Even though Summong recently made it once again clear through „With Doom We Come“ that they are the peak of keyboard-based black metal, there are still some promissing bands that try to follow their artistic lead. ELDAMAR might not keep up with them yet, but „A Dark Forgotten Past“, the latest record of the Norwegian solo-project, still was interesting enough for us to talk to mastermind Mathias Hemmingby about the project’s origins, the importance of vocals and guitars in his music and his plans for the future.
When you created ELDAMAR in 2015, you had just turned full-aged a while before. How did you discover black metal for yourself and when did you realize that you yourself also wanted to contribute to the genre?
Well, I guess, a friend of mine introduced me to a lot of bands. At first, I didn’t like it. But after a year I started to sort of understand it, and I just went full into it. And I planed to do a solo project, I didn’t think it would go anywere, but I’m glad I kept going with it. Cause after half a year it just went really good after the first release.
Is ELDAMAR your first project as a musician? And do you also consider playing in a band with others at some point?
ELDAMAR was my first own project, yes, at the moment I do not work with ELDAMAR because I use my time on another project called Askheimr. This will become a band later if everything goes as planed.
In Tolkien’s fictional world Middle-Earth, ELDAMAR is the realm of the elves. A rather unusual name for a black metal band, which mostly tend towards Mordor when searching for a name. Why did you go with that name?
I was great fan of LOTR when I started. So I kind of wanted it to have an elven tone, but I guess, it will be less of that after some albums. I will see what I do, firstly, I have to do the other project.
Black metal with lots of keyboards isn’t all too groundbreaking, Summoning or Lustre for example have been doing that for quite some time. In your opinion, what sets ELDAMAR apart from these and other comparable bands?
I think it is the female vocal synth that makes it different, I guess, I do like synth in metal. Askheimr, for example, will be the same concerning the 90s synths, I guess. I have a little weakness when it comes to these older „cold“ choir synths. And I just think it is there to give the music a more cold and grim sounding atmosphere. Askheimr will be completely different from ELDAMAR. I don’t like to put music into genres, but the overall sound is melodic death/black, I guess, with a lot of lead playing and very technical stuff.
What, do you think, is the essential, mandatory characteristic of a good black metal album?
Sometimes I have to ask myself if I like black metal at all. That is because I hear so much stuff that doesn’t give me anything. And when I say that I mean, these artists that make music, do they make it without soul? I probably like 20% of the black metal out there. This might alienate many. But this is an art. I am very picky about what I do myself, and it won’t be good unless the music is religious to yourself. Seems like people just put together some stuff by the day and say that if it’s black metal, it is good. No, the last song I wrote I used maybe three months on. And it is still not finished. But this far it just kicks ass! (laughs) Most of the time I escape to other genres to hear catchy melodies.
You’re quite productive with your project. „The Force Of The Ancient Land“, your debut, was released in 2016 and now there’s a successor called „A Dark Forgotten Past“. Do you think you’ll also be able to keep releasing new material that quickly in the future?
Not at the moment, I think, I only focus on Askheimr at the moment.
The songs on your new record are notably shorter than on your debut. Is there a certain reason behind that?
No, I guess it just happened. But I guess the first one was way too long. And there is a limit for how long people can listen to music that is too long and that kind of „sounds the same“.
Apart from that, what are the main differences between these two albums in your opinion?
I would say that the new one is a lot heavier and more „in your face“. There is a lot more going on with the drums and rhythm. I also use a lower tuning. The most notable difference is all the key changes that are going on.
What about the lyrics of your new album? Are you referencing Tolkien’s literature or is it rather about different themes?
There are no lyrics. Do you mean the „elven“ stuff? That is just random words from the pre-recorded plugin from my software. (laughs)
Which song on „A Dark Forgotten Past“ is your personal favorite and why?
I guess it is „Return Of Darkness“, as this was the first song I wrote at the start of a quite hard depression. It is also the most catchy one. It came really easy to me. „New Understandig“ is also one, because the song is so huge as there is so much stuff happening in it. „The Passing“ is a pure ambient piece that I have been wanting to do for a long time. And it just came out perfectly. This is a good example of how the melodies just lock in perfectly with the chord progression. And the song follows no tempo which I quite enjoy as far as ambient goes.
As already mentioned, the keyboards play a big part in the music of ELDAMAR. While the guitars are audible, they hardly ever are used as the main melodic instrument. Why is that so?
I think the guitars should just be there. It serves the heaviness of the songs while all the synths are taking care of it. I didn’t think it would go well with the atmosphere. But in the future I will use the guitar a lot more technicaly.
Wouldn’t it be reasonable to just create a pure keyboard ambient album without any black metal elements?
I’ve been thinking about it, yes. But not now. I would rather change some of the synth melodies and use guitar instead.
Keyboard-based black metal is notorious for evoking discussions. Did you have to deal with criticism in that regard? And do things like that affect you in any way?
If you ask me, I don’t really know where the „black metal“ came in the picture. I never went out and labled it black metal. More like darkened/blackend ambient, I would say. And if people are critizicing that, then they might not have better things to do.
The wordless female vocals also play a big part in your compositions. Why? And don’t you think that there’s a risk of overusing it and therefor oversaturating the listener?
Yeah, this has been a little issue when it comes to a whole album. More because of the reason that I’ve been growing up. It was never intended that ELDAMAR should be this big thing. Sorry for that it blew up, but I’m glad it did. (laughs) But I won’t keep on using it that much in the future. At the same time, it has become my signature sound.
The artwork is once more a painting by Albert Bierstadt. What exactly fascinates you about his art? And will you keep using it in the future of could you also imagine using something else as artwork for your records?
Albert Bierstadt is always good, but I might have run out of paintings to use, but I don’t worry because of that yet. I’m open-minded when it comes to other artists. We will see what happens.
ELDAMAR is a pure studio project at the moment, isn’t it? Do you also consider playing live in the future? What would you need to take special care of in order to make it happen?
ELDAMAR was never intended to play live. It was always supposed to be a one-man thing. That’s why I am working on something else to do live. And if I get it through, I might be sneaking in some ELDAMAR material.
What do have planned next for ELDAMAR?
Nothing big. I was asked to do a split again. But at the moment I can’t find the time to do that. Split releases aren’t my favorite thing to do either.
Now I’d like to go through our traditional Metal1.info-Brainstorming with you:
Death Metal: I like most death metal. Depends upon the vocals.
Best piece of literature by Tolkien: Beren and Luthien
Favorite type of music storage medium: I usually just listen to it on my phone.
Avantgarde art: Not very in to it…
Religion: Asatrue
ELDAMAR in five years: In five years, I guess, for myself, I have a band for my other project. Play live. Maybe some ELDAMAR material too. Other than that it will be pretty much the same.
Thank you a lot for answering our questions.