Let’s witness the awakening of Ruïm.
Created by the Norwegian guitarist Rune « Blasphemer » Eriksen (Aura Noir, Vltimas, ex-Mayhem, ex-Nader Sadek…) with the help of César « CSR » Vesvre (drums, Thagirion, ex-Darkall Slaves, ex-Death Decline, live for Agressor…), the project signs with Peaceville Records for the release in 2023 of Black Royal Spiritism – I – O Sino da Igreja, its first album.
Blood.Sacrifice.Enthronement, the long first track, slowly envelops us with an occult darkness shaped in mystical Black Metal roots. Screams join the raw and dissonant sound to create a heavy atmosphere first, then more distant harmonics take their place, finally leading us to a second wave of dark rage, which carries us away before letting The Triumph (Of Night & Fire) take over with heady and melancholic melodies. Quietness will be erased by sharp and suffocating riffs, then the two universes will gradually overlap to advance hand in hand until rage takes over on The Black House, the following track, which still keeps some worrying sounds in its frantic charge. Vocal parts also diversify, offering mystical clean vocals on the choruses before the whole sound sinks into the abyss to give way to Black Royal Spiritism, a cold and hazy track which will remind the Norwegian scene’s roots to connoisseurs. Even when riffs speed up, one feels crushed by the oppressive yet fascinating atmosphere, which occasionally lets some melodies amaze us before the sound breaks, followed by Evig Dissonans and his massive drums, complemented by more airy guitars. Worrying harmonics and choirs fly over a solid rhythmic, staying in a rather melodic approach just like Fall Of Seraphs which will place more raw and visceral sounds to create an unhealthy contrast with the more soaring parts. Rage will prevail again, incorporating some Black/Thrash roots to the aggressive mix before letting quietness take over on Ao Rio, a very soaring and minimalistic composition sung in Portuguese. The hazy and dissonant riffs will fade away again to let O Sino da Igreja, the last creation, nail us to the ground with a martial and raw approach, sometimes shaded by more haunting parts, bringing in that bell sound evoked by the title.
With his long experience in the whole Black Metal scene, Blasphemer makes Ruïm a both contrasted and diversified, but also very coherent project. Black Royal Spiritism – I – O Sino da Igreja skilfully unites violence and quietness under a mysterious and misty sound.
90/100
Few questions to Rune “Blasphemer” Eriksen, creator and headmaster of Ruïm.
Thanks to Raven for her help.
So first, nice to meet you. It’s a few times uh right now that I’m doing interview, I really like it
Blasphemer: Awesome. I mean, I’m, I’m happy to hear this and I also think that uh while you mentioned Black Metal, I also think that it’s quite a lot of different things like different influences in the record as well. For me, it’s not just pure, just an Old School thing. I think it has a lot of nuances, you know, a lot of different vibes and uh some, some different elements from different, different things. But that’s my brain, you know, that’s how I work.
That leads us to my first question. Could you please introduce yourself and the band Ruïm without using the usual labels such as Black Metal.
Blasphemer: Well, first off, I’ve been exposed to this kind of music since I guess even the late eighties. I started my journey with some Death Metal in the late eighties playing guitar and I did vocals in a Death band in 88’, 89’ 1991. And when I quit that I went into Mayhem of course, and I kind of started to two. I will be very influenced by Black Metal who wasn’t, you know, back in 1993 everything happened in the media, all the stuff at the church burnings and everything and everybody thought it was cool, you know. Yeah, we were all young, you know, and I was really young at that time too. It was like 93, so I was like 17, 18 years old. And from there on, starting to build my own style of things, guitar playing and as you know, I was a part of Mayhem for like 13 years before departing in 2008. And from that moment on, I never really did any Black Metal again, so this album for me is uh the first kind of return to some really uh kind of aggressive and atmospheric Metal. It’s been a long time, I’ve been doing different bands, which is more like a crossover thing, maybe I had more Death Metal as well as other things, more Hard Rock things, even some Doomy things. But, you know, I never really went full circle and then back to the more Extreme side of things as I did now. So I guess we can partially blame the pandemic for this. Yeah, you can pretty much blame it for everything. So, that’s basically what happened, I just decided that I was kind of tired of being always referred to as the X member of Mayhem. And for me, that’s complete bullshit. I wanted to step out of that and throw that shadow away and establish something that I felt was even stronger.
