The Pagan Herald #01
If I am properly informed, you are now a four-piece. I am really
interested in the individuals standing behind Hagal. What
are your very own visions concerning Hagal? What was the
reason to bring Hagal into being? Has the intention and
incentive for making music changed in any way during the last years?
Did any of you three founding-members (and newest member Janosch)
have any experience in playing music before?
You`re right, we`re a four-piece. Because I have to do this interview
by my own I can only speak for myself. We founded Hagal
because we liked Black Metal, simply as that. We did some rehearsals
and the idea of founding a band came to our mind. My intentions
for making music hasn`t changed during the last years. I never cared
much about the “scene”, my image, corpsepaint, spikes
and leather, you know. I just wanted to play music, express myself
through my lyrics. I`ve experienced that people take us seriously
because of us being as we are! I stand behind my music, that`s why
I use no synonym. To answer your last question: Only A.F. has played
music before, but nothing worth to mention here. And even now, there
are just a few sideprojects: Dirk plays the bass-guitar at Negator,
I´m session drummer at Funeral Procession for one
or another album.
Tell us about the response of people and musicians for your releases.
“Karg” found its way straight into the heart of many people,
including me. My impression is that Hagal reached a small
but somehow “suitable” crowd. I read some real promising reviews
about “Karg” years ago. They were usually positive and
affirmative, but sometimes included slightly critical words. What
sort of response did you get so far for the new album? Respectively,
do you expect any special sort of comeback?
You`re right: “Karg” has been reviewed quite positively,
only the sound was criticized sometimes. On our new output the sound
is much better. So, the reviews were throughout positive, and I
don`t expect negative words. By the way, you can read most of the
reviews on “Karg” and “Sterbender Traum” on our
homepage.
“Karg” is a shining pearl in the gloomy mist of mostly
ludicrous and controversial German Pagan Metal releases. But somehow
it had typical aspects of a usual demo status, which is totally
alright. Without any doubt, lyrics and visualisation were far away
from having any weaknesses for a caring observer. Mainly blue and
cold colours, ornaments, the great logo, all arrangements, everything
was looking fine and was used in a really inspiring way. But one
mistake was the production, I think. The mastering is relatively
low, and every review dealt with this topic. One half said it’s
the appropriate sound for Hagals music; the other half
called it a great pity not to hear Hagal’s music in a better
shape. Any comments on this highly discussed matter?
I can understand this criticism. Actually, we didn`t want the mastering
to be so “low”, we just recorded it with a simple computer-prog
and probably with a lack of skills, haha. But anyway, I personally
think the sound fits to the hole concept of “Karg”. But
as I said before: “Sterbender Traum” sounds completely
different, one might say much better than “Karg”.
You see, in my opinion this sole mistake of “Karg” was
definitely erased on “Sterbender Traum”. Without any doubt,
the sound changed to a higher, more professional level. I remember
you defended the “old” sound at that time. On “Sterbender Traum”,
the sound is perfect, so to say accurately fitting! It consists
of tremendous pounding drums, its merging and powerful string sound
(slightly chainsawish, though) and clearly perceptible acoustic
guitars. Not to forget the right blending of screams and clean vocals.
Do you care for criticism in the first place? And how do you judge
the “Karg”-times when hearing this much better sound? Is
it a progress or innovation for you?
Of course I care for criticism! We make music for us and for other
people. So why shouldn`t we listen to other opinions? As I said,
I personally liked the sound of “Karg”, but of course I
like the sound of “Sterbender Traum” even more. It is better,
there`s no question.
In my opinion it’s quite weird to see so many bands releasing
one boring and unsophisticated record after another in a very short
period of time, neither spending any time on composing nor mood.
Therefore, they show neither essential values nor any appropriate
progress. With intention, they know this! It’s recognizable when
you look at all those crappy and commercial Trash-Death Metal bands
from Sweden, and it’s certainly getting worse with the tens of thousands
copies of Darkthrone/Burzum here in Germany. Of
course there are some things which need to be done spontaneous on
a four-track recorder, with the spirit of improvisation. But people
simply lack the ability to create sophisticated, prepared music
any longer, so they try to compensate it with the amount of records.
What thoughts do you have on this? Do you prefer long preparations
or spontaneous sessions, too? Your long period of silence between
“Karg” and today should be an answer in this context, or…?
I prefer long preparations. You have to work on a song for
long to make it good! We worked for over three years on the title
song of “Sterbender Traum”. We throw away parts, composed
new parts, let the drums play different rhythms and so on. In the
end we all have to be satisfied. If just a single bandmember dislikes
the song or parts of it this song will never be on the album – so
we have to work on our songs, at least to save them from being thrown
away. No one wants to listen to a German band copying Darkthrone.
It`s so boring. Those people think, they`re true, because they play
Black Metal the “original way”. No the fuck, they`re just dull.
Darkthrone is true, Burzum is, or at least was
(you should know what I mean). But every single band playing the
same way as Darkthrone or Burzum does is fucking
crap, nothing more!
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