The leading Force in Belgian Black Metal strikes once again. With Their outstanding new album ‘Tetra Karcist’ they have delivered something I never expected (only hoped for) from this band anymore. Since the major changes over the past years, the black flame was burning stronger than ever and I felt my hope could become reality. And now I gladly took the chance to talk to Nornagest about the past, present and future of Enthroned. You’re welcome!
Ave Nornagest. Thanks for taking the time to answer these questions.
Ave!
Let’s start with some ordinary questions, concerning the band and so on. How are things lately?
As you might know, things are going pretty well lately, the Enthroned of today is in peace, never before I rejoiced myself at this point.
Things are back in place and where they belong, which is something rather new for Enthroned, the awakening is getting closer and we are getting ready for the grand moment.
Can you tell the people who didn’t follow the band for some time what has happened over the past years?
I’ll make a long story short; after we released ‘XES Haereticum’ we started to have some troubles with Sabathan, meaning that we couldn’t rehearse as he was always complaining about the fact that we had to change the location of the rehearsal room because me and Nguaroth are living 2.30 hours from his place and the previous place was there, so, regarding our schedules it was impossible to travel 5 hours a day to the other side of Belgium. In the end we managed to get a rehearsal room at an equal distance but he was still complaining, being unemployed we thought it was a bit over acting coming from him.
Anyhow, after a while we even tried to rehearse at his place again, but he always managed to find an excuse to escape the rehearsals, while we heard he was doing barbecues etc.. well whatever… afterwards he started to talk more about money, free festivals, how many girls he could fuck on tour than the real feeling, the devotion etc… and along these annoying factors some other unpleasant things happened concerning him, so we took a drastic decision and we kicked him out. Since then, we asked long time friend Phorgath to join and knowing about the situation and the real reasons about Sabathan’s ‘departure’ he gladly accepted.
I then took over vocal duties and we composed and recorded ‘Tetra Karcist’, toured here and there and recruited a new drummer which is also a long time friend : Ahephaim.
Can you tell a little bit more about the new drummer, since his name doesn’t ring a bell immediately.
He is as I stated, a long time friend of me and Phorgath, he is completely dedicated to the dark arts. He’s been in the scene for quite a while as well and has a lot of experience with other bands but none of them are really well known. We knew he was the right person then, in the past I already thought about him when we were looking for a drummer, but ‘someone’ (guess you know who I mean) suggested that he would never be good enough (what a joke!).
He learnt the whole new album in a week and the whole set list of Enthroned in 5 rehearsals, which I think is quite impressive.
Ok, we’ve been updated a bit, let’s hit you with some questions about the new album. In my opinion, and I think lots of people will share this with me, this is Enthroneds best album so far. How do you feel about it yourself?
This is the album I wanted to do for years, with a concept that represent what I am but not only, which represent every members of Enthroned both in its soul and feeling.
In the past, I always had to do compromises because the previous front man thought my riffs where not melodic or catchy enough. The same thing happened with the lyrics, even worse, I couldn’t express myself the way I really wanted because he didn’t understand half of the lyrics I wrote when it came to serious occult matters or subject upon demonology, the Lemegeton or any other serious topics. Now, with this album all those annoying points vanished; every one composed and there was absolutely no compromises, every one was in harmony with the tracks we were building and with it’s concept, they all insisted to read the lyrics and they were all agreed with a smile of satisfaction if I can use this expression.
‘Tetra Karcist’ is definitely the work of a group of men who are going in the same direction, on the same path and that are also why I think, just like you do, that this is definitely our best album.
I’m always interested in the recording process of an album. Can you give some more informations about that? Where did you record it, who produced it, what was the line-up during the recordings…
The line-up was me on lead vocals and lead guitar, Nguaroth (l.guitar and backings), Phorgath (bass and backing) and Alsvid on drums. The album was produced by Harris Johns, but recorded in Belgium at the Dungeon studio and mixed in Berlin. It was the first time in 10 years that we recorded an album in our home country which was a bit more relaxing; we could focus on several things while being in a familiar element.
As far as I know Enthroneds history, I understood you were the driving force behind it. Now that some issues are taken care of, is this still the same, or are the other members more participating then in the past?
Well, I’m still taking care of the main things, but indeed, the new members are more implicated within the band than previously. Every decision is made by the four of us, if one says ‘no’, we don’t do it. Enthroned became a unity, a single manifestation rising from the souls of four devoted beings.
Since we already talked a bit about the concept of album before, I understood the album should be taken and understood as a Satanic Ritual. Unfortunately I haven’t had the chance to read the lyrics. Can you give some global idea to our readers what they are about?
