ARATH is a German Dungeon Synth/Black Metal project rooted in the early Dungeon Synth/Black Metal scene of the 90’s. Their self-titled album “Arath” is one of the greatest Dungeon Synth albums I am aware of, and is the first part of a trilogy following the story of the warrior Arath. There are many things which make this project stand out in the Dungeon Synth scene, and in this interview I speak with Grimrik and Murgrind, the masterminds behind Arath about the history of Arath, their solo projects, and their label Deivlforst Records.
- Hails Grimrik and Murgrind! Thank you for taking the time to do this interview with Barbarian Skull. First, can you please provide us with a history of Arath?
What initially inspired you to create dark Dungeon music?
ARATH was invented by Grimrik back in 1997 after the release of the Nazgûl and Dysterwald demos. Grimrik had the idea to create a project which features different styles of metal as well as Dungeon Synth, each genre used to tell different parts of a story. He also drew the first version of the logo and had ideas for the story back then.
But due to several reasons, the project was frozen for a long long time. Grimrik meanwhile wrote some song sketches, but never felt like releasing anything. Some years ago (around 2010/2011), Grimrikand Murgrind met again after a long time. Murgrind showed his musical ideas to Grimrik who was instantly thrilled by Murgrind’s talent for evoking the old spirits of dark dungeon music! Soon they both decided to combine their musical works and give the project ARATH a new life! New songs were written, old ones were re-arranged and re-recorded; the logo was changed to today’s appearance. Grimrik and Murgrind met to exchange ideas and
ways of working on music. The first result was the self-titled album by ARATH, that was released in 2013 digitally and on limited edition (100) digipack CD on Deivlforst Records. Even before the release of the first album, Grimrik convinced his old friend and bandmate from the early days, Solvalt, to join ARATH for the 2nd and the 3rd chapter of the trilogy – “Ungedul”. The work on “Ungedul” then started instantly as a three-member band.
But due to several reasons, the project was frozen for a long long time. Grimrik meanwhile wrote some song sketches, but never felt like releasing anything. Some years ago (around 2010/2011), Grimrikand Murgrind met again after a long time. Murgrind showed his musical ideas to Grimrik who was instantly thrilled by Murgrind’s talent for evoking the old spirits of dark dungeon music! Soon they both decided to combine their musical works and give the project ARATH a new life! New songs were written, old ones were re-arranged and re-recorded; the logo was changed to today’s appearance. Grimrik and Murgrind met to exchange ideas and
ways of working on music. The first result was the self-titled album by ARATH, that was released in 2013 digitally and on limited edition (100) digipack CD on Deivlforst Records. Even before the release of the first album, Grimrik convinced his old friend and bandmate from the early days, Solvalt, to join ARATH for the 2nd and the 3rd chapter of the trilogy – “Ungedul”. The work on “Ungedul” then started instantly as a three-member band.
When it comes to the initial inspiration for creating dark dungeon music, we have to go back even further in time. Grimrik was inspired by the earliest masters like Mortiis, Die verbannten Kinder Evas, Pazuzu, Wongraven and the early ambient tracks by Burzum (before the release of Daudi Baldrs). For both Grimrik and Murgrind this dark dungeon music was (and still is!) a logical side-genre of Black Metal, to express some different aspects of the huge world of this musical genre. Topic-wise, Grimrik was back then mostly inspired by the works of J.R.R. Tolkien (for today’s inspiration see some questions later).
Murgrind was first inspired by Nazgúl, Summoning, Mortiis, Basil Poledouris (composer of the soundtrack to “Conan the Barbarian”), later, Jeremy Soule and the two games „Baldurs Gate“ and „Icewind Dale“ inspired him, too. Additionally Murgrind is also inspired by the mythology of The Lord Of The Rings (and Tolkien’s universe in
general) and several (now dead) painters like Albert Bierstadt.
- One element that sets Arath apart from other Dungeon Synth projects is the use of layering instruments, with multiple instruments playing accompanying melodies at the
same time. What is the writing process usually like for Arath? Do you both create melodies based on each others ideas?
