As far as I understood, you got a deal with Malodorous Mangled Innards (MMI) Records shortly after the band's birth. How could you manage to sign a contract with foreign label without even releasing an official demo tape?

- I knew Markus Woeste and he liked the rough shit I made him to hear. It wasn't meant to be released as a 7" EP, but a demo. But he wanted to release it and naturally I didn't mind.

The "Santa Sangre" 7'EP featured some gloomy black / industrial, "La Matanza…" CD appeared as some kind of mystical grind / death with few BM influences, while "LADIT 1999 AD: BIHTTPOTB" album brought us really weird stuff which could be described as a mix between all existing metal styles and finally, "Whitsongs", the latest effort of yours, is 'folk black with heavy touches of doom and old school heavy metal' as youdefine it (while I'd better call it as 'folk / black / industrial')… If you ask any of my friends about me, they'd tell you that I'm an advocate of musical development (in contrast to some wimps preferring 'orthodox' buzz), however I can't get into one thing: why do you change the style of SOULGRIND so often and, also, that radically?

- It is called development. I do what the fuck I want to. And I don't think that the basics has changed so radically. It has just gone better. And about terms and other shit like that, I hate cathegorizing metal. To me my music is just pure metal with dark aspect to life in general. Labels make the cathegories, they force bands to call it something. Metal is metal and so it shall be.

Can you explain me the meaning of the following excerpt from SOULGRIND's bio - 'as the mastermind, Lord Heikkinen, has always been keen into dark past of Finland ("Kouta" on "La Matanza…" album etc)…"? What do you mean under the 'dark past of Finland'?

- The darkside of mind etc. Passion and wars made are out of it. Simple as that.

Ok, now it's time to talk about the 'Whitsongs' CD a bit… It's lyrics are based on the poems by Eino Leino, a Finnish poet, right? Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with his writings, so could you please enlighten me a bit in regards to his writings?

- E. Leino is a poet who lived in 19th century. “Whitsongs” is a book he made after drinking with his buddies Sibelius (composer) and Gallen - Kallela (architect). They were friends and had a helluva blast together. Anyway, “Whitsongs” is a really dark book and is recommended to everybody. There are some shit, but when you twist and turn it, it gives you some pretty good things. I did mold the poems into even darker mode. Basically lyrics on “Whitsongs” are based on those poems, not straight copies. Actual poems are pages long, so to catch the mood, I had to re-write them. I am not so keen on his other books.

Did you just use Leino's verses as the lyrics or you changed them in any ways?

- As I said, I shortened  poems and made them darker.

97% of lyrics on "Whitsongs" are in English, but I could also discover few lines written in Finnish… What was the reason for this move? By the way, this language sounds very pleasant for the ear (at least, for MY ears), therefore I'm wondering if you ever thought of creating the whole album on Finnish?

- I did "Helkavirsis" promo / demo which was released through Icarus Records. It has some same songs than the album sung in Finnish. Everything on that is in Finnish. But if I wanna do a whole album in Finnish, I doubt it. I use Finnish as spice. I think that this is the better way to get my music known.

Surprisingly, your third full-length CD released through absolutely unknown Argentina's label (!!!)… Why did you choose them? And what was the reason for leaving MMI?

- I have known Enrico of Icarus since early 90's when he lived in Italy. He has always been into SOULGRIND and as he offered me a deal, and I am not such a deal searcher, I took it. It is more important to do music, than who has released it. MMI quit the whole metal scene. Anybody who knows something about him, do contact me. We have some unfinished business.

If I'm not mistaken, right now you're signed to Holy Records, the label which is undoubtedly much more serious than the others you've been signed to formerly… How did you manage to get a contract with Philippe? Did you send them a CD or it was them who found you?

- He heard the “Whitsongs” album as he distributes it in France and loved it. As I play in GLOOMY GRIM, which is also signed to Holy, I got in touch with Philippe and asked if he were interested. And obviously he was.

ELEND left Holy, Kimmo of LEGENDA refuses to call his band a black metal one and Agathon of GLOOMY GRIM says that his band doesn't have anything in common with BM, so it looks like SOULGRIND is the only black horde dealing with Holy Records…?

- SOULGRIND is NOT black metal in the meaning of black metal. It is just metal with dark aspects towards life. To me DARK FUNERAL is black metal, IMMORTAL is black metal, MARDUK is black metal, EMPEROR is black metal.... get the picture? SOULGRIND is far beyond BM, music is more varied etc. I do deal with same subjects with my lyrics, but I am an atheist, none satanist. And extremely anti-religious,  for ANY religions. I support war against christianity, yes, and against allah, yes. BUT isn't satan just a child of christianity? Satan use to be the ultimate weapon against christianity. It got them scared and they were fun to teaze. But I am more into reasoning things these days. I found out that satan is just as stupid as christ, they might even laugh together for the stupidity of mankind, in theory I mean. But as music, I LOVE the power of BM!!

By the way… In the previous question I mentioned Agathon's name, who, besides playing in THY SERPENT and GLOOMY GRIM, also appears as a musician of SOULGRIND… Also, there's Whisper of NOMICON and Ceasar of GLOOMY GRIM singing on "Whitsongs", while keyboards are played by Luopio of THY SERPENT… All of them are famous musicians, who have their own bands – and as far as I remember, you was the only  guy behind SOULGRIND all these years before unleashing "Whitsongs"… Why did you decide to enlarge your band's lineup and what kind of 'temptation' did you use to get all aforementioned individuals into the project of yours? Do they take part in songwriting?

