1. Hi Mandy, it is a real pleasure to talk to you through this interview. MURKRAT were never talked about on the site of Mortem zine and it is time to change it. Where are you right now and how do you spend your free time? If you have some so soon after the release…

At the moment I’m finishing off the vocals for the new ‘The Slow Death’ album and starting work on the artworks to accompany the release. After that, I’ll be doing the cover art for the new Myraeth album. So, to actually answer to your question, I spend my free time doing art, making more music and writing.

2. I would like to start this interview a bit differently, so we’ll get to questions about the new album later. What does it mean for you to create music such as Doom metal especially in a sound MURKRAT – which is occult, minimalistic and I would say avant-garde like (speaking about the new album). I know that in bands beside MURKRAT you are playing doom metal too, so can we say that this kind of music is the best for you how to express yourself?

Yes, I think so, it comes naturally to me. I find it hard to commit the necessary time and energy to more upbeat / less depressing music, because I can’t connect to it as emotionally.

3. Do you still work on MUKRKRAT alone? In the past you had a drummerete Neil Dyer, who contribute on “Murky Ratmass”. Why did you end your cooperation with Neil? Have you searched for some other drummers for MURKRAT or this post wasn’t a priority for the band?

I write Murkrat alone – it’s very personal and I find I have to cling to creative control in order to feel that I can really express myself.

Neil Dyer played the drums on “Drudging the Mire” – the previous drummer was Becky Nine-Iron. Becky had to stop doing Murkrat because she had other commitments.

4. In 2008 your eponymous debut album came out and it was very important for me, I really like the first album. MURKRAT do not play a classic doom metal there, it’s more like dark horror séance. The album is also accompanied by a video for a song “Believers”. How much did you participate on its realisation? It is evident that visual side is your work. Do you think you might continue in a similar manner and shoot video for the song from a new album?

I made the video using some very dodgy “free trial” video editing software and some pretty pitiful animation software. I would very much like to make videos for some songs on the new album, but it’s difficult to find the time.

5. It is known about you that besides composing music you also paint artwork for albums of associated bands. Is it possible to come up with a number of bands you have worked with? Are you busy enough with this business, do you have enough of working offers? I’m wondering if there is something like a cover work which you are especially proud of, something that was really rewarding to create?

I haven’t really done that many album covers – possibly only about 10 releases? My favourite would have to be the cover of Myraeth’s EP ‘Retribution’.

6. In a past before or during MURKRAT you played in several other bands. I for example like the style of The Slow Death, it sounds really good. The cover art was made by you if I’m not mistaken. Besides I would like to ask you what was your role in Lycanthia? I would say that this band played in a more commercial manner of gothic/doom, like Theatre of Tragedy for example. Would you mind to talk a bit about both bands and If you want, about some others?

Yes, I did all the artwork for The Slow Death. We’re just finalising a new album at the moment and I’ll be doing another series of artworks for the new concept.

In Lycanthia I was one of the vocalists and played keyboard. I don’t really think of Lycanthia as a “commercial” band. The original members were inspired by early Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride. It was before the whole commercial hot-female-singer-on-the-album-cover thing really took off and I think they suffer, in a way, from being compared to those bands.


7. If I am not mistaken, you’re a type of person who is able to operate several types of instruments and one of them is your voice. Do you dedicate some special care to it, like practising or something else? I’m also interested if you have ever studied a piano, which is used to a great extent on “Drudging the Mire”. Even though I’m totally uneducated in this manner your playing is rather strange… Did you have any kind of support from your parents when you were kid, did they assist you in your hobbies?

I did study piano for years when I was a kid and of course, my family supported that – paying for lessons and instruments. I did a little vocal training as a teenager. My voice is definitely my main instrument and I don’t dedicate enough care to it. I shred it regularly at concerts and whenever there’s alcohol and records…or if someone makes the mistake of provoking me on my opinions.

8. I read that your clean vocals are often compared to that of Ann-Mari Edvardsen from 3rd And the Mortal. Quite fitting comparison. But thanks to the fact, that you do not stick to the one particular vocal expression, but you also use various screamed and avant-garde expressions, makes this comparison not so important. I would even say that usage of clean vocals in music of MURKRAT is a bit extravagant itself. I see your vocals as an essence of MURKRAT. Thanks to it, it is more theatrical, deranged but at the same time calmer and apologetic. Do you have similar opinion or you don’t consider your vocals to be more important than other instruments?

I agree with you. Every song begins with lyrics first, so the lyrics and vocals become the main force in the music.