Do you think of the aspect of layering multiple melodies / instruments as something very special? In our understanding, this is natural also for this kind of music as it is somehow related to classical music. Listen to the old Mortiis and Die verbannten
Kinder Evas for example – then you know what we mean. Possibly most of the contemporary DS is (sadly) simpler than that. But you cannot compare the nowadays music scene with the one we grew up in. Back then only the best survived and nobody could release cheapest sounds with simplest melody loops – a thing that seems to happen often nowadays curiously. The scene changed a lot in our opinion, it lost the essential connection to black metal in many cases and too many people seem to do not care about their final musical work enough – they seem to just release their first musical idea without questioning and enhancing it. You can bet that
Mortiis and Varg (Vikernes) and all the others did their very best to get the BEST sound they could achieve back then with their possibilities. One shouldn’t take Daudi Baldrs as a reference – Varg only HAD this cheap Casio Synth available in prison, and no other equipment to add effects. On the recordings he released before, he used Synths like the Roland D-50, a real high class synth back then and he recorded in Grieghallen, where all the effects where available. We of course admit that using a good dose of lo-fi aesthetics CAN evoke the old spirit, but just using lo-fi equipment is no guaranty for a good DS record – there is much more to it.
Kinder Evas for example – then you know what we mean. Possibly most of the contemporary DS is (sadly) simpler than that. But you cannot compare the nowadays music scene with the one we grew up in. Back then only the best survived and nobody could release cheapest sounds with simplest melody loops – a thing that seems to happen often nowadays curiously. The scene changed a lot in our opinion, it lost the essential connection to black metal in many cases and too many people seem to do not care about their final musical work enough – they seem to just release their first musical idea without questioning and enhancing it. You can bet that
Mortiis and Varg (Vikernes) and all the others did their very best to get the BEST sound they could achieve back then with their possibilities. One shouldn’t take Daudi Baldrs as a reference – Varg only HAD this cheap Casio Synth available in prison, and no other equipment to add effects. On the recordings he released before, he used Synths like the Roland D-50, a real high class synth back then and he recorded in Grieghallen, where all the effects where available. We of course admit that using a good dose of lo-fi aesthetics CAN evoke the old spirit, but just using lo-fi equipment is no guaranty for a good DS record – there is much more to it.
We think the factors the sets our music apart from other DS projects are multiple. Of course the layered melodies you mentioned play a role, but also our merciless patience before releasing anything, working on the tracks, re-working them if
necessary, dropping the ones that don’t fulfil our own quality demands, taking care of the overall sound (and individual sounds) so much – these aspects seem to be different to what we sometimes hear from new projects. We don’t care if not everybody appreciates this old-school way of hard work. We grew up in a music world where you regularly had to present your result to a label and hope they’ll accept it. With today’s possibilities, everyone can sit down, make an album in a few days and release it via Bandcamp without any “quality control”. We try to establish our own quality control by critically listening to the songs again and again, enhancing
them and – if necessary – discard those that aren’t good enough.
- The second Arath album, Ungedul, is predominantly a Black Metal album. Many Dungeon Synth fans (including myself) feel that Dungeon Synth and Black Metal are very closely related genres. Do you agree with this?
As mentioned before, we absolutely agree, we even go further and think that one can
say that they are kind of one genre in a way. If you listen to the old records like
Burzum – Det som engang var for example, you will find a DS-like tracks alongside with pure BM tracks. Also, projects like Mortiis or Wongraven were side projects of BM musicians. DS is a way to express themes that are related to the BM themes and
a way to make more atmospheric music. If you take Summoning, they mixed both together completely – their music is DS and BM at once! In our opinion, this connection between DS and BM is essential – you can hear if a DS artist has no BM
background. The music will lack the “seriousness”.
