For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
Grigorien was originally founded by Spedalsk and myself in 2006 in Naestved, Denmark, but really began in 2007 with a short promo meant to recruit a more permanent drummer, since the drums were original done as a favour by the then drummer of Ligfaerd. We conceived from the beginning the group to be a propaganda organ for anti-religious hate speech and have since its inception strived to be as blasphemous and violent as we’re able. Musically we are often compared with the sound of Swedish black metal from the 90’s – fast and relentlessly aggressive.
In August you have your first full length coming out, musically how does it differ from your previous demos and split?
Every release will be somewhat different since it is written with a particular theme and narrative framework in mind. Our debut album is meant to evoke a sense of grandiosity and scale, so it relies a little more on simple modal scale progressions and staccato elements than before, but in some respects, it doesn’t much differ; I have a particular way of writing, so anyone who has heard anything previous from us will quickly recognize the antecedents of what came before. On the other hand, I made a conscious decision to add a lot more variation than previously because of the length. It became clear that the rigidity I swore to up until that point - a nearly constant auditory assault of high tempo and harmonic rhythms of quarter notes on top of a strict control of cadence to never let the melody be allowed to “rest” – would lose some of its impact when sustained for so long. It has at times been a challenge to join these principles with enough of a sense of variation, but I’m very satisfied with the result and feel that the album is overall better for it.
This is also your first release since 2015, can you tell us a little bit more about what has been going on during that time frame?
It has taken a lot of work and discipline to finish this album, but it is in the face of adversity that you test your will and ambition. We have had our will tested manifold, but remained determined to see it through even if it would take years to realize. In the meantime we focused on writing more material and are now in a fortunate situation where we have finished a lot of the music and lyrics for a second album and have a collaboration with an ambitious and accommodating label in Signal Rex willing to spearhead the promotion of this album while we finish the next.
Lyrically you cover the war between humans, seraphs and angels, can you tell us a little bit more about your explorations in this area?
It is not a coverage of any particular story, but representations with borrowed symbolic meanings from the bible and Milton in a new framework. We imagined a representation of the world within a theatrical stage play, and the album is that play. We represented three groups: man, angels and seraphs and gave each three primary “voices” or characters that introduce each song. These are the 9 choirs of the play that quarrel over the ordering of the world and their place in it, and is concluded with the descent of the tenth: The demon and profane priestess Veridian who once and for all settles their dispute by reordering the world in her image in accordance with a new gospel.
On past demos you also covered some satanic topics, can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in Satanism and Occultism?
Satanism can be a lot of things to a lot of people, but to us it is first and foremost a unifying symbol. A symbol with many differing expressions, but unifying just the same. Whether it be Veridian, Satan, Enki, Prometheus, Sitra Ahra or even just the Nietzschean or pagan resentment of White Christ, it is the banner under which every black metal group enlist in the propaganda war against dogmatic religion. Our genre was in many ways founded in the ashes of churches and we must not allow it to stray too far from those roots. It is the beginning and the end of what is at the heart of black metal and, to my mind, the central defining feature of what black metal is – without which the music becomes an empty imitation devoid of true purpose. In much the same way occultism becomes a kind of language in which to contextualize these symbols; a way to obfuscate the threshold between the literal and the metaphorical in a narrative and to grant a lot of meaning in few words by reference; almost like a secret code for those with the necessary knowledge to decipher it.
I know that the band is named after the promethean angels that sinned against god in the Apocrypha, how does this name fit in with the musical styles that you play?
The Book of Enoch to be exact. They were the Grigori, or “Watchers” who were ordered to watch man in his bondage and who rejected that duty to instead teach them sciences and have children with them and in so doing caused the Great flood of Genesis. We liked the name both as a promethean symbol as you say, but also because these events are directly referenced in Genesis 6:4 while the Book of Enoch itself is quoted in the Epistle of Jude despite it being an apocryphal text, so it is also a great heresy contained within the bible itself much like the satanic verses were in Islam. I like to think that we reflect this level of blasphemy in everything that we do; much like the name along with the lyrics mock religion and spirituality, the music is meant to carry that in as aggressive and confrontational a manner as possible. We don’t mean to poke fun at Christianity, Judaism or Islam, we mean to attack it – and we want you to attack it as well.
Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
We very much wanted the cover to reflect the themes and narrative of the album, so we discussed early on the idea of the leather-bound score to the play, since both Spedalsk and I appreciate a simple, utilitarian approach. Our label Signal Rex had an existing partnership with Heresie Studio that did the graphics design and through that collaboration we were able to realize that vision beautifully. The additional artwork in the booklet is by Spedalsk and is meant as a symbolic addendum to the lyrics to give a little more context to those who understand it. In addition, he created the unique art and layout for the LP release, so we very much look forward to reveal that.
Has the band done any live shows or open to the idea?
No. Neither I nor Spedalsk nor Geistaz have any interest in that, our primary focus has always been conceiving an idea and then writing, perfecting and arranging it. Performing live would take away from what little time we already have available to rehearse songs that are already finished instead of creating new ones.
On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?
We appreciate the attention we have gotten. We have seen some very dedicated listeners and I wouldn’t trade a single one of them for a larger number of people who don’t engage or connect with the material to that degree. Black metal has been a very saturated genre for a long time and the number of people listening to it is almost the same as the number of people making it, so I have rather modest expectations but if we can help inspire and radicalize even a few, it will have been well worth it.
What is going on with some of the bands or musical projects these days that some of the band members are a part of?
Ligfaerd, in which I play bass and write some of the lyrics and occasionally music, released our fourth album Salvator Mundi earlier this year and have had a great reception. It is very different to Grigorien, but is also very fast and aggressive so your readers should definitely listen to that. Besides that, both Spedalsk and I play in another project called Witchcult and in 2019 we released our debut album Cantate of the Black Mass. I wrote the lyrics to that album, along with some riffs and arrangements and Spedalsk did the vocals, so fans of Grigorien might hear some familiar elements, but overall it too is an altogether different beast well worth a listen.
Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
As I mentioned previously, I have a somewhat rigid way of writing that has developed over time but is very easy to recognize. I of course continue to expand and develop what I listen to and how I write, but in some respects I don’t expect the overall expression or feel to change radically any time soon. That being said we recently took steps to fundamentally change another aspect of our song writing, so for those interested keep an eye out in the coming autumn for more news on that.
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?
I am, perhaps obviously, very inspired by black metal bands like Triumphator and particularly Marduk, but I have also taken a lot of inspiration from Ad Hominem, Dark Funeral and the Danish band Wolfslair and even some war metal like Revenge and Sadomator, but my primary musical inspiration is actually mostly baroque, classical and march music; I find it very inspiring to catch a mood or a feeling and then express it through the lens of something darker and more violent. I listen to a lot of opera and orchestral music and even some power metal, some death- and war metal as well, but mainly a lot of different black metal. I feel it is a genre with great width, so no matter my mood I can usually find some black metal to match it.
Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Thank you very much for the interview, I am always happy to give insight into what we are doing in Grigorien and why we do it. I will just leave your readers with this: As long as religion in any form is allowed to pervade our culture and seep into every aspect of thought, no one is truly free. If children are brought up with these disgusting principles, their choice is taken from them. Artists, politicians, philosophers and authors who are deliberately trying to express something new and truly separate from Christianity are again and again, without even realizing it, stumbling around in the same dogmatic principles of sin, good and evil, heaven and hell, ensnared by their very upbringing and even language to an intolerable degree. If we are to progress beyond this point it calls for a more radical solution and history will remember an individual with conviction long after it has forgotten thousands with mere interests.
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