Simon Petersen & Bjørn Hellpig
Horned Almighty
S: All good, eager to unleash our latest manifestation upon the world and witness the further downfall of mankind!
S: We never had a physical schedule within the band - when we have enough material ready we record an album. In the early days' inspiration came a lot faster, which meant faster songwriting. With time comes clarity and a sharper perception of which direction you want to proceed as an artist. Self-awareness and a higher dose of self-criticism results in a longer process before satisfaction is reached with our work. This is difficult when you're bound by a timeframe of any sort. Another reason for the timespan, was the usual personal reasons, family obligations, work and obstacles connected to this mortal coil in general. These were prioritized for a while, until the inspiration for creating black bile once again was present…
S: Absolutely! Too many albums are done in a haste, due to contract obligations, which are by definition the worst conditions for artistic creativity! Many touring artists are also dependent on releasing new material to maintain their livelihood, which adds to a certain amount of pressure. We are luckily enough spared of both factors, which results in artistic freedom – our preferred frame of work.
S: The new album is a concept album of the destruction of man - History has proven that evil exists on many planes, from the forces of nature to the human psyche. The higher laws of nature are cruel and unrelenting, without sense or remorse, nor compassion for mankind. Each song is a historical manifest of the demise of man, resulting in a massive epitaph for humanity. Herein lies the answer of the grand design. The Master is multifaceted, be it death or deities, the devil or perhaps nature itself…
S: The album is a mere representation of cruelty and demise in a historical perspective and offers no solutions, nor redemption. We are not in the peace mongering business... The album offers insight to various phenomenons and historical events which led to the death of thousands of people, for various reasons. From some of which lessons could be learned and some which were and still are inevitable. Humanity is the biggest threat to this globe, and we will eventually all be a part of the grand design…
The violent nature of man has been tamed throughout the history of humanity, through enlightenment and evolution. With a population close to 8 billion, it is quite an effort that so many live in peace with each other. But the foundation is frail and there are many aspects which triggers the capability of conducting violence. Oppression, superiority, dogmas, race, and to this day and age, religion are some of the largest incitements for antagonism between men. All though tamed, it is a part of mankind's nature, in all its primitive medieval might and splendor!
S: The inspiration came after reading an article on the eruption of Tambora in 1815, which led to a series of worldwide events, such as hunger, floods and drought, causing millions to succumb due to this particular event. I delved deeper into the matter and eventually this became the lyrical background for the song "Apocalyptic Wrath". Inspired by the massive scale of this natural disaster, I started to explore other historical events resulting in the massive demise of men and came to the theory of a stronger force pursuing the destruction of man – either through the forces of nature or through the violent nature of mankind itself…
Bjørn: Well yes. We actually ventured quite a bit outside our normal comfort zone this time around. Adding a bit of both piano, keyboards, semi-clean guitars, spoken word and so on. Also, quite a few of the tracks are longer than we have ever done before, with unorthodox arrangements, at least when you compare it to a lot of our material on earlier albums. You can definitely hear that it is Horned Almighty, but there is more atmosphere on this album and in general more of everything. This album contains both the fastest, angriest parts, as well as the slowest, heaviest parts we have ever created, as well as everything in between.
Bjørn: Our bass player Haxen actually provided the skeleton for two of the songs on TFTMGD. That's the first time in 10 years that anyone else has contributed more than a riff here or there. Historically, I have always written the majority of the music, so having someone else contribute was refreshing. Another thing is that it was a conscious decision to stray from our formula, in order to challenge ourselves. AC/DC is fine with doing the same thing over and over again, but we needed to try new things this time around to make it interesting for ourselves.
Bjørn: Honestly, I knew the general idea for the album theme, but didn't read the lyrics before putting together the booklet for the CD and LP. Angry, obscene and violent music is what we do, so nothing new there, just a few new twists and turns. The most violent song, the opening track "Violent Cosmology" was in fact written at 4:30 in the morning on the day of our last rehearsal, before going into the studio to record the album.
S: The writing process began with a no restrictions effort, opening up for new ideas and not just a continuation of our past work. Soon "Swallowed by the earth" was written and it became clear we were expanding our musical horizons. After a while, as mentioned earlier, there were too many obstacles and obligations in our personal lives, which stalled the writing process. Several times we had to start all over and it wasn't until half the album was written, we could focus on the main goal. Several times it would be months without writing and to this day it has been the most difficult period of the cult. But what seems to be our passage through purgatory finally paid off in the end.
Yes, we are very much a democratic band and writes mostly all the material together. While this works best for us, it is also a fragile and time consuming method – which became quite evident during the course of the last 6 years…
S: I myself am deeply rooted in black metal, but all of us come from a death metal background too. We began as an homage to old school Norwegian black metal from the nineties, which we all listened to back then. In time, more layers were added, but the core of the songwriting relies to this day still very much on black metal – but from all eras. I could never choose myself between let's say death metal and black metal, since both genres deliver such potent platforms for extreme music and art. We're combining several approaches and not restraining ourselves to the dogmas of one genre only…
S: Hopefully. With all the time and effort spent, it is most artists' goal to conquer new grounds and territories, and to grow and explore. The concept was quite elaborate and took a lot of time to write, although at the same time being a personal development and challenge. To understand the future, it is necessary to understand the past. On a musical level, I don't see ourselves going back, only forward with what TFTMGD has started.
Bjørn: "Swallowed by the Earth" was actually the first track we wrote for the album around 4 years ago, so it kind of set the mood for the direction of the whole album at a quite early stage. That is by far the most "experimental" track we have ever done and close to the longest as well. It goes through many different atmospheres, tempos and buildups during the 6-minute span of the song. Once we understood that we could actually make material written in this, to us, quite unorthodox manner work, it kind of opened up for embracing new things that we hadn't tried before on a larger scale.
Bjørn: No fucking way. I live and breathe metal, and have done so for 30 years. I do other things as well, but metal is always there and always will be. Whether it is listening to music in the car, reading a review, watching a documentary, picking out which shirt to put on or choosing what to listen to when exercising.
Bjørn: The market is oversaturated with bands and releases. Luckily, we mainly do this for ourselves because we love creating sick, profane and brutal music. Even bands that have great material get overlooked these days, because of the sheer amount of music out there. We face the same obstacles that every other small or midsize band out there faces: Being noticed among all the shit and useless noise is difficult.
Bjørn: We did a few headline gigs during the last couple of months after finishing the album recording, to let people know that we are still here and a force to be reckoned with. We already have 3 shows lined up to support the new album in the beginning of 2020. Also, we have a new booking agent that hopefully seeks out a few nice festivals or weekend tours for us.
Bjørn: Cheers & thanks for the interest.
More results...
