Lachryma Christi had the chance to interview Snøgg , Black Metal band from Slovenia. They are releasing (it is, indeed, self-released) their first full-length album on the 6th of June, and it is called Chhinnamasta.
There is a review for it here:
And do you know what is great? They are going to be on studio soon to record another album!
This album is a masterpiece. Lachryma Christi was so impressed, and since an interview became possible, it had to be done. It is great to know more about what they think.
What is the meaning of Snøgg?
You mean the meaning of band, or the meaning of the word? The meaning of the word is fast or quick in Icelandic and Norwegian, but pronounced in Slovenian it means snow. It's a little wordplay. If you ask about the band, the meaning of Snøgg is to explore musical genres and create and perform some weird or not so weird music that we like to listen to.
Since you have a new album coming up soon, Chhinnamasta, for those who haven't heard it yet, what can they expect?
If you have listened to our older stuff, let me just tell you that we went deeper into post-metal genre, but we still include lots of primal black metal riffing, noisescapes, nature... The thing you would notice at once is production. We have taken it on new level, creating more powerful sound, clear when it should be and dirty likewise.
What are your main influences? What is it that drives you to make the extraordinary sound you do?
The pool of influences is huge. Between the two of us we listen to a loooot of different genres, bands, styles.... So if we narrow ourselves to Chhinnamasta, I would say it you can feel influences of bands like Mastodon and Isis, Sunn O))), on top of classical Norwegian and American black metal bands like Darktrhrone, Xasthur and similar. We always wanted to do something that is a bit special, so the sound we have now and the sound we had before are just results of our experiments and our development. We must not forget that the influences that we take are not only in music, we drain a lot of our ideas from nature and other culture like books, movies, video games etc.
Do you play live? If yes, what was your most remarkable show so far?
Yes we do. Every show is remarkable, especially for the listeners, as we try to bring something new on stage every show, experimenting with line-ups, versions of the songs, stage performance etc... For us, I think best shows to mention were a fest in Thessaloniki about 2 years ago, show on 20th anniversary of first Slovenian black metal album Baptism at Savica fall of Noctiferia, all the Romanian shows (you guys rule), also Noisefest Brno... There were a lot of good shows :)
How does the composing songs work for you? What is your process?
It really depends from album to album. This time we created it "normal way", with jamming on rehearsals, members creating parts on their on, putting it together, adjusting and at the end recording. Well this was not the case for former releases, except for Qivitoq. Abeloth was created as a simple jam and later arranged on computer, Snøgg EP, we recorded drums first and later sticking and creating guitars to it, first demo was created entirely on computer, except recordings of guitars and vocals... So its different every time and its gonna be so also in the future as we go in studio for new album at the end of this month.
Since you've been around for some years now, how only now you are releasing your first full-lenght?
Well the boundary between EP and Album is this for us. Our first EP could be an album and also Chhinnamasta could be an EP. We planned to release EPs until we get a label, but since the production on Chhinnamasta is one step higher then on former albums, we decided to make this one a full-length.
What are your next steps after the album comes out? What's the plan?
Play, play, play. Play in Slovenia, play in Europe, play around the world and as I mentioned we go to studio to record stuff for our next album at the end of this month and we also already began to write stuff for our next-next album (7th release). So yeah we still have ideas and are not tired yet.
How do you consider the impact of technology (streaming apps etc) in the Black Metal industry nowadays?
We do not allow ourselves to be bothered by this, We still make CDs (would love to make vinyl one day, when we have record label or sth), we out stuff online, we try to be present. It's definitely easier nowadays to get your hands on good music but its also a lot of bs coming though. You have to try to make the best out of it. Quality will always be rewarded.
What are your songs about usually? What is the message you try to send to your listeners?
Chhinnamasta is another in series of mythology based lyrics, Like demo was based on Slavic mythology, Qivitoq on Greenlandic, Abelolth on Force (StarWars).This time we touch Hinduism, mixed with everyday life events. We are storytellers, not preachers so there is no specific philosophy coming out of our lyrics.
Do you think starting a band now and making it work now is a lot different then it was in your time?
We started the band five years ago, so I don't think things changed a lot since then. I think in my opinion the conditions are the same now.
Lachryma Christi wishes you all the success you deserve, and you deserve it a lot. Is there any message you would like to leave for whoever is reading you right now?
Thank you for the interview. Respect the nature, respect others, respect differences and stay black!
Snøgg are:
Ulv - guitar, vocal, rituals
Mørke - drums, spells
Lord ov Røngg - bass
Mørke - drums, spells
Lord ov Røngg - bass
Dr. Blut - lap steel, noise, samples, vocal
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