1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the musical project?
I am Hylgaryss, a French musician, mainly active in Black Metal, for many years (since around 1994 or 1995). I’ve played in many projects, and I created this album alongside my main bands, which are LE PROCHAIN HIVER and VIDE. I compose the music, write the lyrics, and Obyana, a German vocalist, performs all the vocals. It’s a duo, even though I’m the one who makes all the creative decisions.
Originally, I had composed a few ideas for the third LE PROCHAIN HIVER album, but I felt they didn’t belong to that project. I decided to keep those themes and atmospheres and build something around them. The project was born purely by chance, from a single moment of composition. It all started from one guitar riff (the first riff on the first album) and everything unfolded from there. I wrote the album quite quickly; surprisingly fast, actually, compared to the time I usually take for LPH or VIDE. It was easier because I imposed no limits on myself, whereas in my other projects I tend (perhaps wrongly) to set boundaries. I wanted to create an album that was more free than LPH, even if some of the same sensitivity can definitely be found.
2.Recently you have released your first full length, can you tell us a little bit more about the musical style that you went for on the recording?
It’s Black Metal, what could be called atmospheric Black Metal, because the essential thing is the atmosphere emerging from the music. It’s not about violence for its own sake, even though the album is quite violent, I think. The goal is for the music to make the listener feel soething.
It’s a concept album where the atmospheric, almost luminous parts are followed by much harsher ones. The structures can stretch out and the track lengths symbolize that, with only three songs lasting over 40 minutes total. I tend to write long tracks because I like to have an intro or an outro, and I like taking my time before presenting the important moment of the piece.
Everything is pushed to the extreme with SAINTE OBYANA DU FROID, it’s like the extreme version of what I can offer, of what I love making or listening to. I let repetitive motifs loop with layers and melodies that appear and vanish. It’s quite a mystical form of Black metal. We’re far from anything I’d call accessible. It’s not clean; the parts drown into one another. I think it requires real attention to be understood.
3.One of the other members has a history with past bands and projects, what is it that you bring into the music of 'Sainte Obyana Du Froid', that you have not been able to do with your other groups?
As I said, I didn’t set any limits for myself here. A single motif can last for many minutes if it serves the work. I needed to create SAINTE OBYANA DU FROID because I felt I was restricting myself in my compositions for LPH or VIDE, I was forbidding myself certain things.
Other thing is that I love having multiple projects; I need to work on different things, even if they share similarities. For example, right now I’ve started working on a new project that may never see the light of day: a sort of even more underground Black metal, a style I haven’t touched in a very long time, it's rawer, more violent, more dissonant, more direct, without the sensitivity I have in LPH or SODF. But creating is visceral for me; I need to compose constantly.
Maybe I’ll release an EP on my Bandcamp, because I love sharing my music for free. My goal is simply to create and express myself.
4.The lyrics on the album also cover a metaphysical concept involving winter and suicide, can you tell us a little bit more about the songwriting present on the recording?
This concept is the central point of the project. For nearly 30 years, winter has been my almost exclusive theme (and perhaps I should renew myself at some point).
My idea was the story of a woman alone in the snow, waiting to become one with nature and the cold. She waits, hesitates, has moments of lucidity. I tried to portray this madness by alternating atmospheric and Black Metal passages. She believes she is becoming one with winter, tired of life, then doubts again before letting herself be consumed by the cold, exhausted and broken by the world.
It’s a kind of metaphysical quest, meeting death as closely as possible in order to feel life, even if it kills her. Her madness takes her beyond what « normal » people can feel. Although I hate the word « normal » and the idea of « normality. »
Normality comes from what the majority thinks, but often wrongly. For example, why must we live in society, with others? Not wanting that means being not normal for most. Not liking parties, liking to be invisible, this is considered abnormal. I despise this way of thinking. I despise normality itself in fact.
5.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Sainte Obyana Du Froid'?
I wanted to give Obyana the symbolism of a religious icon, or at least the illusion of one. In the lyrics, Obyana believes herself to be somewhat superior to others. She believes she can feel things no one else can. Her madness becomes more and more perceptible as the album goes on. She is a self-proclaimed saint.
