1. Greetings to Finland. You have been keeping high standards practically since the beginnings of your career. I have not read any too bad review for any of the ALGHAZANTH albums. What is your "recipe" for creating such music as black metal is (so much discussed, very often self-plagiarizing etc.)? :)
There is no universal recipe for good black metal carved in stone as all those little things that make a song or a whole album come truly alive can be very different depending on the context, situation and on the band's line-up itself. For example, having a bunch of great riffs up your sleeve is not enough, you also have to know how to use them right so that the end result is interesting, addicting and evocative instead of being just a loose compilation of separate good bits and pieces. You have to have the ability to make it all fit together seamlessly and to present it in a form that does justice to it.
Even at first listen it is rather obvious that what we do, musically, is actually far from being groundbreakingly innovative or something totally new, but the trick is that we do our thing well and we put our whole hearts into it. When working on new songs, we aim to keep our standards very high. If something doesn't fit in or if it sounds dull or second-rate, we change it or leave it out altogether. The whole song has to sound great in our own ears, "ok" is not good enough. In this sense, I guess that this thorough quality control of ours is pretty much one of the biggest secrets to Alghazanth's somewhat succesful formula in creating black metal that resonates also with people outside the band.
2. I guess I will not be far from the truth if I say that the the best and most mature ALGHAZANTH album so-far was the "Wreath of Thevetat" which got great reactions all over the world. When I myself think about the album, what comes to my mind is the word "melodies". The album is so full of them. Do you create music based (or should I say keen) on melodies? Are they very important for you? Is there any line that you would refuse to cross (like too symphonic tirades etc.)?
Our music has been full of these melodies almost right from the beginning. That is what is very strongly at the heart of this band and it has always been a very natural part of our material. So yes, we see these cold melodies as an important piece of the puzzle when thinking about what is distinctive to Alghazanth's sound. The bit more melodic and atmospheric approach seems to be the one that appeals to us as listeners the most, and this sort of preference naturally shines through from our role as composers as well.
When it comes to creating black metal, we are rather conservative in our views and therefore in reality there aren't that many questionable borderlines to be crossed. On the other hand, we aren't close-minded either and if some a bit more unusual element sounds good and fits in together with the over-all atmosphere of the song, we will go with it. We try not to bind our hands by setting certain rules for what we can and can't do, but of course there are things that simply don't fit in with our music. One such thing would be utter cheerfulness. There are unfortunately a couple of these a bit cheerful parts on our early releases, but I can promise that such things will never surface again...
3. A very important part of "Wreath of Thevetat" for sure are Goat Tormentor's lyrics. What are these about and were they written solely by him or by the whole band?
I wonder where you've picked up the notion that it is Goat Tormentor who has written the lyrics to that album..? This couldn't be farther from truth as I have always been the one solely responsible for the lyrics in Alghazanth and most probably will remain in that role in the future as well.
For the most part, the lyrics on Wreath of Thevetat deal with the concept of ascension from the perspective of an initiate on the Left Hand Path, but there's also one song about the very end of all existence, one about man's final triumph over all organized religions, etc. The topics vary but the point of view from which I've dealt with them is what binds them tightly together. There is passion and devotion in them and they are all linked to the steps I've taken on my own path back then.
4. Now, let's get out of the past before it becomes boring. The most up-to-date subject for sure is "Vinum Intus". Am I right when I say that the album was recorded with the same line-up as "Wreath of Thevetat"? Is this fact important for you?
Yes, you are correct. With a past full of constant line-up changes, this was somewhat historical for us. I don't see this as something extremely important per se, but it most certainly made things a lot easier because now we were able to focus solely on the new material and didn't have to use time and energy on breaking new members in. It also made the song-writing process a bit more relaxed and that naturally affected the end result in a positive way.
5. I have given a few tens of listens to the album and I must definitely say that I find it even more majestic than "Wreath...". Do you share my opinion? It seems to me that you gave the keyboards even more space etc... What were you trying to achieve by this? Or was it just a natural thing to do?
Just like before, our only goal was to make an album that sounds as great as possible. We never define the role of each instrument beforehand, it all just comes naturally when we start working on the initiative song structures and begin trying different things out. As far as I know, the actual amount of keyboards hasn't increased on this album in comparison with Wreath of Thevetat. Actually, there may even be less keyboards on the new one. But what has changed is the quality of those symphonic elements. They are even more thought-out now and used more strategically in order to heighten the music to its fullest. So, no keyboards just for keyboards' sake, but rather to lift certain parts much higher than what they would be with just the guitars.
