Interview with Morgon

 INTERVIEW  WITH HAGLAZ, GHRYM AND NORDAH!


1. Salve, Morgon! Enlight, please, the readers about the beginning of Your horde...and tell us about the Morgon name!

H: The Band was formed in the Winter Months of 2007 by me and Nordah. Our goal was to create very dark and intense music with the roots of occult Magick. It has begun as a two-man-project and became a full band in 2008 as Ghrym (Drums) and Urisaz (Bassguitar) joined the Abyss. We chose the Name ‘Morgon’ basically as a fictional name, but it also means ‘Dark Mountain’ in some French region. For us, Morgon is a symbol and a tool for representing the individual dark spirit (The Black Flame) and stands for the thought of illumination and liberation of the self. 

2. I have Your 2 materials (very thankful for that), "Infinitas" and Your last one "Saint of Death".. Your first release as EP, second as a demo, but for me your last one is a EP too. Relate us about recording process of these (lyrical concepts too).

H: Our latest release ‘Saint Of Death’ was recorded by myself in our Rehearsalplace/Necrosophic Studios after the summer solstice of 2011 in a very ambiental and creative mood. So we all had the time that we needed to record the new material. You can call it Demo/EP or whatever, but because of the playing time we decided to call it a demo with 5 tracks. It is a concept record dedicated to Master Qayin, the Lord of Death. The music and lyrics it represents are all inspired by ritualistic words of the qayinitic lore.

3. I heard Your rehearsal materials firstly on myspace in Summer 2009 and I was surprised about Your raw and powerful energy. Recount us about your inspiration or inspirations, please!

G.: As religious inviduals, we draw inspiration from our personal studies and experiences on          our path - the path on the left (LHP). We dedicate ourselves to the infinite, dark and clear essence of Chaos(the primeval source, the origin and the end of all) and the related deities with the final aim of liberation.

4. I know you are from Sachen-Anhalt region.  Introduce us in Your local scene!

H: In the 90's there was a small group of metalheads here, but nowadays they all disappeared in some bigger cities or just listen to fuckin` metalcore, you know… If you like, check my other band ‘Into Obscurity’ http://www.into-obscurity.de/, kind of Melodic Death Metal from the old days.

G.: I don´t think there is any kind of “scene”; it´s only a small region. The only two nameable bands are "Into Obscurity" and "Trimonium".

5. I always think about one interesting fact. Maybe our common inspiration: Jon Nödtveidt, who connected us with you in 2009. Your opinion about Him?

H: Strength, will, fearless and now one with Chaos, a Fireborn-Satanist. Still a great inspiration for me as a person and musically of course.

G.:  Jon was definitely a very interesting, strong person. But I wouldn´t describe him as an inspiration. Everyone has to cut and explore his own way on the path he had chosen. Nevertheless he was a great visionary, a talented musician and a kindred spirit.

6. How was the situation with Your live performances last year?

G.: Beside some "usual" club gigs we had the great honour to perform a live ritual with The Devil´s Blood in Leipzig last year. This was an interesting experience and the most nameable event.

N.: For me it is always satisfying to perform live. During a live ritual it sometimes seems that people can feel a kind of "inner disturbance" which they can´t escape of. It´s a great feeling to see the flames rising in their eyes.

7. Which covers did you played in your past in live-show and which will you plan?

H: We played a cover from Bathory ‘Raise The Dead’ and Tormentor ‘Elizabeth..’ which perfectly fits in our set. I think we`ll always play one or more covers at the shows, you`ll see.

8. You are working with recordings for the forthcoming Morgon album, Your debut LP now. How many tracks do You plan to record and when it will be published? What are Your plans after the recordings?

H: At the moment we`re recording our debut LP which contains 11 tracks and will be released in Summer. After the recordings we will do some promotional stuff, hopefully with a label as support.

9. What are your favourite 5 LP's, movies and all-time favourite books?

G:  I can´t name „all time favourites“ because it changes constantly. It also depends on the occasion. At the moment I´m fascinated about "Þurseitr", a ritualistic dark ambient project by a friend of mine from Scotland. I use it for my seta´s (a kind of meditation).

N: Favourite movies of all time? Difficult to say, because I´m not a great movie fan. But I like the work of Anthony Hopkins as actor and composer, for example in the masterpiece "The Waltz Goes On".

10. Germany is not only famous as a great historical, cultural heritage... You have more and more great bands, in past and now too... What are Your favourite German bands or musicians from Your excellent scene? What do You think about the band Erazor?

G.: Sodom, Thulcandra and Nawaharjan, the band of a spiritual brother. I don´t know Erazor.

H: Poison, Abigor, Hidden in the Fog.