So you want to detach from that?
Blasphemer: Exactly. So this is like a full circle in a way. It has some nods to the past, but also it’s like a strong vision into the future. That’s basically what I wanted to achieve with this record just to take things further and also to put a lead on or close to circle forever with my connection to Mayhem. I obviously know people will always know that I’ve been part of the band, but I hope that when they speak of me in terms of Black Metal in the future, it will be about this band and not Mayhem.
You want to be known as Ruïm and not anymore as a former Mayhem.
Blasphemer: Exactly and perfectly. I guess that’s pretty much it regarding this style, what we do. It’s kind of hard to avoid the obvious things as the term Black Metal. But, you know, as I said to you initially, there’s so many styles to begin with. I don’t even listen to Metal at all at home. If I listen to Metal it’s like older Judas Priest or sometimes Metallica. But I mostly listened to Hard Rock and Prog Rock from the seventies. I guess that’s why I also feel that the record has a lot of different vibes and not so typical things in the more pure Black Metal genre, you know, I don’t know what the other people here, but for me, this is a little bit different. So there’s a lot of influences all over the place.
So, and there’s a question in relation to that because it’s very interesting. How did you develop the idea behind Ruïm? And what is the band’s concept? Where does the band’s name come from?
Blasphemer: The idea came, again, back to the pandemic. I was kind of stuck here. I was working on a different record but since we couldn’t travel, no one could travel any universe. So I was kind of locked in at home and I needed to do something, I needed to spend my time on something. So that’s kind of the idea that I needed to take control over some things and develop a new, new project that I could have complete control over. It was a perfect opportunity for me to establish something on my own, to have a band that I can have complete control over. And I didn’t have to, I kinda waited for anybody to be available to do some work or whatever. So I just decided to work very, very hard on this band at home by myself. And I got in touch with the record label Peaceville Records because I have some albums released on that label, from earlier. And I know the guy from Peaceville very well. So we started talking and it was super interested in this actually. And I sent him some rough music ideas and he was really, really happy about it and he decided to sign the band right away. So I got the record deal really early. I think I got the record before I got the drummer, actually. It’s like… That’s pretty crazy. So once this was established, of course, things got a little bit more serious. So I needed to look for a drummer, and I contacted a friend of mine in Paris and for some reason I found César. So that was a perfect match. About the idea of concept. The point is that I’ve been always for the last 10, or 11 years, I’ve been very interested in Brazilian witchcraft or spiritism and ties to the umbanda religion (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbanda). I’ve been exposed to and I’ve been partaking in some certain rituals of this particular movement. And I found the concept of the left hand path extremely interesting. So this is something that I brought forward. And as I told you, I was exposed to this already, like at least 10 years ago. And I’ve been kind of practicing some things until the pandemic started actually. So yeah, this was a very natural thing for me to bring into the context of Black Metal because from first of all, it’s interesting, and then it’s something that I can stand behind, you know, I can talk about this with confidence and that is very important. If you’re doing Black Metal, you need to be 100% into what you’re doing, that goes through everything as well. I mean, you cannot fake anything in art, it has to be real. So for me, this was a good gateway because it’s also highly original. I don’t know anyone who’s using this kind of concept like this. Let’s call it Brazilian spiritism, that’s fundamental for a band but that’s basically what it is. As you can see on the promo photos as well, I dress up as entities of the left hand path in a way. So it’s like a very tightly neat concept if you understand what I mean. So, this is something that I brought in and I think that it complements the music perfectly, it’s like a dedication to the greater spirits of the left hand path in a way through that religion, through that movement.
