Formed in 2007, By Nasreten, Boghor and Dreygur. After a couple of years with demoes and some line-up changes, Visegard returned in 2014 with a new line-up consisting of Nasreten, Slakt, Banahogg and Nilgard with a debut album called “Burning the Path of Happiness”.
Interview with Nasreten
Hello to Acier Doux Metalzine Tunisia are you ready for an interview ? Which cools things happened in the camp of Visegard lately ?
Cheers man ! Well.. We have been working on a splitrelease for a while now and things are finally coming to an end there, so if you ask me , thats pretty cool! We also finished the mixing for some live-videos, couple of months ago that we uploaded on youtube(links below if you want to check it out). Besides that, the summer just started, and that is the most important time of year for us. Because two members are living on totally different places in Norway, so now we are together again to work on new material as they are home on summervacation !
Your last album ” Burning the Path of Happiness ” was released recently. How do you feel about it ? Anxious to read the flow of reviews and to play some gigs ?
The release of ”Burning..” has been a pain in the ass to be honest ! We got screwed by the recordcompany and we have never seen the cd’s they agreed to press. So we have been fighting a little war there, but by now we have given up on those bastards. We WILL release it on physical format(both cd and vinyl) in the future, but labels are not interrested in an album that is allready released even if its only on streaming services(Spotify etc..). So we are saving up money by ourself to press it on our own label.. so there has been no rewievs as far as I know. ”Skogsdømt” on the other hand has been quite more rewarding with both reviews and response !
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sz2qzV3ObDg]
How long did you spend to compose and record this album ? Is it about months or years ? Is it always easy to find a guitar part to follow this killer riff you found 2 months ago ? (Perhaps you have songs in the work that remain unfinished since too long?). Does everything happen “live” in the rehearsal room, or do you need to record songs and take some distance to hear what’s not efficient enough ?
It has allready been a couple of years, since it was recorded back in 2011 and released in 2014. I used about 2 years of composing it i think, and the recording was about 5 months including mixing and mastering. Haha yeah, i’ve got some unfinished songs from …well i think the oldest are from 2008(hehe). When it comes to working with a riff or a theme(as I think you are aiming for here) there is often a ”kick”. I can’t let a song go until i have it complete. Sometimes a song is finished within days, but other times I take a break to gather some thoughts and distance myself for a bit to ”recharge”. As it comes to new material in the rehearsal room, we often have the song finished before we start rehearsing on it. both my own songs and songs we have been working together on. Ofcourse we jam on ideas and stuff, but most of the writing happens in solitude.
What are the differences between this album and the new demo “Skogsdømt ” ?
First of all i think the material has evolved in general! ”Burning..” is a killer album! It is aggressive and has alot of ”rock’n’roll” attitude. ”Skogsdømt” is more atmospheric, cold and dark. Both releases has this norse-folk-ish vibe, but the theme and material in ”Skogsdømt” defines the idea a bit more I think. Lyrially the album has alot more anti-religious theme. On the surface it tells a story about a war from beginning to the end, where our ancestors fought back on the christian suppressors, but between the lines there are alot of sub-context that could tell a totally different story. ”Skogsdømt”’s theme are based in the wilderness, in the forestof Telemark where I am from, to be spesific. The dark corners of the mind are a huge inspiration on both releases, but some corners are scratching the surface abit more on ” Skogsdømt ” than ”Burning..”.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWo50cmsKrc]
Would you say your music is more influenced by old or newer Black Metal ?
Older, but not only Back Metal ! Folkmusic , electronic music , rock , Thrash Metal , old school Heavy Metal and so on..
What do you want to achieve with this band ?
To reach people in the same way that bands I listen to reaches me! I’ts more important for me that one out of ten are listening to our music and really enjoys it from time to time, than 10 dudes that play it at one party and then forget the whole party (haha). This music means alot to me personally, and I hope others will enjoy it as much as we do. As a liveband we want to grow ! get more experience and play more shows. The bottom line is that we are rockers, and rockers love playing shows !
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaJtC5CthI4]
Some peoples wonder what ” Visegard ” means… Where does the word come from ? Was it Violent , and Aggression ? or Virulent + Progression ?
The Visegard name comes from a ”once enter, you never leave” kind of castle in Europe, but for us it is a norwegian play of words. the word ”Vis” is norwegian for ”wise”, and ”gard” is a old word for ”farm”. Together it means ”the wise farm(den vise garden). After the Black Plague in the 1300s, alot of farms innorway was abandoned and often called ”Ødegard” witch means ”desolateted farm” and people who settled there after that plague took that name as a sirname that still lives today. We used that tradition in our own way and named it as a ”farm of wisdom” or ”where wisdom dwells”. With the thought of heathenism or atheism is connected to wisdom, contrary to religion.
What were your first feelings when someone asked you to release your music on tape ? Didn’t it sound a bit like ” What the fuck, I didn’t know cassettes are still in use ?. Anyway how did peoples react when you shew your stuufs on the merchandising table the first time ?
Well.. we have not released any tapes yet, hehe, but yeah it was something like that! well, our merchbox is talking for itself : we are sold out. both ”En Hedensk Dødsmarsj” (the single connected to ”Burning..”) and ”Skogsdømt” are long gone, and our 3rd pile of tshirts are also gone.. so i will say that we are pretty satisfied with the response !
Have you got new songs composed and ready to be extracted from your brain? How does it sound ?
I have alot of new material that i am really looking foreward to work with this summer. but its hard to say what it will sound like before the songs are done. It till sound like Visegard, that’s for sure !
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CU-tq72CiDE]
Could you tell us more about the metal scene in Skien ? Is this a quite good place on a metal point of view, and were there good Metal bands to check out in the past ? (Maybe you even have your own “cult” local bands whose names still emerge from the past with fond memories ?
Black Metal died out in Skien a long time ago. it seems like we are the only one left. But in the past we had Mactätus and Svartahrid for example, who where really great and released a bunch of very good albums !
Tell us more about the forthcoming plans of Writhing; What should we expect in the coming weeks / months ?
We are almost done with recordings of new material. I can only say that the material is still evolving. This time, a bit closer to the ”Skogsdømt” material, but very unique! a couple of re-recordings as well, and its worth the time..
Thank you very much for spent your time with us and good luck !!!
Thank you for the attention , keep up the good work ! Cheers !
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YovvZDUuwzU]
Interviewer : Med Manef Slama
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