1. Greetings from Czech Republic on this sunny November day! How’re doing?

Hello Borco! Today we got totally grim black metal weather up here in Norway. hehe. Dark clouds and rain all over. Except from that we have gotten some morning coffee and try to fix some preperations for the upcoming tour.

2. Since this interview mainly aims to present you as a band to our readers, maybe you could tell us in short how did POSTHUM start and what was the primal idea behind. Where exactly lies the meaning of the band’s name?

Posthum started up in 2004 with Jon on guitars and Morten on drums. Some people came, and some went, but today we are a steady line up with Martin, Jon and I. We have been involved with music since the early 90`s, so in a way it is strange that we did not start up earlier. But when we started up it was with a great interest in making our own songs. The songs were mainly riff-based back then, but today the songs are based on a much more melodic structure. And for the bandname, it is actually a reminder of artists and lives that have passed through time. Energy that has fallen and been forgotten. Posthum means after life or left behind.

3. From what I know there’s been a longer gap between recording the ‘05 demo and your debut album that came up this year. How come? Did you put the band to a short rest in the meantime as well?

I know it might seem to be a long period, but we want things to be as good as possible and control every part of the process. So there has been no rest for us, we have been working in some way or another all the time. The material was actually finished back in 2007 when we did a pre-production. Or at least, we had six songs at that point. In february 2008 we went to Sub Sonic studio in Oslo to record the full album with 8 songs. Unfortunately, the result of that session was not what we had expected. Due to lack of time and that jon`s guitar got stolen the first day, it made things difficult for us to manage. We then decided to record the album in our rehearsal-space in june 2008. This went very well, and we headed for Oslo to mix the recordings. The next step was the mastering-part at Tailor Maid in Sweden. As i remember it, the final product with artwork was ready in october 2008.


4. I’m curious why don’t you use „black metal“ sign yourself? It is obvious that POSTHUM’s music goes beyond this box in many ways but the essence of the genre is still there in my opinion.

Our ideà of black metal is total musical submission. You have to be strict in the way of making music, and have some kind of ideology and ideas about what you do. For our part we just want to be free about what we do, and not care about ideas that are linked to the black metal scene. Here in Norway we are an isolated band, and do not belong to any kind of scene, and it would feel strange to attach ourselves to one. If people tell us that we sound like a black metal band, it is just a compliment to us being compared to a great genre!

5. Let me say that being a black metal act (in a broad sense) from Norway could nowadays produce lots of reactions like: „Another one?“, or „Oh, I can tell what’s that going to be about“ and so on. At least it’s the way your home scene is sometimes looked at from outside Scandinavia. Therefore I find it quite challenging as not even to distinguish yourself from the rest of the scene but mainly to make your way to the listeners and get their interest. But that’s my thought. Do you personally find it as a sort of “handicap” or disadvantage bearing this flag in BM genre, especially as a younger band?

Actually this has been a very small problem to us. It seems to be a quite mature audience out there that listens to the record and judge for themselves. The people that review the album seem to appreciate the album as well, and not focus on the fact that we are a metal band from Norway. At least, that’s what we have noticed. As I said earlier on, we do not have the focus on which genre we belong to, so why should they. Still, from an objective point of view, I would say that this record sound more grim than most metal coming from Norway these days. And we are not even a "black metal" band... It is still our debut album, and I know things will change and that we have lots to show for the audience in time to come. 6. My next question will lead me to previously mentioned „.Posthum“ LP. Positive reviews and responses lead me to conclusion that you will be glad about how it was generally accepted. What interests me is the way how did you compose the music itself on the album? Could describe this creative process that preceded the recordings?

We have been working back and forth with these songs for some time. And I guess, one finished song was actually three songs in the beginning. By this I mean that we throw away lots of material, and the final product is what we hail out to be the best. Jon and Martin put down lots of time to make the parts fit together, and I think this is what makes the songs durable and interesting in the end. I can still actually put on the record and enjoy it, and that is after rehearsing the songs for years!

7. I’ve heard that after finishing the material you had spent a longer time looking for a suitable label which in the end caused a little delay of your album. Finally you signed to Folter Records from Germany. What were the main criteria when deciding on this matter? Have you been satisfied with the result?

We were actually centimeters from releasing the album ourselves. Even though we sent out a promo to record-companies, we never really wanted sign a deal in the beginning. But when we got three offers in one week, we had to reconsider it all. We found out that Folter were able to send us on occasional gigs and tours, and this was more important to us than the promo-packages the other companies could offer. Folter did also show a great interest in our music, and not only trying to rip us off with a thirty-page contract. So far we are satisfied with the work Folter Records has put down!


8. Let’s move to your present activities. In just a few days you’ll set off to Europe to support SATYRICON on “Finale In Black” tour. I have noticed your name in connection with the tour came up after NEGURA BUNGET’s withdrawal.. What were the circumstances of becoming part of this?

Joerg at Folter sent us an e-mail with the offer, and we accepted. As far as we know Negura Bunget were a big band with 7 or 8 members, and not able to attend the tour because of this. Not sure about this info, but for our own part we just hope things will go as planned, and without any big surprises!

9. As far as I’m concerned it will be your first tour ride across the Europe and your first set of gigs outside Norway…Let me ask you how do you feel about being on stage with some of the most notorious bands in the genre today? :)

Hehe. Well, at the time we are too occupied with our own stuff and the preperations for the tour. But my first thought on this tour was that it hopefully will work out smooth regarding all the details during our performance. Good sound, lights, monitors and so forth. It would have been harder to perform if things were so and so.. I guess we all are looking forward to attend this tour and visit 13 countries.

10. Very classic question in the end... What are your plans for the future as a band/persons? Can we possibly await a new POSTHUM album coming out next year?

For the future we will work with new songs, and do even more gigs in the year to come. There will not be a new album next year, but we hope to record the new album 2010/ 2011. So a release might happen early 2011. But we will put down a lot of work in the year to come, that i can guarantee!

11. I want to thank you for your time, it was a pleasure for me making this few questions. Anyway if there is anything you’d like to add or tell the world then this is the place for it. Goodbye and I’m looking forward to see you live in Prague. All the best!

Thanks for your interest, and thanks to all fans that buy the cd/vinyl. Play it loud!! See you in Europe in december. Thanks!