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.
