Metalegion interview

Many metal fans had their first contact with dark ambient music when Mortiis released his first solo album in 1994. In fact, that year became a landmark in the black metal history with albums like “In The Nightside Eclipse”, “Hvis Lyset Tar Oss”, and “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas” changing the meaning of atmosphere in black metal. Nirnaeth appears almost as a fusion of these 2 worlds. “In a way you are right. Nirnaeth is a kind of orchestrated black metal without guitars and drums too,” clarifies Piotr Wójcik. “But of course that’s a big simplification. To pigeonhole it, or to come up with an adequate name for this kind of music, one would have to use a term like “cinematic music, film score with black metal atmosphere and vocals”. And this really comes down to a combination of these 2 worlds.”

Nirnaeth have been dormant for almost two decades, so hardly anyone expected a return after such a long and unfortunate break. “Since I disappeared from the scene I have been thinking about coming back, almost from the very beginning. I was planning it and thinking about it for a long time, but something always got in the way,” confesses the keyboard player. If nothing got in his way this time, we wonder if this period of confinement and introspection due to the COVID-19 pandemic gave him inspiration and the tools he needed to compose again. “The pandemic was certainly neither an inspiration or a motivation, nor any factor that led in any dramatic way to change. If anything, it was the reduction in my professional activity that finally gave me more time and allowed me to get back to playing seriously. 20 years is a long time, the world has changed a lot and me too. It will probably be visible on new releases, although not necessarily on “Auta I Lome” yet...”

The second album “Nirnaeth Arnoediad” was recently reissued by the Spanish record label Abstract Emotions and it seems to have aged like a good 20 year old red wine resting in a dark, humid basement. “Generally we could say that Abstract Emotions reissued this material, although de facto it was previously released only on tape, so from the CD point of view it’s a 20 year late premiere. I’m probably not the best person to judge my own album, because it will always be very subjective... But it seems to me that this material hasn’t aged at all. I also tried to play the same songs on new equipment and new sounds, as well as playing some of the tracks again. And I have to say that I am impressed with how the old instruments from the ‘90s defend themselves with their sounds and sample quality. I was expecting a huge gap, but it’s not so bad,” he concludes with an emotive tone. Speaking of emotion, “Nirnaeth Arnoediad” is one of those albums that has an extremely beautiful blackness that contrasts perfectly with the very evil vociferations. There is emotion and a sort of energy that appears to have driven him to compose it back then, but it might not be present anymore. “It’s all back after 20 years. I feel like I recorded “Nirnaeth Arnoediad” last year and am just getting on with making another album. The world outside the window has just changed a bit. The long break, on the other hand, has certainly created a huge hunger to play. It only took me a little more than a month to compose “Auta I Lome”. Of course, now we still have to record all the tracks, make vocals, do the mixing, so the third album won’t be out in a week or a month. But from a creative point of view, the longer break has done me good,” confides the musician with confidence.

If the reissue on CD wasn’t enough, latest news suggests that the album will see a vinyl version as well. It’s probably the only thing missing in Nirnaeth’s discography. “I’ll tell you honestly, I’m not one of those people for whom vinyl is an extremely cult medium. Of course, it’s nice to reissue this, and maybe other albums on a big disc, but what I miss the most when it comes to Nirnaeth is the completion of the trilogy. The whole thing will probably close in 25 years. A huge amount of time.”

Darker Passages

There are passages, like on ‘Feniks’, that remind strangely of the Polish black metal band Profanum, with their grim orchestrations. “Profanum and Nirnaeth are quite different projects. The vocals in Profanum are definitely denser, much more reminiscent of classic black metal screams; there are also drums, programmed, admittedly, but they are there. Nirnaeth is very different,” contradicts Piotr. “However, the fact that there are generally not many bands of that type makes anyone who combines synth or quasi-orchestral playing with metal screeching vocals immediately land in the same drawer. Even if, for example, the differences between Profanum and Nirnaeth is like the distance between Morbid Angel and Darkthrone’s “A Blaze...” era. As for Profanum itself, it was undoubtedly an outstanding project and it’s a real pity that it hasn’t existed for over 15 years. But since they are all reactivating one by one…” Before he plants any false hopes concerning Profanum’s return, we interject with the fact that “Nirnaeth Arnoediad” was marked by featuring several musicians during the recordings. “My friends from Themgoroth and Vim Patior appeared during the recording, while the project itself was always a one-man thing. Of course, in case of concerts it’s impossible to recreate it all live on your own, that’s why, for example, we used to go to Castle Party in Bolkow in a line-up of up to even 5 people.”