6. How should one understand the title "Vinum Intus"? Does the album have any concept? What is its main message or idea?
The album title is a reference to a sex magical act between a male and a female initiate in which two polarities join as one and thus produce a very potent offering to the God of Darkness. This "wine within" is the result of such an act of devotion, a sacred mixture poured out from the chalice of the female and offered to the Opposer. On another level, the title also hints at a practitioner's own blood as the wine of the Gods of Night.
The title of the album sums up the general hands-on approach to occultism that is strongly present in the lyrics. If one wishes to see the lyrics as philosophical ponderings on things related to the Left Hand Path, I guess that one can quite easily do that. But beneath the veil of my metaphorical style of writing pulsates a core that is very much rooted in concrete experiences and practice. Some see it there while others don't. The more pragmatic approach to esoteric things is pretty much what the lyrics on Vinum Intus are all about, and in this respect one can say that the album has a certain strong red thread that runs through these nine songs.
7. If you should define "Vinum Intus" and describe its atmosphere, message and even the primal impulse for its creation, what would you say?
Vinum Intus is a monolithic piece of black art that combines the majestic beauty and the merciless harshness of a starlit winter night. It is an offering that comes straight from the heart and provides both food for the soul and wine for the Devil.
8. I liked the production of the previous album already and the new one definitely does not dissapoint. You went for a well-tried studio and producer or am I wrong and you did record in completely different place and in a completely different way?
When we recorded Wreath of Thevetat, we did the drum tracks at the more or less legendary Tico Tico studio and then everything else at our rehearsal place or at our homes with the assistance of our personal sound engineer. This time we skipped studio visits altogether and recorded also the drum tracks on our own with that same sound engineer guy. The reason for doing things this way was that we wanted the over-all sound to have a certain edge to it. When recording the whole thing in a professional studio, you will quite easily leave the studio with an over-polished album in your hands. We certainly didn't want that as that kind of professional production can easily kill the atmosphere of the songs. The other reason was that we didn't want to work in a tight time frame and therefore this kind of solution was just perfect for us because this allowed us to take as much time as we needed and also allowed us to have a bit longer creative breaks between the sessions. We are very pleased with how everything turned out and we will probably do things the same way with future releases.
9. I really like the incorporation of the violin, for example in the song "With a Thorn In Our Hearts" where, right after it fades out, great chanting emerges. Whose idea was it to incorporate the violin and who did play it for the album? Can we expect even more of these sound-enriching elements in the future?
To be accurate, it's not violin, it's actually viola. But hey, I can't blame you because even I can't really tell the difference even though I know which one is in question, hah. If I remember correctly, it was our sound engineer who first came up with the idea of using viola in that song. This was a good idea and therefore we decided to try it out. The viola was played by this semi-pro guy who Risto, the engineer, knew from some past project of his. I don't know if there will be such parts on the next Alghazanth releases. Maybe, maybe not. It all depends on what suits the new songs and what doesn't. We're not going to use such instruments just because we've used them on this album. That would be just absurd. Everything has to fit in naturally, and we don't know what will work in the songs before we've composed them.
10. This question might be a bit connected with the very first - there is an opinion spreading around that creating black metal (and especially its melodic branch) is quite a difficult thing as it might happen that the band "steals from themselves" a several times during the album. Do you belong to those bands who slowly and carefully gather ideas or do you have hundreds of them and use just a few? How was it in the case of the new album?
We have never been that productive when it comes to quantity. We usually just write the "necessary" amount of songs and focus on working on them. So no, we don't have hundreds of riffs or tens of songs lying in our desk drawers. If some parts sound similar, we make some adjustments to them or change them altogether. We don't want to recycle our music, intentionally or unintentionally. This is something we pay quite a lot of attention to, because that kind of repetition just starts to undermine the songs and results in a boring album.
11. Are you planning any live performances with ALGHAZANTH for 2011? Is it possible to somehow combine live gigs with the amount of time your vocalist gives to Swallow the Sun?
There are now only three gigs planned, but I'm sure that those won't be the only ones for this year. Yes, it is true that Goat Tormentor is quite busy with his other bands, but this doesn't pose that big of a problem for us. If he's away and some important gig is coming, we'll just do the gig without him with Thasmorg handling the vocals. These "double-bookings" are in fact rather rare because Alghazanth doesn't do gigs that often.
12. Well, that is all from me... Thanks a lot for you time! The review of the new album is soon to appear on our pages and it will be no different with this interview - I firmly believe that! All the best.
Thank you for the support!
