainly by me and some by Fox and me.
MAA: The sound of the album is very crisp and analog sounding. What did you do in the studio to achieve that balance?
JB: Nothing special, just avoiding all kinds of triggers and sound replacements. All you hear on The Hunt is miked up drums and cabs, nothing else. I guess that makes it sound more analog, because it is, haha! Seriously, it’s weird to me that so many have reacted at the sound, that kind of shows how crazy the current standard of sound is. Super compressed, all replaced and streamlined to the max. This is something we wanted to avoid. The Hunt is meant to be played loud on a proper stereo. I guess this is not that common anymore.
GRAND MAGUS.
MAA: What has Ludde Witt (SPIRITUAL BEGGARS) added to the writing process since joining the band?
JB: He hasn’t really had a chance yet, like I explained above. He certainly contributed with his drumming on the album, that’s his vision entirely. On the next album, I’m sure he’ll be part of the actual writing too.
MAA: The band have always had such a classic early metal sound. After ten years do you think people have caught up to the sound of the band?
JB: Yeah, it’s about time too, haha!
MAA: Your vocals seem to be more powerful than ever lately. Who are some of your influences as a singer?
JB: RJD (RONNIE JAMES DIO), DAVID COVERDALE, ERIC ADAMS, ROB HALFORD…. You know, the classics… also JOHN LAWTON, PAUL RODGERS… too many to mention really, haha.
MAA: Tracks like “Valhalla Rising” and “Son of the Last Breath” really tell great stories. What was the inspiration behind these songs?
JB: Personal experiences in both those cases actually. I’ve always tried to follow the Scandinavian story telling tradition in my lyrics. The Hunt as a whole deals with man’s relation to nature in general and The Wolf in particular.
MAA: What are the touring plans for the near future?
JB: We’re doing festivals in Europe this summer and then we’ll tour in the fall. We’re actually doing our first transatlantic gig ever in the fall: we’re going to Calgary, Canada. Hopefully we can do some US dates within the near future as well.
MAA: Sweden is always known for so many great bands. Who are your favorite bands among your countrymen?
JB: BATHORY, UNLEASHED, DISMEMBER, ENTOMBED, MARDUK, NIFELHEIM, DISSECTION, WATAIN… there are more… Swedish metal bands in general are excellent players and songwriters I think.
Welcome to the newest feature here at Metal Army America, one we’re really excited about! Two of our esteemed writers will tackle a controversial subject in metal and debate each side of an argument. Each topic will be examined like an experiment, analyzed philosophically and pontificated on like …..like a pontiff! (Editor’s note: bad pun intended, sorry.) Well, maybe if that pontiff was Papa Emeritus of GHOST! A thoughtful debate between Metal Army America writers on topics concern metal music, its culture and the fans is what we are aiming for. These debates won’t always be as simple as pro versus con since issues like these are rarely cut and dry. Our hope is you will read these blogs and join in the conversation (respectfully, always) with us here in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
And…. here….. we….. go!
RELIGION AND METAL:
Keith (Keefy) Chachkes: I have always been fascinated with the role religion plays in music, specifically metal. BLACK SABBATH was really the first band I learned of as a child who exploited people’s fears of religion in their music. This was pretty potent to the listener when their use of the tri-tone (“The Devil’s note”) was heard in their first recorded notes ever, gave birth to metal. They had songs about Witchcraft and Satanism, while constantly warning against the false righteousness of the other side. Original black metal bands like VENOM and CELTIC FROST were outwardly evil sounding and promoted The Devil as the enemy of normal society, and the prowess of the occult over anything else. This has influenced everything that has happened in heavy music in the last thirty years.
American bands like EXODUS, SLAYER and POSSESED were the next generation bands to reference it heavily, often pitting Christianity against metal as a whole. Most of the old-school death metal bands, when they weren’t fixated on gore, were quite blasphemous (hats off to you DEATH & GLEN BENTON!). Being anti-religion of any kind is enough to get you censored and threatened with jail in most societies, just ask NERGAL of Behemoth or the guys from WATAIN. From church burning Norwegian bands in the 1990′s to modern Neo-folk/Pagan Metal, your favorite Norse/Viking metal bands, modern black and death metal bands and even the recent “occult rock” bands all use religion to attract fans, draw endless topics for songs and define themselves.
