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Since some
years, the ambient scene has been taking place in the underground scene, and has
been specially related with one most extreme musical expression, like Black
Metal is... though Vinterriet is not a Black Metal band its work highly
appreciated by Black Metal worshipers around the world. The music of Vinterriket
is introspective, personal, beautiful and darkened… Vinterriket is one of the
finest exponents in this barely new musical style.
 BB:
First thanks for giving us this interview; it’s an honor to have you in BURNING
BLACK. Can you tell us about your project’s beginnings?
- Hello Alvaro. Ok,
here we go: Well, the story/ history of Vinterriket is quite
boring and nothing
special, I think. I have started the whole project back in late 1996. In the
early days the whole thing was very slow and I was not 100% behind it. The first
demotape was released in early 2000 or in the end of 1999, I think. So it took 3
years to finish the stuff. This was mainly because of bad equipment and so on.
After the release of the demo the whole thing became more serious and I totally
focused on the project. Up til now many EP's, CD's Demos and so on have been
published on different labels
around the globe.
Too many stuff to mention, actually. Vinterriket was founded because of my
endless love to the dark side of mother nature. I wanted to express my feelings
and the way I see nature through this kind of art in order to satisfy myself.
You know, principally I make music ONLY for myself, for nobody else! If others
like the music, too: Ok. If not, I do not care at all. Of course it is great to
see that many others share the same feelings, that many others have the same
visions/ landscapes/ feelings inside when listening to the music of Vinterriket
and that many others interpret my lyrics as I’d do myself. Then I see they got
the point I want to express. Others listen to the stuff and they understand
simply nothing what I wanted to express. But as I said: I do not care at all.
Vinterriket is me and I amVinterriket. No other members have been included in
the past.
BB:
How you define the sound of Vinterriket? …Unless to me sounds
is like were in between of Black Metal and Black Ambient.
Most of my tracks
are dark, symphonic, cold, melancholic and depressive synth soundscapes
(Ambient). Therefore I feel more related to the Dark Ambient scene. 2nd,
Vinterriket is NOT "Black Metal" or "Metal" in general. I usually avoid to use
those terms, but often it is hard to describe the "Metal- related"track without
using the word "Metal". I often describe it as Dark Ambient mixed with guitars /
grim vocals / drums
and so on.
BB:
Your work is highly appreciate worldwide, though is not old
school Black Metal, is highly appreciate by the Black Metal worshipers… Why do
you think is that?
- I do not know
actually. As I have already said in answer #1, I make music only for myself, for
nobody else. If others like the music it is of course great, if not I do not
care at all. I get a lot of feedback from around the globe and it seems that
some people really understand what’s it all about. They share the same feelings
and experience the same when listening to the music.
BB:
When I listen to your works, sometimes the name of Jean
Michelle Jarre comes to my mind… Is he an influence to Vinterriket?
- To be honest: I
never heard of Jean Michelle Jarre, I am sorry. Well, but when you say that his
works are similar to Vinterriket I’ll try to check out his music. Concerning
influence: Well, Vinterriket- lyrics are in general a mix of nature- themes,
personal feelings/ visions/ dreams and some astral themes (especially on Demo
#2). The lyrics are very personal. I avoid to interpret and to explain them.
Everybody should interpret them himself. The lyrics are entirely written in
german, because I am German and because it is the best way to express oneself
(through your native language). VINTERRIKET is only influenced by the dark side
of nature, nothing else! Sure, you get influenced by many things around you if
you want or not, you can even say by ALL things around you: Friends, books,
films, landscapes, pictures, etc. But my main source is the "nightside" of
nature. Nature is all and everything to me. I am a "nature-child" so to speak
and I have a very close relationship to nature. All VINTERRIKET tracks so far
have been odes to the dark side of mother nature! Of course I prefer dark,
melancholic and moody places and landscapes. I really like to walk around alone
in autumn and winter through stormy, snowy, misty and cold woods... We have a
lot of great dark and powerful places here in our area where you can really feel
the energy and might of nature.
BB:
Burzum has always been an obligatory reference when talk
about your music, and it was reaffirmed with the cover of “ Der Tod Wuotans”,
great version as well. What do you think about Varg’s ideologies? Are those
sources of inspiration for you?
