Echoes of Ancestral Battles by GALLIC HAMMER Salut katurix ! Ton one man band Gallic Hammer est basé en Suisse. Peux tu nous en dire un peu plus sur la genèse du projet ? Salut Pierre, Tout d'abord, je tiens à te remercier pour cette interview. je me réjouis de répondre à tes questions. Ayant officié longtemps dans divers groupes et projets underground, en tant que batteur, cela faisait longtemps que j'avais envie de créer mon propre projet solo, que je puisse diriger comme bon me semble, au rythme qui me convient . J'aime composer de la musique donc c'était naturel que ça se fasse un jours ou l'autre. Cela a débuté en 2019, sous le nom de Tales Of Invasions. Mon idée initiale était de partir sur un projet viking-epic BM à la Bathory. J'ai donc composé et enregistré une première démo dans la foulée, qui contenait 5 morceaux, dont les pistes "Taïga" et "Fall of The Warrior King()" *qui apparaissent également sur le premier EP de Gallic Hammer...
INTERVIEW WITH 145188 (Jacob Ottosson) (Founder of the band)
"VANHELGA was formed in Linköping, Sweden, in 2001 by J. Ottosson, aka 145188, who got together with like-minded musicians inorder to finally breathe life into his vision, something he had not been able to do with any previous bands and musicians he had worked with. Through music and lyrics VANHELGA, which, translated from Swedish means "Profane", explores the darker side of humanity" (Vanhelga's bandcamp presentation)
POSITIVE MUSIC FOR POSITIVE PEOPLE ! VANHELGA
Vanhelga is a Depressive Black
Metal from Sweden created back in 2001...Can you tell us a little more about
your fondation ?
It did not start out
as a Depressive Black Metal band. I was in another band back then and I felt like
it was a waste of time so I decided to create a one-man band called VANHELGA
and in the early days it was more about occultism and philosophy rather than
DSBM. We don’t like to label our music so as far as we are concerned our music
just simply is what it is at the moment, we don’t care if it is considered to
be depressive or satanic or whatever the hell people want to call it. We create
art that is not confined within any borders such as genres, for example.
As a one-man band I
felt that, after releasing “Höst”, I had accomplished and done everything that
I wanted to do by myself. That’s why I decided to bring in other members, to
evolve and more importantly, be able to express our art on stage in front of an
audience. It takes the whole experience to another level and enables me to
explore more of the darkness that is constantly devouring my mind. Going on
tours for example is a good way to destroy yourself in some sense because life
on tour can be very challenging, particularly to the mind.
What bands were you listening to
back then ? Which were infuential ?
Dissection, burzum,
metallica, in flames, meshuggah and mayhem was few of the ones I can remember
right now. There was probably other influences as well but when it happens it
is always accidental and not on purpose. It’s important for us to be as unique
as possible in every aspect.
In 2009 you released your first
demo Enslaved by God...what took you so long ?
I was in no hurry to
do anything. I wanted to take my time and try to find someone to release my
material that had similar ideas like my own. I am a very introverted guy with
mental health problems so things usually takes a lot longer for me than for
“normal” people. Also I am anti-social and asocial, meaning that I on purpose avoid
contact with other humans as much as possible. This can make things more
complicated.
What DSBM means to you ? Is
Vanhelga a DSBM band ?
For me DSBM is just a
word used to categorize music. We, ourselves, don’t think we are in any
category whatsoever. To be in a category or concept, is just one of many ways
to limit yourself. One of the most important things for us when it comes to
creativity is to never limit ourselves and we take all measurements possible to
avoid it. If the music we write turns out to be fucking punk rock or whatever,
as long as we think it sounds good, we will still release it and feel good
about it. We simply don’t care about genres or different kind of categories of
music. The main concern for us is that we are pleased with what we produce,
what other people say or think has no meaning to us in this situation.
You have melodic and rock
influences in your music. Where did they came from ?
It just turns out that
way in the writing process. We are probably, on some level, influenced by
things without knowing it but when we write a song we just go through our
process and see what happens. We don’t have any rules or guidelines that says
“it has to be melodic and rock”, you know? We always try to avoid this kind of
thinking.
