Ave, Micke... Let’s begin from traditional but never losing it’s importance question - when and why you started THY PRIMORDIAL...

- Ave, Mathias. Ok, let’s start this interview as always. THY PRIMORDIAL was formed in the late ’94 and since then we have produced one demo, one promo, one 7’EP and two full-length albums (one of them has not been released due to some reasons) and we have a third album on the way to the market. Anyway, we formed THY PRIMORDIAL because we thought and still think that we have something to add in the black metal scene, and that’s pure and simple black metal with a lot of speed and aggression.

THY PRIMORDIAL’s debut CD «Where Only Seasons Mark The Paths Of Time» was released lately; would you like to describe it in a few words?

- First of all, «Where Only...» is really not our debut CD. Our debut is named «Under Iskall Trollmane» but it has not been released because of some sick reasons. Anyway, «Where Only...» is a musical disaster in 10 parts. It’s fast, simple and sometimes quite melodic or, in short - it’s black metal.

One of my friends defined your band as «mythological black metal in the vein of SATYRICON». Is there any truth in his words?

- That’s up to people who listen to our band to judge but I don’t know if I would call THY PRIMORDIAL’s music as «SATYRICON-influenced»... It is Norway-inspired but we haven’t been influenced by a particular band when we created songs for «Where Only...» CD.

 

Let’s talk about your band’s lyrics... Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to read them, hence you’ll have to enlighten me, concerning their content...

- Our lyrics deal with the topics of death, darkness and it’s mysterious might. They are praising great powers of darkness and destroying the weakness of light. That’s the basic idea. There’s some difference between mine and Albrektsson’s lyrics, so I can just tell you only about my lyrics. On «Where Only...» I wrote «Svart Gryning» and «Kristallklar Vinternatt» - both of them is a story of a journey through death. It’s hard to explain but it’s some kind of after-death theory written in a dark vein...

Strange, but I found such song-titles as «Svart Gryning (Black Dawn)», «Kristallklar Vinternatt (Crystalclear Winternight)», «Dodsskuggan (Death’s Shadow)» among others, which are written in English... Do you think you follow a right way? I mean, not that much people outside Sweden are familiar with your language, so they don’t understand what you’re singing about...

- We used Swedish lyrics because we thought that it was much more easy to express our feelings in our own language. We didn’t print the Swedish lyrics because we know that only Swedish and some Norwegian people could understand them. On our new album all lyrics will be in English and all of them will be printed.

Why only two of band’s members use aliases (Isidor and Morth)...?

- Morth and Isidor use those names because they like them. I don’t do that because I haven’t found a «mit» name that I feel comfortable with. And even I found the one, I wouldn’t use it because it should be quite strange if I called myself M.Andersson on one album and «Christ-Ripper» or something like that on another album.

Sweden produces huge number of black metal bands; musical critics even created a special term «Swedish black metal», talking about the birth of a new style in BM... What is your view upon Swedish black metal scene and most «popular» bands, coming from your country - like MORK GRYNING, LORD BELIAL, MARDUK, DISSECTION, SACRAMENTUM and others of that ilk...?

- The Swedish scene is quite worthless these days. I like only MARDUK and DISSECTION from the bands you mentioned. Most of bands in Sweden play this typical style with soft melodies and keyboards - that’s not the kind of BM I prefer to listen to, but of course there’re some bands that I like - IN BATTLE, SETHERIAL and SWORDMASTER.

«Where Only Seasons...» was recorded at Rolab Music studio, which I don’t consider as very well-known - besides you, there is only MITHOTYN who also recorded their CD there... Why did you ignore such studios as Fredman, Abyss, Sunlight, L.A., etc.? Was there any special reason for choosing Rolab?

- First of all, Rolab doesn’t appear as a black metal studio. The reason why we recorded there our CD is that we needed to record «Where Only...» quite quick after we signed to Pulverised and Rolab was the only studio which was available at the time, and we weren’t interested in recording at Abyss or Fredman because we don’t like the sound of aforementioned studios. Our upcoming album was recorded at Sunlight and I think we will record our next releases there as well, as it turned out great.

