Tubal-Qayin and Skogen Hecate Enthroned

Tubal-Qayin and Skogen.

I n t e r v i e w b y A n d r e w S t a n t o n

-Canyoutellourreadersabit a short hiatus, Volniir came my parents music collection, about your history, please? back with a new line up and so lots of Queen, Whitesnake, S.V.: Volniir was formed in as a fully forged four piece. Bee Gees, Def Leppard, Guns 2016 as a one-man project. Since this rebirth we have be- n’ Roses and Electric Light After spending time writing come stronger in every way. Orchestra. I frequently still lisand recording demos, I got - What bands did you ten to these bands to this day. some session members to- listen to growing up? I then later gether to play live & collaborate recording a E.P. In 2017 we released “The Enigma’’ and we played live quite extensively. Once Every country or scene has its clowns & stinkers, ignore them and move on. branched out into Grunge and Metal once I started exploring music by myself. T u b al - Qaythe cycle of in: As with the “The Enig- S.V.: I others; my music came from ma’’ was complete, I took really got into music at around my parents, but none of it some time to reflect and after age 12 and I listened mostly to could be considered “metal”.

They would often listen to records by bands such as ZZ Top, The Moody Blues, Queen, Imagination, Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5, Crash Test Dummies and a whole lot of rock and soul stuff. This was when I was a kid of around five or six, so as I got older; my taste and intrigue turned towards rock n’ roll and metal, most notably thanks to the release of Iron Maiden’s fantastic “Brave New World” album. It all started from there and I eventually got into Metallica, Black Sabbath, Slayer, Pantera and Guns n’ Roses et al before my path turned right and became truly dark. Azrael: My dad always had a hugely impressive album collection, and I was incredibly young when I started listening to all his albums in succession, as a result of this, as a kid I was massively into Metallica, Guns n’ Roses, Frank Zappa, Iron Maiden, AC/DC and Black Sabbath. From there I started branching out and finding heavier and heavier music back when my hometown still had a plethora of music shops where you could go in with an idea and come out with a sack full of new albums to try out. I listened to a ton of Nu Metal during my more formative years but mostly just Slipknot and Korn on rotation.

When I started playing music myself I started to branch out and start listening to everything I possibly and that’s when I found my love in the even heavier more extreme kinds of metal. Skogen: I mainly listened to my parent’s music collections when I was younger which was mainly 70’s/80’s with an eclectic (and possibly bizarre) mix of music from other genres and eras thrown in. The band I have to give the most credit to though for shaping me as a person and musician today though is Black Sabbath, a band I absolutely adored growing up and still adore to this day. It’s safe to say I wouldn’t have picked up a guitar and then a bass if it wasn’t for them.

- What are your lyrics about?

Tubal - Qayin: Total liberty, enlightenment and violent spiritual awakening through Death Worship, LCFR and the Dark Night of the Soul. Ride the scales of Ananta!

- Have Cradle of Filth made it very hard for UK bands to be taken seriously?

S.V.: I wouldn’t say so. It would seem that people’s opinions of Cradle of Filth are somewhat divided, on one hand many fans of the genre don’t consider Cradle of Filth to be Black Metal at all and just pay them no mind, whereas others will judge and sometimes even dismiss an entire country based off of one band. If the latter is your way of thinking, then it’s your own problem. Your music should stand on its own two feet and shouldn’t need to lean on the scene it comes from to add value to it. For example, your music isn’t automatically good just because it’s Black Metal from Norway. Every country or scene has its clowns & stinkers, ignore them and move on.

Tubal - Qayin: Yes and no. It doesn’t help that they’re the most well-known of extreme metal bands from here and their theatrics and gimmickry have escalated to the point where they’re basically extras from a Tim Burton film, but I also don’t think enough U.K bands take themselves seriously enough as it is anyway in some capacity or another and it seems to be mostly deliberate: they’re all either singing about crabs or violating someone with a maritime device and it’s pathetic. Then again; I’ve always said that the truly devout will wade through all of the shit to get to the good stuff and there’s certainly a lot of wading to do, in my opinion. People from abroad may go “Cradle of Filth are from the U.K and I don’t like them” but they may also go “but I’ll see what else is from there” and discover new, exciting and overall good underground bands without the vampires, evil carnivals or pirate shipse. One thing that’s for sure in Cradle’s case is that they certainly did help to put black/extreme metal on the British map, so we can thank them for that.

- What does Volniir mean?

S.V.: “To break apart and conquer”.

- What is the Black Metal scene like in Manchester? Are there any bands our readers should check out?

S.V.: The Black Metal scene in Manchester is quite small. I think when you talk about the Black Metal scene you have to group the UK together as a singular collective, as it’s quite small in comparison to other countries. With that being said; it seems the UK scene is very much quality over quantity. I’d recommend bands such as; Abduction, Necronautical & Devastator. Tubal - Qayin: Inconcessus Lux Lucis. Azrael: It’s a tough answer, as I feel as though the black metal scene can’t be pinned down in any one single location, as the UK-wide BM scene is fairly small but you reach a point when you pretty much know everybody in the scene, no matter where you’re based in the country and every time you turn up for a gig you feel like Norm from ‘Cheers’ except you’re wearing a ton of face paint. Skogen: I play in a Manchester-based black metal band myself, Deus Mori. Like throughout the rest of the UK it is small but tight-knit and quality over quantity. In addition to my own shameless self-promotion, I’d also recommend Argesk for those who are fans of the more melodic and symphonic styles of black metal and Burial for those more inclined to the old school, both of whom put out great albums last year.

- Is Manchester still heavily dominated by its Indie scene?

S.V.: I can’t comment on the Indie scene as I’m not familiar with it. But from what I can see, I’d say Slam and Brutal Death Metal seems to be the dominant Genre in Manchester at the moment.

- Does coming from a certain city make things difficult for Black Metal bands? Do people expect you to change because of your local scene?

S.V.: No.

- Why do UK magazines ignore UK Black Metal bands? Do they want to see them fail?

Tubal - Qayin: I haven’t read any U.K publications for years so I don’t really know or care what they cover these days, but I know there it isn’t necessarily an agenda against us. In the case of Völniir; I’m not particularly bothered if they think we’re “good enough” or whatever to be featured in their magazine or not. They’d probably miss the point anyway.

- What can fans expect from your new album?

Tubal - Qayin: Forty-five minutes of powerful, straightforward and, above all: honest black metal.

- Do you have a message for our readers?

Tubal - Qayin: Hail Lars-Göran Petrov.

Thank you for your time.