11. What do You think about the last Gorgoroth releases, as "Quantos Possunt", "Satanitatem Trahunt", and a new one, re-release album, "Under a sign of hell"? More metalheads said that the re-released "Under the Sign of Hell" is too clear. For me it is ok, because I like all the drum parts of Tomas Asklund in all His bands. Your opinion about it, bitte!

H: The old, raw, crushing Gorgoroth sound is gone but ‘Quantos Possunt…’ is a good "rebirth" album.

G.: I like the new records, I don´t think that the clear sound is a disadvantage.

Additionally, Tomas Asklund´s drum parts are always impressive, very strong and precise.

12. I hope I'll visit Your great country in the near future, because I've never been in Deutschland and I want to see your mystic landscapes, for example Harz. Are you inspired by your landscapes?

G.: Yes, it can be said that the Harz is also an influence for us because it is a dark, magical place where many legends were created. The Brocken(Blocksberg) mountain is famous for the traditional "Walpurgisnacht" (Walpurgisnight), which is known as the “feast of the witches”. It is my favourite place for magical workings and we´re often going there.

13. Another question: what do you recommend us, the readers, to eat and drink in Germany? Your local foods, drinks, species, tobaccos?

H: The German famous beer of course and Absinth from our local distillery and maybe some Roulades to eat...

14. Danke sehr, Morgon! We hope to see You at Your live shows soon! Your message to the readers of the blog "Sadistik Witchfukk"?

N: Maybe there is an opportunity to play in your country as a part of a small tour with a local band next year. Thanks for the interest and stay tuned for further news.

Interview taken by Georgius

Morgon official: http://www.facebook.com/MorgonOfficial

Interview with György "Georgius" Kudla(ex-Castrum, ex-Chamos, ex-Domhring)

1.Hello, Georgius! Tell when did you became a metalhead and if you played in any other bands before Castrum!

Hail Sorin! First of all a big thank to you for the interview and the interest too! Well, I became a metalhead in autumn, in 1987 after the listening to two tapes of Iron Maiden (Number of the Beast) and Mercyful Fate (Don’t Break the Oath). Before that I’ve listened to some hard rock/heavy metal bands but these tapes definitely changed my life and I think I’ve „engaged”  myself with metal to the end of my life….

As an answer to your second part of your question, unfortunately no, I didn’t played in any other band before Maleficium/Castrum.

2.Tell us Castrum's History! 

Maleficium was formed in September, 1994, when together with my good friends, Cornelius (guitars) and Lancelot (drums) we've decided to create a death metal horde. Lancelot needed to leave us for the Ukranian military service that year and after a long search in September of 1995, Werkoff (drums) joined the band. (At the same time we changed Maleficium name for Castrum. Castrum has a lot of meanings, for us: Tower of Witches. I would to notice that old Latin name of our hometown was Castrum Ungh, so it has been absolutely a good choice to the members of the band).

In February 1996 we recorded our first demo called ”Burial of the Affection” which contained 7 tracks and this demo was sent to Hungarian Metal Hammer to Olly Zubor for the review.

Just a few months later in May/June we entered the ”Impertinence Studio” to record our first studio demo called ”Flames by Impiety”, which included 2 tracks +intro/outro of medieval death metal and was produced by Cornelius personally. In October 1996, Castrum recorded 3 new songs for the second studio demo ”Pleasure in the Deeds of Horror”, produced by Eugene Petrus and Cornelius. This demo was very well received by the underground press and fans worldwide. Some thoughts about lyrical conception of Castrum: mostly deals with historical events but there were some lyrics based on the band members’ personal experiences too(„Rapid Death” and Source of Hate” tracks).  Werkoff was compelled to leave the band, due to the complications took part in his family life. In the summer of 1997, he had been replaced with drummer Doni of  Soulrest (another death metal band from our hometown). It was my last live show with Castrum in February 1998, and later, in early autumn I left the band for my studies in Hungarian town, Szeged. Cornelius continued Castrum, of course, apart of the guitar he became as a vocalist as well. In September 1999 the horde signed a deal with the Ukranian underground label Metal Force Records. The first result of it was a MC release unleashed under the banner of ”The Leading Spirit of Medieval Tortures” (MC 002), which contained a collection of almost all the early materials of Castrum with my vocals.

In the fall of 2000 Metal Force Records released the band’s debut album ”Hatenourisher” in MC format. It followed shortly a record deal with Canadian Bloodbucket Productions and ”Hatenourisher” was out in CD format as well in 2001. The second Castrum CD”Mysterious Yet Unwearied” was released in December of 2002. The band’s third album, titled ”Phenomenonsense” was released through Bloodbucket Productions late 2006.

Castrum’s ”The Essence of the Past” DVD was compiled by Cornelius from old archive shows, clips, demos and released in December 2007, it contains all the early stuff with Werkoff and me…..

