Darkmoon Warrior
Atöm Krieg: “Every time someone comes to me and says: “Hey, listen to that, it sounds like old Morbid Angel or this is like old Darkthrone”, I just think: “Why the hell should I listen to that when I ‘ve got the originals at home?”
Darkmoon Warrior is niet meteen de meest bekende naam als het op Duitse black metal aankomt, maar na het uitbrengen van hun vrij politiek incorrecte derde langspeler genaamd ‘Angels Of Dirt – Beasts Of Rebellion’, waarop zowel chaos als anarchie en vetzakkerij heersen, vond ik het hoog tijd om de band zijn zegje te laten doen over bepaalde zaken. Zij spelen een mix van Carpathian Forest, Blasphemy, Nattefrost en Impaled Nazarene met een snuifje Darkthrone. Ook brokjes Venom zijn wel eens te vinden in deze gortige pap en “Hey following bitches and bästärds” is de meest gebruikte openingszin van de Darkmoon Warrior(s) op de sociale media. Redenen genoeg dus om Atöm Krieg, mede-oprichter en zanger/bassist van deze satanarchistische black metal band aan de tand te voelen.
Koen Smits Ι 23 oktober 2019 – Fotocredit: Frank Jacobi
“Hey following bitches and bästärds”: I like that intro, hahaha. But ok, we have got some (un)serious business to do: it took you six years to come up with a successor for the well-received ‘Nuke ‘Em All’. Is there a reason why we had to wait this long for a new album or is it just by coincidence?
Greetings Koen. Glad you like it. I like catchphrases, so this is some kind of a trademark for speaking to our fans and to show a bit of our attitude. Six years…well, we’ll…It’s a story about murder, jail…just kidding. We had some private things happening besides music and at some moment, when we already started to write the new album, there were some musical, artistic differences between co-founding member Grommon and the rest of the band. So after we became a classic German trio, we reworked everything and wrote a lot of new stuff. Later we decided to not go into the studio. We turned our rehearsal room, situated in a little castle in a small village outside my hometown, into the Darkroom Studio. We recorded everything by our self and gave the tracks to Thomas of the FiveLakes Studio to do the mix and the master. That all took time. For we decided to start from scratch as a trio, with a change in the sound and new inputs into our music we thought about a new label. There was no bad blood between Darkmoon Warrior and WTC (World Terror Committee) at all. It was a good time. But we wanted something new and Folter Records is a well-known longtime running label for black metal since I was a youngster and we know Jörg for over two decades.
That new album, ‘Angels Of Dirt – Beasts Of Rebellion’ is a kick in the face, a real black metal anarchy, a total satanarchy! And while I don’t think it’s a very coherent whole, I don’t mind the different styles on the album or the chaotic structure. Was it your purpose to create the ‘dirtiest album of the year’ or what was the idea behind the new stuff?
We do not have a big plan when we start to write new songs. But for me for example, Impaled Nazarene’s ‘Suomi Finland Perkele’ is one of the best and close to perfect black metal albums and a big influence in case of variety on an album. I don’t like albums of which every song sounds like the next one. I like surprises. This is not deliberately chaotic, it is a certain alternation, variety. Most of the time I have an idea and fragments of some lyrics and with that comes a vision how that song could sound like. In case of our new album, it’s the first Darkmoon Warrior album on which the music is written completely as a band. We put all ideas together until all of us were satisfied with the result.
The song titles on ‘Angels Of Dirt – Beasts Of Rebellion’ are in like five different languages, while the lyrics are not. What’s the story about that? And what’s the story behind the title ‘XX.XV.XX.’?
We have got just three different languages on the album. English, German and Portuguese. German isn’t necessary to explain, English is also a common language. When it comes to the track ‘Coração Sinistro’, here are all three languages combined and the only one including Portuguese parts. The idea first came from Nocturnus Horrendus, my brother in crime from Corpus Christii, as he made a tri-lingual song on their ‘Delusion’ album called ‘I See, I Become’ where I made the German translation and did the German vocals. So I grabbed this idea and continued it. Nocturnus Horrendus made the Portuguese translation and did the vocal parts on that song. It’s some kind of symbol for our connection and brotherhood. The story behind XX. XV. XX… hmm, it’s a track about insanity and death in this modern world with a touch of social criticism. But I don’t want to explain too much. Lyrics shall stand for themselves. Some are just simple in the face old-school no brainer lyrics, some have a deeper meaning. But that lays in the mind of the reader.
