RADOGOST Interview (2015)

Answered by Commando Wolf - October 2015

1. HAIL BARBARISM! HAIL COMMANDO WOLF! FIRST OF ALL TELL ME WHEN AND WHY THE HELL YOU LEFT ALMIGHTY DER STURMER? WHAT’S REASONS ARE HIDDEN BEHIND THIS STEP?

In the verge of the fall. From the Southern Archaic lands I salute you! I’m out of Der Sturmer since mid-2014. The reasons why I left the band are personal. Absolutely not ideological or musical. Certain things that were going on between us during the last months made my stay there impossible. It was about time to walk on new paths...

2. AFTER LEAVING OF DS YOU’RE START WITH NEW, TOTAL OLDSKULL BAND DREADFUL RELIC, SO TELL ME MORE ABOUT REASONS OF CREATE THIS BAND, THEIR IDEOLOGY AND MOTIVATIONS.

Actually this idea was in my mind for sometime now. I felt that the bloodmoon of 2014 was the right time to unearth it. It’s that very moment when you feel your blood boil, urging you to transfer this tremendous feeling from inwards to outwards. That particular night, out of haze I got the vision of DREADFUL RELIC in its entirety, including the band name and the full concept. However, to realize this vision without the proper persons and chemistry is impossible. The next day I phoned to Hjarulv and explained him the concept of DREADFUL RELIC and how I want this to sound. He joined without hesitation. Since then things work perfectly. He is creator of most music and also he adds a lot of his great ideas to the concept and visual presentation. Also with the recruitment of Blackhammer (Drums) and Desolate Wings of The Pagan Dawn (Intros & Sounds) the circle was complete! And be assured, more great things will come. We are constantly talking on future plans and more!

3. YOUR DEBUT DEMO “ARCHAIC CONJURATIONS” IS A PIECE OF TOTAL OLDSKULL BLACK MYTHICAL METAL IN THE VEIN OF OLD CELTIC FROST! RAW, GRIM, DARK MUSIC FOR THE GLORY OF 80’S. WHAT’S OPINION OF UNDERGROUND ABOUT THIS STUFF?

Thanks for your good words. That’s exactly how we wanted DREADFUL RELIC to be received by the listener. The responses we got so far on the demo were great, far beyond our expectations for sure, despite the fact that first and foremost we play for ourselves and visualize our own ideals and standpoints. There is a certain satisfaction when you make like-minded individuals to look through your visions.

4. YOUR DEBUT DEMO WAS RELEASED ON TAPE /FOR ME IT’S THE ONLY WAY FOR DEMOS!/ THROUGH FROST AND FIRE REC. SO I MEAN THAT YOU’RE STILL LIKED (THE TRUE) TAPES, YES? BTW – THE RELEASE IS MORE THAN GOOD BECAUSE BEHIND THE TAPES WE GET ALSO STICKER AND BIO-MANIFEST OF D.R. VERY GOOD IDEA I MUST SAY!

You are 100% correct! Demos are destined for tape format only. In this digital plastic age it seems that it’s forgotten how things must be and most bands follow the easy way of exposing everything (from music to the whole lay-out) on the internet. Everything is available to the public eye and there is nothing left for the listener to discover. DREADFUL RELIC works in the total opposite way. In the internet you`ll find only the basic info, where to order and a sample.

That’s it. Though, to be honest, above all I’m a listener myself who still orders lots of music. Sometimes the re-release of old demos works (I mean in real format, like LP or CD, definitely NOT the latest trend of digital download bullshit) is fine with me. Especially when accompanied with the proper packaging. Some good examples are MORBID "Year of The Goat" & "December Moon" (Reaper Records), MASTER`S HAMMER Demos, SARCOFAGO "Die Hard", ISENGARD "Vinterskugge", EQUIMANTHORN "Lectionum Antiquarum", ENSLAVED "Yggdrasil", PANDEMONIUM "Devilri", EMPEROR "Wrath of The Tyrant", TREBLINKA "Shrine of The Pentagram", ABSURD "Life Beyond The Grave" etc. Also someone MUST release MORTUARY DRAPE Demos & NECROVORE "Divus De Mortuus". Other than that, it’s totally pointless and it must be TOTALLY PROHIBITED for any post-95 band to make their demo in multiple formats.

