Misþyrming | Sound and fury

This interview has been published on Radio Metal the 07/07/2016.

Is Iceland the future of black metal? Considering the amount of fascinating records released by the local scene (Svartidauði, Wormlust, Sinmara…) these last few years and the enthusiasm it stirred, it may indeed be. And that’s what legendary Roadburn festival’s programmers must have been thinking as well: not only they added quite a few Icelandic bands to their prestigious line-up, but they even picked newcomers Misþyrming as the “artist in residence” of their 2016 edition, following nothing less than Enslaved or Neige from Alcest.

So it’s during Roadburn that I managed to catch three members of the band for an interview a few streets away from the agitation of the festival, despite their (very!) tight schedule: in three days, they would play up to six sets with different bands and musicians combinations, the highlight being the Úlfmessa (Icelandic for “wolves mass”), during which no less than ten musicians would appear on stage. We took advantage of this flurry of activity to talk about many aspects of the Icelandic black metal scene, from its functioning to its influences to its… consanguinity.

D.G., H.R.H. and, T.Í., who play in Naðra, Carpe Noctem, and NYIÞ on top of Misþyrming, display just as much enthusiasm as control, and just as much humility as ambition. One thing is certain: this is just the foretaste of all they have to give.

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Costin Chioreanu | Between two worlds

This interview has been published on Radio Metal the 29/09/2014.

The visual dimension has always been a key component of metal aesthetics: just thinking about the amount of seminal bands who’ve been fishing in the whole art history for their artworks—Morbid Angel, Burzum, Reverend Bizarre to name but a few—shows how often the music and the art worlds blend together.

I talked about that with Costin Chioreanu a few years ago. If you aren’t familiar with his name already, you probably know his art: a multifaceted artist, he designs posters, artworks and T-shirts for many bands among which Arch Enemy, Opeth, Neurosis and Ulver, but also directs animated videos, and works on stage design, for Mayhem. On top of that, he plays himself in Bloodway, and works on several more personal projects and exhibitions.

Strong of an extremely rich and varied experience of both the music and the art world, he told us about metalheads’ relationship to art and about his own. Because in the end, the medium of expression doesn’t matter: the goal is always to serve a higher purpose.

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