Interview: BlackEternal
Are we alone in the universe? That's the question that BlackEternal definitely answers on their new album, Encounters, and of course the answer is, definitely NO! Encounters features a heavy influence of various strains of extreme metal including symphonic black metal and death metal. I caught up with BlackEternal's mainman Nightmare for an intriguing interview recently:
Tell me
about the formation of BlackEternal
- BlackEternal started as an idea
that came to me when I was in my teens in the mid 90’s. I’ve been a metal head
all my life, So I always knew I wanted to play black metal, I knew I wanted to
write songs and play instruments. I started writing music and composing and it
just went on from there. Originally BlackEternal was a 4-piece band in the late
90’s we were playing a thrash / black metal style at local underground shows
for a few years before we went out separate ways. Now BlackEternal is 2
members. Myself and BloodBath.
Pic: Nightmare and Bloodbath
What
are your influences?
-Much like with Metal Music, I’ve
always been into Horror movies and the supernatural. I grew up watching horror
movies, UFO documentaries, Documentaries about hauntings and stuff like that. I
grew up with a passion for anything paranormal supernatural and dark. lyrically,
all my inspiration comes from those topics. Musically, I was a little kid
listening bands like Iron Maiden, Slayer, Kreator, Megadeth, but then as got
into my teens I got into black metal. So bands like Old Man’s Child, Dark
Funeral, Marduk, Cradle of Filth, Sadistic Intent , bands like that are what
made me want to play black metal
How
does the new album’s concept tie in or compare to your previous album, 6EQUJ5?
-Musically the styles are very
different. “Encounters” is a lot more aggressive than “6EQUJ5” which is
entirely on purpose to progress the story. Encounters is the sequel, if you
will. The story of Encounters picks up where 6EQUJ5 left off. 6EQUJ5 is about first contact with an
extra-terrestrial race. Their planet is in danger, and they’ve sent us a
message for help. A message we didn’t receive until it was too late.
“Encounters” shows us the aftermath of that.
The
album features a 7-minute ambient/spoken intro, the Arrival- how was that put
together?
-Musically it was put together
with 2 different types of midi keyboards. I use a lot of VST’s and Kontakt
libraries for my sounds, so that’s what I used for the music and sounds on “The
Arrival” As far as the quotations that you hear during that track, they’re actually
samples taken from some of my favorite UFO documentaries and just slightly
re-edited. I wanted it to sound a bit
spooky. It was a lot of fun putting together that intro.
Your
bio says your project is based out of Nevada, how much do you get out to
Roswell or Area 51 and what is it like nowadays? Have you seen anything
peculiar you would attest to being a UFO or otherwise?
-Roswell New Mexico during 4th
of July weekend is a trip that I’ve always wanted to make. It looks like they
have a lot of fun out there during that time and just embrace the history.
That’s on my bucket list for sure. As far as Area 51 goes, well. . there is
definitely a lot of folklore that surrounds that area here in Nevada and
understandably so. Anyone into Ufology has got to visit some of the landmarks
we have here, like the Blackmail box, the little A’-Le’inn, Extra terrestrial
highway, take a picture next to the “you will be shot” sign. Its all in good
fun. In terms of UFO sightings and whatnot. Anything strange lights seen at
Area 51 these days, is all military experimental craft, I'm sure. Personally,
I’ve never seen anything or encountered anything that I would consider to be
other worldly.
Some of
the lyrics describe a more ancient or archaic perspective of unexplained phenomenon
like UFOs- what kind of research did you do in regards to those types of
testimonials? Any books you would recommend?
-The 2nd song on the
Album is called “The First Kind” this track describes a sighting that was
reported in ancient Egypt during the reign of King Thutmose the 3rd between
1479 bc and 1425 BC. According to the Tulli Papyrus, The scribes of the king
described many discs of fire that came down from the heavens which everyone at
the time witnessed. Those writings
caught my imagination and fascinated me. Which is why I wanted to kick off the
album with that story. As far literature goes “The Ancient Alien Question” by
the late Philip Coppens, is a great read.
The
project has a pretty mid-ranged, sometimes depressive sound at times, what
bands would you say influenced your approach to Black Metal?
