Tag Archives: Poland

Lovidalf Ranemmak VI about his creation: the genre of Ordo Fantet

Music is a world of visionaries, and some of them are wildly misunderstood or not even seen.  Blame it on convenience or simple algorithms that guide us through the online wasteland, it does let a lot of great stuff go to waste. Call it outsider music if you will, but the most fascinating sounds can be found by those who look a bit deeper. Through thematic digging in online archives,  through one of his projects, I found one of those exceptional musicians. Lovidalf Ranemmak VI is one of those projects that are hard to understand. Lovidalf is an individual, but to be honest it’s more an artistic entity… The man who created his very own music genre called Ordo Fantet.

Now, Lovidalf has many projects and for the sake of mystique, we shall refer to him by this alias here. Inspired by game music, but more so by a classical training in music and fascination for bygone times, he created a style that may be closest related to dungeon synth and renaissance music. And to provide a corpus to this style, he has started a range of projects so numerous that one would be challenged to list all of them (he insists he has no problem with that).

Lovidalf is convinced it seems, as I conclude from our interactions online, that his style is not particularly interesting. Neither is he. He is wrong, but it speaks about intent that he’s doing it all anyway, dedicating his life to a remarkable creation.  I want to thank him for his time and hope that this interview will shed some light on his voluminous work. Enjoy!

As I had published this on Echoes & Dust I received some messages from the artist in question, due to a statement I made regarding the number of projects. I considered, based on his words, he would not have a full overview. He disagreed heavily with that tongue-in-cheek remark. Also based on a typo, the term ‘Fantet’ was exchanged with ‘Cantet. I hope to have rectified these here. I also would like to state that, going through many of the pages and identities of the artist, I have not been able to verify many of the statements made. Not only does the artist have many fictional identities, a lot of band members appear to be fictional too.  Due to the elaborate nature of this invented narrative, I have some reservations about how ‘natural’ this is. I decided the music is worthy of attention. 

Escapism, Ordo Fantet and Happiness

How are you doing? How has the pandemic been for you as a Polish artist abroad? 

The pandemic was very epic for me. At the beginning, back in 2019, I had to leave France, back to my parents in Moscow. Also, I had to postpone many of my projects, because my studio was closed for quarantine. I am not allowed to be in my studio, but I am very much allowed to pay taxes on it… In general, I am bankrupt this year.

So, I’m particularly curious about your path towards the artist you are now. The person behind a variety of projects and a whole genre, if I may so. How did you get so interested in this style and medieval times? 

I became interested in the Middle Ages at the age of seven or eight, when my grandmother brought me to her homeland in France. My grandmother has a dad from France (Aquitaine), a mom from Poland. In this story, there is a whole historical novel that stretches from the time of the Napoleonic wars. As a result, for the fact that my Polish ancestors fought on the side of Napoleon against Russia, they were arrested and sent into exile in Russia. So, my genealogy ended up in the land of bears and vodka. On my mother’s side, my German, Swedish and Finnish origin.

Therefore, as a child, I travelled with my parents to many places of their birthplace. I was in France when I saw ancient castles, especially Aquitaine, but not far from Paris there are mesmerizing, beautiful places. 

Who are your musical inspirations? And what instruments do you actually play yourself? 

In Poland, at the age of five, my parents sent me to a music school, violin class. A little later, I myself entered the classical guitar class, and from the age of eleven, I became interested in old stringed instruments such as gittern, viele, rebec, citole, medieval harp and all kinds of lutes. Now, I have dozens of medieval instruments in my collection. 

When I found myself in Russia and transferred to a Russian music school, I became interested in orchestral classical music, especially the Russian school of the “Mighty Handful” represented by César Cui, Mussorgsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. So at the age of eleven, I was already composing an incomprehensible symbiosis of medieval and orchestral music, which I later named Ordo Fantet.

I have always taken inspiration in music from books. At about 10 years old I began to write small stories and poems myself. And after reading a series of books by David Eddings, the Elenium, I myself have already invented my own fantasy universe, which was more like a real historical novel than, for example, Tolkien’s. By the way, I read Tolkien much later.

Regarding musical instruments, I don’t really like the word “multi-instrumentalist”, but I have to write it in the description, because it takes a very long time to list all the instruments I play;) My whole life is music, I wake up in the morning and instead of weights I take guitar or lute, or sit down at drums with tambourines … And then grab kettlebells and swords … ahaha

Ok, so tell me about Ordo Fantet. What is its musical origin and what is the relation to the dungeon synth genre?

Ordo Fantet is symbiotic. A symbiosis of medieval music and orchestral symphonies. Fantet can be in minor (sad) and major (funny). The main difference from other existing genres is the fantasy context. Both in music and poetry. There are huge differences from dungeon synth, or rather the only thing that makes Ordo Fantet in common with dungeon synth is the use of a synthesizer on some compositions. But mostly, Ordo Fantet is performed on live medieval and orchestral instruments. Plus, Fantet uses vocals, both growling and pure male and female.

