Forbidden Temple - Belgium Dark Arts Royalty

There are bands, and projects, that stand out from the rest, not only for the quality they present in their work, but also for the integrity, they place in them. There are musicians who live along the lines by which they guide their musical creation, and Forbidden Temple is one such case. We had the fantastic opportunity to ask some questions to the band, and talk a little bit about Music, Message and Integrity.

First, thank you very much for this opportunity. It is, for me, a great pleasure to be able to interview one of the bands that has, in recent years, recaptured quite well that Rotten and Necrotic Black Metal sound of the 90s. Did you feel you had to go back and embrace the primordial guidelines of the genre, and project it to Present days, or was it a natural reaction to your musical beings?                                                                                         

That is the only way for us indeed. When we started Forbidden Temple we had a vision and a goal with the band. Both of us are obsessed with old Black metal, so the influences are obvious.

Recording in a "modern" way is no option for us. Never. Therefore, in a way, we did not have to go back to anything. It was completely natural. We do not have modern or professional equipment, no fancy tricks. What you hear on the releases is naive and honest.

How did the band come to be? You are very, very recent, as Forbidden Temple – the band formed in 2017. Were you, previously in other projects/bands? Please, tell us a bit more about all that.

We should have done this much earlier, but we did not know each other. We were fed up with/complaining about the boring scene in BE at the point when we started Forbidden Temple. Only a very few black Metal bands could meet our requirements, so instead of nagging about it, we did it our own way. Some of us had projects/bands in the past indeed, but that is not of importance now. The main thing is that we shared a vision of making primitive black metal, nothing fancy.

Medieval Prophecy Productions has been releasing some exquisite material, but at the same time, I rather feel that it prefers to stay a bit “off the radar”. Do you feel that there is, in this, a vision/choice on how this genre should be dealt with? In the shadows and for a select group?

Yes! We are honored to work with Medieval Prophecy Productions, and we are proud that his first release is Forbidden Temple – Demo II. We are not exclusive to the label but we'll definitely keep working with him.

We do not feel the need for websites, band camps, social media pages, and whatever for Forbidden Temple. It never crossed our mind. In addition, if a label wants to post a preview sample we want to keep it minimal. The news for the first public release (demo II) was announced on Xeroxed flyers on several gigs. This is the best way to promote a release like this imo.

Nowadays you can’t control who is buying/listening your music, if it is a public release. We don't really care anyway. F.T. is analog black metal mostly spread on tapes so I think a large part of our listeners are real freaks, not tourists hopping on the latest trends.

Black Metal has, in recent years, diverged – even more - from the “public sphere” and into an underground reality. Is Black metal returning to where it should have never left?

You think so? Black metal never was such an easy access as it is now. Social media is full of Black metal… The best is to ignore all drama that is happening in Black metal-land nowadays and think/conclude what Black metal means to you… I do not think there are rules about what black metal "should have done" in the past or should do nowadays. That is up for every individual to decide.

But I see what you mean, there are lots of "raw" black metal bands nowadays, trying to sound as lofi as possible and releasing stuff in ultra-limited quantities, but most of those bands are pure gimmick... So in that way, there is a huge presence of black metal.

You music gives me, besides that Rotten and Abrasive Black Metal sensation, a very medieval feeling. The synth/sample parts are amazing. I am an avid lover of synths in Black Metal, and that juxtaposition came out amazing. Did you ever feel that it was a risk?

From the beginning, we knew synths would become a standard part of Forbidden Temple. No, we never felt it was a risk. Synths are necessary for the atmosphere we are trying to create when composing. And keyboards always make a F.T. Song better, which is the case for lots of black metal. I sometimes listen to albums that make me think "damn, I wish they had some keyboards ..."

Your music is very distinguishable. Where do you get inspiration from? Musically and lyrically speaking. Does the darker side of the human being weigh on your monets of creation? 

Our music is very distinguishable because we do things our own way and that is always a plus if you do not want to sound like the rest. We record everything ourselves, we do our own mixing, keyboards; we also spread limited amounts of home-dubbed tapes among close contacts... Instead of having some studio engineer telling you what it is supposed to sound like. That is why many bands sound the same. Same amps, studio setup, plugins, same compression, pedals, Boring!

6 Demos, 1 Split and 1 EP? Will a Full-length ever see the light of day?

Maybe, when the time is right. Atm we don’t have grand plans for an album, we are more into releasing demo tapes, time shall tell!

Your Split with Ultima Thule is superb. How did that happen? What appeals to you, in said band, that led you to release a Split? Are there more similar ideas - with different bands I mean - a possibility?

Thanks! Wolfram from New Era Productions is no stranger to us, so the deal was settled quickly, without hesitation. Meeting Ultima Thule in person made it even more interesting, because we were on the same wavelength regarding how we think about Black metal. There are probably more bands for a split, but we are not actively searching to do more splits...

The Belgian scene has given us, in the last years, some bands of superior quality: yourselves, Perverted Ceremony and Moenen of Xezbeth, just to name a few. All these bands have a Raw and Primordial sound to them. Is the scene growing towards this Black Metal?

Those bands you mention record/compose music indeed in a different way compared to other bands from Belgium soil, which makes their sound raw, primordial & interesting... They also do everything themselves. Recording, mixing, home studio stuff on tapes! During the past years a few bands got more attention than others in the Belgian "scene", Belgium always had a moving scene, which got a lot of attention, especially in the past. It seems that some bands will stay forever in the shadows, when others are not worth the attention.

Are the musicians – and to some extent, the fans – tired of that oh so polished Black Metal that many quintessential bands from Nordic countries are still, till this day, releasing? Do the fans, and the musicians, want Black Metal to be Raw and Primitive again? 

Depends on what you define polished & raw, most raw black metal sounds polished to us as well...The bands from Nordic countries that are still releasing album after album each year have another goal audience, which doesn’t dig deeper. In addition, we do not care about that type of music. It is completely different from what we do or what we like.

Do you feel/sense that the Black Metal scene – European, American, etc… - is still enrooted in a spiritual specific mindset or has it, a long time ago, left that place and drift apart?

In F.T. there is a sort of feeling, that is sometimes called "ancient", "old" or "medieval". So that connects us to the past. Not that we make medieval music, or incorportate lots of medieval melodies, or elements, but what we do definitely refers to the past. Maybe a past that never actually existed but still, there is some nostalgia to ancient times. I don't know if you can call it spiritual, in a way yes, because listening to good music is a higher type of experience that connects you with something you can't see, but it's not like there is some kind of metaphysical ideology in what we do. We aim for atmosphere, not spirituality…

What can we expect from Forbidden Temple in a near future? Live performances and new releases?

Forbidden Temple is a recording project. The spirit lives on the records...we don't hurry things, but you can expect more audial darkness in the future! We do our best to create ancient darkness on the releases and it would be very difficult to create the same vibe on stage. I've seen many bands fuck up live, not because of mistakes but because of the lack of "atmosphere".

I would like to, once more, thank you for your time and your words. Hope we are able to, in the future do this again. It was a pleasure.

Forbidden Temple Metal-archives Profile