Primeval Spell interview

I see that the primeval spell project is pretty young, in fact the beginning dates back to 2016 if I'm correct.
Can you tell us how it was born and what were the circumstances and motivations for having founded Primeval Spell?

Primeval Spell is a concept that began somewhere around late 2014 but didn't get materialized until last year's Samhain, with the Demo release. The project was born during terrible and turbulent times as an attempt to mirror and interpret the somber aspects of isolation, reclusion, and my own spiritual detachment from modernity.

Who is behind Primeval Spell?

Orkroth is the sole member of Primeval Spell, that being myself. I carry out all the aspects of the project, from composition to visuals.

The first relevance and approach that I could notice in the sounds of Primeval Spell is that with Mortiis ...
Do you think it might be right? And if so, what inspired you from such a renowned group and milestone of the genre dungeon synth? 

Indeed, I've heard the comparison before but at the same time, which other projects that are being filed sonically under the traditional "Dungeon Synth" genre haven't, at some point or the other? I wouldn't personally file Primeval Spell as Dungeon Synth - nor care to label it as anything -  as the genre doesn't inspire me to make this music anymore. My real inspirations come from other Post-industrial underground genres, a deep connection to Nature, Traditions, and Folkloric arcana.   
Nevertheless, I have utmost respect for Mortiis and his entire body of work; the Blood And Thunder 7" being my favorite of his.

Do you read a lot ? And what books in particular?

Yes. I focus mostly on works regarding Herbalism, Magic and Witchcraft, European folklore, and natural sustainability to name a few. I pay no attention to fantasy literature these days. 

Primeval Spell is a project that you think will only stay in the studio or there is the plan of playing live one day?

There are ongoing plans for near-future live performances, although it is still uncertain if these will come to fruition.

I've just seen the Primeval Spell "Litany of Eclipsed" cassette tape on Hollow Myths just released,There were two versions offered correct?
The self released copies and this cooperation Hollow Myths? Can you tell me about that? I noticed it has a very special package which is wonderful! In your FB there is a post telling
"A Full Moon blood offering intended for the last 3 remaining tapes of the limited 13".
So tell me it is a mere advertising and desire to impress the various nerd and dork of the DS genre?
(did you use your real blood for that pic?) So what is the blood for you? What meaning does it represent for you?

That's correct, the Demo tapes were originally self-released and limited to 50, although the first 13 copies were tied and packaged with thorns, dripped with candle wax and as you noted, some were smeared with a ritual blood offering. So, to answer your question without revealing too much, I believe that traditional witchcraft ceremonies that are structurally altered to express a deeper personal intent, can be much more powerful than following a set of strict outlines that might not work for the caster. A ceremony is intrinsically bound to those casting it, ergo the use of my own blood...it would be pointless if it wasn't. On the other hand, regarding followers of the genre and advertising, Primeval Spell represents my own personal ruminations, I don't need any positive or negative attention and couldn't care less about who listens or discovers the project.

How did you get in touch with Hollow Myths?

My connection with Hollow Myths was formed after the man behind the label privately contacted me. We exchanged some ideas, shared thoughts, and agreed to re-package the Litany of Eclipsed Conjurations Demo, the rest is history. HM is a label I respect, and can get behind its commitment, and stern unapologetic nature. 

What are your spiritual beliefs? and if any, can tell me why are these, and the path that you have led you to them?

My spiritual beliefs are the result of a deep connection to the natural realm, and a constant rediscovery, or unlearning, so-to-speak, of the pre-christian native European religion and traditions, which to a significant extent have been misinterpreted and shrouded by the fog of Early-Medieval christian arrogance, modern hedonism, and new-age universalism. Besides this, the acknowledgement of the inevitability of the pending fall of the modern world, and the harmful effects that its rotten civilization has had on everything sacred, has led me to find religious solace through isolation. I'd say the sooner civilization falls, the better.

What do you think can be expressed of musical originality in the Dungeon Synth nowadays?
After bands such as Mortiis, Wongraven, Neptune Towers, Eternal Fear,.... etc etc  and so many others have already recorded so much good music in the past?

I consider the Dungeon Synth projects of the 90's to represent the creative pinnacle of the genre in its truest form. I don't follow the current Dungeon Synth genre, or "scene" as some might call it (how ridiculous), and have very little interest in the digitally-absorbed projects which are being praised nowadays, most of which seem like uninteresting cheap attempts at fame-riding on a genre that has only had increased attention recently. Trends come and go, but the underground will always thrive.

Your last words ;)

I would like to thank you for the interview, and expect a new release soon.

Wyver interview

Hi R.W., 

Wyver is a name that could be associated with a character of a fantasy tale? 