- Of course I like
BURZUM. My favourite CD of Varg is hard to tell. I like a lot of them very much.
"Hvis.."/ "Filosofem" maybe? I do not know. I also like his 2 Ambient- CD's. But
Burzum never had a direct influence on Vinterriket....
Varg is a good
musician. He has created a lot of amazing tracks with minimalistic abilities. "Der
Tod Wuotans" which is on the Oskorei- release as an cover(bonus)- song is one of
the best track he has ever written, I think. The track is so dark, so
atmospheric, unbelievable. But as I said, my main source of inspiration is the
dark side of nature. Concerning his ideologies: I regard Varg as a very
intelligent and strong personality with great ideas and visions. E.g. I read his
book "Vargsmal". Some points of view are really okay and totally acceptable but
others are not. It depends. You know, I have my own personal philosophy about
life & death & politics. I am not following a special theory or attitude. Some
are walking on the way of La Vey or Crowley: But these persons are not strong
enough to develop their own philosophy. Blindly and
stupid followers in
my eyes!
BB:
In relative short time you have made several albums, splits,
etc… How do you do that? How is the composition process of Vinterriket?
- I have to be
in the right mood to create music. Depressive, melancholic and misanthropic
feelings must possess me, then it is the right time to compose new songs!
Sometimes these feelings are so strong that I am even unable to compose... It
depends on the right time. Sometimes I do nothing for months, an other time I
compose songs every day as long as possible. So you see, there is no regular
pattern. Chaos rules supreme! Well, a lot of the stuff which has been released
are re-releases, different- version, Brasil- / Ukrainian-, Russian- versions of
releases, Vinly-versions and so on.... If you'd not count all those the amount
of releases is not that big. I am creating music each day, several hours,
normally. Well, how can I produce such a big amount of music? It is quite
simple: To make music is what I want to do. I love it. I am spending almost all
my free time for composing music. I like it. I usually use several hours a day
to create music,... There are days/ weeks/ months with a big lack of
inspiration/ ideas. On the other side there are days/ weeks/ month where ideas
are just flowing out of my head if you understand what I mean. It depends.
Yea, sometimes I create more
Metal- related tracks, sometimes pure dark Ambient soundscapes. It depends on my
mood. There is really no special reason behind it. It is possible to create
cold, dark, moody and atmospheric music with both of the styles. I just felt to
do so.
BB:
Your album’s artwork has been always pretty ad-hoc with your
music, with some kind of serenity and darkness… Who made this works? Can you
tell us what means to you your albums artworks (generally speaking…)?
- I have created all the artworks of
my releases so far (almost…. there are some exceptions when it comes to
re-releases). Layout, music and lyrics are always going hand in hand within Vinterriket, therefore I have choosen dark "nature-layouts" in order to
underline the music. Vinterriket's music is a tribute to the dark side of
nature, exclusively, nothing more and nothing less.
I am of the opinion that a record
consist of four main parts which should perfectly fit together: format
(extravagant packing), lyrics, music and artwork. I am of the opinion that
black/white covers/booklets are fitting best to Vinterriket's music. I'll
probably never use coloured stuff...Lyrics, songtitles and pictures are very
important to me. Music, lyrics and pictures (layout in general) should go hand
in hand to underline each other. All three components should melt together and
the whole thing should be considered as union. And therefore I always use
black/white booklets/covers because nothing would fit better, I think. The
pictures I used on covers / booklets and so on have been shot by myself, a
German friend of me and Haewwel (ex- Vinterriket- session- member).
For example “Winterschatten”, “…und die
Nacht kam schweren Schrittes” and “Landschaften ewiger Einsamkeit” are
conceptional works exclusively.
On all mentioned records layout,
packing, music and lyrics (titles) are perfectly fitting together in order to
become “ONE”!
BB:
Have you ever consider making an entire audio-visual work
like “Reisene Til Grottel Og Odemarker” of Mortiis?
- Not yes, sorry.
Maybe in the future? We’ll see…. There be created a new video clip in
Autumn/Winter 2005, but no “entire visual work” as you’ve preferred to call it.