How big is this genre? You told me that this is really a micro-genre, but what other artists should people check out for example? 

The Ordo Fantet genre mainly consists of my side projects or projects with a girlfriend of mine, a minstrel from France. For example, if in a true Ordo Fantet, no electric guitars with distortion or other overdrive are acceptable, then we have projects where, for example, I mix symphonic black metal with elements of Ordo Fantet, or funeral doom. Most of the artists in this underground genre can be found by the #ordofantet tag for example on the same bandcamp.

You work with numerous alter egos, which fits with the roleplaying that clearly is a big inspiration to you. Is Lovidalf Ranemmak your primary one, and can you tell me a bit more about him? 

As for my large number of projects, with my alter ego, everything is simple. Each of my projects contains some differences. For example, somewhere it is musically, somewhere it is pure ordo fantet, somewhere mixed with dark ambient, somewhere there is a lot of medieval folk, and somewhere it is only in a different conceptual approach. For example, will a dungeon synth on the Elder Scrolls, or other game universes. Or space synth, or the eclecticism of the 60s of America, etc. That is why I always create a new project for my new ideas. I’m a non-commercial, I don’t need all these bureaucratic contracts with labels, and other freeloaders, I work for music, not money.

And I object to sculpting a new genre on each album, like Mortiis, when he had dark dungeon music, and after that there was a pop disco for drug addicts;) I don’t accept that! Therefore, many, including my iconic ones, call me Alexander Dumas in the world of music, because he had an incredible number of books, and I have an incredible number of albums and projects! 😉 ahahah

Lovidalf Ranemmak VI is my main pseudonym, my main character. Here, too, everything is simple, Lovidalf is the name of one of the NPCs from the Elder Scrolls, from the very first part, which is called Arena, I received this game as a gift at the end of 94, from my first computer. Arena is my first love and the first RPG game in my life. Ranemmak, this is my mother’s transformed surname, Reinecke, in my made-up language (Kell-Galluish from my fantasy universe, the main dialect of the inhabitants of Fractria).

Going further on that, I feel by checking your socials, that your commitment to Ordo Fantet goes beyond music to a lifestyle. You seem to really embrace this identity in a day-to-day approach? 

In fact, Ordo Fantet is just music, strange, incomprehensible to many, but it’s just music. But my way of life, yes, maybe it’s already epic! 😉

Maybe I’m crazy, but I live according to the principles of LCSO – (Le Chevaliers Scolastique Ordre) I live in poverty, I don’t pursue fame, I don’t do PR and advertise my work, I just live like a knight-monk, I do reconstruction, sword fencing, I write books and music and play computer games. I don’t need rich apartments, a cool car, I don’t have a car at all, for that I have a gorgeous collection of swords and musical instruments, and this is quite enough for me for my happy life. I’m an escapist.

Which games do you primarily derive inspiration from? 

About computer games. Until 2014, I just adored The Elder Scrolls and the entire universe. But after working a little at Bethesda as a writer for lore, I realized that a lot would change in the future game and I didn’t like it. Therefore, gradually, very slowly, I began to work on my role-playing game, which will be in my fantasy universe – Codex Draggriffe.

You make a lot of music, so how does your creative process look like and what is your way of determining what fits into which project best? 

I write music every day, practically I record only when the material is going to be a full or mini album. It all depends on my mood and state of health. Here, the thing is that earlier for the cover of my albums I had to ask permission to use the art I liked, now from January 1, 2020, when my parents presented me with a graphic tablet, I have been drawing covers for my already released albums.

So now, I draw a lot, although I don’t know how to draw, and the last time I painted was at school. Although, at school, my knights and dragons liked a lot …

I understand you also produce black metal and other types of music, what other projects are you working on and what is currently your primary focus?

Black metal, but not all. For example, for me this genre was the personification of non-commercial and original music. Unfortunately, today this genre has turned into a pile of dung, with its posers and merchants who write music not for the sake of music, but for the sake of populism and money. Unfortunately.

I, on the other hand, stick to rawness and originality in my black metal projects. Landmarks for the black 90s, when there was still gunpowder …

You also frequently address your writing. What sort of writing have you one and where can one find your work? Do you consider your music and writing a ‘united piece of art’?

Yes, my music comes entirely from my books, my universe. But, at first, I still tried to write in French, when in my childhood I lived with my grandmother in France, but later I gave up this idea, because I wrote with a lot of mistakes, to be honest, and now I do not speak French very well, although I know German well and Latin. At one time, I was very fond of studying the Old French language, as well as Hochdeutsche Dialekte. Now all my books and stories are written in Russian and Polish. I still have to print, there is not enough money for this, sponsors are needed. But I myself read my books on my YouTube channel.

