I guess, you are still very young band, so let's begin from the story of VERGELMER, it's past and present...

- Well, I don't consider us to be a "very young" band. We were formed back in 1993, right before the black metal boom. There is not very much to say about our past, no interesting things anyway. We had a couple of line-up changes. And there is nothing more to it.

Have you experienced playing music in any other bands before the birth of VERGELMER?

- I didn't play in any "official" bands before VERGELMER, though I was in a death metal band with our ex-drummer. And I have also been in bands before I got involved with death / black metal. Nazgul, Grimulv and Yngve were in a death metal act called ABEMAL.

Why did you choose such a name? Are you inspired by northern mythology that much? I didn't find anything, concerning that, in your lyrics...

- This was a mistake that we noticed too late. We have NOTHING to do with any northern mythology or viking crap. We had already made an impact in the black metal underground when noticed the misleading name. We just thought that it just was too late to change the name and start all over again.  We just have to live with these questions...

Your debut album was released not so long ago... Are you pleased with the outcome? How was the response?

- Yes, we are pretty pleased with the outcome. Of course there are a lot of things we could have done better and things we want to change, but overall it's a great album. So far I think the response has been very good. Personally I haven't seen any negative review yet.

"Blessed By Satan", "At War For His Majesty" - these are your song
titles... It seems, that you are satanists, am I right? Does your faith give you any kind of supernatural power? Do you really believe in God / Satan, or they are just archetypes of goodness-evilness / light-darkness for you? Don't you think, that being satanists you support christianity? It's obvious that satanism is the other part of it, it's the religion for jews...

- Most of us are more or less satanic, but I can only speak for myself. I consider myself as satanic and if my satanism gave me any supernatural power I wouldn't tell. I do not believe in the biblical God / Satan, I'm not a devil-worshipper, I'm a satanist, the one who opposes god. You could just call me anti-christian and I'd be content with that. People that worship Devil or Satan don't really support christianity but they confirm the mythos and I, of course, find that as stupid as christianity with the exception that these devil-worshippers could be used to destroy the cancer called christianity.

I know that you have one of ALGAION members in the band... Is it Marten or Mathias? You all use pseudonyms, except Yngve, so what about revealing your true names?

- We have two ALGAION members. It's Mathias and me, I'm session guitarist in ALGAION since almost a year back.  What would be the point of having pseudonyms if we revealed our ordinary names in interviews? The funny thing here is that Yngve isn't Yngve's real name. I can give you a hint about my name: it's stated somewhere on the new ALGAION album, "General Enmity" (did you forget that your e-mail address begins with "tobbe.leffler..."? - ED)

You've recorded "Light The Black Flame" CD with Mikael Hedlund as
producer, why did you choose him, not Peter? How much did you pay for the recording? (I just want to know, is Abyss Studio the expensive one or not)

- We chose Mikael because we wanted to see if we could get another sound. And there was also a practical solution as Peter was out on tour with MARDUK doing session guitar. Frankly, I don't remember how much we paid (the label paid) but I think it was somewhere around 20.000 SEK. I think Abyss has a reasonable price considering its capacity.

Why did you choose black metal as your band's further musical direction? Some say that it's not only music, but a lifestyle, religion and maybe even their goal in the earthly life... Do you agree with these people?

- Yes, I agree. Black metal is a very ideological kind of music. And I'd say it's more than music. It's a lifestyle not just something to do after school. But one could take it to different degrees of course. I mean, I don't think these medieval black metal bands run around in swords, plate, armour riding on horses. That would be just stupid. And even if one would like to live in a cave, live and breathe black metal it wouldn't be really possible, would it? But yes, I think black metal is a lifestyle... much as straight-edge is a lifestyle, though it's a stupid one.

What about murder? Do you consider it as positive or negative thing?

- I have nothing whatsoever against murder. Depending if it's used to my gain or not.

How did you get the deal with Cacophonous? How are your album's sales
going?

- We sent a recording to them and they apparently liked it. That recording will be released later on, called "Origo Malitiae".

I know that you were going to put out one more album on Cacophonous, the one with strange name in Latin. Is it going to be released soon? What music will it feature - in the same vein as "Light The..." or something different?

- Yes, as stated above it's "Origo Malitiae". It was supposed to be
released as a split with SIGH, but due to a delay with artwork it wasn't. It is at the moment not clear if it is going to be released as a MCD or split with another band. The music is more or less in the same vein as on the full-length. It has got a somewhat rawer and brutal production though. It was recorded in 1995 in Studio Abyss i.e. before "Light The..."

