This time the interview is with Bhaal and Grav, the two original members of this band. Orcrist's sound can be appreciated by everyone, being it very anchored to the roots of the genre, most of all in the Norwegian old school sound that everybody really into BM surely knows. "Primitive Damnations", the first recording I've ever heard of them, has left me a good impression, despite of all the negative comments I often heard about their music and production, it keeps alive that raw and glacial feeling that seems to been lost by old bands from Norway. Some ideas of this two guys aren't agreed by myself, being them to much fascinated by Norwegian scene in my opinion, anyway I think we had an interesting interview I invite you to read...

Let’s start with the usual custom question: when did Orcrist did born, who are its members, what did you realised ‘till now and bla bla bla…

            [Grav]: Orcrist is a Grim Black Metal Warmachine. We rise from the extreme underground filth to support the true philosophy of Black Metal; no contamination will come from us, but only a pure, raw and mauling metal, played with the worst gear in the worst way.
We started to play on the 5th day of April 2001 from the ashes of Eld, a Death Metal band. Eld was composed by six members and registered only three songs: “Eld Han Tary”, “Dillard Sissman” and an unnamed song. Eld split because Bhaal and me wanted to play BM. We started to play Black Metal with the name of Gorgon, discarded after a while for “Orcrist”. The first song we composed was “In the Forest Enthroned”, then “Pictures of a Murder” and “Alive Again”. Then I wrote the lyrics for “My Soul Comes Close to You”, renamed “Over Man’s Doom” by Ghoosta. We recorded our first reh. (S/T) and second one (“Over Man’s Doom”) in 2001 as a duo (me and Bhaal). Then we recorded the first demo / Cdr in 2002 (“The Third Imperium”) with Lucyfer and Ghoosta (he is a guest from God Dog and Fullmoon Promises). Bhaal and me had a Norge folk side project (now ended) called “Tul” with Sverre at the keyboards. We recorded only three songs.
This year we have recorded our second demo / Cdr (“Primitive Damnation”) limited to 666 hand numbered copies and edited by Third Reich Prod. / Aemathien Distro.

I’ve never heard anything from you before now, and having always heard diametrically opposite opinions about your music, I must say I was quite curious. Personally I consider this “Primitive Damnation” a valid work, raw and ugly at the right point; this thing may not be liked by many people, so what do you have to say about?

            [G]: You are right, many people will not like it for its primordial sound, but I don’t give a shit about their opinion of my sound!
I like it, so I don’t listen to their comments.

Your name comes from “The Lord of The Rings”, the masterpiece of Tolkien so much misused by many bands. Why did you choose this name? Can we find some Toluene literature’s references inside your songs?

            [Bhaal]: I think it could be a very long answer, as I could have to talk for much time about this… Orcrist is the name of the sword owned by the dwarf Thorin II Oakshield. Gandalf, Bilbo and Thorin found it inside the troll caves, along with his twin Glamdring (then owned by Gandalf). All these events happen inside “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings”. I chose this name simply because I liked it a lot. I think the root “orc” inside this word has a nice sound, very hard.
About the Tolkien masterpiece, in this time of my life I wouldn’t consider it in this way. I read it about five times when I was a teenager, and for many times it owned all my fantasy imaginary, but now, sincerely, I’m tired of it, and reading it again it sounds quite boring.
In our songs we haven’t any influence from Tolkien: most of all you can find observations about nature and other things (woods, starry sky, snow forests at winter, blood and knives) and, about “Primitive Damnation”, there are a lot of reference with the Pangermanic mythology.

I consider the lyrics of the first song very fantasy: hod did you composed it?

            [B]: Well, if you are talking about “My Father, the Night-Wolf”, I can tell you that the text finds its roots in the Scandinavian mythology. It describes a fight between two clan chiefs, and the protagonist sees his palace burned, the head of his father impaled on a lance (made by the chief of the opposite clan); then he gathers his men for the fight. The name Night-Wolf refers to the father of the protagonist, named Kveldulv (meaning Vespers-wolf or Night-wolf), a really common name in Norway of the 10th century.
If you refer to “My Thoughts at the End of the World” of “The Third Imperyum”, I can tell you that it’s a very old song (music and lyrics written by myself about on ’93-‘95) and it’s inspired by the futuristic devastation of the planet Earth on “Rifts” (a role play game), one of my passions. At the beginning, that song shouldn’t be Black Metal, but a song in the veins of Orgy or Sister of Mercy.

I was talking of the song in “Primitive Damnation”. As I told you, it’s the first time I hear something from your band…
Another song, always in “Primitive Damnation”, has a text translated into Norwegian: personally this thing has struck me a lot, being you an Italian band. Why did you make this song translation?

