MEMORIAL: People with brains and no religion.
For those who aren't familiar with this act, MEMORIAL is a True Black Metal band who unleashed their debut album in 2000 on Killjoy's (NECROPHAGIA, VIKING CROWN, etc.) label Baphomet Records. Seeming to be an attempt to revive true old-school Black Metal, "Enter My Megaron" impressed me greatly with its energy, dark spirit and hate towards all living. Let us see what Madis (vocals) has to say. (Krasniy)
Greetings. Please, introduce yourselves and cite some of your biographical facts.
Memorial is a band from the Netherlands. We have been around for 5 years. Initially the band consisted of three members: Madis-vocals, Micha-drums and Wolter on the guitar. Something like half a year later Alco (guitar) joined and Roeland (bass) is the most recent addition. Most of us were active in the local metal-scene before, although not aways in the same "roles". For example Micha used to sing in a death-metal band called Ceremony in the early nineties. Anyway, those previous projects didnt work out so Memorial was formed.
Your debut album "Enter My Megaron" was unleashed last year. Are you pleased with the response it has received so far?
Yes, the album seems to be doing quite well, also most of the reviews that i have seen have been quite positive.
What is the message you tried to bring forth with the lyrical side of this album? Can you reveal the concept behind it? The lyrics don't seem to be evil, but nevertheless they are written in a very obscure and sophisticated manner, especially this goes for the title track and "Into The Shadowrealm".
The lyrics are indeed not "evil". Mostly they have a death-oriented theme, they are about "persons" who wish to die, are dieing or are already dead and in some kind of afterlife state. You could sum them up as being about the "mysteries of death". Basically i like to write about dark, fatalistic feelings or fantasies or something like that.
Your music can be doubtlessly compared with early IMMORTAL and DARKTHRONE, however it appears to be more intelligent for me. What is your own vision of this? And by the way, has IMMORTAL been your main inspiration during the recording sessions of "Enter My Megaron"?
Nice to hear that you find us more intelligent than those bands you mentioned, i used to be a fan of both of them. Although i personally used to like early Immortal (first 3 albums) very much i am quite sure that their music has had little of no influence on ours. Most of the guitar-riffs are written by Alco and he is not into those bands at all. Also our drummer Micha who, of course, writes the drum-parts is not really into them. But we did want to create this early-nineties cold and freezing black-metal sound so that is probably the reason why people compare us with Immortal.
Your lyrics do not clarify your position on christianity, therefore I wonder whose side you are on? How do you see such notions as judeo-christian religion? By the way, what are the things you hate the most?
We, as a band dont really push on some kind of anti-christian thing but i do believe that a certain medieval philosopher was right when he said that "There are two kinds of people, people with religion and no brains and people with brains and no religion."
"Enter..." was released via Killjoy's label Baphomet recs. Are you pleased with this collaboration? How many copies were printed?
Our collaboration with Baphomet (and with Red Stream) has been pretty good, the first patch was 1000 cd's.
How often do you give live shows? Have you toured Europe? If yes, what is the country that gave you the most positive impressions?
We havent played live yet, although we will do some gigs here in the Netherlands soon. As we are busy writing new material, live-shows were not really a priority up till now. And some bigger tour will probably have to wait till the end of the year or maybe even next year.
Is there place for drugs in your life? If yes, do they contribute anything to the creative process?
Drugs dont have any role in the creative process but i personally have "experimented" with some drugs (most notably MDMA) in the past. I have the opinion that taking drugs regularly is deffinitely not a good idea, although there is nothing wrong with sometimes use. Of course no-one should take shit like heroin, there is a difference between drugs and drugs.
Describe yourselves as individuals. How do you spend your free time? What books do you read? What music do you listen?
Most of us are working men (Alco is a student) and have more or less normal lives. Wolter is the oldest (32) and has a lovely little daughter, Roeland is youngest (20) and the rest of us are between 26 and 30. As far as our interests are concerned, we are pretty different. I personally am interested in history, philosophy and in people in general. I do find it fascinating to learn about what goes on in peoples minds, why they act in certain ways an so on. Also our musical tastes are pretty varied, i dont listen to a lot of metal lately, instead i prefer to put on some authentic medieval music or other "weird" stuff, it seems to be better for my inspiration. Micha is more into metal-classics like Slayer, and the others im not really sure...
How do you see the band in, let's say, 5 years or so? By the way, reveal us your plans for 2001!
In 5 years time? We will release 3 albums on Baphomet, we will play some gigs and the rest i dont really know. By the way over 5 years most of us will be old bastards, probably ready for retirement...
What is friendship for you?
Friendship? I suppose it exists, although sometimes i think its just that people who are in a similar position in life or have similar goals just clot together cause then life is easier, less lonely and their goals easier to obtain.
How do you perceive love? What is it for you?
Love is a very powerful emotion but its not always positive and "good" as it is pictured. It can be very dark and possessive, lots of horrific deeds have been done because of love.
I'll give you an unusual one this time: let's say you possess $1.000.000 and you have only three ways of spending this sum at your disposal. The first one is spending them on hungry african children, the second way is providing them to chechen terrorists and the last one is wasting it all drinking. What do you choose?
One million dollars is not a lot of money in todays world, we would drink it up in no time. (that's definitely better than providing them to chechens - Ed.)
One more weird question: you are proposed sex with a black girl, a fat girl and a mature over-40 woman? Whom do you choose?
I would rather do it with someone i care about, inserting your willy in every hole that asks for it is definitely not my habit.
How do you think, do females belong to Black Metal scene?
Sure, i do enjoy the company of females (and i dont mean only for THAT). As a matter of fact i'd rather spend my evening conversing with girls than with guys.
Numerous NSBM acts spawn out in Europe. Do you condone or condemn them?
I think cencorship is wrong and you should be able to sell your music and perform live no matter what kind of message or ideology you have.
Last words and comments.
Nothing to add really, people who wish to contact us can do so via our official email-adress: [email protected]
We wish you all the best.
Baphomet Records
Interview taken by KRASNIY.
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