1. Hello, first of all, thank you very much for your time. Tell us the history of the group.
Greetings! Thanks for reaching us out!
So, history of Hexenaltar is basically realisation of plan that has at least 10 years!
When I was highschool’s student I used to listen a lot of thrash metal music and especially bands like Slayer, Sepultura, Kreator, Sodom and Morbid Saint.
I just loved this furious music that was more aggressive than most of other bands, but has charm of 1980s.
You know, raw sounding guitars, super fast drums with double bass and vocalists that used to make this harsh scream.
I wanted to play such tunes, but I wasn’t able to do, because of lack of skill and people that might be interested in founding a band.
Some years later I moved my taste in music to death metal area, which resulted in founding my first real band Incinerator and then Abominated, when previous one splited-up.
I had a lot of fun with my death metal bands, but I missed some sort of raw and simple expression that I loved when I was younger, so I decided to write some riffs in this direction and then I recorded them among with vocals and simple drum patterns that I wrote.
A lot of my friends told me that those songs have great vibe, so I didn’t wanted to loose this ideas, but nobody wanted to play with me! AGAIN!
But hey, it’s XXI century, I can do everything by my own – and I just recorded fist Hexenaltar’s demo alone. Because why not.
Again, bunch of people told me it’s a blast of music, but production sucks, so I looked further for full line-up. I found them and we started to be real band and then we recorded an EP in real studio!
2. You are a very young group from Warsaw, you play in other projects. Does your young age give you the strength to create fire?
Our group is young, that’s the truth, but our age not so much!
Maybe we just look kinda fresh, but we are in our mid 20s or even early 30s haha.
Playing music for me is just great pleasure. Like driving a car on empty road or skateboarding.
Just entertaining! But when you are in a band and have some brain cells, you can lead to situations like those ones when bunch of metalheads are paying money for tickets to see you on-stage and to support your band!
That makes this positive spark in my heart and gives me motivation to write angry notes on guitar and to rip my lungs out through microphone!
3. Texts in your groups. Are they different or similar and what are they about?
In Abominated I have nothing to say about lyrics. It’s role of Greg and Orynathor.
They are those lyrical, artistic souls in band. But in Hexenaltar I wrote them (sometime with a help of Ordynathor from Abominated) and they are mostly about medieval, mythological and witchery things.
Priest, stakes, slaughters and creatures from another dimensions. Nothing that serious as serial killers, depression, dying and real world problems.
But I can’t be serious when I’m singing and I will never be writing texts about life problems.
It’s just not for me. I just want to enjoy blasting drums, fast riffing and scarry words combined together as lyrics.
4. Covid, War - has it or could it affect you?
I was covid positive and I felt a bit like after surgery few years ago.
Terrible headache, no energy at all, even getting up from bed was kinda difficult.
And those tourbles with my memory.
After five days symptoms were away, but I had problems with being organised with my mind for about two weeks more. Something like very, very strong flu.
I don’t know if vaccines helped me or not, but I’m glad that I don’t have any problems with lungs after this infection.
War – yes, it affected me as covid. Situation in whole country was very stressful and prices went crazy high, so if someone says that those two hadn’t any impact on our lives, then must be blind.
I hope that conflict near our east border will end soon as well as any other wars.
I even don’t sing about supporting war or making world burn. It’s pathetic in my opinion.
5. Warsaw - is there still a scene like in the 90s? Sorry, Marc, you were only born in 1994, and what about the rest of the band?
Comparing to stories from my older friends, I think that scene is smaller that it used to be in 90s, because metal isn’t mainstream popular.
I don’t see that much metal kids as I use to see even in 2010.
Of course there are a lot of underground concerts etc. but audience of one hundert fifty people at event is a big success.
I only can laugh when I see some interviews from mid 90’s and bands were complaining, because only 500 people showed.
I think that those numbers say everything by itself.
Instigator and Witchfucker are a bit younger, Assassin is a bit older than me, but that makes no difference.
To be honest I still mostly enjoy music made by youngsters. They have this fury in their minds.
My favourite music albums were made by teenagers. Pleasure to Kill, Left Hand Path, Deicide, INRI.
6. Concerts, records, releases, merch - when will all this be available and where can I buy you (links please)?
For me social media are most powerful tool nowadays.
We are posting informations about the band and gigs on facebook fanpage :
https://www.facebook.com/Hexenaltar/
Of course, we also have our bandcamp :
https://hexenaltar.bandcamp.com/
And of course you still can reach us through e-mail and ask for some merch :
hexenaltar.speed@gmail.com
7. Interviews? Do you get asked about it often or is it difficult?
I answered for about ten-twelwe interviews through whole career of Hexenaltar.
I like those conversations and it’s big pleasure for me!
I feel that my work is appreciated and that metal maniacs want so support us with sharing those talks!
8. Many thanks for the interview. The last words are yours. Horns Up!
Thanks for this opportunity to be on your Blood Circle Zine!
Keep following our band, because in 2024 we plan to release full-length album!
And have some polish pierogi from time to time.
Cheers!
1.Hello, first tell us the story of a band that is shrouded ... in mystery.
