1) Hello guys! First and foremost my compliments for such a fucking hellish work as you did on your new album "Hantises". That's my first opportunity to cut my ears with your music but I'm really enthusiastic about the album. You must be pretty satisfied with the way how it turned out, mustn't you?
Yes, we are pretty much satisfied about the outcome of Hantises. I think we made a very powerful and hateful album, one that has a more modern sound without forgetting the roots of Black Metal. It is very extreme, but at the same time more technical that what we used to do before. I think we sill show with this album that evolution does not necessarily mean going soft or selling out, that it is possible to play this type of music more professionally without losing its essence.
2) FROZEN SHADOWS isn't a well known band, especially in Poland. Follow with that, would you be so kind as to give us a brief summary of band's history?
I'll try to keep this one short, because I know how boring band bios can be sometimes! I (Myrkhaal) formed Frozen Shadows in late 1995 with Namtar. We recorded our Empires de Glace demo in late 1996, and got rid of two members in early 1997 to make place for Alvater within the band. We released our Dans les Bras des Immortels album in 1999 as a three piece, and then went out to look for a permanent drummer; it took us nearly three years before Melkor entered our ranks. We recorded a 3 songs promo in 2002, and signed with Holy Records from France, to finally record Hantises in late 2003. The album has been released in March of 2004, so we'll see where we go from there.
3) Canadian scene is well known in the world from great death metal acts like INFERNAL MAJESTY, KATAKLYSM, CRYPTOPSY or GORGUTS, power heavy thrash bands like ANNIHILATOR, ANVIL, more experimental stuff like STRAPPING YOUNG LAD but frankly speaking, I don't know any black metal band from Canada except GODLESS NORTH and AXIS OF ADVANCE. Is there any serious black metal scene in Canada? Could you recommend us any good bands? Not counting FROZEN SHADOWS he he.
The Canadian scene is quite poor in terms of Black Metal if you ask me! Godless North is unfortunately dead, but I'm in contact with JVD and he is preparing another group, so I guess this will be worth checking out. The scene here is quite spread apart, so there is not really a unity within it. As for recommendations, the best bands we had are dead: Esker, Veneficium, Godless North!
4) Do you know what's going on with guys from mighty BLASPHEMY? Do you have any contact with them?
We are not in contact with Blasphemy, we don't know what is happening to them, and, quite frankly put, we don't care about them! First, you must understand that they are located at the other side of Canada, so asking us if we know them is a bit like asking someone from Warsaw if they know someone from Madrid. Canada is bigger than Europe (Russia excepted of course), so contact between groups are not so frequent. Second, Blasphemy type music is just not my cup of tea, so I have no interest whatsoever to be in contact with this band.
5) Would you describe FROZEN SHADOWS as a true black metal act? If so, do you write your songs as a protest against anything? Or maybe you don't follow into any ideological bullshit?
Well, it depends on what do you consider as True Black Metal! If you are talking about the ideology, then, yes, we definitely are a True Black Metal group. Frozen Shadows is only about Death, Damnation, Hatred, Darkness and Misanthropy, and we have kept the outlook the old bands had. We write songs to serve as weapons of propaganda against religion, mankind and society. But in musical terms, we are probably not a True Black Metal group, since we try to be brutal, powerful and complex, plus we do use keyboards on some occasions. We are certainly not a Darkthrone-type band, if this what you are referring to when you say True Black Metal. I guess anyone who listens to the group and understands its ideology will be able to decide for himself.
6) Talking of the lyrical side of the band, you call it as a Satanic Poetry. Could you give me more details about it? Do you find the lyrics important for the band or they just complete the whole picture?
I think lyrics should be essential to every Black Metal group, since this music style is also ideological, but many groups don't seem to share my thoughts on this, and they prefer to go with absolutely stupid and childish lyrics. Since I always have had an interest for languages and writing, I try to write lyrics that are more like poems: cryptic and dark, but also possess a sense of aesthetics and style. They are Satanic because they celebrate the dark side of the human psyche and go against everything that is deemed as "good" and "fair", not because they call for the worship of horned idols that are a parody of the Christian faith. For us Satan is the adversary, the eternal rebel, and the embodiment of everything that is destructive, evil and strong. We respect him but do not worship him: how strong would we be if we just knelt like cowards before him just like Christians bow before god? I have some real problems understanding groups that can say in the same interview things like "we are elite, no one is above us" and then "Satan is our master, we are just here to do his will". How paradoxical can you get?
7) What is a meaning behind the title of your new album "Hantises"? What does the word mean?
