1. Hello Ezra. You are not too known band in Czech republic, so can I ask you for brief introduction of your band, although this question isn’t too attractive for both of us...? (laugh)

OK, same old question in every interview, hehe. Natan exists since January 2002 and plays Atmospheric Pagan Black Metal. We released a Demo CD, a Promo CD, an EP and a Split CD in the past. We had a lot of line-up changes, and finally in September 2008 we released our debut full-length album. We did a European tour, some smaller tours in countries as Spain, England and Scotland, as well as lots of separate concerts in European countries, sometimes with big bands. I think that's it in very short.

2. It is not obvious for band to exist six years without recording any album. In my eyes this fact had very positive impact on quality of your debut, but I must ask – did you have any other reason for such long time without recording any release?

As I stated in the previous question: we released some stuff before this album. This is just our debut full-length.

One of the reasons for not recording a full-length earlier is due to the fact that we had a lot of line-up changes and some long time absences of members (because of work or studies).

These are facts that slow the process of evolving as a band. Also, we wanted to make sure we were as ready for this album as we could get to deliver a product we could be confident about. We are somewhat happy we came up with this instead of a CD where nobody was waiting for.

3. I must say your debut is debut with a big „D“ and I am very proud to have it. What is your system of composing songs? I mean, is there any leading person or do you create your music together as collective? After six years you must be using some specific way of band cooperation.

Thanks for your words, as for the writing process Dries and Daniël (both guitarists) are the ones to come up with the melodies. They show it, and we try to create a structure with that with the whole band until we finally have a song. After that, the lyrics will be fitted into it. That's basically it.

4. And I can continue, what inspires you for your music? What are basics of your music?

The technical basics are clearly Melodic Black Metal. The atmospherical basics are more out of Folk music and the lyrical influences are of a Pagan kind.

Our musical interests have a big range, from The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, Traditional Folk Music, Led Zeppelin to bands such as Enslaved, Emperor, Satyricon, Dark Funeral, Dissection and so on... So I think it's possible that the music we listen to maybe influences us in one way or another.

5. I see all your texts are written by your drummer, it isn´t much usual too. I am very sorry I can´t understand your texts, because it is all in Flemish. I have some info from your label, but only few. Can you please introduce your texts to your listeners and our readers? Is there any theme, which makes concept on album „Het Zicht Van De Dood“?

Yeah, I write those lyrics since the beginning of Natan. We hail from Flanders (known as the Northern part of Belgium) and I wrote the lyrics in Flemish because I somehow felt that it was the best way to express myself. There isn't really a concept for the entire album, but there are some elements returning constantly, such as death (in different forms) and pride. The lyrics are inspired by Germanic Mythology and local legends, but at the same time they always carry a very personal feeling with them. They are not just stories told before.


6. Album has superior sound, I think everyone must hear it. It is written in booklet, that final mastering has been done in Budapest´s Aquarium Studios. Did you have any special reason to choose Hungary?

Good question! When I bought 'The Arcane Odyssey' from the Hungarian band SEAR BLISS, I was very impressed by the sound. So I looked in the booklet who produced it. It was Tamas Gresiczki in the Aquarium Studios in Budapest. He also worked with Therion, Epica and other famous bands. So we discussed this with the band and we asked Tamas to do it. After the recording and mixing here in Flanders Daniël and I went to Budapest for the final touch. We are still very satisfied about that decision.

7. Your album is really well done at all aspects, I received really nice digipack from your label. Nice booklet – who did it? Iron age wrote, you have done it by yourselves, but please, be more concrete...

Dries and Daniël both are responsible for the drawings of the cover and the band members inside the booklet. Also every single letter in the booklet are hand written by them. Finally they did the layout and sent it to the pressing plant. Dries is a graphic designer, so that wasn’t much of a problem. The concept of doing everything by ourselves was an obvious choice for us and personalises this album very much. This way of working was also used in the recording process, even our guest vocalists (Dennie and Claudia) are ex-members, and were somehow already connected to the band. We wanted artwork that personalised the music and the atmosphere that we tried to lay in our music, and the 2 designers wanted to do something special with it.