One of your slogans is
« Positive music for positive people ». Do you practise the same dark
humor than a band called Lifelover ?
It’s sarcasm combined
with dark humor. Well, we have had two members from LIFELOVER in VANHELGA and
all the bands in the scene here in Sweden know each other one way or another so
it is not strange that we share the same ideas sometimes. I have always been
very hard to understand and I like to mess around with sarcasm in combination
with dark humor but still keep everything on a very serious level without it
getting too “clowny”.
Your first album in 2010 was
called Mortem illuminate mea. Can you tell us a bit more about the title and
the album ?
The title is roughly
put together Latin for “Death Illuminate Me” or “Illumination by Death”. It’s
the idea that when we die the whole existence will unravel before us and we
will transcend and get access to levels of existence that are impossible to
even grasp while being trapped inside the disgusting flesh of a human body.
When I wrote this
album I was studying philosophy and occultism twenty-four seven, everyday. I
was totally obsessed by it, in a very unhealthy way. It actually went so far
that I had to get hospitalized and get help to get my mind straight again.
Where do you think all that hate,
depression and negativity came from ? Is it anger ? Is it
deception ?
It’s just life. It
doesn’t come from one single source, it is a combination of everything that we
sum up as existing. Ever since I was born I felt violated, as if someone or
something forced me to exist against my own will.
I did not ask to be
born and I don’t want anything to do with this existence or the disgusting
people who constantly annoy me. I have a few things I want to do before I end
my life but as soon as I have accomplished these goals you can be sure I will
not be around anymore.
After 2 eps you released a second
lp, Höst, back in 2012. There is a lot of Post-Rock elements in this one. Do
you have post-rock influences ?
Honestly I have no
idea. I am not familiar with the genre and like I said before - I don’t care
about genres/categories. As long as I am liking what I hear I don’t mind if it
is fucking electronic dance music or whatever the fuck.
“Höst” was the last
album that I did everything by myself on and I was in a very dark place. I had
recently got diagnosed with Panic Syndrome, and I can assure you that it is one
of the worst things you can ever experience.
I did not listen to
any post-rock music or anything else at the time. I just had a lot of emotions
that got transferred into the lyrics and music of the album. It’s important for
me to always move forward when it comes to creating music, I don’t want to
repeat stuff that I have already done in the past and I absolutely have no
interest whatsoever to sound like any other band. To always move forward into
the darkness and the unknown is what we do. We are not a band like Iron Maiden
for example, who found a formula that works for them and then just repeat it
forever.
Your 20 favorite records
ever ?
I don’t have any
favorite records, I listen to what I want to listen to at the moment and that’s
it. Also I discover new music from time to time so it’s hard to say what would
be my favorite albums “ever”.
But I will try to give
you a few anyway: Dissection (The somberlain, storm of the lights bane), Burzum
(Filosofem, hvis lyset tar oss), Triptykon (Eparistera daimones, melana
chasmata), Metallica (Ride the lightning, master of puppets, black album,
load), Mayhem (De mysteriis dom sathanas), Megadeth (Rust in peace,
youthanasia, countdown to extinction), Meshuggah (Destroy erase improve,
nothing, chaosphere), Windir (Arntor, 1184), Iron Maiden (Seventh son of a
seventh son).
When i saw the Langtan cover
i immediately thought of Dissection. Was it intentional ? A word about
this album ?
I believe it was
inspired a little bit by the works of Necrolord (the person behind the artwork
of Dissection) since this band have always been one of the bands that I could
relate with the most throughout the years.
The cover is actually
inspired by Finnish folklore, it’s the land of the dead and it’s where everyone
ends up after they die. The title “Längtan” means “Longing”, that you really
can not wait for something to happen. And in this case Death is the topic. The
longing to finally die and leave this miserable life behind in order to
hopefully find some peace and rest after years of suffering.
Ode & elegy was released in
2016. It's a very melodic and melancholic dark album. Do you think your music
is getting more and more melodic ? Is it a swedish thing ? I mean
swedish
metallers are notably known for their sense
of melody ? You agree ?
