1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?
A few big changes have happened in our ranks since the recording of ‘Seitsemän soihdun valossa’. Vorgoth and Rawn switched places, with Vorgoth taking on the drumming duties and Rawn doing the guitars for a few live shows. After the shows we collectively agreed on letting Rawn go and work on his other bands, because we concluded that we needed all the band members to be from the same area as our personal lives keep on getting busier. To replace Rawn, we’ve taken JR from Vorgoth’s other band ‘Seidur’ and have been practicing a lot more for the upcoming shows, which we will talk more about later in this interview.
We’ve also recorded another release during this year’s spring, and we are waiting for the debut album release before we’ll start to move towards releasing it. We’ve also started working on some new songs as well, but none on them are in a condition to even talk about yet.
2.In october you have your first full length coming out, musically how does it differ from your previous demo and ep?
We’ve worked our asses off to maintain the rawness of the previous releases, while also adding more melodies and riffs to keep our music true to our cause. This can be heard on the single we’ve released through Signal Rex; ‘Tulenkantaja’.
We also started working together to write and form the songs in ‘Seitsemän soihdun valossa’, which can definitely be heard compared to previous releases, which were all written by Vorgoth (except ‘Vainajan silmät’, which was fully written by Angeldestroyer). Also, the songs are more epic than the previous, and the song lengths have increased a bit.
3.A lot of your lyrics cover satanic themes; can you tell us a little bit more about your interest in the dark arts?
This one has a lot to do with Taakka’s spiritual connection to our lyrical themes: “Personally, I've always been interested in religion as a phenomenon. I've also always had this sense of longing for something bigger than life, and maybe that is what I'm trying to put into words in my lyrics as well. Dark themes inspire me, and reading and writing about esoteric/occult subjects has for the longest time been a hobby of mine. I'm not a formal member of any sects nor do I wish to be, I like to think of myself more of as a wanderer. We're all into these themes for different reasons, but I feel like that's the beauty of art overall. We all can appreciate a piece of art, a poem, or a song, and get completely different things out from it. That's also why I feel like over-explaining lyrics or motivations behind specific songs might ruin the experience of wonder from the listener. Also, maybe witnessing Gaahl in Headbanger's journey, sipping wine, and simply stating "Satan", maybe that just fucked us up in the head haha"
Generally we've all been interested in the darker side of things, as they've felt more like our own and relatable in a sense. A strong sense of connection is felt where in many stories, folklore and religions evil has played the part which is driven by things that are more relatable to humans; things like suffering, envy or greed.
4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Victimarum'?
Victimarum stems from the latin word translating to "Of the victims". When coming up with a name, Angeldestroyer talked about giving the band a name in latin, and the name we chose has something sacrificial in it, a feeling of letting something burn to give birth to something new. "Victimarum" for us represents just that.
5.Can you tell us a little bit more about the artwork that is presented on the new album cover?
The art was made by Sang Ho, a very talented Korean artist who has done a lot of artwork for many of the bands that have inspired Victimarum. The artwork with goats bowing towards a sigil of Lucifer felt like a good way to represent what we want Victimarum and the music of Victimarum to represent.
6.All of the band members are also involved with other bands or projects, what is it that you bring into the music of 'Victimarum' that you have not been able to do with your other groups?
For all of us Victimarum brings in more speed and rawness compared to our other projects. For us Victimarum is also a way for us to honour the Finnish roots that have left a mark in us with bands like Horna, Satanic Warmaster and Behexen. We really like to think that compared to our other projects, Victimarum is more truthful to the "classic Finnish bm-sound"; raw and gritty, where Seidur, Domus Serpentiis, Karazapher and Stormpyre all focus more on the melodic and epic side of Black Metal. We've also dropped a lot of other projects for Victimarum, as we think this is the proper way to channel the aforementioned aspects to a form of music that stays true without straight up copying others.
7.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
Best show Victimarum has played has to be either La Barre, Joensuu -24 or Nirvana, Turku -24, both of which had an incredible crowd and we felt like our performance was up to the level that we wanted it to be, even though at Joensuu we all caught a high fever on the road, but thankfully the amount of beer we drank cancelled all symptoms of the sickness.
Victimarum live shows are played in the heat of the moment. None of it is planned ahead, and we do just what feels natural and fitting for the moment. And it has seemed to work, as no one in the crowd has never left a Victimarum show unsatisfied (except for Karolina).
8.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?
Right now we have two gigs announced with one of them being our international debut despite being in a neighbouring country; our gig at Tarbariitus festival at Tartu, Estonia is going to be the album release show and there will be playing a lot of bands that have a strong meaning to us, and before that we are returning to conquer Tampere, Finland with two smaller local bands: 'Bloodmother' and 'Grave With a View'.
We are open to the idea of playing more shows in Finland and abroad later on, and we're also open for bookings to conquer Europe and who knows what else the future brings on later on.
9.On your previous ep you also done a 'Horna' cover, what was the decision behind doing your own version of one of their songs?
We'd like to say that it was our way of honoring one of Finland's biggest and best black metal acts, a band that we all sort of look up to. Horna was definitely a big driving force at the beginning of Victimarum.
While that remains true, the actual answer is alcohol, as it often is. We were drunk out of our minds on our rehearsal place. We all kind of knew the song, and Taakka wanted to do some half-assed karaoke of it. He had had no intentions of ever singing on stage, but that was the night he was democratically forced into being our vocalist. "I was drunk, but they (Vorgoth & Angeldestroyer) must've been fucked up haha."
On a serious note, it's a killer song, fun to play and listen to.
10.On a worldwide level how has the reaction been to your music by fans of black metal?
The reception has been great overall. There's been a lot of interest on us from abroads, which we're really grateful for. Thankfully in Finland the scene is big, but the circles are small, so the word-of-mouth goes around very fast. Considering that we've only released a demo and a single so far, we've had plenty of gigs and people wanting to support us.
We've had a good run so far, and we're sure that this is only the beginning.
11.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
Most of the new songs that we've been working on after the recording of 'Seitsemän soihdun valossa' have been a lot faster and a lot more aggressive. There's also a bit more classsic Heavy Metal influences that can be heard. I'd say we've stayed on the same path where we started from, just gotten more courage to sound like what we want Victimarum to sound like.
12.What are some of the bands or musical styles the band members are currently listening to nowadays?
Vorgoth: "Metal: mostly melodic and symphonic Black Metal bands like Vinterland, Dawn and Stormruler. Outside of metal I've been listening to a lot of Neofolk and Dungeon Synth. Just to name a few bands: Pyhä Kuolema, Rome, Aindulmedir and Talvi. And a fuckload of Manowar!"
Angeldestroyer: "I haven't really listened to a lot of Metal lately, only some Iron Maiden and some Trash Metal bands. Mostly I've been listening to a lot of Hard Rock and Reggae."
Taakka: "I like a lot of different genres. I like to think that in almost every genre possible, there's something to be inspired by. Be it some 80's power-pop, Chopin's romantic era compositions, or some nasty grindgore, if it's good, it's good. Lately it's been mainly black metal, with a side of Alter Bridge (Kennedy has the best live vocals on earth) and Pyhä Kuolema. Can't go wrong with an acoustic guitar and some esoteric lyricism."
JR: "I usually listen to what ever was recommended to me recently. Outside of recommendations I mostly listen to pagan metal and death metal. Bands that never leave my playlist include Finntroll, Moonsorrow, Death, Necrophagist, Carach angren and of course the Finnish heavy metal legends from the 80's: Tarot and Peer Günt!"
13.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
Haista vittu! Never stop the madness ja kohta vedetään taas!
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