AN NCS INTERVIEW (PART 2): DARK FORTRESS (MOREAN)

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Mar 312020
 

 

(Yesterday we presented Part One of an extensive interview Karina Noctum conducted with Morean of Dark Fortress, and today we present the conclusion, again with our thanks to Morean for devoting so much time to the discussion.)

This is the second part of the in-depth interview with Morean from Dark Fortress. While the first part was about composition and creation of music, among other topics, this part is solely devoted to the lyrical themes of Spectres from the Old World, the band’s latest album,  which was released back in February of this year. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW (PART 1): DARK FORTRESS (MOREAN)

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Mar 302020
 

 

(Today we present the first part of an extensive two-part interview that our Norway-based contributor Karina Noctum conducted with Morean of Dark Fortress (and Alkaloid and Noneuclid), and we are grateful to him for devoting so much time and thought in furnishing the answers.)

The latest Dark Fortress album, Spectres from the Old World, released back in February, has gotten good reviews. This is not surprising and it is a natural consequence of the amount of experience the musicians that form part of this band have. Both Ylem and Venereal Dawn are on my playlist of favorite BM albums, and I must say the latest album made it as well, of course. It is not just more of the same though, it has a distinct touch, it stands on its own, and it fulfilled my expectations.

I took the opportunity to interview Morean, who I admire a lot both as a composer and as an excellent, multifaceted metal musician. His musical expertise makes all his bands and contributions truly interesting. In fact one of his orchestrations of the three parts of the Requiem performed by Triptykon and the Dutch Metropole Orkest at Roadburn Festival is coming out soon through Prowling Death Records / Century Media Records. There are many interesting projects and bands surrounding Morean but the focus of the first part of this in-depth interview is going to be Spectres from the Old World, its composition, its music, and other particulars surrounding its release. In the second part of this interview we will deal solely with the lyrical themes, which are complex and very interesting. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MOREAN ON LYRICS, WITH A FOCUS ON THE NEW ALKALOID ALBUM “LIQUID ANATOMY”

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Mar 212018
 

 

(With a bow toward the Waxing Lyrical series begun by Andy Synn at our site, Karina Noctum posed questions to Morean of Alkaloid (and Dark Fortress) about his creation of lyrics for the ravishing new Alkaloid album, Liquid Anatomy, which will be released by Season of Mist on May 18th. The answers are fascinating.)

 

Alkaloid are going to release their latest album called Liquid Anatomy on the 18th of May, and I took this opportunity to ask about the lyrics. Musically, we know already it is going to be a remarkable album because the band counts among its members such metal luminaries as Hannes Grossmann, Christian Münzner (Obscura), Danny Tunker (Aborted, Prostitute Disfigurement, God Dethroned), and Morean (Dark Fortress, Alkaloid, Noneuclid).

Morean is not only a versatile vocalist, but also an excellent guitarist and a classical composer. His hymn to the city of Rotterdam was performed by the Rotterdams Philharmonisch Orkest not so long ago. If you are interested in classical music then I recommend you check his double guitar composition Schattenspiel.

We have Morean’s opening insights into his writing of lyrics and choice of themes, and that’s then followed by a more detailed dialogue. Continue reading »

AN INTERVIEW WITH MOREAN — PART 3: ALKALOID

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Jul 162015
 

Morean_Alkaloid-Photo by Christian Martin Weiss

Photos accompanying this interview by Christian Martin Weiss

(Andy Synn had the chance to interview the Dutch artist Morean about the three bands in which he is currently involved — Dark Fortress, Noneuclid, and Alkaloid. We’ve divided the interview into three parts, which will appear on three successive days. Today’s focus is Alkaloid. Check out Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

 

All jokes aside, all three of the bands discussed in this interview have a certain “Progressive” edge to them (though I’m trying not to over-use that word if at all possible) – Dark Fortress are a Black Metal band, and Noneuclid tend (at least in my mind) towards the Thrash-y end of the Metal spectrum. However your latest band, Alkaloid, is probably the most Progressive AND the most Death Metal focussed group of the lot. Was this something you were always aiming for?

M: You put your finger right on it. Not everyone in Dark Fortress and Noneuclid is equally into Death Metal and shred orgies. And despite all the artistic freedom we take in those bands, there were quite some things Alkaloid wanted to do that would never have fit with the other bands, and I think the same is true for Obscura. So we wanted to give it one last shot to start something fresh from the beginning, where we have complete freedom to do what we want without having to fit our ideas into 10 or 20 year old band concepts – even if they’re our own. In my own artistic development, I feel that with Alkaloid many things that have been growing in the other bands finally are falling into place. And the personnel in Alkaloid [Linus Klausenitzer, Danny Tunker, Hannes Grossmann, Christian Münzner] are very inspiring, there are very few limits to how far the composers in the band can go. It’ll be exciting to see where this band will end up going in the future. Continue reading »

AN INTERVIEW WITH MOREAN — PART 2: NONEUCLID

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Jul 152015
 

Noneuclid on the sofa

 

(Andy Synn had the chance to interview the Dutch artist Morean about the three bands in which he is currently involved — Dark Fortress, Noneuclid, and Alkaloid. We’ve divided the interview into three parts, which will appear on three successive days. Today’s focus is Noneuclid. Check out Part 1 here and Part 3 here.)

 

Moving on to talk about your work in Noneuclid, which also includes your Dark Fortress band-mates Seraph and V. Santura, along with Linus from Obscura/Alkaloid, and recently departed vocalist Bruce. For those unfamiliar with the band, can you give us some background on the group?

M: We started as a group of friends playing covers together once a year. I had just graduated from the conservatory and was looking for an outlet for my metal-related ideas, and we had way too much fun playing together, so after a while we decided to make Noneuclid a more permanent outfit. That was back in 2004. I set out to write the first album with just the wish in mind to have a few songs to play; little did we suspect they’d be perceived as being this unusual. To us, it was just metal to begin with, but then things went off on a pretty wild tangent with everything that ensued in the years after. Continue reading »

AN INTERVIEW WITH MOREAN — PART 1: DARK FORTRESS

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Jul 142015
 

Morean-1

 

(Andy Synn had the chance to interview the Dutch artist Morean about the three bands in which he is currently involved — Dark Fortress, Noneuclid, and Alkaloid. We’ve divided the interview into three parts, which will appear on three successive days. Today’s focus is Dark Fortress. Check out the next two parts here and here.)

 

So, first of all, I just want to say thank you for agreeing to answer these questions for me/us. Both Venereal Dawn and Metatheosis were amongst my favourite albums from last year, and it’s looking very likely that The Malkuth Grimoire will end up in my top ten at the end of 2015 too.

Now, obviously I’m a big fan of all the bands you’re involved in, so this is probably going to be a pretty long and in-depth interview, but let’s start with a simple question… how the hell do you find the time for all of this?

Morean: Thanks for the compliments! How do I find time? Well – I don’t. I have to steal whatever time I put into one band, commission, or project from all the other bands and projects. It’s a problem almost everyone in all these bands has, and it’s getting worse. It’s also the reason why it takes years sometimes before a band is able to get into the studio or back on the road. Continue reading »