TURIA - aby ses ponořil do záludnosti riffu, je dobré být izolován, mít spoustu času a pořádně se soustředit

TURIA - to really hone into the intricacies of a riff, it’s better to have some kind of isolation and plenty of time and focus

An interview with Turia.

TuriaYou are, I would say, a hyperactive musician. With your numerous projects and bands (Nusquama, Lubbert Das, Iskandr, Turia and others) you have released around 20 albums and EPs in the last six years, more than some people do in their lifetime. And you are also involved in running the label/collective Haeresis Noviomagi, the home of most of your releases. Where is this creative energy coming from? And is it even possible to combine it with “real life” of a twenty-something year old?

Thank you! Yes, it’s a bit of a challenge to combine the normal tasks of life with making this music, but luckily we all have a lot of creative energy and drive. That, and within our local circle of musicians which comprise most of the bands I’m involved in, we have a shared know-how of how to produce the music in a way we find satisfying and are always available to help each other out whenever possible. That is mostly the explanation why we are collectively quite prolific. As to where this energy actually comes from, it remains a mystery. Inspiration can be found in nature, other music, art, films, books, etc. We are always working on something, to keep the creative process going at all times.
 
Many of the contemporary Dutch black metal bands have Dutch lyrics. Turia recorded a conceptual split album with Fluisteraars about Rhein and Waal - the two rivers surrounding your hometowns. Do you think personal relationship to one's birthplace and roots is an important topic for your music?

It is! Of course it’s very much possible to derive one’s inspiration from regions outside of your own too: the latest Turia album has the French/Italian Alps as one of it’s major inspirations although we have not lived there, merely travelled around. But a connection to a deeper and perhaps even mythical understanding of one’s immediate surroundings can yield instantaneous inspiration, such as is the case with this split release. When thinking about the concept of this split album, we suddenly thought of a very close connection: the rivers that mark the landscape surrounding us. Immediately everything clicked and fell into place; the creative energy is quickly unleashed after this.
 
Speaking of Turia, you have just released a new record Degen van Licht, do you see it as an important milestone in any sense or just the continuation of what the waves of Rhein brought?

Yes, we see it as a new milestone for the band. A full-length album is a sort of chapter in a discography which we view with the weight of great importance. After the split release we got a bit more attention than we were used to, and so the expectations for another full-length were raised. We hope we delivered on this.
 
Turia is also, if I am not mistaken, the only live band of all your projects.  You mentioned in the interview with Indy Metal Vault that the songs are made in the rehearsal room. Are you more comfortable working on music alone or using the synergy of more musicians?

Both ways of working are very important. To really hone into the intricacies of a riff, it’s better to have some kind of isolation and plenty of time and focus. But the general flow of the song and the whole structure, how it makes us feel when we play it, if we get that certain feeling of “yes, this works!”, that is always determined when rehearsing and sometimes even performing the songs live before they are recorded. While Turia is the most prolific in playing live, another project were me and T are involved in, “Nusquama”, is also a live formation, and J is also performing live with the band Lubbert Das.
 
Browsing through last year’s metal records top lists, one can’t really avoid noticing “mainstream” metal scene had become pretty stagnant. And the few releases that actually stand out and get at least some attention usually come from the people that are already active for tens of years. Would you agree?

It’s quite hard to tell actually. I don’t read any of those lists to be honest, except from a few friends, who share my tastes in music generally, their personal highlights. But the mainstream sites and magazines I don’t really keep track off. To be honest, I do think a lot of very very good metal is still being made and I keep collecting tapes and LP’s from bands that I think do terrific work!
 
What are your most favourite contemporary metal bands?

For me some personal highlight albums that have really spoken to me: Funereal Presence - Achatius, Ehlder - Nordabetrakelse, Candelabrum - Portals, Yellow Eyes - Immersion Trench Reverie (although their new album Rare Field Ceiling is also astonishing!) and Vanum - Ageless Fire. Vanum is for sure the most impressive live-act I’ve seen in the last couple of years. Just pure uncompromising power.
 
Just recently Dragged into Sunglight published a statement dissing their former label Prosthetic including nasty screenshots of e-mails etc. And a lot of other bands recently started speaking up about their label´s shady practices.  Was this something you considered when you started Hearesis Noviomagi, did you want to have complete control over what happens with your records after you release them?  And why did you choose to cooperate with Eisenwald?

There was some conflict although I didn’t really follow this. It was a consideration, although not in a real business sense, more to be in control of everything, from recording to artwork to the eventual production of the physical release. We have worked with several labels since which we have really good contact with. Eventually some projects ended up on Eisenwald through our friends of Fluisteraars, and when we talked about doing the new Turia record we talked about options for the physical production and we agreed upon doing this also. Eisenwald is great and really into making every release as good as possible, and our last label Altare Productions was also very supportive of doing this record with Eisenwald too.
 
What are the upcoming projects you or Haeresis Noviomagi are working on we should be looking forward to?

There is a vinyl edition from the old Lubbert Das EP Deluge on the way through Amor Fati Productions, and a new EP from Iskandr has finished with music and artwork which will hopefully see the light of day soon enough.

Thanks for doing this interview and we are looking forward to play in Prague soon!

TURIA - atmospheric black metal / ritual minimalism
montturia.bandcamp.com
facebook.com/haeresisnoviomagi

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