So also the band name came out of, it’s actually a Portuguese word, but I changed the I with 2 dots, the umlaut as we call it. So in that way, the album or the band pronunciation is “ruimed”. It’s like too easy in a way. So it’s a bit longer on the eye. So I changed it from a regular Portuguese word which means bad or mean. And I didn’t like the meaning of it because every word has a power, and I didn’t want to be associated with something which for me is not strong or powerful, you know. So I changed the I into the umlaut. So in that sense, it’s also different pronunciation, but it also has a different symbolic value. That’s basically how that came about.
So Black Royal Spiritism – I – O Sino da Igreja, your first album, will be out at the end of the month, how do you feel about it? Do you already have some feedback?
Blasphemer: Yes, I have some feedback actually. I think in the beginning I think people were a little bit surprised about what was coming. I don’t think people really expected the sound and the direction that I was taking. But now as the storm has come down a bit, people are writing to me. I’m getting a lot of feedback from journalists that I’m talking to in a very positive manner. For me, the album is still so fresh, I can’t listen to it yet because I put a lot of energy and emotion into this record. So for me, it’s almost like a deep wound, so I cannot listen to it at this point. I need to get a distance from it and let my emotions attached to the album, calm down… so I can appreciate it as a listener and not as a guide. It’s like when you work so hard and intensely with an album. Also, when I did all the lyrics, I did all the vocals to have a base for the guitars and composed music. So it’s a lot of my attachment to this record, it’s very kind of personal in that sense and when it’s this personal, then sometimes you need to step away from it in order to enjoy it. And I actually read that to be as, from a ghost set, pretty much exactly the same thing when he was working on some stuff. Suddenly he hated everything and I just wanted to delete everything or whatever he said. But then he just needed a break and then when he got back to it, I was like… yeah, this is great. It’s a bit like that you value over, it’s not over working but you, there’s so much responsibility on one person’s shoulder in a way. So it gets kind of tough to deal with all the emotions and the impressions that comes to, you know.
Maybe it’s the same feeling as when you became parents.
Blasphemer: Yeah. Maybe, I don’t know about that. I’m not a father but I can imagine that there’s a lot of it, it’s a piece of you that’s coming into the birth. And it’s a tough for sure. For me it’s almost like a shock to the census. So I decided to, I haven’t listened to the record in quite some time because first of all, I don’t need to. I know what it sounds like. I know all the songs, but again, I will give it that much time. So when I listen to it, I will just sit down, I open a bottle of beautiful red wine and I will just enjoy it. And not having too much feelings attached to it.
So how would you sum up the album in only three words ?
Blasphemer: Whoooo! Black Royal Spiritism? *laughs*
Back to what you say, you asked French drummer César Vesvre to collaborate with you. How did you collaboration happen? And how did you deal with the composition process for the album?
Blapsphemer: Yeah. Uh As I, as I mentioned earlier, I got in touch with a friend of mine in Paris who’s actually the founding member of the band Thagirion which also says that plays drums in, I know him very well. He’s a great guy and a friend and I actually asked him “hey, do you have any drummer’s French drummers that you think could be available for joining me on this journey?”. And he gave me a couple of options. I knew some of them, but there’s one guy that I did not know. And he said “well, this guy plays with me. He’s very, very young, but he’s really, really talented and he’s very promising drummer.” So I went online on Youtube and I saw some clips from what he had recorded and I got very impressed. I arranged to have a talk with him on the phone, we decided to meet up, he lives in Dijon which is in East France. I flew into Lyon and he picked me up there and we drove to Dijon and we rehearsed for like 5 or 6 days the first time and there was a great chemistry, we got along very well. It was meant to be if you know what I mean, it was like a perfect match. That’s how it came about and we just kept on rehearsing and composing during the pandemic as long as I was able to travel because that was a problem with the vaccination bullshit and all this stuff, it was very complicated to travel. But I managed to do it and this is the result. That’s how the process of composing basically happens. Of course, every starting point happens in my apartment. This is where I have my guitars and my recording gear and everything. So everything starts from here. So if I write a riff or two or three in a, in succession that goes very well together, I would bring this to him and we will start working on it and when it comes to develop up in the song, it would pretty much jam or improvise and create possible solutions for the song, and then I’ll go back home again and I reworked that and then I fly back to France again to keep on working. So this is how it was, but I must say that he also had some really, really good ideas and suggestions. So I’m very thankful for his input as well on this record.
That’s quite impressive, all the process! I hope that you like your stay in France.
Blasphemer: Oh, I absolutely adore France. So this is quite interesting as well, as one thing I’ve been doing so many interviews, regarding this, from French people or French people who are also living a little bit abroad, but it’s great that the interest from France is quite big and I love that because it’s one of my absolute favorite countries and maybe at one point it will become something more to me as well. Let’s see in the future. I absolutely adore it. I love Portugal but if something happens in the future and you know you want to move around and you may relocate, I might end up somewhere around France.
I’ve noticed a different approach of vocals on the song, the Black House where screams are sometimes replaced by a mystical clean voice. How did you deal with this new tone?
Blasphemer: It was basically an improvisation in the studio in Drudenhaus Studio, in France where we recorded the album. I knew what to do in the verse, but I wanted to highlight that part differently and I didn’t want to just do the regular scream, you know, because it gets very monotone and it doesn’t sound, it needs to lift up to different heights. So I was just with the idea of doing something kind of monk-like, you know. So that’s how that came about and I’m actually very, very happy about it. I think it sounds really good. It was improvisation that I did and it stayed like that. Not very mysterious but I think that the intent is mysterious and it’s very real. So for me, I almost get goosebumps when I hear that pump.
What, where the guidelines for the artwork and how do they fit with the music you created? You also have the add bit previously, but if you can develop right now.
Blasphemer: Well, the artwork is made by a Norwegian, Sindre Foss Skancke. And I got in touch with him because I saw he did a logo of a Swedish band and I really liked the vibe of the logo. It was kind of very dark and kind of occult, if I can use that word. So I contacted him and I asked, “hey, are you up for making a logo?”. And he was like “yeah, of course I am”. And then suddenly he also said that he also makes covers, album covers, artwork so maybe have a look. And I did, I was like “wow, this guy is doing something different”. I really like his style. It’s kind of a classy, there’s some chaotic approach, at least on the stuff that he had in his portfolio. So I told him the theme of the album and I told him the album title, which basically means “the bell of the church” in a way which I translate to a warning, because back in the medieval times, if you heard for example the bell from the church ring at night, it meant that it’s a threat coming or there’s a warning of invaders or something like that. So that’s why I wanted to use that because this is how I see the record, it is like a threat of something to come, it’s a warning. So essentially, that’s what I told him and he came up with this beautiful piece. But I also gave him strict guidelines on colors. I wanted it to be only black and red because it’s also a color related to the energies that this album is dedicated to. So I wanted to keep it very strict, you know, very tight knit and like a very complete kind of concept. But he really surprised me. I must say it’s a really beautiful artwork and I really think it fits the album, it’s kind of eerie. It has this kind of a majestic feel, very classy feel I think. And he’s super good. And I also told him that uh I would like to work with him again in the future. So he will do the next one as well, so it will be a kind of continuation of this.
That’s a good collaboration.
Blasphemer: Yeah, absolutely.
About the songs themselves. What is your inspiration to create such diversified composition?
Blasphemer: First of all, some of these songs are a little bit of Ancient Law in a way. It’s as I told, dedicated to certain energies, for example, the song Blood.Sacrifice.Enthronement. The first one, it’s kind of an ancient tale of an entity and how he becomes in a way kind of black royalty. So this is, I just had to kind of follow it, this is how it’s unfolded to me, with the calmer passages and the more acoustic approach and some things. So it was just me thinking about this story and trying to put it into music, so anything can happen, it could have gone. I think it became what it had to become, I think the end result is really perfect to that story. For the other songs, The Black House, it’s a very direct song. It has a very, almost punkish riff to begin with. Not to begin with, but the fast rift. I love that riff and I love that approach of that song as well. I can’t really explain where all these things are coming from because I’m blessed enough to have a big well of musical ideas, you know. So it’s like basically every time I touch a guitar, and not to sound arrogant or pompous or anything, I happen to have this gift that every time I touch a guitar, I create a riff and that’s very viewed.
