AN NCS INTERVIEW: AGNETE MANGNES KIRKEVAAG (MADDER MORTEM)

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Mar 042024
 


photo by Camilla NessetKnut J. Berget

(Our old friend KevinP has rejoined us at NCS with a very special interview of Agnete M. Kirkevaag that we’re very happy to share with you now, about one month after the release of Madder Mortem‘s latest album [enthusiastically reviewed here by Andy Synn].)

It has been 8 years since we’ve last sat down with Agnete Mangnes Kirkevaag, lead vocalist of Norway’s Madder Mortem. An abundance of things have transpired in her life since that time; 2 full length albums and a documentary about the band have been released, coupled with personal loss, mental and physical transformation.

Please join me again as I delve into the psyche of an enlightened and articulate gem of a human being. We discuss the new album, Old Eyes, New Heat (released January 26, 2024 via Dark Essence Records), how growing up in Norway and cultural norms shaped her life, who we have to thank for the band’s existence, and her journey of acceptance and gratitude. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HAIL SPIRIT NOIR

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Jun 152020
 

 

It took something special for our old pal KevinP to climb out of his cozy Florida confines and return to NCS, and in this case the motivation came from the impending release of a new album by the distinctive Greek band Hail Spirit Noir.

That album, Eden In Reverse, which is set for release by Agonia Records on Friday of this week (June 19th), reveals new directions in the band’s ever-evolving creativity, and Kevin explored them in this congenial interview of Haris (keyboards) and Theoharis (guitars), proceeding with questions on a track-by-track basis. Insights are revealed, wacky references are made, and we’ve included some music streams as well. Our own review of the album will follow soon. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: VAN GIMOT (AGOS, VIRUS OF KOCH)

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Mar 112019
 

 

(More than two years have passed since Floridian NCS contributor KevinP last delivered to us an episode of his series of brief interviews, which he calls “Get To the Point“. But today he revives the series in a conversation with Greek musician/vocalist Van Gimot, the creative force behind both Virus of Koch and Agos, two entities whose music blends black and death metal, and other ingredients, in different ways.)

 

K:  So people might know you from Virus of Koch.  But the last few years you’ve worked on Agos almost exclusively.  Why?

V:  Regarding my music, I tend to go with the flow. I don’t force anything. I focused on Agos simply because it inspired me and let me channel my creativity and thoughts at this particular time. Agos and V. O. K. are two distinctive entities in my mind serving different needs of expression. Currently, I am working on V. O. K. material as I feel the time is right. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON

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Nov 202018
 

 

(KevinP returns to NCS after a long absence with the following interview — and the main subject of the interview is a metal comic book named MURDER FALCON.)

Here is my interview with Daniel Warren Johnson — comic book writer and artist, metal enthusiast, and unfortunately a stinking Red Sox fan.

 

K: So is this the first interview you are doing for a “metal” site, as opposed to the endless parade of comic-only related ones and conventions?

D: Yes! All my interviews so far have only been for comic book sites. I think there’s quite a bit of overlap between the worlds of metal and comics, but I don’t see it brought up a lot. So as a lover of both, I thought that MURDER FALCON might do well at bringing the two camps together. Glad to be here! Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: ENRICO SCHETTINO (HIDEOUS DIVINITY)

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Jun 062017
 

 

(KevinP brings us this interview of Enrico Schettino, guitarist of Italy’s Hideous Divinity, whose superb new album Adveniens was reviewed by us here and is available now via Unique Leader.)

 

K:  How does it feel to exceed expectations with the new album for the second time?

E:  It feels good indeed, if this is what people truly believe. I mean, to exceed expectations sometimes looks like the only way in death metal nowadays. Competition’s insane. And also, people’s judgments leave you disoriented.  This is our life, sometimes we are at ease with the pressure, it compels us to push the envelope.  Some other times, we decide to take a deep breath, a step back, and do our thing:  rewrite, relisten, erase, rewrite. “Ad libitum”.

In other words, I really didn’t know what “expectations” were!  Too many different awkward ideas about how a band should sound today. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: MIKKA LAMMASSAARI (WOLFHEART)

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Jun 012017
 

 

(KevinP returns to NCS with another edition in his series of brief interviews, this time talking with guitarist Mikka Lammassaari from the Finnish band Wolfheart, a perennial NCS favorite whose latest album Tyhjyys was released earlier this year and reviewed here.)

 

K: This is now the 2nd album you’ve been a part of after Tuomas [Saukkonen] handled all the duties himself in the debut, Winterborn. So has your role changed since Shadow World?