Only a clip.
BB:
Can you tell us about the video-clip of “Vergänglichkeit”?
- Not much to say,
actually. It is a video clip for a song f the upcoming CD on Black Attakk
Records. The clip was created by myself and is better than the first Video Clip
I did one or two years ago. Expect nothing but the pure dark side of nature. The
clip will be released along with the CD in June/July 2005.
BB:
You seem to have firmly rooted the Black Metal in the whole
concept of Vinterriket. What do you think Vinterriket has in common with the
“first wave” of Black Metal?
- Well, whether
“mainstream” nor “underground” nor somewhere in between is where Vinterriket
belongs to, ‘cause I do not want to be connected to any scene at all. I am
listening to music I like, whether it comes out of the deepest underground or
out of the so called more mainstream. It is the same with Vinterriket: I make
music for myself, for nobody else and I do not care whether people would
categorize it as underground or not. I simply do not care. Because of me not
belonging to any scene at all, “underground” means nothing to me. The same goes
for the so-called “first wave” of Black Metal.
BB:
In short time you have release many works under many labels.
Why you don’t’ have a “stable” label? How has been your relationship with Black
Attakk?
- Yea, I am working
with many labels around the globe, smaller ones and bigger ones. Right now I am
signed to Black Attakk Records Germany. Concerning the relationship with them I
can say nothing so far. Let’s wait until the CD is released then we’ll see if
they’re doing a good job or not. Black Attakk can be considered as a stable
label right now.
BB:
What was the main problem of BMMB Productions with your Split
7" EP with Northaunt?
- Quite simple: They
were very unprofessional, spread only lies and the whole effort to release the
split was very chaotic. I am currently negotiating with some labels to release
the split during summer 2005. We’ll see. The EP will definitely be released
though being delayed for more than one year now.
BB:
Can you tell us about your new album “Der
letzte Winter Der Ewigkeit entgegen”? Will be in the same vein of “Winterschatten”?
- The new
record is more in the “Black Metal” – vein, comparable to the first two tracks
of the Winterschatten CD. But more grim, more atmospheric. As I have already
said, the CD should be released in June/July 2005. It has been recorded in
January 2005 and will be released in a limited edition DIGIPAK. There’ll also be
shirts / posters and so on. The style could be described as:
Cold chords and stirring hypnotic riffing
paired with haunting and cold synthetic soundscapes evoking an chilling
atmosphere full of bleakness, coldness, desolation, solitude, emptiness,
melancholy, darkness and nothingness,... The bleak mourning of desolate idleness
within eerie and misty sonic landscapes. A tribute to the darkest side of nature...
BB:
Was your idea to make a “Best Of…” album or was label’s idea?
What do you think about this work?
- It was the idea of
the label. I assume that you’re talking about the upcoming Best Of CD on Black
Attakk Records. They’ve simply asked me and I agreed. The CD should be released
in Autumn 2005.
 BB:
What bands are you listening these days? Do you listen more
Ambient or Metal?
- I am listening to
a lot of music: All kinds of music. Ambient/ Industrial/ Classics/ etc.
Some Black Metal,
too. But I am no longer interested in the current Black Metal scene, to be
honest. There are too many shitty bands around copying each other and making the
same like others did even better years ago. I am seldomly buying a CD related to
Black Metal. There are only a few bands around which are able to catch my
attention. Those bands are different, because of their originality and because
they are not doing standard- stuff like thousands of others. I will not mention
any names...I still have all the old records of the Scandinavian Black Metal
bands, for example. Sometimes I
listen to them, but
I prefer other stuff these days. All the music to which I am listening is
atmospheric, dark, melancholic and original. Those parameters should be
fulfilled!
BB:
How do you think will be the future of the extreme music?
- I do not care
about it’s future, to be honest. As I said, I am more into Ambient/ Industrial
nowadays and I do not care about the so called “Metal-scene”.
BB:
Thanks again for your words! These last lines are all yours…
- Nothing more to
add, I think….Thanx for the interview! Best regards and good luck for your
magazine in the future. Germaniac hails, cz / vinterriket 05.05.2005 /
www.vinterriket.com
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