 
3.I know that the then Castrum line-up had also a project called Chamos. Can you tell us something about it?(demo-recording, promotion, live concerts, etc.)

Yes, Cornelius had 2 tracks which didn’t fit too much to Castrum conception in 1996 and we decided to start a blackened death/thrash project, called Chamos. We chose demon-pseudonames and recorded these two songs in our rehearsal room in 1997. At our live Castrum-shows we played a few times these ones but never will be recorded in studio… 

4.Why did you left Castrum? Did you played in other bands during this time?
As I’ve mentioned before, I left Castrum for my studies in Hungary. It was a sorrowful choice for me.

I played with my Hungarian friends a few Slayer, Kreator and Metallica-covers in their rehearsal room just for fun but we didn’t record anything and didn’t played live gigs….

5.Tell about your activity in the black metal band Domhring!

I lived in Hungarian town Debrecen, when I’ve met the Domhring guys in the early of 2008. They searched a vocalist for their black metal band and after the first rehearsal I stayed with them. We recorded a demo called ”The Vicar of Satan” in Spring but we were not satisfied with mixing. For that reason I asked my ex-bandmate of Castrum, Cornelius, and he did a new excellent sound for the tracks. After the demo we played several shows in Hungary (Debrecen, Budapest, etc.). In the summer of 2009 we recorded a Bathory-cover, ”Woman of Dark Desires” (mixed by Cornelius as well) and continued to play at live concerts (among others Domhring crushed my hometown, Uzhgorod/Ungvár too). It was so painful for me the year 2010, because I lost my Transcarpathian bride, Kate, and after Her death I returned again to my homeland. I’ve played my last show with Domhring in June of 2010…………

6.You're a hungarian from Ukraine. How was the scene through all these years(in your vision, in both countries)? Any recommended Ukrainian bands?

 Well, my hometown had and has a lot of bands with different styles during my Castrum-times and nowadays as well but I can’t speak about it as a scene….

I don’t know really what was the situation in other parts of Ukraine but I think, Kharkiv/Kharkov has always been a strong metal scene.

Some recommendations: Castrum, Soulrest and Reusmarkt (from my hometown). Also: Nokturnal Mortum, Khors, Drudkh, Kroda, Dub Buk, Mental Demise, Datura, Sidus Mortuorum….

About Hungarian scene… hmmm…when I played with Domhring I’ve seen a lot of great bands at live shows and talked with musicians too and in my opinion Hungarian scene since Tormentor-era produced and produce some excellent hordes these days as well.

7.What recommendations from Hungary can you have?

Angerseed, Domhring, Neokhrome, Dim Vision (from Debrecen),

 Sear Bliss, Bornholm, Casketgarden,  Mörbid Carnage, Nadir, Athame….

8.Your Top 10 favourite albums of all time?

1. Mercyful Fate: Don’t Break the Oath

2. Kreator: Pleasure to Kill/with EP Flag of Hate

3. Dismember: Like an Ever Flowing Stream

4. Sodom: Persecution Mania/with EP Expurse of Sodomy

5. Dissection: Storm of the Light’s Bane/and all the Dissection stuff

6. Entombed: Left Hand Path

7. Ancient Rites: The Diabolic Serenades

8. Death: Scream Bloody Gore

9. Helloween: Walls of Jericho/with Helloween EP
10. Running Wild Death or Glory/with Wild Animal EP

9.What are your favourite 2012 albums?

Asphyx:Deathhammer

Obscenity: Atrophied in Anguish

Sinister: The Carnage Ending

Kreator: Phantom Antichrist

Grand Supreme Blood Court: Bow Down Before the Blood Court

Unleashed:Odalheim

Grave: Endless Procession of Souls etc.

 
10.What are your future plans?
Firstly I plan again going to Hungary to live this year but before this I would like to make a few interviews with  famous musicians in co-operation with Cornelius for his webzine Encomium………

11.Are you now interested in joining one of your old bands? What about resurrecting Chamos under another name? 

Castrum and Domhring are both were nice parts of my life and we had a lot of great experiences together… These bands have complete line-ups now, so I think my personality it’s not necessary to them.

Chamos it's in his grave, but of course it would be great to record these tracks from Hellish Reveries rehearsal-demo some day…..

12.Do you think of yourself as a metal legend?

Hihihi. Are you jocking, aren’t you?

13.I wish you all the best, and add some final (wisdom) words!!!

Mersi, Sorin! It was a pleasure to answer you these questions. Stay metal! Hail Chaos…….

P.S.: Georgius writes in this fanzine too http://www.castrum.com.ua/encomium/
P.P.S.: If you need a vocalist in the Ukraine/Hungary area, here it is his page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Georgius-UnghWar/230505050368427 

                                          INTERVIEW DONE BY SORIN NECROTROOPER