1. You have been active since 2014, how did the idea of creating the band come about? Why did you choose the name Mythraeum and what does it refer to?
Wraith started this band with another of the original members “Void” back in 2014. They were both already in different death metal bands, but had always wanted to make black metal too. I can speak for all of us when say I black metal has always been just a little something extra and special to us compared to most music. A mythreaum/mithraeum were the ancient underground halls of worship the cult of Mithras met in classical times. Not too much is known about their beliefs as they tried to hide most of it in obscurity. To us, it's the notion of re-discovered arcane mysteries locked away in underground catacombs that we borrow the name from.
2.The band undergoes a reform in its line-up, around the year 2019, it is from here that it releases its first full-length, was the period 2014-19 a turbulent time for you? Was continuity in question? of the band? How necessary was this revolution for Mytraeum to be releasing their second album?
2018 was when things shifted. The original drummer ignis, who was also the original drummer from wraith's other band 'Gravespell' moved out of the state, so I, Hagalaz agreed to start playing just for live shows at first. Then Algiz joined as live guitar so the other original member could focus on only vocals. In the year or so after that, the other founding memeber lost interest in making really any form of music and it caused some tension, leading to ignis leaving before void did. I took over as full time drummer, algiz as full time guitar, our bassist 'ire' also moved on to other projects as we gained Specter, also from gravespell, and Plague, our vocalist since then. So while only Wraith was original, most of the rest of us were somewhere around since the beginning in adjacent projects. Those changes were necesary to write and record the songs for oblivion aeternam.
3.You have just released your second album “Oblivion Aeternam”, almost four years have passed since your previous “The Inevitable Return”, how have you approached the process of composing and recording this second album? What main differences can we find in your sound? What brands of instruments have you used in the process?
This album was planned out as a whole more than the previous album. From the start it was a loose concept album with a pseudo-narrative structure. It's not a hard and fast story, but the themes do progress and the music matches that as the album goes on. The core sound is much the same, but we've fleshed out ideas more than on the last album and it's more intentionally complete. Expect some songs to be more intense than anything we've released before, and others to be even more epic and adventurous in their compositions than before. We set out the time and effort to record the drums, vocals, and acoustic instruments at Rarified Recording with Ethan Stouder engineering. Algiz uses dean guitars, wraith uses Keisel guitars, Specter uses spectre basses, all the strings use neural dsp quad cortex dsp's. I use scorpion sticks, yamaha drums, sabian cymbals, and axis pedals.
4. “Oblivion Aeternam” is an album with a powerful and powerful sound, however a handful of arrangements give the sound a tone between the melodic and the symphonic in some sections, so to speak there is an important black sound weight, but you give to the sound with enough personality to take it to a more personal terrain, how would you describe the sound of the album for those who have not heard it yet? What bands or styles are an influence for you when composing music for Mythraeum?
We call mythraeum “Melodic black metal” because every song has a through-line melody. While we strive to keep things as intense musically as we can play them, there's slower passages, there's nice melodies to hum along to. This gives us the freedom to progress songs where we think they need to go without much compromise. Windir, Dissection, and Emperor are big influences on us in this regard.
5.Your lyrics deal with topics related to mysticism and nature, however there is also a link with video games, what attracts you to these topics to address them in your lyrics? Does the music adapt to the lyrics or vice versa?
The basic songwriting always comes first. Then we see where on the album that fits, adjust it to work there better as we write lyrics for the place in the themes. In black metal there's the notion that you hope to achieve where you the band, are an evil entity. That's much easier to reconcile and perform with a straight face if you're writing lyrics through a dark fantasy context and acting as deathless harbingers of eldritch gods on stage. There are some esoteric and mystical themes in the lyrics, and we do each enjoy spending time in nature and forgetting the trappings of contemporary society, but most of our lyrics are in the realm of fantasy. Its less awkward to write about magic and rites and death and killing and destrucion and the apocalypse in that context than in regards to the real misery of our mundane human lives. I'll admit we're big fans of Fromsoft games (dark souls, bloodborne, elden ring), as well as Legend of Zelda and Final Fantasy. We have and probably will continue to sometimes draw from those to frame concepts for lyrical themes. Even the works of Nobuo Uematsu, Koji Kondo, and Motoi Sakuraba are influential to our musical compositions.
6. In some song some voices appear that we can deduce as female. Who is the person who has volunteered to put voices in your music? How did the idea of this collaboration come about?
