noctule

Svalbard frontwoman rekindles black metal’s fire (but not its politics)

When discussing musician and vocalist Serena Cherry’s musical works, her name and Svalbard are obviously inseparable, but her career as a black metal musician dates back even further. Having previously released three albums under a different moniker (and sharing the stage with the likes of Gallhammer and Nachtmystium), Cherry’s first passion still rings true over a decade later under the guise of a new solo outing, the Skyrim-inspired Noctule. ¶ “I’ve always wanted to go back to my black metal roots,” Cherry explains over Skype. “I think the DIY aspect of having one person write all the music is very ingrained in black metal. That’s something which has always appealed to me, the fullon indulgence of being able to write everything myself.” ¶ The product of saving riffs not quite fit for the Svalbard sound over the years—and Cherry eventually teaching herself how to use recording programs like Logic—Noctule’s ferocious take on atmospheric black metal is steeped in the classics, but still modern and restless. ¶ “It was all very indulgent and nice to work with myself again,” she explains of her creative process.

“In creating on my own, there is absolutely no compromise, and the freedom to explore whatever is in my head. It is freeing to do everything myself—it goes on tangents and unpredictable paths. I don’t want to sound the same or like one genre, I like to let things expand and take their own shape.”

Noctule itself is certainly not weighed down by its home genre, though. With progressive-minded songs like “Evenaar” punctuating the more blasting elements found on impending debut Wretched Abyss, Cherry’s vision is much more than her project’s base classification.

“I’ve described Noctule as a black metal project,” Cherry offers, “but there are songs which are a lot more progressive. It’s more than the sum of its parts.

“This album took just under a year to write,” she continues. “In terms of Svalbard, we only write when we jam together, which is maybe once or twice a week. With Noctule, I was spending every day working on songs in the lockdown. I became fixated on developing these ideas. There are seven tracks on the album, and maybe 16 which didn’t make it.”

To place Cherry in the black metal sphere as of 2021 is difficult, especially given her outspoken political stance in Svalbard. “I always tend to disassociate a bit in black metal because you have the great epic bands and the sound and production I like, but [also] the politics, which I 100 percent disagree with,” she explains. “I don’t want to support or advocate any bands which have right-wing policies, and it is very unfortunate that great bands who create great music can be problematic. It becomes a bit of a minefield. Remove the politics altogether and have songs about dragons! [Laughs]”