Arrived are the Necrotronian hordes of Smargroth (Slovenia)

Interview: Smargroth (Slovenia)

Smargroth (Slovenia)
Smargroth is a necrogrim black metal band with some surprisingly memorable songs, and definitely friendly to the black metal ear. Also, Smargroth is an individual who is The Old Troll, the main creative force behind the music.
The album is called “The Arrival of the Necrotronian” and has a nice, spicy kick to it, lots of the necro feeling, with that pick-up-your-guitar-and-put-your-corpsepaint-on vibe. Nice. Don’t forget your bullet belts, either.
Denim and leather, and raw black metal brought them all together. Smargroth is back on the streets again, raw-necro-grim black metal blasting all over the frosting place. The band claims to like “a broken radio” but they are wrong. The sound quality and music are definitely good. Investigate!
www.myspace.com/smargroth
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Hello!! Congratulations on “The Arrival of Necrotronian”! What part of Slovenia are you from? Is that a good place for the black metal lunacy of Smargroth?
Hello Mauricio. Thanks. I am from the capital city of Slovenia, Ljubljana. Not "native", but as most of other metalheads in Slovenia, I moved here from a small city. Slovenia is so small, that almost all metalheads personally know each other. So it is more than a perfect place for my band. Here we have around 15 active black metal bands and with each we have connections.

Your album is self-released and DIY. How to get copies?!!
Yes, completely DIY, except the professional mastering by Carl Saff. It is not easy to be one-man band as it was expensive to self-release the album. Luckily I have members from flesh and blood now and the expenses are divided. Besides the Myspace and Facebook page, we have official Smargroth web site www.smargroth.com, where anyone can contact us and order the CD.



“Codex of Tyranny” or “Below” are just two examples of grim, blasting black metal that is your specialty. How old are those songs? Do you have, like, 30 songs not recorded yet?!!
"Below" was the first song I recorded. In fact, all began with sound test at the end of 2007. I tried to record something on new computer and the result is the first 20 seconds of Below. As I listened to what I recorded I found out that this should be a perfect start for a perfect song. I got enthusiastic, and made "Runes of the Damned" from the old material. Also I re-recorded "Northern Reveries", which I created some years before. Then suddenly I realized, I was making the album! I created the fantasy story for the concept album, and recorded the remaining songs. Codex of Tyranny was, I think, the fifth recorded song, made in March 2008. It had to be a powerful, fast song that represents the oppression and suffering of the humankind. Because lack of free time, it took about a year to record all the songs. On my part, the recording was finished by January 2009. But then I unsuccessfully waited for the answers from the publishers, waited for the drummer to rewrite the drum tracks and then the mastering and the printing of the CDs. The album was released in October 2009. About the future project, I have some hours of material for the new songs and I am already in the making of the next album. I just have to write the new chapter of the fantasy story. It will be the greater masterpiece than "The Arrival of Necrotronian".

Is the music on the album played by a band or by the solo individual Smargroth, the old Troll?
I, the old Troll, have recruited younger Trolls that help me to perform live. I don't want to use word "session members", as I gave them a lot of freedom and I listen to their wishes. But the album was recorded completely by myself, except the guest vocalists and the drum tracks were improved by Oybl, who is now the member of the band.

How do you feel when you play “Triumphant Legions”?!!
Wow, Triumphant Legions is the war song. It is the fastest of all songs. The song itself is epic battle in which the Wizards won by using the magic. That moment is captured in the intro of the song itself. It was the last recorded song as I waited for the right time and the right mood. I am addicted to metal in general, but I often find myself skipping the non-black metal songs. I also like other genres, but I found black as the superior one. It takes me into my own world and fills me with the energy. Powerful and aggressive, but yet so gentle and fragile. That is black metal. You know, when I am playing just for myself, I don't play any particular song, I'm just improvising and my style is often slow, melodic, melancholic.

Did you use a drum machine?
It is a drum machine. I prefer a real drummer, but I couldn't afford a studio to record the real drums. It's just too expensive. So I was forced to use the machine. Oybl wrote the drum tracks exactly like he is playing live. Sometimes the machine does not sound so bad, depending on the sound of other instruments. But for old-school and raw black metal, a real drumkit, with all the errors and irregularities, is a must. The errors themself can have quite a charm.

What is the story of “Chasms of Doom”?!
Chasms of Doom is the final place in the depths of the world, where the captured souls are carried enchained. From there is no escape. It is like a hell. We all have some kind of the abyss in our mind, and that's what makes us curious and willing to explore the new dimensions. It is that "spark" which makes us go further. Without the abyss, we would be stuck in the past with no progress.

“Glacier of Despair” is, of course, necrogrim black metal. Can you please necro-explain it?
Glacier of Despair is a ballad, as a contrast to the other songs. The song is introverted and thoughtful. Why me? What am I guilty of? Why am I punished? It is the retrospective into the past, when the world was a better place. The opera with the crystal-like guitars and the winter-storm represents this innocent and peaceful life. Why the winter and the snow? Because they bring tranquillity. The ice freezes and captures a moment in the time, like in the memory.

Slovenia has a lot of forests. Do you think your music has any relation to nature?! Are the forests in danger in your country?
I like forests and mountains. Fortunately we have high awareness, so they are not endangered. The nature itself is a haven from the dramatic and ever-moving life in the cities. I do live in the city, because I have a job here. It is better this way, as it is a greater experience when I go from time to time to rest my mind in the nature. If I would live in the forest, I would get bored of it. I like contrasts. There are a lot of contrasts in my music also.

Do your own songs sounds as memorable as “Run to Hills” or “Painkiller” to you? I think your songs are melodic and catchy. Is that crazy? I don’t think you sound like “a broken radio”!
Yes, that's true. I could listen to my songs over and over, that's quite a miracle. Even I could not believe that. So, you are not crazy at all :) I personally don't think they will ever become a cult songs, at least because black metal is too underground for that. I do sound like a radio, which was broken and repaired :)

In black metal, there is, amongst some, an attraction to fascist political ideas, and the vocabulary, symbols, etc. of fascism. As a band from Slovenia, a nation that has suffered greatly—repression, murder, invasions, territorial partitions—at the hands of fascist and right-wing violence in recent history, do you find it ridiculous how some black metallers support reactionary ideology?!
I hate the politics and the religious institutions, as they divide people, instead of joining them. There are not many NSBM bands in Slovenia, if any. They don't have much supported here. Even foreign bands, marked as NBSM, were after their concert clarifying and denying their link to the right wing ideology. But in other eastern-Europe countries, the situation is the opposite. I am proud only of my own creations, not of something that others (ancestors for example) did.

“Northern Reveries,” unlike the rest of the album, is a midpaced instrumental. Is it a sign of things to come in the future?
The end of the album is somehow optimistic. Although my soul is captured in the abyss, there is a catharsis and hope for the humankind. So "Northern Reveries" is quite a suitable and mystic ending, which can lead to many interpretations. That's why lyrics aren't needed. The song was older, but re-recorded, to make it sound like the other songs. I think, it was made in 2005. It may be the sign of the next album, but for now, let it be the secret ;)

What else?!
I hope that people will some day start to think with their own heads and stop being sheeps. I hope that black metal will somehow help with this. And I want all the black-metallers around the world unite in the battle against stupidity of the humankind. And thanks for the interview and greetings to all readers. THE END.

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