By Jason Jordan
From what people tell me, Christians and black metal simply don’t belong together. But try telling that to Norwegians Crimson Moonlight, who’ve been peddling their brand of the subgenre for the last eight years. The year 2005 saw the release of their second full-length, and I’ll be very surprised if Veil of Remembrance doesn’t make an appearance in my top ten list. I sat down, metaphorically speaking, with the quartet’s frontman Pilgrim (vocals) and quizzed him on various subjects.
Before I get started with anything directly related to the band, I want to begin by discussing the subgenre of black metal as a whole. There’s an opinion out there that says that Christians can’t play black metal. In other words, due to philosophical differences, Christian black metal is an oxymoronic term. Can you tell us why you don’t believe this is the case? And, why have you chosen black metal as your musical outlet?
We believe that all kinds of music are now neutral. I mean, a music genre cannot be “evil” itself. It all depends on the purpose: why you’re doing it and what the lyrics are about. I will use an illustration to explain: a knife in the hands of a murderer can kill life, but a knife in the hands of a doctor can save life. Now is the knife evil itself? No, it depends on how you use it. The power is in our hands to decide what we want to use music for. I know that many black metal fans react badly when we use the words “black metal” to describe our music, and we are sorry if we make people upset for that. But for us, BM is a musical genre. Listen to
Veil of Remembrance and tell me what kind of music it is. I know that all BM from the beginning was all satanic and occult metal bands. But today even the secular scene says something else, because there are a lot of bands with satanic and occult lyrics (
Deicide,
Morbid Angel,
God Among Insects) who are not called “black metal” and why is that? BM has grown and changed. We also believe that God created all tones and forms of harmonies and even styles of music. Humankind can use these gifts in different ways and styles.
I want to talk a little bit about the line-up changes. Why do you think there have been so many over the years? Also, if I’m not mistaken, there have even been some subtractions (and additions) since Veil of Remembrance was released…
Hehe, yes there have been a lot of line-up changes during the past and as you said even nowadays. I guess our music is so brutal that only me and Gustav (the only 2 original members) could stand it for a very long time. No, actually I don’t have a very good answer to that question, but I think there are a lot of different answers. Some [former members] had to focus on studies, some had jobs far away, some didn’t enjoy the music anymore and some became parents, etc. And after the recordings of
VoR, Erik left the band because he had finished his studies in a town nearby and then had to move back to his hometown (quite far from us) for work. Hubertus decided to leave the band for other musical projects and also for studies. But he is still playing live with us until we find someone else. Jani Stefanovic (ex-
Am I Blood, ex-
Sins of Omission now found in
DivineFire,
Renacent) joined us just a month before the recording of
Veil of Remembrance. He was supposed to take over Hubertus’s place. But after a month or two, one of his other bands,
DivineFire got a huge record deal in Japan and things were also getting better with
Renacent, so then he realized that he didn’t have so much time for
CM. So we still need a new guitarist for the band.
This is our present line-up:
Gustav – Drums
Pilgrim – Vocals
Johan – Bass
Per – Guitar.
On every Crimson Moonlight release, I think influences such as Extol and Dimmu Borgir are easy to hear. Care to explain what roles the aforementioned bands have played in shaping your music? What do you think of their latest works and success?
We try our best to not copy the sound of any other bands and create our own personal brutality. Nowadays I guess bands like
Immortal,
Satyricon,
Death,
Believer,
Malevolent Creation,
Emperor and
Opeth have influenced us in some parts. I am inspired by
Horde. And to compare us with other bands, I would like describe our sound like a mixture of
Emperor,
Dark Funeral,
Immortal and a keyboard-free
Dimmu Borgir. In my personal opinion we don’t have much influence from
Extol, but in our earlier material there is a lot of
Antestor and
Dissection influences.
The Covenant Progress was a triumphant return to the scene for you, and perhaps the reworked version of “Eternal Emperor” (from Eternal Emperor EP) was the standout track on the record. How did you come about deciding to re-record that song, and will we ever see song revisions in the future?
That song is a classic, both fans and us enjoy it, so we decided to do a better, more “up to date” version of it. Even though nowadays we play it a lot faster than the “fast” version on
The Covenant Progress. We have some plans to re-record some older material but just in a low-budget version… We will see about those things.
Now, Veil of Remembrance seems like people who like both black metal and death metal alike crafted it. Why do you think death metal shows up so much on your new album? Did the band also make a decision to eradicate keyboards this time around?
Well, we decided to skip the keyboard on the new release, since we realized that the sound could turn into a heavier and rawer direction without the keys. And since a lot of us are into extreme death metal, bands like
Nile,
Malevolent Creation,
Living Sacrifice,
Suffocation and
Rotten Sound and also thrash metal bands like
Death,
Believer and
At the Gates, it had some effects on our new sound.
So, have you all been approached by bigger labels? I ask that because I’m curious as to what holds the band back from lengthy touring. Whom would you like to tour with? Think you’ll ever make it to the U.S.?
We have some plans to tour outside Europe, but we still need more contact with people who arrange shows before it can be reality. For the moment I can say no more about labels than there is discussion going on…
Similarly, what do you think of a band like Old Man’s Child who refused to play a show with Extol due to the fact that they are Christians?
I think such things are very sad and I would say that it has to be because of fear.
OMC probably knew about the fact that
Extol is a better live band than they are.
Any final words for the readers at UltimateMetal?
Thank you for taking the time to read this interview, and thank you all for your support during the years! Please keep
Crimson Moonlight in your prayers. Stay firm. Stay brutal. The Scandinavian holocaust has begun:
Veil of Remembrance. See you on tour, and until then check out our website for CD’s and merchandise. May the Lord keep you and bless you.
UltimateMetal’s Review of Crimson Moonlight – Veil of Remembrance
Official Crimson Moonlight Website
Official Rivel Records Website
