1. The band starts operating around the year 2019, why do you decide to create the band? Why do you choose the name of Nocturnis and what does it refer to?
The band came about because we were all more or less dissatisfied in our previous bands. We all knew each other in advance and just met up to jam. Quite quickly we realised that we could get on well together as people and that making music together also worked. That's how the band came into being. We actually thought about a band name for a long time and discussed it even more, because it should be a band name that everyone is happy with and can identify with. After a lot of back and forth, we came up with the name 'Nocturnis', a variation of the Latin word for 'night'. The advantage of the term 'night' was that we didn't explicitly commit ourselves to a lyrical theme, as is the case with 1914, for example.
2. In 2020 you release your first EP “Aporia” and EP that is released shortly after the confinement period derived from the Covid-19 situation, how complicated was the composition of this first release and in what do you think I can see it? depleted due to Covid restrictions?
The composition itself was alredy finished before the Pandemic hit – So therefor we were pretty lucky and didn't have any complications regarding the recording mixing and mastering process. But the actual promo work really suffered, as we couldn't play live – resulting in the album actually not or barely getting the attention, at least we feel like, it deserved.
3. You have recently released your first album “Unsegen” which somehow follows the line marked by “Aporia”, with some nuances, how has the composition and recording process of this first album been? What brands of instruments? have you used in the process and how do you think the sound of the band has evolved between both releases?
We believe, that the sound of Unsegen is far more mature and thought through in comparison. While Aporia was a mixture of what, we at the time thought, were awesome riffs. But there isn't a red thread, when it comes to the structures of Aporia.
With Unsegen we definitely got rid of that problem and tried our best, to give each song certain buildup. While we just used what we had on the aporia recording, our guitarist Vince really had a vision when it came to the sound of Unsegen – Raw, percussive, precise guitar sound, where the drums and the Bass would really be the fundament of the album. To achieve that sound he used a Fender Stratocaster with a boosted EVH 5150 – with light gain settings. Bass was a Dingwall five String Nolly Signature, paired with a sansamp and a Darkglass Alpha Omega. For the drums we used a mapex Birch Walnut Kit.
4. Your music has a marked accent of influences related to the First World War, being able to resemble, speaking of new formations, what Kanonenfieber is doing, however in your sound there is a greater weight of let's say a traditional black and the atmosphere How would you describe your sound for those who haven't heard it yet and what main influences from other bands have inspired you?
We would describe it as melancholic, yet hard, modern Black Metal. There are a lot of influences – from old school Black Metal bands like Dissection, Marduk and Emperor. But also newer in the genre like Der Weg einer Freiheit and Gaerea. Other directions such as Tech Death Metal are also in there (Necrophagist, Deadborn, Fuck you and Die). So yeah, pretty wide spectrum of stuff.
5. “Unsegen” contains a conceptual story, with an important weight not only in terms of the lyrics, but also because you have achieved that the music has been perfectly adapted to the different emotions and feelings that the texts required. How was it carried out? all this process of adapting music and texts until achieving a total integration between both?
We read a lot of field post and historical stuff – fictional and nonfictional, plus we watched movies such as „1917“ and „They Shall Not Grow Old“. We also visited some sites like Verdun and Fort de Mutzig, just to get a feeling how the war actually was. Then we started with the writing process. The Music basically was finished first, which then was used as a base for the lyrics.
6. Where does the idea of the conceptual story that the album deals with come from? Can you describe a little how the story develops throughout the songs on the album?
Short version of the Story:
It starts with the protagonist actually going to the battlefield thinking about his loved ones, worrying about the things which might happen (Am Rande).
He starts seeing and doing awful stuff in the trenches (Unsegen I and II)
He's still seeing and doing awful stuff, but his conscience starts getting in his way (Niedergang)
He can't bare the things he has done anymore and starts regretting everything more and more (Reue).
Suicide – no text, because he's dead/no story to be told anymore (Zerissenheit)
7. Despite having been on the scene for a short time, you have achieved a very complete and powerful sound, let's say with a very professional identity. Who was in charge of the recording and mastering process of the album?
