Drunemeton – “The world is writhing on a sacrificial altar, stabbed by the old aristocrats”

The Dutch Heidens Hart Records simultaneously released two strong Pagan Black Metal albums earlier this year, ‘Tir Nan Og’ being one of them: the latest album by the one-man band Drunemeton, originally from Russia. Although the album is overtly based on traditional values from the Pagan Black Metal genre, Grannus, the man behind the band, manages to bring his music fresh and with conviction. I spoke to him about his move to Serbia, the musical journey leading up to ‘Tir Nan Og’ and his take on concepts like Paganism, Christianity and history…

Hi Grannus, before starting our conversation about the music you have created with Drunemeton I am curious to know what your Russian background and moving to Serbia has meant to your musical offerings. I am aware that this is not the easiest question, at least not to answer for yourself as a person, but cultural background always has a distinct influence on the way music is conceived, so I would very much like to know how do you think this worked in your situation…
Hello. I wasn’t unfamiliar with Eastern Europe before my emigration, even it wasn’t a first try. I previously tried to move to the Czech Republic and worked there as a labourer. I also travelled, in addition to the Czech Republic, to Ukraine, Serbia and Bulgaria.

So it was not a shock therapy, despite the fact that getting used to the local culture and mentality was exciting to me, although it was not a burden. Separately, I would like to thank the Serbs from the bottom of my heart for their cordiality and hospitality.

In addition, the instrumental part was recorded before the move. Perhaps it was influenced by the fact that after emigrating, at first I had no time to buy instruments, and I decided not to add anything to the musical palette of the album, leaving everything exactly in the same form as I managed to record.

In Serbia, I wrote only lyrics, and it was influenced not so much by the move itself, but by one of the reasons of move, i.e. war, and my thoughts about the world in general.

Well, finally, I found myself in the same Old Europe that I sang about on old albums. Vojvodina has a rich history dating back to ancient times. This territory belonged at one time to both the Celts and the Romans, and was later part of Austria-Hungary, before becoming Serbian territory after the First World War.

Yes, I can probably say that I truly feel the heart of Old Europe here. Among other things, this region has its own rich vampire history, not inferior to its neighbours from Transylvania. So really, the source of inspiration is quite deep.

Additionally, it is worth saying that how pleasant and relieving it was to be in a not such a big town from Vojvodina – Panchevo, after the ante-utopian, gigantic Moscow, filled with cops, migrants and criminals, shrouded in a heap of cameras and barbed wire.

You have recently released ‘Tir Nan Og’ through Dutch label Heidens Hart Records. A very musically volatile record that offers quite a fresh take on what we call “Pagan Black Metal”. This is a question that I have recently asked to another musician in the same field of music, but something that intrigued be quite a bit. So, before we go a bit further into the record, what does the concept of “Pagan” and paganism mean to you?
In general, Pagan in Latin meant folk or peasant, i.e. the attitude of Roman townspeople towards the common people, and then even towards the superstitious peasants who did not accept the new “progressive” faith.

In the context of your question, I would put in this word the designations of pre-abrahamic religions, especially European ones.

This religion represented the Europeans themselves as deities, in which, if desired, everyone could find an ideal and example to follow, in contrast to the all-good abstract god, to whom one should categorically obey.

Moreover, disobedience later began to be punished very cruelly, in which christians did not lag behind the devil they had invented, to whom it was easy for them to attribute their own sins.

In general, one may not deny the possibility of creating the universe by some kind of intelligent will, but this is not at all a reason to write off European pre-christian culture as a waste of history, reflecting the process of struggle and curbing of nature for a place in the sun, but also, on the other hand, with the natural essence, which can take both a benevolent, almost maternal form, and primordial and unbridled chaotic forms, capable of bringing down pure natural wrath on humanity with the one sneeze.

The subordination of the human will to the forces of chaos and entropy during the creation of evil deeds seems somewhat more responsible than shifting human sins onto some devil, who also fits into the divine plan.

By creating the devil, christians themselves created a perverted and destructive world, exactly as they imagined evil to be. All modern vices have their origin in the christian concept of evil, so it is not surprising that they find confirmation of their religious hypotheses in their own knowledge and behaviour.

At the same time, the obvious censure of any witchcraft, illusion or magic, the elevation of every letter written in the abrahamic “holy” books and the attribution of heresy to the entire old European heritage only causes me to be fiercely irritated by this impudent and intrusive forcing. These biased myth-makers will go out of their way just to prove that before the advent of the abrahamic religions, people ate chairs and dirt.

