With their sophomore release „Two Carrion Talismans“ VALDRIN showed an unusual type melodic black metal: Apart from the subdued keyboards the album sets itself apart through its own mythological storyline. In the following interview with frontman Carter Hicks you can read more about the concept of the record, its conciously raw production and the specific characteristics of the music.
In VALDRIN you basically play melodic black metal. What do you think is the most significant aspect of your music that makes it something special?
I’m not sure if we are a melodic black metal band or not. We’re all certainly fans of the mid 90’s Swedish bands like Dissection, Dawn, Sacramentum, Unanimated… etc but there’s a lot of other influences and sounds that we bring into our music. If there is anything about our music that makes us stand out, maybe its the fact that our albums are very dynamic and cover a lot of different moods. Another aspect would be the lyrics of the ‚Ausadjur Mythos‘, as we call it. I would at least hope that people read the lyrics and find the story interesting.
Which bands and artists would you name if you were asked about your musical role models?
Bands such as Bathory, Peste Noire, Dissection, Manes, Mütiilation, Destruction, The Chasm, Order From Chaos, Morbid Angel, were bands that changed my opinion of music and guitar playing. Also, the music of Nobuo Uematsu and Pink Floyd have been a part of my life from the beginning.
With your new album „Two Carrion Talismans“ you tell the story of your very own protagonist VALDRIN. Can you summarize what it is about?
Sorry, I have to correct you, this album is actually about the antagonist Nex Animus and his creation of the Orcus underworld, where the events that lead up to ‚Beyond The Forest‘ later take place. So yes to be clear, this album is a prequel to ‚Beyond The Forest‘ and is solely about Nex.
The story begins in prehistoric times at the end of Nex’s earthly life when he has slit his own throat after slaying his twin brother in front of a tribe of their kin. Unknown to the world, these two brothers are the first beings born with a ‚Spirit Genome‘, one made up of dark energy, and one of light. The aftermath of this conflict is the creation of two afterworlds, the dark world being the Orcus, and the light world being the Aurae.
After his death, Nex awakens in the vacant domain of the Orcus, there he is visited by a mysterious force of the universe known as the Ausadjur, who brand him with the name ‚Nex Animus‘. These spirits bestow a divine edict of law upon him and introduce him to the domain he will rule for eternity. Though after centuries of meditation and overseeing the Orcus, he communicates with another unknown force from the deep cosmos and is informed of a clandestine key to fool the Ausadjur gods and escape into the universe at the moment of the apocalypse. There’s a lot more to be found in the lyrics.
How important are the lyrics to you compared to the music itself?
The lyrics are equally as important. The concept of each album dictates how we write the music together, and then the music, in turn, tells me what’s happening in the story and I try to write these abstract ideas in some sort of understandable way.
Your stories contain influences from different mythologies, right? Which ones did play a part in the creation of your fictional world and in which way were you influenced by them?
A lot of stuff is inspired by the Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman mythologies. There are some eastern concepts mirrored in the ‚Ausadjur Mythos‘, but to a much lesser extent. There is, of course, a lot of inspiration from western occultism. Some examples of these inspirations would be the word ‚Orcus‘ which many know is also the Roman equivalent of Hades or the underworld. Others would be the event we call the ‚Junnatox‘ which mirrors many ancient religious conflicts from Set and Osiris, to Cain and Abel. The god known as Wyrmuul or the ‚Serpent Willow‘ is our representation of Lucifer. However, most of these connections are made after the story of each album is finished. It mostly all comes from my imagination, but if one is to believe in the collective unconscious, sometimes we are all channeling and manifesting visions from our ancestors. But most of us are unaware of this anyway, and I don’t always think about it when writing the music/lyrics.
How did you come up with the idea of not simply singing about conventional themes, but instead creating your own fictional world?
