The following interview was done with my friend Markus of German Dark Sorrowful Metal band Empyrium, Open your mind to what Markus had to say. . .
Hail Markus, welcome once more the Unearthly pages of the best Fanzine from the island of Gozo (Ed. Maybe because its the only one !!). Now, joking apart, Markus tell the readers who are till this moment unlucky enough not to know who/what is EMPYRIUM, illuminate them.
Ahhh, Godwin, here we are again, what a delight! My whole hearted regards to thee and all ye readers of the mighty Omegazine! To those who’ve not heard of Empyrium yet. We are coming from Germany and we play music that could be labeled as a brand of dark romantic, melancholic music with a lot of feeling, longing and beauty! We have until this very day released two musical efforts, which are demo ’94 "…der wie ein Blitz von Himmel fiel…" and our debut album "A Wintersunset…". Our precious project was formed in 92, back then the band still carried two other guys under its wings, but they did not put any effort into the band and hence the only possibility that we gathered was to kick them out of our band and to let them realize what wankers they are! Andreas and myself started Empyrium from zero again after this and we composed the songs which were featured in the above mentioned demotape, which, recorded in December 1994, brought us overwhelming response from the underground and the deal with Prophecy Prod. Now
"A Wintersunset…" is released since some time. We recorded it in January 1996 and it features 7 hymns for of beauty and grief in its purest forms. Lately we have let a new member join Empyrium, whose name is Nadine; she has already played flute on "A Wintersunset…" and now she’ll bewitch our further releases with the flute and the cello…I guess that’s pretty much all you should Know, or is there something I might have forgotten, Godwin?
My first real question is this. How on earth do you manage to create such songs ? I mean, It’s not easy to impress me, but you gotta’ be short of emotions if you’re not carried by the music of EMPYRIUM . Your comments..
Thank you! Well, our songs are created by both myself and Andreas and we both bring our real characters into the music, our souls! And that is what makes true art; heart and soul out into it! There’s really not much more to tell about this, as our hymns derive from a natural song writing process. You know, finding a melody, starting to perfectionize it, searching for other parts which fit to the melody and then arranging the whole stuff…so, no secret, obscure procedures I suppose. Well, EMPYIUM is an ever evolving experience. There’s been an evolution from the demo to the debut CD, And the new material again differs from the CD. Are you heading for a particular aim or is this a natural and totally spontaneous evolution ? ( I Know it is natural etc. but anyway, just to let the readers know!!!) First of all I want to say you can’t compose a good song if you’re not standing 100% behind it. It would make no sense for us to make music that we don’t enjoy. For sure, we are heading for an aim with our music, and that is to satisfy us with the composition and a basic principle to satisfy ourselves is to let the music float out of us. There’s no such thing as thought out music. Music derives from hearts and not from brains and everything we do is natural and doth not derive from any wish to sound like this or that. We just sound like we feel .
Whom do you consider as the most influential artists on EMPYRIUM’ s compositions ? Metal/ Related and Non.
The most influential artist must be nature itself. She is the mother of all art and has brought forth the most touching and beautiful images and atmospheres I an think of. But well, I’d be a lair if I denied the influence that certain musicians gave to me. We don’t let ourselves get influenced by other musicians consciously, but I guess if you listen to such music as we do, you’ll be inspired by it, weather you like it or not.. A big inspiration should be Classical music with such composers as Grieg, Orff, Wagner, Smetana, Debussy, Sibelius and even Bach. But hails also to the likes of Deine Lakaien, Loreena Mckennitt, Enya, Estampie, White Willow, Thule, Landberk, Nick Cave, Fire And Ice, Sol Invictus, Ulver, Arcturus, Tumulus, Bay Laurel, Dark Throne, Emperor, Kari Rueslatten, Current 93, Devil Doll, This Empty Flow, Penitent and most likely a thousand more. But again, I want to underline that I don’t view these as real influences, but as music I enjoy listening to and that always casts a certain amount of impact upon me.
Markus, you are a total devotee of mother Nature, thus I guess you know about all the damage that is constantly perpetrated ( Most of it Permanently irreparable ), in your opinion, is there anything to be done to stop all this? And, what do you think will be the final outcome of this utter madness ?
For sure that I am aware of the crimes committed against nature. Oh well this might not sound like the ideal and morale of a courageous man, but I’m quite hopeless when it comes to stopping these crimes! Just look at mankind! Look at it, do you think we can rebuild anything with them? Are they willing to change their lives, these men and women?I am afraid they are not, and the only possibility to change something would be o whole new way of thinking; to brainwash mankind and find the way back to our roots, which are well kept secrets for those….may Terra Mater punish us; It’ll be done with right.
The name EMPYRIUM is of Greek origin ,if I’m not wrong . What made you choose this name ? And besides would ever consider changing it ? ( PLEASE DONT !! Just a curiosity )
True, the word Empyrium has a Greek/ Stoic origin. We chose this name because of its esoteric sound and meaning. Somehow, the word Empyrium has an aura of nature; mysticism, which fits perfectly to our music. By the way Empyrium translated means "The burning heaven" or just "Heaven". No, we never thought about changing the name. The name is already quite common among underground music listeners and we are perfectly satisfied with our name, so there are no reasons to change.