You also mention a lot of cooperative works, for example with Swiss musicians on the project Trobar Clus. Do you travel a lot or how do you realize this sort of projects? Can you tell me about your collaborations?

Trobar Clus is one of the projects in which I am introduced as a session musician. In fact, I don’t have as many projects in metal music as it might seem. I can name it.

Ok, so my biggest question is how you maintain all of this. All the pages, all the socials, all the projects. Like, how do you get the time for all this? 

I don’t have enough time. Therefore, I have a work schedule for every day. I have not officially worked for a long time, as is customary for normal people. In my life I worked as a music teacher at a state music school, I was also a teacher at home, for a long time I worked in music stores, where I sold classical musical instruments as well as guitars and synthesizers. I even worked for Bethesda, the one that produced the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series of games.

Now, I will never go to work for the “owner” who has the right to humiliate you, having only the status of the employer, but not the name of the crown or the rank of lord, in Russia, unfortunately, the law on employment is very clumsy, and there is a lot of injustice with regard to payment wages and working day. Therefore, I put all my savings into my studio. Unfortunately, for a year now, my studio has not been working, and now I have really very difficult financial days. Nevertheless, I compose music, drink cheap wine, write book material, wave a sword in the forest and play various role-playing games, I am happy in my own way! 😉

What are the future plans for you as an artist?

I have plans, all the same that have always been. Compose material, for books, for musical projects. And I will continue to draw covers for my albums. I have a lot in my book, taken from medieval and renaissance poetry. Including Dutch legends like Vrouwtje van Stavoren or Beiaard and Grutte Pier! But basically, my main character is a knight monk, his guardian angels in the form of generous hares and Reintje de Vos! 😉 ahahah

If Lovidalf Ranemmak VI was a dish, what would it be and why that?

As for the dish, I can’t even think of anything. But I really love venison meat on a fire under wine sauce with garlic and a lot of French oak wine !!! ;))

Thank you Guido Segers! For your attention to my unpopular person.  For your interview.Take care of yourself from any illness, all the best!

 

 

 

 

Underground Sounds: Kriegsmaschine – Apocalypticists

Label: No Solace
Band: Kriegsmaschine
Origin: Poland

Kriegsmaschine is the other side of the coin that we know as Mgła. Also known as KSM, the project has originally been the focus of this group of musicians from Poland. Yet, in recent years slowly this has started to shift towards the other band with big shows and a lot of attention from metal fans in the wake of the black metal resurgence.

So Kriegsmaschine had been silent since 2014 and it was with a blast they’ve returned with a new record.  ‘Apocalypticists’ is an excellent slab of hypnotic black metal of their unique blend. Highly tribal and surprising, it contains an unsurpassed willingness to evolve, to mutate and transcend boundary terms. That’s what makes this record such fun.

We jump right into it with ‘Residual Blight’, which is a surprisingly rich groovy track from the get-go. The music is highly engaging in its tribal dynamics. When the vocals come in it becomes an exertion of sweltering fury. This is a persistent element in the music, also on ‘The Pallid Scourge’, which is still seething with a harrowing threat. The rolling drums and agonized guitars, it’s like a machine that grinds and squeaks as it spits outs vitriol. In other words, it’s brilliant.

All the tunes from Kriegsmaschine have that same, churning heaviness. A solid slab of rhythm with those rolling drums and a dense network of guitars is ever present on tracks like ‘Lost in Liminal’ and even on the title track. I love how each song just rolls on like that, full of tension, complexities, but also yielding itself directly tot he listener with all its slithering darkness. The vocals are barked in a commanding tone, as the instruments coil around it in a vast, complex carpet of sound.

The record finishes with ‘On the essence of transformation’, another dark and foreboding track with vocals akin to a spoken word delivery. It’s not really a tune to bang your head to, but to just wait. Wait like a rabbit gazing into the approaching headlights…. And let the darkness embrace you.

Forest Sounds: Stworz/Alne – Warńija

Label: Werewolf Promotion
Band: Stworz/Alne
Origin: Poland

This collaboration is particular since it is not really clear where the split between Stworz and Alne is actually split. The voice of one lends cadence to the song of the other and vice versa, creating a mesmerizingly beautiful Slavonic folk album that sounds just right with the sun up in the sky these days.

Stworz has been around since 2007 and revolves around W., who also plays in  Kres, Prav and Wędrujący Wiatr. The band has done songs for various heathen circle compilations and produced a fair share of music, gradually moving to a more folky sound, throughout the years. Alne is also a Polish folk act, with metal ties, that has been around for years. Together they created this album, with vocals provided by Alne’s Anna Malarz (ex-Thy Worshiper).

