Interview mit Tobbe Fongelius von Voodus

Your band’s name is VOODUS – what’s the idea behind / meaning of that title?
Voodus is a magic chant. It came to me during a meditation. Voodus works as the very gravity of the womb of the other side, Sitra Achra! I found the chant to be very powerful and my vision from that first meeting with this Voodus-force is still very clear and strong in my mind. I tried to draw down the vision on a paper, the maelstrom of Sitra Ahra, to our NightQueen ep. I dont know if i did catch it so good, but the cd cover worked out fine anyway! It looks quite cool!

Black Metal has changed a lot over the years. What do you think about this development? Do you like „modern“ black metal?
Well, i dont know if we speak about the same bands when you speak about „modern“ blackmetal so let do this clear from the beginnig! To me bands like The Ruins of Beverast, Ascension, Watain, Thy Darkened Shade, Deathspell Omega, Behemoth,Rotting Christ, Blaze of Perdition, Funeral Mist, Acrimonious etc is a part of this developing part of the scene, even if many of these bands are old today with a great history, they are still a part of this new and „modern“ sound of todays blackmetal. What makes them „modern“ in my eyes is that they are not afraid to break, or are bound by ,old traditions. They are not afraid to cross the borders of what is „ok“ in the eyes of the so called „trve blackmetalkult fan“. And that is just great if you ask me. They are developing the genre and makes this sinister world called blackmetal  grow wider and wider, with no boundaries! They are heading into the vast and wild to explore the hidden wastelands of the genre,in the true shadows, and that is very inspiring to me!

„Into The Wild“ does not sound „modern“ at all. To put it meanly: Why do you write an album in 2018 that sounds like 1995?
To be honest i was quite surprised by the feedback from everyone that had a pre-listening of the album when they said that they get this amazing 90´s feeling from it! I thought that we were creating something new,unique and „own“! All we can do is to create music from our hearts and follow the signs from our within. If that sounds like music from 1995, well what can we do? We have to be true to ourselves.

Watain and Dissection sound out clearly – are these your main influences?
Both yes and no. Dissection is and will always be my personal main influance. Both musically and spiritually. Watain is a great band, but i don´t think that they have any direct impact on our creative process. I think that we have a very wide spectre of influences in the band. Everything from deep and dark electronica to Twisted Sisters!

Which other bands should be mentioned here?
I think it´s hard to mention any spicific band that is inspiring us to do our music. I mean, we are doing Voodus because we have all this melodies and ideas inside of us. Sure! We can be influenced by some other band at the moment when the riff or the melody is being created. But it´s never because we want to sound like anyone else. I think it´s hard though, not to sound like bands you like when you create music! I think you can hear some sonic splashes from bands like: Kiss, Iron Maiden, Accept, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Mayhem, Dissection, Judas Priest etc etc, in Voodus music because this is bands that has followed us from we were small children to this day!

The guitar solo in „Gnothi Seauton“ reminds me very much tot he solo in Mayhems „Freezing Moon“. Was that a deliberate reference or an oversight?
Yeah, i hear you! I think that we were a little bit too inspired without thinking about it after our tour with Mayhem! When we came to the studio ( the day after our last gig with Mayhem) and started with the solos we didn´t have Mayhem in our minds! It just went out that way! Haha! But it´s worked out fine anyway i think. I mean, it´s not a copy of Mayhem, far from it. It´s still Voodus.

The artwork is a mix between modern and retro – what can we see here, and why is it the perfect visualisation for your music?
It is the fantastic artist „Ars Moriendee“ (Pedro Felipe) from Brazil who painted the artwork, with the wild escape/breaking loose of the controlled and bound self in his mind as a referance. And his vision of this wild journey of the soul is fucking spot on! Flesh into Spirit made to art!

Also the sound is very „retro“ – although extremely well done. How did you do that, what was the focus on?
The sound is all Tore Stjernas work (Necromorbus Studio). We told him to do his magic over the album, and so he did!

And what technical tools did you use to do that?
I have absolutely no idea! Tore has a lot of different plug-ins that he work with, but i can´t mention a single one! No one in the band has any interrest of the technical part of the process of making music.

What was the idea behind the albumtitle, „Into The Wild“?
Into the wild aiming for the spiritual liberation of the imprisoned mind. To break free from the warm and well known and to throw your self out in the wild, vast wastelands without any safe spaces to crawl into! To live for real! To become your own god. Thats the main theme or the following line of the lyrical themes of the album. So „Into the Wild“ felt like a good title!

How important are they for you as a part of your art?
They are very important to our expression and to our music. I think thats why the songs sometimes contain so many different passages and soundscapes. And time! Because the music and the lyrics are telling you a story, combined and tied to eachother as one.

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Are you playing live, what can we expect – are you planning shows in Germany?
Yes! We are comming to Germany later this year. I wish i could tell you where, but my lips are sealed for the moment! All i can say is that it will be fucking huge for us! And that it´s a festival…

Thank you for the interview! Please let us do a short brainstorming in the end:
INF Treaty: Good, i guess.
„Lords Of Chaos“-movie: A big fucking NO!
Superbowl: What?
Germany: Sodom, Ascension, Accept,The Ruins of Beverast, Katharsis, Engineering, Great cars, Fantastic history, Amazing buildings and nature, Hitler, War, Philosophy, Porn, Beer and Autobahn!
Your favorite album at the moment: Ascension – Under Ether
VOODUS in 10 years: Hopefully still excisting and still spreading our words and venomous tunes to the masses of the world!

Once again thanks for your time. The last words are yours:
Well, it would be a true honor for us to come to your land and play! It´s sacred ground for every metalhead in the world! So if you want us to come, contact me. Hail and Kill! 666

Publiziert am 31. März 2019 von Moritz Grütz