Having listened to most of your previously released records, I think that on ‘Tir Nan Og’ you have progressed quite a bit in terms of musicianship as well as song writing. The songs feel more balanced and certainly more mature. What would you yourself mention as the biggest difference between your latest album and the ones you have released before?
It is always interesting to take into account the opinion of an outside observer. As for me, the last album is simpler and lighter than ‘Return…’ and ‘Age…’, where the song structures and arrangements were more complex and multi-layered.

In addition, on both this album and the next one I have used and will continue to use some recycled material from my previous band so that it does not completely fade into oblivion. By the way, the demo version of the song ‘The White Ship’ was created around 2004!

I think the maturity you mentioned was achieved precisely due to the greater simplicity of the music, which is easier to emphasize thanks to the competent work of the sound engineer.

It is also impossible not to mention that this time, in addition to the participation of the already familiar Drunemeton sound engineer Morning Star, the mastering was carried out by Vladimir Uzelac, a former member of Kawir, leader of the groups Terrorhammer and All My Sins. Not only did he do an excellent job on the mastering, he also recorded parts of authentic Balkan folk instruments. I think all these factors together led to this result.

Listening to ‘Tir Nan Og’ there was something that specifically struck me, besides the musical quality. The samples that you have used are not quite what you would expect to be used within music that usually is about nature and ancient cultures. Instead you have used police sirens and samples that seem to have been taken from a space documentary as well as several movie samples. What exactly was your idea behind this, it definitely makes something special?
In order to fully understand all the references found on the album, you should hold the album itself in your hands and watch the arts and read the lyrics. The samples and the arts are quite a strong reference to the 1984 British film ‘Threads’.

This film is about the consequences of a nuclear war, and this is not some fairy-tale crap like ‘Mad Max’. And it is more naturalistic and cruel than ‘Letters from a Dead Man’ and others like this one. It talks in as much detail and directly as possible about the consequences of nuclear war, as a result of the global sacrifice of humanity, the symbol of which is the burning wicker man on the cover, but more on that a little later.

I watched it for the first time during the Crimean events of 2014, and of course, I immediately turned to it again after a new round of events in Ukraine.

As one of the rather plausible options for the future, especially looking at how the South-East of Ukraine was actually razed to the ground without any nuclear weapons.

On the other hand, for now, we can rather judge the contractual nature of this war, and that money has triumphed over evil, so to speak, but everything can easily be replayed.

The “documentary pieces” you refer to are a voice-over narration of the consequences of a nuclear attack, when the youngest and oldest members of the human population disappeared during the winter due to disease, crop failure, nuclear contamination, etc. We slightly embellished this monologue with the keyboard theme from the following track.

Well, since the film is already quite old, we slightly supplemented the sounds of a nuclear attack to make them sound more convincing.

As for the surprise of the topic, something similar has already been done by at least Quorthon on his ‘Destroyer Of Worlds’, and Moonsorrow, on one of their latest albums, Vreid, etc.

I would like to talk about one a bit more. Amongst the samples used, there is also one taken from ‘The Wicker Man’, a movie that was first filmed back in 1973. A fascinating horror story. The Wicker Man is also used on the, splendid, cover of the album. What made you chose this specific movie for a song and the cover art of the album? What does that mean it to you?
The symbolism of this film used on the album, to me, has little to do with the “horror story” or even the so-called confrontation between christianity and the old religion. For me, the main thing was the opposition to the elite power that occupies the paradise island of Elysium and isolates itself there, sacrificing humanity inside a burning wicker figure.

The world is writhing on a sacrificial altar, stabbed by the old aristocrats who want to completely separate themselves from other people, wanting to ensure immortality and power through this sacrifice.

‘Tir Nan Og’, in the minds of the Celts, was a blessed land of eternal youth and an afterlife without disease or suffering. After christianisation, somehow it became a gloomy and homeless place in the land of graves. In this context, the world aristocracy occupies the land of eternal youth, closing it to all other people, turning the rest of the world into a land of graves. Yes, the title Graveland also takes its origins from this definition.

Picking up on the previous question a little, as you seem to take quite an unorthodox position when it comes to your stimuli. Besides the obvious topics and the things we have discussed already, what would you mention as your main non-musical sources of inspiration?
As far as it can be clear from previous answers, I have quite a lot of sources of inspiration outside of music. This is not only cinema and literature, it is life itself, various pages of history and what is happening in the world today.

If the topics of ‘Tir Nan Og’ were the war and emigration, then the topic of the next album will be the return of the prodigal ghost to the ruins of the deceased Carcosa in order to finally perish in grief and despair on the ruins of its fatherland aeons later. Something similar already was introduced in the ‘Flight Of The Swans’ track, referenced to the plot of the ‘Children Of Lir’, also another one strong and heart touching story about emigration, alienation and despair. But on the next album it will be viewed from deeper and detailed position.