- The Russian Dungeon Synth community (located at vk.com) is the largest resource for Dungeon Synth fans in the world, and the Arath debut album was voted by the fans in that community as the number one favorite Dungeon Synth album. There is definitely a large fanbase for Dungeon Synth in Russia
and other Slavonic countries. What other countries do you see Arath fans hailing from? What feedback have you received from fans about the new album Ungedul?
Yes, in Russia and the east in general there is a large fanbase for DS in general, not only for us but for many other artists, too! There is a very active music scene as well which gives birth to really interesting projects like Splendorius, Skarpseian and recently Wintercry. We think the eastern folks have a strong connection to the dark, dreamy and atmospheric side of DS, maybe this is caused by their mentality. Unfortunately the newly crisis of east and west lead to a very strong EURO, so most people from over there seem not to be able to buy a CD anymore. You asked about
the location of our fans: Besides Europe as a whole from where many buyers are (most in Britain seemingly), the US people seem to like our music the most. On the graphic “The Deivlforst Empire” you can see all countries to where we delivered CDs to so far (download-only not included). We seem to be known almost worldwide
which is a really good feedback for us!
the location of our fans: Besides Europe as a whole from where many buyers are (most in Britain seemingly), the US people seem to like our music the most. On the graphic “The Deivlforst Empire” you can see all countries to where we delivered CDs to so far (download-only not included). We seem to be known almost worldwide
which is a really good feedback for us!
- Another element that makes Arath unique is the use of your own original fantasy language. How was this language developed? Will fans ever know the translation of the song titles?
The fantasy language belongs to the whole concept of ARATH. Since the story plays in a world, which was not known by man before, the language also shouldn’t be familiar. The language is developed from a mix of influences. These are: German, Latin, Nordic languages, a German local accent from the region we come from and Tolkien-like languages. Knowing this you might be able to translate the titles by
yourself… No, just kidding, we will reveal the meaning of all track titles in English here exclusively for the first time:
First album:
1. Resurrection of a hero
2. Climbing the Othbargk* (the king’s path)
3. Celebration
4. Three warriors setting off for a dangerous journey
5. A night’s dream: Ruler of countries and seas
6. (Off) To Ungedul*
*names that cannot be translated, Othbargk is a mountain, Ungedul is a “world”.
yourself… No, just kidding, we will reveal the meaning of all track titles in English here exclusively for the first time:
First album:
1. Resurrection of a hero
2. Climbing the Othbargk* (the king’s path)
3. Celebration
4. Three warriors setting off for a dangerous journey
5. A night’s dream: Ruler of countries and seas
6. (Off) To Ungedul*
*names that cannot be translated, Othbargk is a mountain, Ungedul is a “world”.
Ungedul:
1. Entering the sinister world
2. The river into somberness
3. Soul prison
4. The black gate
5. Stonecarver
6. The chamber of poisoned writings
7. Awakening (from the delirium, from a dark dream or similar)
1. Entering the sinister world
2. The river into somberness
3. Soul prison
4. The black gate
5. Stonecarver
6. The chamber of poisoned writings
7. Awakening (from the delirium, from a dark dream or similar)
- The Arath debut album as well as Ungedul are part of a trilogy, which tells the story of the warrior Arath. Can you tell us more about this story? Will the third album be
Dungeon Synth or Black Metal? And will the project continue after the trilogy is complete?
The story won’t be told completely by us. What we deliver is meant as a “frame” that leaves room for your interpretation – this should be easier now for you, knowing the exact translations of the track titles. On the first album, ARATH learns about his fate
and has visions about the future – he sees himself becoming king one day. At the end of the album he passes into “Ungedul”, which is a dark and evil world, where he has to encounter the most sinister depths of his soul. He has to master these challenges to reach his goal. In the end of the 2nd album ARATH awakes from this
adventure and gets a clearer mind again – to be continued…
and has visions about the future – he sees himself becoming king one day. At the end of the album he passes into “Ungedul”, which is a dark and evil world, where he has to encounter the most sinister depths of his soul. He has to master these challenges to reach his goal. In the end of the 2nd album ARATH awakes from this
adventure and gets a clearer mind again – to be continued…
- Arath recently released “Treasures From The Dungeon Vol. 1 – The Untold Tales”, which is a compilation of previously unreleased Arath material. Will there be another compilation of unused material in the future? Are there any unreleased Arath black metal songs?
