Ancient - Welcome Back Your Night Guests And Offer Them The Same Old Good Blood Wine
By Andreas Stasinopoulos (17 June 2004)

The very popular among the ranks of all black metallers worldwide ANCIENT, even though the last few years balanced between life and death as band,  managed to recover and invade again as night guests in the cloudy inner-sanctuaries of their manic followers. The email questions were answered by Grom instead of Aphazel (as it was agreed), therefore expectedly some points remained unanswered. In any case, the character of their new “Night visit”, and not only, is clearly demonstrated in the course of the following electronic chat.

ANCIENT are back with an album, which should have been released after "The Cainian Chronicle" according to my opinion. Let us know of a few things about "Night Visit" and which are your feelings about it.
GroM : Hey there. We are all extremely satisfied with this album. It really is the culmination of our career so far and the band has put in a lot of effort into the writing and recording of ‘Night Visit’. We really feel like it is 100% representative of this line-up and that the band has evolved and matured in a very positive way throughout these last years. I also agree that maybe it should have been released after ‘The Cainian Chronicle’ because many people have become very biased towards Ancient due a couple of albums released after ‘The Cainian Chronicle’ which didn’t have the best feedback from the people. What I ask is that people be objective and check out ‘Night Visit’ to hear for themselves.

I wonder how painful is it to face all these line-up changes since the day you started the band? Do you keep contact with the members which are not any more part of ANCIENT?

GroM : We all keep contact with the past members yeah. Aphazel is constantly in touch with some of them and constant line-up changes have indeed damaged the band a bit but many times it is necessary to look for the right people, the right team and this time it seams like we’ve really found it. 

As you may have probably noticed, a lot of the well-known historical black metal bands changed their traditional sound by placing some more commercial (called “progressive”) parts. On the contrary, ANCIENT returned with a 100% black metal album without anything else than aggressive power and evil atmosphere. Which is the secret recipe that you follow when you compose the songs?

GroM : Actually, I think that this album is in some ways indeed the most experimental record Ancient has ever done. There is more melody than usual but it’s compensated with the same amount of even more aggressiveness than in the past. The production helps this al lot and the fact that we have grown much tighter as musicians throughout the years of touring has also played a big part in making the album tight and well performed, which makes it more effective and expressive. Songs like ‘Envision The Beast’ and ‘Night OF The Stygian Souls’ are actually quite unusual for Ancient but we have always been very aware that the black metal component, the aggressiveness and the dark atmospheres have to always be there and as we pushed on the accelerator for the ‘progressive parts’ we also pushed down on the accelerator for the ‘aggressive black metal’ parts…so in the end you get a wider spectrum of styles and genres into the songs making it a far more rich and a far deeper album. The secret for us is evidently uniting forces and having all of us write the songs completely. We have very different ideas and musical tastes, styles etc…so when we work together fully the result is ‘Night Visit’, hear for yourself. 

Would you like to let our readers know about the lyrics of "Night Visit"?

By the way, has "Rape the Children of Abel" anything to do with the mighty "The Cainian..." lyrics?

GroM : ‘ Night Visit’ is a ghost story...a classical chilling super- natural dark tale about everything that makes our spine shiver. It is about a girl who loses a loved one that returns to haunt her because he cannot leave this world, ultimately driving her insane with fear. It is very inspired by King Diamond and movies like ‘The Others’. We are all very bug fans of horror and we also pointed towards that direction with the artwork and photos for this album. ‘Rape The Children Of Abel’ can kind of be seen as a parallel with ‘Cainian…’ but it’s mainly about the fact it is the eternal battle between good and evil. 

Once again "Lycanthropy" appears as a song title marking ANCIENT's philoshopy. Name the first book that you ever read about lycanthropia and which is your opinion about it.

GroM : I haven’t read many books on this subject but I have seen many of the classic movies. I am more into the spiritual side of horror instead of the monster side. That’s more of Jesus Christ’s character. It markets Ancient’s philosophy due to the horror and eeriness behind our music. 

Aphazel started his carrer in Norway and then he changed two countries (U.S.A. and Italy). Isn't it difficult for him to move from his homeland and the same time being a leader of a band?

GroM : I think Aphazel made these choices for his own good reasons and I don’t think it was a great problem for him. This is the reason the band has reformed so much throughout the years.

You recently played in Romania and in Mexico. Both countries have a long tradition into mysteries (the first especially for the Transylvania region, the second for their ancient civilization). What are your feelings about visiting such places?

GroM : It was definitely a great experience to play there. We are actually very honored to be one of the few metal bands that have toured in such countries and it really shows Ancient’s commitment to touring as much as possible and play infront of all the people that enjoy and listen to our music. We will continue visiting these countries as much as possible as a band. 

Let's turn back time and return to 1992 when ANCIENT were born. What has changed after 12 years?

GroM : Well, obviously Aphazel has to answer this one but I think the devotion towards music not only s an art form but as a life as well has become much more serious. 

In our days hundreds of new black metal bands are trying to survive because of the difficult situation concerning the overcrowded metal market. What is your advice to a new band that is just starting it's own musical career in black metal?

Name a few bands you believe they are going to be the next "big" name of the scene.

GroM : I think that the secret is to be devoted, patient and perseverant. Don’t release demos or albums that are not 100% what you could have done at the time. It’s better to try and create something new and form your own unique style and wait even years before releasing something or sending material to labels. This way you will really pin point your own style and have a great first impression instead of a mediocre one, which will cause difficulties later on. I think that in extreme metal I’d like to put in a word for my parallel project Hortus Animae. The first album was very well received and commented by people and the new one will be even far better and way more attractive. We really worked hard to creating an amalgam of various styles and really smash down any barriers between music genres. As for other bands I think that Lacuna Coil will really become the next ‘Big name’ in metal worldwide. 

We have reached the sixth month of 2004. According your opinion which are the best metal albums you have heard till now? Is there anything special you are waiting for?

GroM : I am really waiting for Tool’s new album. As for the best albums of the year…hmmm…I think the new Black Label Society album kills, the new Katatonia is a great CD as well and I would also say Dream Theatre’s ‘Train Of Thought’ was a positive surprise for me. 

How would you want your fans to remember ANCIENT after some decades.

GroM : A band that despite the controversial and difficult opinions towards it continued doing their stuff and boldly striving on. We never gave up believing in music and I think that Ancient now are one of the few bands that keep the black metal scene alive. Ultimately though, we just do our thing and hope that as many people, as possible appreciate it. We are really not about cheating people with useless image works or empty words. We are really all about the music. 

Let us hear your future plans. Is there any place that you are planning to play for the first time?

GroM : Well as of now there are numerous international tours being organized  for ‘Night Visit’. We should hit Europe in December and then U.S.A in January. There will probably be an Eastern European tour in October as well. Check our site for the latest dates, www.ancientband.com. 

The last paragraph is yours; end this interview with a lovely line of the new lyrics.

GroM : Well, thanks for the attention and I wish to really invite everyone to check out ‘Night Visit’ ands see what they think, I am sure they won’t be disappointed ! Give it a try ! See you on tour and thanks for the years of support. “And now the warning brings to you, the visions of a time…when man will learn with open eyes, the beast….the beast…the vicious crime.” 

GroM (Ancient) (www.gromdrums.com) 

(By Andreas Stasinopoulos)