When I was in Belgrade at a lecture about emigration from Crimea after the revolution, the teacher said the following phrase: “it is better to live on the pages of a history textbook than on its millstones”.

I paraphrased a little and called the future album ‘The Wheels Of History’. I think I have lifted the veil enough about other sources of inspiration and future releases.

Within your music more than once the ghost of Graveland shines through your compositions, so that would be an obvious influence to your music. Not that strange as that specific band can be considered the biggest act in the genre. Can you take us with you in what your favourite bands are and what they mean to the music that you create yourself?
Yeah, I think Graveland was definitely at the beginning. As time went on, and not least from reviews of Drunemeton, I also discovered Ancient Rites and Menhir, for example. It is also impossible not to mention such a timeless legend as Bathory.

Well, in general, if we talk about today, those I listen to with pleasure, and even get my bearings, are Primordial, Thyrfing, Enslaved, Falkenbach, Forefather, mentioned above Ancient Rites and Menhir and many, many others. To be honest, I wouldn’t want to turn this interview into a chapter in a music encyclopaedia.

Separately, I would like to mention Blind Guardian, whom I rediscovered in emigration. Their lyrics and music are perfect for such life adventures and twists. Unfortunately, I had problems with a visa, so I can’t get to their shows in nearby countries for now, but I will try to solve this problem.

In the past you have worked with a wide range of different labels, how did you end up on Heidens Hart Records for ‘Tir Nan Og’?
After moving, it became obvious that I needed to work with European labels. I’ve known Heidens Hart for a long time as the publisher of such gems as Forefather and Theudho, at least. Well, I knew Arjan as a member of such good bands as Heimdalls Wacht, Cultus and Uuntar.

I read a good review about one of my own on the label’s website and suggested collaboration. It must be said that Drunemeton’s business has picked up quite a bit recently due to the Heidens Hart promotion. For comparison, previously I had to organize release promotions at my own expense. Overall, I’m happy with Heidens Hart at the moment and plan to continue working with them in the future.

Your music has been released on CD and in digital form for the most part, with the only exception for a tape release of some of your earliest recordings. Is this a deliberate choice and are CD’s and digital files/streams just fine with you? For me, personally, I would love to see your music appear on analogue sound carriers as well, any plans for that?
If you have any suggestions for publishing Drunemeton on analogue media, I am always ready to consider them, but this is not a priority task, because now I’m busy with new material and preparing for possible live performances. Let’s see how it turns out.

In general, I have always been primarily interested in the possibility of publishing and distributing my albums on physical media, and CD has always been the most optimal format for this, because cassettes and vinyl are more for connoisseurs. The first priority was to bring Drunemeton’s music to people.

For the same reason, I didn’t really bother with fancy digibooks, digipaks and so on. If it’s just a regular jewel case, then why not, I have nothing against it.

We’re almost at the end of this Q&A, so, something light to slowly start rounding things off. I am always curious about what music my interviewee’s have been playing lately. So, Grannus, what were the last albums you were listening to and what have you recently picked-up yourself?
As for taking it into my hands, I left my entire music collection in Russia, and it is completely unclear when and how I will be able to transfer it to Serbia, and this, in general, does not matter. Here I listen to music mostly digitally.

From what I’ve been listening to most often lately… Let it be Blind Guardian “Tales From The Twilight World” and “Imagionations From The Other Side”, the first 4 albums of Forefather, Bathory “Blood On Ice”, Ancient Rites “Fatherland” and “Dim Carcosa”, Falkenbach, well, let’s also add the first two Thyrfing albums.

Judging from the intervals that you needed to come up with a new album, I’m guessing we will hear back from you with a new full-length in about two to three years. Or is there anything else we can expect from Drunemeton within the next couple of months?
In terms of new music, it’s unlikely that anything can be expected in the coming months; I’ll need at least a year to record everything properly and bring it to mind. As for other plans, I’m afraid to talk about it for now, so as not to jinx it.

Okay, Grannus, I’d like to express my appreciation for sharing this conversation with me. If you have the idea I have not touched upon everything that you would have liked to discuss, feel free to add it here as the last words are yours…
Thank you for this opportunity to speak. Without me, there are enough people who hoist the banner of one side or another on a shield and rush into battle with them, figuratively speaking, or in reality. However, my emigration in this sense speaks for itself, but I also allow myself to speak out in the topics raised on the albums. So immerse yourself in the work of Drunemeton, enough has been said there.