SHOM) (Explaining my total appreciation for 'Blazoned Heraldry')
Peregrinus) Thanks man, I'm stoked to hear you’re into that album—We’ve started recording the full length follow-up but it’s still a ways out from being finished… We need a few more songs and a lot of work. It will be a 2025 release. [Note: This was said months ago—Things have advanced since then.]
SHOM) Happy to hear it—Will you be doing more wind instruments in the coming full–length? That's something in the Demo that goes a long way for me—It's a subtle enough inclusion, but a lost art nowadays and for good reason. It often doesn’t work. Not the case on 'Blazoned Heraldry'.
Peregrinus) There will be wind instruments on the next one, absolutely. All of those are done by AP after we have the songs pieced together and have a somewhat finished mix.
Peregrinus) It’s a bit of a back and forth process. all of the melodies and “riffs” are written by AP on keys. I then adapt them to guitar and figure out strumming/rythm patterns for the guitars and record them. We then build from there. And I sit with the production and figure out the “sound” by using AP’s vision for the album and we go back and forth using two pairs of ears to get it right.
This new album is going in a little bit of a different direction sound wise with the guitar. Think more Bethlehem / somber reverby and echoed… should be another interesting sounding album. It would be too easy to just copy what we did on the first album.
SHOM) Excuse my ignorance here, but I’m assuming the wind instruments are samples? Or is Argent Pale playing an actual flute/whistle? Also, how does the back and forth across the pond take shape to form Heraldic Blaze… And what are the major drawbacks or benefits of it being international?
Peregrinus) All the wind instruments recorded for Heraldic Blaze are done as analog recordings with actual flute and whistles by Argent Pale.
The way we went about it, recording the first demo/mlp, was by sending tracks back and forth between U.S and Norway, as each piece/part was recorded. All the material is written by AP and then channeled into guitars, which is recorded by me here in Norway. Then piece by piece it is built out into a complete track, as we develop the song towards a final mix.
The impetus for Heraldic Blaze is all AP. The music/Vision is something she had been working on for a good long while but never (due to a few failed attempts) gotten the project fully up on its feet yet, when our paths crossed. A bunch of older material was scrapped in the process of starting anew and then the process of creating the MLP ensued—I see my role in HB more than anything as a facilitator of sound. I have my own projects that I do, that delivers other types of black metal then what HB is.That allows me to focus solely on how the guitars are played and their sound. I think it’s important for the sound of HB that what is put into writing the music is a singular and pure vision of what it should be and AP is the driving creative force for that.
As far as drawbacks/benefits…
Time is definitely a drawback.. it takes time to work this way and it’s easy to lose momentum—I am a firm believer in capturing the sound while the fires of creativity are burning and raging. It’s too easy to lose that if tracks sit too long incomplete… It will often imprint itself onto the music and the sound when the flames have faded into cold dead stillness.
SHOM) Major props to AP on that. Blazoned Heraldry has been something of a wake-up call for me, being one of the very few recent albums in BM to reinvigorate my affinity to wind instruments as an overt inclusion—And AP performing all of that analog somehow bolsters that even further.
Do you remember when and how your paths crossed and when the two of you decided to execute on Heraldic Blaze?
Peregrinus) I got involved in HB via a mutual friend of AP and myself. He was to be part of the final attempt at putting those first HB tracks down. But that also was stranded which left AP and me. so we decided to do it from scratch, just the two of us, with new tracks and a fully clean slate to start from.
SHOM) Circling back to how you get to focus solely on guitars and how they sound, which proverbial itches do you get to scratch playing in Heraldic Blaze that you couldn't from any of your other avenues, if any?
Peregrinus) With that in mind Heraldic Blaze opened another Avenue for me creatively, interpreting someone else’s writing through my playing and then bringing AP’s sonic vision of what HB should sound like to life..not saying that I don’t have input or voice my opinion on songs and sounds but bottom line is I try to have everything be as close to the creators vision for HB.