9. MURKRAT is usually understood as a horror, occult or witching doom band. From where do you take inspiration to create such music? Do you for example dedicate your time to watching movies or reading books? In that case I would like to know about musical influences. Who influenced MURKRAT and its strange musical expression most? Could you mention a few bands which helped to form MURKRAT’s sound?

Murkrat is a reaction to humanity / human nature. I really don’t take any inspiration from fiction, except perhaps cyberpunk / dystopian science fiction.

As for musical influence, I would have to say Aghast, Pink Floyd, early Alice Cooper, early Megadeth, Sigh, Arcturus, the Third & the Mortal, Deep Purple and, of course, Black Sabbath. Also Siousxie’s early stuff and Leonard Cohen.

10. This year in February “Drudging the Mire” comes out. Despite how much I like the debut, the new album totally kicked my arse. Progression is clearly evident there. The novelty is not so guitar-based but it’s still Doom. It is like everything has moved to a different space. It’s more mature but still really deranged expression. Despite all of this I still understand “Drudging the Mire” as an apocalyptic, occult, dark and monotonous material, but played in a bit different direction, a step forward… Where do you see the main changes from the debut and where did you want to get with “Drudging the Mire” ? Now I think that the statement from Aesthetic Death – “metal for denizens of the mire” – works perfectly here.

I think the main changes would have to be the influence of Neil on drums and Anthony at the Haunted Palace. The rest was really a natural progression. Because the lyrics had a little less rage and a little more sympathy in them, I think the entire album has a more sad and distant feeling.

11. How long did it take you to create and record “Drudging the Mire”? In what kind of mood you created the album and how much you are satisfied with its form so soon after the release?

The album actually didn’t take very long to write or record, we just had a few delays on the mixing – as you can imagine, it’s a very long album and I record in a very haphazard, messy way, so Anthony at Haunted Palace had his work cut out!

I haven’t listened to the album since we did the final mix. Even though it’s a very cathartic experience to record, especially vocals, it causes me a lot of anxiety to listen to my albums after they’ve been released.

12. Does the new album has some kind of concept or are there a bits of individual stories joined in an album? I feel a certain disturbance from the new album and discursiveness and disunity…even though musically it is very solid and bound into a single hermetic corpus.

I think you understood the album perfectly. There are a lot of different ideas in the lyrics. I suppose that they are all focussing around a central theme of despondency / disgust. Every song has a very different comment to make about humanity and about myself.


13. On “Drudging the Mire” I find a certain influence of classical music. “Electric Womb” would be a good example I think. Did the classical music played an important role in creating of the new album? Do you like classical music, perhaps when it’s mixed with avant-garde?

Yes, I do like classical, romantic and baroque music, very much. I think there is an influence in Drudging the Mire. The songs were written primarily on piano, which is why the album doesn’t sound as “riffy” as the self-titled.

14. I really like the manner how the track “World” is cultivated. Its true that this song is dearest to me for how it sounds. I feel spirituality, ethereal choirs, it is very dark but it still flows in a calm drone layer… Is this the right world of MURKRAT or perhaps the world of all of us? How much did you evolve in terms of lyrics? Was there any distinct progression in lyrical themes on the new album?

I think you understand this song perfectly, even without the lyrics. It is about humanity, as a destructive force, but it also has a calmness – the idea that when we’ve ruined everything and destroyed each other, there will be silence, and all the madness will just become a sediment layer in the crust of the earth.

15. The promotional work definitely belongs to the process or releasing the new album. How much time a day you’re willing to dedicate to promotion of your new album? Does people from Aesthetic Death help you enough?

I hate promotion and don’t really do a lot of it. Aesthetic Death are great, and we’ve also had amazing help from Olli of Vast and Void Promotions. He has done so much for us.

16. Let’s move a bit from MURKRAT. Besides contributing with vocals in a song “The Final Exekution” from Sadistik Exekution and having nice photos in booklet of “Fukk” you also helped out in a solo project of Reverend Kriss Hades. Haven’t you heard any information about a possible new music both SadEx and Reverend Kriss Hades?

I haven’t seen Kriss in quite a while actually, so no, I’m not up-to-date on what Sad Ex have been working on. But I know Kriss is always working on his solo project and his amazing artworks / exhibitions, so I would expect to hear a release sometime soon.

17. Thank you very much for the interview and time you spent with my questions, Mandy. I hope that “Drudging the Mire” will get positive responses like it was in case of Mortem Zine. Honestly, I’m not the only one in staff who finds your music interesting. Such music definitely deserves support. I hope this is not the last time we’re meeting. Regards to faraway Australia.

Thank you!