5. IN YOUR BIO YOU’RE WROTE THAT YOUR MUSICAL INSPIRATIONS ARE OLD CELTIC FROST, OLD SODOM AND ABSU FROM “BARATHRUM V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” ERA. SORRY MAN, BUT IN YOUR MUSIC I DIDN’T HEAR OLD SODOM AND ABSU INFLUENCES (I HEARD TODAY THIS ABSU LP BTW) – ONLY OLD CELTIC FROST. COULD YOU EXPLAIN?

Inspiration to us doesn’t mean stealing riffs. It’s also the way the band represents itself and how unleashes their sounds, beginning with music, lyrics and even the layout. With these bands we mentioned as influences, we have lived and grown up. No matter if it’s conscious or not, the impact of these albums on us is really huge ‘cause they are connected with memories of those days and we recognized ourselves there. I often find myself holding in my hands such albums and "listening" them without even putting them on the stereo. It’s something that I can’t describe with words but I’m sure you know very well what I mean. DREADFUL RELIC is not a retro band, copying what others do. The whole point is that influence is not only in music, but also in the aesthetics, conviction and mystery surrounding such cult albums.

6. IS FROST&FIRE IS YOUR LABEL WHICH BUILD ON TOTENKOPF PROPAGANDA ASHES? OR MAYNE T.P. STILL EXIST? IF NOT, PLEASE TELL ME WHY YOU’RE ENDING THIS SORT OF ACTIVITY?

TOTENKOPF PROPAGANDA is still alive and running. I have no plans to stop working with this label. The only part that I stopped is the distro section. To make it clear, Totenkopf Propaganda Productions and Frost & Fire Records are two labels with parallel lives. The web-shop is a necessary function in order to finance the further activities of both labels.

7. IS FROST&FIRE IS MORE ORIENTED ON OLDSKULL METAL OR I’M WRONG? TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT ACHIEVE WITH NEW LABEL? WILL YOU RELEASE ONLY DREADFUL RELIC STUFF?

FROST & FIRE RECORDS begun at the same time with DREADFUL RELIC mainly with the aim to release all of DREADFUL RELIC material & merchandise. But now there are also plans to release stuff from other bands, of "weird" and unusual style of music from those that you see in Totenkopf Propaganda.

8. IN YOUR NON MUSICAL INSPIRATION I SEE J.E. HOWARD, H.P. LOVECRAFT, GREEK MYTHOS, “CONAN THE BARBARIAN” MOVIE...WHAT ELSE? DO YOU LIKE ALSO SCI-FI OR POLITICAL FICTION WRITERS? WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT MOVIES LIKE: “CONAN DESTROYER”, “RED SONIA”, “WILLOW”, “STEEL DAWN”, “OMEGA DOOM”, “MAD MAX”? WHAT’S YOR 10 BEST MOVIES EVER?

It’s strange you mention this ‘cause you haven’t seen yet the "Warlords of Cosmic Sovereign" EP. This release has an obvious influence and atmosphere from some sci-fi films as well as music with similar themes. To answer your question, yes, movies are a big inspiration to DREADFUL RELIC especially if their concept is adapted by works from great writers. "Conan The Barbarian/Conan The Destroyer", "Solomon Kane" of Robert Howard, "The Man Who would be King" by Rudyard Kipling, All the novels of Jules Verne etc. were transferred excellently on the big screen. But this happened in the past. In recent years, films of this nature are turned into instruments of politically correct propaganda and advocation of poisonous ideas of modern decay like cosmopolitanism, multi-racialism, feminism, pacifism, anti-racism etc. Some of my fave films are: Excalibur, Conan The Barbarian & Conan The Destroyer, Fight Club, Lord of The Rings Trilogy, Mad Max I & II, The Godfather Trilogy, The Name of The Rose, Solomon Kane, 300, The Ninth Gate, Alatriste, Beowulf, Rambo The First Blood, Clash of The Titans (1981), Waterloo (1970) and many more...

