Interview Thyruz

Interview with Gorm from Thyruz.

 
Greetings Gorm, how things are going?
Hey Carla, things are good and we are in full preparation for the winter season. Hopefully it will be a very cold and dark one.

First, when was Thyruz founded?
I have played guitar since I was 15 years old and I have played in a band since 1990 and experienced the madness of the early Black metal history. Actually,  we all in Thyruz have played in different bands since the early ‘90. I have always being atracted to extreme metal and playing guitar. I wanted to start a more serious band and it was a natural thing for me to start one. In the beginning it was that I asked Mjølner and Hedin Varf to start a Black metal band, after a long period playing Death metal. It was natural to ask them since we had played together before and I liked their style. Thyruz was already planed and got formed back in 1998 but we did not find the right members until 1999. The original lineup in Thyruz was :
Gorm: guitars, Hedin Varf: vocals, Mjølner: drums, Antikristian: guitars and Mortimer: bass.
After a short period Ravnsvartr joined in benefit of Antikristian. Ymer joined the band as a new bassplayer in 2007.

Last year you have released the third album, ”Svik”. Tell me about it.
Ahhh, it’s a long story. Svik means ”betrayal” in Norwegian and I think that’s one of the most negative word in the vocabulary. For us it all started in the history of the world war 2 in Norway, and the album is about that. We all have forfathers that foughts at the war and we grew up with their dark stories about fighting against the nazi. It have to be one of the darkest hour in Norwegian history. Thyruz does not make an album over night and this time we used extra long time due to many unfortunate experiences. We had different opinions about how it would sound because we listen to different music styles and we all have a strong personality… conflicts always accurs and we can make a song many times before everyone are satisfied. I also have to say that we all had some different situations of personal conflicts, that put us in difficult times during our compositions and put us on hold. One of us had to spent some time in jail, bacause of his actions…. and that was a hard one… ha ha. But finaly after 4 years we made it…. and I am pretty satisfied about it!

Also, tell me a few words about the other releases of Thyruz.
After 16 years in history of Thyruz we have 5 demos and 3 full-lenght albums. In the beginning we were laying low and sculpting our sound, and we werent happy with it before after 5 demos…Then in 2007 we was ready for the Germen metal label Twilight Vertrieb and released our first album ”Northern Blasphemy” After touring in Europe and lots of great feedback, Twilight wanted to release a 2nd album ”Diseblot” a more experimental album. After 5 great years at the recordcompany, Twilight sadly went bankrupt in 2012 because of the fucked up situation in music business and the illegal downloades.

Are you going to release a new album soon?
We are definitely going to release a new album and we are working very hard for it. I have 6 tracks with guitars on my computer waiting and we have two tracks ready, only missing vocals. At first I bring ideas of riffs and put it together for sessions. Then the materials move to the rehearsalroom for practice with the others in the band. They listen very carefully and put their opinions and skills to it, and we all put it together. Hedin Varf put on the lyrics in the end. He like to get inspirations of the riffs and melodies we came up with, and sometimes he goes out in the forest and collect inspirations of the shadows and sounds of the night…. It is a long and hard process to a final result and we dont stress for a early release. We have to do this right so everyone get satisfied. If everything goes right, we can hope for a release in 2017.

What are the lyrical themes and who mainly writes the lyrics?
This is a kind of ”Hedin Varf” question because he do all of the lyrics, but I can answer as good as I can. Hedin Varf do a great work and the lyrics are sharp as a knife if you understand it. All of the lyrics are about depression, hate and despair. I think it have to be like this in Black metal music,there is no room for happiness here. Hedin Varf arranges his lyrics in form of sentences or stories and some of them are facts or real and some are fictions! If you buy our albums, you will find a booklet with the lyrics that I can highly recommend reading with the music!

There exist any influences?
Hmmm…actually a lot of things that happend in my life. It depends on how I feel that day and what mood I am in. I also get inspirations from my trips in the woods and the Norwegian mountains. Others can get inspirations of bands, but that can be dangerous and you will sound like the inspiration source. Maybe I did in my early time of guitarlessions and when I learned to play guitar…. I remember that my first inspiration and mentors was Judas Priest, Megadeth, Pink Floyd and Anihilator. With my experience and age, I have become very skeptic of new bands… not that they sound bad… but it is to much bands and new riffing out there…. I get confused and frustrated and cant swallow all at one time….. I have decided to stick with my old ones.

Any shows confirmed for this year?
No and I dont think it will be any. We had some serious plans for touring this autumn but after two month of planning, it was sadly cancelled because of different situations in Europe. We will try again next year. The good part of the cancellation is that we have plenty of time for working for the new album. I can tell you that Thyruz are confirmed for Karmøygeddon 2016 in Norway.

Do you have a message for Thyruz fans?
16 years have passed very quickly and 16 years means that we are getting older but when I think back we have experienced a lot. We have travelled around the world and met a lot of great people. It is all good memories that will be in my soul and mind for the rest of my life. Hopefully we can do 16 more. Metal people are the best ever and they are the same wherever you go, so if you see me drinking beers, please stop by and say hello! I want you to know the plans for Thyruz is to continue playing because we do this for personal reasons and because we like what we are doing. It have become a lifestyle and not to get money or fame or even reach for big record companies. If you like our music it is a kick for us and we really apreciate to get feedback from what we are doing. We also hope that fans will buy the original albums, then they will get the best soundquality…. that will give you a longer and higher kicks!!!  the mp3 really sucks!! Some of the low frequency instruments and sound effects are missing… something you will notice in multiplar listenings and you miss the good artwork, lyrics and the great feeling to get a new album in the mail!! Something I know is a rare feeling these days.

Thank you for your time, cheers!
Thank you Carla for your interest. Skål!
https://www.facebook.com/thyruz666