It wasn’t intentional in the beginning. All of the music and most of the lyrics for the debut album ‚Beyond The Forest‘ were created before we had the ‚Ausadjur Mythos‘. Originally the lyrics came from visions of a dark underworld I had in my mind. It wasn’t until I assembled the songs in order for the first album that I realized it was telling a profound story. Afterward, I wrote the song ‚Beyond The Forest‘ and that was when the whole mythos appeared to me and I knew it was what our music was going to be based on from then onward.
Are you considering to deal with other subjects in your lyrics at some point or do you still have many stories to tell from your own fictional world?
There will be many works in the ‚Ausadjur Mythos’ coming in the future. The story of Valdrin, beginning with ‚Beyond The Forest‘ will be part of a trilogy of albums that we will return to someday. The story will undoubtedly end someday as well, and I haven’t thought about what will happen afterward.
Your new album is noticeably shorter than your debut „Beyond The Forest“. Is there a reason for that?
We originally intended ‚Two Carrion Talismans‘ to be an EP but after we had immersed ourselves in the concept, we knew the character Nex needed a full-length album to tell his story. From the beginning, we knew it was going to be a shorter and more traditional album approach in its structure/length.
In which way do you think that you have made progress as a band compared to your debut?
The music for the new album is eviler, heavier, faster and invokes a much darker atmosphere. I also believe it flows a lot better than the debut and achieves an equally compelling story with much less duration of time.
The track „Sinews Of Blood And Vein“ was already released online in advance. Why did you choose this particular song to give a first impression of the album?
We chose the song because it crushes, its the shortest song, and also reveals the least of what the rest of the album entails.
In contrast to many other albums in symphonic and melodic black metal, which have a rather polished production, „Two Carrion Talismans“ sounds quite rough. Is this what you intended and if so, for what particular reason?
The production for the debut album was too clean, and we wanted something more organic sounding but still powerful. I don’t think we sound very ’symphonic‘ myself. Almost all of the synth sounds you hear are actually guitar-synth sounds done with a Roland GR-20. We use primitive synth sounds because it creates a nostalgic, older sound to our ears. I certainly don’t consider us in the same category as most symphonic black metal bands. The sounds we use are more primitive and subdued.
The artwork looks pretty interesting. Who created it and what is shown on the picture?
It was created by our friend Lucas Ruggieri, who is one of my favorite artists in the world today. The album cover depicts Nex in the foreground and his vision of himself in the reflection. It demonstrates what I believe are the two archetypes of a villain: one that is created through a past trauma or perceived injustice, and one that is evil from birth, written in the DNA and the ‚Spirit Genome‘. Nex sees himself in the reflection as a grandiose regal god of evil, whose only destiny is to destroy, though in the foreground you see a feeble old man, who bears the scars from his past torments. The ‚Two Carrion Talismans‘ are the dead eyes of the wolven blade he is brandishing. The album cover and the title both reflect the theme of duality.
What about live shows? Could you imagine playing shows in Europe as well sometime in the future?
We are currently making plans to play as far across the U.S.A. as we can. Playing in Europe is a huge dream of ours, we hope that our label Blood Harvest, can help spread our music in Europe.
What else is planned next for VALDRIN? Do you already have an idea what you want to do on your next record?
At the moment, we are working on a mini-lp which will be a side story taking place between the events of ‚BTF‘ and ‚TCT‘ and the final tale set in the Orcus. It will be the most solidified concept we’ve ever created and by far the darkest, scariest, and most hateful.
Now I would like to go through our traditional Metal1.info-Brainstorming with you. What comes to your mindwhile reading the following terms?
Comic books: Not a fan
Current favourite album: Katharsis – „VVorldVVithoutEnd“ and Grav – „Projektioner af Dod“
Clean vocals: Heavy metal
Politics: Machiavelli
Mysticism: Hidden truth
VALDRIN in five years: Goals achieved, new realms conquered.
Thank you again for your answers. I would like to leave the last words to you:
Thanks for the interview, hails to all those who have shown their support for ‚Two Carrion Talismans‘.
28. Januar 2019 Stephan Rajchl
Dieses Interview wurde per E-Mail geführt.
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