1. Around 2010 you formed the black metal band “Mara”, a band that is still active and in which you are currently in charge of vocals and guitars, however you have also been incorporating new members to the project. However, you have just recently started Hädangången. I would like to think that it is a much more personal project, where you can give free rein to your vision of black metal. When did you start thinking about starting Hädangången? Why do you use this name and what does it refer to?
That is a good question. MARA is my creation and spiritual path and through these 15 years I have had many different musicians with me regarding creating Ragnarök through music as a weapon. MARA has always focused on being a live band and over the last year's I have felt that it has got too much focused on being a live band and things are moving too slowly then I want them to. It has to do with the fact that 3 people need to rehearse and learn the magic.
It is the same regarding releasing music through labels. Things are going so slow that I feel it is time to do something about that. I have learned you can't change people so I have had for some years an emotion to create something more outside MARA and through that did Hädangången come to life. It is a project where I am holding everything from start to end ( just as in MARA) but the only difference is that I don't need to check with other people. I do what I want, when I want. That is freedom.
Hädangången is an old swedish language, and is a word representing death / to pass away. I think it represents the atmospheric black metal I want to create. Like a big canvas of oil painting from the famous nature romantic era.
2. Mara's last release is from 2022 and Hädangången starts its journey around 2023. Is Mara at a standstill right now or do you think that both bands can continue at the same time since they offer a different style of black metal? Why start with Hädangången now?
Nothing is standing still, I have waited and are waiting on other people regarding MARA and that is the only reason things are going slow. Yes I agree, they are really different styles of black metal MARA and Hädangången and that is the reason I find them interesting even though they represent the same essence.
Why not start Hädangången now when I am not doing anymore live galder with MARA at the moment.
3. “Likfärd” was the first EP released by Hädangången. Was this the typical release that you had in mind for a long time, easy to compose and liberating your creativity? Did the way it was received serve as an impetus for you to continue with Hädangången?
The EP was something I had to create for myself, but at the same time it was also a test to see if I could do it all alone, to see if there was any interest. And honestly it was a great response, bigger than I thought it should get. Yes, I will say that because of the response I decided to continue and not start something new.
4. So we come to the release of “Tomhet”, Hädangången's first full-fledged album. How did you approach the composition and recording process of this album? Has the sound evolved at all between the EP and the album? What brands of instruments have you used in the process?
Yes, the sound has evolved. On the Ep I decided to be minimalistic, just record one guitar and bass guitar. On ( Tomhet) I decided to try out a more epic sound with more guitars/ leads. I still wanted to capture the minimalism from the Ep and I think I succeeded with that, it became an epic album with a minimalistic approach.
The recording process is fast and much about writing when I have a feeling/ just let the music come natural. I don't write much at the riffs in Hädangången, It is much the opposite of what I do in MARA where I rehearse for many months and try out everything in the last detail. And the vocals on Tomhet are recorded once again in the forest just as I did on the Ep.
For guitar I used a Jackson flying V, and for bass an old Bass guitar that I don't know the brand on. For drums I use an E-drum set + computer where I record within my studio. There I also can program my drums if I want to change something really quickly.
5. The album has that cold and dark tone of Nordic black from the nineties, all of it traversed by a fine line of melancholy, it doesn't shy away from offering passages of an almost instrumental nature, as well as a certain depressive and desperate atmosphere that also runs through the sound of the album, what bands or styles have influenced the sound of this album? How would you describe the sound of the album for those who haven't heard it yet?
For me regarding inspiration from other bands it is still much the early scandinavian black metal era. All from: Bathory, Enslaved, Immortal, Darkthrone, Månegarm, Thyrfing, Taake, Trelldom, Windir Burzum, Gorgoroth. But specific for Hädangången it is: Drudkh, Bathory, Burzum and Nargaroth.
I will say I was looking for an old memory of a feeling I had a cold winter day many years back when I started to listen to old school black metal, that feeling I can't put down in words. I get more of a picture in my head on what I am looking for to create. I can just remember that feeling and still think that the specific primitive force of nature is important and is today the essence of Hädangången. Already on the Ep I was capturing a depressive tone, and on Tomhet I decided to go further with that one, that is something new for me. It also did help much with the writing when I went through two big changes in my life that were a Ragnarök for me.
To anyone who has not heard the album I will explain it as an album bringing out questions to the listener. What will you do if someone close to you dies, will you join them or just embrace depression. We all are going to die and when we do, we will be one with nature.
6. Unlike that depressive and melancholic atmosphere, the voices are direct, raw, dark and icy, how did you work this aspect of the sound of the voices on the album? The theme of nature, death and despair is inherent to your lyrics, but how can we interpret the theme of the album?
Easy, I believe that some things in black metal you need to take all the way, not go the easy way. You will have to push yourself to an uncomfortable space to truly capture the essence. That is why on Hädangången I have decided to record all vocals in the woods. That is a way to bring the primitive force of black metal and Hädangången close and also a way to push myself.
The theme of the album is about death, to lose someone close to you through nature, and your choice to act with that feeling of loneliness and despair. Personally I pushed myself with this album in many ways, I have never before written such an melancholy album and through my personal experience this year this album had to be done. I strongly believe in not doing the same album over and over so don't worry the next album will have new themes and probably be a bit more aggressive as an atmospheric album can be, but the essence will be there.
