1. Can you tell us a little bit a bout the band, when you formed and what your goals were in the beginning?
- Azaghal was formed in 1995 by me and ex-drummer V-Khaoz (aka Kalma). In the beginning we were highly influenced and inspired by the early 90s norweigian black metal scene (and still are, atleast musically). We've never had any goals per se, our only goal is to satisfy ourselves, both musically and lyrically.
2. What is the meaning behind the bands name?
- Azaghal is from the Tolkien mythology, which was highly popular during mid-nineties. Perhaps not the best name for a black metal band, but the name is a product of it's time.
3. I know on your last album you had a song about the Aztec serpent god, what interest do you have in Aztec Mythology?
- I am very interested in different mythologies and history, there has always been themes from mythologies present in our lyric, although Quezalcoatl is maybe the first song I've written directly from a specific myth.
4. How would you describe the musical progress over the years?
- I think we still have the same essence as in the beginning of the band, you can still hear that it's the same band when comparing our first and latest output. Nowadays the songs tend to be a bit more technical and melodic and overall better thought out than in the beginning, but like many bands that have been around for as long as we've, I think we haven't lost the underground edge and rawness in our music.
5. What direction do you see the music heading into during the future?
- It's hard to predict at the moment. I've written a couple of new songs since "Teraphim" and they are more straightforward old school black metal. But at this point it's hard to say if they'll make it to next album or not. Our music has lately taken it's final shape in the studio and usually when we come out of the studio the album turns out to be something completely different than what we had in mind when entering. So it's hard to predict what it will be like, but I can guarantee that it will sound like Azaghal heh.
6. How would you describe your live show, and what are some of the best gigs that you have played so far?
- Brutal is perhaps the best word. Feeling is always more important to us than playing the songs exactly like they are on the albums. Our best gigs so far are perhaps our first one, which was at Under the Black Sun Festival in 2004. Also last years gig at Dunkelheit Festival was very good, it was the first one to feature Niflungr on vocals and everything just worked very well atlought we had only like 2 rehearsals before the show.
7. Are there any plans for a U.S tour?
- No concrete plans for now, but hopefully Moribund is able to come up with something. It would be fucking great to say the least.
8. When can we expect new material?
- No plans as of now. But it's usually a year and an album with us. Or if we do some splits in between it might be two. We are pretty active writers, and when comparing to the past when I wrote all of the music, there are now three writers in the band.
9. What are your main influences music wise or non music wise?
- I can only speak for myself, but early on several hard rock bands like Motley Crue, WASP etc. and then of course the early 90s norsk black metal which I already mentioned. Nowadays I don't follow the black metal scene that closely so my influences come from totally different kind of music, which might be good since the world doesn't need anymore darkthrone clones I think.
10. What are you listening to nowadays and what would you recommend new or old?
- Been on a huge Nick Cave trip for a long time now, also stuff like Death in June gets frequent plays. Also I am really digging the new Alice in Chains album right now, however uncool that might be for a person in a black metal band to say hah. Regarding Black Metal, the new Beherit was a very positive surprise, also all the Archgoat stuff they've put out since their return. Also Darkspace, Coldworld, Code and Austere deserve a mention I think.
11. What roles does Satanism or Occultism play in the music?
- This is a subject that I really haven't bothered really wondering or explaining about in many years. We've been doing this for about 15 years now, so our views should be pretty obvious from the lyrics.
12. What are some good films or literature that you would recommend?
- I enjoy generally all horror fiction, be it filmed or literature. Anything with zombies is fine by me hehe.
13. How is the response in Finland towards your music?
- Pretty non-existent, we've never really pushed ourselves forward in Finland and we have never played live in Finland.
14. Any final words?
- Thanks for the interview and support. Listen to Scarecrow and drink whiskey.
15. Thanks for the interview?
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