Greetings. Before we start, I'd like to thank you for accepting the interview request, it is a great honour for me to conduct this conversation.
Many thanks for the interview!! It’s great to hear there is still printed zines going strong in Europe. Hails to all the maniacs from Hungary who follow the dark path...
What does ENTSETZLICH mean to you, what were your aims when launching the project, what are these for now and for the future?
When I first formed ENTSETZLICH is late 2005/early 2006, the idea behind it was to create something of my own that was mine, free from others opinions/views.
I had been involved in a band known as BLOODMOON that never really got anywhere, band members didn’t really focus enough etc., after a much frustration, ENTSETZLICH was formed as big ’fuck off’ to the bands and music that was being played a lot in my home town... I first recorded a short demo which with a sound akin to ’shitty’ Black/noise, and the sound mutated over time from there. ENTSETZLICH continues to be its own entity, that will always remain true to itself. Whilst others abandon their creed, ENTSETZLICH remains!!
New works will be out soon enough, including our first ever vinyl LP release titled ’Tormentuous Lamentations’ via Skjold. Expect nothing short of pure madness!! For the future, more splits and tape releases...
Hymns Of Death Triumphant (split with INITIATION) was release of 2016 for me. Please tell us about its making, and about the years following the release of Sombre Doom Ceremony.
Hymns of Death Triumphant was one of my most focused and proud of my releases, working with Initiation from the US was not only smooth and easy – but also the music flowed well. Initiation had more of musicianship focus than I did, he sure can play well with what he does! Initiation takes a very heavy influence from acts like Drowning the Light and Mutiilation, and it sure as hell shows! The tape was put out first, in a weird printed green/blue tape colour, something different indeed to the usual – released via a smaller label from USA - Morboso Macabro Grotesco, and then came the CD a bit later via label from Brazil – Pagan War Distro Rex. Both versions rounded out quite well, with the tape having some extra/bonus tracks and a crazier layout, paying tribute to the acts themselves, and their many influences.
We wanted to make this split something that was truly special, and I believe we achieved this well. Seek out this release if you still can – it contains a rare as fuck ENTSETZLICH cover of one of my old dead projects ’Winds of Nihilism’, and also showcases Initiation’s musical prowess, with their superb covers of DtL’s ’Celtic Blood...’ & Mutiilation’s ’ Magickal Shadows of a Tragic Past’.
The times following the Dark Ambient/’Experimental Noise’ compilation ’Sombre Doom Ceremony’ were filled with a few splits, of a more rotten/decrepit tone – splits with Ruach Raah, and also with the raw as hell graveyard entity known only as ’Vetërahk’.
It was also a time when a rehearsal demo was recorded which saw very, very limited release, titled ’Dungeon Rituals’ this one featured 2 separate guitarists, and a fair bit of experimental takes on the tunes, feedback on this rehearsal seemed good. Amusingly (for us mostly...) we also managed to sneak in a putrid, poorly recorded and fucked up cover version of the song ’Californication’, by the R.H.C.P, because - why the fuck not?! (Haha!!)
What were the artistic and intellectual (metaphysical) inspirations for making a split record with RUACH RAAH (Dishonored And Annihilated)? Was it a conscious effort to unite the two bands?
I’d be wanting to work with the guys behind RR, for awhile, originally querying to work together for another of their many projects, but at the time no other music had been recorded for their other works, RR fit well comparatively to ENTSETZLICH. I’m a firm believer in splits being designed to help people unearth new bands, having a ’sneak peek’ if you will, to the bands involved... to allow them to then seek out more of each artists work. The idea behind the split, was to represent the chaoticness/the madness of both bands – via the artwork (crazy cut out/pasted fold out tape layout) and the music itself, RR only contributed the one track, but it sure was enough!!
Most of your releases carry a kind of natural self-conscious fighting mood regarding the concept of music and the general artistic attitude. Is it important for the productions to communicate and to have a message beyond music?
ENTSETZLICH has always been a big ’fuck off’ to the shit that clogs up the black metal community, be it bands that aren’t true to themselves, or the ethos of this type of music. ENTSETZLICH has never tried to be well liked, or toned down to fit a certain mould, and will never intend to! I have a very big focus on DIY artwork/layouts/music compositions and the like. Most if not all of the music is recorded in 1-2 takes max, with a strong focus on improvisation and ’feel’ over skill and overall musicianship. The over the top rawness and the sound overall is a by-product of that mindset...
ENTSETZLICH specialises in limited editions. Why?
This ’music’ is not for everyone, and was never meant to be. Limitations make sure only a select few who follow this musical darkness have access, also it comes back to many labels I release through being DIY run, no huge label backing or large amounts of staff – the labels that show a dedicated focus. It also stops the oversaturation of the music ’scene’, and the more one searches, the more one finds treasures!
Hatework recently put out ' Beyond Morbid Fascinations Of Cryptic Spirits ' a truly noteworthy and powerful collaboration with MEGALITH GRAVE. Please tell us about it.
Hatework had a keen interest in both projects for awhile, and it was a great experience to work with them for this release. This was ENSETZLICH’s first vinyl release and we were honoured to share it with Megalith Grave, who I’ve worked with in the past, with another of my projects (Kryptus). The 7” release was mostly themed around concept of ’the depths’ of despair, of the immense underground catatombs, of the crypts below the soil... the dead, and their ’voices’... A journey through absolute darkness and seclusion, surrounded by spirits.
Eventually there will be more work out via Hatework, some more splits most likely.
A split cassette with WOLFSDUISTER (Melancholic Apparitions And Macabre Rituals) has just been released, what are your thoughts on this collaboration?
