MAYHEM –

MAYHEM

ATTILA – Tilbake i Mayhem
2005-02-07
Av Rune

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Det var nok mange som ble litt overrasket da Mayhem annonserte at Maniac var ute av bandet og at Attila nok en gang var tilbake i Mayhem som vokalist. Og da bandet kom innom Trondheim og Samfundet p� sin lille 4 dagers Norgesturne, var jeg ikke sen om � be om et intervju med den gode magyaren. Vi fikk kontakt rett etter at bandet var ferdige med sin sound check, og Attila ville gjerne ta det med en gang. Da bar det ut p� jakt etter et passende sted � f� tatt intervjuet, noe som viste seg � ikke v�re det enkleste denne kvelden p� Samfundet. Men ei hyggelig dame blant Samfundets ansatte hjalp oss og like etter satt vi godt til rette p� det eneste rommet p� Samfundet der r�ykeforbudet ikke hadde n�dd inn og intervjuet kunne begynne.

ET – Well Attila, Back in Mayhem again. How does it feel?
ATTILA � It is good and it is a great honor at the same time. Actually it is a really good feeling to play with such good musicians.

ET – Was it �Hell yeah� when they asked you to rejoin the band or did you have to think twice?
ATTILA � Actually the story is that years ago there were some conversations between me and the band. I think it was back in 98 or something when we met in Milan. We had already back then some agreement, spoken words only, that if anything would happen, I would be the first to be asked to join the band as vocalist. And when Maniac got personal problems or something like that and decided to leave the band, they contacted. He was not really eager to tour I think. Maybe he just wanted to do something different, I don`t know. We were talking about maybe that I would be needed for the next album or so, but it was a big surprise for me when they asked me to rejoin the band.

ET – What do you think of the progression of the band?
ATTILA � At this stage I have a lot of respect for what they have done and I think that Mayhem is a band that always is unique and forward its time. People always need a couple of years after each album before they can completely understand the music. It`s experimental and I really like it. They are different artists. Some have found their style and want to keep it, while other artists like Mayhem are always trying to find something new in their music. I think that all the albums after De Mysteriis Dom Satanas has a differential face, it`s dark and brutal, it`s more clinical and more cold and crystal. I like Chimera too, maybe it`s the coldest album they have made. It`s hard to explain the feeling, this music has a little mission behind, like a war machine. It`s more floating and is a lot more atmospheric than The Grand Declaration Of War. The lyrics are more cryptic also. But as I said, I like it, but the goal now is to do another album. So on these 4 gigs here I am just trying to get in shape and to see how things are. I like to present the songs and to be the vocalist of Mayhem. It`s important for me to present the songs to the fans. We aren�t doing any more gigs at the moment, it`s just to show the people how it sounds like now with this line up and we just want to go to the studio to do the new album. And that one will be yet another step musically. I`m not sure how it will be, but I am sure it will be unique and totally Mayhem style. With this really unique technical playing of Blasphemer, Hellhammer and Necrobutcher we can focus on the new stuff. Blasphemer can listen to my voice and compose the new songs with this knowledge in his mind. So I am sure it will be something great. How could it not be, hehe, with such great musicians?

ET � Do you have any idea of how the new album will be like?
ATTILA � It is really just under constructions, I have just heard a couple of riffs. Just to get a feeling of how it`s going to be, and I think it`s going to be something really great.

ET – What about your other bands; Keep of Kalessin and Aborym? Will you still be a part of them?
ATTILA � With Keep of Kalessin things are not sure now. I am afraid I have to quit my job there, because I want to focus on Mayhem. I told Obsidian C, when I joined the band that I might would be needed in Mayhem. And if it that would happen, I would have to quit in Keep of Kalessin. We just made this mini CD to see how it works, and if I didn`t rejoin Mayhem again, I would probably have continued in Keep of Kalessin. But artistically it isn`t too interesting for me right now, to play similar music, similar style and they are from the same area as Mayhem. Now that I am needed in Mayhem it is just a decision I have to make, and that is the main reason. It is always like that, and I don`t think that it will be a problem. If Keep of Kalessin will go on, they will do a great album with another vocalist. So this is the situation there at the moment.
With Aborym it is different, because that is different type of music. It`s industrial black metal, futuristic and atmospheric. The problem with that band that it is so extreme, even in an extreme scene, it`s hard to step forward, hehehehe. We like to sign some new contracts also. I think I will continue with Aborym for the next album. But there are some complications in the band because Seth left to join Dissection and I have joined Mayhem again, but I will go down to Rome soon to talk with the guys. Maybe they would prefer a new vocalist which is more dedicated to the band. I have to believe in this music and we need the freedom in the art. We always need to do what we feel what we need to do and this is important and is the main reason for rejoining Mayhem again. But I don`t want to burn down any bridges, but I really don`t know at the moment. It`s not an easy job you know, to be the singer in Mayhem, hehe. It`s hard to enter a band, even re-enter, to such a legendary and big band from Norway. They are awarded to Grammy and nominated to Grammy. It is a big thing in my opinion, and to represent this band I need to put in a lot of energy and to make myself worthy to do this.

ET – You have now and then done a song or two with Mayhem live. Would you say you missed being a part of Mayhem?
ATTILA � I don`t know, it`s very hard to answer this question because in one way I have missed it but in another way it had to be like this. I`m not sad about what happened, through these years I have learned a lot from other experiments, I did many different bands, recordings and experiments. I did have this in my back head, but I had to go forward and if I have gone back to Mayhem earlier, I would have just been lazier, hahaha. This question is very hard to answer and my answer have to be yes and no, or no or yes. I don`t know man. But now I am back and the band has great songs and a lot of fans. I think that Mayhem will survive, hehe.

ET – What do you think of the black metal scene today compares to the early years?
ATTILA � Of course it`s different and there is a wider specter of extreme metal bands and black metal has many different branches from old school to black/death, industrial, atmospheric, melodic or symphonic black metal. I think this music has this supreme spirit behind it so it is very hard to describe why this and this band is good or why it�s not. Why this music, even it�s not so technical, makes you feel great. But I am happy with the scene today, because it is growing. It is nice to see these young kids playing so fucking excellent. Of course the main bands, the leading bands, it�s nice that they still are there. It is a great culture, it�s a nice thing. There are some more extreme bands and more underground bands and they turn to this or that, I don�t know man, hehehehe. It�s so complex today.

ET � This is your 4th gig in 4 days here in Norway, how did the first 3 go?
ATTILA � Well, the first one was kind of hard. It was ok, it felt great, but there were some mistakes done, because this music isn�t very easy to play live even if we have rehearsed, but only 8 times before the gigs. So it wasn�t too much rehearsal, it could have been more. I rehearse myself with the lyrics and bla bla bla. It was our first gig with our new guitarist Tom Arild from Bloodthorn. The second one was much better even we didn�t sleep too much, hehehe. But it was better and the one yesterday was even better I think. Naturally it will be a progression and the gigs will get better and better. I really hope that the gig tonight will be at least as good as the one yesterday. We need these 4 gigs to be in shape.

ET � You are also doing a gig at By:Larm in Stavanger next month. What do you think about playing at this type of festival?
ATTILA � I don�t know much of this festival, and I actually don�t care. Visually I do my thing for 20 people or a lot more. Sometimes I like it when there are just a few people at the gig, but I think it will be a good gig for us.

Og med det takket jeg den hyggelige Attila for intervjuet, og vi gikk hver til v�rt. Han backstage for � forberede konserten, mens undertegnede gikk inn i salen for � se Chton.