5 Questions, 5 Musicians… closing the curtain before a new act.

Do you recall the idea that gave birth to the physical fanzine that I developed? Well, it all started with this concept: 5 questions, 5 bands / musicians. Awhile back I decided to give the questions a polish, and see if I was able to come up with more intricate, and interesting ones. This interview to Ritual Flail's main man, Nattskog (Jørgen Sven Kirby) was the last one that I did that fits the cast, and it will help to introduce the next segment: "5 Questions, 5 Musicians", redone.

What role does Black Metal play in your daily life? How does it fit in your perspective of the World and Life in general?

 

Black Metal and Heavy Metal in general is what consumes me entirely. I spend my days listening to record, making music for my various projects (alongside Ritual Flail I also have: Sykelig Englen, Garden Of Eyes, Hexivoid, Blasphemous Degradation and a few others), I also write reviews on my webzine, run a Metal YouTube show and contribute to a print zine called Legions Ov Darkness. From this you can gather Heavy Metal is what I live and breathe and the dedication in Black Metal is what makes it such a life-blood for many in the scene.

 

The premises by which those who originated the genre were "guided" - 1st or 2nd wave, as you prefer - still persist today, in those who create?

 

I think the 1st wave remains the most important as this is unfiltered Black Metal as we saw from Hellhammer, Bathory, Venom, Sarcofago, Blasphemy, Beherit, Vulcano and Celtic Frost. These bands laid a template of savagery that is undeniably necessary to what we create. This said, the European second wave took the sound into far more directions and gave it far more potential to grow beyond its rigid birth, so I feel both were important.

 

What weight does the mystical / spiritual aspect of Black Metal have at the time of creation? Is there a connection with the spiritual line?

 

I think Black Metal has a spirituality of its own that meets with the occult and the unknown perfectly. Without spirit or a genuine purpose beyond the music Black Metal probably would not even exist or would still be called Death Metal / Speed Metal. Black Metal should be mystical and never compromise this at any cost.

 

How do you see the current Black Metal panorama? Do you think that the genre is, today, more than a musical genre without any essence or, on the contrary, see it as a reality true to the principles that generated the genre?

 

I think while perhaps some of the danger in Black Metal has been lost for some, there are plenty of die-hard maniacs who still keep the flame burning without compromise. This doesn’t mean it cannot progress and expand, that would be a childish notion. However those bands who create music for the sake of music with no feel should be expelled from the movement as nothing but time wasters. The real maniacs will always conquer!

 

What motivates you, today, to make Black Metal?

 

Making Black Metal and Death Metal music to me is as necessary as any other form of survival my body undergoes. Self-discipline, meditation and the yearning for morbid energies will always be what I feed off in Black Metal and this hunger will never be satisfied. As a collective we must push the boundaries, defy the norm and crush opposition with our music and our dedication.

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