AN NCS INTERVIEW: SPIRITUS MORTIS

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Sep 092022
 

(The Finnish doom legends Spiritus Mortis will release a new album named The Great Seal through Svart Records on September 16th, and at last Comrade Aleks reached out to them for the following wide-ranging interview.)

Spiritus Mortis wasn’t the most active band of the Finnish underground, but objectively it’s the first Finnish traditional doom metal band, that’s the real fact. Starting as Rigor Mortis in 1987, the band got its longer-lasting name in 1988, but the guys released only demos until 2004 when the self-titled debut seaw the light of day. Years passed, but brothers Jussi and Teemu Maijala have remained Spirtius Mortis’ priests since the beginning, carrying the torch of damn true doom metal.

Their 2016 album The Year Is One was recorded with Sami Hynninen (Reverend Bizarre, Opium Warlords, and a dozen more bands you maybe heard about) on vocals… this album was a killer! Honestly, I was wondering what else could they bring here after that masterpiece of glorious doom? Then Sami left the band according to their agreement, the new vocalist Kimmo Perämäki took his place in 2018, and then Markus Kuula replaced Jarkko Seppälä on drums.

All these changes didn’t distract the brothers Maijala from their holy task and Spiritus Mortis’ new album The Great Seal is to be released through Svart Records on September 16th. And that means that now is our turn to support the band. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: SAMI HYNNINEN (OPIUM WARLORDS, AZRAEL RISING)

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Aug 292014
 

 

(Our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks returns with another interview. This time his conversation is with Sami Hynninen, who has been involved in a diverse array of musical projects over a 30-year career, now including Opium Warlords and Azrael Rising.)

Sami Hynninen is one of most extravagant men in the Finnish artistic world. He has explored realms of the musical underground for about 30 years, and some of his excursions are well-known by metal heads (especially “doom” heads) of this miserable planet. For example, Reverend Bizarre were a damned famous band of the traditional doom new wave. As this band is long gone, Sami continues his searches with Opium Warlords, Spiritus Mortis, March 15, another his electro projects, Tähtiportti, and the black metal band Azrael Rising. Maybe I’ve forgotten to mention something… well, in this case Sami will correct me. Terve Sami!

 

Terve Sami! This year you have reached an interesting date — the 30th-year anniversary of your musical career. It’s a pretty long road, but dare I ask how you would sum up the experience of these years?

First of all I have to point out that those early years 1984 – 1990 were very rudimentary, but still, all of that chaotic noise I started with has connection to what I do now, so I think it is appropriate for me to celebrate these thirty years. It is all the same journey I am still on.

My career as a published music maker – first with noisecore tapes released by underground “labels” – started when I was sixteen or seventeen, and since then I have done the same thing that I keep doing today. Because of this I have never felt getting older, in the same sense as some people I used to know are really starting to look tired with their lives. I am that same sixteen year old boy. I have just gained some experience, and knowledge, and intelligence.  But emotionally I am just as fragile as I was back then. Continue reading »