Cruda Sorte Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording and release of the new album? Since the recording took place over a year ago we actually did write some new stuff, more or less, it’s just some bits and pieces, new riffs, new lyrics, something like new songs. And we also did some fine gigs. But 2017 was within our personal life really turbulent which is why there weren’t so much activities. Currently, we are planning to do more rehearsal sessions and hopefully some more gigs, but we’ll see how things work out. And yeah, releasing an album is always a bit exciting, especially, if it is personally more or less an “old one”.

2.Recently you have released a new album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past? I think “Ewigkeiten im Schimmel” is a real atmospheric piece of black metal. Although we partly recorded and mixed it in a professional studio it is also a raw sounding black metal record. In the past, we were often considered a Depressive Suicidal Black Metal band and with regard to our very first releases, I’d say it’s true. But the later releases presented a lot more aggressive and oldschool sounding Black Metal, lyrically it was also more occult and satanic. This whole development accumulated in “Nekrolog” which was ironically our least black metal sounding record so far. So in a way, “Ewigkeiten im Schimmel” goes back in the history of our band and takes ingredients of every stage of our development. Two steps backwards and three forward. When I listen to the record, I hear a lot of reminiscences to “Kapitel 2”, the split with Veineliis (“Nature of Suffering”) and especially “Innozenz”, but also some of the doomish feelings of “Nekrolog”. It was not intended in the first place, but we simply wanted to create an extreme, raw but also melodic black metal record.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music? Well, we certainly did have different lyrical topics since the beginning, but the major topic has always been a strong opposition to Christianity, and certainly “Death”, as well as multiple aspects connected to it. Within the trilogy “Innozenz”, “Tollwutkult” and “Nekrolog”, we additionally covered more occult, satanic, and respectively theological topics. But in fact, the main topic of CRUDA SORTE these days is Death, and especially with the new record I tried to dig a bit deeper into its connected concepts like decay, suicide and transience. But also the persistence and inheritance of descendants and the beginning and formation of new life by “mold” (engl. for “Schimmel”). For me it was also important that every song tells a story and stands on its own. So, they are of course slightly connected, but it is not a journey or concept like on the mentioned trilogy.

4.Between 2007 and 2013 there was no music being released, can you tell us a little bit more about what was going on during that time span? Even though this time span seems to be a real long period (also compared to our output since 2013) there never was “the one“ reason for the pause, so to speak. After the recording of “Kapitel 2”, Ohyra and I started to create new music for a split release with VRÅNGBILD. But for various reasons we decided to part ways in May 2007, and since I was neither able to play drums nor to create fine sounding drum computer patterns, CRUDA SORTE was dead, more or less. There were some sessions with Ohyra back in 2009 and 2010 but I wouldn't speak of a “restart” before 2011, with the participation of M.v.V.
Originally the plan was just to record the split material from 2007 in an appropriate way to close the chapter forever, but for one reason or another we continued making music, and I think it was a good decision. In the meantime I was active and involved in some other projects and for sure there was also this thing called “life” - especially studying and working.

5.Originally the band was a solo project, what was the decision behind hiring a full line up? Well, in fact, the band was a solo project only in the beginning and in the mentioned episode after the split in 2007. Aside from that, I always worked at least with a drummer and not only as a session guy, but also as a real member. Look, Ohyra contributed to the concept and with his voice, M.v.V. participated on lyrics and recorded everything since the first demo. So, there was always a deeper connection and we arranged the songs together. Sure, there also was “Innozenz”, which I wrote completely on my own, while M.v.V. added the drums later on, but I never thought about CRUDA SORTE as a solo project. Though it is correct that it was a project, not a real band, and I was more or less responsible for writing the riffs and most of the lyrics. The main reason behind forming a band was primarily a request for a show in March 2016 in the course of releasing “Nekrolog”. I asked some close friends with whom I already played a decade ago in different constellations. We practiced a lot together for it, did a good show, rehearsed a short time after it and created “Die letzte Ära” in one of the first sessions after the gig. It worked really, really well and we realized that CRUDA SORTE was going to be a real band. The whole new album was created in less than five months. After “Nekrolog”, I said that I alone will not be able to write a better record for CRUDA SORTE - and this is true - but we did it together.

6.I have read that the band is against doing shows, has that changed over the years? Where did you get this? I’m not sure but I was never against doing live shows, it was just very difficult to hire session musicians to do it, especially for just one gig. It was a lucky coincidence that I got the possibility two years ago and that this resulted in a persistent line-up. I’m also really into it and it’d be great to do more shows, but because of everyday life and other circumstances it is always hard to realize. But some shows are in the pipeline and I hope there are more to come.

