Interview with Nekromantheon 2007

by Bradley Smith

You guys just released your We’re Rotting EP.  Can you tell me a little about it?  What is it about and what went into its creation? 

Sindre and Arild: We’re Rotting is about stirrin’ the cauldron! We’d like to show the world that you don’t need a big budget and 6 months in the studio to produce a killer record! We spent two days in the studio, and had about 6 hours to mix the seven tracks on We’re Rotting, with absolutely no money spent. (Except beer-expenses of course!)

You guys come from diverse musical backgrounds.  Can you give me some of your Band history on where you guys came from and how you guys came together to form Nekromantheon?

Arild and Christian: It started with the two of us having a black metal band some years ago, and Sindre joined us as a session bass player. We decided that we didn’t have anything new to contribute to the black metal scene, so we started playing thrash metal instead. Being good friends with the punk/hardcore band RABALDER, we got to borrow their bassist to do some vocals for us, and all the sudden we had a killer thrash-lineup!

I have heard from some reliable sources that you guys have done some amazing performances recently.  Can you tell me about some of them and do you have any ones that you are preparing for? 

Arild and Christian: We recently did a gig with Martin Missy and the PROTECTORS, which was extremely cool. Awesome band, great guys. We’re also planning to play on Club Maiden in Oslo April 4^th, with Thrashcore maniacs WHIP and the world’s Northernmost death metal band, SLOGSTORM, so if you’re coming to town the day before the Inferno-festival, this is where you want to spend your evening!

On a similar topic, given the opportunity what bands would you like to perform live with?  What were some of the best live performances that you have ever witnessed and what made those shows so special?

Sindre, Arild and Christian: It would be killer to play with Norwegian überthrashers AUDIOPAIN, INFERNÖ, NOCTURNAL BREED or AURA NOIR, cause they’ve always been a source of inspiration for us. The best live performances we’ve seen lately would have to be SLAYER at Rockefeller in Oslo, and MORBID ANGEL at Garage, Bergen. These gigs we’re extremely powerful, because of the intimacy of the venues, and the brutal force of these bands that got us into metal in the first place.

You guys are involved in several other bands.  Can you tell me about some of your other projects and what separates them and the material you compose for Nekromantheon?

Sindre and Arild: We both play in the death metal band OBLITERATION, which is the top priority band for us. We’ve just signed a deal with Tyrant Syndicate, and will release our debut album “Perpetual Decay” in May. Our vocalist, Glenn “Biffen” Iversen plays bass in a punk/hardcore band called RABALDER, and it seems things are going good for them as well. The thing that separates NEKROMANTHEON from these bands are mainly the way we compose the songs, we think differently. The music in OBLITERATION is a bit more thought through, while NEKROMANTHEON is more straight forward “let’s go for it” thinking.

Christian and Arild: We have a philosophy where we’d like the listener to want more, by keeping our songs short and aggressive, and try to use the best riffs as little as we can, haha!

What are the lyrical themes that you guys delve into with Nekromantheon?  How important are lyrics in your eyes and sorts of messages do you try to convey with them? 

Christian: When we started out, we we’re pretty tired of every goddamn band in Norway trying to be ‘oldschool’, with heaps of Norse mythology mixed into the music. We like the mythological aspect though, so we decided to go for the ancient Greek mythology, which is just as interesting, and twice as brutal, haha. Not all of the lyrics have this theme, but you’ll find references to it here and there if you look close enough. The lyrics are meant to be fierce and disgusting, but there are also a couple of cultural, religious and partly political messages hidden around. We’re hoping to entertain the intellectual crowd, as well as the beer drinking, oldschool thrashers around.

A lot of bands in this scene associate alcohol and the lifestyle of metal.  Do you see it that way?  What are some of your favourite alcoholic beverages?

Arild, Sindre and Christian: We don’t drink alcohol, and stay as far away from that junk as we can. We believe alcohol, as well as other intoxication substances, is the work of the devil. Haha!! No, seriously… Is there any way to play thrash without being drunk? If it is, we don’t want to know about it! “Beer is my business, and business is good!!”

The Bio says you are “sick and tired of all the fashion thrash metal bands that have emerged.”  What exactly do you mean?  Do you have any bands you are speaking of specifically and how do you plan to counter those bands?

Arild and Christian: Seeing that the scene in Oslo isn’t very big, we’d like to shut up about the specifics, but in general, we’re talking about the bands that sound more like Children of Boredom and In Flames. Thrash is meant to be ugly, dirty and aggressive!

Our counterattack is simply to show them how it’s done, and steal (and convert if necessary) their crowd. Should be a walk in the park, haha.

(Destruction – Thrash Anthems is a piece of shit. Got it?)

As a modern thrash band I was wondering what you though of the State of thrash metal worldwide and within the Norwegian scene. 

Arild, Sindre and Christian: The worldwide scene isn’t what it used to be, but there’s still a couple of bands out there that knows how to kick ass. We’d like to mention VIOLATOR [Brazil], CORRUPT [Sweden], TYRANT [Sweden] and OLD [Germany].

There’s a lot of fucking brutal Norwegian thrash-bands too, like AURA NOIR, NOCTURNAL BREED, INFERNÖ, WHIP, AUDIOPAIN, WAKLEVÖREN, DEATHHAMMER, CODE:RED, VESEN, and BLOOD TSUNAMI, to mention a few.

One of my favourite topics is to find out a different perspective from modern thrash bands on what they see as the Best all time thrash records.  What are some of yours and what makes them so special? 

Arild, Sindre and Christian: SLAYER – Reign in Blood is the all-time favourite, of course. SADUS – Illusions, DESTRUCTION – Infernal Overkill, WHIPLASH – Power and Pain, PESTILENCE – Malleus Maleficarum, SODOM – Obsessed by Cruelty, POSSESSED – Beyond the Gates, EXODUS – Bonded by Blood,

SACRIFICE – Forward to Termination, DARK ANGEL – Darkness Descends, SEPULTURA – Schizophrenia and KREATOR – Pleasure to Kill are all strong candidates to the throne. The sound, attitude, and raw power on these records is what thrash is all about. They are unique, unlike most of today’s fancy-ass metal bands.

What will come next for Nekromantheon? 

Arild, Sindre and Christian: We have a couple of gigs coming up, and are planning to hit the studio once again to record some new songs. Hopefully we’ll release a 7” some time during the summer, perhaps even a split, if we can find a band to split it with.

(Don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re interested!)

Any final messages for the fans?

For both of them? Haha!

Drink your beer,

Bang your head,

Turn it up,

Listen to WHIPLASH,

Spit the snus,

March to die,

Buy our record,

Keep ROTTING,

THRASH ‘TILL DEATH!!