If not does it has any meaning at all ? 

Wyver is an ancient blackwinged creature with dragon-like form. Hermetic and aloof, it waits for 

the twilight of mankind in it's deep and dark cavern where underground rivers fall to fathomless 

abyss. 

What is your music background? And why did you choose to found a dungeon synth band instead 

of a traditional band (bass player, guitarist drummer and singer)? 

I have been in "traditional" bands in the past. Currently I do live vocals for a black metal band 

here in Portland called Nefaria. Wyver is a portal through which I have complete control over 

the concept, image and, most importantly, musical direction. 

I was very impressed by your first demo and I see that the promising label Hollow Myths will 

print it officially. 

How did the connection with this label happen and what did Hollow Myths find interesting about 

in Wyver music? 

Thank you.
I am fortunate enough to have formed a strong alliance between Wyver and Hollow Myths.
We have been contact for some time. Their interest was in offering this first demo and will be releasing future works of Wyver. A song called Dark Determination was recorded for them and is only available on the second side of the cassette.

Portland (OR) it has I think one of the most vibrant and avant-garde underground music scenes 

for every kind of music not only DS, what are the feedbacks you get from people you know in 

your area and music scene? 

I don't really follow a scene in Portland, so I'm not sure what people know about Dungeon Synth 

or their opinion. I know few people that truly understand and appreciate this type of music here, 

but they do exist. 

Wyver's music, being minimal enough, has melodies that I find captivating and with a medieval 

atmosphere but also with an obscure appearance. 

You mentioned me that you are working on a next opus that will be musically darker and if we 

can say "malicious.", are there still many emotions and moods that Wyver can express through 

more intense and darker music in the future? 

I would say the music is darker in sense that it is more sorrowful and sinister. There will be 

sounds that encompass a nostalgic feeling of times past, but with a mournful atmosphere. The 

moods and emotions become more reflective of the true nature of Wyver. 

Who is the artist who cared for the design of your demo? 

The cover artwork was done by Ian Carl Stevens. A good comrade and extremely talented artist. 

The layout and design for the cassette release were taken care of by Canrith Knox. Also an 

amazing talent and true friend. 

What is that you think that a dungeon synth band now should propose to be original? 

Do you think there could be a more influence from other styles as dark ambient or industrial for 

example? 

I am not one to say what an artist should propose to be original. I am influenced to make music 

by a multitude of different things, many of which have nothing to do with dungeon synth or music 

at all. I believe an artist should do what they feel is right as they are inspired to do so.

Are u into Fantasy stuff ? How do you see such thematic connection with the DS world? 

Yes. 

Any final words 

Old wings are beginning to stir in the darkness... 

Hollow Myths

Dark Awake Interview

 Dark Awake are:

☩ SHELMERDINE VI° [ All Instrumentation, Orchestration, Human Bones (Kangling), Apocalyptic Sounds, Production ] ☩ SEKTE [ Narrations , Choirs and Vocals on "Epi Thanaton" ,"Soil,Blood...And The Reaping Of Light" , "Anunnaki" "Imago Typhonis" and "Absinthe And Nihilism " ,"Non Omnis Moriar" Albums]
☩ ELINA P. [Vocals on "Meseonas" CD]

I have to make a premise.
Bands that deal with esoteric, occult and obscure themes are too many and unfortunately do not stand out in their choice for an original name (in fact the word dark in various bands metal and not) is just a repetitive cliché. 
Not to mention the mixtures of themes that each band proposes in a pompous and cheesy way.
However, their music is remarkable and honestly good. D. A. have a typically Greek and genuine sounds and spirit, especially when a classic string instrument is used or when the female voice stands out with  pathos and full tension.

How much did you consider it important for you to produce music with a strong references to your national culture ... and why?

I came from a country with very huge ancient tradition and civilitation. I love to study Hellenic traditions which hide a lot of truth.
It have inspired a lot the contemporary occult world and the art in general but also i follow  my own path when i 'm making music so I am getting influences from many other elements.
All that is very important cause is a way to promote the traditional mysteries and heathenspirit,to rekindle the ancient values.
I hope to inspire the listeners and young individuals who feel strongly for the traditions of their ancestors and who are fascinated by and interested in the ancient wisdom to develop their knowledge.

From your discography  you debuted in 2008 with the CD "Meseonas" since then the dark synth and dark wave genre has spread very much even among those who listen to metal and black metal.
Esoteric and occult symbols are used randomly, and casual contorted notions and lyrics (as cryptic as possible) are widely used.
Would not this look slightly contradictory to you?