7.I have noticed there is no social websites for the band, do you fell that the social networking has taken way a lot of the underground essence of black metal? For me, Black Metal was always a unique style of underground art: the music of course but also the presentation. In fact, we are not that uncompromising, since we have a Bandcamp presence and we do interviews like this one here. Besides, we are not interested in having a bigger web presentation or let alone a Facebook site. We talked about that, but it doesn’t fit us. I totally accept if a band needs something like that for promotion, gigs, presentation etc. but we decided that we do not want to do this, because Black Metal doesn’t need to be presented on these sites. So, yes, you can say that it is our approach towards a presentation that we feel to be appropriate for this sort of music. I've always liked it in the past when a band did not offer any information about creation, writing, views etc. It was more mystic, dark and cryptic.

8.The new album was released on 'Bleeding Heart Nihilist', how did you get in contact with this label? Well, our first gig was supposed to be together with HERMANN, a band from Berlin. But due to some illness issues, they had to cancel their appearance but Alex (bass player of HERMANN) visited our gig and we talked a bit afterwards. He really liked our appearance and later on, Graasjäl of ANIMO AEGER got in touch with him for releasing the great “KotzeAdel” album (for which ERK did the tape version). We also played a show with his other band by the end of 2016 - the first gig with the material which is now materialized - and after our appearance at the Morgenstern Fest II, the last thing he said to me was like “I’ll sign you fuckers!” Sure, we tried to reach out to other labels but it felt and feels natural to do this collaboration with a label from Berlin which shares a lot of our views, feelings regarding music and other aspects. And last but not least: I really like BHN artists WIGRID and SUNSHINE & LOLLIPOPS.

9.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of black metal? The feedback so far was fine for the old stuff. Sure, we are not a really big band and no big seller either but the tapes of our old releases are completely sold out. The reviews and sales for the new album were also quiet good, so I think the feedback is good as well. Most of the buyers are surely connected to Black Metal so I do not really see the point here. But yeah, there was also some shit flowing in our direction because of my private political views or because we have done gigs in left-wing locations.

10.What is going on with some of the other bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of? Hm. This is really difficult to tell because we've been doing music for years now and every person who was ever - even part-time - involved in CRUDA SORTE is or at least was very active in some bands or projects, especially Graasjäl, our session live guitar player. To begin with, his and M.Greis’s band and our labelmates ANIMO AEGER are for sure the most active band in our, let’s say, “circle”, and probably also the most well-known one. I think they are also the most active band besides CRUDA SORTE. But also VRÅNGBILD, the solo project of Graasjäl, has created a really fine and original output, especially everything after “Jails in a teacup”. Everything before was at least solid, but that recording was a paradigm shift into greatness. Both projects are really recommended! But also the “less active” or, respectively, older projects like WOLFSHAUCH, WITHERED (from Berlin), OBSCEST or AVSKED did some really great stuff.

11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future? Like I said in the first answer, we already started to write new stuff, I think around last summer. Our plan originally was to finalize two songs and release an EP, but we thought about writing more stuff for a new record. The new songs are more extreme, more chaotic and really dark, but there is again a lot of old-school Black Metal stuff in there. Memnoch did participate even more with riffs, so I think we will follow our path of chaotic old-school Black Metal, like on “Ewigkeiten im Schimmel”, but even more condensed to the core. But I do not know yet when or in which form the stuff will be released, actually. Another idea was to explore more of the percussive stuff which we did with “Spinnentanz & Giftbefall”. I really liked the crossing of ambient, percussion and Black Metal and I really wanna dig deeper into it, but let’s see.

12.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays? Mostly I listen to Black Metal, even after all those years. I’m also into Thrash, Death and normal Rock stuff, but 90% I think is Black Metal. I cannot name a band or a special style, which has had an impact on the “Ewigkeiten” album. Personally, I think it is our first piece of work which is more influenced by our very own releases, our own development and experiences, and which is shaped by ourselves. Even if I try I cannot recall which style or band I listened to when we started writing nearly two years ago. In some other interviews, I mentioned really important bands for me, like DARKTHRONE, DISSECTION, WATAIN, THE DEVIL’S BLOOD, THE RUINS OF BEVERAST, NAGELFAR and BURZUM. But for me, the most important band for doing this kind of music in the beginning was surely LUNAR AURORA. Curiously, I’ve been listening to a lot of non-metal things for two months or so. I’m really into FLORENCE+THE MACHINE, JULIETTE AND THE LICKS, LITTLE GREEN CARS or SOAP&SKIN. Sometimes I have these episodes where some kind of style really gets to me. But this never had an impact on my own music. I am probably more open minded, but (Black) Metal will always be the main music I will listen to and which will have an impact on my own style of writing music.

13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts? We are CRUDA SORTE and you aren’t.

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