1. Hello my dear friend, how are you doing today and for those unaware of who you are could you introduce yourself and how you started the band one year ago?
Hi there, I'm good thanks! I'm Morildraugen, one-woman Black Metal/Ambient band from Denmark. I started my band in 2022 in the hopes of being able to express my creativity and thoughts through music. I started playing more guitar than usually in 2021 and I couldn't seem to get started with the recordings because I was dissatisfied with the DAW. I then decided making some Ambient music while waiting to find a better DAW for my project with more precision tools and opportunities. Finally, I found a way some months later and began recording and experimenting around with the guitar.
2. As it is summer in Denmark right now, how hot is where you are and what are your plans for vacations this year?
It's been hot here the past previous months but now it's become a bit cooler around 65 Fahrenheit. I'm going to be hiking in Lapland, Sweden, a couple of weeks.
3. I can't really imagine the amount of work involved, but as a one-woman project it's certainly huge. Is it worth it that you can implement your own ideas 100% without making compromises with other band members?
I haven't really thought about it being a lot of work since I've been waiting so long to get started and have the confidence to let people listen to it. It's just one big playground once I finally got the hang of it. Yes - Definitely! I thrive being able to get it all out the way I want it with no compromises whatsoever.
4. What is the spiritual ideology or philosophy that drives you as individual and can you tell us a bit more about your own creative process?
Transcendentalism is surely something I'm interested in. I guess over the years I've been gathering a lot of inspiration from all around. I've been having melodies in my head I've been wanting to get out for decades and same goes with lyrics. After finding my flow it all comes out naturally. I can hear a random melody and in my mind forms lyrics right away. When I hear a melody that's too linear, I top it with another melody in my mind. When I make my own music, I've been adding layers upon layers to make it how I wish it would be. Sometimes it turns out completely different - sometimes my "happy mistakes" is what people ended up liking about my tracks. I'm experimenting and improvising until I think it's done.
5. Black metal, just like any other musical genre, has sub genres of its own that define bands and their own unique styles. Where do you see Morildraugen within those definitions?
I think Morildraugen fits in with the Ambient, Atmospheric (maybe sometimes DSBM). I'm not sure yet since the band is still fresh and new, I think I'll know more in some years from now.
6. You have put out your first full-length album titled “Thanatophobia” and was released on June. How was the overall reception from the media press and what was the inspiration into writing this album compared to previous EP “Deliberation”?
I think my album "Thanatophobia" has been well received - people have seemingly been curious and interested in it and I think it's been like a breath of fresh air to some listeners.
The "EP" was somewhat of a standby state until I knew what to do and get to know the new DAW. I had some personal experiences that moved me towards picking up my instruments more, I had to make music and not just ambient and I had to release it. In the meantime, playing more guitar and coming up with new riffs and melodies it was a natural transition for me to develop my sound into a distorted chaos.
7. Your lyrics reflects many different themes ranging from Philosophy, Mysticism, Nature, Darkness. Would you say this is a conceptual album portraying a narrative or is this its own separate entity?
They are their own separate entities, but they form a concept about death altogether.
8. So you play guitars and do vocal work. Could you please give us detailed information about how you arrange everything and what about the “drums”?
I played all instruments and did some vocals on the album, but the main vocals are guest vocalist Forlorn of the band Ancient North.
I use a lot of layers in my recordings in Cubase. Layers upon layers of guitar and bass recorded with guitar since I didn't have a bass back then. I found the right guitar/bass/drum sounds I liked, recorded bits and made layers, edited it and moved it around a lot until I was satisfied. I kept listening until I had the structure, I would like to listen to myself, the right buildup and timing of the pieces. Not really knowing what I was doing this was chaotic sometimes keeping me up late at night. When all comes to all it's pretty much basic 4/4 most of the time. I recorded with both my Ibanez RG2550Z GK (everything in standard E-tuning except "Brændt") but also with a down-tuned ESP LTD Deluxe MH-1000 (on the song "Brændt"). For the drums, I used Groove Agent, and I made the beats and I sometimes made breaks in the drums to make a louder impression with background ambience/guitar. I sometimes removed a piece of the 4/4 drums where I saw fit to satisfy my own creative mind. I also used sound pieces of Egyptian music, whale sounds and movie clips to be able to express it more properly. I ended up having songs I didn't think fitted the album, so I made it as a Side A, and Side B.