This split with Wolfsduister came out a fair few years ago now, and was a collaboration between myself and Erghal, from the label I released a lot of ENTSETZLICH through & still plan to release more via, (Wolfsvuur Records - I can’t recommend this label enough! A truly great label!). This release was at the height of the band’s dark ambient era/focus. I find this release to be one of my personal favourites, so bleak and forbodingly creepy. Some didn’t like the lack of ’black metal’ on this release, and my other dark ambient/experimental works, but that sound/style is just as much a part of ENTSETZLICH as the raw/fucked up sounds - emitted when we make black metal.
What role does ENTSETZLICH play in your life currently?
ENTSETZLICH has been a part of my life since 2005-2006, and continues to be a part of me, as much as I’m a part of it. I luckily don’t work on a label/release schedule, and as I’m the one in complete control of releases etc., I release as I please – doing splits with bands I truly want to work with. No one can ever tell me how it’s supposed to sound, or what it’s supposed to be like – if they did, ENTSETZLICH would be dead.
Another remarkable effort is the Underneath The Tragic Moon cassette from ETHEREAL MIST. Please say a few words about it, too.
Yes, ETHEREAL MIST is a project I started in 2015, as an extension of the dark ambient works I’d done with ENTSETZLICH in the past, but with more of an experimental/dungeon synth take to it. I felt it needed it’s own separate form, so to speak. I was also heavily listening to a lot of Depressive Silence, Ghosts of Oceania (DtL side project), as well as Lamentation, and a bit of Cernunnos Woods too, at the time – all these projects gave me a great amount of ideas and influences. In the end, ETHEREAL MIST become a project focused on my fascinations with death (in all it’s forms – as an entity, spirits, ghouls, hauntings, the afterlife, the unknown etc.).
’Underneath the Tragic Moon’ was the first of many tape releases of this project, there's also been the following releases:
Split with OLD BURIAL TEMPLE 'All Is All / Transcendental Wanderings' via Svart Hat Prods (Mex) 2015
Split with VRASËSINERËZVE (Black Gangrene) 2015
Split with HRIGSOD (Crude Form, still waiting on my copy...) 2015
The Sorrow is Eternal EP (Svart Hat) 2015
Split with WOLFSDUISTER (Svart Hat) 2015
Wandering Through The Void Compilation CD (Aurora Australis) 2016
Split with ODVAS (Far From… Records) 2018
I have thought about recommencing work on this project, as I haven’t released or recorded anything saince 2016. The time may come for more... we’ll see where the mist falls next...
Tell me the story of your projekt KRYPTUS!
KRYPTUS was born after I was become more and more interested in black metal/noise music, and yes, I know ENTSETZLICH has a lot of noise/distortion etc., however with KRYPTUS the ’music’ devolved a fair bit, into more simplistic riffs, bad (worse..) drumming and more weirder/harsher as hell vocals – KRYPTUS’ lyrical themes are a lot more perverse, violent and sickening than my usual works. Also, KRYPTUS is solely my own - there are absolutely no session members or helpers, no artwork drawn by anyone else, no one but me... and my own madness!!
Since 2014, I’ve released the following tapes under the KRYPTUS name:
Doom Night Warrior - Demo (independent) 2014
Split with ENTSETZLICH - As Blood & Innards Exit their Tombs (Wolfsvuur Records) 2014
Split with MEGALITH GRAVE - Repulsive Envisions of the Light (Wolfsvuur Records) 2016
Split with FUNERARY TEMPLE - Vile Decrepit Stench: A Plague of Filth (Hatework) 2017
There’s some new KRYPTUS songs in the works, and a few more splits and a full length eventually planned too.
Do you follow the current trends in music, are there any up-and-coming bands to watch out for?
I don’t really follow the current trends of music as such, but I’m aware of a few decent projects out of Australia that your readers should definitely be keeping an eye (or ear) out for...
Snorri:
A newer band out of Perth Western Australia, featuring members from Broken Spirit, Old Burial Temple, Drohtnung and Grave Worship. So far, they’ve released 2 tape demos as well as a 7” split, with Vetërahk. Check out the label Signal Rex for their releases, and for merch too - highly recommended rotten gnarly black metal!! Also worth checking out their side projects listed above.
Frostveil:
A local black metal/ambient act from my home state (South Australia), a one man band playing mostly traditional black metal. Frostveil also have recently released a dungeon synth/dark ambient release on tape titled ’Antediluvian Majesty’ that is beyond epic. His releases are available via Dark Adversary & also Australibus Tenebris to name a few. Also, check out his other band ’Christ Dismembered’ if you’re into the whole satanic black metal stuff...
Funerary Temple:
Part of the Australibus Tenebris horde – this recent addition to the Aust. Black Metal underground has been quite prolific as of late. Out of the forests and marshes of Victoria, they record some truly fucked up and desolate black metal/noise, with a heavy emphasis on the noisier side! Worth checking out their last few splits, with Megalith Grave, Moribund & (of course) Kryptus (Haha!). Their releases can be found via Hatework & Australibus Tenebris. There are also plans for a Entsetzlich/Funerary Temple split release, to be out sometime this year.
To keep traditions alive and uncontaminated is vital in my opinion on all stages, including the physical and the spirituals levels as well. If translated to the language of music, how would you sum up the essence of the creative process?
The creative process needs not to be forced, it needs to flow from ones being, it also needs to be free from outsider influence, in what you want to do, how you want to do it – and why, the most important – why you’re doing it, and what you are doing. One doesn’t need to know how to read music to make music, its all in the essence and feel of it... its the ’vibe’ of the thing.
Thank you for the interview!
Thanks you for the contact, and the interest in my projects.
Hails to those who follow the dark arts over there in Hungary. Best of luck with your zine!
Keep an eye/ear out for future works of my projects, including the first ever ENSETZLICH 12” LP!!
Interview by sorger