“Jesus, you say? I don’t believe we’ve met.”
With all the energy spent on hating Jude-Christian values, there is a flip side rarely talked about by fans. If religions didn’t exist, what would they be angry at? I’m sure there would still be plenty of shitty things in the world to sing about if there were no religion. Personally, I can enjoy the music of bands like THE CHARIOT, FOR TODAY, and MY CHILDREN MY BRIDE who use their music as a platform to promote their beliefs, even if I find the on stage preaching distasteful. They certainly have a right to do it, as does NILE to talk about ancient Sumerian beliefs, as does CHTHONIC does to discuss their historic religious culture in a modern political context. It’s all good to me and makes a more interesting world of heavy music to listen to and write about.
Dave Williams: Since being handed this assignment, I’ve been struggling somewhat with my potential approach. For those who know me only superficially, my position should seem obvious. My feelings on religion (Christianity in general) are quite public, and I play in a band that exists solely to question/attack the theistic masses.
Was this a good thing or a bad thing?
That said, there is the part of me that very strongly believes that music’s true purpose (particularly in the case of metal, hardcore, punk, and any other ‘rebel’ music) is the unbridled expression of our passions, regardless of what those might be. As members of these subcultures, we have always been beacons for free speech, and to draw lines as to who should be allowed to say what seems rather hypocritical…
However, then there is my true stance on this matter: Metal (and again, hardcore/punk/etc) was born as a reactionary position against the purveying herd mentality of the Western hemisphere (and has obviously expanded its scope quite significantly since), and part of that mentality, undeniably, is the pox upon our species that is Christianity. For eons, the befuddled masses have commandeered and swept countless cultures and histories under the proverbial rug, and the co-opting of rebel music as a form of ‘praise’ is simply another example of the slow, steady trampling of the world’s beauty beneath the lumbering feet of a billion filthy, bleating sheep.
(I should mention that my feelings on the presence of other ‘religions’ within the genre are not quite as strong. Granted, this is inevitably somewhat personal as Christianity simply hits closer to home, but as I attribute nearly all of the modern world’s ills to the spread of the Christian disease, any counterpoint is at least slightly welcome)
To melodramatically drive my point home, I leave you with this: To me, metal is the Cerberus-guarded gates that separate true humanity from celestial, dead-eyed lunatics. Metal is the fucking nails that bind their fictional savior to the planks that adorn a billion fools’ walls the world over. Simply put, metal is a pure expression of freedom (in an entirely non-patriotic, non-nationalist sense), and spiritual surrender is its fundamental opposition. Follow Metal Army contributor Dave Williams at: his website and on Twitter.
WATAIN front man Erik Danielsson sat down with Metal Army America on their tour bus at the next to last show of the just completed Decibel Magazine Tour as direct support for BEHEMOTH. Erik is on of the most focused, intense and articulate musicians we have ever met and we chatted about many different topics. We touched on conservative attitudes towards the band in the US and abroad, the bands’ career up to now, controversy, the notoriety that comes with critical acclaim, their next album and their new DVD, Opus Diaboli.
(Special thanks to Erik Danielsson, WATAIN and Earsplit PR)
Erebus Enthroned-Night’s Black Angel (Seance Records)
Showcasing confidently the fruits of their persistence and hard labor, this debut full length from Australia’s Erebus Enthroned hearkens back to black metal’s moody second wave, while also harnessing the devilish violence for which their country’s metal is known.
Sounding somewhere in between Mayhem and Watain stylistically, Erebus Enthroned utilize twisted chords and pitch black atmosphere to drive home their demonic metal, anchored by the capable pummeling of drummer Versipellis. Night’s Black Angel also benefits from a warm, organic production, with said skins sounding very un-clicky in the mix, a fact which only helps lift Erebus Enthroned above their fellow newcomers in terms of vintage, old school feeling.