That's Cassie Morris. She did guest vocals on our last album too. As well as guest vocals on my other band (Ashen Earth)'s last album, whose singer used to live with her and her boyfriend, who helped edit the drums for Oblivion Aeternam while I was in the hopsital. Its a pretty tight community of metal musicians here.
7.You have worked with J-F Dagenais for the mixing and mastering of the album, what can you tell us about working with Dagenais and how did the possibility of working with him for the new album arise?
We got in contact with J-F through Eric Dow, our manager (Fatal Illness management). J-F mixed and mastered some albums for his band (Helsott) and some other bands Eric has worked with over the years. The whole process with J-F was pretty smooth. He tried to get a good idea of what we were going for and build from there, and was very receptive of revisions and changes. He has a great deal of experience but still truly wants to make the best version of the bands' vision real.
8.M-Theory Audio has taken care of the publishing of the album, I suppose that being supported by a major record label like M-Theory Audio will be very important for you, does this support arise as a result of your participation in Wacken Open Air? How has the experience of being part of MTheory Audio been for you?
Yeah, M-theory really walked us through this whole process. We've had many questions and confusions on the way to getting this album out, and they've always been there to set us on track. Eric was interested in signing us to M-theory before the Wacken battle, but waited until after it was over to make a contract.
9. How would you describe the black metal scene in a city like San Diego? How solid do you think the black metal scene is in a country like the United States? What main differences do you think there are between North American black metal and that which emerges in other places, such as Europe?
There is no black metal scene in san diego. Don't get me wrong, there are 4 solid black metal bands here, and they are all our good friends. But it hardly registers a blip in the total music communuity, even the metal/hard rock community. There's 3 million people in san diego county. 15 musicians in that is not a scene, it's barely an extended family. That expanded to the rest of california and the rest of the country is similar. There are stellar bands if you know where to look, but we're so spread apart we rarely if ever interact. I just looked it up, in 1996 there were 4.5 million people in norway, at the peak of black metal's popularity. Its nearly impossible to form a scene with 100 times that many people spread over 4 thousand miles when .000001 % of them have any interest in extreme music in the first place.
10.Who designed the album cover? What does it represent and how does it relate to its content?
Svarun did our album art. The concept was similar to something he sketched for Wraith's other band (Gannondorf), but it didn't fit their album and it could turn into something that did fit ours. He was willing to complete it to fit the direction we wanted. Oblivion Aeternam does have a thematic flow, but it also can be looked at as different versions of oblivion and the end. It's not specific to which version they are marching towards, or what part of which event is being shown. It's figures heading towards the end, or maybe heading into a secret rite to bring about the end.
11. How are you managing the concerts to present the new album? Which bands would you like to tour with?
We had the Oblivion Aeternam release show at Brick by Brick in San Diego on June 7. We are in the process of booking a tour now for later this year, and cant release any details yet. But, we are planning to be on the road soon to spread this album around.
12. How were your beginnings in music: first concerts you attended, first albums you bought? What happened in your lives that pushed you to want to be musicians?
The first concert I went to was probably 'Weird Al' Yankovic. But, the first metal show I went to was Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, and Gojira. First metal album I bought was probably slipknot's the subliminal verses, but the first metal album I had that was given to me from a garage sale was Borknagar's 'Quintessence'. Borknagar is still special to me to this day. We've all been playing instruments since we were young. I can't speak for anyone else, but I knew as soon as I started hitting drums to music that it was what I wanted to do with my life.
13.What album represents for you the essence of black metal? What latest albums have you bought?
Mayhem's 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas', Emperor's 'Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk', Dissection's 'The Somberlain', Windir's 'Arntor', Immortal's 'Sons of northern darkness', Behemoth's 'Demigod' to name a few. The last albums I bought were Sunless's 'Ylem', Thantifaxath's 'Hive Mind Narcosis', Saor's 'Aura', and Wilderun's 'Epigone'
14. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions for Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for Mythraeum followers this is the place. I hope the questions are to your liking.
Oblivion Aeternam physical copies are available at M-Theory Audio, and available to stream on every major platform. Check it out and stay tuned for more announcements. You can reach us on facebook, Instagram, and Bandcamp where we have merch. The Lyric video for 'Skies Torn Asunder', and the Live Video for 'Beyond the Void' are on the M-theory official youtube channel. We offically endorse Dean guitars, Scorpion Drumsticks, and Dunlop Strings. Check out our side projects, (Fadrait, Helsott, Cerulean, Gannondorf, Orphan Feast, Gravespell, and Ashen Earth)
Thanks for Supporting Extreme Metal!
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