What do you think of so-called "Swedish Black Metal"? (MARDUK, DISSECTION, THRONE OF AHAZ, SACRAMENTUM, DARK FUNERAL, etc.) Do you consider your band as a part of it?  Honestly speaking, it's somehow funny to watch hundreds of bands composing absolutely similar music and claiming to be original... Yes, they all play professional, sound quality of their recordings is amazing, but what about such thing as originality?

- I don't know really what you mean with "Swedish black metal" scene. But there isn't any inner circle or something to be part of, if that's what you mean (well, I meant musical direction called as "Swedish black metal" - ED). I wouldn't say that VERGELMER is original. I'd just say we do it best. We play black metal the way it should be played. I don't care if a band is original or not, only if it's good and well-played. And I think VERGELMER fills all those criterias.

Where the sources of your inspiration come from?

- From music, any genre, and moods and emotions. It can come from anything really.

Imagine the following situation: Osmose offers you a deal, but it's not 100% you want, and the Russian label with good reputation and large distribution service in Europe (but still very young) also offers you to sign a contract with them, agreeing with all your terms... Whom will you choose and why?

- I would, of course, choose the best deal possible. But I would find it hard to believe that a completely new label would be able to make a better deal than Osmose.

Do you have any real (!!!) anti-christian organizations in Sweden? Can you tell me about their activities?

- I do not know of any anti-christian organizations in Sweden. And if I did I wouldn't join. I prefer to follow my own set of belief rather than conform to an established one. I see myself as fully capable of thinking for myself.

Fascism and nationalism are very popular topics now in black metal - great number of satanists and paganists claim to be also fascists or nationalists, especially Polish and French ones... And if I totally understand and appreciate nationalism, fascism for me is nothing but a product of ill imagination and corrupted braincells... Your opinion...?

- Nationalism and facism do not have anything to do with each other. I have nothing against either. I don't care about politics nor humans in general. To me fascism is just as bad as democracy, communism or any other kind of political ideology. I'd prefer chaotic anarchy.

I guess, you've heard about a guy named Christian "Varg" Vikernes... What do you think about him? (not Euronymous!) I know that his girlfriend was in Sweden some time ago and tried to burn Christopher Johnsson's house... What is wrong with THERION, are there any reasons to hate them?  Their music is superb, but what about personalities behind the band?

- One reason to hate them is their music which totally sucks (I totally disagree - ED). Another is Christopher's lard ass statements. With statements like that I think he could only expect something to happen (and what about Vikernes? - ED).

Do you play live? Tell me about your shows (if you have any)....

- We played live once in 1994. Nothing spectacular, it took place in our rehearsal room with a crowd of selected people. We played with the late ABEMAL.

Are there any people whom you would like to curse? To hail?

- Too many to be mentioned.

What do you think about us, human beings? Do we have any future? How do you imagine this future?

- I dislike and disapprove of 99,9% of earth's population. I hope and
think that we have no future at all.  Mankind is going to slit its own throat.

Why do a lot of black metallers hate Sunlight Studio? In my opinion, it's not Skogsberg's fault, that 99% of bands recording their albums there, sound similar... It's musicians who must decide how their music will sound alike and if their album has standart "Sunlight sound" - it's their fault... Do you agree with me? Would you record your next CD in Sunlight, if you'll have such a possibility?

- I partly agree. The reason that a lot of bands got the "Sunlight sound" was that they probably used the amps and drums present in the studio instead of bringing in their own. But of course, the musicians are the ones which are supposed to tell the engineer how they want the sound to be, not vice versa. I don't think VERGELMER will record their next in Sunlight, not because of the sound though. We get along really well with both Mikael and Peter and like the sound we get there. Sunlight is also more expensive and I doubt we would get that kind of recording budget.

Are there any bands, whose music is close to VERGELMER, how do you think? What about ANCIENT WISDOM? (don't misunderstand me, I didn't say that you are unoriginal!)

- No, I don't think that ANCIENT WISDOM sounds a lot like VERGELMER. I'll leave that for others to judge. Quality before originality!

Any last words?

- Hail & Kill!

VERGELMER
Email (Ebboth):
tobbe.leffler@mbox200.swipnet.se