The old flame certainly burns bright within the hearts of Erebus Enthroned, although it’s clear that the band have their creative sights set firmly on making sure the black metal here on Night’s Black Angel sounds neither stagnant nor stuffy. Instead, ‘balance’ serves as the key word here; a mission to deftly handle evocative stylistic nods to De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas while peppering the infernal mix with enough of its own brutal approach to emerge from the black metal races with heads held high and fists aloft. A promising debut with potential.
Although France’s Glorior Belli started out live in ’95 as an orthodox-minded black metal act of the utmost seriousness, time has seen the band adapt a huge Americana focus to their songwriting, releasing the swampy stoner BM opus Meet Us At The Southern Sign in 2009, to critical acclaim and fan division. Enter 2011 and freshly Metal Blade-signed Glorior Belli has returned once again with The Great Southern Darkness; a record which heads even deeper into stoner desert territory, and post-grunge Alice In Chains-isms. Is it good? You bet your sweet ass it is, and Metal Army tracked down guitarist/vocalist J. to get the scoop! \m/G.
METAL ARMY: How do you think The Great Southern Darkness builds upon the band’s musical foundation, and makes the ideas of Southern Sign that much more full? Do you feel the two albums are connected in some way, like a sort of concept or conceptual link?
J. With The Great Southern Darkness I think we managed to magnify all the best elements of Glorior Belli, yet in a twisted unique way again. The real difference between both record is that our previous record was created by when I was still confused with black metal, so there’s a little bit of hesitation sometimes. All the elements that you can hear on Southern Darkness were already there, but the mixture was different. On the other hand, there is absolutely no track from this album that doesn’t fit in, but probably on Southern Sign we could have got rid of a few. That’s my opinion anyway, I’m sure some people would disagree but it feels like the dynamic of the record wasn’t truly mastered yet. This one never loses your attention, it’s a real journey with epic moments and blast beats and dark melodies. It’s way more violent and fast, yet at the same time it’s also really dark and have all the classic stoner rock parts that I cherish.
There is definitely a connexion between both records and it’s on purpose that I’m using the word Southern once again, in reference to both music and Hell. The Great Southern Darkness focuses mainly on Chaosophy and the shattering of all forms of cosmic illusion, you will find a lot of references to the forces of the Nightside. The cover is pretty explicit in itself too. It’s a drawing of the dragon Tiamat with the Earth wrapped around her tail as she awaits in the silent night and in the background you can actually see flames and tortured souls for she will the world to its very ending. We’ve been working with Canadian artist Alexandra Snelgrove to get this done and she did an amazing job! Also the fucking lyrics are seriously beautiful and will transport the listener into a whole new level of consciousness. This is probably my favorite part: “From behind the nervous curtains of my trembling cosmic prison, the dark Gods are firmly waiting filled with hatred for the cosmos; outside the frame of creation lies the darkest of all secrets, the magic of the queen dragon waits for us to crush the gates!”.
“I’m giving people the opportunity to forge the weapons of their own liberation and that is really the most important thing for me.“
Was the fertile period of the Les Legions Noire explosion something which still inspired Glorior Belli in its earliest days, or was there always ambitions to shoot for something bigger, similar to how O Laudate Dominus paralleled the sounds of Watain and Deathspell Omega around a similar time?
You know what, I’ve never actually listened to LLN and I seriously don’t care much for that kind of stuff. This is not where I get inspiration from, even in the earliest days. My intention has always been to dedicate myself into music, not to fucking follow the hype. It might feel that way for people who don’t know me personally I guess, ’cause somehow Glorior Belli has always been doing the right thing at the right moment, but still we slowly affirmed our own personality in the music scene. I can’t deny I was slightly influenced by other bands of course, but as for the ambition I get it from my guts, not from a black metal chart or whatever. And if I have to say that I was listening to Deftones while most of our fans were masturbating on our demo or debut album I don’t care, ’cause it’s true.
“I’m not an elitist asshole who believes that black metal needs to be saved and most probably these guys are just frustrated anyway.“
Has the overall songwriting process changed much over time or do you go about composing in a similar fashion? Was this album easier or more challenging to complete, do you think, and what obstacles did you feel needed to be overcome?