7. I see that, just like the first album, you have travelled to different locations in the Swedish forests to record the vocals. Could you name any of those locations? How important is contact with nature for you? Do you think that nature and black metal are doomed to understand each other? Did you bring back the owl's song that accompanies us throughout the album from those sessions of recording vocals in the forest?
Yes, that is correct. I don't know the name of the places I visit, they are randomly picked.
I go by feeling, after hours of walking or camping I pick a spot. For me is Black metal about the primitive, the energy of death. To know about life you need to know about death. So that goes together with nature because it is primitive.
Regarding the owl, yes and no. I have captured some by myself and others are sampling I used, all to capture the feeling I want.
8. You also took care of the design of the album cover. What does this cover represent and how does it relate to the lyrical content of the album? Of course, the theme of the album, in this case, is very important. Could you describe it?
I wanted to capture the deeper aspect of the album. I personally like when an album cover has a story and something deeper it wants to visualize. So for the one who is truly looking will see death, depression , Scandinavian forest and an ice cold winter day. That is the true SWEDISH black metal essence.
9. As for the entire recording, mixing and mastering process, you also did it on your own. Only Oblivion Studios appear in the credits. Do you feel that you have greater control over your proposal this way, or is this self-release due to a lack of budget? How did you face this whole process and what was the most complicated thing for you?
I will say that this sword has two sides. First of all I started Hädangången to have control over it all and that includes the mixing/ mastering when it is a big part of an album with the sound.
I personally like the (do it yourself) punk energy, and do the best you can with minimum equipment. That is also a way to explore, learn and try new things. You will have to push yourself to get what you want. And the second part is that I am tired of spending a lot of money on studios when they do not always understand what I want to do and there is a risk that I personally will not be satisfied with the results they give me. It has happened before and therefore I rather do it myself in my own small studio.
10. Just like with “Likfärd” you have opted for self-publishing, both digitally and on CD. Have you received any kind of offer to publish your music with a record label, or on the contrary would you prefer to have more control over it and take care of the editing process yourself?
This time I wanted to try the release all by myself, but yes I got some reactions from labels but no offers. Next album will probably be with a label, that is my goal.
11. Just like with Mara, where you were the only member and later incorporated other musicians, is there a possibility of incorporating other people into the Hädangången line-up with a view to, for example, being able to offer a concert, or on the contrary is it something more personal for Hädangången and you don't want interference?
I am not interested in doing Hädangången live. You should forge when the steel is hot, and with that I meant that some music can't be reproduced live. It is printed by a sacrifice in a recording and should stay that way for the listener.
12. You have always defended the essence of black metal from the nineties. What do you think has been lost in these years in the whole evolutionary process that the genre has undergone? What is your opinion of the current black metal scene? Which bands do you think still preserve the spirit of black metal from yesteryear? What is black metal for you?
Honor, deeper meaning, the spiritual connection to death, fighting for something bigger than life, and an eager to spread Scandinavian cultural knowledge. Personally I don't see many bands standing behind this, some will say they do if you asked them but they are just saying that to look good, if one is looking deeply into their actions/ albums you will see it all is an act.
My opinion of the current black metal scene is not good ( specially in Sweden), I am really tired of the McDonald bands and people that are supporting them. When I think about it, it has become everything that the 90s black metal was fighting. To the contrary there are still some bands and musicians that I respect through their actions and creation.
Black metal for me is about an individual path/ not following others and not about the group.
Actions speak louder than words. It is important to know the history of the genre and honor the essence and not linger too far away from what the genre is. You will need to find your own spiritual path, and you will need to fight your own battles and offer yourself to yourself to find knowledge. To deal with the primitive, to honor death and by spreading the face of Hel, the voice of Loki you will spread the seeds of Ragnarök. To spread the words of thousands of years that our ancestors did, to become with nature telling your pagan ancestors stories and keeping the Scandinavian culture.
13. How did you get started in music: first concerts you attended, first albums you bought? What event in your life pushed you to want to be a musician?
The first time I got in contact with Black Metal was on a cold winter night when I was 17 years old. Back then you did not just google up music you had to know someone who was into the music to come in contact with the genre. One step was through the Swedish metal magazine ( Sweden Rock magazine) where my friend managed to get some songs from Bathory and he had through that bought Darkthrone - “A Blaze in the Northern Sky“. We were listening to that album over and over again when there was a snowstorm outside. I was hooked after that .
I will say that this was the awakening of my inner black flame, here I decided I wanted to create and I started practicing instruments and now I am where I am because of that. The first black metal live show I attended was an underground black metal show played in Nyköping where I grew up. I don't remember the name of the bands.
14. What album represents the essence of black metal for you? What latest albums have you bought?
Difficult question, I think it is several, but today the bands and musicians have changed much and I feel that sadly much of their energy has lost over the years. But definitely: Burzum - filosofem
Latest black metal I got home was example Hær- Hær, Hermóðr-Forest Sky.
15. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions for Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for the followers of Hädangången this is the place. I hope you like the questions.
This is a deep interview, it took me a long time to answer all the questions but I think the readers will find new views of Hädangången and the latest album after reading this.
Spread the old words of desolation / Vindsval
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