Red: BJES was formed at the end of 2018 when we started to put together the first songs with The Beast (drums). In the summer of 2019 Jan joined us (on second guitar) and at the end of August we had our first gig in Kolín at the Bar Pod Hodinama Club. Jan was at that time playing in SECRET OF DARKNESS and PLAGUE PORTER and is today playing in MALLEPHYR. Due to his busy schedule and studying at the Faculty of Law, he didn't have much time for us (but he stayed with us as a shadow member, I'll come back to that). Shortly after the concert I asked Alex Larsson (KIRERU), a Swede living in the Czech Republic not far from us, if he would play with us. We started playing drums and two guitars, somehow the deadly epidemic swept over, and at the end of summer 2022 Alex was replaced as guitarist by Ulwerson (ÚL and DAERRWIN from which I knew him) and who I approached intentionally for his style of playing. I just had an idea of the sound and Ulwerson fulfilled it, adding the final ‘post’ touch. Alex took over the bass line and he is very good at it with his Swedish density and sharpness. The band is complete. To get back to Jan, he is our shadow player who substitutes for Alex when he is out of the country on business and cannot perform. We just didn't want to lose Alex and at the same time we didn't want to replace the bass with a sample recording and it turned out that it works like this. To make it clear, The Beast is my son, he hits the drums in SUKKHU, by the way pretty good black metal with female vocals.
2. How would you describe the music of BJES?
Red: A piece of black metal thrown in the dust of empty and abandoned ruins of a death factory. It's one of many branches of black metal, more melancholic and about emotions, no matter what they are. I'm not a supporter of music categories, in music for me, it’s all about the mood that goes hand in hand with lyrics. If someone wants to place our music, then yes, it's atmospheric/depressive/post black metal.
3. You are from the Czech Republic. What is your music scene?
Ulwerson: The music scene is quite a broad term, but I suppose you're asking about the alternative and metal scene. Unfortunately, it suffers from the fact that it is relatively small, which is quite understandable considering the number of inhabitants and the fact that most people go for mainstream music. In addition, it is still fragmented into many subgenres. We as a band are definitely not against playing with bands of other categories than black metal, on the contrary, we think that it is good if the events are not completely stylistically similar, and the fans can see more different bands during one evening. Lately, however, there has been a bit of a problem with attendance, people are saving quite a lot, and this is of course reflected in the number of people who go to concerts.
The Beast: Not many people go to clubs now, even though there are a lot of events and quite a lot of bands. That's the main reason why I would like to start playing outside the Czech Republic. There are not many bands on the Czech metal scene close to our genre and only a few are representing the scene abroad. If I had to mention a Czech band that is world-class and moves around our genre, I would say INFERNO.
4. Tell me, what have you already recorded and what are your plans for the future?
Red: At the beginning of this year 2023, we finalized an EP called "Prázdnota (Emptiness)", on which there are two songs: "Blázne" and "Veď me". Now it's the end of 2023 and we have finished the whole album, which will be called "Končina" and there will be five songs on it: "Vlci", "Morana", "Končina", "Blázne" and "Veď mne". It's like inspiration keeps coming and we continue working and composing, we already have other songs in work. Our plans for the future is to play and perform live play at festivals, clubs and go abroad, we would love to play and introduce ourselves in Poland.
5. What are your lyrics about and why?
Red: My inspiration is feelings, images of nature or events that can be experienced, realities that blend into words and melody. It is not just pure evil in the form of hell and burning. It is also silence in emptiness, vanity in harmony, steps that lead to nowhere, hence the name BJES. It is something terrifying, horrible and yet so intangible. Everyone can imagine the fury in the soul, madness tearing the body, what is trembling in a person, although you can't touch it, see it, feel it, or describe it. It's something between what frightens you and what you'll never see. At the same time, it refers to the ancient Slavic culture and their divinities. This is what unifies and divides my influences of post and traditional black metal, not only in the lyrics but also in the music.
6. Covid, war – has it affected you?
Red: The world has been at war for a very long time, we just don't want to admit it, and what happened with the disease is just part of it.
Ulwerson: Yes, of course, we were all affected by Covid, probably each of us in a slightly different way, but it was definitely not an easy time. At that time, however, BJES was not yet a fully formed and playing band, so from that point of view it didn't really affect us. Another thing is the impact on people's lives and on the overall development of society. But let everyone make up their own mind about this based on their own experience.
As far as war is concerned, every war is bad, every war means suffering, pain and destruction. We, as individuals and as a band, are primarily against any form of war. Unfortunately, people are incorrigible, and their leaders are cruel psychopaths. So yes, the war affects us all.
The Beast: No.
7. Censorship, regulations, online reputation. What is your attitude towards this?
Ulweson: Censorship by governments or social media owners is, of course, nonsense and cannot be accepted. Certainly, it is a different matter if someone intentionally spreads lies and hatred.
However, the search for truth is a very problematic task in the modern world. Everyone should use common sense and conscience; this is probably the only acceptable regulation.
8. Thank you for your time. The last words are yours!
Ulwerson: Last words? First, thank you for this interview, for the opportunity to get the word about our band a little further! We hope that the fans will enjoy our music as much as we do, and that we will see you soon at our shows!