Allied to mesmerizing dreadful synth-based melodies or black metal energies, Tolkien also appears as a strong influence, hence also the bandname seems to be Elvish. “Tolkien, of course, was a strong inspiration for me, especially at the time. The name of the band is not so much Elvish as simply referring to a particular event - one of the most dramatic in the whole history of Middle Earth,” clarifies the composer. The album title “Nirnaeth Arnoediad” (or Battle of Unnumbered Tears in the Tolkien context) seems to have deep links with Nirnaeth. “The Nirnaeth Arnoediad is the quintessence of all misfortunes. At the time when the first material was created I thought that it fitted perfectly with the music I was going to create.”

Synths have been used in different situations and styles of music for decades; nevertheless, in what concerns black metal today, some consider that the mysticism of the gloomy keyboard-driven atmospheres is a little lost. Long gone are the orchestrations of Limbonic Art and the dreadful atmospheres in Summoning. “Yes, you’re right, sometimes it becomes more technical and less atmospheric. However, there are still some bands, especially those less known, which combine good black atmosphere with orchestration or typical synth music. Also, from time to time there are also interesting ephemera, such as Abstract Void.”

The debut album „Haudh ’en’ Nirnaeth” was influenced by the Polish poet Tadeusz Miciński, who has strong connotations with Satanism. Behemoth most recently even used one of his poems for one of the songs on the album „The Satanist”. He is perhaps one of the greatest Polish poets with references to Satanism. “You know, such evaluations will always remain subjective. For some people the most outstanding will be Miciński, for others Przybyszewski. Undoubtedly, the whole period of Młoda Polska (Young Poland) in literature was permeated with a kind of mysticism, iconoclasm, references to Satanism, etc. Miciński, by the way, has been arranged to the music of many bands. Back in the ‘90s, Hödur recorded the same “Lucifer” poem on their debut album.”

Secular Concepts

After approaching the reissue from different angles, it remains to be discussed the upcoming album that Piotr is so eager to disclose. “The new album, “Auta I Lome”, is already fully composed. Once the vocals are recorded and mixed, it will be ready for release. Perhaps there will be a digital EP in the meantime. Nowadays, a lot of bands come back and record albums that are downright shocking to their former audiences and listeners. However, “Auta I Lome” is such a settling of accounts with the unfinished trilogy,” he confides with excitement. It remains to be seen if it marks a new era in Nirnaeth or if it’s a true continuation of “Nirnaeth Arnoediad”. “It will be exactly the kind of record I would have made on the spot, right after “Nirnaeth Arnoediad”, if there had been no break. Of course, with a small allowance for the fact that the technical possibilities are better after all these 20 years. If you want to know what the third album will be like, listen to the first, then the second. The third will continue in the same direction,” explains the musician.\

A quarter of a century is plenty of time to upgrade gear or even develop and expand composition techniques. With a new album on the way, it’s important to know if the composition process remains unchanged. “The way I compose, yes, I record motifs, process, expand, etc. Some things I write down quickly on a staff, especially if I don’t have an instrument at hand. But not the instrumentation or all the other tools, of course. 20 years is a huge gap. When I made my first demo and Nirnaeth album I was using a relic like a Roland MC500. Today everybody uses a computer. 20-30 years ago, synth keyboards were mostly clumsy. Today you can have a keyboard with a hammer-action mechanism replicating the best concert grand piano, and play the best pianos in the world with a full reproduction of the sound of the pedals or the hammers hitting the strings.”