I guess it’s pretty evident in the MLP that there is a different approach than just engaging tremolo picking and blasting through the riffs..I think the songs on the first MLP lended itself towards high tension strumming and finer picking.. now I’ll be the first to admit I categorize myself as a poor technical player. It’s all bordering on capability, all the time. And that brings a certain tension I think, in the sound, that makes the songs come more alive. Haavard from Ulver is someone who is a great inspiration in what I play in HB. The traverse from delicate acoustic picking to flat out tremolo annihilation on those early Ulver records is transcendental.
SHOM) You have very clearly been on a creative spurt, putting out something to the tune of 10+ records in either the format of EP, Demo, LP across your many avenues—What was it that made you interested in doing this with AP?
Peregrinus) I’m very much driven by my creativity. If I feel something is interesting and resonates with me I just let go and follow the current, so to speak. A lot of people, I feel, mistake high output of material as trying too hard… which isn't the case at all. It’s no different writing a song than it is painting a painting. Looking at the greats of the past, it’s preposterous to think that some of those master painters would limit themselves to one painting a year..usually you will see them depict in their studio surrounded by their own creations.
Here in Norway especially Munch or Kittelsen comes to mind.. just endless sketches, paintings and ideas brought into life. If you don’t work at it, how can you become better and more skilled? This is how I view writing music and working on my mixes.
And to put a final word towards the multiple projects. They all serve a specific purpose to me and live in their own sonic sphere. The moment those spheres burst and lines become blurred and things start to sound the same. It’s over. When I feel I’ve explored the individual paths to their respective ends the project terminates. Currently I can feel all of them beckoning me, to continue travels down their respective dark twisted paths.
SHOM) I think that's a fair way to look at it from a creative output side of things, I'm healthily skeptical towards exuberant output but there's enough proof out there to prove me wrong.
Speaking of achievement and Norwegian artists like Munch or Kittelsen, is there an entrenched culture within Norway towards a strong work ethic—And to further piggyback on that, what's the musical landscape like in your area of Norway? Is there still a growing scene in within black metal or does it remain insular and underground?
Peregrinus) Skepticism is not an unhealthy "crutch" while approaching anything I think, and seeing and also hearing what's getting put out is a valid stance to take—So I see what you're saying.
As far as the musical scene goes BM definitely has changed since it emerged in the early 90’s. It’s definitely fragmented and in many ways more distant now I think… Like insulated cells of people doing their own thing and not necessarily interacting a lot with other people. I think that is also a part of what modern technology does or enables.
In my geographical area there is nothing. I live in a tiny village without any sort of scene or input besides the woodlands outside my doors. My conclusion is that Black Metal is as much underground as a mainstream thing in Norway, in 2024 at least.
SHOM) I know you’ve expressed praise towards the recent Avmakt release to me in a previous conversation, but what are some other albums (or bands) you are currently big on within the BM sphere lately
Peregrinus) The new Avmakt release is fantastic, I thoroughly enjoy that album. It’s in many ways what black metal should strive to be. Simple, somewhat nostalgic sounding but not a copy. I enjoy quite a bit of what’s going on here in Norway. Vemod, Djevel, Whoredom Rife, the Majestic Mare. And I’m consistently amazed by what my brother from Askesirkel does with his projects: Vorgfang, Altertum, Infernal Winds, etc. And I get to work on those records mixing a lot of them and we also collaborate on numerous projects. It’s a great driving force for my creativity and inspiration.
There’s a lot of other stuff out in the world that I'm enjoying right now: Medieval Prophecy’s output is fantastic. Blood & Crescent I respect for carving his niche anything Swartadauthuz puts out is always great.I do wish less bands would try to sound like Sanguine Relic and rather spend a year or two in writing to try and emulate something like KVIST. I think that would make things a lot more interesting, and enjoyable.
Keeping it within the circle of close allies between us there’s enough diversity, sonics and atmospheres to keep it ever evolving and interesting. It’s an ever revolving door of music to approach. My listening time outside of working on something isn’t really giving room for a lot of other music. If it is it’s falling back to classics… early AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Rainbow, some Acoustic guitar stuff, etc.
Illvilje - Der Nordavinden Danser (Bandcamp)