That would be our guitarist Vince – he actually studied media design and specialized in Sound engineering. So pretty lucky about that :D
8. You have released this first album through Black Sunset. How did the possibility of releasing “Unsegen” with them arise? Are you satisfied with the entire process of editing and promoting Black Sunset?
We just wrote and asked them, if they would be interested to release our stuff and they, to our surprise, answered positively within a few minutes. The whole work process in general is very nice and Kai is a very professional and kind guy.
9. Who took care of the design of the cover? Can we say that what this cover includes is related to the end of the conceptual history of the album? Did you have it clear from the beginning that you wanted to use this image?
It was clear that we wanted to do something in the style of an oil painting, because it fits into the time of the First World War. Our guitarist Lukas tried for a long time to do something of his own for the cover, but he was never really satisfied with the result. At some point he came across the painting "The Dead Stretcher-bearer" by Gilbert Rogers from 1919 and it was just perfect for us. We then licensed the painting through the Imperial War Museum based in London, UK and then just adapted it slightly.
10. You come from the German region of the Black Forest, has this region been an inspiration for you in any way as it is related to battles that took place in World War I? Is there an important extreme gang scene in your area? Is it easy to promote your music in your region when it comes to offering concerts?
The Baden region, where we live, has always been contested over the past centuries due to its direct neighbourhood with France. However, this was not a direct inspiration for us, as the region was spared quite a lot in both world wars.
You can say that Southern Germany has produced some good Black Metal bands in recent years, such as Thron, The Spirit, Imperium Dekadenz, Groza, Firtan or Der Weg Einer Freiheit. There is also a good local underground scene and we are also well equipped with concert venues when it comes to those underground bands being able to play concerts.
11. How were your beginnings in music: first concerts you attend, first albums you buy? What happened in your lives pushed you to want to be musicians?
Vince: i Got into metal through my older brother. That was like the end of the nineties and as you would expect my first album was Iowa by Slipknot. My first concert was No Mercy Festival back in 2004, which also was my inspiration to become a good guitarist.
Dirk: Two events that were more or less at the same time brought me to Metal. One was the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in which Lordi won and the other was the album Reise, Reise by Rammstein. My first album must have been The Arockalypse by Lordi. The first live band I saw was the Rammstein tribute band Stahlzeit in 2010, the first "real" band was Rammstein themselves in 2011.
Lukas: I was pretty young when I attended my first concert, it was by a local Ska-Punk band called No Authority. After that I discovered AC/DC, Iron Maiden and all that big rock / metal bands. This was when I decided to learn guitar. In my young teen-years I found out about Trivium and Matt Heafy, which lid a new spark for me to get better at guitar. With 18/19 I got into the more extrem stuff, like Death Metal and Black Metal.
12. What album represents for you the essence of black metal? What recent albums have you bought?
Vince: Hard question, but for me it’s Satyricon – Rebel Extravaganza. Last Albums I bought: Der Weg einer Freiheit – Finisterre, Dissection – Storm of the lights Bane, Implore – Alienated Despair.
Dirk: Really hard question, I have to name two albums. Marduk – Panzer Division Marduk for the older stuff and Mgla – Exercises in Futility for the more modern approach. Last albums I bought: Electric Callboy – Tekkno, Der Weg Einer freiheit - Noktvrn
Lukas: That's a hard question, because there's so much variety in Black Metal. But I would say, Dissection – Storm of the lights Bane is a pretty good album, which has that old school Black/ Death Metal vibes for me, which I really love. My last album I bought was the new album by Gaerea "Mirage" and "Noktvrn" by Der Weg Einer Freiheit.
13. What future plans do you have for Nocturnis in terms of upcoming releases, concerts or reissues?
Firstly, we'll start playing for some time and enjoy our release and not having to be in quarantine plus corona not fucking up our plans. But we're working hard all the time, also on new ideas, songs and so on. Plan atm is, to release a new Album at the end of 2024 or beginning 2025.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Whipstriker, War Atrocities – Struck By warwhip 2,99 €
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario