2 Dec 2020

INTERVIEW: ONHEILIG - 2020


The following interview was conducted with Doodsengel and Raven from South African Black Metal band ONHEILIG.

Hails. How was Onheilig conceived and what is the ideology behind it?

Doodsengel: Onheilig was conceived when Raven and I got back in touch after a few years and decided to do a black metal project in the vein of the old second wave and taking it from there. There were no intentions other than to make black metal as we know it and progress from that point. You always need a starting point with something and it was a logical point to start with, maybe come across as derivative and then hopefully settle into our own sound. The ideology from my side personally is based on decay of the world we know, death and the essence of spirituality through death.

Raven: Onheilig is here is to take back the essence of black metal to what it started out as, for me it's the glorification of death, nature and true Satanism.

Tell us a little bit about your demo, "His Will, My Craft," and the reactions you've received so far? Are you happy with the result?

Doodsengel: So far the reactions have been quite positive. As far as being happy with the result, I personally choose to ignore both positive and negative criticism to a degree (barring constructive criticism which could lead to areas of improvement). If you allow the criticism to taint or pervert your vision or your art then you're doing it for the wrong reasons and should rather focus your efforts on something else. Art is inherently selfish and pandering to what people want is the unfortunate attitude that spawned the abominable "Old School Death Metal" revival and subsequent other revivals where we've seen washed up burnouts trying to reclaim their "former glory" and I find it pathetic and insincere.

What can you tell us about the South African metal scene? Are there any worthy albums and bands you can recommend?

Doodsengel: The South African metal scene is an absolute joke and not even worth a detailed explanation, but I'll try give a decent enough overview. The bands all just seem to pander towards the mainstream trends of what's popular overseas, except they manage to do it worse. Not only is it insincere, but it seems like some god awful popularity contest with falsified "celebrity" status stupidity and indiscriminate comradery where it becomes about "supporting the scene" and not about the music at all. I prefer to stay away from these idiots and their bullshit mentality and mainstream pandering attitudes with no artistic vision, spirit or respect for music in general. The only band and album I could possibly recommend is the orthodox black metal band from Cape Town called Formless Devotion and their EP 'Sparks of Separation'. Nothing else really crosses my mind as I don't care about it at all.

Raven: No comment.

Are any of the members in Onheilig involved in any side projects? What about past bands and projects? Give us a little background.

Doodsengel: I'm sure Raven can answer about his project. I only have a minor involvement in it laying down bass tracks. I'm working on something on the side but I don't have anything concrete enough to actually justify calling it a side-project. We've both been in bands prior to this, and even one together which we both left. An absolute joke of a "black metal" band that just played out as bad Norsecore trash. I hadn't begun playing an instruments yet and was incessantly begged to do vocals. I also had a few shitty side-projects with one of the other members of that band that aren't worth mentioning. I still hadn't begun playing an instrument so only had limited input musically.

Raven: Ominous Reflections is my side project and was a live force for a few years in the scene. Now it is solely a studio project. Recording of the EP will start early December. Ominous Reflections is a different beast from Onheilig all together.


(Demo artwork for "His Will, My Craft")

What is your opinion on people who play music who jump from one genre to the next as a means to conform to trends?

Doodsengel: I have no problem with experimentation with other genres as I have a rather "broad" taste in music. But when it's a constant shift to pander to the current flavours of the month, then it's woefully insincere and those people just pollute and pervert music. I'm not fond of the attitude of "music is entertainment", "music should be fun". Music is entertainment to a degree, but it's also self-expression. Music can be taken seriously. If you are just in it for the fun, that's great. I couldn't care. It'll always show and I can gladly avoid it. There needs to be a degree of seriousness. I don't agree with the Frank Zappa school of thought where silliness reigns supreme. Granted I don't mind a bit of silliness every now and then. We all need our cheap thrills. And I've strayed slightly off topic, so to sum it up in less convoluted terms: Fuck those people and the world is a better place without them.

What inspired the name Onheilig and the idea to have lyrics in Afrikaans?