Leaving the A Side "Hekashepes" to be the Intro and "Dødfødt" to be an Outro (with a hidden song at the end after the long silence) and the B Side is the ones I didn't think fit the album hence the different Beiive sound. Beiive was among the first tracks I made. With the lyrics helping the overall concept and the guest vocals I managed to complete the Full-Length album.
9. Your vocal performance on the album is intense, to say the least, can you tell us what they are supposed to convey?
Guest vocalist Forlorn of the band Ancient North did great job on my album. If you're thinking about the sentence in the opening lyrics "to convey this message" I have no comments. If you're asking about the sound of my vocals however, they convey distrust in humanity.
10. Were you self taught at a young age or did you fully learn and adapt on your own from there?
I'm 100% self-taught. I played acoustic guitar since I was a kid and I got my electric guitar in 2009, sadly it was just sitting a long time in its guitar case. I was in awe and didn't have the guts or belief in myself yet. I also played drums as a kid.
11. Can you tell us more about the recording process? And how do you manage the mastering/mixing tasks?
I think I answered most of the things in answer 8. As far as mastering/mixing goes most of the songs are done with same presets and volume and so on or slight variations. The rest I've done on the go. Mixing/mastering is something I need to get better at for sure in the future.
12. What are some techniques you haven’t used on your current album that you would love to experiment with in future releases?
I'm gonna try out some different drums beats I haven't done yet and still doing my best become a better guitarist. Hopefully the next album will be tighter and with better technique overall. I'm thinking about recording pieces with the acoustic guitar having more slow parts in between and I might go rawer in the sound. I'm always experimenting and letting the music form itself.
13. Much of your music seems to exhibit a contrast between classic black metal and atmospheric parts of a more relaxed and layered approach. What do these compositional techniques represent or what are they intended to do?
As this was all an experiment I didn't intend it to be a certain way from the beginning. I did however wish it would become raw black metal. It didn't really turn out that way since I just experimented. I let it be how it turned out so to speak, to me it was more important to release music than it to be perfect for others or for it to be uniform.
14. And how does the contrast work between the last album compared the previous EP (which is more dungeon/synth oriented in my opinion) took place?
I'm interested as much in dungeon synth as in black metal. I don't know yet if I'm going to combine them more seamlessly in the future or if I'm going to make a pure synth album or both. The one genre gets out a lot of aggression and the other sub-genre is more soul-soothing I think.
15. At Undergrounded we mainly want to promote bands that are too unknown or fly under the radar. Is there a band from Denmark that you think deserves more exposure?
I don't listen to Danish metal in general.
16. What’s the scene like in Denmark compared to other countries say Norway, Sweden, Germany and others?
I'm not going out experiencing the metal scene anymore since 2010. I think it's quite similar, but the Danish scene seems somewhat behind. We do have the festival Copenhell whereas Germany has Wacken and France has Hellfest. I've always preferred the small gigs; they seem more intense and charming.
17. Have you had the chance to travel much over the years? Any places you would insist people must visit around Europe at least once in their lives?
I travel every year. Lapland is astonishing; I've been traveling to northern Sweden almost every year the past 13 years. We don't have mountains in Denmark - it's pancake flat, so that's one of the reasons why I'm hiking in Lapland. "Kungsleden" (The Kings Trail) is very beautiful. I also think "Besseggen" (Jotunheimen) and Preikestolen (Stavanger) Norway is great. The French Alps, Switzerland and Austria made a big impression on me too.
18. Do you have a special “dream” to achieve in music? Like playing a special show, doing a special recording or playing with a special musician?
My dream is to make another album this year to explore my style more.
19. Before we finish this interview, I like to thank you for your time into doing this. Any final thoughts or words to the people reading this?
Thank you! I'm humble and thankful to the people that show interest in my music, thank you!
コメント