That never changed, that’s possibly the one thing that never changed in fact! I always go composing on my own, I’m a really hard working person when it comes to Glorior Belli, always trying to improve myself and I guess the most terrible thing I had to face was myself. It wasn’t that hard to compose the record as I never cease to be creative, but it’s difficult to channel all this energy and follow the right direction. But in the end the result is just awesome. I’m always looking forward to the next step and I honestly believe that we are just at the surface of greater things to come.
I’ve read that the 11 as In Adversaries album was supposed to be the 4th Glorior album, yet was scrapped in favor of side project status? Are you glad you went this route, and that The Great Southern Darkness is the ‘official’ fourth GB record; that it better encapsulates and describes where the band is now?
Yeah, I’m really comfortable with that decision but don’t get me wrong, I love that side project a lot, though. It was one of those things that you have to do in order to be able to, well in my case, exorcise some inspirations and release a bit of hyperactive creativity. To put it simply, it was a necessary stage of evolution and if it wasn’t for that “optional” record, The Great Southern Darkness wouldn’t be the same. It really helped me make peace with my past experiences and eventually I realized that I had no reason to put aside the black metal side of things in Glorior Belli in favor of the other influences, but rather just find the right balance. The Great Southern Darkness deserves to be labelled as our official fourth record, as it is truly the most representative of Glorior Belli’s essence, but still in my mind I’ll always think of it as #5, which is not at all a bad thing.
Is Glorior Belli still very much a black metal band, do you feel…or something greater?
Depends on your definition of a black metal band. We are a black metal band and will always be in some aspects but not necessarily only because of the music but because of our aesthetics. But there’s more to it, we have defeated our demons now and it really feels like the best stuff lies ahead, so in that sense I guess Glorior Belli is something greater now. Yet there’s still a lot to accomplish!
Where do you think the band is next to conquer? How much more can the GB sound be fine tuned and built upon?
Honestly I really don’t know at the moment. It can always be refined! I’m guessing we will always go deeper into the darkness and develop our sound as we progress in our personal disciplines. Right now we are mostly concentrating on the live appearances to come. We will defeat and bring down the cosmic scheme!
Nightbringer-Hierophany of the Open Grave (Seasons of Mist)
While this American black metal act has been receiving quite a bit of praise and attention lately over the course of their two prior full lengths, this relatively quick follow up to 2010′s Apocalypse Sun challenges this fact by not really adding much to the band’s already unimpressive resume.
Hierophany of the Open Grave continues in the path set by Nightbringer on both Sun and its 2008 predecessor Death and the Black Work, creating an admittedly unholy, shadowed vibe of neo-orthodox black metal noise. Herein lies the problem: this template-having already been perfected by bands like Deathspell Omega, Negura Bunget, and, to a lesser extent, Watain-isn’t improved upon by Nightbringer and their antics, which offer more snores than horns most of the time.
Proving once again that black metal just might-with certain rare exceptions-be a strictly foreign proposition, Nightbringer only succeeds in being profoundly boring and listless in execution, with Hierophany finishing off a hat trick of much hyped and lauded, yet ultimately un-fulfilling efforts which only seem to espouse the merits of lackluster drumming and uninteresting guitar work to a black metal fanbase which has heard better.
Only the vocals of Ar-Ra’d al-Iblis and Naas Alcameth offer up any worthwhile excitement or intrigue to an otherwise lackluster and undemanding release. Don’t believe the hype.
Although the members of Sweden’s REV 16:8-as in the Biblical Book of Revelations, Chapter 16, Verse 8-haven’t exactly spent time working in any bands you may have heard lately, the noise displayed here on their sophomore effort Ashlands is promising enough to earn a spot for the band at the outer fringes of their country’s orthodox black metal sect.
