1. Hello MANIMALISM! It is an honour for me to interview you guys. Since your band has been active for quite a few years, let me ask first about your earlier days. Can you go back to 90’s and describe this era both from a scene fan’s and a musician’s perspective?

Being a teenager into Black Metal in Oslo in the early nineties certainly had some interesting aspects. It was exotic that the most exciting thing going on culturally was happening around me, in my immediate surroundings. Musically, the most important part I took with me was the demand for identity. Early on the few artists that got to release their music all sounded vastly different although they were lumped into the same category. I liked that.

2. The precursor to MANIMALISM, Taarenes Vaar, was founded in 1992. The avantgarde BM scene was being formed and you were, along with Fleurety and Ved Buens Ende, the pioneers of the (sub)genre. I am really curious about this period – can you describe what the relationships among were these bands and towards the rest of the BM scene?

Taarenes Vaar and MANIMALISM is the exact same band, the same songs, the same everything, just with another name and different lyrics.

I personally feel that the bands you mention were artistically ambitious and simply were making the music they wanted to and very much acting out the essence of Black Metal: to make dark music with identity and go their own way. That it was considered to be Avantgarde Metal was something that happened as Black Metal became more formulaic, uniformed, and neutered. Contrary to what I suspect are people’s impressions now, there was not much attention towards these bands in the beginning as they were considered a bit too weird. This, of course, reveals the scene as just another gathering of boring humans and I was very frustrated by this at the time. I thought people around me were releasing mediocre music, and were poor on ambition and identity. Unfortunately, that rocketed me into a state of perfectionism, which is never healthy. The way I see it, these bands were continuing the true legacy of Black Metal: individualism, expressionism, true talent, experimentation, darkness.

3. Taarenes Vaar only released two demos, both of which were not received too well. Do you have any idea why? VBE’s style was similar and they were to become legendary.

Actually both demos received relatively decent reviews, got distributed by Avantgarde Music, and we were about to sign with Metalions Head Not Found label. However, at the same time people thought of it as too weird. Back then, legendary bands like Ved Buens Ende did not receive good reviews, not Fleurety either, as far as I can remember. They went on to record and release albums, we did not. They were also more accomplished than us at the time, a little bit older, and we still had some rehearsing to do.

4. Did you plan from the beginning to unleash MANIMALISM only after the scene was ready for such music? Or was it more of a natural progress?

It was my intention to release the album as soon as it was done. The delay was caused by a never-ending series of unfortunate events. The first time we entered a studio to record the album was in 1999, two years after the second demo, and my intention has since been to record and release these songs no matter what.

5. Let me once again tap into the history: When black metal was on the rise, you chose to do something different. What was behind it? Were you inspired by someone or something particular?

I was inspired by what I felt was the essence of Black Metal: to do you own thing, to make something truly personal and dark, to search inside oneself to find the ultimate expression, and to take inspiration from music outside of Black Metal to broaden the horizons and still retain that special feeling that great Metal music can have. I was very dishearted by the direction the Black Metal movement took from about 1994. I could not understand why everyone wanted to look and sound the same. It was so boring, so human in the very worst sense. Looking back, I can see my youthful naivety in this way of thinking, but at the time I was expecting a lot more interesting music than the barrage of copy cats that the movement quickly became in the wake of “Transilvanian Hunger”.

6. Now let’s jump into the present: MANIMALISM practically waited 22 years to be reborn. Can you give us some insight into forming such an interesting lineup of musicians?

This year it is 22 years since the band was formed, and about 15 years since I was done writing this album, which was a process that lasted between 1993 and 1999. The band members are also my friends. We have gotten to know each other through music and through having a lot of the same ideals and visions. Which is why we work so well together. Many members have passed through MANIMALISM up through the years: good friends and amazing artists, like Carl-Michael Eide, Aiwarikiar, Sverre Dæhli and more. However, the final line up on the album is me (Kim Sølve) on guitars, Petter ‘Plenum’ Berntsen on bass, Bjeima on drums, and Member 01 and Joachim Svebo on vocals.

7. The debut album consists of the two Taarenes Vaar demos and two more songs that were written in the 90s. How different are these in comparison to new material and how did you approach the 20-year gap to keep up with the concept and the form?

The compositions are pretty much identical to the versions we recording on the first album recording back in the nineties, where some of them had some minor improvements since the demos. But when we began recording this album again we had become better musicians and had better equipment, which of course has had some impact on the execution and recording in general. Also, the lyrics are all replaced so the vocals are very different from back in the day. The recording that you can hear on the album began in 2002, so even the most recent album recording spans many years. When Bjeima recorded the drums on the album he was the fifth drummer to record drums for this album. It is insane.

8. Aren’t you afraid that the material will be perceived vastly differently now in comparison to the 90s? Are you ready to be compared to VBE, Virus etc.?

I am not afraid of that. It is an unavoidable consequence of spending that long time on it. There’s nothing I can do about that. You know, already following our very first demo we were compared to Ved Buens Ende, if I remember correctly. Fun fact regarding us and Virus: Petter Plenum Berntsen joined MANIMALISM back in 1997, and it was when Czral was playing drums in the band in 1999/2000 that he heard Petter’s genius bass playing and asked him to come onboard when creating Virus.

9. The avantgarde black metal scene today is far more diverse than before and has a lot of interesting names, both underground and well-known. Are you following the scene? Can you recommend a band or two?

I will make this one short; I would like to recommend the bands released on Adversum: Yurei, Alfa Obscura, I Left The Planet, Stagnant Waters, The Ghost Conspiracy, and of course MANIMALISM.

10. Album is released by Adversum as a 12-inch LP, which are now very popular. Are you planning to release a CD as well, or are you going to stay analog only?

There are no plans for a CD yet but hopefully someone would like to take care of it for us. However, it seems there will be a tape version.

11. What are you plans for the future? Another 20-year break?

We plan to record newer material as soon as it is doable. It is not possible to be specific time wise but if it takes several years I will go even more insane so I hope it will be done in a year or two. I have a lot of tracks waiting to be recorded.

12. Have you considered a collaboration with other bands or projects, such as a split release?

There has been talk about some, but nothing that has happened yet. We are absolutely open to the idea. Bring it on.

13. Most of the bands and projects within the subgenre do not really play live – and if so, only occasionally. What about you?

I wish I could say yes, but at thing point we are not able to play live due to some members not wanting to perform and one member living in another city far from Oslo.

14. Thank you for the interview! Here’s your chance to tell something to our readers.

MANIMALISMs self-titled debut album will be out november 17. If you like your dose of Metal twisted and dissonant and with a devilish grin, I suggest you all order it from our distributor Neuropa. Thanks for the chat, Dufaq.