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Tidings
Shatraug, how are things in the world of Horna today? Have any of the
members been in bands in the past or have side projects? What did Horna
release before signing with Solistitium? What does Horna mean?
Greetings, Dale. It’s been pretty busy for
the last days and it happens to be that this is the fourth interview that I
am answering in a row today. We had no bands before Horna was put together,
but our vocalist Nazgul is a member of
Pest
which actually is his main band Horna being
priority two. I myself have a side project called Mirkhall which is a bit
more mid-paced than Horna and slightly more melodic with some folkish
touches here and there, but Horna is definitely my top priority and all
other activities remain under less dedication. Our former guitarist Moredhel
had something going on but as said, he is no longer part of the band so it
doesn’t have a thing to do with the question. The name Horna is Finnish, if
you didn’t guess, and means “hell” or “the abyss” so all guesses based on
words horn and horny were a bit on the right direction, after all hell is a
place for all christian horrors. Our ideology is not based on (the) bible
though, even if I’m sure none of you made the error of thinking so…Before
signing with Solistitium we released only one demo entitled “Varjoissa”
quickly taking distance from it’s immatureness towards such grim appearance
as on “Hiidentorni” one can experience.
 What
led up to you getting signed to Solistitium, did you send them a tape or did
they contact you? What kind of deal is it, how many albums? Were your
recording and art budgets for your debut album and MCD satisfactory?
It was as simple as sending a tape to
Carsten and him contacting us with a good proposal. The deal itself is only
for each album itself, lasting as long as we feel capable of doing things
together, meaning that we could take off right now or release our next ten
albums on Solistitium. There are no obligations and no necessaries for us to
fulfill. Our budgets have been growing all the time along with our needs so
yes, with are satisfied with finances so far. Due to some things about the
contract I’m not saying any details about it. I’m sure you understand why (I
do -Dale).
What is life
like in Finland? What kind of child were you and what was the first album
you ever really got into? What is the scene like in your area, how are the
turn-outs at shows & what Finnish bands are you friends with? There are a
lot of summer festivals and shows there, will Horna attend any of these?
Life here, I suppose, is rather usual and
normal to any European country with welfare and decent economy. Easy to be
and easy to survive (Does not sound like North America, it is uneasy to be…
-Dale). I’ve always had quite a great imagination and I was told as a
child I was fast in places, very much alive so to speak. The first album I
really got into must have been Iron Maiden’s “Powerslave” back in ’83 and
after that it has simply been a metal addiction so far. It’s a safe drug, no
chance for overdose and never too many different branches…The scene in our
area is a small circle of friends as there aren’t many bands around
Lappeenranta, but considering (the) whole Finland we have quite many allies
yes a couple worth our support. Let’s just mention …And Ocean, Behexen, and
Warloghe for example. The last time we played live was on the New Year’s Eve
in Helsinki and there the audience was okay, but we haven’t been asking any
chances to go out on stage this year at all just because Moredhel left the
band taking away the possibility of a live appearance. We have now secured
ourselves some session help for any forthcoming shows and wait to kick off
on stage is quite restless. I could say we enjoy playing live which is good
considering promotion and fans. We are very interested in coming to play
over there as well!
Horna’s music
for me creates a very brutal, oppressive & sinister atmosphere, how do you
achieve this or does it come out of you naturally? Do you have to be in a
certain mood (i.e.- depressed, angry ect..) or place (day/night/storms
outside ect..) to write your material? Did you find it hard to keep the
cryptic atmosphere’s in your music during the recording sessions in the
studio?
I was bored with all the bands using synth,
female signing and shit like acoustics and made the decision to go the other
way (Hails to you Shatraug for that great decision, it surely led to this
interview! -Dale) it has been much more natural for me, yes, but I guess it
doesn’t take any special mood or place to compose a song for Horna. I
believe one must have a passion for the art itself and thus draw the
passionate picture from one’s mind and soul into the music. I guess I’m not
such a happy person inside, but Horna definitely “sings” in a language that
only I can comprehend to it’s full extent. If it sinks deeper than skin with
a fan of our music or others as well I’m happy about it, but our music it
mostly done for myself for myself, just as any honest artist expresses his
needs and desires. The atmosphere in our music is easy to maintain as I’m
the only one to decide and I can always find the most suitable clothing to a
child of mine. I’m very determined and hard to bargain with, no compromise
during the recordings have been done. It’s my way or (the) highway…
Describe a
Horna live show does it include smoke, spikes, props ect…? Do you like
playing liv e?
What has been your favorite or least favorite live show thus far? What are
some bands you have played and
shared the stage with?
