Interview mit Heolstor von At The Altar Of The Horned God

You have been and still are involved in a few other black metal projects, but so far they either have only released a few records or haven’t done so for a while. Is AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD your „main project“ now?
As one gets older and accrues more responsibilites, it’s difficult to dedicate both energy and time to what essentially is a just hobby. I can’t imagine not making music, as I have been doing so for almost three decades now, but I find it harder to record several albums a year as I used to do. So yes, AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD is my main project right now, although I have the intention to record something for Mystagos as soon as I can.

You run AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD as a solo project. How did you get started working as a solo musician?
It began mostly out of the desire to explore different sonorities and music styles from the ones I was doing with my main band at the moment. I’ve been playing all the basic metal instruments for many years now, so it’s easier to just record it all myself instead of having to rely on others. This has just become more pronounced over the years, since most of the people I used to play with are now „productive members of society“ and the last thing in their minds is picking up an instrument. I have no desire to play with others, since at this point it would just hinder my process.

What is the most difficult aspect of working as a solo artist to you as opposed to being part of a band?
I honestly cannot think of any drawbacks from playing alone. I suppose that if I wanted to play live it would be a problem, but that is not the case.

So far, only few black metal bands from Spain have been able to attract international attention. How do you see your scene?
The Spanish scene is producing absolutely incredible bands all the time, the problem is that most are very bad at self promotion, and that we lack decent national labels. I could name only two or three national labels willing to bet on national bands, and international labels are always more interested in signing Scandinavian or Germanic bands because they are easier to sell. I don’t think there’s anything in the international underground scene that cannot be found in the Spanish scene.

You are signed to I, Voidhanger Records – a label known primarily for experimental black and death metal. What attracted you to this label in particular?
I, Voidhanger rec. Has been one of my favorite labels since their conception, years before I even considered working on AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD. Their willingless to take risks and bet on innovative musical projects helps push the scene’s boundries, and as a result of that it makes extreme metal better overall. When I ended up recording the demo sessions of „Through Doors Of Moonlight“, I immediately sent it to I, Voidhanger hoping they’d like it. Fortunately they did, and we’ve been working closely ever since.

Your musical style is predominantly black metal, but also features influences from other genres such as ritual ambient and dungeon synth. Where do you draw your musical inspiration from? Do you have any role models?
I draw my inspiration from the desire to create a specific musical atmosphere, mostly. I make music that I think evokes ancient forest rituals, and I simply pull from everything I’ve been listening to and reading for the past four decades. If we are strictly speaking of musical influences, I’d say that Ulver and Empyrium’s first albums are a huge influence, as well as Arckanum’s. Outside of metal, I have to mention Dead Can Dance and Sisters Of Mercy as my largest influences, when it comes to AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD.

You use some instruments in AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD that are rarely heard in black metal such as tambourine and djembé. What sparked your interest in these instruments?
With Spain being in close proximity to Morocco, at least geographically speaking, if not culturally, it’s not that strange to see these instruments here, and I always had a djembé or tambourine around to mess with. Wanting to add some more ritualistic, hypnotic elements to my music, I thought they were an excellent addition. They help create a kind of folkish atmosphere, but a bit more exotic to what we are used to in black metal at least, and therefore pushes the mind outside of the listener’s comfort zone.

Do you plan to expand your instrumental repertoire even more in the future?
As long as it serves my intentions, I will use it. I doubt you’ll ever listen to anything like flutes in AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD, but certainly new and different percussion instruments, if I can get my hands on them. I really enjoy drums and percussions in general, so it’s fun to experiment and try new things.

You play a hypnotic, ritualistic-sounding form of black metal. What inspired you to interpret the genre in this way?
My goal with AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD was always to transmit a kind of ritualistic, repetitive, hypnotic atmosphere, and black metal is especially well suited for this. It’s relatively simple to create a nice guitar riff that will blend into the background while mainiting an intensity an psychological pressure. To that you add some repetetive drumming and some synths, and the result is a wall of sound that can work as a great counterpoint to the type of vocals I use.

Would you describe yourself as a spiritual person?
Absolutely, AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD wouldn’t exist otherwise. AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD is the result of decades of spiritual experimentation as well, and learning what works and what doesn’t when it comes to creating an aural ritual.