-There are TONS of great black
metal bands. I listen to music pretty much all day at work. So the influences are
endless. For our last Album “6EQUJ5” I want to say that Cosmic black metal
bands Alrakis and Mesarthim were my biggest influences for that album. Those 2
bands played a big role in getting me to the mindset to write that album. As
far as “Encounters” goes, that all came from my own vision. I set out to do
something that had never been done before in black metal. I wanted to tell a
story, I wanted to bring drama and characters and make things very cinematic. I
wanted to do something unique for “Encounters” I’ve received a lot of great
feedback, so I think our fans understood what I was trying to do. As different
as this album is from “True black metal” I think people did understand and
appreciate the concept and storytelling.
The
album features a lot of spoken word sections, including accounts of alien
abductions- how were these conceived and are any of them culled from real
sources?
-The tracks Encounters 1, 2 and 3
on the album are what progress the story leading to the ultimate end. Like I
had said before, I wanted to do something different and Unique. I wanted to
bring a cinematic feel to the album, I wanted to bring drama and emotions. The
most important thing about doing something like that, is the execution. If not
done properly, it can fail. I hired professional actors to play these roles and
directed them as you would direct a movie. While writing their lines I had to
make the conversations sound real and convincing. The experiences being
described in those tracks by our main character are all fictional of course,
just things that I saw in my head. Scenes that I imagined and wanted to bring
to life. My Actors did an amazing job at bringing my scrip to life. I cant than
them enough for their work on “Encounters”
What
kind of gear do you use as far as guitar sounds go?
-That’s a great question! Gear is
always fun to talk about. For Encounters there were 2 guitars used. I used a BC
Rich KKV signature series and BloodBath used a BC Rich JR. V Platinum series.
We both used Guitar Rig 5 pro and made custom presets. I did all the mixing and
mastering in Acid Pro using Kontakt 5, Engine 2, Absynth 5 and EzMix 2. As I’ve
started recording our next album “Darkness Embrace” I am now using Presonus
Studio One for the DAW. Its been a great experience thus far.
The
Fifth Kind has some cool clanging industrial sounds, how was this achieved?
-One of the reasons I truly enjoy
using Kontakt 5 libraries are the sounds. They are all real sample libraries
and they sound amazing. The anvil hammering sound that you’re describing is a
VST which I used right out of Kontakt 5. In the album story, that specific
sound represents the how the Ancient Sumerian people considered themselves to
be slaves of the Anunnaki.
What do
you think of the work of guys like David Icke or Graham Hancock?
-When it comes to forms of
entertainment, I’m usually watching some type of old tv show or documentary
rather than a drama or a sitcom. Graham Hancock is featured in TONS of UFO
documentaries and always has great thoughts and ideas. I became familiar with
this work by simply watching some of my favorite documentaries and tv shows.
On that
note, were/are you a fan of the radio show Art Bell (Coast to Coast AM)?
-Absolutely! I’ve been a fan of
that for quite some time now. Its always
interesting and mostly entertaining to hear a lot of the crazy things people
will call in and say. Art handles them pretty well for the most part. I’d have
to say the “Infamous area 51 caller” call was somewhat convincing, but I think
they tried to prove that it was a hoax not too long ago.
What
are some films or tv shows that influenced the concept?
-As I had said earlier, Most of my
inspiration for the concept comes from the tv shows and movies that I grew up
watching. I was a teenager in the early 90’s so I grew up watching shows like
“Sightings” and “Unexplained Mysteries” and I watched every single Twilight
Zone re-run imaginable, so the concept basically came from all of that. I now
own digital copies of every episode of all those shows. I still watch these
shows to this day. I’d rather watch one of those than one of these hyped up
shows that people watch these days. I’m
an old man stuck in his ways, so as far as my entertainment goes, Im stuck in
the past.
Do you
plan on bringing BlackEternal to a stage soon?
-BlackEternal will likely no
longer see any live shows, I had my fill of live shows back in the late 90’s.
Now what I truly enjoy is getting into the studio, turning on the LED lights, putting
on the headphones for a good recording session and just working in peace.
Writing, composing, mixing and mastering is much more fun to me at this point
in my life.
Just a
couple of last things I wanted to say. First off, Thank you very much Matt for
taking the time to sit with BlackEternal today. Its truly appreciated. Also,
BlackEternal would like to thank everyone who listened to ‘Encounters’ we are
very proud of this album and had lots of fun working on it.
BlackEternal
is already back in the studio working on our next album Entitled “Darkness
Embrace” we will be dropping a single off that album in the next couple of
months. Stay tuned. Updates to come soon at www.Blacketernal.com and https://www.facebook.com/NightmareEternal/
Thank you
again!
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