Rockezine.com interview with Aeternus on Nov 05, 2001

with Ares on Nov 05, 2001

It has been a while but Aeternus are back with their fifth album. The band have always been renowned, and admired for the fact that they do not just simply copy what has been done so many times before. Aeternus have actually created and developed a pretty unique sound called dark metal. On the day their latest album Ascension of Terror was released I had the opportunity to ask mastermind Ares some questions on, obviously, the new album itself, the recent line-up change, and many more things.
		Congratulations with the new album Ascension of Terror. My first obvious question is of course: are you satisfied with the endresult? Thank you very much. And yes, we are very satisfied with “Ascension of Terror” indeed! This time everything turned out the way we wanted, and that in itself is a very satisfying feeling.
		I read on your website that the album was already recorded in 2000 and mixed early this year. What was the cause of the delay in finally releasing Ascension of Terror? And I assume that this must have been really frustrating… Yes, it was very frustrating indeed. I won’t start babbling about it, it belongs in the past (that doesn’t really answer my question huh, now does it…MK). All I can say now is that the CD will be out the 5th of November for sure.
		There has been an important change in the line-up this year. Could you tell me something about Morrigan’ s decision to leave the band? Morrigan composed and performed/recorded all the bass lines on “Ascension…” so her contribution to the new album was of course important. However she decided to quit after figuring out that she didn’t want to do Metal anymore.
		As a couple of live gigs have already been planned for the beginning of next year, I assume that you have found a new bass-player? Could you introduce your new member to our readers and tell us something about his background? Now, we have V’gandr from the Norse band: Helheim as session bassist. This is a great thing for Aeternus as he’s really dedicated, well skilled and he really has a mind for our music. Another very important aspect is that he also enjoys playing our songs a lot which is of course quite helpfull..(haha)
		Over the years Aeternus’ sound has gradually changed into what you now call Dark Metal. What is your personal definition of ‘Dark Metal’? What distinguishes it from Death Metal? When I label our music Dark Metal I speak of the atmospheres and emotions. To me the word Darkness suits the atmospheres that can be felt in Aeternus’ songs. Our Metal is different from for example Death Metal as our songs has structures and melodies which one doesn’t find in Death Metal. It is original in its own ways.
		In what way do you think this new album differs from the previous Aeternus releases? In what way do you feel Aeternus has grown as a band and in what way does this reflect in the music on your new album? On “Ascension of Terror” we have used a lot of Death Metal elements to increase the extremities and the brutality of our style. The album can be looked upon as a Death Metal album in many ways, but what makes it interesting is that many of the structures and atmospheres give you something else or more than just this “normal” Death Metal feeling. Pretty cryptic but I guess you know what I mean!? Just listen for yourself and you’ll find out!
		Judging from the song titles I assume there is a ‘particular’ interest in war related themes and a certain disliking of Christian religion? Can you tell me a bit about the lyrics, do these in any way reflect your personal thoughts & opinions?
		Does the title ‘Ascension of Terror’ refer a central theme or a storyline on the album? The album title/song has nothing to do with the rest of the songs. However, you are correct, anti-Christian opinions, thoughts of elder Wars and Battles are to be found among the lyrics on this album. The War & and Battle lyrics are not a new thing with Aeternus’ lyrics, we have written about these things for a long time actually. I don’t believe I’ve been so direct before, treading on Christianity through lyrics, like on this album. I’ve been too much provoked, I had enough of it and one can say that “Slaying the Lambs” goes to all Christians who tread on others for not having their faith and so forth. Fuck ya all! Freedom means freedom…
		The past couple of years there have been many influential metal releases again from Norwegian bands. Is the scene in Norway still and as flourishing as it was in the early Nineties? How is the contact among the various Norwegian bands? A lot of bands stay in touch I guess. To me Norway is still a great scene.
		You must be looking forward to playing the new material live. A couple of gigs have already been scheduled for early next year and to my pleasant surprise you will be doing some of the first live shows for the new album in Holland!
		Besides of course your record company being Dutch, is there any particular reason for this? And can we expect a full European tour next year or maybe an appearance on some of the major summer festivals in 2002? We look forward to play live again, yes; we have already played some stuff from “Ascension…” live though. We played at a the Bergen Metal Festival this year as well as last year and we have already performed some of the new songs live at that show. We will play in Bergen again the 22nd of December. Then, we’ll come to Holland in January (6th of january in 013, Tilburg, MK), for sure to kick ass with new material. It’ll be awesome, make no mistake about it, or in other words be sure not to miss the shows! There’s no special reason why we are doing these 3 gigs in Holland and not somewhere else, our Booking Agent in Europe is Dutch & he has his office in Holland so… A tour might take place in March 2002, where we will support Benediction on their European Tour. We are still planning on this and I won’t start promising shit.
		As you surf on the Internet you can find a lot of great sites of metal bands.
		In what way do you think that the Internet has contributed to the growing popularity of metal music in general? What is you personal opinion on the Internet and do Aeternus themselves interact with their fans through means of the Internet? Internet is cool; we got a web site as well, at last so check it out: www.aeternus.ch Internet is of course great for musicians and bands and what not…and yes, we got stuff on mp3.com, tabs and so forth, people are doing web sites to honor us and so forth; which is awesome I think. (Hail Lestat!)
		Is there anything you would like to add or share with your fans? Also, thank you very much and success with Ascension of Terror. Thank you very much for your interest & support by this interview… Stay Metal, drink beer, have sex, buy CD’s, play music, be free, be yourself and blablabla..etc.etc. Catch ya on tour early next year!
		(Maura Kampstra)