In experimental dark music you can go deeper in the darkness, in esoteric subjects , you can find totally new aspects ...
The last years,it seems that many metal bands and other listeners found  all that aspects and all that esoteric, occult and other symbols  that you mention it.
Some of the new music bands wants to use them to spread their ideologies with that way.So today all of them are widely used.

In the track "120 Days Of Sodom" from your full length "Soil, Blood ... And The Reaping Of Light" there is a sample from the homonymous film by Pasolini. His counterculture was very much avant-garde for its time and faced scandalous themes with scenographic choices of perversions and blasphemy.
Many groups use these themes almost exclusively in a graphics form, but then there is no cultural insight into such choices seems that it stops at the mere provocation to astonish the audience only.
What were your reasons to choose a title related to that movie and why?

The sound samples from  Pasolini 's film and the whole influence on title was done to give in that song  the atmosphere of ritualistic / industrial decadence.These attributes of fetishism blend with noise ritualistic industrial sounds added to turning this song into unequalled expose of apocalyptic ritual industrial art.

The same choice was made in the song "Lux Et Tenebris". Do you think that Pasolini and Crowley have been truly understood and accepted ?

Pasolini and Crowley works have a strong  philosophy idealism that is hard to understanding totally from mass.

What your musical inflences ? Do you have any favourite bands in the dark ambient industrial scene of today ?

My music inspiration are mostly from Martial industrial, Ritual , Neoclassical , Apocalyptic folk , Neofolk, Dark Ambient , Noise etc. genres.
No i don't have any favourite band from the "new" scene of today.

What are the future plan for the band?

To release a new full length album.

When I think about Greece I immediately think of Diamanda Galas, do you think that her success has helped other musicians coming from your country to have more recognition and exposure?

No, i don't think so, cause  Diamanda is one of her kind.

What do you think about the work of Kenneth Grant (Typhonic Trilogie) and how do you think its work has been transposed and integrated in successive streams like chaos magic, dragon rouge, and those movements that incorporate tantric elements?

The teaching of Kenneth Grant is Thelematic at his base.It is enriched with a variety of demonic elements , astral projections and all of them have a common goal which is to understand and awake the undeclared abilities of human subconscious.
For that reason , his work have influenced all those esoteric movements that you mention.
I appreciate his work cause it concerns the discovery of the higher self.

When we talk about tantrism I think many associate it with magic sex etc. etc,
Do you think the meaning of this word is properly conceived? (Tantric)

The word Tantric express the esoteric traditions as system of Hinduism and Buddhism.
In India Tantric mythology talks about a dancer, Shiva, and his snake, Shakti. They create the Universe. The idea is to raise the Kundalini in the spine (the snake) up to the crown chakra (the dancer) and to unite them.
The snake coils around the dancer's legs,body,genitals, and chest,licking the dancer's face.
All that symbolism is an esoteric method to get energy for magical purposes and many people practice it with sex magic.

Do you practice any type of spiritual discipline beside making music ?

All my esoteric methods deal with esence of man, his instincts, his needs and desires.
My esoteric rituals guide me into the desired state of mind in order to get wisdom, mental strength and self-realisation.
I had used Bone instruments in the some or the previous releases and propably we will do it again
in the future recordings.We prepared ourselves to enter the desired state of mind to concieve our visions and emotions through music...

Any final message ;)

I would like to thank you about this interesting interview.
Keep the Runes alive ...

Morketsvind interview

"The name of the band is Morketsvind !!!!" 

Devotees !!!
A brief and somewhat concise interview with this Russian band .... almost the bare minimum, but who cares.

How did the name Morketsvind came to your mind? 

Actually i think that this name is strongly situable for my mysic.I have Black Metal project Storhet avMorke and Medieval project Vinden. Morketsvind is like beetween thease styles.

Listening to "Wandering to Nether World" is inevitable seeing your great compositional capacity and the choice of a great sound, the medieval and sumptuous atmospheres are very engaging and sometimes even martial and imposing. Since you have been active since 1999 with the recordings, what inspires you to compose such great music even though there have been many groups that have already gone through this musical style through these years?

I like this sound and music, i always wanted to play this. And I dont care if any band leave their style or anybody dont want to listen anymore that kind of music.

I think over the years you've been witnessing musical and stylistic changes that happened in both black metal and dungeon synths, what has been improved for you and what has worsened? 

Actually i'm listen old bands and don't know about all changes in BM or DS, but i know that some new DS bands do great music now, BM are not mass style now, and this is good.

Do you feel that there may be a distinction in the dungeon synth field between those who have a more medieval approach and more film-like sounds than those who have a more minimal grim and darkest synth? 

All bands have differences, every band have own method, but if band have dood music material and atmosphere no matter film-like or low-fi that is

I see that there are different black and dungeon bands from Russia, at the moment there is a strong and autonomous stylistic movement in both black and synth in Russia? 

