Interview with Lord Surt of Myrddraal for DESECRATION OF VIRGIN Magazine:
Not only War Metal bands are to find in Australia but also soem great traditional hordes a bit in the vein of the old northern heroes, but with originality and own style of copositions comes up MYRDDRAAL from the dark depths of deathhell... get informed what else this aussie horde has to talk about their continent...
How´s life going in Australia for you and MYRDDRAAL?
Things are going pretty well for us at the moment, although we've had a couple of lineup changes since the "Blood On The Mountain" CD. We now have a new drummer and bass guitarist, who both seem to be working well with the band - for the time being at least.
You play any style of black metal.Why do you prefer to play this style in a time of overused clichees and trendy things?
In reality, great music can come from nearly any genre. We play the music we like in the style that suits us best, rather than attempt to create something in the mould of what is fashionable at the time. Our aim is to create music with lasting appeal, not something that will be the latest craze for two weeks.
Do you think there exists a typical aussie death/black style? Many people think that bands like B.Warlust,S.Exekution, Destroyer 666,Gospel of the Horns,Abominator are typical for Australia,what do you think about this kind of tradition and do you see your band in a more different way?
I agree that we are not so typical in the Australian scene, although we do like the above mentioned bands and I'm sure that those influences would find their way into our music somehow. We have not consciously tried to make music that is intentionally similar or different from other bands in our country or the BM genre as a whole. However, I guess that our music does sound fairly different from most of the other Aussie stuff, with the exception perhaps of Abyssic Hate (which is closer to the Norse sound in my opinion) in a couple of parts.
I personally did like your album "Blood On The Mountains" because it offers the feeling of early 90´s black metal in the northern way mixed with your very own ideas.So,original and traditional stuff can be found in same songs together.Tell us your opinion! What things are important for you from actual and past scene?
Basically, we write what we do because that is what we like, what we relate to. I don't go about songwriting with the idea of creating a sound that can be referenced to a particular band, era, style or country. When I write songs, I am trying to externally manifest the feelings within me at the time. So really, these influences from other bands are more or less subconscious when I am composing; and the mix of original vs traditional is not generally an important consideration for me.
If you compare the-so called- typical aussie black/death style with the 90´s northern sounds,what do you think are the main differences? Due to the sound of your CD and songwriting I think that northern sounds have influenced you much more, right?
I perceive that the primary difference between the Aussie style and the 90's northern sound, is that the Aussie stuff tends to be a bit more on the aggressive side, whereas in general the European bands focus a little more on atmosphere. You are quite correct that compositionally speaking, we have focused strongly on the atmosphere of our songs, although we still have a lot of aggressive rocking riffs in there too. Again, not so much planned, but just how the songs came out.
Of course the Norse influence is there, both musically and conceptually. This is reasonably important to myself and to Myrddraal, but we're not trying to copy or even interpret what the Norwegians did back in the early to mid nineties.
You have released a CD with very long playtime and long songs which never get boring...but this all is seldom in black metal scene.Does it all need a very long time to compose the music or wasn´t it a problem to find cool and original own ideas?
That is quite a good point actually. The music featured on the "Blood On The Mountain" CD was composed over a very long period, starting in about 1994 when the title track and outro were penned. I have always tried to take my time writing songs, in the hope that I will be satisfied with them in years to come. To an exent this has been the case; but unfortunately - due to a fairly limited amount of time in the studio (for a work of this magnitude) - I feel that we did not achieve a recording that is completely worthy of the songs themselves. It is all a part of the learning process, so we will be sure to learn from our past mistakes and do it much better next time!
"Daughter Of The Night" is the longest song and it also shows typically the whole variation of your music:fast riffs+drumming,ancient melodies,dark atmosphere,aggressive vocals,acoustic parts and also a technical side of MYRDDRAAL including great solos.From where do you take all these ideas and inspiration to get this great variation,without sounding complex but still simple and straight?
Thanks for the compliments! With a song like Daughter Of The Night, I tried to let the song write itself rather than force the idea. It's a little hard to explain, but basically I started with the concept and very slowly came up with musical and lyrical ideas that I felt would suit the piece. The musical inspiration for the song came entirely from the kind of sounds I heard in my head whilst pondering the conceptual matter of the song - if that makes sense!
