Madder Mortem has been around since 1993 and has kept its musical individuality since then. Fast-forward to 2010, almost 20 years later, the band, founded and fronted by Charismatic female singer Agnete has only taken Madder Mortem to a newer level rocking. Their five song EP along with a video for “Where Dream And Day Collide” makes this one hell of a recording. I was lucky enough to get a chance to speak to the lady of the band herself and here is what she had to say about their first ever ep.Item content here... by Sarjoo Devani
Formed in the early fall of 2005, Sweden’s Nox Aurea play a blistering yet melodic doomdeath. The band explores a more abstract approach to the darker emotions of the human mind and soul, extending its delving beyond the physical and into the realm of chaos theorists and Gnostics. Nox Aurea’s latest CD, “Ascending in Triumph,” is a chronicle of the journey to date, one that listeners can now also experience. EI spoke with guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, and vocalist Grim Vindkall, who discussed how his philosophical outlook has influenced his path in life and in music.
EI: Interesting name for a band. Please tell me what the name means and how it fits into your musical approach.
GRIM VINDKALL: “It’s Latin. ‘Nox’ means ‘night’ and ‘aurea’ (from the word ‘aureus’) means ‘gold/golden.’ Nox Aurea should best be interpreted as ‘golden night,’ which signifies the timeless acosmic aeon. Nox Aurea can also be interpreted as ‘nightly gold,’ which signifies the Luciferian enlightenment. The Roman goddess Aurora (the name is related to Aurea) is a metaphor for dawn. Thus, Nox Aurea can also be seen as the dawn of night, a new dark era. It fits perfect into our dark, grandiose approach to music.”
EI: Tell me a little about the early days of the band. Specifically, can you remember your first obstacle and how you overcame it?
GRIM VINDKALL: “I [met] guitarist Peter Laustsen [also bass and keyboards] five years ago when I moved to Gothenburg. We became neighbors. It seems that we had lived at the same place five years earlier; we began to talk about our musical interests and soon began to play guitar together, creating some . . . shit [laughs]. But we liked it, so we continued to create some bad songs.
“We wanted to do something unusual to what we used to do (Peter played in a death-metal band called Maleficio back then and I was playing in the black-metal band Domgard). I guess our first obstacle was to find this new way of music, since we were used to fast and intense metal. But we had this vision that guided us. I had all those visionary dark pictures inside my mind that, when I closed my eyes, could imagine with dark and slow music.
“The next obstacle, I guess, was when my home burned down (Peter’s home also almost burned down, as he was my neighbor), destroying my instruments and everything I had recorded on my computer. Shit happens and you have to begin from point one again. But it was strengthening in a longer perspective.”
EI: Looking back at your 2009 debut release, “Via Gnosis,” would you change anything today if you had the opportunity or would you leave the album alone?
GRIM VINDKALL: “Well, there are some details we gladly would do better. The budget was low and thus the studio time was short; it’s really a problem when you need to stress with your music. I don’t know if we ever will re-record some tracks from it, since we nowadays look toward the next level of Nox Aurea. Somewhere you need to accept each step for what it is. ‘Via Gnosis’ was our very first step, and from that perspective we are satisfied with it.”
EI: Tell me about your new release, “Ascending in Triumph.” What can fans expect to hear?
GRIM VINDKALL: “Grandiose, dark, and majestic atmospheres that, hopefully, bring inner and absorbing reflections to the listeners. There is also a lot of triumphant punch in the sound. For those seeking deeper into the mystery of the album, they will find something very unusual and enriching in the metaphoric enigmas of the Nox Aurea concept.”
EI: What was it that first attracted you to heavy metal? Is there any particular genre you prefer, even to this day?
GRIM VINDKALL: “The obscurity and power of it. I used to listen AC/DC and Black Sabbath during the end of the 1980s. Some years later, I was very much into Slayer and then black metal. Nowadays, I listen to everything from Uriah Heep to Darkthrone—all kinds of metal styles.”
EI: Most of the songs on “Ascending in Triumph” seem to combine an epic sense of beauty with dark feelings of melancholy. Please explain this approach and, if incorrect, articulate what elements you feel go into the music.
GRIM VINDKALL: “Yes I agree. There are different and dynamic aspects of the same essence where our inspiration comes from. To walk in these desolate gloomy lands deep inside, which a Chaosophist seeks, brings a sense of beauty but also dark melancholy. I think the contrasts fit well and the combination comes naturally. The world of Nox Aurea should be beautifully terrifying.”
EI: What inspires you lyrically?
GRIM VINDKALL: “The spiritual world and my longing to merge with it. Also, inner pictures and gloomy visions that always haunt my soul. There is a bottomless abyss inside, and who knows what really dwells there deep inside and the unknown function of it? I live at the edge of the abyss, and the music and lyrics I create come from sparks that this abyss casts.”
EI: What sorts of things go through your mind just before going onto the stage to perform live?
GRIM VINDKALL: “I try to clean my mind of thoughts and instead focus on what we shall bring forth. I try to put myself in a kind of hypnotic state within which my mind is very clear and open. Last time, when Nox Aurea played with Deathstars here in Gothenburg, I meditated before going onto the stage. It was perfect.”
EI: What kinds of emotions go through you during the first minutes of the first song?
GRIM VINDKALL: “It’s absolutely emotions of dignity as we fulfill our music as a ritualistic hymn. But well, it’s hard to put those types of emotions into words, I think. But I certainly enjoy them—they’re inspiring.”
EI: What are your tour plans? Any chance of touring the United States? If so, is New Mexico a likely state to visit?
GRIM VINDKALL: “We’re working on it but no absolute plans right now. Everything has gone by very fast this year, so all festivals were already booked this year and hopefully it will be easier to organize tours when the new album has reached the potential audience out there. I hope we may visit the States and New Mexico one day.”
EI: Anything else you would like to add?
GRIM VINDKALL: “Learn to know who you are and become the master of your own world. You have great potential deep inside—don’t waste it.”