From the first listen onwards, it is clear that this is not just 2 records thrown together. This is a cooperative piece of folk, in honor of the land of Warńija. An ancient part in northern Poland, bordering old Prussia. Warm waves of acoustic riffs are like the reeds in the wind. The pleasant vocals add a flavor to the repetition, which is typical for ancient folk songs, that usually were sung during work. Ambient sounds and flutes enrich the music, to give it the natural feel. At times, this can create an intensity with the spoken word passages and inherent drama of the music, like on ‘Pieśń Warmianki’. Songs that meander like the river, ever so beautifully.

The songs by Alne are only four, but most notable is the dramatic vocal style of Anne Malarz on ‘Warmińska Noc’. It’s disrupting the tranquility evoked on the earlier songs, but with a powerful, melancholy attached to it. The classic, more grand storytelling continuous on this side of the record with ‘Tęsknota’ and shows a different side of the regional tradition and experience on this all over fascinatingly pleasant record. The words in the traditional language have a power to convey the magid, even if you don’t understand one iota of it.

Underground Sounds: Spaceslug – Eye the Tide

Label: Independent
Band: Spaceslug
Origin: Poland

Once more, the might slug rears it’s slimy appendages languidly through space, searching for the next cosmic wave to ride. Yes, it’s your favorite Polish stoner-ensemble Spaceslug, returning once more with their next release, titled ‘Eye The Tide’.

Having done nothing bug consistently record and play live over the last few years, I feel bound to cover any work they drop. If only for the sheer simple reason that I love it and think this music is not made enough anymore. After their tight and heavy EP, the band now returns to the cosmic clarity we know from them. Less punch, more wave.

‘Obsolith’ is a spaced-out track of over 8 minutes, where the strings of the guitar seem to be caressed gently. The drums demonstrate the most vitalistic element in the song, as the rest of the music in steady waves just waxes and wanes. That slow, floating movement in the songs is a constant on the album, though the tension in the guitars can be odd and surprising like it is often on ‘Spaced By One’. It seems that every passage awaits some occurrence that never takes place.

I’m not going to put them to the test on it, but it feels like Spaceslug is slowly moving towards a more psych sound on this album. Sure, on ‘Words like Stones’, we get the roaring vocals and all. Yet, the overall vibe leans to tranquility, to permanence and a floaty equilibrium. We return to the heavy on ‘Vialys Part II’, which gives repetitive beatings to the skins and pummeling, star-grasping riffing. The song really drags you back into it, wakes you up nodding your head. We end on a high-note with ‘I, The Tide’, which is another powerful delivery by the band, who just put out a solid piece of music once more.

Furia: Silesian Nekrofolk between concrete and green

You either love what they do, or you don’t. Furia is not for everyone, but the Polish band has continuously searching within the realm of black metal and folklore for new expressions. Nekrofolk, they call their sound, which at times definitely combines that necro sound with folky passages. Intriguing is the world that fits here.

It’s been a while since their latest release, which was ‘Księżyc milczy luty’. An album that truly moves away from the black metal stigma and earns the band some interesting artistic comparisons along the way. Even more interesting was their EP ‘Guido’, which I liked for obvious reasons, but it was recorded far underground in one of the mines of their native Silesia. An interesting region historically, if you are interested in that (which I am).

During Roadburn 2018, I met with Nihil and Sars from the band, to have a chat. Upon arrival, it is clear that we deal with intense personalities. Nihil hides behind his sunglasses and smokes one cigarette after another. When he speaks it’s slow and with a mild slur at times. Yet as we progress and touch upon interesting topics, he becomes more pronounced and lively. Makes sense, since most of the times the questions are the same (and so are some of mine). Sars is more quiet but brooding and intense. His gaze bores into you and his words are like daggers, sharp and spoken with an urgency and directness.

Of mines and the moon

How was it to play Roadburn for you?
Nihil: It was almost perfect. I didn’t like the beginning of the show, there were some problems with the sound. I didn’t like that it was daytime, but the show got better as we went and the last song felt like a full 100% for me. I really enjoyed it, people seemed satisfied.

Your last song, was that a very personal experience?
Nihil: The last song is very important. For me personally, as during the live set, this is a kind of ‘wydinia’, a release of what we have inside of us. I don’t know why, but it is perfect for the end. You can’t put it to words. Every song is a personal expression, yet that song is special to us.

As I hear your music, it’s very hard to put you down in a genre box. Do you feel that a festival like Roadburn is the right fit for a band like Furia to play?
Nihil: Yeah, I think every festival is right for a band like Furia, because we’re just playing music. For me it is just music at least, so we play different festivals like OFF festival or Primavera in Barcelona. I think you can say pop festivals?
Sars: One festival we were playing featured a post-black band and a pop artist from Poland and we were in between, and that was ok.

