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This interview
with Sir Holm was done
By Lord Puke from
"The way of force" Distro list the
29/08/2001
Hail to thee Sir Holm. How is
life in Finland right now?
I am fine…
Can you sum up for the readers the history of DEVILRY?
Devilry was formed in late autumn
1998. Before that, there was a band called Carnival Diablo which
was formed by Grave some years ago, they recorded one demo in spring
1998, on which I appeared as a session lyricist and vocalist, it
was never released officially, then a few months later I and another
guitarist joined the band and Carnival Diablo transformed into Devilry.
Since then, we have released "Unleashed to Haunt" demo
in May 1999, "Satanasphere" 7"EP in April 2000 and
Devilry / Flauros split demo in February 2001.
You are the vocalist of DEVILRY, so you deals with the lyrics. What about these ones ? I know it’s about SATANISM and globally about the dark side of life. Can you develop your thoughts?
It could be said the lyrics are
more often than not characterized by Satanic spirit but I would
not say they are about Satanism. Especially as I only let certain
sides of my conviction shine through in the lyrics. If you allow
a bit of vagueness, in Devilry I feel it is important that the music
and lyrics complement each other, thus, saying the lyrics are about
Satanism would give quite one-dimensional and misguided view of
the subject matter. I definitely would not say they are about “the
dark side of life”. Depends on what that is supposed to mean? And,
uh, globally?
Do you need to be in a special mood to write the lyrics ? Is it possible for you to sing the lyrics of another person ? do you consider yourself as a poet ?
Basically I can write lyrics whenever
I feel like it. Inspiration hits regardless of time or place or
mood and I can also just start from the scratch and see what comes
out of it. It is true that a state of mind that deviates from the
normal can be productive but like I said it is not a necessity at
all. The only thing I need is the will and determination to write.
I could sing lyrics written by another person if I liked them and
could relate to them, to put it simple, but I do not think I could
use other peoples lyrics for Devilry material. I once thought of
letting outsiders write lyrics for me, just to test and try if it
should work out, but the idea was quickly forsaken and buried. No,
I definitely do not consider myself a poet.
Musically DEVILRY is about DM. What’s your opinion about DM ? As you were playing in a BM band too, I wonder what are the differents between DM and BM ?
My opinion? Uh, I obviously would not have played Death Metal in the past nor would I play it these days if I did not like it, right? The differences between Death and Black Metal in what sense? If talking about total merciless, ripping, brutal, harsh, savage, aggressive, extreme Metal I do not think Death and Black Metal should necessarily be separated too strictly. We have been labelled as Death Metal or Black Metal and either way is fine by me.
I find that DEVILRY has a special and typical sound. How is it difficult to get his own sound ?(I mean (too many !!) bands have the same sound and it totally ruins the originality).
It is not difficult at all as it
is not written in our agenda. We are very conscious about what we
to put into and how to structure the songs but it is not a quest
for originality, we do not strive for it. Therefore also any new
elements we might introduce to our sound are efforts to innovate
the music within the Devilry framework, not within the whole genre.
In a way there are strict parameters to what we do but at the same
time we deny the limits they may impose. If that results in originality,
great. Personally I do not like to use the term originality but
I do think we have our own sound and approach to this kind of music.
I know that originally your 7”ep “SATANASPHERE” was planned through OSKOREI prod. Why was it finally produced by NUCLEAR WINTER prod ? are you satisfied with the work of this Greek label ? How did you come in touch with it ?
This is old news by now but Lars
of Oskorei ran into serious financial difficulties, was forced to
cancel a couple of releases and, consequently, he quit with the
label. A while later, Nuclear Winter Rec. expressed their interest
in releasing the EP and as they seemed determined and enthusiastic
about it the deal was soon closed. I am satisfied with what they
have done for us, N.W.R even helped us to co-release the Devilry
/ Flauros split demo.
Your latest work is a split demo with your war brothers FLAUROS. Musically DEVILRY is still into extreme satanic DM. Originally a split-ep was planned…...what was the matter ? what do you think about this tape ? what about FLAUROS (I mean this band plays cold BM as DEVILRY plays DM..)
Yes, it was supposed to be released on vinyl at first but unfortunately we were dealing with incompetent and unreliable record labels. It was delayed for other silly reasons too and eventually all mishaps and delays were too much and the whole release was cancelled. A while later we felt the songs had to be released officially anyhow and decided to release it as a demo by ourselves. In the end it turned to a co-release between Devilry and Nuclear Winter Records. The songs were recorded ages ago already so for us the purpose was merely to clean the slate, get those songs out of our system finally. I still like the demo, the Devilry songs, a lot. As for Flauros, I actually do not like their part on the split. I liked their debut demo a few years back but all subsequent releases have been inferior to it.
