Genre: Ambient black metal
Origin: Italy
Current line-up:
Aganush: Bass and Guitars
Ragno: Drums
Ishtar: Keyboards
Phoenix: Session vocalist for "Loki"
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Current label:
Ekleipsi Records
Discography:
Loki - 2010
Official Site:
http://www.myspace.com/adveniathiems
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1. What does ADVENIAT HIEMS mean and how did
you select it?
The name we have chosen for the band is an
ancient Latin expression that means "Let the winter come!" It is closely
related to the coldness and stillness we would like to create with our
songs.
2. What kind of procedure do you follow when you
write songs? Is it a team work? Do you have to be in a certain state of
mind in order to get productive?
The band has been founded in Milan at the
beginning of 2008, but we had been working together before, as part of
the band LUSTNOTES, that stopped its activity in 2006. Thanks to this experience,
we had already succeeded in the task of melting our different musical inspirations,
so we could start right away with the realization of this new project.
The album "Loki" was entirely composed in a small room we rent in Milan,
where we met twice a week or more, to discuss, try and decide every single
part of this product. We stated from the start as one of our primary objectives
the extreme coherence of the finished album: lyrics, music and graphics
had to be exactly fit to the concept we wanted to transmit with this album.
For this reason we started from a set of lyrics to inspire the songs melodies,
then adapted the lyrics to those tunes and only after we got everything
together working, fine-tuning every passage and every single atmosphere.
Our main composer is Aganush, Ragno is in complete charge for the rhythmics
while Ishtar cares about lyrics and graphics.
3. What would you say if you were asked to describe
“Loki” to the metal heads? What do you think you have to offer to the scene?
We have been strongly influenced by black
metal bands of the '90, especially GEHENNA, BURZUM and the first releases
by DIMMU BORGIR like "For all Tid" and "Stormblast". Without any doubt,
those bands have played a major role in the formation of our musical conscience
and inspiration: they had in their works the atmosphere we like and feel
so close to us. Surely they have been a source of inspiration for us, and
we think this is quite evident from our production too. Beside this, we
know time has passed and the musical scene has evolved, so we tried to
start from the excellent work those bands did going further on the road
they started tracing, inserting some modern but not evident elements in
our creations like voice effects and keyboards post-production.
4. Which are the EP’s highlights and perhaps its
weakest moments according to you?
We think this E.P. has one of its greatest
points in the passion we put in its realization. We are fond of northern
mythology and feel very close to the characters we described in our songs,
so that every passage of the album is sincere and heartfelt. Also, the
work we did together on the album was meant to be coherent and impressive
for the audience; we think we reached our goal, creating a product that
expresses in every part the mood, the atmosphere and the concept that inspired
us. On the other hand, the production of the E.P. suffered from the limits
a self-produced work necessarily has. We would have like the possibility
to invest more in order to have a more refined sound.
5. Which song or songs do you think are the most
ideal to present the EP’s essence?
"Fenrir", third song of the album, is surely
the most complete song we wrote on this E.P.. The song is about the wolf-god
Fenrir, destined to break free from his chain the day of Ragnarok to swallow
the sun, causing an endless, cold night to fall upon the universe. Waiting
for that day, Fenrir is forced to remain chained in the desolated lands
before the reign of dead spirits, soaked in fog and stillness. The musical
line of the song is rich of changes of mood, expressing the contrast between
the motionless plains where the wolf-god lies and his inner rage. In this
track every aspect we love in Northern mythology is represented: rage,
desolation, stillness, cold.
6. Why did you name the album “Loki” and what
do you find so appealing in the Northern mythology?
We feel deeply touched and involved by the
evocative power of northern mythology and its sagas. A lot of people ask
us why we didn't choose some more Italian concept or, on the contrary,
a more global one, not strictly related to countries we do not live in.
The reason is simple: we think every band should just compose and write
about themes they like and feel particularly close to their nature. Our
nature and feelings bring us to the heart of eternal winters, just right
beside the giants, among the everlasting night of the Ragnarok: that's
why we choose to stick to these particular concept.The album is written
around the figure of the god Loki, nemesis of Odin in the scandinavian
myth, along with those of his three sons, that will play with him a main
role in the events of Ragnarok, the end of the world in northern mythology.
A song has been written for every character, trying to define the main
traits of them and the role they prepare to play in the twilight of the
god.
7. Can you point out some of the bands and albums
that made you realize this is the kind of music you want to play?
At the top of the list we should place, without
any doubt, all the ambient works of BURZUM like "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss", "Det
som engang var" and "Filosofem". Beside this, we were deeply inspired by
"For all tid" by DIMMU BORGIR and by the initial works of bands like GEHENNA
and MACTATUS.
8. Who created the cover artwork? What does it
depict and how is it connected to the album title and lyrics?
Ishtar is the ones that takes care of artworks
and graphical issues. The pictures represents Hel. Very popular in the
northern folklore, she is considered to be the image of Death: a grim old
lady with a rake that she uses to catch the souls of mortals and bring
them in her reign of shadows.
Hel is one of the sons of Loki, probably,
in our opinion, the loneliest and at the same time the bleakest one, so
we thought she could represent our musical style.
9. What kind of obstacles and problems has a newcoming
band to surpass nowadays when they release their stuff?
The world of music is overcrowded. Even in
less popular field like black metal, there is plenty of bands with talent
and original ideas, so it is difficult just to be at the same level with
the rest of the scene. Furthermore, to reach the audience is not and easy
task: often people follow famous bands and do not care about newcomers.
We have tried to surpass those difficulties by setting our work free for
download and placing our songs in the most visited portals and communities
on the web. We are not famous of course, but we think we have reached a
fair amount of listeners.
10. What kind of feedback have you received thus
far? Is there a thing you see appearing in most of your reviews?
Reviewers often say the production quality
is not the best possible. This is true, and it is one of the things we
regret most about this album, but as we said it is a self-produced E.P.
and this is the best result we could realize. Beside, a lot of our reviewers
point out the coldness and the desolation expressed by our work. We like
this, because it was exactly the feeling we wanted to transmit to our listeners
and it is always gratifying to see someone grabbed the message.
11. What do you think of the Internet and the
music industry? Labels accuse it for the financial trouble they are in.
Where do you stand on this?
We distribute our music for free over the
internet: this is a quite clear position! We play to be heard and to share
our musical passion: for this reason we do not care to join the music industry
mainstream. It is probably true that the web is making the labels' financial
troubles worse, but this is a change due to time and new technologies:
the music industry should adequate to this new way of listening and enjoying
music.
12. How are you going to promote your work? Have
you planned any live shows or even a tour perhaps?
We do not usually perform live, we didn't
prepare any shows. The promotion of "Loki" is entirely done using the web
and the distribution of promotional packages to 'zines interested in our
style.
Christine Parastatidou
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