No it’s, it’s amazing!
Blasphemer: It’s beautiful, of course, but it’s like, uh I don’t think people understand this. So if I tap into some kind of certain environment or direction, if I’m trying to channel something that I want, then something comes out. So I think that’s the thing with the whole record actually, that these things came out because I was focusing on the big theme and this kind of energy. So I think it’s, it came out very naturally in that sense. As I said, it’s something that not a lot of people know, but I, this is also why I do quite diverse music, you know, because I am not just one guy, I’m not… well, obviously I’m one guy but I don’t just have one trick up my sleeve. If you know what I mean? I can do a lot of things I can do more Rock. I can do Doom, I can do acoustic things. I can do anything. It’s all about what you eventually focus on. So you’re a sort of a jack of all trades. In my environment, I guess.
The last two songs, Ao Rio and O Sino da Igreja, have Portuguese names. I know that you now live in Portugal. But is it hard for you to use the Portuguese language with your Black Metal Universe? How did you decide to use Portuguese instead of English?
Blasphemer: The thing is about the lower and the Brazilian witchcraft, some of the songs, the hymns of praise to these energies, they are composed and they’re sung in Portuguese. Brazilian speaks Portuguese. So, yeah, that’s sung in Portuguese, and that is the tradition with this kind of spirit. Spirit is somehow spirituality. So I wanted to keep that tradition. If I sang about these things in English or Norwegian, then it wouldn’t have the same kind of feeling to me. You know, I wanted to keep it very, very, very traditional. So some of these Portuguese lyrics as well are actually borrowed from actual very old songs that they sang to the spirits. For example, I took some lines ib The Triumph of Night and Fire. The first part that I sing in Portuguese there is actually something that I borrowed from, from an actual song. And it’s basically sang to a great entity and I use the same thing to kind of almost manifest the idea. So that’s why I use Portuguese because I wanted to keep it traditional, and not to come up with some new strange thing that no one could really connect to, in that sense. So I think it makes it more legit as well. People know what this is about when I sing in Portuguese.
When it’s about mysticism, it’s also about respect and tradition.
Blasphemer: Exactly. That’s the whole point. It’s all about respect, I guess.
How do you decide about vocal placement and which type of vocal to use, like maybe to growl at, sometimes to have a clean voice.
Blasphemer: It’s hard to say, it’s basically when you’re getting under the skin of these songs, as I’ve been listening to these songs probably 1000 times by now. And there’s certain placements and certain ideas that started to grow, you know. So I think it’s basically all about since I write them. I also kind of have this in mind simultaneously, it’s like, okay, maybe here should be the voice and maybe you should go a little bit longer so I can finish that kind of voice. So it felt natural regarding the more clean things. Like, for example, on the beginning of the song Black Royal Spirit, it’s more slow, it just felt correct to do a bit more, almost like kind of a Gothic approach there, do a little bit of… I wouldn’t say Carl McCoy (Fields of the Nephilim singer, ed.), but, like growing in this kind of a slightly melodic but raspy kind of locals and I thought it sounded really good there, you know, it felt very natural. So I guess that’s all it is, it’s all very natural for me.
The flow was really easy to let out, on both, vocal and magic.
Blasphemer: Yeah, exactly.
So maybe you have a favorite song on this album. the one you just can’t wait to play on stage, maybe in France.
Blasphemer: I think all of the songs are great, but at this point, I think maybe my favorite is Black Royal Spiritism, and also The Black House, it’s tough in between those two, I think. But that can change, in a couple of weeks. So it’s just a feeling at this point. I’m very happy with those two. I’m probably happy with the whole record. But those two songs are still… I still wake up in the morning. I start to kind of almost, having that myself, you know.
And so like every morning, do you think you’re still improving yourself as a musician?