8. I can´t forget Iron Age Records – in my eyes, they take quite good care of you. It doesn´t happen too often to get from label digipack with guiding letter, written by Melanie I think. How did your cooperation begin and how are you satisfied with label´s work till now?

Yeah, our label does a good job, and they take care of us quite well. They have done more than promised and they have done more than they are contractually obligated to do. We are very satisfied with them as our label! But they also still have to learn a lot, as they are not active since a very long time. So I hope they will be able to keep their heads above the water for a long time as it's a hard world out there to do business. How we started working with them: They asked us to deliver a song for their compilation album. We just came out of the studio from recording this album. I said: 'Yes we are interested, it's good promotion for us to find a label to release our new album!'. They directly told us they wanted to release our new album when they heard it. After some negotiations we signed a deal. All went quite fast.

9. Back to the music. I feel many influences from your music, do you have any big musical ideals? I know, this is quite unpopular question, but after first hearing of „Het Zicht Van De Dood“ I knew, I will ask this. Can you answer it, please?

We have a lot of influences... From Singer-Songwriter stuff, Folk Music, Rock 'n Roll, Black Metal, Death metal, ...

The metalbands we are compared with are mostly Enslaved, Satyricon, Emperor, Ulver, Agalloch, Dissection and Empyrium. We can agree or disagree on it or not, but probably some of those might influence us somehow. But our goal is not to copy others, just to express our own feelings and ideas.

10. Fourth track, „Velden Van Bloed“, is quite different from other stuff. You know, what I mean. Claudia as guest and use of female vocal. I must say, I enjoyed it, in contrast to rest of our zine. (laugh) Did you think about using these elements more often?

Claudia was a band member for many years, but quitted Natan just before the recordings of this album. We asked her to sing these small parts, because her contribution on that song makes it more complete. So, the answer is: we used it more often in the past. But I don't say we'll not use it anymore at all in the future. When we feel there's need for female vocals to make a song or a part better, we'll definitely ask Claudia or an other female singer again. It's nothing to be planned before we start to write songs for the next album. We'll see. We do have ideas to use more passages with Dries’ clean vocals as can be heard on Volkskracht, but not only like it is used in that song, but in different ways too.


11. Live playing. What does it mean for you? I know you were active in the past in Benelux and for this year you announced some gigs, I think in UK, France and Germany. Your „live imperium“ is getting wider. Can we hope to see you live in Czech republic or somewhere near?

For me, and I am sure for most of the bandmembers, playing concerts is the best part of playing in a band. We indeed have played in many countries so far, and it will definately expand even more. For Czech Republic: we don't have contacts in your country for playing live concerts, and we've never been asked to come and play there. So, at this moment we don't have anything planned for Czech republic, but we would definately love to! 2 years ago we had a confirmed concert in Praha on our European Tour, but it was cancelled and changed to a concert in Paris on that date. A pity!

12. I must admit, I don´t know much about metal music in Belgium. Right now I remember only Ancient Rites, Gorath or Panchrysia, and it is not too much. Can you recommend me some bands from Belgium? Maybe something you hear on your own?

The bands you just mentioned are definitely worth a listen, but some bands are also worth to be mentioned, such as Insanity Reigns Supreme, Huldrefolk, Aguynguerran, Thurisaz, Signs Of Darkness, Body Of Christ, Natrach, ... That's about what I can think of at the moment.

13. That´s all from me, thanks for the time you dedicated to Mortem zine. Last words are yours. So...

Thank you for the interview, it was a pleasure and it's an honour. To all you metalheads out there: Be independent, make up your own thoughts. Don't build your opinion on other's opinions. Be the wolf instead of the sheep!