VEHEMENTER NOS – Krevende musikk som nytes best i mørket

Fransk avantgarde-sortmetall gjennomsyret av doom og krydret med klassiske elementer. Forvirret? Nysgjerrig? Sjekk ut debutskiva deres som nylig ble utgitt på Osmose og bli imponert! A.M. og Engwar er de to herrene bak denne uhellige blandingen, og for å finne ut mer om hvordan dette kom sammen, hva som skjer og hvordan det står til med språkkunnskapen deres ble moderne og vidunderlig teknologi tatt i bruk og mail sendt til Frankrike.

E-T: Who are you and what part do you play in Vehementer Nos?
Engwar: I play guitar, bass, piano and vocals and A.M. plays drums and some vocals too.

E-T: I recently learned that you have got cancer in the leg. How bad is it?
Engwar : Well it's pretty bad and painful indeed but I ain't gonna die nor lose my leg so I'm not complaining.

E-T: Will this affect the future plans for VN?
Engwar: The only effect is that I won't be able to do any music during 2007 so we won't start working on the new album before 2008.

E-T: How did you two come together as a band?
Engwar: We used to play in an underground BM band in the late 90's and when the band split up we decided to create our own project together. That was in 2000 and since then we've played together…

E-T: Your album is dark and filled with mystery; could you describe it for us to make us understand it a little better?
Engwar: That's a tough question… this album has to be considered as a whole. It's been divided into 5 movements but they all depend on each other. It has to been listened to in the dark, in a calm atmosphere in order to completely drown into this journey.

E-T: Is there a message in your music?
Engwar: I guess the more obvious musical message is that of independence. We've done this album on our own, without any exterior help and I'm proud of that. As long as you stay true to your original ideas and wishes, everything is possible.

E-T: Who writes the music and lyrics of you two? Is it a joint effort?
Engwar: I write the lyrics (even if A.M. wrote a poem for the song "absurde") and we write the music together. Usually I come to rehearsals with an idea and we work together on it until we both like it. Then we define the structures and so on…

E-T: Will you try to include any more full time members, or are you comfortable with keeping VN a two man project?
Engwar: I don't think we'll ever have any other full time member. It's already very difficult to please the 2 of us at the same time so I guess the more people involved, the more complicated it gets.

E-T: The fact that you have taken the time and effort to record all the instruments including cello, flute, and violin instead of taking the usual shortcut with a synth impressed me. Did you do any of the classic instruments yourself or was it all done by hired help?
Engwar: No, we can't play any classical instruments (except the piano) that's why we asked all these people to play them for us.

E-T: Even thou it works extremely well I have to ask why the lyrics are in French? Wouldn't the album have been more available for the international metal audience with English lyrics?
Engwar: Yes probably but I chose to use my mother tongue because I wanted Vehementer Nos to be a French BM band and not any BM band. Our nationality is a strong part of our musical identity and moreover I wanted to have as much vocabulary as necessary in order to be as precise as possible in my lyrics.

E-T: Could you give those of us that don't understand much French a quick pointer as to what the concept behind the lyrics is?
Engwar: To sum it up briefly, the central question of the album is: now that we got rid of the influence of God, can the greater of all quest give us enough power to stop the wheel of time and thus reach immortality?

E-T: Do you believe that you can make a living as a musician with such complex melodies as you have in Vehementer Nos?
Engwar: Absolutely not! I'm very conscious that it's getting harder each day to make a living with music and especially extreme metal but it doesn't change anything for me. All I write and perform is made out of passion and I will go on whatever the future is. The fact that I'm not expecting anything from Vehementer Nos financially speaking doesn't stop me from expecting a lot artistically speaking.

E-T: What do you do when you are not focusing on the band?
Engwar: We play music. Practising our instruments, having some lessons, playing some other type of music as well…

E-T: Is there any live shows planned, and will they involve session members and/or a lot of samples since you are only two band members?
Engwar: No, there won't be any live shows. First because we don't want to use samples or keyboards and taking a string quartet on the road would be more than complicated and second because I'm not sure our music would have the same impact and feeling live.

E-T: Do you have some ideas or songs ready for your next album, and in witch direction will you take the music?
Engwar: Yes I already have a few ideas for the next one but I can't really tell you where it's going… It's too fresh and too few to say anything about the direction.

E-T: And to finish of: Why should anybody buy your album?
Engwar: If you like independent and original Black Metal, I think you can have some interest in what we do. Check out our www.myspace.com/vehementernos to have a better idea.
I also would like to say that we need your help to release the Vinyl edition. We need around 100 more preorders than we have, so if you're interested in buying on, just send me a message at engwar@hotmail.fr
Thanks in advance.