Red: Thanks, and I hope to see you somewhere in your area in the future.
The Beast: Thanks, and don't miss our upcoming album Končina!
1. Hello, thank you for accepting the interview. Let me tell you the history of the band, because you had a long break from playing?
The first of all, I have to explain you that our long breaks always has been due to personal motives out of the music.
And now I'm going to do a brief history of the band. The birth of OUIJA arises after the dissolution of LEVIAL, our first band the change of name was due to the fact that we wanted to start a new stage, with different ideas since at that moment we were already highly influenced by the entire Black wave. Metal that was hitting the planet. And the history of the band is as follows, but I am going to shorten this question a bit, because this biographies thing is sometimes a never-ending story and I understand that people get bored reading it, the same thing happens to me…In the year 1994 the band was formed or something like that, I don't remember the exact date, especially at that time when I was a little crazy kid... after rehearsing for a time we recorded a demo, which at that time, was very well received and we led to the recording of our first album “Riding into the funeral paths”, which also worked very well…then we already had the second album ready but it never was release for different reasons that are no longer important. Around 2008 we put the band together again, we recorded an EP "Adversary" and after a while our second album "Ave voluptatis carnis". In the year 2021 we released our new EP "Selenophile Impia" and at the final of year 2022 we released our last album "Fathomless Hysteros" as you know... that's all until today... as I told you, we could go on forever giving more information, but I think this is not necessary with the attached data I think it is enough, so that the public knows a little more about us.
2. You released a demo in 2023, but it's material from the beginning. Let's talk about "Fathomless Hysteros". What are the lyrics about and how was the reception of this album by fans?
Everything is really good with the new album is working like a charm and has received a great reception both by the media and by the general public, inside and outside our borders, we are reaping very good reviews and a lot of support, which is reason of satisfaction and pride.
And speaking about the lyrics of the new work I write the lyrics, they arise from a free poetic vision, but of course I also have my sources of inspiration in books and other reading material. Possibly my lyrics today are deeper than in the past, but I think that this is something very normal since over the years, even if your base is the same, there are things that you see and treat from another perspective. With that I do not I mean that they have softened, possibly they are more extreme now.
We all have many incidents and fantasies that wander in our minds, sometimes an image or a single word has so much strength and magnetism that it alone is enough to create a piece of writing. It gives you such a high source of inspiration that you begin to work on it until you create that narrative which will merge perfectly with it song destined for such communion. To this question I could also add like many other bands, that now it is very fashionable to say that we are occult experts and blah blah blah...many of these people only sell smoke to create an image that really only contains falsehood. The fight may be eternal and we are the Adversary.
3. How would you describe your music and how it came about - because I see that MIDGARD is just a dinosaur. ( sorry ) old school .
hahaha yes of course I am a dinosaur.
And about our music, I don't like to sell my product, I prefer people to listen to it and judge it for themselves. The only thing I am going to say regarding this question is that we are faithful to our way of understanding this style and we always continue making our music while maintaining its roots, but of course adapting to the new, most current sounds, it is simply a natural evolution over time.
I always say that even if you want to sound like you did 25 years ago it is impossible, since you change and everything changes, there are people who have a hard time understanding it and always criticize that your band no longer sounds like before. No band with a long career sounds the same after 25 years. The important thing is not to sell yourself to trends and stay true to your principles; that's the key.
4.Was a scene in hot Spain.Tell us about your conditions?
Nowadays in Spain there are bands of great quality, the problem is that it always costs a lot to be accepted outside our borders, the Spain brand is very good in many things but not for extreme Metal.
The general public prefer listen to a shitty Norwegian band than a good band from Southern Europe or South America... sad but true as life itself.
I am going to mention some good bands from Spain Cauldrom, Balmog, Ered, Umbra Aeternum, Numen, Empty... there are many more but these are very interesting to me.
5. Covid, war - what was it like for you and did it or did it have an impact on you and the group?
These causes had no impact on us at all, we continued working at home each on our own. The only negative thing about all that was that we had to postpone the recording of our EP "Selenophile Impia" for this reason.
6. Do you think that the fire of the 1990s, which started in Norway, may happen again?
That was an unrepeatable phenomenon. But who knows what the future will bring. Everything is cyclical....everything comes back.
7.Plans for the future - concerts, releases, T-shirts, etc.
There is no plan to follow...it is better not to make plans because otherwise everything will always go to shit. At the moment our goal is to continue composing and making new songs, which is what does satisfy the most. The rest we will see what the future brings.
8. Thank you for your time, the last blasphemous words are yours.
Thank you for the interview, it has been a pleasure answering it and I really appreciate your interest and support for our band, an honor answering it.
I will tell your readers not to stop fighting, our weapon is Black Metal and we must not let the elite enslave and subjugate us. We are not part of that flock and we have already chosen the other path that is darker and more abrupt but is the one that leads to the freedom of our being... as I say;
"IT'S BETTER TO BE A HUNGRY WOLF, BUT FREE....THAN A FED BUT SLAVE LAMB..."
