Photos by Lu Kox
(Today, after a bit of a delay that’s our fault, we publish an interview by Comrade Aleks of guitarist Artur Szydło from the Polish metal band Kalt Vindur, whose new album released in January was reviewed here by our Andy Synn and is well worth your time.)
The Icelandic words “kalt vindur” translate as “cold wind”, and as you can imagine, it’s the most fitting name for a black metal band. Indeed, Kalt Vindur performs a sort of progressive and a bit “doomed” black metal, but they are based in Poland, not in Iceland. It doesn’t make their music less expressive, as the band’s third album Magna Mater is one of most remarkable releases I’ve heard in this year yet.
This 35-minute-long work was released by The Circle Music in January, so I suggest for you this interview with Artur Szydło (guitars) in case you skipped the release. At least watch the videos attached to the text; they transfer Kalt Vindur’s updated message clearly enough.
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Hi Kalt Vindur! How are you doing? What’s going on in your lair?
Hello, thanks, all is well. We are two days after the album premiere, on Wednesday there was a pre-premiere on the YouTube channel Black Metal Promotion, and the reactions and feedback on Magna Mater are incredibly positive and even delightful! On the first weekend of February we will play the premiere concert in our region at the Rock Klub Iron in Krosno.
The release of your third album Magna Mater was set for late January. Is it a good time strategic-wise? Did you have a chance to organize a tour or a series of gigs to support the release?
We think that the beginning of the year is a very good time for an album release, with almost a whole year left for concert promotion. We have several concerts planned for the first half of this year and we are working on organising more concerts; as you can see, everything is going in the right direction.
Metal Archives sum up Kalt Vindur’s lyrics as “War, Death, Pain”. How close is it to the truth? I see it as more abstract, though it’s really difficult to summarize its general line.
The aforementioned topics of the lyrics mainly concern the first album Delusions. On the second album, the lyrics dealt with more personal topics, the meaning of which is clear to our vocalist who is the author. The third album Magna Mater also deals with a different subject matter, with lyrics closer to Slavic themes.
What are you meaning when you mention Slavic themes?
I think about our relationship with nature, our ancestors, the energy we absorb from them.
We don’t have a preconceived idea of what the album should be or what the lyrics should be about. We are open-minded and want to be able to do different things, we don’t limit ourselves, it’s a process that happens and we follow a path that we don’t know the end of — sometimes we can be surprised and we like that!
What was your initial idea behind Magna Mater? Did you have a kind of a concept that you were going to follow when you started to compose these songs?
I wanted it to be different from the previous albums, as our history shows every new album is different, so it’s natural for us, maybe referring more to the roots of this music but nevertheless shaped by the same Spirit, that’s why you can hear that it’s KALT VINDUR.
What kind of requirements did you have for the band’s sound when you entered the studio? Did you search for the same settings as with . . . and Nothing Is Endless or something else?
We were completely open-minded, we didn’t have a preconceived sound plan, we just turned the potentiometers to our liking, we usually have such a pattern 😉
Sounds like you composed a part of the album right at the studio. Did you?
After recording the drums, I worked on the guitar arrangements in my home studio. I had enough time to add new ideas, make changes, so yes, you could say the material was also created in the studio.
Your influences spread further beyond black metal borders. Was it a part of your initial vision or is it a result of the band’s consistent development?
It’s a result of our tastes. We like music that is variable and different, that has contrasts and melody lines. It gives us the opportunity to play in a very different way; we haven’t pigeonholed ourselves to be stuck in the same thing.
Poland has its own distinctive scene, especially regarding black metal. How much local influence is in Kalt Vindur?
I think we are inspired by music as a phenomenon in general, not just metal, and not just Polish music. It’s a process that comes out of the depths of us — we need to feel, not analyze.
And what about local cultural influences? How much of Poland is in your new songs?
And here I would say that there are a lot of local, Polish influences, because this is our natural environment, this is where we live, it has the biggest influence on us. There is a song called ‘Żywioły’ in Polish, and in ‘Magna Mater’ there are fragments in Polish. I saw some new lyrics by Celsus for the next album, and I have the impression that we are going even more in the Slavic direction…
By the way, the war in Ukraine touched Poland directly, as it’s your neighbours and both countries have a rich history sometimes full of quite contradictory events. Did this situation influence the band somehow?
We are trying to live our lives to the fullest. The hostilities are mainly in the far east of Ukraine about 1000 km from Poland. The terrible thing is that nobody but ordinary people cares about peace. The politicians are pushing for war, the media in the hands of wolf capital are helping them, and poor people are suffering and dying being sent to the front; it is a factory of death and suffering. If politicians were obliged to go to the front line in the army, we can guess that peace would soon be concluded. A bloody sad subject. Let us live and enjoy life because we do not know the future!
Thanks for the interview! Your time is much appreciated. Let’s complete it with the final question: What are your plans for 2024?
We want to play as many gigs as possible and give people the KALT VINDUR show!
Thank you for the opportunity to be featured on No Clean Singing, we wish you health, peace and good luck!