Doodsengel: I wouldn't say anything directly inspired the name 'Onheilig' other than we knew we wanted a name in Afrikaans and also wanted to avoid having a multi-worded name. I also apologise to Unholy from Finland. It means the same thing. The idea to have lyrics in Afrikaans was mostly a sonic choice. Apart from being apart of our heritage, it's also just a very simple, blunt and gutteral language. It sounds harsh and I personally think it fits the extremity of the sound.

Raven: Onheilig means Unholy, hence our music is the true definition of the word.

Your opinion on the following:

* Black Metal Against Fascism

Doodsengel: Ironically fascist. A bunch of rich kids with no grasp on reality who feed on mainstream rhetoric that they probably learned at college or some large educational institution that indoctrinate the youth into believing in bullshit causes that mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. Modern day "cancel culture" and other moronic movements driven to silence freedom of speech and expression and forces their narrative and "values" (or lack thereof) upon you. Sounds pretty goddamn fascist to me.

* H.P. Lovecraft

Doodsengel: One of the most brilliant writers in the 20th Century. Not only is he a master of atmosphere and horror, but also embedded philosophy. He seems to get unfairly criticised in this day and age because certain people deem him a bad writer because of his purportedly "shallow" characters, when they forget that the characters merely act as a vehicle to drive the narrative. They're insignificant in the overall scale and the only significance they could possibly have is to encapsulate the horror which is greater than the human element. People look at him on a surface level and whine about insipid little details like "shallow" characters without seeing what he was trying to do. Criticising his writing without seeing how forward thinking it was. Despite hating modern writers he used a lot of modern techniques at the time. He could also emulate other writers very well when he wanted to. Him mimicking Edgar Allan Poe shows this. Modern society tend to pass him off as a substandard pulp writer because wankers like Stephen King and the internet said so. Read him and make up your own fucking minds. Look beyond superficial things like the alleged "lack" of in depth and supposed multifaceted characters. He wrote short stories for fuck sake.

* Music theory

Doodsengel: A bit of a double edged sword. An extremely useful tool to have. Unfortunately people tend to swing one way or the other. And to me both arguments are wrong. Some people construct music purely from theory and forget that even masters like Johann Sebastian Bach bend the rules. They tend to make highly technical and constructed music that operates more like strict form mathematical equations rather than music. And the result is something not only very sterile, but also uniform. They forget about things like "creativity". The other side of the coin are idiotic rockers that'll tell you music theory kills your creativity and you shouldn't learn it. They're idiots and if you listen to them you'll probably never ascend passed being a vapid pub rock band. Unless you're wildly creative and invent your own harmonic language. Those individuals are few and far between. Use theory as a tool and creativity and freedom to form the sound you want. The only limitations are created by stupidity.


10 albums that made an impact on you?

Doodsengel: This is a rather difficult one to answer because there are so many, but I'll try. In no specific order.

* Dødheimsgard - Satanic Art

* King Crimson - Red

* Mayhem - De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas

* Gorgoroth - Under the Sign of Hell

* At the Gates - The Red in the Sky is Ours

* Thorns - Thorns

* Atrocity - Todessehensucht

* Dissection - The Somberlain

* Mekong Delta - The Music of Erich Zann

* Änglagård - Hybris

I'll also give extra mentions of composers I like too that I think have made an impact on me, even if it's not outwardly apparent:

* Johann Sebastian Bach

* Carlo Gesualdo

* Dmitri Shostakovich

* Béla Bartók

And various oud players from the Arabic classical form.

 Raven:

- Gorgoroth - Destroyer

- Dodheimsgard - Satanic Art

- Satyricon - The Shadow Throne

- Dissection (their entire work)

- Black Funeral - Waters of Weeping

Lastly, what are the future plans for ONHEILIG?

Doodsengel: We're currently in the process of writing material for a new release which will hopefully be done some time in 2021. It will be different from the derivative sound heard on the demo, and whether people will like it or not is an insignificant thought that only time will be able to tell us.

Raven: A full length album is to be finished within next year, the full length album will have no correlation to the demo. Something entirely new and soul devouring will be birthed.