Interview with Enthroned (BE)

Lachryma Christi had the chance to interview Enthroned before, and missed it, sadly. But hey, here it is now, an interview with Neraath.

Enthroned have been around for so long, they have such a long and full career, and on the 7th of June they are releasing their new album, called Cold Black Suns. One of those albums many people are waiting for. 

Even after all the lineup changes, and through all the changes that time brings to people in general, they still manage to bring us some of the best Black Metal ever.

So while you wait for Cold Black Suns to come out, please enjoy this interview, it is very very interesting.

Greetings! Enthroned is a band Lachryma Christi wanted to interview for a while now. You have been around for so long. There have been a lot of line up changes along the years. Do you consider that you still follow the same or a similar line, compared to the beginning?

Greetings too. Indeed, we’re in the scene for a while. For my part, it’s been about 18 years, and plenty of musicians were part of the adventure. There is definitely a line we follow and stick to, despite alterations and variety in that genre of music, most protagonists are driven by the same kind of inspiration. Enthroned keeps that flame alive, and our sound evolves with experiences, taste, personal will but also skills as musicians. You will obviously hear a significant difference if you play our first records, compared to the latest ones, but if you’d pay attention to details and tones, we always kept what built the band’s identity throughout the years.

Where did the name Enthroned come from? What is the main idea behind it?

We have to dig back to 1993, when former member and drummer Cernunnos came up with the name. It was a metaphoric way to depict Satan’s sovereignty.  

Looking back in time, even with all the changes etc, are you happy with the journey of Enthroned along the years?

There were many good and strange moments, some obscure ones too, opportunities to play our music in very far countries with great feedback from fans, but also choices that could have been different. A lifetime is about learning from experiences and setting challenges to overcome. So far, we’re still up to dedicate ourselves into this tenebrous vibe and get along doing what we like to do, working on albums, concepts and hitting the stage.

What about the Black Metal scene in general? Sometimes it feels like 1993 was yesterday. Do you have that same perspective? Do you consider the scene and community has changed or developed a lot?

The 90’s era were somehow the time of my youth, and I don’t have the feeling it was yesterday. Nevertheless, these years gathered plenty of my artistic influences, from alternative rock to extreme metal or more experimental music, and when it comes to the black metal scene, it feels I was from that 90’s generation. It wasn’t much about the music itself, skillwise, but definitely about that mystic aura, where it wasn’t that easy to access to this genre of music if you didn’t live in a big city, or when shows and festival were more rare with a few bunch of bands that had the opportunity to tour. There were not many labels and distribution, and it felt more like a smaller clan than it is today. You had 4 to 5 quality Cds per year, and that was it. To my opinion, it had something special… Nowadays, besides a few exception, I’m not really up to date with the genre, and sometimes I find that the insane number of bands that popped-up sounds more like copies from the original. I don’t deny the fact that plenty of these people are also driven by that obscurity, violence or misery, but I barely pay attention to what is released anymore. Sticking to some classics, I think its kind of typical from a generation to another. I doubt that the community has deeply changed, it’s all about the same codes, the movement just became bigger and more lucrative. More people, higher demand of shows and distribution, internet platforms and blogs everywhere, but it all remains the same. 

Regarding your upcoming album. You have an amazing and long discography. Now there is Cold Black Suns coming up, more precisely, on the 7th of June. What can we expect of it?

On this new album « Cold Black Suns » there was a will to develop atmospheres further than we previously did, and add that murky layer in the whole ambience. First of all, the tuning changed, the drumming and rhythmic approach has been thought further, then, during the arrangements, a work on drones, keyboard pads and few cleaner guitar has been filling the mix. These shady details merge together to increase the album’s identity in its whole concept. You can still expect an aggressive album in the tradition of extreme metal, but the stylistic approach of composing has been elaborated differently.

After five years without releasing an album, how does it feel to have one of the most anticipated albums of 2019 on the way? Why did it take five years in between albums?

We’re glad to have it done, and it was written differently that we used to do all along our career… But it took longer than we thought, when previous album ‘Sovereigns’ was released. For a few reasons… After the promotional work, touring and gigs, I spent some time with former bass player Phorgath to work on our other musical project. That album with ‘Emptiness’ was a long writing process, and our creativity was deeply focused there for a while. Then, Enthroned faced a line-up change, two members left the band, including Phorgath, who used to be quite involved in the songwriting and arrangements… When it felt a bit like slipping away, Menthor (drums), who was also busy with side-projects (Lvcifyre, Nightbringer), took the great initiative to gather everyone on the same track, the band recruited two musicians, got a deal with a new record company, working on demos for new material, few studio sessions at different timings, mix and mastering, and here we are in 2019.

You have some shows coming up, especially festivals. How excited are you about these upcoming shows with Cold Black Suns coming up? 

Always a pleasure to perform live, especially with a new set list. It is a great motive and we’re impatient to deliver it. I would love to have the chance to play shows in countries we’re never been, such as Australia or Jjapan.

Silent Redemption and Hosanna Satana are such great powerful tracks, can't wait to listen to the whole album! Lachryma Christi wishes you the best. Is there any last message you would like to leave to us and everyone reading?

Thanks, I’m glad you appreciate these. We released a clip for the track Hosanna Satana, I invite any curious readers or any amateur of aggressive black metal to look it up.

Enthroned are:
Nornagest: Vocals
Neraath: Guitars, noise and effects
Shāgāl: Guitars
Norgaath: Bass
Menthor: Drums

Read more about Enthroned here:
https://www.facebook.com/Frater.Silurian/