Aristocracy proudly presents its Twentieth Interview.This time, our interviewees belong to the Hungarian Black Metal band Svalinn's Rift.The band shows us their debut EP titled Unpenitent Era. Let's go to the full EP so you can follow this exclusive conversation in all your emotions.
A1:Who´s who in band?
Svalinn´s Rift:On the standing band photo, from left to right:Dvalinn on Bass and Drum Programming,Loke on Guitars and Surtr on Vocals.
A2:Talking about the composition work in Unpenitent Era?
Svalinn´s Rift:Every member has taken part in the composition work.We had some riffs from the past, before the turn of the millennium and these have been supplemented with more instruments and some brand new parts.All lyrics have been written by Surtr.
A3:What kind of norse mythology band talk in this album?
Svalinn´s Rift:Our first two tracks are connected to the Norse Mythology.In the first song, Damp with Sleet the main character is Hel,who is to preside over an underworld realm of the same name,where she receives a portion of the dead.The track contains details from the source of Prose Edda.We unfold the genesis in song called "Ice Waves and the Primordial Giant" but not the whole story,just some parts of it. In the future the lyrics will be available on bandcamp.
A4:How the pagan spirituality inspire the band?
Svalinn´s Rift:The ancient knowledge of peoples close to nature affected us and made us think and rethink the meaning of life in addition to that it gives extraordinary energy for everyday life.
A5:Some literature or film inspire the band?
Svalinn´s Rift:At this point,we have to mention an Old Norse term:Edda,that has been attributed by modern scholars to the collective of two Medieval Icelandic literary works and which inspired the band through the poems in it.
A6:Why the band have this name?
Svalinn´s Rift:In Norse Mythology,Svalinn is a legendary shield which stands before the Sun. The name Svalinn means cold or chill",so it is the opposite of the heat of the Sun and it is used to extinguish the harmful rays.The mountains and the sea would burn,if it were to fall from its place.The rift foretells the occurrence of this and with it the inevitable doom for Earth and the Earthlings.
A7:What the band original plan?
Svalinn´s Rift:The band formed in the long gone late 90s.We were young, inexperienced and we had just started playing musical instruments, so we were destined to fail. But from the fall, the strongest friendship was forged.We went on our musical journey separately, but the desire to bring back our music to life with the original members from the first formation was always there in our thoughts.Now, armed with what we have learned over the past decades, the flame burns the same way it did many years ago.So I would sum up that we want to make a raw and old school viking black metal.
A8:What´s the idea behind artwork´s album?
Svalinn´s Rift:Unpenitent Era means for us a lifecycle of death.A mother gives birth to a child who may kill somebody else’s child without guilt in that era because life will go on and so death will go on.We tried to depict this on the cover.
A9:Is the men like specie an experience going wrong?
Svalinn´s Rift:Mankind is on the wrong road but as industrious as it is I see a chance of survival.
A10:What kind of subject don´t deserve a Svalinn´s Rift?
Svalinn´s Rift:We would rather approach the issue from the opposite side.Norse mythology, Vikings and battles are inexhaustible sources of inspiration,which is what our songs want to be about.
A11:This album is conceptual?yes or no and why?
Svalinn´s Rift:No,it isn’t.It would be if it followed only the Norse Mythology or a timeline but it does neither. We wanted to describe the feelings of that era.Such as battles or spirituality like runes.
A12:Is man an animal that carries the corpse on its back all the time?
Svalinn´s Rift:Man has retained his animal instincts,but his thinking has taken him out of the animal kingdom and turned him into a top predator.When life begins on Earth,then dying starts with it and it is a natural circumstance in our lifecycle.
A13:How is Svalinn´s Rift different from your previous bands?
Svalinn´s Rift:We’ve all tried our hand at other genres related to metal music for e.g. on Death Metal scene,but as I mentioned earlier,we felt an unquenchable desire to create the Unpenitent Era EP.This kind of music is closest to our dark hearts.
A14:What´s bands influence ours?
Svalinn´s Rift:Satyricon, Dissection, Bathory, Burzum.
A15:Before music,what the bands loves to doing?
Svalinn´s Rift:We have a very broad and wide range of interests,so I wouldn't like to highlight neither general nor even extreme things.
A16:Based on the songs of album and your own opinion,is it better to think the human being as agony than an animal for health?
Svalinn´s Rift:We disagree with those who pose in the role that follows misanthropy.I would like to believe that there was also a good atmosphere among the Vikings in the company of a good beer.So everyone can find beauty in everything,as well as its counterpart.
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