Her first words on the album refer to what she thinks she feels, wrongly:
“I am the past, the earth turning
I am the invisible, and the nothing”
She clearly believes she feels the depth of the world, of nature, and becoming one with it. Her body is nothing, no longer hers. She has ascended, or rather, believes she has. In the second track, she has a strong moment of lucidity before falling back into madness.
6.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
It’s an artwork I commissioned from an Indonesian artist named TOPAN. I absolutely wanted something white, as is often the case with my work, and something that corresponds with my other projects, particularly LPH. This album could have been an LPH album, as you may have understood, but it’s the extreme version of it.
I imagined this icon merging with nature, with thorns growing out of her body. It’s perfectly depicted, simple but effective, and different from traditional Black Metal imagery. The cover is far from the usual Black Metal kind of cover; I think it stands out among a thousand dark artworks.
7.Currently there are only 2 members in the band, are you open to expanding the line-up or do you prefer to remain a duo?
If we continue, we’ll probably remain a duo. Perhaps one day there could be guest musicians for a specific part like violin or something, but I like doing everything alone, then giving the finished music to Obyana so she can add her vocals. Nothing more.
The work is made far easier by being only two. The more people involved, the more complicated and time-consuming everything becomes. I prefer working alone, doing everything myself, but I really wanted that screamed female voice, and what Obyana delivers is incredibly powerful and full of suffering.
And again, everything was fast: between giving her the music and texts and receiving her recordings, only four or five days had passed. It’s very efficient, and a joy to work this way.
8.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal/
I’m pleasantly surprised; the feedback has been overall very positive, even though again, I think this project is quite difficult to approach. I thought this album would be challenging for the audience, because nothing is easy on it. The atmospheres, the sounds… it’s hard to get into if you’re used to mainstream, clean, polished Black Metal , the kind I almost consider « gentle. »
But I was wrong: the feedback has been extremely positive, perhaps the most positive I’ve ever received in my musical life.
I think there is a dedicated core audience in France that appreciates my work and that of Transcendance label, and together they trust what we offer. But I’m also pleasantly surprised to see my work appreciated abroad, perhaps because this project is in English, whereas almost everything I do normally uses French vocals.
In any case, I’m very happy with the feedback and reviews. Most listeners understood the album’s concept and felt what I wanted to convey.
9.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?
I compose all the time for LPH, I already have many tracks ready, more than enough for an album. Even today I spent several hours working on a new piece. I’ll sort through everything and keep only the best. For my previous album Talvi, I composed 1h30 of music and kept only 45 minutes.
I’m also working on a split release, but it’s too early to talk about it.
My other project, VIDE, should release its first album in a few months. It’s more accessible than SODF, closer to LPH, with the particular feature of including parts recorded with a small children’s choir. On Black Metal, the result is quite striking, I love that violent Black Metal atmosphere mixed with such pure voices. I sincerely hope it finds its audience; I spent two years recording it, and it’s extremely personal to me.
10.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
I think I have said what I needed to say with this first album. Obyana finds serenity in death at the end of the record, so what more is there to add? More Black Metal? I’m not sure.
I might stop the project entirely, never make a sequel, or perhaps imagine a concept where Obyana is in hell, darker, crazier, more violent. Maybe without metal, in the style of ELEND, or extremely noise-oriented. To be honest, I don’t know yet.
I need some time to digest this album. If there is ever a follow-up, it must be something solid, not just another standard Black Metal album.
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?
In terms of influences, I don’t have many. I almost never listen to Black Metal anymore because it tends to pollute what I compose, it inspires me too much when I really like something. I listen to many old albums, always Silence of December by DEINONYCHUS, and more recently VERTIGE’s album, which is still full of emotion for me. I go back to it very often.
The head of Transcendance sent me many albums from her label; I have a lot to listen to. She recommended giving an ear to Dissonnant Winds, and I was instantly captivated by this project, I find it fantastic, it have everything. She mentioned there was a slight resemblance to SODF, and indeed, I hear things I could have written, or would have loved to write. It’s truly my current obsession, the first one since VERTIGE.
Fortunately I didn’t listen to them before composing SODF, otherwise it might have influenced the album too much. I’m currently listening to Drowning in the Residues of Misery, a masterpiece of atmospheric Black Metal.
12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thank you for this interview. I hope you can understand the album, this elevation of the soul, and that it allows you to travel through it.
Hylgaryss
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