It’s hard to describe from my point of view,
but we try to keep it energetic, raw and brutal just like on the albums,
always with a similar approach. We do have the show elements of black metal
present, but the intention is to become something more little by little. It
takes a lot of experience first, but we do like to play live so that is
positive I believe, thinking of our aims with performing. We’ve played with
bands like Vornat, Barathrum, Wizzard,
Babylon Whores, Children Of Bodom,
and Him for example. The
best/worst show I’ve been to or we’ve done?(both -Dale) I’ll put on both
then. The worst gig we ever did was in Saarijarvi with a maximum of nine
people watching, and tens waiting outside to kick our asses (say what! Why!?
-Dale). We had to leave the place with a fucking police escort! Then again,
the best show we did was in our hometown, totally giving them everything…The
best show I seen was Emperor live in Helsinki, but I am sure that when I see
King Diamond that experience will never be forgotten or be possible to
match. The worst gigs I have been to were some local bands, but I was aiming
more to get drunk than to follow what they did on stage…
What
age and year did you get into metal? What were some of the first
‘zines/bands & labels you wrote to or ordered stuff from? What age/year did
you get into the underground? How does the band promote themselves, do you
spread a lot of flyers or do you leave it up to the record company? Have you
done many interviews?
The year was ’83 on the first touch (me too!
-Dale), but it was never too much but a child’s hobby back then. I got
seriously involved (with the underground) around ’93 when I ordered some
stuff like Emperor’s “As The Shadow’s Rise” 7” from the band
themselves and some albums from Osmose and shit like that. I’ve never been
into ‘zines too much, but some of the first ones I got were Nordic Vision
and Ornament. Most of the ‘zines I’ve got have come as a free example
with our interview…Most of our own promotion has been through gigs, other
shows and interviews and we leave all serious work for the label since it is
their job to take care of it. I’ve always been lazy with promoting our band
properly. As for the underground, I’ve only formed decent contacts after our
debut was released, mostly with the “aid” of the word CD, if you know what I
mean. Bands and persons nowadays don’t really bother too much unless you’ve
done something else than a demo it seems. It shows anyway, even I support
only friends with a great band and nothing more. Those friends with shitty
bands have no “free” help from me to spread their works.
What is in the future plans
for Horna? A tour perhaps? Is there much new material completed and is it
still in the same vein as the previous stuff? Any plans set up for recording
the second LP?
In fact, we’ve already recorded our second
full-length entitled “Haudankylmyyden Maille” . At the moment two artists
are working on some paintings based on our ideas and the whole package
should be available in December or early next year (1999). We are hoping to
get on the road to do some gigs here and there but nothing has been secured
as of yet. There are always some plans and talking, but that just ain’t
enough…Musically the 2nd LP is still in the same veins as before,
but this time taking our musical expression totally back to the beginning of
(the) ‘90’s when real black metal was still the only way (preach on brother!
-Dale).
What do you
know about my native country of Canada? What do you think of the Canadian
scene past and present? Do many people from here in Canada write you?
To be honest I really don’t know much. The
only band I recall is Blasphemy (really? -Dale) and I don’t get news from
your area at all. In fact, your interview was the first contact from Canada
ever to emerge in our mailbox, You could perhaps say that this interview is
exclusively first in Canada or something…
How does the
writing process go? Does everyone contribute to the writing and arranging or
does one person do most of it? How often do you rehearse? How long does the
average Horna track take to complete?
The songs form in either sudden inspiration
or a long period of small ideas. In any case there are a bunch of lines that
I just put together most fitting way I can manage and it’s not too unusual
for me to build up the same song piece for a dozen times at least to get
that special Horna-touch to it. Anyway, I have been the only one writing
music so far and I do hope to get a change in that once we get a new
guitarist fitted in. I’ve also been the only one writing lyrics in Finnish
as Nazgul did a lyric for the MCD in English and since that we returned back
to Finnish again. As far as rehearsing goes, it’s not much. We haven’t had a
single rehearsal during ’98 all in all and it’s already August tomorrow. We
take time for rehearsal when we have shows ahead or when there is something
to be recorded, otherwise it’s not too necessary. We play some shit from
time to time just to keep the touch alive, loosing it could take too much
time getting it back.
What do you
do in your spare time away from the band? Do members hang out with each
other outside of band activities? What are some of your fave novels, movies
and ‘zines? What sort of music have you been listening to lately? What are
the band members ages?
Most of the time we have is spare time since
the band takes very little of our hours these days. Apart from music it’s
all much like a living with some interests now and then, but nothing
special. Nazgul is currently in the military and Gorthaur attends to some
job so we hardly spend time together hanging out except on some weekend
getting drunk together. I’m still unemployed and I’d need a job to get the
fucking money for better living but there just ain’t too many places to work
available. Most of the literature I read is limited in the occult or fantasy
novels, still when one counts all printed matter I read the paper every day
just to check the funny comic strips…Hmm…I tend to watch horror and action
overall on videos, but all porn with anal sex and lustuous girls is nice to
have in the closet (I hear that! -Dale). You get to shake a bit of the
pressure off once in a while. The latest album I bought was a King
Diamond bootleg, and that type of metal is always near my heart (mine as
well -Dale). Our ages are 20-19-21, you can guess which one I am…
Are you
happy with your debut album and MCD? Are you satisfied with how the
recordings of each turned out? Anything you would change? Will you use the
same studio in the future? How have press and the average listeners
reactions been so far?
