Rockezine.com interview with Wurdulak on Sep 16, 2002

with Killjoy on Sep 16, 2002

Wurdulak strikes again, releasing an album that is as blasphemous and old school as it possibly can be and which is outdone only by its extreme cover art. True old school black metal brought in a modern, powerful and original way. Severed Eyes Of Possession is definitely the best old school black metal release in years, coming from a band that features prominent names from the extreme metal underground, including Killjoy, Maniac, Frediablo and Iscariah among others.
		Wurdulak has a very interesting lineup with names like Maniac, Iscariah and Killjoy, among others. Whose idea was this project and how did you get everyone together? I give Frediablo all the credit for getting this lineup together, it was his idea and he assembled everything, including booking the studio etc. I had the idea of working Maniac into the band and came up with the band’s name, the rest was Frediablo, otherwise known as “The Mongo General” ha ha.
		Furthermore your lineup features two singers (yourself and Maniac) and three guitarists (Frediablo, Fug and Ihizahg). Is there a reason behind this slight redundancy? On a personal level I have always wanted to work with Maniac in a band, he’s a good friend from way back and one of the best vocalists in black metal ever! When he quit Eibon it was definitely a hard thing for me, so it’s great we can work together in Wurdulak. As for three guitarists, that was Frediablo’s decision, it has worked out great and we’re really happy with this lineup.
		I know that many of the current members are in other bands and projects. What projects and bands are these? That’s a book in itself. Collectively we are involved in the following bands: Necrophagia, Mayhem, Eibon, Ravenous, Soul Forsakked, Deride, Bloodthorn, Perished, Ave Sathanas, Svartpest, Grimfist, Hellpig, Enoch, Morgue Wagon, Wendigo, NMDS (Norwegian Mongo Doom Syndicate) and probably some I’m forgetting. Lots of inbreeding going on for sure!
We are firm believers in consuming tons of alcohol.		you are in several other bands and also have to take care of your label Baphomet Records. Can you tell us a bit more about the recording process of Severed Eyes Of Possession? Since Wurdulak consists of European and American members, bringing the band together to record an album must be quite a challenging process. Especially considering the fact that It’s very hard to get things planned but it always works out in the long run, we’re all very dedicated to this band and we will find a way even if we have to cancel other things. During the recording of Severed Eyes Of Possession we had a great time. We drank a lot, even some horrific Norwegian moonshine. We are firm believers in consuming tons of alcohol. Check out our DVD that comes out soon on Red Stream Records to get an insight into the madness that is known as Wurdulak.
		The first time I heard this album, I was amazed at how refreshing it sounds. On the one hand it brings back memories from old school black metal while on the other hand it sounds very modern. Was this done intentionally or just a coincidence? Thanx! For Severed Eyes Of Possession we wanted to incorporate more originality and I think we succeeded. We expanded on our own style without compromising our roots. We continue to progress but it’ll always be rooted in true black metal.
		Who’s responsible for the writing of the songs or is it a process that involves the whole band? It’s definitely a full band effort. Fug wrote a lot more this time, Iscariah and Ihizahg wrote some truly evil riffs, and Frediablo is a true master of what we call the Mongo Riff (he took some lessons from Ola Foss at the temple and it really paid off with his new techniques). Fug also went into solitude, gaining further knowledge and strange pushing techniques from Lasse Isern. Undoubtedly this has all helped.
		The sound of the album is excellent and I presume that, just like your first album, you have produced this album yourself? I really like the production on Severed Eyes Of Possession as well, It’s still very dark and raw, but also clear and powerful. Iscariah’s bass is very thunderous and he has a killer pedal he’s designed called the Fossinator. He’s the backbone of this band. The production is a total band effort.
		When looking at your cover art it is very obvious that Wurdulak is all about extreme black metal but can you tell me a bit more about the ideology behind the extremely explicit artwork and Wurdulak in general? We are horror and gore fiends. We wanted to have a concept that is a combination of blasphemous, gore and violence, both lyrically and visually. Patrick Tremblay captures the essence of the band perfectly. This is the second time our covers have been banned and it really fucking sucks! FUCK CENSORSHIP! The more we get censored the more extreme our concepts will become. Our next CD will be titled Guts Of A Virgin. This will be the most over the top cover in black metal history!!
		Severed Eyes Of Possession sounds in many ways like European black metal and bands like Bathory and Mayhem come to mind when I listen to the album. What would you say are your biggest influences? Our collective influences would be Venom, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Possessed, Kreator, and early Slayer in terms of Wurdulak, as well as the pioneers of the genre Mayhem and Darkthrone.
		Wurdulak basically started out as a project but are there any plans to make this current lineup a true band and start touring? We definitely want this to be a full time band, we’ll play some festivals etc. A full tour right now would prove quite challenging but we will definitely be doing some gigs here and there.
		Can you tell us a bit more about the name Wurdulak? The name is derived from an episode of the old Karloff film called Black Sabbath, which translates into “A blood drinking corpse”.
Yeah it’s great, it buys beer and pizza and some horror films, so as long as we have those things, we’re happy!!		This must have been asked many times already, nevertheless, I would like to know what you think about the current trend in black metal: the loss of ideology and many bands seem to be in it just for the money? That’s sad but true, but in all honesty we’re not in it for the money; we lost our ass big time on our debut release due to internal problems in our previous record label, but we don’t care about money. Yeah it’s great, it buys beer and pizza and some horror films, so as long as we have those things, we’re happy!! Money will neither motivate or deviate us from doing Wurdulak!!
		Having said that, many true black metal fans believe that a black metal album should sound like a garage recording. Your album however has a very good sound quality but nevertheless sounds very mean. What is your stance on this subject? That’s true, in some cases it depends on the band, the style, the song writing etc. Some bands are made for a shitty production and can benefit from it. A band like Wurdulak needs a heavy, dark and powerful production to capture the essence of our songs
		Your album is very impressive to say the least and I really dig the last song, “Severed Eyes Of Possession”. The sounds in that song are just plain wicked, and the atmosphere is great but I was wondering…
		Is there a hidden message when playing the song backwards, or is it just my imagination? Again thanx!! We appreciate it. The last song is a very dark and creepy composition, kinda like our little tribute to the horror masters “Goblin”. Indeed there is a hidden message there in the song, nothing meaningful, just horror stuff!!!
		Thanks for this interview! Is there anything you would like to add? Thanks for your support!! We’ll be back again in about one year with Guts Of A Virgin. Also check out our upcoming DVD and Creature Feature 2, both on Red Stream Records very soon. We’ll keep unleashing horrific evil as long as we gain more insight and guidance from Ola, Lasse and the mysterious bottle collector. I gotta hear his words of wisdom like “Do you or don’t you?” OK I gotta run, Fug is calling me from the other room about Grill Kider. Hail Fodder Tomas Ustraboost!!! CHEERS!!!!!
		(Frank van de Voorde)