Many black metal bands don’t just play ordinary concerts, but present themselves rather ceremonial on stage. How do you think about such „black masses“?
I think it works for some bands. While it’s ended up being just another gimmick and done mostly for shock value, I can understand why some bands continue doing so despite it. It goes well with the music, and when we go to a concert we want to be entertained, after all. It’s all part of a performance. If there’s some added, hidden meaning and value to it that’s great, but I don’t think we need to pretend that it always does. It looks cool, and that’s at least 50% of what you want from a live show.

„Heart Of Silence“, your second album, seems to be arranged rather simply. Nevertheless, were there any challenges in the making of the album?
My recording process is pretty stramlined by now, so once I have the basic idea for a song, and have tested a few things and recorded a couple of demos, I just jump straight in. I usually record a song shortly after I compose it, so it’s all fresh. As a matter of fact, most vocals are basically improvised while recording, certainly all the harsh vocals. Some are definitely carefully planned, especially those from songs that stem from a vocal melody in the first place rather than from a guitar riff, but I like to keep things spontaneous. The only challenge I had was losing the first demo of the album due to a computer error, so there are a couple of songs which I never got to re-record. Other than that, it’s all really simple: I record the demos, send them to I, Voidhanger for ther opinion, then record it all properly, and send it to the studio so they can do their magic.

What is the conceptual core of the record in your opinion?
The same one behind AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD as a whole: exploring atavistic fears and spiritual archetypes to hopefuly remember the listener of their insignificance in the eyes of nature and the vast, ancient forests. It’s music that hopefully evokes ancient, quasi-mythical rituals and ceremonies in honor of forest dieties.

The album also features a cover of Suicide Commando’s „God Is In The Rain“ – not exactly a track one would expect to find on a nature-mystical, ritualistic black metal album. Why did you interpret this particular song in your own way?
I played around a few covers until I decided „God Is In The Rain“ was a good match. It’s a great song by one of my all-time favorite electronic bands, and since there’s a subtle but still important element of drone/synth music in AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD, I thought it would go well with the rest of the album, especially since it also touches on themes of spirituality, albeit in a more direct way. It turned out a little bit more dungeon synth than I originally expected, but I think it’s a good track. I will probably include other covers in future releases as well, always giving them my own interpretation, of course. I’m not sure what the point is of recording a song the exact same way it’s been played before. It’s fun for a live show, definitely, but on a record? I’d rather listen to the original, always. So I like to make covers my own as much as possible.

Although there is a lot of experimentation in black metal, many people in this genre still have an aversion to clean vocals or electronic elements. What do you think about that?
I was for many years one of those purists, but it’s just silly reaccionism. You can find thousands of bands playing the same, old formula and enjoy those, so having other bands pushing the genre’s boundries can only be a good thing. We wouldn’t have black metal in the first place if a bunch of kids didn’t decide to push the boundries of thrash and death metal three, four decades ago. Labels are good to communicate ideas, but limiting ourselves as artists because of them is counter-productive.

What are your next plans for AT THE ALTAR OF THE HORNED GOD?
There’s a song that I recorded before the „Heart Of Silence“ sessions that should come out as part of a compilation this summer, and the album’s vinyl should be available soon as well, so fans have things to look forward to. I will start thinking about the third album probably after the summer, but as usual it will be ready when it’s ready, since I don’t want to force things.

Let’s go through a short brainstorming. What comes to your mind while reading the following keywords?
Satanism: Freedom from the shackles of dogmatism and tradition.
Progressive rock: Boring music usually played by extremely talented musicians that could be doing something better with their talent.
Pathos: Something very present in my life, as the heaviness of life and the ever-present shadow of death dyes the whole world black.
Being alone: The best way of being productive and the only way to be able to reach inside and start understanding who we are.
Perfectionism: The bane of many artists. I must admit I’m not particularly perfectionist, and often regret it. I know I could make something better but usually can’t be bothered to.
Earworm: The latest to plague my nights is Frozen Dawn’s „Wanderer of Times“.

Is there anything else you’d like to leave readers with at the end of our interview?
Thank you for the interview, it was nice to answer some original questions, for a change.

Publiziert am 8. Mai 2023 von Stephan Rajchl