Welcome to the Moonsorrow Interviews Compilation!
Here you will find more than one hundred Moonsorrow interviews, many of which have already disappeared from where they were originally posted. Check the Index and Contact pages above and the notes in the left column for more info.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

World War 3 / February 2000

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Answered by Ville Sorvali and Marko Tarvonen


Write me a short background of the band for a start.

[Ville] Moonsorrow was formed in 1995 by me and Henri. In 1996 we recorded our first demo, which however was never released due to various reasons, and in 1997 the second one, ”Metsä”, which is considered to be our debut. During the whole 1998 we worked with our latest demo, ”Tämä Ikuinen Talvi”, which was published in 1999, and it gained us a record deal with Swedish Plasmatica Records. At the moment (February 2000) we are in the studio recording our debut full-length ”Suden Uni” with our newest member, a killer drummer called Baron Tarwonen.

Do you think it pays off for MOONSORROW that you and Henri are brothers?

[Ville] Actually we’re cousins, but you’re not the first one to mistake us to be brothers. (Yes, we are brothers in METAL!) Perhaps our kinship has had a positive effect on Moonsorrow, who knows, but then again, our unity is as good with Baron Tarwonen who is not related to us. As long as Moonsorrow keeps rocking, these things don’t matter.

Why MOONSORROW?

[Baron] Why World War 3? I think Moonsorrow is a great name for a band, as simple as that.

After all, while your lyrics are written in Finnish, why an English name?

[Ville] By the time our name was chosen, our lyrics were written in English (by Henri). When Henri wanted me to start writing lyrics for ”Tämä Ikuinen Talvi” and further on, I decided to use Finnish becase I thought it would serve our purposes better. Changing the band’s name because of that didn’t cross our minds.

What do your lyrics deal with and what does inspire you in writing them?

[Ville] Our lyrics deal with various topics from a ”heathen” point of view. The earlier lyrics Henri wrote were mostly about northern mythology, but I have chosen to vary the subjects of my lyrics a bit more. About a half of the stuff I have written has in a way or another involved the fight of heathens and christians, but the scale within that subject has been wide enough this far, containing not only historical tellings but also dreams and abstract events, dressed in different forms of expression. The rest of the lyrics are about nature, home, death and those sorts of subjects, yet I naturally hope that they will be interpreted in many personal ways, as poetry as they are. Anything can inspire me to write a lyric, but I guess that inspiration usually strikes me when I’m least expecting it, like suddenly in the middle of pondering something totally unrelated to lyric-writing.

Which concept in Black metal from goth/vampirism, satanism, paganism, nazism fits you the best? What’s your opinion on the other ones?

[Baron] For sure it’s paganism that fits us from those alternatives above. About others, I don’t have a clue about what it is with goth/vamp-stuff in general. Satanism is not my way of life but as a heathen I sure have pagan attitude against christianity. Nazism to me is full of shit!

[Ville] To be exact, none of goth/vampirism, paganism or nazism belongs to Black Metal. Only satanic music can be Black Metal, and as we’re not satanists, we’re not Black Metal at all. Apart from the style of music we perform, however, goth/vampirism is silly and nazism is idiotic, so paganism indeed is the only reasonable concept for us. And that is what Moonsorrow is mostly about.

Do you think these concepts can differentiate into BM parties or movements? Can we refer to any movement when speaking of Black Metal anyway? What does BM mean to you?

[Ville] Those concepts have already distincted themselves from each other (although some bands attempt to combine paganism with nazism, satanism with nazism, or even paganism with satanism!), but as I said, only satanism has to do with actual Black Metal. We’re not interested in any movements or parties connected with Black Metal as we don’t even play it. All of us certainly listen to some Black Metal, but that has nothing strict to do with our ideologies.

[Baron] For me Black Metal is just aggressive music.

”Tämä Ikuinen Talvi” demo made me think of you as of ENSLAVED / LIMBONIC ART fanatics. What are your favourite bands?

[Ville] Aye, the demo surely has its references to Enslaved and Limbonic Art, but the attempt never was to copy anyone. I like these bands for their earlier production, but I also listen to shitloads of other - and different - music. Everything good from psychedelic rock to grindcore, so to say. Your last mistake could be to ask for my favourite bands, but I think I’ll settle with a few random examples only: Merciless, Darkthrone, In The Woods..., Bathory, Slayer and System Of A Down for metal and Nordman, Hedningarna, King Crimson, When, Sting and Anton Dvorak for the other genres.

[Baron] At the moment I listen to many types of music from 70’s prog (King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant) to 80’s heavy (Iron Maiden, Kiss, Manowar, Metallica) and of course some of today’s DM/BM (Entombed, Morbid Angel, Darkthrone, Beherit). These for to mention some.

Running MEATHOOK label and distribution service must keep you updated on the UNDERGROUND worl-wide, so naturally I ask you what’s going on in the Scene?

[Ville] Pretty much is going on in the scene, yet I am aware of only a fraction of it all. There are good bands born eventually, but the massive amount of crap the scene produces doesn’t quite raise my interest of keeping myself updated on all events. I love the underground, but I would like to find more worthy merchandise for Meat Hook Productions for a little less attempt as I can’t put all my time into it.

What do you know about Romanian Black Metal Scene?

[Ville] Hardly anything. Besides Negura Bunget I can’t remember hearing any metal at all from your country. I have heard that there are some individuals forming the local scene, but I haven’t got the chance to get acquainted with it.

What about Finland? Are there hordes to continue the work of BEHERIT likes?

[Baron] Ah the good ol’ Beherit. I don’t know if there are such bands like them left in the scene but Barathrum is quite close to it. Also my other band Gorewinter is highly inspired by Beherit! But we’re not so ”good” yet!

Lately the most famous bands coming out from your country are THY SERPENT and CHILDREN OF BODOM. What’s your personal opinion on these two bands and how are they treated locally?

[Ville] At least they are not the best bands from Finland, Children Of Bodom being even repulsive to me. It has nothing to do with their success, but I prefer to listen to more ”underground” stuff what comes to Finland, such as ...and Oceans of Thyrane for example. There simply are many better bands in Finland than these two you mentioned. I think that both Children Of Bodom and Thy Serpent are treated pretty well locally as they do have a certain market value, and it seems that even a part of the underground looks up to them.

[Baron] Children Of Bodom is big here, that’s for sure. I think they do their job very well what comes to what they want to do. Also they have a couple of good songs. I don’t know them personally, so I wouldn’t comment anything on that.

OK. That would be all. Are there any plans for the future you would like to share or anything you must add? Thanx for the interview!

[Ville] While awaiting our debut CD to be released, we just hope to keep in touch with some cool metal people and to play as many gigs as possible. Something I must add is a big thank you for this interview and a wish of good luck with your ’zine! Although your questions might have deserved longer answers, I think nothing important was excluded. When all is said, stay metal my friend!

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