Furia live @ Roadburn by Paul Verhagen

Would you prefer this to an exclusively black metal festival, since you are usually put in that category?
Sars: Actually, I don’t like black metal festivals, because it is so narrow-minded. It doesn’t fit for us.

What is often used for your music, and I’m curious where it comes from, is the term ‘nekrofolk’?
Nihil: Hard to say, what inspires us is not different bands so much. Sure, we pick up their influences, but that’s not the main thing. Most important for us is our lives, where and how we live. That is very special for us because we live in an area that is both industrial and very green. It is very weird to have those two things, I’ve never seen a similar place anywhere. I think that’s why we are strange.

Could you then say that the term is a combination of the two elements, that the nekro represents the industrial barren and folk the green?
Nihil: I think that nekro is us, we are nekros. We are dead.

That requires some explanation, why are you nekro?
Nihil: I don’t know… (turns to Sars) Why are we nekro?
Sars: We are not useful for society. It’s hard to explain, but like Nihil says, we are playing nekrofolk because we are from Silesia. Of course, when we started we wanted to play black metal and we listen and play in many black metal bands. Now, that is not the most important thing. We want to express ‘us’.

I get from that that you have shaped your music into something very much more personal, strongly based on where you are from. I am interested in where you are from, can you describe Silesia as your place?
Nihil: You have to come see it. It’s industrial and the mentality is different.
Sars: Historically, the region belonged to everyone. It has influences from Czech, German, Polish and other owners and that has shaped it in a way. Silesians became their own sort of people because of that. When the Germans invaded Poland and took over Katowice, one of the biggest cities of Upper Silesia, there were people firing at them and others waving and welcoming the soldiers as if they were part of them. It’s complex to this very day because there are still people who might not feel German but have a strong kinship with all these nations. They’re not from anywhere really but from Silesia. These days, when nationality is very important in Poland for the government, saying you are Silesian is a controversial thing.

So to round up, Silesian identity is shaped by its history, gaining a very distinct identity due to not really being a part of any other nation? As I understand, you also derive a lot in your music from that history and folklore. What sort of stories or ideas are those?
Nihil: I think it is not so much about stories, but more our feelings about these.
Sars: We are part of those stories and we want to create new ones. Not just about our area, but also about us. We use parts of that local folklore but in our own way. We tell them through our own perspectives and experiences.

I think that nekro is us, we are nekros. We are dead.  – Nihil

Furia live @ Roadburn by Paul Verhagen

As I understand it, you don’t view yourself as part of the black metal scene or any scene at all really. You’ve also stated that as a musical entity you are hermetic. How big or small is that unit, to what does it extend or is there any kinship that fits in your circle with other artists?
Nihil: It’s just us, not some group of people. There are some bands in Poland we are close to in such way, but it’s more on a social level and not coded with rules. We really just play our own stuff without plans of getting bigger.

Does that help to hold on to the identity, that you consciously control what comes into your work?
Nihil: Actually, I think we are starting to control that, but earlier it was much more unconsciously. We were not really in control, just drunk and playing all the time. Now, we are getting older and more mature, more aware of what we want to specifically do.

I would like to talk about your latest record a bit too and I am particularly fascinated by the release ‘Guido’, recorded hundreds of meters underground in a Silesian mine with that same name. How did this idea come about and how did it all got done?
Nihil: For us, this idea came very naturally because the coal mines are for us a regular thing and part of our industrial region. Mining culture is a part of the Silesian environment we come from. When we saw it was possible to record a record down there, we just did it.
Sars: It just makes sense, because when people think about Silesia, they think of Germans and coal mines. It was obvious we had to go underground to record it.

Wasn’t it a challenge to get down there and did you write your songs with a specific feeling to them?
Nihil: It was our first time down there and obviously it was technically hard to get our stuff down there. We only had one day to record, but that went rather well. I didn’t feel very unusual down there, just very focused and I didn’t think about anything else. In one way it was like every recording, but I can’t put to words the uniqueness of the experience.
Sars: We were prepared for that, we knew we had one day and so our mindset was set to do it. There were interesting situations though, like the typical elevator that was used by miners years ago, which had 3 levels and on every one was a part of our equipment.
Nihil: The strange thing is that the second part of the recording is improvised and we are not good technical musicians, but it came out the way we wanted it to be. We are satisfied.

When I listen to this record, it really is essentialist, very stripped down. Perhaps it captures the essence of what you do, do you feel that way?
Nihil: Well, in some way. But every record captures something and is very different, but the feeling you describe might come from the fact that it was recorded in the coal mine, underground, which influences your perception.
Sars: It really is a part of this record. We were 320 meters underground and listening to this music you have to think about these surroundings. It is part of the record, the place where it was made. We could have done it in the studio too and claimed it was done in a mine, but I think this made us perhaps push harder and work more intensely.