Blasphemer: Good question. Actually, I don’t think so. No, I… well let me elaborate that because I never rehearsed. Never, literally never. For me, the most important part of it. Of course, I know I need to maintain, right. I cannot just forget everything. So it’s not about that, but I’m not consciously working on learning new things. I already reached again, not to sound pompous or anything, but I feel like I reached a level in which I am very, very comfortable with. And I know exactly what I can do and I also know what I cannot do. Everybody has its limitations. So I’m very confident with myself and my abilities and my musicality at this point. So it doesn’t go anywhere, like what I mean is that it doesn’t disappear. It’s always in my wrists, an example of that I haven’t played with Aura Noir, the Norwegian Black Trash Metal that I was playing, I haven’t played with them since 2018 or 19. And we went on stage, we played in Chicago like a month ago and I had one rehearsal and we played songs that we never played live and it was pretty much a flawless gig, because everything is in the wrists, you know, I just rehearsed one time with the guy went through the song one time in Chicago at the rehearsal room before the show and boom show was great. I never really forget these things. It’s like a part of me. Maybe I should practice and I should try to increase some skills, but I don’t really see the need for it because the music I create at this point, I know exactly what to do and I have all the tools, the right tools to to see this process through. So yeah, I don’t seek to improve anything. The only thing that is very important to me is the idea itself. I use the mind a lot. I create a lot of music in my mind without touching the instrument. So sometimes, music comes to me and then I have to record it on my phone, So I won’t forget it. And then when I come home or if I was out to something, then I listen to it and then I try to put it into the guitar and then sometimes I have a brand new riff, or an idea for a song. I work in many different ways. So it’s quite… I’m quite peculiar in this sense.
Okay. So we can say that you are satisfied with yourself at that moment, at least.
Blasphemer: Yeah, I guess so because especially that the music that I dwell in, I’m capable of doing everything I want with the stuff that I want to do. So I’m not going to be any technician, you know, that’s not my strength. I would never ever be able to do anything like that, but I’m very comfortable with my riff situation and that was where I focused when I was a kid as well, making great riffs.
Do you consider playing live with Ruïm? If yes, would you stay as a duo? Or would you ask musicians to join you?
Blasphemer: Yes, I am actually contemplating bringing this thing to the stage. But not at this point. I don’t think it will be anything until album number two is out, which I’m currently working on like slightly but yeah, once that is out, then I will do some exclusive festivals, but I’m not going to sit in a van for nine hours and play a club in Southern Spain. You know what I mean? It’s like, that’s exhausting again. I don’t want this to be exhausting. First and foremost, I do this for the art. So if there’s interest in booking this thing, then it needs to be proper, you know, I’m too old to do these things that young bands do, it’s like I’m not in the mood for that. I’m really not in the mood for that. So that won’t happen. But I will probably contact… I have some friends in booking agencies so I’ll probably contact them at one point and say, okay, so I want to do 10 festivals and I want this and this and this and book it and we’ll see what happens. But their club shows maybe if everything is correct, but there won’t be any big touring, vans or tour bus or anything. I don’t think so. Regarding the other question about being a duo or not. No, I will bring in another guitar player and a bass player. So it won’t be a duo, it will be a four piece band. So I will do the vocals and guitar and I will have another guitarist and of course, a bass player and of course César beyond the drums.
Your name is associated with Extreme music, and especially Black Metal, considering your work with Mayhem, Aura Noir and more recently Vltimas, how did you discover this musical universe back in time? What leads you to Black Metal?