M: This is a pretty common misconception, since I was already contributing the guitar solos on Winterborn. On Shadow World my role expanded a bit as I wrote a couple songs and was more involved in the guitar recordings.

On the new album Tyhjyys, I had to step back a little bit because my little baby boy was born and I wanted to shift focus more towards life at home. I still managed to squeeze in the founding of one song and got to write the guitar solos, so I´m very pleased with that.

So my role actually got a bit smaller on the new album, but Tuomas did amazing work writing the songs and recording guitars, so all went well. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: BLASPHEMER (UK)

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Mar 152017
 

 

(KevinP brings us another episode in his series of brief interviews, and this time he quizzes guitarist/vocalist Arno Cagna and drummer Dan Mullins of the UK’s Blasphemer, whose self-titled debut album was released in January of this year.)

 

So you’ve been around 25 years (since 1992) and you just finally got around to releasing your debut album.  Amuse us with the explanation why it took that long?

Arno:  The band actually formed in 1990.  Our first demo was released at the end of 1992.  From 1992 to 1995 we released several demos and received positive press in the fanzines of the day.  That led on to us receiving 5/5 demo reviews in Terrorizer magazine in the UK in 1994 and then being voted best unsigned band by their readers. So you would have thought our first album would have been released in the 1990s. It wasn’t to be though, as around 1995 the project as Blasphemer was put hold. This was due to an unreleased demo that fell into the hands of a record label. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: ALEX BOUKS (IMMOLATION)

 Interviews  7 Responses »
Mar 082017
 

 

(KevinP rejoins us with another installment in his short interview series, and his guest this time is guitarist Alex Bouks (ex-Goreaphobia, ex-Incantation), who is now a member of Immolation. Immolation’s superb new album Atonement is out now on Nuclear Blast.)

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K:  So how does it feel to be the “new guy” even though you’ve been at this death metal thing yourself for almost 30 years?

A:  It feels real natural, like I have always been there. We have been friends for almost 30 years so its already family.  And musically it is a perfect fit.  I feel I have found my home for sure. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: ACHILLEAS KALANTZIS (AENAON, KATAVASIA, VARATHRON)

 Interviews  1 Response »
Jan 252017
 

 

(KevinP returns to NCS with a new episode of his short-interview series, and this time talks with Achilleas Kalantzis, guitarist of the mind-bending Greek black metal band Aenaon — whose new album Hypnosophy was released late last year — as well as Katavasia and Varathron.)

 
K: You’ve had some lineup changes for Hypnosophy. What was the impetus and did this affect the sound/direction of the new material?

A: Indeed. Unfortunately it was really hard for Thyragon (bass) to keep up with the band’s schedule and Anax (guitars) had to join the obligatory army service, so we recorded without him (he is still a member now though). On the other hand Orestis was already playing the Sax for us since Extance, so becoming a permanent member wasn’t a big change. Astrous (vocals) and I are usually building the first demos of the songs, so the core of the creational process was the same (no matter the final arrangements). What made a big difference to me was that I also composed and performed the bass guitar. That gave me as a composer the ability to use it in a more prominent way, leading to groovier arrangements. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: MADDER MORTEM (AGNETE M. KIRKEVAAG AND BP M. KIRKEVAAG)

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Oct 202016
 

madder-mortem-band

Photo by Ann-Helén Moen Nannestad

(On October 28, Dark Essence Records will release Red In Tooth and Claw, the new album by Norway’s Madder Mortem, and in this new interview KevinP talks about the album with vocalist Agnete M. Kirkevaag and guitarist BP M. Kirkevaag.)

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K: So it’s been 7 years since your last album, Eight Ways. About freakin’ time don’t ya say? (LOL)

Agnete: Absence makes the heart grow fonder? But yeah, about freaking time! The album has been ready for quite awhile now, so we’re very impatient to get it out there for people to hear.

BP: Feels great and yes, about bleep bleepin’ time! The grey cloud has finally lifted from this album’s shoulder.

 

K: With this new album, Red in Tooth and Claw, you finally break free of any genre classification (even though you were kinda hard to pigeon-hole before this anyways). Do you find this to be a blessing or a curse?

Agnete: A blessing, definitely! Rock is supposed to be about rebellion, isn’t it? And to me, that means disregarding or at least questioning norms in general. And certainly norms that would place restraints on your creativity. But I can see that there might be short-term marketing difficulties in it too. It’s hard to slap a sticker on the CD case saying “for fans of some other rock band”, since I think the references would be wildly different for different songs.

To be honest, I don’t really know of anyone out there doing exactly what we’re doing and I’m really proud of that. But it has never been our goal. Our music has just ended up being the way it is because it’s what we like and enjoy playing. Continue reading »

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