8 minute read
Angrbodas Curse. Interview with Angra
Interview by Jay Parker
Hi, this is Jay reporting say the least, after going through from Bogota Colombia... Today I’m lucky enough to be talking to The Mistress Of Evil Music... Angra from Angrbodas Curse... Hi Angra, thanks for taking the time out from your busy schedule to talk to our readers...
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1) Tell when / where / why A C was formed…
- Angrbodas Curse was formed in 2015 in Puerto Rico. The reason behind it is, because I wanted to express myself in a healthy way to say the least, after going through such a hard situation that only a mother can understand. Metal music has always been a very important part of my life and Black Metal was and is for me not only brutally awesome music that I can identify with, but an extreme way for me to express my emotions freely and in the rawest way possible. I always wanted to make a band but never had the chance until that moment, so I took the opportunity and started writing the lyrics to my songs and working on the music immediately with the help of my amazing partner and fellow musician Memphist. My main goal with Angrbodas Curse was not only to express myself but to encourage whoever listened to my music to feel free and laugh at misfortune, show no weakness and grow from it with more power.
2) Who is currently in the band?
Angra (vocals and lyrics) and Memphist (guitar, drums and music producer)
3) Your Ep, NECROMANTIC GRIMOIRE, is a cracking debut release... vibrantly evil and with a rich underlying 90s feel... tell us when and where it was recorded and run us through the tracks, and tell our readers where they can buy it.
-Thank you, Necromantic Grimoire definitely has a lot of sentimental value to me and is obviously my first EP ever, It is very raw being the fact that it is my first time recording and working on a black metal project, but definitely a lot of energy and passion went into this EP, I wanted to project my feelings through the lyrics and music as best as possible. I wrote most of the lyrics in 2015 in Puerto Rico and started recording the EP in New Jersey in 2016 a few months after having my first and only son and finally fully released it in 2019 on Bandcamp. Necromantic Grimoire has 5 tracks, The rite of demise (intro), Blessing of the ironwood, Voice of torment (The first song ever written), Sanctimonious immolation and Legions of the Nightbreed (A bonus song and collaboration with Memphist and his band Niohoggr).
4) Angrboda is the Nordic Goddess of sorrow... are your lyrics inspired by Nordic themes? Tell us about the lyrics you compose…
Glad you caught that, my band name and the EP Necromatic Grimoire is indeed inspired by Norse themes but mostly Angrboda, she is the main inspiration behind it all. For those who don’t know who Angrboda is, she is a jötunn in Norse mythology, known as the mate of Loki and Mother to Fenrir, Hel and Jörmungandr. As to my lyrics, like I said Angrboda is the main focus and inspiration, mixed in with a little bit of witchcraft, paganism and a lot of rage.
5) Tell us about the music… who writes the guitar and bass parts? Who plays the drums? The Ep has some outstanding riffs...
I do the lyrics and music composition, but there is definitely a lot of teamwork between Memphist and I, but when it comes to instrumental and music producing Memphist is the one who makes my compositions come to life, he is also the one who works with percussion.
6) What are your plans for the future? I understand we can expect a full album to be unleashed soon?
There will definitely be more from Angrbodas Curse, we are indeed working on a full album titled I Am King, and a single. Unfortunately, I do not have a set date for release just yet but we are hoping to do it this year 2022. As for plans for the future, at the moment we are focusing on working on our new music and the upcoming album.
7) Tell us about your musical influences...What did you listen to growing up? What bands do you listen to now?
I will definitely say that my influences are Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult, Nargaroth, Emperor, Celtic Frost, Angela Gossow from Arch Enemy, and Rockbitch. Growing up I listened to a lot of metal like, Metallica, Guns and Roses, Slayer, Pantera, Iron Maiden etc, and none metal bands as well. I come from very talented and musical family, but the one who got me started was my grandfather Carlos who I love and respect for showing me so much about music and showing me how to play guitar. Now my mother showed me about an amazing and powerful known Cuban female Latin soul singer called or known as La Lupe and as weird as this may sound she has influenced me a lot for my vocals on Angrbodas Curse. As of now, I listen to Mayhem, Burzum, Dark Throne, the bands mentioned as my influences and something I like to do a lot is explore new black metal bands and their music as well, there is so much talent out there.
8) I know you started out in Puerto Rico, now based in New York... how do the scenes compare? Recommend some good bands from both scenes…
Some great bands I can recommend from Puerto Rico are, Necronomic (Black Metal), Carpathian Wrath (Vampiric Black Metal), Amock and Niohoggr (these two bands belongs to Memphist) (Black Metal), Serpenterium (Black metal), Sepulchral (Black Death Metal), Godless (Black Metal) and Organic (Death Metal), these are a few amazing and talented bands I personally like and recommended. But Puerto Rico is full of very talented and awesome metal bands. Unfortunately, I can’t recommend any local black metal bands from New York because at the moment I do not know of any, but I guess I have some homework to do for sure. As for how the metal scenes compare, in my personal opinion New York and Puerto Rico need no comparison apart from the fact that Puerto Rico’s metal scene is a bit more smaller and there aren’t many black metal bands at the moment, but the ones that exist are brutal. The people and the support in NY and PR are overwhelmingly awesome, I’m very lucky to be able to have experienced them both.
9) What are your expectations for the future? What are your long term goals as a musician?
My expectations for the future right now is to continue growing as a band and as a musician. My goals are, like I mentioned to continue learning and making even more brutal and better music I would also like to sometime soon be able to do live shows and definitely release more albums.
10) What have been your best and worst experiences so far as a BM musician?
Honestly so far I have no complaints, everyone has been amazing and truth is that there will always be criticism and people that won’t like my music and I totally respect that.
11) How do think BM will evolve over the next few years? Do you see it as a healthy scene at the moment?
Honestly not to be rude but it is relative and meaningless to me to answer these questions, I just focus on making my music and making sure that I evolve as a musician and that I’m able to deliver good music to all those who listen to my band.
12) What advice would you give to any young musicians reading this that may be looking to follow in your footsteps down the left hand path to Black Metal Darkness?
Always be honest and keep going no matter what people say, people will always talk for good or bad. Just ignore and let your music do the talking, if you don’t believe in yourself no one will.
13) Would you like to add anything for our readers?
We would like to say that we are absolutely grateful for all the support our band has been getting since the start of it all, it’s been amazing truly and of course thank you very much for this awesome interview and opportunity. Also I want to give out a huge shout-out to a great friend and artist, From Underground Florida, Julian Lopez, who has always supported and believed in us and has worked on our album art, which is sick as hell. Hails to all!