Blasphemer: First of all, I started playing when I was around maybe 12, something, maybe around 87, I started playing guitar on 86, 87, something like that. Maybe 86, I’m not sure. Anyway, my first song that I learned was actually Creeping Death by Metallica. That’s funny. I didn’t know how to riff very well to pick, you know, but I learned the tonality of it and from there on it just went into faster stuff. I was a huge Sepultura fan in the late eighties as well. Also, I learned the whole Beneath the Remains album. And that’s how I actually learned to speed pick, believe it or not. It was true. So that’s pretty cool, it’s a great band, you know. So from there on it just went more and more extreme as I told you as well. Initially, I had a Death Metal band at that time, around 88, 89. We broke up in 91. After that, I started to go to Oslo because I started to get maybe subconsciously influenced by what was going on in Oslo, with all this new movement. So I started to hang around in Oslo and, talking to these guys and stuff like that. They used to hang out. So, um that’s how it started. And I just got, I was just fascinated by it because there were also some melodic moments in this kind of music as opposed to the Death Metal thing, and of course, when you’re young, you kind of get really easily attracted to this kind of extremity. We thought it was very cool at that time, we were walking around and everybody in the village where I grew up were looking at me with the evil eyes, you know, and everybody was talking behind the back because we were 18, we didn’t care, we had fun with it. So yeah, eventually that’s how it started. And, somehow I ended up jamming with Hellhammer in the Mayhem rehearsal studio. This was like in 92 or something. It went really fast because he had apparently heard that I was a good guitar player and he wanted to check me out, so it was like that.
Are there any musicians or artists you would like to collaborate with? Whether it is for one song, or maybe more.
Blasphemer: Actually, I would love to do something with Ghost. It would be very very cool. Yes, he has a great sense of melody and I really think I could do something to his music as well to make it a little bit different. That would be amazing. Other than that, Tony, from Black Sabbath. It’ll be great. Even Ritchie Blackmore, he is one of my favorite guitar players. So, yeah, something like that.
I’m a bit surprised because Ghost is not really my cup of tea to be honest.
Blasphemer: Yeah, I know there’s a lot of people have some issues with them, but I always thought it was great and fun music, you know, it has a chicken tongue kind of thing. And I think what he’s doing is really great. It’s a great songwriter.
The band isn’t bad. It’s just not really my style. When I was a teenager I was listening to Mayhem, Marduk, Morbid Angel, etc. I was listening to that for sleeping. So when someone say to me like that’s really impressive. It’s extreme… So I was really surprised.
Blasphemer: Well, it’s awesome to hear. I mean, I’m a Morbid Angel fan too, of course. And, everybody into Extreme Metal usually likes Morbid Angel. Great, great band, of course. And I guess it was another kind of a little achievement to start to work with David Vincent. I always love Morbid Angel myself, you know. And now I am working with him It’s pretty cool.
So that leads us to the last question: with which band would you love to tour with, if I let you create a tour or just a single shot with Ruïm and three of the bands which would you choose?
Blasphemer: Well, it’s tough. I mean, if it was to be within the same genre, I would probably say Behemoth or some really, really big actor in the Black Metal scene, Emperor and maybe, Dimmu Borgir or something to reach the audience. I’m tired of playing tiny clubs and I would like to do it really in a big style. You know what I mean?
To really expose the band.
Blasphemer: But I mean, if Black Sabbath did the reunion, I would love to do that. What I mentioned in terms of Black Metal, I never really listened to Emperor so I don’t really know their music but I think it would be a great package. You know what I mean? It’s like they’re playing big stages and in order for Ruïm as well to, to show that it has a huge potential and a huge power. It also would be great to be on stage with somebody who’s considered the top of the chain in Black Metal. That’s why I’m mentioning these bands.
Yeah, I think your band has a really huge potential.
Blasphemer: Thank you very much. I also believe so, it’s a little bit different and it’s very well played. I put a lot of effort into my guitar playing. Trust me, it’s a lot of hours of sweat there. So I think that we’re onto a really strong formula, and as I told you a little bit earlier, I already started. I have some ideas already for a 2nd album. Things are just… it’s building up and I like it. That’s why we’re doing this, to establish something strong, something very interesting and unique.
For that 2nd album, do you already know the title?
Blasphemer: Yes.
I’m curious.
Blasphemer: I’m not going to tell you that would be too early. I actually have the title for the three, the trilogy that I’m working on. I have all the title’s already and everything is done. I don’t have all the song titles, but I’m working on that part. The album titles are already done for a long time ago actually.
So thank you, that was my last question. Thank you very much and thank you for your time and your music and last words are yours if you want to.
Blasphemer: Well, I just want to say thank you very much for this very cool interview, thank you for the support and it was very nice talking to you and I hope we can do it again.