The Sales of ‘..A Wintersunset’ were up to expectations as far as I know. Both you and your label ‘Prophecy Prod.’ must be quite satisfied with the results. Are you still totally happy with the final result, or would you like to change something ?
Yeah, the sales are really satisfactory! For both the label and ourselves, I mean, I wouldn’t mind sell a few records less(or more…hehe), but I can’t deny that it feels great that we are so greatly accepted by the underground! Being 100% happy with something is not reachable feeling. OK, I am quite satisfied with how "A Wintersunset…" turned out but there is still many a thing I’d like to change. But that will always be the case I guess. On "A Wintersunset…" there is for example the bass sound which is far too upfront and too "clicky"(whatever…) in my ears. I would have preferred, now with distance to the record, a deeper and low bass sound. Then there are my vocals, Cheesus! I don’t exaggerate when I tell you that I’ll be one thousand times better next time around. And finally the synth. We used way to few different sounds in my eyes. OK, we will always rely on string sounds when it comes to he synth, but I wouldn’t really mind if we had a tad more diverse sounds. Then, there is this and that, and yeah, this as well…blabla, I am afraid I’m something like a perfectionist, but who’s not?
You are surely one of Germany’s most worthy bands and absolutely one of the rising stars. Other bands you’d like to pin point to our readers (and also to us !!) What about the labels ?
Thank you again, Godwin! Feels good to be called a star, Haha! Actually, why does nobody call me a rockstar? What do they have that I have not? Answer me Godwin! Jokes aside, bands from Germany that are worth your support are; ‘Tumulus’ above all (Ed. Hail Draugr..) ‘Nox Mortis’, ‘Drowned’, ‘Nordlys’, ‘Finsterwald’, ‘Flames of Eternity’, and some more which I can’t think of right now.(Ed. I also suggest the mighty ‘Under Black Clouds’, ‘Menhir’, ‘Antichrisis’ and ‘Lunar Aurora’.) Label-wise its a rather good situation here. We have good underground labels such as ‘Solistitium’(Ed. I also suggest ‘Ars Metalli’) = bigger ones such as Nuclear Blast and Century Media, yeah call me a trendy, but I think such labels are of importance as well. And of course we have the best label of all, Prophecy Productions….tataaaa (fanfare!).
Markus, what is the kind of literature you’re mostly inclined to? Any favorite author ? Besides literature and music, are there any arts you enjoy ‘indulging’ in ?
Well, I must admit that I don’t find the time to read, which I wish I had. That might be the reason why I mostly read poems. I sincerely love poems by
such authors as Goethe, Shakespeare, Poe, Eichendorff, Baudlaire, Hardy, etc, Thanks to some friends which have recently introduced me to those great writers! But I used to read some fantasy literature by the likes of and Lovecraft (what a clich‚!). I enjoy basically any form of art as long as it is not any modern art that no shithead understands, not even the artist himself; pseudo intellectual wanker art, urhhgghh. I whole heartedly love oilpaintings (especially out of the romantic area) by such painters as C.D. Friedrich, Bruegel, Altdorfer etc. And then there’s my passion towards photography…ahh,
I really love art, photographs of nature.. However, I am personally involved with both forms of art as well, more or less successfully…errr.
Mention 3 things you like and 3 things you hate in our ‘beloved’, ever decaying scene ?
3 things I like: Unity, respect, honesty.
3 things I dislike: Jealousy, dishonesty, stupidity.
Do you feel like telling us something about the zine you’re putting up ?! (If you still want to keep it a secret, don’t worry, I just want to give you a chance to promote your future publication.)
I will make an exception (to confirm the rule?) and reveal something cause I like you do much, Godwin! The zine I am working on will feature mostly music, but I have also talked to some other artists(photographers) and I will hopefully feature some of their works among the pages. I will not focus on Metal(Metal plays a role though!), no way, I have also interviewed bands from the fields of Progressive Rock and neo Classic. I hope to get a great diversity into the magazine. However, it will most likely be called Nostalgia Magazine and will be released some time during 1997…watch out for flyers and such things!
What are your plans for the future ?
First and foremost to furthermore revel in our music; to compose new songs, that’s the priority! I wouldn’t mind recording some more records, though. It also seems that in August 1997 we will also enter the studio again to record our second album. I wish it will turn out the way we want it. That’s all the future plans I can think of right now; besides world domination. But there’s no need saying this I guess.
Thank you very much for answering and for your brotherly friendship. The last words are yours Markus.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Godwin! It was a real pleasure answering the well thought out questions! Can’t wait to hold Omegazine in my hands! All the best to you and Mario! You rule both!!! To the readers. Give our music a chance…buy "A Wintersunset…". It’s very worth it. Just send 18$ to either of the addresses below. If you write for info please include 1$, thank you!
