Harri Kuokkanen is the man behind the wheel. From Finnish frozen lands, to everywhere, he brings forth his vision on the Black Metal genre. I would not say there is consensus on his work, from the public, but he is a special creator that might not fit everyones Black Metal.
The act of going beyond the structures established by the Original Creators of the genre is a premise many Black Metal musician take at heart, and those are the moments where the Music becomes bigger than the genre she lives in.
"Earth Penetration" is the new release from the Finnish giant, and it saw the dark of night on the 23rd of September, and it came out on Tape by the Portuguese label Signal Rex and Bestial Burst (CD, and upcoming LP). This is an old talk with the musician, but always interesting.
Thanks, first, for the availability. It is a real pleasure to have the
opportunity to ask questions, clarify some curiosities, and understand a little
more about the mind behind such a unique project. The project's origin has been
made known in numerous interviews, so let us try to escape that cliché, so to
speak, and allow me to ask: what is the essence of Hail Conjurer? I saw you in
Porto, in 2019, and the aura is particularly huge, considering that it is just
you on stage.
Practically all my solo
work within and around Black Metal can be considered as Hail Conjurer. Nevertheless,
to articulate the "essence" of it… Coming down to the whole idea of
essentialism, instead of reflecting some fixed essence, Hail Conjurer just
"is" through the process of self-actualization. Therefore, rather
than the essence to be revealed, it remains open, as something to become, to be
manifested through the acts and expressions of Will. All the steps I take on
this path are shedding more light on what it is about. Working as Hail Conjurer
is to listen to the inner call, and follow its voice. The harder and more
intense the work, the louder and clearer the voice becomes. In that sense,
despite the non-essential nature of it, the essence of Hail Conjurer lies in
its manifestations and continuous work. The non-linearity of your music is what stands out the most. You
do not follow line A or B, although we can say that Black Metal is the core of
it. Do you have projects in different musical realities within Heavy Metal show
up for Hail Conjurer, or are you really going to seek inspiration in a space
far from everything else? I am not sure if I
understood the question correctly, but as far as inspiration goes, any musical
or non-musical thing can serve as a source of inspiration. Within Black Metal
this kind of boundlessness feels as natural as it could, due to its
transgressive nature. Sure one can argue about the tradition to be followed,
but if I have any idea of the essence of Black Metal, the unapologetic vision
is a big part of it, despite how unorthodox it may appear. This includes not
only the readiness to cross the line but also the willingness to exploit and
pervert any concept, method or structures within the prevalent tradition. The
darker the black flame burns, the clearer it becomes that the ready-trodden
paths aren't leading anywhere and the less there are boundaries to be restricted
by. Since 2013, you have been part of Ride for Revenge, another very
particular entity in the world of Black Metal. How were you given this
opportunity? Simply put, I used to
listen to RFR a lot back then, and was in contact with Harald Mentor. One time
I was buying some records from him he asked me to join the band. Did that, in any way, influence the way you manage the creation of
Hail Conjurer's sound? As I mentioned above, your sound is not linear, or
"flat, so to speak. There is a distinctive aura to your sound. Well, it did, in many ways.
Most obviously, I came up with the name Hail Conjurer in a process of joining
Ride for Revenge, so that could be considered as the starting point of a sort.
And musically speaking, besides the greatness of the music, one of the main
things that got me into Ride For Revenge’s music years before joining the band,
was their mentality in a way of doing music, combining the primitive powers and
the non-traditional ways of doing things to create something unique. So,
considering how much I dug both listening to and working with the band, it’s
not a big surprise you can find those characteristics in Hail Conjurer as well,
even though the music might differ quite much from that of RFR. Taking a leap towards "Erotic Hell", and the track
"Final Vision" and those final moments. It extrapolates the sound
bases of the project. Where did the inspiration come from? Many of the choices in Hail
Conjurer are made pretty intuitively and sometimes via improvisation, but
“Final Vision” has some elements I had written already years ahead of the
existence of Hail Conjurer (the early version from 2009 named "Last
Vision" can be found on "Crude Magick" compilation). I felt that
the bursting sound of it summed up the record and ended it the right way, so I
decided to give it a new incarnation. I find it interesting that
you pointed out that particular track, as (due to origin of it) in my point of
view it has a lot of very “traditional” elements to it, instead of too original
sound. Sure, the synth layer was something that came out quite instinctually
while working with the track and thus induces resemblance to the other songs on
that record. From a conversation with an acquaintance, a question arose that I
found quite interesting: do your works, and more specifically the most recent
one - "Carnal Light" - tell a story or are they tracks without any
connection? Neither, actually. There is
no one story to be found on any of the records, but every single album is
created from the same source connecting the parts together, and there can be
even found some thematic continuation between the albums. Referring to the
answer I wrote earlier, the essence of what I do, is within doing, so even the
loose tracks can be linked in some part of the process of getting deeper into
the path. I already asked you, in the beginning, what the essence of Hail
Conjurer is; now I ask what the theme of Hail Conjurer is. Is there, at a
lyrical level, a theme that you frequently refer to, or are you influenced by
the moment? If there is such a thing as
a lyrical theme that can be found throughout the albums and songs, it is an
anti-dualistic way of being in the world. Sometimes approached by plain
blasphemy, sometimes via expression beyond rationality or language.