I suppose that in a way, recording down there, is in a way the most isolated place you could find to record, yet also be in the center of where you are from, both physically and conceptually.
Nihil: We should do every record in a mine. It won’t be cheap though…

You also released the album ‘Księżyc milczy luty’, and what is mostly written about this great piece of music is noteworthy. Firstly, you are more and more often compared to bands outside of the black metal sphere and secondly, a lunar quality is ascribed to the record. Could you tell me what that is?
Nihil: We need a whole night to talk about this, but the most simple way to describe it for me is that the moon leads us and we want to escape from the earth. The moon is our goal and guiding light, that is what the record is about. By which I mean, that we don’t belong to this world, so the moon is a symbol of different worlds to us. That’s all I can say right now because it’s very hard to talk about the lyrics. I don’t like that sort of questions, because what we try to say, we say in the lyrics. These are poetic and we shouldn’t demystify them by talking too much about them.

I definitely am not going to ask you to explain the lyrics, as you say they contain a lot of meaning to be found by the listener. What I am curious about is the concept behind them, the way you now describe the moon as a guiding light, an otherworldliness, which is very familiar from mythologies.
Nihil: Well, you mention the mythologies and you are right there, but it is not like we try to follow the mythologies, but we fill them. This mythology comes through us, it is our own experience shaped as if we are those ancients. We are not playing to be the ancient people, but like them, we make our own myths, our own folklore.

In a sense, we are simple people, which again is part of being from Silesia. We are common people that experience and feel. It’s not intellectualizing that but just express.

When you write music like this, where do you start? Is it with music or perhaps with an idea?
Nihil: It’s always an idea, which grows for a long time before you start to play. From the idea flows a concept of lyrics and then we begin rehearsals. That’s really the whole process for us, but the idea is central to how we make music.
Sars: The idea shapes the context you need, so it helps to make sense of what you’re doing and where you go. The sound is merely the expression of that idea.

You all play in a ton of projects and you’ve been making a variety of nuanced changes in your music over the years. How do you then know where a piece of music or lyrics fit in best?
Nihil: It’s always hard to put this to words, but it feels really obvious. It comes completely natural, because I don’t play a riff and then try to fit it, but the other way around. When I’m in Furia, that’s where I am and nowhere else. There are no other projects, it’s very simple at that point. It’s not like you make a choice doing it, you just do that which you are doing at the moment.
Sars: As he said, there’s the beginning of an idea for Furia, then there’s music coming from that idea and lyrics. That must be for Furia, it comes from that ground and it works in an organic way.

We are part of those stories and we want to create new ones.
– Sars

Furia live @ Roadburn by Paul Verhagen

Your sound is definitely moving away from the black metal roots, but where do you see yourself moving in the near future?
Nihil: We are going nowhere. That’s the truth of it because we don’t think that way. The music is a tool for our expression, so it comes when it comes. We are working on a new idea with more blasts, more black metal sounds, but it’s not like we want to move back to black metal. It is just the next idea and the form it takes. We see what it is when it comes, it’s a gut feeling.

Would you see a possibility of Furia becoming even more stripped down, creating a folk sound? Not traditional folk, but Furia folk.
Nihil: I don’t know…
Sars: We’re not planning so that is hard to say and we play what we feel. Unfortunately, we don’t know where that may go.

You mention that you feel an affinity with certain bands, an association if I may. Which are those and why?
Nihil: Most important for us would be Licho, they are a new band with a strong folklore element in their music. Perhaps even more strong than in ours. Members are also active in Koniec Pola. What I like about them is that they look to the inside as well. They don’t imitate other bands but follow their own experiences.
Sars: The folklore aspect is intriguing to me, so I hope they will keep recording and working on more music. We like to help them with live shows and such, so they are important to us.
Nihil: There is a project, titled Túrin Turambar, which is a very old band but quite underground. It’s with them the same as with Licho, they base their work on their own experiences, so I love it. It’s Polish, which is partly why I love it. It’s not nationalism, but it’s an expression of our way of life, the way we think. If you then sing in Polish, it captures that identity, it’s the truth.
Sars: More importantly maybe, are the people in these bands. Like in Licho, when we meet them, they are a lot younger but it doesn’t create a divide. We connect and we understand each other and what we do. There’s a kindred in our way of expressing.

Does it feel as if you go abroad when you leave Silesia?
Nihil: Maybe a little bit, but not so strong. We are different, but we’re also Polish.

If you had to identify Furia as a kind of food, what would it be and why?
Nihil: A rotten apple?
Sars: A big sausage with onions!
Nihil: Sausage with onion and rotten apple it is.

