Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus (Usa)

 




Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus (Usa)

T: Hi Mika, Why did you choose the band name Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus?

M: Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus is Finnish for “nihilistic barbarism”, a philosophical concept I read about in “The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality” by French philosopher André Comte-Sponville (our newest release – the ‘Madness Incarnate’ EP – has a track called “Comte-Sponville” in his honor).  The other band founder (Manuel Rodriguez) and I decided to go with Finnish instead of English or Swedish because it suggested a strong connection to Finnish/Nordic culture, as well as just sounded better.

T: (is) the style you play ambient black metal?

M: I still consider the band ambient black metal generally, but if you compare the first LP ‘Synkkä Tuuli’ to ‘Madness Incarnate’ I think it’s clear the band has developed with regard to both production and musical style.  The first few releases were straightforward raw atmospheric black metal, similar to Paysage D’Hiver and Velvet Cacoon, whereas the last LP ‘The Child Must Die’ took the first big steps toward elevating production quality while becoming more progressive.  With ‘Madness Incarnate’ I decided to experiment with doom and death metal riffing, a direction I plan to continue upon.

T: Your last production (album) is called “the child must die”. How has the feedback been from magazines, reviewers and your fans.

M: TCMD came out in April of 2015 on Infernal Kommando Records, and the reviews were mainly positive.  Prior to TCMD the releases were routinely criticized for being lofi, something I felt was unfair as it was essentially criticizing raw music for being raw.  However, having better access to studio equipment alleviated much of this with TCMD, and now with the release of ‘Madness Incarnate’ I can confidently state the critical response has become overwhelmingly positive, much more so than anticipated even.

T: “The Kalevala or The Kalewala Finnish: is a 19th-century work of epic poetry by Elias Lonnrot from Karelian and Finish oral folklore and mythology. It is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature. The Kalevala played an instrumental role in the development of the Finnish national identity, the intensification of Finland's language strife and the growing sense of nationality that ultimately led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917.”
Is “the child must die” CD based on this subject? Our followers would like to know, why this subject was chosen for this album.

M: TCMD is conceptually based entirely on The Kalevala, to the extent that all the song lyrics (with the exception of the title-track) were taken verbatim from an English-language translation/interpretation.  Originally I intended to write all original songs, but since The Kalevala is a poem to begin with I ultimately felt silly writing poetry about a poem, and since nothing I could come up with would ever surpass the legendary prose of The Kalevala, I decided rather to adapt the existing text instead.  As to my reason for selecting The Kalevala to begin with, my aim was to utilize my musical ability to contribute to the culture of my ancestral homeland while strengthening my own ties in the process.

T: How has it been working with Infernal Komando Records, you guys used to work with Horror Gore Death Productions. What happened?

M: I’ve never been contracted with a label to make multiple albums, always just one at a time.  This is good in a sense because it leaves open the possibility to network with other companies, but is also bad because there is no consistency and “shopping” for labels can be very stressful.  When it came to TCMD, I had already developed a relationship with Infernal Kommando Records since they previously released ‘Synkkä Tuuli’ & the follow-up EP ‘Väinämöinen’ on cassette.  For ‘Madness Incarnate’, I was aided by great friend of the band Miloš Anić (NB’s unofficial manager at the time) who put me in contact with Satanath Records in Ukraine.  Satanath offered to release the EP on their sub-label, Symbol of Domination Productions, as a co-production with Black Lion Productions in Sweden.  Between the two labels they were able to cover all production costs, a major benefit I am very thankful for.

T: The Album art for “The Child Must Die” was created by Luciana Nedelea.  What is the concept and meaning of the CD's album art.

M: All the art is based on The Kalevala.  For instance, one panel is the battle with Pohyola for the Sampo (a magical item which brings good fortune), whereas another is either Kullervo’s sister or Aino drowning themselves.  Luciana is an amazing artist and I strongly recommend anyone looking for album art or logo design to visit http://www.facebook.com/LucianaNedeleaArt.

T: You also have another band called Lawrence's Creation that released a CD called “Drop Zone” . It's very different from Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus. What can you tell us about this project.

M: Lawrence’s Creation was a band I joined as bassist for one album; it was begun by Lawrence Wallace (ex-Serpent ov Old, ex-Shadows in the Crypt) – a talented multi-instrumentalist (he was guest keys on some NB releases) – to showcase his virtuosity on guitar, and I joined basically to help structure some songs and manage the project so as to get the material released.  Ultimately we put out an album, ‘Drop Zone’, on Horror Pain Gore Death Productions, after which I left to focus on NB.

T: What bands have influenced the sound of the band? Can you name a few bands?

M: When Manuel and I first began playing our general influences were other raw atmospheric acts like Paysage d’Hiver, Velvet Cacoon, and Dark Space.  Manuel also had personal influences he put into his riffing such as Graveland, Hate Forest, and Horna (on ‘Synkkä Tuuli’ I wrote my riffs to complement his, so my personal influences weren’t so much in play).  Once Manuel left (following the release of ST) my influences became more prominent in the music as I’m much more into progressive bands like Enslaved, Naglfar, Old Man’s Child, and Rotting Christ.

T: What else would you like to say to the readers and followers of The Legion Of TchorT Zine?

M: I’d just like to say thank you for all the support thus far, and please listen to our most recent EP ‘Madness Incarnate’ anyway you can!  It is available from Satanath Records/Symbol of Domination Productions, Black Lion Productions, iTunes, Amazon, and Bandcamp!

T: Where can you get Nihilistinen Barbaarisuus y Lawrence´s Creation merch?

M: We have NB albums and t-shirts available from our Bandcamp https://nihilistinenbarbaarisuus.bandcamp.com,  as well as on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/nihilistinenbarbaarisuus or http://www.nbmetal.net; LC has CDs available through HPGD at http://www.horrorpaingoredeath.com/store/hpgd090.html.

T: Thanks for all Mika.