You know the kind: inspired by occult legions like Watain and Funeral Mist, REV 16:8 provide an atmospheric, dark yet no less brutal black metal attack, possessing eerie melodies and capable riffing within a blasting, blasphemous framework. The vocals of guitarist Talon-who also deals death in the IXXI project, an obscure unholy outfit of its own right-are particularly effective here in leading the charge against Christ, possessing (pun intended) enough power to echo stylistic watermarks Mortuus, Legion and Danielsson with relative ease.
The guitar work is the star of the show, however, smartly weaving in and out between malevolent minor chord phrasings and pure audio barrage, all the while working in enough mystical melody to place REV 16:8 clear on the map for blasphemers anxious to get their fix of unholy metal while waiting for Watain to deliver their next masterpiece. Solid all around.
The Bay Area’s Acephalix, having already blown us away with their brand of death metal tempered crust punk holocaust, have returned once again to up the ante…and hoooo boy does Interminable Night ever seal the deal.
This is easily the band’s best material to date, showcasing once again why they’re one of extreme music’s deadliest practitioners going right now. Sure, the idea of melding together fast ‘n furious D-beat with Sweden’s rich heritage of blasting, simplistic death metal might be nothing new at this point, but who’s really caring or counting at this point when the results are this annihilating?
Similar to their sorta-contemporaries in Black Breath, Acephalix attack this material with a joie des morte which pushes them leaps and bounds beyond the pretenders, with Interminable Night bringing their sound to an even more extreme, Sunlight Studios-worshiping level of grime and filth.
This is the real deal, folks: probably the closest thing America will ever come to replicating Stockholm’s glory days of Grave, Entombed and Dismember, and a true deathpunk renaissance record which is determined to turn heads clean ’round wherever it spins. ‘Fucking fantastic,” I think is the proper word. Track down this one time only CD pressing on May 24th like it was your job.
For those as yet uninitiated into this Swedish black thrashing cult, Ars Vitae is a nice neo/retro sampler for Diabolical, one of the more intense bands you’ve never heard.
Since 1996, this talented Swedish outfit have been delivering the black thrashing goods on a high octane level, combining with excellent, maniacal glee the best elements of melodic blasphemy and razor sharp speed metal goodness.
Ars Vitae opens up with a handful of new tracks, recorded in the Watain/Funeral Mist home studios Necromorbus, and it shows, providing a pitch black presentation of Diabolical at their ever-top form. In addition, the album contains an entire live concert, as well as a remaster of the band’s Deserts of Desolation debut from 2000.
All in all, Ars Vitae is an excellent way to be exposed to Diabolical, a band who really should be bigger than they currently are, given the consistent level of quality delivered by the band for so many years. Grimly produced, musically involved and more serious than a heart attack, the proficiency of Diabolical shouldn’t be denied any longer by the legions of longhairs who really should be more aware of this Swedish quintet.
Year of the Goat inhabits a strange, yet oh-so-appeal musical headspace; one born from the success of Dutch heroes The Devil’s Blood, yet with the sensitive, near-gothic melodic mindset of a Green Carnation or End of Green.
Yes, there are plenty of warm, analog retro-riffs abounding here on the band’s outstanding Lucem Ferre debut-a result of the band’s obsession with Coven, Pentagram and Black Widow, so sayeth the press release-yet there is a deeper, melancholic sadness to the whole affair which sets Year of the Goat apart as a true original amongst their peers.
It does the heart good to see a band following suit with such a successfully emotional venture, soundly influenced yet profoundly unique in its execution. While the spirit of The Devil’s Blood is never far away from the tunefulness of Lucem Ferrer-not to mention the EP’s dark and occult atmosphere-the guitar tone and vocal style are very much in the gothic vein, really driving home the saddened impact of Green Carnation’s Blessing In Disguise or Quiet Offspring effort, saddled and saturated in iconic 1970s atmosphere.
Year of the Goat are a truly excellent and magickal proposition, with the only drawback to Lucem Ferre is its length: this one is just too short, and over far too quickly-containing only three origins and an obscure Sam Gopal cover, Lemmy’s pre-Hawkwind psych-rock band from the late sixties-for my taste.
You’ve hooked me, Year of the Goat. I need another fix, so hurry up on that full length, aye?
