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.
