Ave, Ron! You've recently released your debut effort "Mansions Of Eternity" Did it take a long time for you to create such a great piece of art?

- Thanx a lot for the compliment. The actual writing of the CD took about a year, because I was playing with another band. So I had my time split between two things - that's why it took so long.  Finally, before the recording, I quit that band and just made AURORA BOREALIS my full time thing.  As far as the studio time we kinda rushed a bit due to the cost of Morrisound.

Why AURORA BOREALIS is a one-man band? Did you have other musicians in the band before?

- On the CD it was just myself and the drummer I found in Florida, Tony Laureno. Now we have a bass player and a new drummer. The bassist is Jay Eckert and the drummer is Derek Roddy (former MALEVOLENT CREATION drummer on the new CD "In Cold Blood").

I didn't read the lyrics, but one of my friends told me that they deal mainly with Egyptian mythology; so why exactly Egypt? I guess, you have a lot of interesting things to tell me about this...

- I read a lot on Ancient Cultures, etc. and I was so intrigued by their beliefs and philosophies that I had to write on that topic. I only wish that all my works will be remembered 3000 years from now, as their monuments and beliefs still live on today. Although, I know that I can't just write on the same subject forever. I just thought it would be nice to do one CD on it as sort of a tribute and to relate what I found interesting to music.

"Mansions..." MCD was recorded at (in)famous Morrisound Studio, while
99,9% of black metal hordes just hate this place and curse Scott Burns for being "trendmaker". Did you think about crowd's opinion, when you and Tony entered Morrisound? (By the way, I heard that it was last recording by Scott...?)

- Personally I don't care what those bands think. If you want to talk
about trendsetting, then let's talk about black metal in general. 99,9% of those bands are all wanna be bandwagoners themselves. It's not my fault that the majority of them come away from the studio with a complete shit recording. A good production is a good production, period. I don't think of anyone's opinion - I just do what I want (absolutely right! - ED) As far as it being Scott's last recording, that's not true since he has done DEICIDE also ("Serpents Of The Light" CD - ED) and will do some of the other bigger bands still.

One of the reviewers defined your music as "old fashioned black /
thrash"... Do you agree with these words, or Ron Vento has his own
definition for AURORA BOREALIS art?

- I definitely don't think of it as "old fashioned" - it blows away the majority of things coming out today. I think it has some thrash elements in it. As far as it being just thrash - that's totally false. I think, we are more death mixed with some black. But as long as people get into it, I could care less what they call it.

What do you think of Varg Vikernes? He talks a lot of shit about USA, and he is somehow right in my opinion...

- Never heard of him.

"Aurora Borealis" words are quite often used by Norse bands, does it mean that your band's name has something to do with northern mythology?

- No, I just thought that the lights are very chaotic and astonishing and that's the way I feel our music is. I don't know why Norse bands are using it so much (I don't know either - ED), the lights I named them after happen in Alaska and that's part of United States.

"Mansions..." is not very fresh material, so here the question goes - do you have any new songs ready?

- Yes, the whole new album is done and by the time this comes out we will be finishing recording. We actually start of the 29th of October. The new CD won't disappoint anyone.

Why did you release "Mansions..." on your own? I will never believe, that you didn't get any offers!  Besides, I've heard that JL America wanted to release it... That's a bit strange, because as far as I know this label fucked up in 1994!

- I didn't try to get any label to release it. I didn't want to bother looking so I just released it myself, so I would have control of everything that went on. I just wanted to Unleash it. For the next one I will try to find a good label, now that there is a name out, and if none is found, I will do it myself again. As far as JL America, they never contacted me and I most likely wouldn't have signed with them anyway. They just don't seem to chose their bands very good.

What is the main difference between American BM bands and European ones? Who is better in creating this kind of music, how do you think?

- There's a difference in it, but I think the listeners can tell that for themselves. I don't think of who is better by continents, I look at each band individually. All the good bands should be able to hold their own whether from America or Europe of wherever. A good band is good, just because something is different that doesn't make it better or worse.

It seems that you are very much inspired by old blackened thrash school with bands like DESTRUCTION, SODOM, HELLHAMMER, BULLDOZER and younger ones such as SADISTIC INTENT... Do you agree? What is your opinion concerning this new trend coming from Scandinavia - "old fashioned black" (GEHENNAH, BEWITCHED, INFERNO, etc.)?

- Well, it's true, I did listen to some of that stuff, but not as much as you might think. I listen to all kinds of music. There will always be a trend going on, and there will always be followers, but the good bands will show through.

Do you participate in any other projects?

- No, AURORA BOREALIS is my full time band.

Hardcore "music" fascinates a lot of young minds in USA today, but the only thing I just can't understand is why this "music" so popular?! It has nothing to offer, except primitive pointless hate and pederastian / communistic attitude!

- I personally can't stand that style, or punk rock or anything like that also. If that's what those people want to listen to or play, then so be it.

Do you know any worthy BM bands from Sweden and Poland? (I'm half Polish / half Swedish, that's why I ask you this question)

- There are a ton of BM bands from Sweden, but I think only about 10% of them are actually good.  Polish black metal - I can't think of any, but I really enjoy listening to VADER.

Do you know anything about Russia? What do you think of my country's
people? Have you ever heard any Russian black metal bands?

- I have never heard any band from Russia, period. And I don't know
anything of the country or it's people other than the ones who have
written me. All those of which seemed fine to me.

Would you mind telling me about your beliefs?

- I'm not too much into any kind of beliefs. The only beliefs I have are that everyone should believe what they want. As long as they don't push it on me, I have no problems with anyone. I wonder why everyone is so against everyone else for their beliefs, that's utter stupidity. I will listen to a christian metal band the same as a satanic band, as long as the music is good. Although, I do feel that both these topics have been done to death.

What is "underground" in your opinion? Does it really exist nowadays? I heard people saying the following phrase quite often - "these guys aren't underground anymore"; what do they mean by this?

- I don't know, what they mean. Underground or "above ground", what's the difference? If they're good, who cares...

Black metal is a kind of quite popular kind of extreme music today, but is it really that bad, like some individuals say?

- I'm not sure what you mean by "bad". If you mean the individuals who play it being totally satanic, I think about 1 out of every 50 are true to their beliefs. If you mean the actual music being bad, I think that for every good band there're 50 bad ones. But who am I to say what I think is bad, someone else might call a masterpiece.

Few words for the end...?

- Thanx a lot for the interview, I always appreciate the exposure. I
encourage all your readers to write to AURORA BOREALIS at PO Box 1327
Clinton MD 20735-5327. Or email us at AURORA4DTH@aol.com. The CD is
available for $10 postage paid.