How does the process of creating a work by Hail Conjurer take
place? Working alone gives you the full power of decision, but it removes that
element of group, of exchanging ideas. Do you feel that this damages the final
product in any way, or exactly the opposite? From the first Hail
Conjurer demos it has been quite clear to me that working solely is the way to
go. It just feels natural that way. The process of creating music is almost
completely linked with actually recording stuff, so there is a major part of
the intuitive, instinctual and even improvisational ways of doing things
included in the making. One methodological choice I am bound to is to work with
the raw material and not to polish it dead. It appears both as the roughness
and acceptance of "unfinishedness" of the result but also as the need
to work with something that might have not appeared if there were too many
conscious decisions made. So, instead of exchanging ideas with other people I
find myself often in a dialogue with the instinctual side of myself. That said, there is an
exception to that rule happening as we speak, as I am working with a collaboration
record with another band now. However, even that does not follow the ways of
the “regular” band work, and musically speaking it’s also going to be very
different compared to other Hail Conjurer stuff anyway. I had the opportunity, as I mentioned when making the first
contact, to see you live at Invicta Reqviem Mass in 2019. In fact, it was at
that event that I got in touch with your name. The "adventure" of
playing live, is it challenging? Is it difficult to face an audience, being
alone on stage? Not at all. It does not
feel much different from the whole idea of doing this thing alone in general.
Quite the opposite, it would not feel the same if I had some other people
joining me there. I am not saying there cannot be some live collaborations
happening in the future if the urge appears to do so, but that would be a very
different kind of thing if it happens. Speaking of this event, how did you come to Portugal? Is there a
connection between you and the people at Signal Rex? Signal Rex contacted me and
asked if I wanted to play there, simple as that. I have been in contact with
Signal Rex after that too, and they released the second demo tape of Hollow
Woods (a Black Metal band I do vocals for) last year. When is Ride to Revenge coming to Portugal? No idea. 2020 was an atypical year for all of us, or for a large majority,
but you still edited works. "Carnal Light" came out in April, when
the pandemic was starting to show. How did you promote the album with these
conditions? There have not been big
promotion plans behind Hail Conjurer albums, so it was not that different from
the other albums. Obviously there haven't been many live gigs, but I don't feel
it affected much, if anything. I will let people know about the new records
when they are released and I know interested parties will know of them
eventually. The listener base for this kind of music is pretty marginal anyway,
so I think its fine as it is. Has all this reality changed the way you see the world and those
who live in it? You think things will change, or stay the same, if not worse. The basis of our current
societies is built upon the anthropocentric hubris and the false ideals of
human omnipotence, so can't say that global crises like this are somehow
surprising or unforeseen. In contrast, it's all been just the matter of time
when these illusions collapse. I am not optimistic for our species to face its
state any other way but through the hard way, if even then, so I’m sure there
is more to be revealed. What does the future hold for Hail Conjurer? Do you have plans for
more projects beyond all those you are part of? It was, once again, a pleasure.
More music is expected! Thanks. Thank you! More music
coming up, I can promise you that. The fourth Hail Conjurer album called
"Hail & Fire" is already being pressed and should be out late
Spring or early Summer 2021 (LP/CD/cassette on Bestial Burst). Other stuff (for
Hail Conjurer and other bands) is on the works too as we speak, so more to be
announced sooner or later.
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