 Yes,
we are satisfied with both releases even if there will always be something
to do better I guess. To go on some details, the first album could have had
a better sound and much less mistakes and the MCD may have been better
concerning the covers, especially the lyrics pages. I can’t really explain
about the studio since it’s just fantastic, easy to work in and you get very
well along with the guys there, and we’ve always got the exact sound we have
wanted to have. Anything that could need a change is in your choices, but
one can’t be too experienced in the beginning. You always need to start off
some place…But yes, we’re going to use the same studio next time as well. We
are so familiar with their equipment and personnel that it’s almost fun to
record an album there, and their getting better and better stuff all the
time. So far I haven’t seen any bad reviews of our albums nor heard anyone
telling me that we sucked (they do in the new Grimoire mag but they hate
black metal, so they are of no consequence to the bm scene -Dale), but
people seldom come to tell the band how little they like the music, now do
they?. I’ve heard from our label that we got extremely good and negative
feedback on the debut, but for the MCD I know we’ve got only good critics so
far. It kind of shows in the amount of the interviews lately sine there’s
been a total of 14 of them during July only. It helps to get established and
that is something any band will need.
What do your
lyrics deal with? Could you pick a couple songs and tell us what they speak
about? Do you see the lyrics as a important part of the music? Are the new
lyrics in a similar vein?
Our (or my) lyrics have always been about
blasphemy, death, darkness and strong antichristian ideology. I’d say they
are in no way poetic within these three first releases, but definitely
straight and threatening like the music on these albums is as well. Hell,
here we go then. “Orkkivuorlta” is in all it’s simplicity a tale about the
orcish horde attacking christians from their ancient mountains. A sort of
war cry. “Sword Of Darkness” is, despite the title, a tale about broken
harmony and total vanishing of mercy through our forthcoming triumph. I
haven’t understood everything from this lyric myself either, but I hope it
will open to me in the next journey on the mushroom current (‘magic shrooms’
ah yes -Dale). “White Aura Buried In Ashes” is simple, heaven’s damnation
and rape. Yes, lyrics are a part of the music and if you intend to perform
music then the use of lyrics should be taken seriously as the music itself.
To be black metal, lyrics must deal on satanic subjects one way or another
(I agree, there is a black metal sound, but real black metal through and
through is satanic in nature -Dale). Within the 2nd LP our lyrics
have reached the same sinister and grim approach as the music, and I think
we’ll calm it down in the future to have a more poetic and obscure sense in
them, to make our listeners think about the lyrical content a bit more.
Still, they are going to be in Finnish so the same gleam can never exist in
the translations.
You play what
I like to call musically pure black metal music. Which does not rely on
keyboards, female vocals, violins, piano ect…to create an atmosphere that is
often very false sounding. Do you agree with my opinions and what do you
think of black metal bands that use these symphonic sounds? Do you think it
is to cover up their lack of skill in bringing the atmosphere out of
traditional instruments?
On some bands symphonic approach works and
some it does not. To me it’s BLACK METAL so it’s natural to compose music
based on guitars instead of relying on keyboards or other non-metallic
instruments. I have nothing against using them at all, but to me music has
to stand without the covering (exactly! -Dale). Most of the bands today seem
to have forgotten such a fact and taking Cradle Of Filth as an example,
their guitar lines are shit, just shitty as they can be. It doesn’t
necessarily mean that they can’t play, but it sure makes them look like they
didn’t!. I couldn’t create music based on keyboards and then believe in
myself after that. It’s just an addition to spice up the atmosphere, to give
a special touch on some notes and not a blanket to throw over the work just
make it sound commercial. Most of the “keyboard” bands tend to have way too
nice melodies anyway (true -Dale).
Hails and
thank you my metal brother for the interview and your time!. Last comments
and merchandise available from the band?
Time is always worth spending if there is a
reason worthy of spending a few moments, thanks for the great interview and
let’s hope we can launch our own Canadian Assault tour one day! (That would
be utterly amazing!! -Dale). You can all write us and ask for any
merchandise, it’s too fastly changing stock so no need to mention any here.
An IRC is appreciated when writing just for info. Buy the albums if you seek
something totally raw and
 unholy
sounding BLACK METAL!.
www.legion-horna.com
www.myspace.com/thetruehorna
I second that last statement and many thanks goes out to Shatraug for giving
me thorough answers and for being a great metal brother and underground
worrior, write this band and Solistitium as their music is the best bm out
of Finland in a long time!!. ~ Dale Roy (August 1998)…
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