Also lyrically it seems that this song is a singular one so please would you tell us the meaning of its words?
That's probably a little hard to convey accurately to someone who is unfamiliar with the "Wheel Of Time" series by Robert Jordan. However in brief, it is basically an ode to the dark, asthetic and powerful side of femininity (personified by the "Lanfear" character); as opposed to the good-willed, caring, mother nature so often associated with the female gender. This idea can be further simplified by removing the gender specific references; to declare simply that BM itself is an embodiment of this side of the dichotomy: BM embraces darkness, power and asthetics over morality and good will.
To have a satanic image is normal in these days and is a clichee standart,so many black metallers search for other things for themselves to get more attention.What about MYRDDRAAL in this point?And your opinion,please!
The way I see it, BM is primarily an artform, albeit one that has certain idealogies attached to it. Much like an opera or a ballet, there are themes belonging to a recording or a performance that do not always transcend the boundaries into one's (composer's, performer's) personal life. As you say it's pretty standard for a BM band to have some kind of Satanic (or otherwise 'evil') image these days, but I strongly doubt that it goes far beyond the superficial level for most bands.
As for Myrddraal, we do not consider ourselves to be Satanists, nor does the band as a whole embrace or appeal to any particular religious creed or political system. However, as individuals we have our own beliefs and ideas; mine being that I believe that Satanism is virtually useless beyond being an opposition to Christianity.
Do you think it is a good way to search for more extreme image if the music still is the same or even more bad...?
Well no, not at all. There are so many bands that have done the whole Satanism thing to death, so it's not really much of an attention grabber these days. Besides which - as I stated before - aside from it's obvious merit as an opponent of the Christian god, Satanism has very little value.
Please would you tell us about your band name?
Again this is inspired by the Robert Jordan novels. In brief Myrddraal are a type of creature spawned of darkness and evil from human and non-human stock. They revel in the suffering of others and cause paralysing fear with a gaze.
When I compare south american scene with australian one,i notice that s.american people are proud of their non-spanish blood and pre-spanish history,and often they use such themes in their lyrics.But in Australia it seems that nobody takes care of the pre-english history.What are the reasons for this?Also it seems that there are no indians involved into the aussie metal scene,tell us more please!
Interesting question! Whilst it is true that many people would rather avoid the chance of becoming involved in violent arguments from overbearing, opionated people by leaving these political issues well alone; I shall attempt to address your query as best I can.
We have somewhat of a division in Australia, in that there are many people who feel that these native people have been done a great injustice by us white Europeans and wish for reconciliation with the native Australian peoples; to give them back their tribal land and compensation for the perceived injustices.
There are others who hold little respect for the Australian Aborigines, due to the antics of many members of this race; which include sniffing petrol, drinking metho and having a generally much lower standard of living than the white European populace of the country.
The former viewpoint is seen to be more "politically correct" and is often associated with "bleeding hearts", Christians and the radical lefties. Whereas the latter could be seen by some as more of a country redneck attitude, or at least that of those who are perceived to be more right wing in a political sense.
Metal musicans and fans as a whole seem to be more likely to come from white middle-class backgrounds, and those who play or are fans of BM tend to be leaning a little more to the right (politically speaking) and hence to some extent less tolerant of Aborigines and/or coloured people in general.
Anyway, perhaps partially due to the generally lower living standard of the Australian Aborigines and/or their lack of acceptance into the scene, they tend to be less likely to become involved in extreme metal music.
The other thing is that metal (BM in particular) is typically a very European style of music; with much of the melodic and harmonic structure being derived mostly from European classical music. Obviously this must to some extent limit it's appeal to those who are receptive to this mode of expression - that being mainly those of European descent.
Decius Prod is a young label from Australia.Please tell us about them and their work!
Decius is a great label and has been very supportive of Myrddraal.
Please give us any future plans,upcoming release info,live activity and all about I forgot to ask!!!!
Myrddraal has just begun rehearsals with the new line up and has a few gigs planned throughout the next few months, including a show in Adelaide. We are looking at entering the studio - perhaps in Winter - to record our next full length CD, which we hope to have a vinyl release of also.
Thanks for the interview and keep spreading the evil fucking word!
Hails!
Surt
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