‘Tetra Karcist’ is a personal vision of eternal ascent. Using the abilities that are learnt through some teachings within obscure doctrines that must remain untouched by the impure (this is why, you will understand that I do not give any further information nor precise names). A way we learn how to control every aspect of ourselves and our universe, rising from ashes and commanding the alliance of some entities in our behalf. The glow of Divinity which is within each one of us becomes a powerful blaze that will obliterate all that is vanishing and will praise all that is eternal… the Gateway to Eternity.
The visions and experiences of the evocators of Enthroned through the Median path, the path of balance through the roots of occultism and Satanism in it’s purest and original form, that’s the concept behind ‘Tetra Karcist’. Each chapter or song if you prefer, is a phase where a manifestation of our soul expresses itself upon the comminion between us and ‘them’.
Is there room for the other members to write the lyrics as well, and are the other members chairing the same beliefs you do?
Every one in Enthroned now, shares same vision in general, but me and Ahephaim are pretty much similar, we all have a different approach of the same matter, which is quite interesting and more a force than a weakened point. Nguaroth wrote some lyrics about Enochian philosophy actually and I found them quite interesting.
‘Tetra Karcist’ is a fist in the face of the non-believer but Enthroned was always supposed to be a Satanic band, lots of people didn’t take it serious in the past, can you understand why that is?
Indeed and I couldn’t blame them at all, honestly, a band with a front man who is claiming to be a Satanist and is obviously it’s antithesis… the few lyrics written by that person were at the edge of being a comedy or a heavy metal parody… no wonder people were mocking him and us in the mean time, so once again that’s why some decisions were taken…Every single day, I’m asking myself why it took us so long to put things in their right order.
I think you are stronger then ever, and I cannot wait until more releases will be unleashed upon mankind. And although I do like the older records a lot, it is nothing compared to the new one. But how do you look back to the past yourself? I think Enthroned finally is here to claim something it pretends to be for over 15 years.
Thanx! And I think you have your answer within the previous one!
How do you look upon the future of Enthroned? What can we expect more from Enthroned?
The future will depend of how things evolve and which doors will be open.
At the moment, our projects are tours over Europe this fall, working on new tracks and we are planning some dates in different parts of the world. One thing is certain, Enthroned will be there and this time ‘till its last breath wrapped into the devotion it once had.
Are you still involved in any other side projects? If yes, which ones, and can we expect some releases sooner or later?
I use to be involved with some side projects like Plague and The Beast.
Plague split up mainly due to the re-location of the guitar player in a foreign country and The Beast is on hold. I don’t know if I will restart one of those project one day, time shall tell, now my main concern is Enthroned, I have some ideas that cannot fit for Enthroned so when I will have time I shall start something up again, but as I said: only time will tell….
A tour with Gorgoroth and the Swedish Tyrant is about to start in the fall, can we expect something special for this tour?
Already the fact to tour Europe will be something ‘special’, we did not tour Europe since 2003, I mean in a proper way! The old songs will be performed with the darkness and devotion that the actual Enthroned spreads and people will do the rest.
You did some festivals this summer, I was wondering how they went…
Well, we played 3 festivals; one in Belgium (Méan) which was excellent, great ambiance, nice location and with some close friends like Melechesh. We also played UFTG which I quite disliked for several reasons but at least I could suck the energy out of a few hundred people, and Nocturnal Empire Fest in Erfurt, which was pretty ok as well. The interesting thing is to see and witness the difference between certain crowds how attentive they can be, some place seems to be dedicated to a different genre compare to another one, some places are a gathering of stupid brainless metal heads while others can be filled with people who understand what you are doing and share the same views and tastes.
So, this is kinda the story of those three festivals; different place, different people with a different level of quality and intelligence.
Also some gigs in Mexico have been done. I always hear those crazy stories about those middle/southern American countries. Got some funny anecdotes to share?
Your informations were indeed correct! The Mexican audience is pretty dedicated and crazy… as an example I can give you this; we played in Leon and there was a bunch of guys who were asking a big motherfucker to throw them against the wall by their ankles, which he did several times and they were happy to get bashed and to walk away with their head open, bleeding. After the show I saw some of them, apparently used to it and they had their own little ‘sewing kit’ with them, asking their friends to sew them back on. Also, it’s sometimes VERY annoying, people are always trying to steal your microphone to sing or just scream like an idiot in it, which I couldn’t stand and I just had to make it clear, but it only increased the insanity of the crowd which I appreciated very much to be honest!
So, let’s end with this funny note. Thanks again, the final words are for you…
Thanx for the interview!
Avdite Tetra Karcist!