9. TELL ME ABOUT YOUR FIRST METAL STEPS AND UNDERGROUND ACTIVITY. WHEN IT WAS? DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR FIRST HEARED BAND AND GIG?

My first Metal steps were around 87-88 when I first got hold tapes of IRON MAIDEN ("Killers", "Powerslave" and "Seventh Son of a Seventh Son"), METALLICA (The first four albums), KING DIAMOND (Conspiracy) etc., some Hard-Rock stuff like ALICE COOPER, GUNS ‘N’ ROSES and more. During the school days every Friday I was taking 10 dubbed tapes from a guy that was in the same class with me, so within a couple of years I quickly moved to Thrash and Death Metal. Stuff like OBITUARY, MORBID ANGEL, SODOM, BOLT-THROWER, DEICIDE, SLAYER, MEGADETH, PARADISE LOST, SEPULTURA, EXODUS, KREATOR, but the real surprise came was when in that 10-tape pack this guy pointed to me especially one release who was just out, SAMAEL’s Worship Him. Listening to that album was a real life-changing experience for me, a world within a world that I felt pretty much as my home. After that I almost forgot all the previous stuff and genres and I was searching exclusively similar type of albums. That year, my parents bought me a record player. A few months later, one of my first LPs was "A Blaze In The Northern Sky". You can imagine what followed after that...

My first gigs in general were some local ones with thrash/punk/hardcore bands that I was attending together with guys from my school. My first gig with "big" bands was SEPULTURA in Athens (May 1992) and KREATOR (March 1993). My first 100% Black Metal gig was the ANCIENT RITES/ROTTING CHRIST (May 1993). It was the first time that I saw guys walking around with some "weird" band t-shirts (not the usual heavy/thrash/death ones that you could find in metal shops in Athens) and wearing pendants with inverted crosses, pentagrams etc. Other great gigs followed and I consider myself really lucky that I was there. Some of them were TIAMAT (December 1993), SAMAEL/ROTTING CHRIST/NERGAL (May 1994), MORTUARY DRAPE (1995), VENOM/EMPEROR/ROTTING CHRIST (September 1997).

10. 20 YEARS AGO YOU HAD A DARK RITUAL AMBIENT PROJECT WINTERGODS /I STILL REMEMBER FLYERS PROMOTED “SEVEN XUL CURSE” EP!!/. WHEN AND WHY YOU’RE STARTED WITH THIS? HOW MANY RECORDINGS YO’RE DONE? WHY IT WAS NOT BLACK METAL? THE IDEOLOGY AND IMAGE WAS A TOTAL BLACK METAL ATTITUDE, SO...

WINTERGODS started in the summer of 1994 by me and Demogorgon (Legion of Doom). Back then, except the classic Black Metal listenings I was also obsessed by Dark Ambient music, avant-garde sounds and mournful melodies that were emerging inside the Black Metal circles mostly in form of obscure tapes. Until 1993 I had almost zero experience to this kind of music, so another gate opened to me with releases such as MORTIIS "The Song of a Long Forgotten Song" AGHAST "Hexerei Im Zwielicht Der Finsternis", DARKNESS ENSHROUD "Winter of Sorrow" & "Ancient Kingdoms", NEPTUNE TOWERS "Caravans To Empire Algol" , EREVOS My Black Desires, SHADOWCASTER "To Gather My Thoughts..." , MALDOROR "The Sumptuous Wine...", EQUIMANTHORN "Nindinugga Minshimshargal Enlillara" , EQUITANT "The Great Lands of Minas Ithil" , NECROMANTIA "Promo 1990"

WINTERGODS existed from 1994 until 1998 and the only recordings we released were the "Seven Xul Curses" demo and "Path Towards The Middle Ages" EP (already advertised and was supposed to be released through Molon Lave Records at the same time with Murder Rape and Anatomy 7"Eps, but this never happened because the boss of this label moved to the USA and stopped all his activities here). Later this EP was released by another label in different format and title.