Anything, you’d like to tell me about your deal with Pulverised Records? Can you reveal us few items in your contract? Did you discuss your debut album’s release possibility with various companies, besides the one, you’ve signed with? What about other bands on Pulverised?

- We have so-called three options contract with Pulverised which means that we can do three records with them if both parts agree. They pay the whole price for recording, cover, prints and other things (cool - ED). And we get 10% royalties. I think Pulverised is a great label to deal with - I hail them for all the work they have done for us so far. Without them we couldn’t reach more than the half way. There was another label which was interested in signing THY PRIMORDIAL, but when we received the contract we had already signed to Pulverised. However we would choose Pulverised’s contract before the other anyway. AMON AMARTH and SATARIEL are the best bands on this label, although the first one has now signed with Metal Blade Records...

What do you think about such term as «underground»? What does it represent to you and does it have any meaning nowadays?

- The underground was great in ’90 / ’91 but nowadays there’s not much left of it. For example Swedish Close-Up mag started as an underground ‘zine and I think it was good back then, but nowadays they deal only with «big» bands and it sells in every fucking store in Sweden. I like the whole idea with underground and it’s sad that it’s almost gone now...
 
I know that Morth also does all the drumming work for NIDEN DIV. 187... Can you tell me anything about this band? I’ve found some «nazi» motives in their lyrics - so do they really support nazism or it’s only my imagination, playing pranks?

- Both Morth and Albrektsson are involved in NIDEN there days... They play some kind of ZYKLON B-inspired death metal. I don’t know if they deal with nazism - better ask them!
 
I ascribe THY PRIMORDIAL to so-called «traditional black metal», played without any help of keyboards, female singers or any unusual (folk) instruments... In spite of this, I find «Where Only Seasons...» as very interesting recording, capturing listener’s attention and reducing it’s grasp only after CD stops. Can you explain me (advocate of diverse innovations brought into BM) this phenomena? Don’t you fear that playing exactly this sort of black metal, you will simply exhaust your imagination with time, and we would behold one more self-plagiarists band... like MARDUK...?

- I agree with you - we play black metal, not «cold forest pagan metal» or something like that and we don’t use keyboards and female vox. To speak the truth, we have used keyboards once on a recording but we didn’t like it. It didn’t add anything to our music. I really like those bands, who handle the synthesizers properly and make them to fit their sound, like EMPEROR, GEHENNA and SATYRICON do. However many bands base their music on keyboards and if someone cuts off this instrument, their songs would sound very weak. I think that we have prooved on «Where Only...» that black metal can be mighty and powerful without keyboards. And those who will bye «At The World Of Untrodden Wonder» will receive even stronger album without any synths. We have added some «normal» male vocals on the new album and it turned out great. There’s a risk that you rip-off yourself when you’re into a typical stuff, but if I ever reach this level, I’ll quit. We won’t record new album if we don’t think that we have developed since the last one. And as to MARDUK... I think, that they’ve improved their style with each CD (have you listened to «Heaven Shall Burn...»? There’s nothing new there, only boring typical black metal in Swedish way... - ED)

THY PRIMORDIAL... What did you mean choosing this name for the band?

- When we first started the band, we chose the name Primordial as it fits our music - the word ‘primordial’ means ‘primitive’ (not quite right; ‘primordial’ means ‘primal’ - ED). But when we signed to our first label, they told us to do something with the name because of the Irish PRIMORDIAL. So we chose to put in the word «thy», because a complete change of a name would be a step backwards for us in fact of knowledge.

What is «primordial» in your comprehension? And why «thy»? Who is that creature (or man?) whose personality you’re applying to?

- ‘Primordial’ means ‘primitive’ for me and the word «thy» is an old word which was used when you speak to a royal or somebody like that. For example Thy Majesty... So in our opinion «Thy Primordial» is mister Darklord himself.

Do you know about Irish PRIMORDIAL’s existence?

- Yes, I’ve heard about the band, but I haven’t heard anything of their albums or demos.

