Interview with Teloch of Nidingr 2007

By Bradley Smith

You guys just released your Sodomize the Priest compilation of demo material.  How did that release come about?   Why only on vinyl?  Does Vinyl have a special significance to you guys?

The guy from Hearse Records contacted me on myspace and wanted to do it. And of course I said yes. We choose vinyl because we had no vinyl releases at the time. And since we come from the old school class of metal, it has always been a dream for us to release something on vinyl.

Planet Satan Revolution is now the new home to Nidingr.  That is the label run by one of the members of Mysticum isn’t it?  Why the move there and how is that relationship working out so far?  There are some other killer bands on that label like Amok.

The PSR release is just for 1 album, we haven’t signed any deals or anything with them..we don’t need too, because if they fuck up something we know where they live. The deal with Dark Essence was only for 1 album so it’s not like we have switched label or broken any contract. Expect some grim shit from PSR in the future.

As with fellow Norwegians 1349, Nidingr seems to blend old school black metal with modern sensibilities and a really brutal and blasting approach to its songwriting.  Can you describe how you view Nidingr’s style and what sort of factors do you consider when writing material?

The cool thing with Nidingr, is that since day 1, we never have had any rules to follow, because we don’t care much about the fucked up “putting bands in the right genre” it is what it is. People can call it whatever they want, if some dude thinks its black metal..then its perfectly ok, because its black metal to him, fuck what others think. If another dude calls it death metal that’s ok too...we don’t give a fuck. When we make music we don’t think at all, we have way to much small brains for the thinking bit, we leave that to others.

You recently enlisted the help of a new drummer in the form of Tony from Angelcorpse.  What new dimensions does he bring to Nidingr?  How does working with a human drummer differ and add to the depth of Nidingr?

We haven't done anything with Tony yet. But I’m sure it’s gonna go smooth like a rumpa.  Working with a human drummer is not anything new for us, we had a drummer in1996, and we still have Sabizz who have done 5 gigs with us. So Sabizz is still in the band, but only for single gigs and we have Tony for tours and albums from now on.  Sabizz is playing on the PSR release btw. Soon to be released.

Listening to Sorrow Infinite and Darkness one thing that strikes immediately is that the vocals are much deeper and raspier than your standard black metal band.  Was this a deliberate attempt to sound unique?  How do you think the vocals distinguish Nidingr from other bands?

As I mentioned we don’t have any rules, so this was not any attempt to do something special...we just got tired of doing the vocals ourself and we was about to build a full band. But if you have to put Nidingr in the black metal genre, I think the difference is obvious .

You recently did a bunch of touring with 1349.  How did those performances go?  And how was it to open in support of legends like Celtic Frost?  Did that tour change your impression of them?

For me Celtic Frost is like any other band, I have no special relationship to their music. But nice guys to tour with. The gigs went very well, im very pleased with the tour and so are the other guys in the band. We are going back there now in march to raise some more hell. This time we headline and Goatwhore is one of the supporting acts.

You guys recently got a Sponsorship from Coffin Case guitar cases.  How did that come about?  Bands on Nidingr’s level seldom get high profile sponsorships like that so it must be a pretty big statement about how they feel about Nidingr’s skill and potential.

I just asked this contact I had while we did the last USA tour if she could get me a cool price on a Coffin case, and suddenly some guys showed up at a L.A gig with a case for me for free. So I started to mail with the owner when I got home and voila it was done.

You also play guitar in Orcustus.  When are you guys ever gonna release an album?  I have been dying since I got that 7” waaaaaaay back in the past.  Heh heh.  Can you tell me about all the different projects you have your hands in?

I don’t play in Orcustus anymore,  I got fired just before I was going to tell them I wanted to quit hehe I have a bunch of songs I made for Orcustus ages ago,.and since they are so fucking slow I decided to quit. And rather use the songs in my other band, NunFuckRitual. I hate having grim songs laying around on my computer and never get to use them. The album is going to be a fucking nekro album without my songs anyway, so it doesn’t matter for them if I take my songs and split. But no bad blood between us at all, we are still close friends and will always be. Especially me and Dirge, we are going to have our first love child soon. UGH! Expect the NunFuck ritual album before summer.

Umoral is another band I got going with Hellhammer and Sweizz. We have two songs done, just need to lay down the vocaltrack. A work in progress song can be found on myspace.com/umoral. Also I have a death metal project called Condenado ,with Hellhammer, don’t know who are going to do the vocals there yet. But I have maybe 13 songs ready to be recorded.

I was contemplating the title to your album Sorrow Infinite and Darkness and I was wondering what your conception of Infinite Sorrow actually is?  What might actually happen to set upon the world this state of being?

Have no idea, it’s just a title that sounds grim and cool. We don’t have any deeper message  or meaning behind it. Us and our brains you know.

Lyrics to some people are pretty important and can help make a band truly stand above others.  I have been reading the lyrics and was quite impressed.  They are much more poetic and deep than a lot of Nidingr’s contemporaries.  Do you think lyrics are important?  How do you view the lyrical poetry that you guys use and what is important when considering lyrics in general? 

I never listen to lyrics, once again my brain is too small to pick out the lyrics in songs, the only thing I can hear are guitars.  The lyrics in Nidingr are just stolen from others.  Read some Crowley and you can find much Nidingr shit in there.  We just steal and make it fit in our songs.

As an artist of Dark music for dark souls, what are some of your own personal philosophies that you use to govern your life?  Are you a spiritual person?

 I don’t belive in anything..I leave that to other weak people. I just play what I have inside me and that’s it, no hokus pokus here. You get what you see/hear and that’s it. If people get something else out of listening to Nidingr, that’s fine with me. But I never think about it.

I read that you guys had basically finished up 4 new songs.  Will they be a part of a New album?  How will they differ in style and progression from the material on Sorrow Infinite and Darkness?  When will you guys be releasing a new album?

The four new songs are for the PSR release, together with an old demo from 1999 this will be on the same release, the title may be something like “wolf-father” or something. The plan is to get it out as soon as possible, I’m mixing it as we speak and a guy just started on the cover. So it should be done soon, couple of months at the most.

I understand you are a Child of Silence but I will still leave my last words for you.

Thanks for the interview/support. That’s it.

Teloch