11. I REMEMBER THAT IN THESE YEARS YOU’RE UNDER NS INFLUENCES. WHAT IN HALF OF 90’S THIS IDEOLOGY WAS RECEIVED IN GREEK BM UNDERGROUND? YOU’RE HAD AT THIS TIMES MANY CONTACTS WITH OTHER BM BANDS FROM YOUR COUNTRY?

The Hellenic Underground of that time was more or less like the underground of other European countries. It had some really groundbreaking bands with great releases but also many false bands. Yes indeed, that time I had regular contacts & meetings with some bands and individuals. This was because in Athens there were only a few places (a couple of record stores, some studios, few pubs and a couple of metal clubs) visited by Black Metal people. So sooner or later everyone was meeting and speaking with each other. It also helped a lot the fact that during 1995 I was working in Molon Lave Record`s store ("Go Underground" was its name).

12. YOU’RE ALSO EDITOR OF GREAT WALLACHIAN TYRANT’ZINE! WHY YOU STOPPED THIS ACTIVITY? IT WAS RELEASED 4 NUMBERS – WHAT NUMBER IS BEST FOR YOU? COULD YOU RECOMMEND ANY INTERESTING ZINES FROM GREECE?

WALLACHIAN TYRANT was never officially stopped. It is just frozen in order to focus on my other activities. I plan start working soon on one special final issue. More details when the time is right.

I like all issues equally because all of them remind me of activities I had at the time I was making them, but my favorite issue is undoubtedly the 1st one, mainly because the making of it was throughout 1995, a great (and probably the last) really important year for the Black Metal underground, with tons of great releases. Just think how many releases came out that year. Creating a zine in the midst of such a bewitching musical environment, it was something I’ll always remember with nostalgia. Longing more and more as time passes by...

Nowadays, two very interesting zines that I fully reccomend is TORVUS (The grim zine of Hjarulv Henker. including old rare and some new interviews with JFN/Absurd, Mons Veneris, Infernum, Nastrond, Azelsgard, Mysteries, Black Funeral etc. plus articles & bios. It’s finished recently and it is to be released around early 2016) and LIBER NIGRAE PEREGRINATIONIS (the publication of Hiddeous Abominations of Goatvomit/Kiss of Shame rec. This is gonna be a MONSTER of a zine, a tome full of interviews like War88, Apocalypse Command, Proclamation, Darklord, Profanatica, Black Witchery and TONS more. I hope it will be released someday!)

13. WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR VISIT IN POLAND IN 2002? YOU MEET MANY INDIVIDUALS FROM POLISH NSBM SCENE, BUT LATER MANY FROM THIS PEOPLE ARE GONE...WHAT DO YOU THINK WHY IN PRESENT TIMES NSBM ISN’T THAT STRONG AS WAS IN 2002-2004? YOU STILL HAVE MANY CONTACTS IN POLISH SCENE?

I have really good memories from this trip in 2002. The visit of great places and the meeting with interesting people from the scene like Syrragh, Capricornus, Diathyrron, Piaty, Necro, Burzum, Arch Devil, Arior. I also remember a guy with German camouflage jacket, long hair, a beer on one hand and sieg-heiling with the other, speaking all the time about old Brazilian and Teuton Metal. Typical Polish thug! What was his name? Yes, I think that was indeed the very last days of what’s left of the once glorious Polish Black Metal underground. NSBM was strong in 2002-2004 because it was a trend and attracted many people. Most of them, when they realized that this is the real deal, the true enemy of this world, they run away like dogs with the tail between their legs and chose a safer path of the sort "Black metal has nothing to do with politics", "only Satan, NS is humanism" and similar statements that equal compromise and tolerance.

I’m writing these lines a few days after we heard the news about the passing of a TRUE Warrior of the old days, Norbert "Burzum" Sznober, one the most loyal underground fanatics I ever met, with a lifestyle totally committed to the ways of Black Metal. Sometimes, in order to rise you have to fall. Hails Brother!