 

Pictures by Paul Verhagen

Underground Sounds: Koniec Pola – Cy

Label: Devoted Art Propaganda
Band: Koniec Pola
Origin: Poland

Something is stirring in our urbanized habitats. She’s calling us again, mother nature. The mountains, the oceans and the fields, we feel that disconnect deeply and profoundly. In black metal and spirits akin, this movement has been visible for a while. From the nature-inspired dark ambient to the regal black metal and the farmer metal from the countryside. And that… is exactly where Koniec Pola hails from.

The name Koniec Pola translates as ‘the end of the field’. Their music is a clash of postmodernist rock and countryside tools, trying to capture the sound of the imaginary farm village. Their setting, though consciously vague, is the area of the Polish village Zalesie, near Kozienice forest. The title of this second endeavour, after their 2017 ‘Mrzyglód’ is simply ‘Cy’.

From the chiming of bells to the beating of tools, the bustling of the village is evident on the first song instantly. Titled ‘I’, it offers a gloomy sound with a warm voice offering what feels more like a voice-over than singing, relating the story in a story teller’s voice. Musically the band seems to linger somewhere in the realm of Furia, with the provincial brashness of certain French black metal bands. It’s music with the spade, not with the genteel pencil. At times a bit quirky, but when the music unleashes it’s dirty and gritty, dissonant and filled with muck. This is not the ball anymore, Cinderella.

There’s a simplicity to the sound, a lack of complication and subterfuge. Words are spoken plainly and the music casually frames the rural life. The mellow pace of the record and earthy gloom is somehow comforting. An odd folk instrument here and there put a different spell on the narrative, which is, unfortunately, all in Polish.
It’s a particular bit of music, hard to qualify as any specific genre. Often more leaning to ambient experience meeting postrockish liberties. It’s well worth a spin though.

Dungeon Sounds: Oghoryt – My journey through the sleeping forest of the past/In the cave plunged through the magical power

Label: Self-released
Artist: Oghoryt
Origin: Poland

Judging by the currency, the artist Oghoryt hails from Poland, but apart from that, no information is available. I’ve tried ye olde googles, but the mastermind must be busy in his laboratory, creating new sounds to bespell and bewitch the masses, like he does on these two releases. In autumn, the record ‘My journey through the sleeping forest of the past’ was unleashed, soon followed by ‘In the cave plunged through the magical power’. I’ll give both a spin.

My journey through the sleeping forest of the past

This release has a magical, hand-drawn cover of gold on black. It shows mountains and a thick pine tree forest, castle gates and a peculiar tower. Illuminated by the gold in the middle, we find the magical path. The music itself is condensed to a bare minimum of droning effects and very muted keys on ‘The wizard who stole the stars’. It’s so subtle, you might just pass it by as you stumble past like loud big-folk do.

‘A village of shady dwarfs hidden in a mountain cave’ puts up a bit more sound, mostly using the droning, metallic clang of the synths to put up a feeling of secrets and magic. Repetition is key for the tunes of Oghoryt, with ever rehashing of the same sequence in a sense. The sound is solemn, with a stately quality to it on the final track, titled ‘Witches’ Sabbath of purple froggy swamp’. It’s a journey for sure, but way to brief.

In the cave plunged through the magical power

Intense soundbites open up the second EP, titled ‘In the cave plunged through the magical power’. A crackling, lo-fi sounding drone is added to the music, which works much like an unnerving buzzing in the lower realms of the sound.Oghoryt sounds less gentle here, grander and more open on ‘I’. The buzzing is accompanied by even some slight bombasticism in the sound. In ‘II’ we ever so slightly move back to that intricate, minimal sound of the first EP, which made this act so alluring to me.
Oghoryt shows a lot of potential for the dungeon synth scene. Let’s hope for more soon!

Underground Sounds: Spaceslug – Mountains & Reminisce

Label: Independent
Band: Spaceslug
Origin: Poland

They’ve done it again, those Polish space rockers Spaceslug. After their solid record ‘Time Travel Dilemma’ that came out earlier this year and 2016 endeavor ‘Lemanis’, here is the third album by this band, titled Mountains & Reminiscence. A mighty release that sees these guys steer in a new direction musically.

Surely, Stranger Aeons has covered work of this band before. I loved those records (which you can read here and here) and even had a chat with these gents. This album is even more exciting, for the grand artwork of a glorious mountain (I love rocks) and a sound that seems to have turned more earthy. I’m amazed that these guys still do everything themselves, though it allows for a lot of creative freedom and amazing artwork it seems.

The album opens with the solid, heavy riffs of ‘Bemused and Gone’. Surely, the spacy vibe is still there, but the bass seems more crunchy, dirtier than before. The soaring guitar is still there, but it also seems to have been touched by gravity.  The drawled out vocals are in perfect harmony with those guitar parts and create a big soaring feel to the whole music. Where you used to have this cosmic experience, now we’re moving over mountain tops. We’re within the atmosphere on ‘Elephemeral’, with that wonderful wailing guitar.

