Picture taken by @redilluminations
S.W.R.’’One day in 2019, the name of my project came to me, seemingly out of nothing, but really from inner depths. And from that day I have been creating aural and visual manifestations for Mondernte.
‘’I’ve made music all my life, and my inner world is the source of it all.
S.W.R is the creator, visionary and lifeblood that is Mondernte; it is music that transcends Black metal majesty into a personal passionate experience that is all encompassing. There is a tangible visceral energy to Mondernte that requires experience rather than explanation. Is haunting and powerful. Music that is enchanting and raw, spells cast from a ritual born from very personal experience rather than reviving historical lore?
‘’Depending on what you refer to with “ritual”, there are two answers. My magickal practice outside of music is a very private practice. This practice informs everything I create for Mondernte also; and as individuals we are always weaved into historical and social contexts.
What drives the intensity of your music and how it does it affect your more subtle sections, as there is also intensity in quieter moments?
‘’My inner world drives everything about my music, and I believe that there are many different manifestations of intensity.
Does being a solo performer allow you complete freedom to create music to your complete satisfaction?
‘’Being the sole creatrix of Mondernte brings enormous freedom and of course also unique challenges that might at first seem like limitations but turn out to be productive fetters.
Picture taken by @redilluminations
What is Aural Luciferian Witchcraft for the uninitiated?
‘’It’s best to listen to my music to find out.
You have been working on a new album and have released “Flowers on Our Grave”. Will it stay in that direction or become an ever-evolving collection of spells?
‘’Yes, the album has been in the works since early 2023, though the intention to work on a second full-length started years before that. The album I am now working on, however, revealed itself to me without regards to these previous release intentions: It revealed itself unexpectedly and with a raw emotional brutality that informs a lot of the lyrics, compositions and recordings that are already manifested. All of the lyrics are in fact finished and form the starting point of what is yet to be birthed. There will be a lot of music on this record that would traditionally be considered far heavier than “Flowers on Our Grave”, though to me heaviness is more of a feeling rather than purely measured in speed or harshness of sound. But there will be some folky songs that some might even consider ballads in the vein of the already released song as well.
Is it utter darkness or do you allow for some light such as some of your ambient sections?
‘’As Rumi said: The wound is the place where the light enters you. It is interesting that you would mention light in your question because one of the songs on the record in progress is indeed called “I Let Light Shine In”. I performed it once at Winter Solstice when I played at the Andkristni festival in Reykjavík last year. I haven’t played it live since and I don’t know if I will play it again. In my practice it is essential to dissolve and transmute polar opposites, thus there cannot only be darkness.
Picture taken by @Voidilluminations
Your tour of Australia and NZ, how did that come about and are the audiences different that to Europe?
‘’Essentially, friendship and community across the globe helped manifest what I had been meaning to do for a long time. It is a risky feat and hard work to tour the world as a, I dare say, niche artist. It requires sacrifice and utter dedication and devotion to what you do.
I’ve been feeling very welcome and appreciated on my tour in Australia, both by people who have followed my project for years and completely new listeners. I look forward to travel on to bring my music to both the New Zealand North and South Island in October before returning home to Iceland.
‘’While I don’t think I am in a position to claim authority on this, I perceive the music scenes down under as different from continental Europe in that they are more isolated and less strictly sub-divided. Foreign visiting bands are usually commercially successful artists, and I greatly appreciate the warm welcome and positive response I have received in Australia. Also, what I consider to be the underground is even smaller here than in Europe. I ponder whether the weather is just too good here, though of course past bands like Sadistik Execution or Gospel of the Horns have proven otherwise.
‘’The New Zealand metal scene to me feels more familiar to what I know from home, perhaps as an effect of isolation from the rest of the world.
@vidic_images for @silvertigermedia at her recent concert in Northcote, VIC
What is the significance of both countries to Mondernte's history?
''I have been intricately connected to this part of the world for more than half of my life, in some way or another, and I have lived in both countries for some time, and participated in the local music scenes. Without my time spent in these countries, Mondernte would not exist.
In addition to that, I have worked with a New Zealand artist for the artwork of my “Canticles of Ecstasy” cassette, a Melbourne artist designed the Australian tour shirt and an Auckland artist is currently in the process of finishing the design for my New Zealand tour shirt.
Have you been able to sample some of the culture and will it inspire you musically?
‘’Yes, sure, far more than sample. I don’t think the culture itself inspires my music. But many unnameable and visceral experiences in connection to the land do as they are part of me wherever I go.
What can we expect from your live ritual?
‘’I prefer to refer to my live appearances as concerts or live performances because that is what they are. As a part of that, non-musical intentional elements form part of the whole. During my tour, I will play songs from the early beginnings of Mondernte, as well as so far unreleased songs, and songs from times in between. As these concerts are my first appearances as Mondernte in Australia and New Zealand I want to pay homage to the support I’ve received since the inception of my project while recalling its history together with the audience.
taken by @3111dod
What drew you to Black Metal and why is it so vital to you?
‘’A very influential live concert for me was seeing Urfaust live at a festival, and since experiencing this kind of uncompromising meditative intensity I haven’t looked back.
How do you define it? Is it music or a feeling?
‘’I think there are plenty of better genre definitions out there than I could give, as I don’t consider myself to be an authority on these matters - also, I tend to disregard genre boundaries in what I do.
But in its totality, black metal comprises way more than just a particular playing style, which is also why I count my music as part of the movement in the largest sense, while preferring to call it Aural Luciferian Witchcraft. I have released a number of covers as bonus tracks on my cassettes in which I pay homage to bands like Ulver, Bathory and Urfaust.
What is the importance of keeping your music underground and in cassette format? Was it the physical media that originally spread the music throughout the world?
‘’The cassette format appeals to me personally due to its ephemeral nature, its decay with usage that seems to physically embody some of the qualities of dark music. Physical-format distribution has been crucial to the history of my project but digital versions also receive considerable interest.
‘’Keeping my music underground wasn’t necessarily an objective behind the project, but given I have been an active participant of multinational undergrounds throughout my life it makes sense that my music finds open ears among these audiences. Most of my listeners and long-time supporters reside outside of continental Europe, though I have played in Switzerland at the beginning of this year and will play a big show in my motherland Germany at the end of this year. My music will find its way to the people who have open ears for it. I create without compromise and without regards to what record labels, even the underground ones, might consider to be “sellable”.
‘’So far I have self-released a demo, an album and an EP, as well as three different splits through German and Swiss underground labels. I intend to release the album I am working on both in vinyl and cassette formats through a label or more than one label, though no further decisions have been made yet.
Top Six albums of all time?
‘’It would be hard to only choose six, especially as I don’t love superlatives and absolutes, and listen to a vast and eclectic range of music. However, I consider the following six records (in alphabetical order) to be timeless and masterful metal albums that have all had a profound influence on me:
Fäulnis - Gehirn zwischen Wahn und Sinn
Jex Thoth - Blood Moon Rise
Opeth - Ghost Reveries
Svartidauði - Flesh Cathedral
Ulver - Bergtatt
Urfaust - Geist ist Teufel
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