Inhuman makeup, frightening live shows, dark and equivocal assertions... All these attributes are counted as necessary for person, playing BM, by some people... Do you agree with those individuals, who say that black metal is something more than music, it’s a dark, inhuman way of living and thinking which has nothing in common with narrow-minded lifestyle? Then where is the verge between image and real life? And is there such a verge...? What is the main goal of life for a «true» black metaller?

- This is a good question and I think every black metal guy / girl would answer it diffirent. For me black metal is more than music as I do a lot of int’s and other things for the band. I spend many hours everyday with the band somehow. So it became a part of my life. But I do other things as well. I’m not the kind of guy who wears corpsepaint in order to «look evil» and scare old ladies of the streets. I have a lot of friends who are not into BM and when I meet them - the black metal part of me rests. I have no special image. Yes, we use corpsepaint but for me it’s just a black metallish trademark. I mean I’m always the same with, or without makeup. Maybe I didn’t tell everything you wanted me to, but I hope you see my point. 
 
All vital processes (including death) are submitted to certain irrefutable laws. Is it «just» Nature which governs them, or we can suggest the existence of some Higher Form of Life, controlling everything vital on Earth and other planets...? How do you think, is there any living thing in Cosmos, besides men and earthly animals?

- I don’t think that there’s any power or god which controls our life. It’s only yourself, who controls you. I do believe in other forms of life in other places of Universe. Wouldn’t it be strange if we were the only living creatures from here to Eternity?

What do you know (and think) about Russia? Have you heard any Russian metal bands? Would you like to come in my country and perform some concerts?

- No, I haven’t heard any Russian metal bands so far and I don’t know much about Russia as a country either, but it seems to be a lot of suffering over there. We have done some shows in Poland once, so if someone will invite us to play in your country we would at least think about it.

Yeah, concerning concerts... Is there something special, going on your shows or it’s usual Scandinavian BM band performance - headbanging musicians, indifferent fans standing and smoking weed, shitty sound and light while poor equipment breaks down quite often...?

- We play live, if we get a chance so far. We have done something like 10 shows. Most of them sucked because of bad promotion and bad sound and most of jerks who came to our concerts didn’t even understand our music. I remember when we played a show here in Mjolby a fucking idiot asked me what kind of KISS clowns we are and in ... (sorry, I couldn’t make out what’s written here - Micke’s handwriting is pretty bad - ED) we saw some disco-dressed kids who looked like they saw a monster of something like that. Anyway, I think it’s worth to see us playing live - we try to do our best on stage during every show. We don’t drink too much before our concert and perform our music as good as we can, although sometimes the show sucks because of an idiot behind the mixerboard... but that’s not our fault.

You opinion of black metal videos - are there any that you would mark out? Have you ever thought of shooting THY PRIMORDIAL’s clip?

- If you do a video like SATYRICON, EMPEROR or IMMORTAL - it’s cool, but when you shoot a clip like BURZUM or HECATE ENTHRONED you better stop. We have been asked if we want to do a video for Pulverised, but we haven’t decided if we will do it yet. First you need a good story for the video and that’s not the hardest thing to create but then you shall do it in practice and it’s often very expensive. So it would become very expensive and in the very end we have to pay for it and I don’t know if it’s worth it. If we’ll do a video, we must be sure to make a good one.

Past is death we talk about, present is life we live in and future is unknown we dream of... Are there any dreams you’d like to come true before next millennium’s arrival? What do you think about the year of 2000? Do you consider it as some kind of a special date? What are the future plans for THY PRIMORDIAL and you personally?

- The year 2000 doesn’t mean anything to me - I’m the guy who takes the day as it comes. Our only plan for the future is to release our new album and hopefully make a tour with the band as well as we are!

Ok, finally we’ve reached the end of this worthless interview... And darkness eternal has arrived; sun has ceased, so did the morning light... And the time has come for last hails and curses...

- Ok, thanks for the interview, Mathias. It was a long bastard for true fans of black metal. Check us out! «Where Only...» is also available on LP by now. And look out for «At The World Of Untrodden Wonder» album - it will kill everything we have done in the past!

THY PRIMORDIAL
Email: thorda@algonet.se