In ‘Into Thy Crimson Realms’ for instance, I can hear some Venom influences. Are they a big influence for you or not? Which are the bands that inspire you the most when writing music?
I really like Venom, just as I like Bathory, Sodom and so on. I can’t pick a specific band that inspired me the most. It maybe sounds like a washed up story, but in al honesty: we make music for ourselves and what we want to listen to in the first place. If other people like it as well, then we did it right and if not, then our personal musical taste doesn’t seem compatible to other’s or it isn’t the trend of the day.
The following is a translation of a part of my review for ‘Angels Of Dirt – Beasts Of Rebellion’: “Think of a mix between Carpathian Forest, Blasphemy, Nattefrost and Impaled Nazarene with a pinch of Darkthrone. You can also find chunks of Venom in this crumbly porridge.” Can you find yourself in this sentence or am I wrong with my interpretation?
All fine. Put Urgehal and Sodom into it as well and it suites perfect in my eyes. Hehe.
Last February you also released ‘Destroy The Planet!’, a digital EP with previously unreleased songs from the recording session of the second album ‘Crown Of Snakes’. Are there any plans to release a physical version of this EP?
Yes. There is a 7″ Split Darkmoon Warrior/Corpus Christii in the making. We are in the last steps to have it done. It will be released through the Dutch label Heidens Hart.
Do you have plans to tour or to play shows in The Netherlands or Belgium? I think one of the reasons Darkmoon Warrior stays a bit under the radar over here is the fact you don’t play that much live in our region.
We love to play in that region. Some of our best shows were there. Some time back when Throne Fest was way younger, we played there. We did shows in Rotterdam and Leeuwarden, together with bands like Urgehal, Bloodline, Morte Incandescente, Goat Torment and Weltbrand. We’re always open for serious offers.
And you should definitely play at Party.San Metal Open Air next summer! Your style, more or less your area and underground as hell. Perfect!
We will play some festivals in 2020. Under The Black Sun Open Air for example among others, not announced yet. We would love to play there, but unfortunately we’re not booked yet. We don’t have a booking agency and it’s hard to find a good and serious one. We are neither running around and begging for getting a spot to play. So all gigs we play are booked by people who are really interested in having us play there. As I write these answers, I’m already sitting here on packed bags right on the way to our first US show ever at the Satan’s Unholy Abomination Fest VII in Rockville /Maryland alongside Funeral Winds, Thornspawn and many more. We’re really looking forward to this!
You’re hailing from the most Eastern part in Germany, not that far from Berlin. Which bands from your region are worth mentioning and which bands would you recommend us to look into?
Seriously, I’m becoming more and more an old fart who doesn’t care much about new stuff and new bands. Nothing around here that’s worth mentioning. Sorry, but that’s my opinion. Every time someone comes to me and says: “Hey, listen to that, it sounds like old Morbid Angel or this is like old Darkthrone”, I just think: “Why the hell should I listen to that when I‘ve got the originals at home?” Meanwhile there are more than 100.000 bands out there and there’s a lot to find out for people who want to.
I’m just guessing, but I think you also love heavy metal, old thrash metal and Motörhead. Which are your favorite artists and albums in history and why?
Fuck, I hate questions like that. I’m a Sodomaniac. I will not pick an album because I think they didn’t release a bad album at all. It’s just the best German thrash metal band ever. Nothing more to add. Same for Motörhead and Impaled Nazarene when it comes to the albums. Bathory is definitely in the same league. I was curious about myself as I, no clue why, maybe with the same intention as trying some food again that you really hated as a child, put ‘Octagon’ on the player again after many years and I must admit, like it or not, it wasn’t that bad as I had it in my memories. In fact I really liked it somehow. Really dirty fucked up stuff. Maybe it was too much punk for my younger self back then.
I started listening to hardrock and heavy metal in the middle, end of the 80’s and listen to the so called second wave of black metal near the same time when it came over to Germany. The first band I was involved back in 1994 was called Svartedauen and was straight influenced by Burzum, Satyricon and Darkthrone. No matter what: ‘De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas’ is the best black metal album that was, that is and ever will be. And that’s the bottom line because Atöm Krieg said so. Har Har.
I would like to thank you for answering my questions and hopefully I will catch Darkmoon Warrior soon at a stage nearby! I think we covered the most, but if there is something else you would like to say to the fans or share with the world, just do it:
Thanks for your interest. Maybe we will be back soon on Dutch grounds. Keep the flame burning!
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