14. I KNOW THAT DREADFUL RELIC NOT USE OF FUCKBOOK, MYSPACE, BANDCAMP OR OTHER SOCIAL SHIT AND IS VERY GOOD ATTITUDE! BUT TELL ME WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ALL THIS “BLACK METAL MISANTHROPIC ANTIHUMAN WARRIORS” WITH USING THIS SHITTY SOCIAL MEDIA? IS UNDERGROUND BLACK METAL OF 2015 SHOULD BE SOCIAL AND OPEN MINDED ART FOR ALL FUCKING PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET? HAHAHA

BLACK METAL, as we know it, is a medium of elitist and noble nature, destined only to those who live against modern times and far away from the herd of consumers, posers, sluts and genetic 3rd world trash. Therefore it’s totally INCOMPATIBLE with this social media plague. DREADFUL RELIC will never crawl into this mud as we don`t seek "acceptance" or "recognition" by people who, at the sight of everything that has to do with TRUE BLACK METAL, their natural reaction must be disgust, loathsomeness and fear. The only positive thing with these facebook-dwelling swine is that any band outside facebook is practically non-existent to them. In this way more or less you can figure out that those who purchase your release do it because of genuine interest and not because it has many "likes" and "thumbs up" or other cheap marketing gimmicks.

15. TELL ME LITTLE ABOUT PRESENT SITUATION IN YOUR COUNTRY – ECONOMICAL CRISIS, LOTS OF IMIGRANT FROM AFRICA, LEFT WINGED FAGGOTS – WHAT’S LOOK LIKE THE REAL LIFE IN HELLAS TODAY?

Hellas is in terrible situation these days and I don’t mean only economically. The leftist government welcomes the waves of immigrants who arrive every day, and from here they spread to the rest of Europe. The cultural and biological annihilation of Europe is taking form in front of our eyes! The plan is to replace every native European population with africans and asians. The usurpers of tomorrow are the "refugees" of today.

For me it will always be a thousand times better to live in an economically bad country than a rich multi-kulti capital where Whites in few years will be exposed to museums next to dinosaurs and other extinct species. It seems that "The Planet of The Apes" is more than a mere scenario.

16. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SPORT OR MARTIAL COMBAT ART? IF YES- WHAT’S IT? TELL ME ALSO ABOUT SKINHEAD MOVEMENT IN GREECE – IS THIS STILL STRONG?

Years ago I used to do in a serious manner Graeco-Roman wrestling. One step before entering the national team I stopped ‘cause back then I was not willing to sacrifice my long hair and to undergo mandatory surgery in the nose and ears. Nowadays I’m just working out a bit, nothing special, just to keep in shape. Sorry, but I don’t know any skinhead movement here, and it’s better to be into serious politics than some "beer, fun and Oi!".

17. WHAT DO YOU SAY ABOUT BM UNDERGROUND IN HELLAS? WHAT BANDS, LABELS, ZINES YOU’RE STILL SUPPORTED? MAYBE YOU COLUD RECCOMEND ANY NEW INTERESTING BANDS FROM GREECE?

There is no Black Metal underground in Hellas, only a bunch of trendies and newcomers with the illusion that they have something common with TRUE BLACK METAL. In reality they are the perfect embodiment of what we call FALSE. So supporting any band from here is just a waste of money and time. Simple as that.

18. OK MY BROTHER – I THINK THAT’S ALL THIS TIME. PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT FUTURE PLANS OF DREADFUL RELIC. I KNOW ABOUT NEW T-SHIRTS, PATCHES, AND UPCOMING 7”EP...THE LAST CALL FROM BEYOND ARE YOURS!

Future plans... On Samhain Night of 2015, Dreadful Relic will release a 12"EP with new tracks. After that we’ll start working slowly on our debut album and building a line-up that will bring our Tyrannical odes on stage. Thanks for this great interview brother. Keep high the blood banners of black AZELSGARD until the Doom of the Ancient Gods will fall upon this world!