            [B]: Correct, the song “Samankallinger” (meaning “the summoning”) is sang in Nynorsk, a dialect grown in the last decades in Norway, that few people know, being Bokmal the official idiom.
I chose to sing it in Nynorsk ‘cause I consider it more suitable for Black Metal. Italian is a beautiful and too variegated idiom to express grim, raw and destructive feelings; English is abused, like a sort of outspoken language for European music! Even for some things, English is also quite soft, and needs to be replaced with something “harder”, but not “cacophonic” like I consider, for example German language. That’s why I chose to sing this song in Norwegian.

Well, I don’t agree with you in some points, but I can understand what you want to tell me.
Anyway I don’t understand all this “xenomania” that seems to reign in our country, like we’d have nothing to be proud of (sic!!)… In the past I heard about some Italian bands that sang in Norwegian language exclusively: that thing really made me laugh a lot!! I can understand the English language to make your words comprehensible world-wide (even if I don’t consider it indispensable), but trying to be the “spare time” Norse, seems to me a really idiot thing: your opinion?

            [B]: This kind of “xenomania” is a shitty thing, an hateful trendy; personally I think in Italy we’ve always been quite (too much, ndA) attracted by foreign countries, it’s something in our heritage, a die-hard thing. Bah, personally I’m a little too. I like so much United States and, for the music, I like only Norwegian albums. Do you now what’s the fact? I didn’t find interesting proposals from Italian bands. The fact is that very few of those I listened to (just two or three of them) can really play, here in Italy, old school Norwegian Black Metal that I like. I’m not saying that every Norwegian band can play this music (in fact in the last times a lot of shit is coming from there, let us grant).
Talking about those I listened here in Italy, only Disjecta (just one song, I don’t know the rest) and Execratum (really raw music, but I don’t like the vocals). I think Italian musicians are very cool and creative, really much, but they can’t find that “cold astral void flavour” (sorry for the mess!) that some (I underline 'some') Norwegian could do, making “the” Black Metal.

Neither this time I can agree, to be honest. I think every country has its good bands and, even if they were the prime movers of the scene, nowadays most of BM bands coming from Norway are really some steps under many other bands, coming from different parts of the world and playing not necessarily only in the classic old school way…
What kind of ideals drives your band and what do you want to reach with your music?

            [G]: I don’t exactly now what to answer you: by now, just play my music is what I’m interested to. The music we play isn’t listened by many people and by now I can tell you anything more.

You took part in the Volume II of “Blut und Eisen” compilation, with a song that personally I consider so much under the level of “Primitive Damnation”, even if I can find some Absurd influences in it. Can you tell us how did you decided to take part to this compilation and what are your opinions about the ideals it propagates?

            [G]: The song you are talking about is “Voluspà”, and was recorded in 2001 in our rehearsal room, everything with two shitty microphones!
We took part at the compilation because Paolo (the mastermind of Third Reich Prod., ndA) asked us.

Talking about spiritual ideals, what are yours? Do you think we can put you inside any religious / philosophic doctrine?

            [G]: No!!

What bands do you consider as your most important influence and whom would you like to listen to ‘till the end of times?

            [G]: I’m talking about the bands I listened, I listen and I will listen to in the future (surely you will tell me I’m quite close minded, but I sold all those Swedish, Finnish, American and so on bands I had, except those that for me are still Black Metal): Darkthrone, Burzum, Immortal (first three albums plus the 7’’), Mayhem (only Deathcrush), Strid, Carpathian Forest, Taake, Isvind, Icewind, Gorgoroth, Isengard, Satyricon, Storm, Emperor, Old Funeral, Manes, Mock, Enslaved and so on…

Are you planning any live date? How do you consider a live performance inside a genre like BM that for definition hasn’t so much in common with the typical atmosphere of a live gig?

            [G]: No live dates! I saw many Black Metal bands in the past, but I prefer to listen to them on Lp or Cd…

Any future project? What are you doing now?

            [G]: This summer there’ll be out a 7’’ with a Norwegian band that I know, but I can’t tell you more. It will be out for an Italian label, limited to 300 units.
At the end of May we’ll record our full-length debut album (in this recording have took part two guys of the Norwegian band mentioned above, one of whom you surely know, the guitar player of that band…).
We’re searching for a label for the production of this debut… It will be primitive, cold and with “norge” sounds like our demos.

Ok, thanks for your time: end as you prefer…

            [G]: Thank you for the interview, as soon as you can I will send you our first demo, I hope you will like it!

I will listen to it and tell you… Hails