We can tell that there is still enough unreleased material by ARATH and also by Murgrind(!) so watch out for further compilations of unreleased material in the future… Even if these songs don’t fit into the concept-albums they are too good to be kept in the dungeon. Some sketches and material that doesn’t fulfil our own demands
will of course never be released. There are also unreleased metal songs. These metal tracks will probably not be released because they are not finished enough for releasing, containing no vocals and so on. When it comes to compilations we want to draw your attention to the recently unleashed the Deivlforst Empire free sampler (see graphic).
will of course never be released. There are also unreleased metal songs. These metal tracks will probably not be released because they are not finished enough for releasing, containing no vocals and so on. When it comes to compilations we want to draw your attention to the recently unleashed the Deivlforst Empire free sampler (see graphic).
We decided to take one song of each album that was released on Deivlforst Records and also include (demo versions of) songs that will appear on future releases and offer this download-only-compilation completely free to old and new fans. We really took care of a nice combination and order of songs so that you can listen to it from start to the beginning, although very different genres are represented on this album. Feel free to download and copy it and give it away to your friends! This is our gift for the very satisfying year 2014 in which we an amazing feedback from the fans worldwide!
- Grimrik, you recently released a solo album titled Eisreich. Can you tell us more about the music of this project? The album is a concept album based around “the descending of the impalpable ethereal ancestors of the primordial race of mankind”.
What themes can we expect from Grimrik in the future?
For „Eisreich“, I decided to „go back“ production-wise. Instead of using all the modern sound generation possibilities that I have access to in my small home-studio, I limited myself to using only 2 digital Synthesizers from the 90s, a Kawai GMega (which I
already used for the Nazgûl tape in 1996!) and a Yamaha CS1X, to get that oldschool feeling and use the limitations which come along while working this way, turning these limitations into a positive direction. Additionally, I wrote the whole album in more or less three weeks, what is also a remarkable difference from my / our usual way of working on music. Almost all melodies and sounds that were used in the end, came up instantly and were used almost without changing them.
already used for the Nazgûl tape in 1996!) and a Yamaha CS1X, to get that oldschool feeling and use the limitations which come along while working this way, turning these limitations into a positive direction. Additionally, I wrote the whole album in more or less three weeks, what is also a remarkable difference from my / our usual way of working on music. Almost all melodies and sounds that were used in the end, came up instantly and were used almost without changing them.
On this album you usually won’t hear more than two or three tracks of instruments playing at the same
time. I totally went back to simplicity, letting simple but touching melodies and a handful of selected sounds speak for themselves. But of course I didn’t miss to spend
some work on „post production“ which is mixing and especially mastering to deliver this crystal clear and yet powerful sound. By the time I wrote the music for „Eisreich“, I was heavily inspired by the very first part of the arctic / polar myth; the descendance of a „pre-version“ of mankind from the stars, more or less. All songs came directly from this inspiration. The creation of „Eisreich“ was a very intense experience in all matters and I think you can hear exactly this on the album – there is no other way I could explain the underground success it achieved. The themes you can expect from the Grimrik project in the future will all deal with mythology, some may be well known, some may be a bit more obscure. I am always fascinated by creation myths, that show up different ways the human race could have developed, and also by forgotten cultures. Nordic mythology is most important for me, but sometimes you will see me deal with it from a very different angle than you are probably used to and maybe won’t directly find a connection to it. Maybe I’ll go back very far in time into the spacy roots of “Ginnungagap”, maybe I’ll connect to pan-indo-germanic topics… We’ll see. The music of Grimrik will always be heavily inspired by and loaded with mythological content and take you on spiritual journeys.
