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Hi,
first off I just want to congratulate you on your new album. To
new fans could your please fill us in on the history behind it
all?
Larsen: CRYPTIC
WINTERMOON was founded 1993 out of former
members
of the band BLACK PROPHECIES. With this formation we played a few
local concerts.
In 1995 the band
recorded
the demo-tape "Voyage Dans La Lune",
which
was
mainly
sold in the
underground.
In March 1997, the MCD "Cryptic
Wintermoon"
was
recorded
in the Frost Studios in half a year - later in October the MCD was
published without a label. In late 1998, CRYPTIC WINTERMOON
released a split EP with the band Lord Astaroth, containing
“Shadowland” (re-recorded) and “Beyond The Night”. The
split EP was distributed by Perverted Taste Records. Because we
still hadn't a record deal, a promo-tape with four songs was
recorded. That tape lead to, that Ars Metalli offered us a
deal. So the recordings for the long player "The Age Of
Cataclysm" started in May 1999. In November the album was
released. It contained eleven songs with 60 minutes playing time.
“The Age Of Cataclysm” got good results in the metal press. CRYPTIC
WINTERMOON finally quit the record deal with Ars Metalli and
signed up with Massacre records and released ”A Coming Storm”
in 2003. After that release we played some of the bigger Open Airs
like ”Wacken” , ”Party-San” and ”Up from the Ground”.
Finally ”Of Shadows And The Dark Things You Fear” was released
in the spring this year.
How
has your new album been received by the media?
Larsen: There has been no bad review for our CD up to now.
Most of the reviews have been great and a few were average. The
most criticized points on the new album are the 10 seconds of
Sacred Steel like Powermetal vocals on “Thrashomatic
overdrive” and the fact, that our music isn’t anything
revolutionary. But I say you can’t write any revolutionary new
metal music nowadays. And I also think, that it always depends on
the writer of the review, his mood and his music taste. Some of
them call “Hammerfall” great music and revolutionary or some
kind of 1000 times played Grindcore Blastbeat band is
revolutionary in their eyes. But gladly not the reviewer decides
over the success of the music – the fans do!
I
know artists are not happy to categorize their music, but how
would you describe your music to an outsider?
Larsen: It’s in fact hard to categorize our music. We got
Black metal roots with Heavy, Thrash and Death and some Goth and
Pagan influences. There are even some modern sounds in some of our
songs. Maybe a mixture out of Dimmu Borgir, Slayer and Unanimates.
But that just comes barely near.
Where
does your inspiration come from, both musically and lyrically?
Larsen: Musically
it is bands like Entombed and Slayer. I heard them during the time
I was learning to play guitar, so they influenced my guitar
playing style a lot. The Ideas for the lyrics I get from reading
Fantasy and Sci-Fi Books and books about World War I & II as
well.
What
topics do you deal with in your lyrics and why?
Larsen:
Most of the songs are about war. Either some battle really
happened in WW1 or WW2, or some Fantasy stories. “Bonegrinder
1916” for an example is about the battle of
Verdun
in WW1. “Heavy Armed Assault” and “Open Fire” are about
war too. On the other side there are songs like “Where Oceans Meet
Eternity”, “Portals Of Nightfall” or “Once…In The Windblasted
North”. Those songs are pure mystic fantasy stories. Mainly
about the never-ending war between shadow and light.
Who
has produced and mixed the album, and are you pleased with the end
result?
Larsen: The
album was recorded and mixed by me in my own studio. We have done
all our albums there because it’s a much more relaxed kind of
working if we can record when we want to and as long as we want.
There are no time limits or money limits here. We are the kind of
band, who likes work on the songs to the last possible minute.
Some songs even come to life in the studio. I think. We are very
pleased with the result up to now. It’s the best work I’ve
done so far, but as always there is still room for some
improvements. I think if you record and mix an album you are never
pleased. You will always find something you can make better next
time.
Who
has done the artwork? And how important do you feel it is to have
a great cover?
Larsen:
My brother did the cover artwork for us. He has done all our cover
artworks up till now. We like those painted Fantasy like covers
more than some photo, even if some people say, that those kinds of
pictures look too trashy. I think the cover have to reflect the
music in some kind of way. You can’t put a nude girl on front
and do some Death metal. Our cover should show a scene out of the
song “Once…In The Windblasted North”. I think it’s
important having good and showy cover, because that’s the first
thing the customer sees of the product.
Do
you have any touring plans?
Larsen:
All band members have regular work beside the band, so it is very
hard for us to get some days off at the same time in order to make
a tour. I would love to do a tour some day. Maybe it will work out
some day, but we will try to play as many weekend concerts as
possible.
How do you feel about the
co-operation with your label, and are you satisfied?
Larsen: I am very happy with the
work that Massacre Records are doing for us. After our experience
with our former label ARS-Metalli we lost our belief in
Underground labels. We decided to go for a bigger label if
possible. Massacre does all those things a label is meant to do
and leave us with the possibility to write the songs we like to.
We are very thankful for this and hope this will last a few
records more.
The
internet is a very important source for many music fans - how do
you use the internet and how important is it for you and other
bands?
Larsen: I
love the internet. I'm almost addicted to it. I do most of my post
(like this interview) over the net. All information you need is on
the internet. I can promote the band on the net with our website.
I play a lot of online games and last but not least there are
those awesome porn sites (he said with a grin)
To
finish things off - could you pls. make an all-time Top 5 or sort
of the 5 most important albums in your opinion?
Larsen:
-
Entombed
– Clanderstine
-
Slayer
- Reign In Blood
-
At
The Gates - Slaughter Of The Soul
-
OverKill
- Under The Influence
-
Amorphis
- Tales From A Thousand Lakes
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