- Only Agathon takes part in songwriting. I do everything but he molds my ideas into songs together with me. Luopio is no longer with either THY SERPENT or SOULGRIND. He quit the scene because of a woman. Stupid. About enlarging, I have always used session members. But as I have known Ceasar, Agathon and Whisper for such a long time and we share many bands and have same kind of thinking way, it is natural that they are in SOULGRIND. As natural as I am in GLOOMY GRIM and WALHALLA. They happen to be the best of the best. I am lookig for a permament guitar player to make the line-up complete. But meanwhile guitar genious Trooper plays the guitar in live situations. About keys, there has been talk that Azhemin from THY SERPENT comes to play on the records. Maybe live as well. If not, I shall make DAT out of keys and use that.

You and Whisper are the only ones in SOULGRIND who avoid using corpse-paint… Why?

- I was too drunk to make one, when we had the photo sessions for the “Whitsongs” album. I looked like a drunken dude from KISS, so i took it off. But in stage we do use them. We use them as long as it feels confortable. Agathon has worn one always, so it looks better if everybody does. It just looks cool, no deeper meaning for that. We might drop them, or then not. it is not the paint that makes music hellish, it is the attitude.

I read a couple of interviews with you and all of them evidently portray you as the Nature's admirer…

- Yes, I love nature, the beauty of it. I do enjoy summer nights as well as extremely cold Winternights, when it is so cold that the night sings, usually it starts to sing after it is -25 C. I like it. The silence is a good inspiration. But I also like partying and I am interested in total war. Darkside of the mankind passionates me.

Why did you decide to take the handle (Lord) instead of your real name?

- Because I am the Lord, praise the Lord!!!

Atheism and black metal… Are these two things compatible with each other? I'm familiar with few people who claim that those who're involved in BM scene should be only satan worshippers, otherwise, they must be perished… Personally I only laugh at such assertions, however what do you think of it? By the way, Russia's "Tsirhc Susej" (Jesus Christ inverted) zine featured an article telling of Swedish BM band's slaughter (the reason was in their atheism or 'unblack' attitude – I don't remember clearly)… Did you hear anything of this event?

- No, and I don't care. That's stupidity. There should be other things to fight against.

Besides SOULGRIND you have a band called WALHALLA… Please, tell us few words concerning this act and it's "War Over Nordland" demo…

- WALHALLA is a straight forward black / death / thrash band playing style from late 80's / early 90`s. It is not ment to be anything original. We do things that have been around a long time, but we do it better than anybody else. WALHALLA has gained interest from labels, even from bigger ones, but we wanna keep that truly UG, so we are releasing a split 7" with Macabre Omen. Call us stupid if you want, but that's the way we want. We shall also appear in one King Diamond comp. and also Root Of All Evil comp III. We shall record a new tape or whatever it shall be in December. “War Over Nordland” has sold well. It has recieved a lot great reviews from the mags, who have understand the thing we are doing. We have done some short strong live shows as well. there were talk about us going to Estonia for some BM festival, but that never happened. Future looks bright for WALHALLA.

And once again regarding the bands you're playing in… Once you mentioned that you formed a side-project, FORLORN MISERY, which will perform something in the vein of gothic / ambient / neo-classical music… Is this band still alive?

- Sort of, it is in my mind. I do it when I have time to do it. It still fascinates me. but now I concentrate in SOULGRIND. and we are busy with WALHALLA and GLOOMY GRIM shall enter the studio in summer of 1999. Busy times, you know. I do have a HC dark ambient techno project called FIRETRANCE, though. I have finished one song and recorded that. It is easy for me as I work in a studio. That's why I can keep up making projects, when I feel like it.

Does SOULGRIND possess any videos? Somewhere I read that you shot a clip on "Black Orhid" in 1995… Is that correct?

- No, that video never happened, can't remember why. Probably because of the money, as usual. But we have shot a video for "Song Of Mantsi" from “Whitsongs” CD. It turned out just amazing considering the budget we had. It is a mixture of blood and war and sex. I do like it alot. Unfortunately airing it is almost impossible. It has been shown once in Finnish national TV, but I think that it was the first and last time it happened. Because of the violent matter, I guess. People have liked the video a lot.

What is "Grinded Soul Circle"? Your contact address always feature this appellation…

- It is the contact address… heh heh. It is the thing I call those who are totally into my music. Some share same thoughts as I do.

I know that you've been into metal for a very, very long time… So, in the end I'd like you to tell me of your way in metal as well as your view on the old and modern BM scene…

- I do enjoy modern bands as IMMORTAL, COVENANT (that's not that black, though), DARK FUNERAL, DIMMU BORGIR, etc. If I listen to black metal, I do listen mostly Scandinavian ones. I haven’t come accross with such quality with bands from other continents. I do listen all kind of music, though; from classical to techno. BUT they all have to have power in it. I hate so called top 40 music, you know. About old BM scene I listen to some bands like BATHORY, but I prefer old thrash and heavy metal. SLAYER is the god as well everything that Ozzy has done with or without BLACK SABBATH. TIAMAT use to rule as well…

SOULGRIND contact -
Email: darkshiv@sci.fi