time. I totally went back to simplicity, letting simple but touching melodies and a handful of selected sounds speak for themselves. But of course I didn’t miss to spend
some work on „post production“ which is mixing and especially mastering to deliver this crystal clear and yet powerful sound. By the time I wrote the music for „Eisreich“, I was heavily inspired by the very first part of the arctic / polar myth; the descendance of a „pre-version“ of mankind from the stars, more or less. All songs came directly from this inspiration. The creation of „Eisreich“ was a very intense experience in all matters and I think you can hear exactly this on the album – there is no other way I could explain the underground success it achieved. The themes you can expect from the Grimrik project in the future will all deal with mythology, some may be well known, some may be a bit more obscure. I am always fascinated by creation myths, that show up different ways the human race could have developed, and also by forgotten cultures. Nordic mythology is most important for me, but sometimes you will see me deal with it from a very different angle than you are probably used to and maybe won’t directly find a connection to it. Maybe I’ll go back very far in time into the spacy roots of “Ginnungagap”, maybe I’ll connect to pan-indo-germanic topics… We’ll see. The music of Grimrik will always be heavily inspired by and loaded with mythological content and take you on spiritual journeys.
- Murgrind, you are currently working on a second album titled Inheritor of the Forest
What can fans of your first album (Journey Through The Mountain) expect?
Inheritor of the Forest Throne continues the story that has began on Journey through the Mountain. The new album is a soundtrack to a journey across an epic fantasy world, which the listener will be able to create in his mind using the music and my text that are included in the booklet of the CD. Those texts leave enough room for your own interpretation. Different to the first album, the atmosphere is now clearer, often more epic, hymn-like, sometimes more beautiful, dramatic but yet mystic and dark.
- All of your music is self-released through your label, Deivlforst Records, which was born from the ashes of Dark Forest Records. What happened to cause Dark Forest
Records to end? Why did you decide to resurrect the label under the name Deivlforst?
Dark Forest Records was founded in the mid 90s. As far as we know, by that time there was no other label called like that. We quit the work on Dark Forest Records as
we also quit this music scene in the end of the 90s for several reasons, mainly the commercialisation of Black Metal and its subgenres. We paused for a long time and he no ambitions to release anything, even the project ARATH was never forgotten
and Grimrik wrote some melodies for this project in 1997 and 2004. By the time we began thinking about continuing our early works, we found out that the name „Dark Forest Records“ was then used by another label. We didn’t want to encounter legal
problems, so we chose a new name. „Deivlforst“ is a word, which is some kind of German, but more in a local, primordial way of the German language. It could be best translated with „the devil’s forest“, which is pretty close to the „Dark Forest“ that we
were in the past. If you look closely, you can see that we continued the catalogue numbers that you can find on the tapes / CDs („DF 003“ on ARATH for example, which was the first Deivlforst Recordsrelease).
- Deivlforst Records recently signed the English heathen folk project Wolcensmen to the label. As far as I know, this is the first project unrelated to Grimrik or Murgrind to
be featured on the label. How did this alliance come about? Do you plan to sign more projects to the label?
Yes, you are right. Wolcensmen is probably the first project that will be released on Deivlforst Records that is not done musically by Grimrik and/or Murgrind and/or Solvalt. Grimrik discovered Wolcensmen after talking to somebody who publically reviewed his album „Eisreich“. After listening to their demo, Grimrik was instantly
convinced of Wolcensmen’s potential. He showed it to Murgrind and he was also convinced. We do not make plans to release other projects. If we discover something that suits our taste we may contact the artist and talk about a release. In most cases
when people ask us for being released on Deivlforst Records it will not work. We have special demands and taste and these are kind of hard to fulfill. We have strict criteria when it comes to concept, appearance, background and of course the music
itself. At the moment we are forcing to look for promising artists and already made contact to some of them… Related to this topic there is another thing to tell: Some other (musical and visual) artists will appear on a still top secret release that is planned for 2016!
convinced of Wolcensmen’s potential. He showed it to Murgrind and he was also convinced. We do not make plans to release other projects. If we discover something that suits our taste we may contact the artist and talk about a release. In most cases
when people ask us for being released on Deivlforst Records it will not work. We have special demands and taste and these are kind of hard to fulfill. We have strict criteria when it comes to concept, appearance, background and of course the music
itself. At the moment we are forcing to look for promising artists and already made contact to some of them… Related to this topic there is another thing to tell: Some other (musical and visual) artists will appear on a still top secret release that is planned for 2016!
