1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?
1. Hand all readers of Occult Black Metal Zine. I'm G, the main singer and eventual writer in Hellige, a duo playing Black/Doom Metal based in Argentina.
2.In October you had released a new album, musically how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?
2. To begin with, this is the album that took us the longest to compose due to a variety of factors. I don't believe that it's a far cry from the previous two demos, the difference being rather on how its writing is more deliberate.
On the previous albums, we used pretty much all of the material we came up with; here, we took the time to iterate and revise thoroughly. Just as much —if not even more— music got discarded as there is recorded on the album.
This is also the first release presented entirely in Spanish. The lyrics and the unifying concept behind them are much more developed and have gone through intense revision as well.
3.This was also your first release in 8 years, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
3. Jobs, career, life… Both of us had been working full-time while attending university during that time frame. Add conflicting time schedules, and the result is that sometimes we didn't get any time to put into the album for months.
This turned out for the better, though, since it allowed our ideas to mature, as well as our expectations for quality. Even the album itself got recorded twice, the result being a much clearer interpretation of the same music.
4.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music and also how would you describe your progress as songwriters over the years?
4. Lyrically, the main theme I've explored over the last releases has been existentialism and its interpretation from varied perspectives. In “Camino de agua”, the idea develops through the entirety of the album rather than on a by-song basis, and I've worked the poetry so that not only the content, but the techniques by which it's represented, reflect these concepts as well.
The main indicator of our progress as years went by —at least when referring to us as a duo, as opposed to on a personal level—, has been mainly how comfortable we've grown in developing and improving upon each other's ideas. As time goes on, I believe it's easier to mold all the parts that make the whole into a more cohesive unit.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Hellige'?
5. Everything boils down to a misplaced wordplay that stuck with time; I find the explanation itself quite funny, but we'll let the curious reader figure it out.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
6. It's a waterfall located in the province of Tucumán, Argentina. All the pictures included on the album (one for each track, reflecting its concept) were taken by me during a long trip I made through the Argentinian North-West. There's no deep or hidden meaning behind it, it's merely a fitting illustration for the album.
7.The band had started out as a solo project but over the years evolved into a duo what was the decision behind bringing in a newer member?
7. We met while looking for musicians to form another project on itself (if I recall correctly, at the time Gabriel was looking to join a band as a bassist), but we hit it off and felt that we had enough in common to work together on our own. He showed me the stuff he had done with Hellige and invited me to come over as a vocalist. It was an interesting process to go through since he had to adapt the stuff he had written for the next demo to make space for my voice. We liked the result and have been working together ever since.
8.The new album was released on 'Dying Sun Records', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
8. It's a specialized label that has edited our stuff in the past, and whom we're all too glad to be working with once more; the prints have always been of top-notch quality. I feel our music fits well with a catalog that features bands I personally enjoy a lot, like The Funeral Orchestra, or Carma.
9.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black, sludge and doom metal?
9. We perform a niche genre between niche genres, so, naturally, the reach our music has is limited. But for whatever there is, we've found our music well-received by fans of the style and are thankful for the appreciation they've shown.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
10. We're again at a point in our lives where personal projects take precedence. I've recently moved across the world and am working on editorial projects with classical and folk music that eat up all of my free time, while Gabriel is getting ready to release the third album with his main band Psicósfera.
So plans for the immediate future are unclear. But music aside, we've become very good friends, and I believe the call to create music together keeps beckoning, so we will be coming back to Hellige in due time. I've got lots of concepts in my mind of what and how I'd like to work on, we'll see what comes out of it.
11.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
11. I can only answer for myself here: my tastes in extreme metal verge more towards the traditional bands, my biggest influences being the likes of Bathory, Root, Bethlehem, or Dystopia.
Nowadays, I'm listening to stuff directly tied to my projects, so my playlist comprises mostly Argentinean or Andean folk music, and classical guitar composers.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
12. Keep your eyes peeled for Psicósfera's next album! And if you missed it, go get Botgörelsen's release from last year, it was the metal album I listened to most in 2021.
Thank you very much for your time. All the best,
— G, from Hellige
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