You have
included lyrics in both English and French. Do you think that certain
feelings and emotions can only be written in one special language? That for
example some of your lyrics that are written in French would sound wrong in
English or vice versa? What language do you prefer?
As I am from Quebec, french is my native language, and the one I prefer. In
my opinion, nothing can compare to it in terms of poetry, as it is one of the
richest and most emotionnal languages in the world.The main reason for using
english as well is pretty obvious actually: It is simply so that non french
speaking individuals can understand a part of my poems, as I am very proud of
them. All of our albums will bear french titles, though, that has been
decided since the first days of Frozen Shadows...
As you said you are from Quebec. I would like to know your opinion about the
rest of Canada. I know many people want Quebec to be independent...
Canada... means nothing to us. What most people from the outside don't know
is that we used to be a country of our own called Nouvelle-France until 1763,
when the english invaded it and annexed us into Canada against our own will. We
are the beacon of French and European Heritage on this new continent, and we
want to get our country back so that we can protect this culture, which is
very important to us. Without us, Canada is but a shadow of the US, and that
is why they do not want to let us go, but this country just doesn't work. Tell
me, do you think that a country made up by 75% of England and 25% of France
would be viable? I think not!
What do you think about Canadian bands like Blasphemy and Conqueror? Their
style was/is very different from yours. What style of extreme music is
dominating in your country?
Then again you can see the difference... The remainder of Canada adhere to
this Blasphemy-type Black/Death Metal while the Black Metal "scene"
in Quebec is a lot more European/Scandinavian and clearly separated from the
US type Death Metal scene that we also have here. Our weather, landscapes and
especially culture is a lot closer to yours than from the rest of Canada, so
it's quite natural to see this contrast.
Do you think there is something like a Canadian scene that should get some
worldwide attention or do you preffer to look upon each band separately?
I don't think there is much of a Canadian "scene" to speak of, as
the people are quite simply too spread apart on such a vast country. In
Quebec for example, we have about 2 millions less people than in your native
Sweden, but our land is thrice as big! There is a Death Metal scene here, and
it's quite big, but the Black Metal one is just a joke! Most of the few bands
are incredibly lame, and they represent what I hate the most in this music:
trendies! We are really not on good terms with the remainder of our
"scene", so I won't comment further on the situation. I just get
too damn angry...
Have you ever played live? Any good concerts you have been at lately? What
makes a band interesting when playing live (appart from their good music of
course)?
We have yet to play live, and it is not our top priority. For now, being a
trio simply prevents us to do so, but we are looking around for session
members for hypothetic future live performances. Good concerts here (as far
as my tastes are concerned) are a pretty rare thing, we mostly get american
Death Metal bands, and the 2-3 Black Metal bands from Europe that came here
are the most commercial, hence not those I want to see! Enslaved actually
came here back in 1995, and they just ripped the place apart. The best recent
show I saw was without a doubt the Maiden reunion. It was great to see
Dickinson back in the group in such a splendid shape! I think a good visual
performance always enhance a live performance, as long as it is not overdone,
and I guess if we ever hit the stage people can expect a bit of visuals...
Are you satisfied with the way your album turned out? Anything you would like
to change?
We are extremely satisfied with our album. We had very good studio
conditions, and the engineer, even tough he knew next to nothing in terms of
Black Metal, was very open minded about the way we wanted to record this. We
told him that we wanted a raw yet powerfull sound, and that's exactly what he
gave us. Some engineers are always pushing you to go for a crystal clear
sound, and that can get quite annoying when it's not what you want!!! I think
all the songs are very solid, and there is not a thing I would change
music-wise. The only downside is the last song on the Cd, on which the mix is
clearly not as good as the remainder of the album. We were growing a bit
bored, and we just mixed it a bit too quick. We all learn from our mistakes,
so we won't do this again!
Which is the main difference between you demo and the album? How do you look
upon this demo nowdays? Do you think it still represents your style and
sound?
Looking back at the demo, I am still very proud of what we achieved on it. It
was the best representation of what we were at that moment. We haven't
changed that much, we have just polished our style. The songs are faster and
a bit more technical, but I'd say that the overall dark atmosphere is about
the same. On the demo, our influences were probably more obvious that now,
but that is normal evolution. All bands start off influenced by others, the
good ones are those that are able to transform those influences into a style
of it's own and I think we did that with our CD...
Do you have any new material ready for a realease?
Yes, as a matter of fact "Dans les Bras des Immortels" was first
supposed to be an 8 song CD... Our drummer Namtar had tendinitis in the
elbows while we were recording the album, and after recording 7 songs he just
wasn't able to cope with the pain anymore. We figured that since we had for
nearly 50 minutes of music already, it was not worth risking his health! We
will record that song for our next album, and we also already have new ones
as well. If all goes well, we might record our second album in the spring
of2000.
Anything special you hope the new millenium will bring? By the way, what are
you going to do on New Year's Eve?
I don't see anything special happening in 2000. More human cattle will be
born everyday to make my life miserable. 2000 is just a year out of the
christian calendar, so I really don't see why people make such a big deal
about it. I guess I will spending new years eve with my familly like everyone
does...
I remember you having a conflict with Nordic Vision some years ago. Have you
ever heard from the guy again? What do you think about his reviews in
general?
Melanchol X (what a terrible name!) is a jerk, period. If he is incapable of
being objective about something else than Norwegian Black Metal or the Death
Metal bands he just discovered then he should stop bothering doing this rag
he calls Nordic Vision!!! We sent him a copy of our demo, and he simply
thrashed it like I've never seen him do. The main difference with what he
usually does was that he was attacking us personnaly, saying that we were
idiots, young kids (I was 25 at that time...) etc, even tough we had never
spoken! He actually never said anything about the music, just us! Of course,
I wrote him a letter asking him who the hell he thought he was to pass
judgement on us in that fashion, and he actually printed it in his next issue
and then threw every insult he could think of at us for a full page. The
funny thing is that he looked like quite a fool, since ALL of the other
reviews we had for the demo ranged from good to great. Even other mags from
Norway like Oskorei were giving us extremely positive reviews, and when I
told him this he simply discarded it and said in his zine that "every
label and zine supporting Frozen Shadows shows how stupid they are". Pretty
pathetic... I heard he made a lot of people angry with this! We haven't
received a single letter supporting him on that matter, so he's looking like
quite an ass right now. I never figured out why he had such a personnal issue
with us nor have I ever heard from him again, but I REALLY would like to meet
the guy and twist his little neck!
Wich is the ultimate black metal realease of all times?
Humm, that's a pretty hard one... I think I have to go with Bathory's
"Blood, Fire, Death" for the overall impact it had on me, but
"In the Nightside Eclipse" is not far behind. Black Metal was so
much more back then then it is is now, and I must say that I miss those days!
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