We wanted for this album a short title that would reflect the dark thoughts that torment our minds everyday, as well as having a more occult feeling. "Hantises" is actually the French word for "Hauntings". In old French, it meant the fact that spirits dwell in a place, but its more modern sense is either one of something that tortures your soul or that you cannot stop to think about because you greatly fear it. We liked the torture/fear double meaning, so we went along with it.
8) In your lyrics you use both English and French. Is there any major difference in expressing emotions and feelings in these languages?
Since we are French-speaking, we chose to use French in all our album titles as well as a few songs, and we decided to use English as well so that everyone could understand our ideology and that we could spread our plague in foreigners' minds. In general, I would say that French is a lot richer than English, so the poems are a bit different. The French lyrics are usually more emotional (and I do not mean it in a nice way) and dark, while the English ones are a bit more grim and violent.
9) Let's talk of your music. When I listen to your new album, some band's names are coming to my mind. I mean especially MARDUK, DARK FUNERAL, old IMMORTAL and other extreme acts from Scandinavia. Do you inspire by their works or it's rather an accidental impact?
Of course, when we began Frozen Shadows, we were heavily influenced by the Scandinavian scene, and it still shows in our music today, even though we have become more personal and unique. It was never a matter of "let's rip-off this band or this band", and I think that it is obvious in our first releases that we had influences but that we did have our style as well and that we copied no one. I'd say that it is rather an accidental impact, since we never compose a song by saying "Why don't we do a song like X does?"
10) In band's line up you mention keyboards but for example on "Hantises" their parts can be heard only in one song, I mean "A Lombre.". Am I fucking deaf or maybe you use them accidentally?
I guess you must be fucking deaf! Seriously, we DO use keyboards on 4 songs on the album, but most of the time they are used only to enhance atmospheres, and they're mixed low in the background. As a matter of fact, we were supposed to use the keyboards on all songs but one, but when we recorded the album, the guitars were all over the place (there are 4 guitar tracks and sometimes 5 on the album). Since the guitars were often doing different riffs at the same moment, we dropped many keyboard parts because we felt that it would make everything too cacophonous. It's a bit like the second Emperor album (Anthems): there are parts where you can barely hear what is going on because they crammed too much stuff in the same place. We didn't want that.
11) Talking of your music, I would like to ask about your drummer Melkor. Does he trigger the drum parts at the studio or record them on live? If so, this guy is almost like a beast! Is he able to play so fucking fast on live too?
Yes, Melkor is a quite a warmachine! All drums on Hantises were recorded 100 % live, and he only used triggers to equalize the sound level of his double bass drums and snare, NOT their frequency! In other words, the triggers were not used at all to make him play faster or tighter, only to make sure that if he hit his snare a bit less hard a certain time, the trigger would bring the sound up to the same level as when he would hit it harder. Melkor can play anything on Hantise live as fast as on the album, and even faster! When we rehearse, he will often play some of our faster songs so fast that it nearly becomes ridiculous, and I even have to cut some vocal parts if I want to have time to breathe! In all honesty, I don't think I ever heard someone playing the drums as fast as Melkor can, but he is also a very technical drummer. As a matter of fact, he just got into the finals of a large drumming contest held in Québec (the French part of Canada) between more than 100 professional drummers from all musical spheres, and I am 100 % sure he will win, since he is so much above everyone else. I saw him crush seasoned jazz drummers on their own terrain and it was quite impressive.
12) You signed a four- album deal with French Holy Records. Were there any other proposals for FROZEN SHADOWS? Did you negotiate with other labels or from the beginning it was the best choice for you to sign with Holy?
Well, we received a few offers, but the one from Holy Records was truly the best. They paid for everything (studio, printing, merchandise, promotion) without taking everything from our royalties in return. For many labels, you have to pay them back every cent they put into the band before you begin to get your royalties, and sometimes you can even ending up owing them money of the sales are not sufficient enough! So this is basically why we accepted Holy's offer, even though we have nothing in common with their usual groups. We knew that with this offer, we would not have to worry about how we were going to pay back the label! Also, there was the fact that Holy wanted to commit for 4 albums, and we wanted to get some stability for the group, not having to worry as to how we would record our next album and such things.
13) What are you expectations with that cooperation? Frankly speaking, Holy is a very strange label, their way of promotion is not as effective as other labels. Are you not afraid that it was not well thought out decision to sign a 4 record deal with them?
As I've said before, we signed a long deal because we wanted to have at last some stability for the band, so this decision was thought out. Holy Records might not be as big as some other labels, but so far we are satisfied with their work for Hantises. Hantises' distribution is a lot better than our first album's, and since we have no dreams of becoming "black metal stars", this is satisfying enough for us! I don't know exactly what you are implying by calling them "strange", but we'll see if the future proves you right.
14) Plans for the future?
Spread our hateful plague, record new hymns destruction, and witness the fall of mankind.