Can you tell us how special is life in Finland. I mean winter is a very long season with short period of light and on summer it’s exactly the contrary. As you are a man from the dark side I believe you love winter…. By the way how is deep rooted Christianity in your country ? I know that you fight the religion with strength but what about the others religions ?
Ha, man from the dark side sounds
puerile to me. I like winter better than summer, that is true, but
summer has it’s good sides as well. I like it that we have four
distinct seasons instead of having basically the same climate all
over the year but I would prefer the summer to be shorter and I
cannot stand the heat wave. We have a few days each fucking summer
when the weather becomes unbearable to me, the heat makes me lazy
and apathetic. Christianity is too deep rooted anywhere it has laid
it’s infectious seeds. The same goes for other mind numbing, self-degrading
monotheistic religions. Opium for the masses. Eradicate them all
to the root.
About literature, what are your favourite authors. Do you feel attracted by a particular literature ?
I am attracted by good literature.
Simple as that. My reading preferences might lean toward certain
literary branches but basically I read anything from classic literature
to horror. We must not forget nonfiction either, there is so much
to read in various fields of history and science and politics, religion,
philosophy, criminology, warfare, occult, mythology, cinematography,
music, pornography, underground counter-cultures… You name it. It
is not like I read one hundred books in a week or anything but I
have a wide variety of interests. And I do not understand people
who do not read. Literature is almost as important ingredient in
my life as music so discussing this thing thoroughly would require
too much time and space. Favorite authors are also too numerous
to mention but recently I have been reading authors as diverse as
Virginie Despentes, Lewis Carroll, Jack London, Kurt Vonnegut, James
Lee Burke and Jari Tervo.
What can you tell me about the Finnish scene ?Any bands, organisations, etc…. to support ?
I only care about the extreme underground
and maybe a handful of bands outside of it. Therefore I do not wish
to make any extensive statements on the scene as a whole. To mention
a few good bands; Devilry, Musta Surma, Clandestine Blaze, Adramelech,
Unholy, Thy Serpent… Behexen, Exordium, Black Dawn and maybe some
others…
Give me your views about the UG scene. How do you see it in 10 years ? How do you see yourself in 10 years (musically and personally) ?
Internet will become more and more important. That is blatantly obvious but it remains to be seen what will it actually bring. There are lots of things that come to my mind, and are easy to predict, but I actually rather not think about the whole thing… There will be a strong extreme Metal underground devoted to and upholding the values and ways of old as well, I believe. I do not think I will essentially change musically or personally and that is all I shall say. I do not want to start soothsaying my own future
I know that you are into SATANISM. Do you agree with me when I say that SATAN is an invention of the religion ? So in what kind of SATAN do you believe ?
Yes, of course, all personified
deities are inventions of religion and do not exist. Period. The
crucial point is that I do not believe in any kind of Satan. There
is nothing in Satanism that requires belief or faith in some supreme
being that is separated from physical existence. That is it.
What do you know about France ? If you have to opportunity to live in another country of yours, which one would you chose (and why) ?
What do you mean specifically about
France? Metal? If so, then I should say there are a few excellent
bands, a couple of good underground labels and zines and some sound
individuals supportive towards our music. If I should live in another
country it would probably be another Nordic country or somewhere
in central Europe… Germany, Belgium, Netherlands… Maybe England…
Hard to say.
I believe I never listen to DEVILRY live….What do you think about live performances ?Is it for you a good way to spread your blasphemous poetry ?
We are not active on the live front
as we barely rehearse with full lineup. The members in Kuopio, which
is the town where our rehearsal place resides, do rehearse every
week but me and the other guitarist live in different areas far
away from each other and the rest of the band. I am not a least
bit interested in going on stage without being well prepared and
rehearsed. Thus, no gigs at the moment and I cannot say when the
situation will change for the better.
What about your future plans. After 2 demos and a ep I believe it’ll be cool to get an album…….By the way is what format do you want to get your future releases ? Are you more into vinyl than cd ?
There will be no album from Devilry
in near future. There are certain conditions and demands when it
comes to releasing an album and I doubt any of them will be met
any day soon. I am more into vinyl than cd and before the time is
ripe for an album release I am of the opinion no material from Devilry
shall be pressed on cd unless it is a self-financed or an extremely
limited release. We have plans for future releases of course but
as they tend to change all the time it is useless to mention anything
in specific.
Ok, Sir Holm thanx for
your time. Anything to add or any comments to make ?
No.