Do you still think that many groups are still underestimated in your country ? and that there is still some sort of “xenofilia” in following certain trends and currents? 

This moment is not simple. I think that if band is "wannabe" band, no matter if music slyled for foreign analog or inspired for local fluence, 

result cannot be good. If band have high and diip culture level and motivation, music will be strong. Yes, much of Russian band now have very good music 

How is nature able to influence your compositions? I imagine that the huge Russian forests and the enormous spaces of your country are in themselves an ideal environment

Yes, nature have big fluence on my themes, Russia have much different places, forests, mountains, swapms, seas, architecture. 

But not only russian places inspires me. 

The spiritual and the occult side of this genre does not seem as extreme as in black metal, what do you think about that?

Why? DS always was part of BM. Even sometimes like quintessence of BS spirit. 

I think that DS is most occult genre of music. 

There have been positive in the past relations between Morketsvind and record labels?  

My label is true underground BM label. 

Label want to do high quality releases for undreground. 

What do you think of this analog revival and the spread of tape cassettes again? 

Tape have more of sound commpression, sometimes it sounds better. 

Are you discovering new synth sounds and ideas that you think you want to propose in your future recordings? 

I am professional soundengeneer and i know how any sound makes. 

Anysounds will depends of curent ideas of future music. 

Do I find your recordings perhaps darker and worse compared to some recent ones do you think there are such differences?

All of my recordings had own ideas and realisation. 

Different people likes different recordings, i though.

Old Tower interview

Can you tell how Old Tower  came into being ? what are your previous  musical experiences?

I’ve played in a lot of different musical projects before I started out with Old Tower. It’s something I always wanted to music wise, but I never had the skills nor the knowledge about recording, instruments, etc. After a couple of years of playing in bands and doing some ambient projects I got to know ‘how things work’, so to speak. I was no longer limited by my lack of knowledge and could basically express any musical idea’s in my head, but still with some limitations of course. I’m always learning new things along the way.

The project itself started somewhere in summer 2015. I was listening to the first demo by Australian act Forgotten Kingdoms. I must’ve played it at least five times in a row. I always liked music like Mortiis before this, but then I had not listened to him in ages. The Forgotten Kingdoms demo sparked that new flame in me, and the rest is history.

For you what are the pros and cons of having a musical project  by yourself?

I see no cons in this. I can do whatever I want, I’m not limited by other people and I have complete control over my sounds and artistic vision. The only person who has contributed to the project so far is my trusted comrade Baron Yrch Malachi. He did some background lore that complemented “The Rise of the Specter” LP and helped me with mastering it for the vinyl. His services will be called upon again in the future, for sure. 

How do you see this new attention toward this so called “dungeon-synth” genre?

Do you think that a more exposure of the dungeon synth music could be positive or negative for it?

I don’t really care to be honest. A lot of ‘dungeon synth’ coming out these days does not even sound like it, but is just silly fantasy music. I won’t say I completely reject the term since it still means something to me but I completely distance myself from what’s going on nowadays in this scene. However, a label like Out of Season still gains my full support, since he understands what Old Tower is about and has always supported me in the best of ways. The rest is obsolete.

Your music seems to be extremely dark but at the same time extremely pleasant to listen to. Exists for you a source of inspiration that is completely out of the music and if so what?

Most, if not all, of my inspiration is not influenced by any musical things. Of course, I got inspired to make this music by another music artist, but it quickly developed into something of its own. Old Tower is my way of expressing my own inner world, beliefs and emotions that come from within, with little outside influence. It’s something I learned through the years: stay true to yourself and the best things will come out. Let things inspire you, but become an inspiration as well.

What is your vision of the religious and spiritual world? Is there a belief or a particular current to which you feel closer?

I’m interested in these subjects, but I don’t have any belief systems I hold on to.

Do you have an opinion on the widespread proliferation of bands and groups devoted to dark synth music, Celtic, Nordic, ritual etc?

I think it’s a good thing seeing European traditions being represented in music. Such things are always a good source of inspiration for creating and devoting your music to.

Do you find it difficult to handle both Old Tower and Blood Tyrant?

Both are completely different from each other, so… No.

Talk about collaborations with Sacred Dominions and Orodruin, how did they come from, and beyond that do you expect to collaborate with other artists in the future?

The split with Sacred Dominions came along through a long mail conversation with its creator and we decided to make a split release. I’m still very happy with it, and it’s good to see that Tour De Garde decided to re-release his side on a single cassette since it definitely deserves it.

My collaboration with Orodruin was a no brainer. He’s been a friend for years and his previous works were a huge influence for me when I first started listening to music. It was an honor for me to work with him on this.