Thanks. It is never
intentional when we write music. What I mean by that is that we never say to
ourselves “this song has to be more melodic” or “this song has to be more
brutal” and so on. We have no rules, we create without boundaries and if we
like the result we will use it.
I have not thought
much about if Swedish music is more melodic than music from other countries but
there is something about the atmosphere here in Sweden and the lifestyles that
somehow results in a certain sound. It might also be connected to something
genetic, still lingering on, since the old days before Christianity came like a
plague and ruined everything spiritual.
Fredagsmys, your last album to
date, was released in 2018. Can you tell us what is different or special with
that album for you ?
It’s the first album
that we ever recorded in a fully equipped studio with a sound-engineer by our
side. It’s also the first album which I allowed the other members to contribute
more in respect of the sound as well as the writing process.
Also I am pleased with
the concept behind the album, it describes in an accurate way the true meaning
behind the classic Swedish activity named “Fredagsmys” and how pointless life
actually is for the majority of the people here who are indoctrinated into the
ways of society. They are basically brainwashed into thinking the meaning of
life is to work full-time with 4 weeks vacation per year, for example. You
could say that most people here are blind and needs to open their eyes.
"Remember that in the End, everything and everyone will Die so what you might think is a huge problem for you right now does not matter at all in the End. Stay positive!"
Next projects ?
Right now we are in
the process of recording new songs. I can also reveal that we have enough
material for a new full-length. The plan right now is to try to do as many live
shows as we possibly can. Hopefully we can release an EP or split and further
down the road the next full-length album. That is how things are looking at the
moment.
I will publish this itw in a
book i'm writing about BM and subgenres. If i tell you :
DSBM
NSBM
Post-BM
Space BM
Atmospheric BM
Death/Black
What do you think about that
subgenres ?
DSBM: It’s supposed to
portray an atmosphere of depression, mental health problems, sadness, suicidal
thoughts and a mix of desperation combined with moments of hope or joy. But
unfortunately from my own experience (meeting bands on tours and over the
internet or other in real life situations), it turns out that most people who
are involved in the genre are not authentic, they often have very good lives
with no problems whatsoever and are mostly interested in having fun and
partying. If a band is not authentic you can hear it almost instantly from
their music because it does not have the correct mood or feeling behind it. In
general I would say that most people who are involved in music are not honest
and they just want to fit into a category of people so they don’t feel alone or
they think it is “cool” and want to be like the bands they admire. Total waste
of time in my opinion. It’s not strange that we don’t get along well with other
bands on tour when we are actually suffering from real mental health problems
and they are perfectly healthy normal individuals.
NSBM: No comments. I
only know that there is a lot of issues around this genre and personally I
think that music should never have any fucking political agendas. Music is much
deeper, both spiritually and more complex, than the pathetic problems humans
have in society. The world will perish in the End so why bother trying to fix
something that will not last forever?
Post-BM: I am not
exactly sure what this genre is all about but we have toured with bands who are
considered to be Post-BM and I guess it is somewhat of a trendy genre at this
moment. For me personally, the music has not been interesting enough for me to
get more involved in it.
Space BM: I have no
fucking idea what this means. Sorry.
Atmospheric BM: I
think all music that succeeds in creating an authentic atmosphere falls into
this category. Unfortunately it’s like with almost every fucking band nowadays,
they copy the atmosphere that other bands have already portrayed before. It’s
very hard to find bands with an unique atmosphere, most of them are just sad
reflections from trying to sound like this or that band.
Death/Black: I am
going to guess that you are referring to music who does a mix of both black and
death metal. Well, one of the bands I like the most, Dissection, are considered
to do this and I fucking love that band. It’s nice when bands manage to mix
different elements and combine them in new ways that are unique and not
unoriginal. In this genre, like in all other genres, there are always bands who
are not authentic and just try to copy some other band. It’s a shame really,
because it is total pointless to mass-produce the same shit over and over
again.
Last words for you ! Tell
us whatever you want :
Remember that in the
End, everything and everyone will Die so what you might think is a huge problem
for you right now does not matter at all in the End. Stay positive!
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