Ellende: The Rose Upon The Grave
One of Austria’s latest bands to make big waves in the Black Metal community, Ellende brings its own unique take on the Post-Black sound. Merging existential content with nature and melancholy Ellende’s latest EP shows just how much the band and sound has evolved and matured into something grand! Founder Lukas sat on the cold stones of The Heavy Metal Citadel with Chort and Chernoglav. Here is what he had to say:
Thank you for joining us. It’s been over a year since your latest EP Triebe was released, what has the reception been like?
Thanks a lot for having me. To be honest, I’m quite impressed with the reception. We all knew an “EP” (although as long as a full-length slayer album) won’t be recognized by the press as much as an album, but it was a personal matter for me to release it the way it is. It was also a good opportunity to work together with Markus Stock and Klangschmiede Studio E, which is something I always wanted to do.
What is the song writing process like for you?
The songs ending up on records are usually crafted and revised again and again over years (sorry to neighbours) and the percentage of material not used is high. I try to do music as much as possible beside my “normal” life and I have learned not to force myself if I can’t come up with something refreshing. I deeply enjoy and need this part of my life and accepted that it takes time. Daniel Ek would probably dislike this statement.
How important is solitude for you vs engaging with others?
I’m not sure. I’m super introverted it seems and I’m drawn to silence and solitude. I’m living with my girlfriend, the one exception, but I need to recharge from people and all this turbulence regularly. On the other hand, I have a job and of course it’s unhealthy to isolate too much. But ouf, the Small talk... My goal is to keep my balance and find out what’s good for me in the long run.
Outside Austria where do you find the greatest fan base is?
The biggest one is definitely in Germany, followed by the States. Regarding streaming, Russia and Turkey have been very strong lately, and at this point, I have no idea why. It was always important for me to not focus on Austria that much and I’m really keen about this little internationality that has been achieved.
In previous interviews you have touched on the existential and philosophical context of the lyrical content of Ellende, what are some of the most influential philosophers/philosophies for the band? (Nietzsche, Heidegger, etc.)
I was brought up catholic. Even if my parents were always open minded and never super religious or something I started to read all these existentialism books and realized there are views of the world I can identify with way more. I always felt religion is kind of a coping mechanism, a switch activating the monkey with the cymbals, avoiding all those big questions. I think we must take responsibility for our actions, this ONE life and planet we’re sure of, and how this life influences our environment and others. And I still have that naïve idealism that we can somehow change this fucked up world to the better and cut down on egoism.
Ellende is about all those things, but Ellende doesn’t provide solutions. It’s pure emotion. The unpleasant as well as the beautiful. About 70/30 percent ratio by the way, just like this delicious chocolate bar mix by a local manufacturer.
The music video Weltennacht is excellent. It's raw yet artistic, what was it like merging music with the cinematic? Will there be more cinematic music videos like this in the near future?
We incorporated a lot of harsh imagery and completely avoided showing any of us musicians. As the song intends, it should slightly drain and confuse the viewer with a somewhat sober perspective of our world. A very chaotic, dark, accelerated one – with unnecessary death, and all these abysses of human nature. Just to show a little glimpse of hope and love at the very end. And yes, there’s something planned.
Triebe is considered by many as your best work thus far. It’s a more balanced album that has streamlined its black and post black character into an excellent mix of mournful acoustic guitars, fantastic choral segments and brutal black metal shredding. What led to the decision to update some older songs (and Triebe II) and what was that process like?
Yes, though, I had the feeling critiques were way more polarized than that, in a positive way. It was funny for me, people made up all sorts of reasons as why to “rerecord old songs” and why this is even necessary. In reality, there are also some legal reasons involved in which I try to get back my own records. Beside that, it totally makes sense for me to reinterpret and adapt those records in a way I think is now the current sentiment and new standard of the project, not repeating what was done by my younger self. I also had discussions with people telling me “It’s not the same anymore”, of course it’s not. They should wait for what I intend to do to other releases as well.
On Bandcamp we saw that “All artworks were again done by L.G.”. Triebe is a gorgeous piece and probably one of our favourite pieces of art from that year. Were you always interested in creating art, and do you do it as well outside of Ellende?
Thank you, I’m extremely flattered by reading this. I was always an art fanatic, and I found my passion for oil paintings in foto-, hyper- and surrealism when I was a teenager. Visual arts and music are strongly interconnected for me. Holding a record, from which you have done nearly everything yourself is one of the most satisfying experiences I’ve ever made – while simultaneously always struggling to find purpose. In the end, doesn’t matter which form of art, it all comes down to practice, endurance, and intrinsic motivation. I have the strong belief anyone can do stuff like this, and the term “talent” is often used to discount actual hard work nobody sees.
We saw you live in Vienna at Szene alongside Sear Bliss, Gaerea, and more. Your live performance was fantastic. Are there any specific pre-show traditions or must-haves before you go on-stage?
First off, I think that’s just amazing you came down from London to attend this event. But anyway, nothing fancy. We warm up by playing parts of songs unplugged and applying corpse paint together, then some kind of heads-together-group-hug and wishing each other fun right before entering stage.
Do you prefer performing live, or writing and recording?
Hm, that’s a tough one. During pandemic I found out how much I’ve missed playing live and the magic in performing as a unity. Otherwise, I’m ultra-hyped for the new release. I think I’m going with balance here again.
You are somehow given access to all the world's media channels (tv, radio, etc.) for 1 minute. What would you say?
It would probably be some kind of awkward mumble everyone gets wrong. But I would like to tell people to finally show some empathy, for fucks sake.
What are some underground or new Austrian artists you would like to recommend to our listeners?
Nekrodeus. It may seem obvious at first, because some of Ellendes live-musicians are involved. But seriously, I must listen to this stuff all the time and I’m barely riveted as strong as by this project. Other than that, I think Black Yen (same here), Savanah and Ultima Radio are pretty dope projects from Graz too, but they all dwell somewhere in the Rock Genre.
It’s not until September 2022, but are you excited to be on the bill for Cosmic Void? Any particular artists you’re interested in seeing live?
Of course, finally a show in the UK. I think the whole billing is just great.
What is next for Ellende? New album info perhaps?
Perhaps. But anyway, thanks, I really enjoyed your questions. All hail Heavy Metal Citadel!