- Some of the greatest Dungeon Synth projects from the 90’s came from Germany. Projects like Depressive Silence, Gothmog, Dolch, and the legendary Forgotten
Pathways are considered underground classics in the genre. Grimrik, you also released the demo “Ash nazg durbatulûk…” by Nazgûl in 1996. What reception did you receive from this demo when it was first released in the 90’s? Why do you think
that for a genre that was almost unheard of, many Dungeon Synth musicians were located in Germany?
Yes, I released my very first solo album in 1996 on demo cassette. It was limited to
120 copies and sold out soon. Back in the days there were not as many projects as
today. I somehow belonged to the first of those who released an album that
consisted only of this now called “Dungeon Synth” music. Of course there were Black Metal bands that had DS-like intros and outros but whole albums made of this music were rare, unlike today. Back then I had a request from a Black Metal mail order that wanted to (and did) buy a lot of the demos. So we only had to sell the leftover demos
with our small label Dark Forest Records (see question above). In these days all the people in the underground were writing letters and sending money included, we all were spreading flyers across via letters. I think one can almost not imagine how it
was without the internet… I don’t really agree in saying that this genre was almost unheard of. It was (and is) a side genre of Black Metal (see question above) and projects like Die verbannten Kinder Evas, Mortiis and Pazuzu were well known in the BM-scene these days. You asked why Germany had many projects in this genre – I
don’t really know. Maybe it is the German’s feel for “romanticism” that evoked in a few BM-musicians the need to express the typical DS-atmospheres that could not be expressed on pure BM?! I see a parallel to today’s Russian (and east in general) scene – there are also many remarkable projects and maybe this is also because of
their “melancholic” souls (I know, somehow cliché, but maybe it is true?).
120 copies and sold out soon. Back in the days there were not as many projects as
today. I somehow belonged to the first of those who released an album that
consisted only of this now called “Dungeon Synth” music. Of course there were Black Metal bands that had DS-like intros and outros but whole albums made of this music were rare, unlike today. Back then I had a request from a Black Metal mail order that wanted to (and did) buy a lot of the demos. So we only had to sell the leftover demos
with our small label Dark Forest Records (see question above). In these days all the people in the underground were writing letters and sending money included, we all were spreading flyers across via letters. I think one can almost not imagine how it
was without the internet… I don’t really agree in saying that this genre was almost unheard of. It was (and is) a side genre of Black Metal (see question above) and projects like Die verbannten Kinder Evas, Mortiis and Pazuzu were well known in the BM-scene these days. You asked why Germany had many projects in this genre – I
don’t really know. Maybe it is the German’s feel for “romanticism” that evoked in a few BM-musicians the need to express the typical DS-atmospheres that could not be expressed on pure BM?! I see a parallel to today’s Russian (and east in general) scene – there are also many remarkable projects and maybe this is also because of
their “melancholic” souls (I know, somehow cliché, but maybe it is true?).
- Thank you again for participating in this interview! Any last words are yours!
We want to say “thank you” to the whole scene, which instantly appreciated our “come back” with the release of the first ARATHalbum in 2013! In 2014 we got even more support from all over the world and reached many people with our music. It seems that our approach to music and releases is well accepted and welcomed by
the fans, which is of course a really positive feedback for us!
To you: Thanks for your deep interest in our music and all the background! Congratulations for daring to unleash Barbarian Skull!
the fans, which is of course a really positive feedback for us!
To you: Thanks for your deep interest in our music and all the background! Congratulations for daring to unleash Barbarian Skull!