There’s more distortion and more clashing in the sound, whilst maintaining that particular slow, sluggish vibe that is so typical for the band on a track like ‘Space Sabbath’. The nuances of the sound are more firm and hit home solidly on this amazingly good record. Well, the song is a space song obviously, with fragments of ‘2001: A Space Odissey’ towards the end (the famous HAL interaction).  We end on a climactic note with ‘Opposite The Sun’, a track that does embody a certain sense of drama and grandeur that most of the Spaceslug songs lack in their slow progression. It’s nice to see these gents explore their sound further on another fantastic release.

Underground Sounds: Mord’A’Stigmata – Hope

Label: Pagan Records
Band: Mord’A’Stigmata
Origin: Poland

Mord’A’Stigmata is one of the interesting bands emerging from Poland, with a tendency to explore the boundaries of what black metal is, seeking to expand, grow and energize the genre in their own way. The band has been around for a good 13 years and has now released album number four ‘Hope’.

For a band that deals with the depressive reality of our lives, its a far flung term, but where darkness is hope lives, does it not? That seems to be the theme for this album. The artwork doesn’t spell that much good for the future though. Gnarled branches reaching upwards in the dark and smoke rising from it. Well, time to give this a spin. Out on Pagan Records, this is an album by a band within the Polish tradition, where conviction and a feeling of glow are part of the sound.

The titletrack that kicks of seems to rely on a sort of post-metal trance-state that the listeners get swallowed up in. Repetitive riffing for about 12 minutes is indeed a heavy experience. But thanks to the catchy sound, the emotional clarity and a certain less-is-more approach to the sound, this is something special to experience. The production is well tight on this first song, allowing you to sink into it almost instantly in the first minutes. The vocals slither in, offering words in a similar tone as Nergal/Johan Edlund (Behemoth/Tiamat). It gives more depth to the music, which seems to combine that hypnotic side with a gothic/doom aspect.

The commanding vocals work well with the constant build up an tension in the music. The track ‘The Tomb from Fear and Doubt’, we hear the vocalist Ion deliver with conviction. The lyrics are a bit peculiar though and seem to be more those of a love song. I’m not sure if that is what they are, but this sometimes is really the language barrier. The track maybe dwindles on some aspects too long, but following tune ‘To Keep The Blood’ gets us back to strength. Though you can feel the black metal aspect in all music by Mord’A’Stigmata, this record is much more a rock album. The way the songs balance out the slow, atmospheric guitar and drum passages and clearly articulated words.

Like the final track ‘In Less Than No Time’, this is a song to just sink into.  That I find the biggest strength of hope, the way they put those endless passages in there that completely suck you in. I really enjoy listening to this album. The music is not overly complex, but catchy. The eclectic nature of the band puts them in a much broader stream of music. This I think will be very good for their popularity. The Polish metal scene is definitely developing a more and more distinct sound.

Underground Sounds: Spaceslug – Time Travel Dilemma

Label:
Band: Spaceslug
Origin: Poland

I got to know Spaceslug thanks to their amazing album ‘Lemanis’ (read the review here). The Polish band truly embraces the spaced out stoner sound like not many band have done in recent years. Unlike the Bongzilla’s of this world, Spaceslug really let’s every riff ride out its trajectory, not trying to go for that constant hitting the heavy riffs.

The  group has now dropped the follow up, titled ‘Time Travel Dlilemma’. On the cover we see the Space Slug travelling into the great beyond. The great print really fits the futuristic, dreamy sound of the band. What I love so much is how this all seems to come so natural to the guys, like a walk in the park. I felt that same thing when I published this short interview.

The trio seems to be taking things a bit more serious on this album. The previous record sounded great, but it is clear that more work went into this new effort. The sound is more balanced, more purposeful. Languid, easy going riffs really float by, nowhere does it really touch that solidity that is familiar from most stoner. It’s really meandering and drifting through space on the heavy but somehow mellow riffs on the titletrack ‘Orion’.

The mis seems to be on purpose a bit hazy on tracks like ‘Living the Eternal Now’, to make the interplay between the notes as smooth and dreamy as possible. Spaceslug have found their niche along bands like Mantra MachineSungrazer and maybe even some Colour Haze. On the title track Sander Haagmans from Sungrazer actually sings. There’s no real propulsion, no earthiness to their sound on this record, which distiniguishes them from the feisty, driven stoner bands with sand between their teeth. When Bartosz Janik is singing, he’s never doing that biting, agressive thing, he just sings to the void. The reverberating bass, the soaring riffs…

In space there is no wind, no weight, no direction and that is translated into the music of Spaceslug. This album definitely connects with the genre at large, but melts in shoegaze and postrock to create a new dimension. Spaceslug measures their force and slowly slides onward to stardom.