Last week I received ‘On Frostbitten Path Beneath’, the debut EP from Norwegian winter Black Metal band Vidsyn. Vidsyn brought back good memories to the kings of frostbitten Black Metal: Immortal. And with this EP Vidsyn delivered my personal favourite EP from 2004 and therefore I just had to do an interview with them. Nattsjel, founder and only permanent member of Vidsyn answered my questions.
Hello Nattsjel, how are you doing?
I’m having a little hangover from last night but it’s nothing major….
First of all, what does Vidsyn mean in English? And why have you chosen this name? I mean, is there some deeper meaning behind it for you personally?
The word can have many different interpretations but if you would translate the name into English it would mean something like “wide sight” or “wide view”. From the Norse mythology, Odin’s ravens were “vidsynte” meaning their eyes could cover a huge landscape and report back to Odin. The word Vidsyn can also mean that one is open-minded about things.
The name just suits the band and I think it’s an excellent name.
Most of our readers are not familiar with Vidsyn yet so can you tell the history from your band?
Founded in 1999, Vidsyn started out as a one man project by me, but have had many members during its life time. Today Vidsyn is once again a one man project. If you want a more detailed biography please visit the website.
You started out as a one-man band. Was this on purpose? Later you had a full line-up with Vidsyn but after that you decided to be a one-man band again using only session musicians. Any special reasons for this? Because of this it seems to me that Vidsyn is a very personal band. Am I right here?
I started Vidsyn because I played in another band at that time which broke up and I also been making some riffs that didn’t suit the band at that time. When I started Vidsyn I really didn’t have big ambitions about getting a record deal or anything. But after I had completed some songs I thought it would be cool to record a demo and that demo took some time to complete. I wanted to record the demo with real drums, although I used drum-machine on the pre-prod of the demo. So then the search for a drummer started and also the recording. But unfortunately the DAT tape recorder we recorded the demo on somehow broke down and the demo was never completed. Due to distance between people, lack of time and other band obligations the musicians that have been full time soon left or got fired. So using session musicians seemed like a good solution to that problem, but I think that Vidsyn once again, someday, will be a four party band. When that is said the music is very personal indeed.
And what are the lyrics about on ‘On Frostbitten Path Beneath’? What inspires you when writing lyrics?
It’s all about the winters and the mood around that time of the year. I write about mountains, ravens, battles and struggles. I now live beside a mountain, not a huge one but I get the feeling every time I walk or do some winter activities in the mountain. I get inspiration from many places but as for making music and lyrics for Vidsyn I just can’t do it during the summer time.
Now about ‘On Frostbitten Path Beneath’, what can you tell about this recording, like where is it recorded and by whom? It is first released as a demo and later re-released as a EP on Agonia Records. How did you ended up with Agonia Records and are you satisfied thus far with the work they’ve done for you?
The demo and mcd was recorded in Space Valley Studio in Hjellum, Norway. Also it was mixed here and remixed for the EP. This studio is owned by Zet from Ram-Zet so he pushed the buttons in this recording. As for Agonia I send a lot of demos around to different labels and ended up with Agonia Records and Flesh For Beast. Mainly because they believed in the band and had a good strategy for it. I’m satisfied for most of the parts but there has also been some mistakes that I just… well it makes me wonder, see next question.
On my cd it says Vindsyn instead of Vidsyn. What went wrong there?
The designer for the EP send me some cover artwork which had that mistake on it and I told him to correct it. He did and I got the new layout and there was nothing wrong with it. BUT when the first 3000 CD’s was out and I got some copies they somehow used the first layout which had the mistake. This is a major mistake and I just couldn’t believe it but the harm is done. Agonia promised that the mistake would be fixed on the reprint so we’ll just have to wait and see.
For this demo/EP you had quite an impressing line-up. How did you ended up with Nocturno Culto, Helhammer and Assar? And will you use these session members again for your upcoming recording?
I’ve known Nocturno Culto for some time now and I just think he has one of the best vocals in the Black Metal scene. I made ‘Evil Rises Darkness Falls’ with his vocals in mind and he agreed to sing on it but in studio he wanted to do one more so he also sung on ‘Stormsend Winter Realm’. Hellhammer is a good drummer, he learns fast, plays good and get the work done in short time. When the demo was about to be recorded I wouldn’t use weeks of rehearsal with a new drummer and use a lot of time in studio, so Hellhammer was a good choice. Assar is my brother so the choice for duet on ‘Battlefield’ was easy to make. I don’t know if Nocturno Culto or Hellhammer will appear again but time will tell. Assar will play drums for Vidsyn live and on other recordings from now on.
Like I wrote in my review; it is not really the line-up which is impressive. It is the music that impressed me a lot. You’ve managed to get the music melodic without using any keyboards/ synths. What were your musical influences when starting Vidsyn? In my review I also compared you to Immortal because they were also able to write those frosty guitar riffs which sounded grim yet melodic at the same time. Do you agree here?
Musical influences must be old Dødheimsgard, old Ulver, Immortal, old Darkthrone and bands like that. I agree on comparison to Immortal but hey, no band can beat Immortal, Vidsyn is only a pale shadow.
How have the reactions been from the press so far for the ‘On Frostbitten Path Beneath’ album?
I’ve only got two reviews on the EP so far but they were both great. You wrote that it was your personal best album of 2004 and also Panzerfaust Magazine wrote “Buy it and enjoy one of the best Black Metal titles of the year.” and gave the EP 90/100 points. I guess I will get some bad reviews later but so far I’m very pleased!
You were supposed to do a European tour this fall but unfortunately it is postponed ‘till next year. Why was this?
The tour with Atomizer and Impiety was all planned but in the last minute Impiety, which were headliners, changed their mind. When that happened Agonia couldn’t find a replacement soon enough so the tour was postponed. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens and when.
And have you done a lot live gigs yet? And what can we expect from a Vidsyn gig?
Yes Vidsyn have done gigs, I will soon add some video clip on the website. I think you can expect to see a great show! I’m really happy about the live line-up I have now so I just can’t wait to play live again.
You have also started up your own festival with some others if I’m correct. The Legions on the North festival. What can you tell about this festival and will there be more editions from this festival in the coming years?
Legions Of The North is a Norwegian festival located in Hamar. It’s a festival created by myself and Assar and it has been arranged for 2 years in a row now. But as for this year it collided with the tour Vidsyn was planned to go on and other stuff so it was postponed. But I think that we’ll be back stronger in year 2005!!
What is your personal top 5 album list at the moment?
In no special order:
Immortal – At The Heart Of Winter
Ulver – Bergtatt
Thorns – Thorns
Dødheimsgard – Kronet Til Konge
Enslaved – Below The Lights
What goals do you have set for the future for Vidsyn? And what can we expect in the near future from you?
There are a lot of things happening with Vidsyn in the future. I can’t reveal it all but I can tell you that a 7” is coming, 2 new full-length albums and Vidsyn going to do some gigs in the near future.
Thanks a lot Nattsjel for this interview. Any last words?
Keep checking http://www.vidsyn.net/ news will be added as soon as they are made.
Stay Metal! Cheers!
