Interview: CARACH ANGREN

Would you like some horror? Well, here’s Franckensteina Strataemontanus, the newest album by the dutch horror black metal act, Carach Angren. No shows, but the band is still promoting the new release and, during the pandemic, the band is not being bored and they’re active with different activities.
Here you can read an interview I had with Ardek about the new album, aswell about other band’s curiosities.

Greetings Ardek from Antichrist `zine, is my pleasure having an interview with you again! I would begin asking, what are you guys doing on this pandemic time, since no gigs around, how are you spending your free time, besides promoting the new album? Seregor is sometimes busy, making and creating masks. I guess he is not that bored during these times…
Hi, we’re doing pretty ok. It is too bad that shows are cancelled but also understandable. Indeed, Seregor is busy making masks and I’m working on different projects like orchestrating for other bands and projects. I also scored a Horror short film last week. Actually I’m not complaining and luckily I have a lot of work right now!

Franckensteina Strataemontanus  is your new album, I would ask who is ‚Franckensteina’, he he. But, what is the musical direction you went through the new album?
We approach every new album as something new and the story we are telling dictates the musical direction. With the theme of Frankenstein we felt we needed to tell an original story, not just the very well known one. After a nightmare I had and some research we came to the concept story around “Johan Conrad Dippel”. Musically we felt the album would need experimental touches. Those experimental sides have come out as industrial parts. I think it fits the theme perfectly and also is something very new to our sound.

The lyrics and theme are already known on CA music: horror, mistery, myths etc. Yet, what is your main inspiration?
The main inspiration comes from horror films, books and just brainstorming about sick subjects haha. Seregor and I are always talking about it. The thing with us is that it has to hit something inside us so that the concept pulls us in. We both felt that there was something really great about Frankenstein so we dug it out until it became our passion over the last three years. For us it is not just like writing an album. We have to become what we are working on in a way. Else we can’t expect the listeners to feel anything while listening to our work.

Is like a theatre both when listening to your music, and also your stage performances. When did you actually started the theatratical way?
This has evolved naturally while performing hundreds of shows throughout the years. Every new tour we thought of some new ideas and tried them out. Also, the music dictates this. As we are story tellers it is easy for us to add movements, props and other visuals on stage and in video clips. So there is not really a moment in time where we said “now we are going to be theatrical”. It was a natural progression and it is still growing.

Namtar left the band in February He made a statement saying he was not happy anymore on how things were going. Were you surprised by this? How did this affected the band, in a way?
Yes, at first we were surprised but in retrospect we could see the path he has been walking up to that decision. We had always been a three-piece so it affected us a lot in the beginning. We had some talks in the band and very quickly realised that he was not going to change his mind. That’s when Seregor and I decided to move forward immediately to continue recording and promoting the new album.

But he was replaced by Michiel Van Der Plitch, as the new live drummer. How was the first gig along him and will he become a permanent drummer?
It was excellent, he was spot on and prepared the set in no time. He’s one of the best drummers I know. Extremely fast, hard-hitting and stable. He also likes the music a lot so it was a clear match. Seregor and I decided to keep the band as a two-piece because we have been the founders since the very beginning and dictated the artistic and musical direction. But we are extremely happy to have a killer live band together now. Carach Angren has always had a lot of help from people surrounding the band; friends, family and other professionals. Without that the band couldn’t have achieved the results it had until now.

Any plans releasing a new video? Btw, “Monster“ is a nice lyric video!
Thanks a lot! Tamara of Aimed&Framed did a killer job. We have been recording in new video in August. We had planned to do it earlier but the whole covid situation made it impossible. It was still very difficult to work around all the regulations but in the end we did it. This is the first time we are working with Zoran Bihac, a great friend who I met via Lindemann. He has an incredible team and I can’t wait to show the result! We hope to have more news about it very soon!

What can you tell me about the `horror metal` therm, that seems is being used to describe your music?
We were a bit tired of the term “Symphonic Black Metal” because it became pretty meaningless in our opinion throughout the years. Also, it doesn’t completely cover what we do anymore. As we mainly tell ghost stories, we felt the Horror Metal tag would be a fitting one for people to recognise what we are doing.

Many gigs and tours have been canceled or postponed for next year due to Covid19. What are you doing at the moment to promote the new album?
We have done a ton of interviews like this for which we are very grateful. Then we have worked on the video which is now in the final productions stages so hopefully more on that soon!

Are there any  gigs/tours planned for next year, perhaps, if things will be better?
Yes we have Mexico Metal Fest postponed to October 2021. There are more festivals being planned and a big tour for late summer 2021!

It was nice talking with you Ardek. Thank you and hope to see you soon on the road!
Thanks for the interview and hope to see you soon!