When we talk about French Black Metal, we quickly end up discussing bands such as Mütiilation, Deathspell Omega, and Antaeus, for example, but in a previous interview, I already mentioned that excellent bands such as Merrimack and Hell Militia sometimes remain somewhat overlooked. There may be a number of logical explanations for that, but that doesn’t mean these bands don’t deserve more recognition. I previously covered Merrimack, and now it’s Hell Militia’s turn. They may not have released a recent album, but they did release a much-appreciated reissue of their debut album ‘Canonisation Of The Foul Spirit’ through Darkness Shall Rise Productions. I spoke with Arkdaemon, guitarist and sole remaining original member, about that reissue, the way the band itself views its own heritage, and, for example, the remarkable choice of singers.
Recently your first album, ‘Canonisation Of The Foul Spirit’, was reissued by Darkness Shall Rise Records. I am sure that in the process of realising that re-release you went down memory lane quite a bit. How do you look back on that album, both musically and in terms of those early years of the band? Any sentimental feelings?
For a long time we refused re-releasing the first album despite the demands, it never felt quite right. I’m not sure we’ve been looking at it in a sentimental way, but we still play tracks live and we never looked back at it with a sentiment of unachievement. I guess stars aligned when Darkness Shall Rise asked us again.
As a whole I always felt that ‘Canonisation Of The Foul Spirit’, originally released in 2005, was a very strong debut. Yet, at the same time I had the idea it was largely overlooked. Twenty years ago was definitely a different time with internet playing a completely different role, so maybe I am wrong. But I have the idea that the album slowly started gaining more praise in recent years. How did you experience all this yourself?
Hmm, yes, maybe you’re right, at least it seems that the appeal for the first album remains intact after all these years. The fact that we play live a lot more nowadays helps I think. Internet both helped and ruined everything in my opinion, it opened things up to people who have absolutely no idea what they’re looking at, and it ends up just diluting everything. But that’s maybe just old fart me talking.
Your debut was initially only released on CD, with versions on cassette tape and vinyl following two years later. All three versions came with a different front cover. I always wondered what was behind that decision, can you enlighten me on this matter? The newly released editions all came with the same cover artwork, as originally appeared on the first vinyl version. Does this mean that this is your favourite, or that it best reflects the music as you see it?
Afraid this info has been lost in time. As for the new editions, it’s actually completely redone artwork, in the same spirit as the original but brand new. That was one of the conditions for us, We didn’t want to do a simple copy/paste.
Speaking of making artistic decisions, what made you choose to add a cover of Alice Cooper’s ‘Years Ago’? Usually bands in your musical range go for the more common stuff like covering Mayhem or Darkthrone; at least something that fits their own imagery. You guys have never been afraid to take a more experimental approach, although that wasn’t yet very evident on that first album…
Well, I’m guessing it’s because people mistake us for being only “black metal people”. I guess they’d be disappointed in the truth but whatever really. We end up having a lot of different tastes, and sometimes it pops up on some stuff. The Alice Cooper has been a bit of a spur of the moment thing, it’s wasn’t entirely planned but ended up being done anyway. I don’t know if we take an experimental approach but we try to stay true to our roots without being a cliché (at least we hope so), I believe that’s what makes us what we are.
Although there were some general complaints about a lack of quality a few years ago, I think Darkness Shall Rise Records is doing an absolute great job with reissuing older records. Whether it is a more or less underground band like Hell Militia or the recent reissues of bands like Gehenna, Nifelheim, Abigor and Cradle Of Filth: they all look and sound good. Are you yourself satisfied with the outcome?
We’re extremely happy with the result. Darkness Shall Rise has been very easy to work with, and were opened to anything. The quality of the new edition is exactly what we were looking for, faithful to the original, but proposing something new.
Let’s keep ‘Canonisation Of The Foul Spirit’ in mind and fast forward to ‘Hollow Void’, your last album. In terms of overall aesthetics, how would you describe the progression you made from your debut to your latest effort?
When it comes to aesthetics only, I’d say that we kept it on a single trajectory, it always had to be grim, dark and filthy (with maybe the exception of ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, but it’s not as luminous as one would think). One thing is certain, we aren’t going to stray from that path, we’re not ones to try to find new shitty ways to look, the competition is already strong there so no need to join that retarded fight.
On a musical level I think ‘Hollow Void’ is very much an album worthy of the Hell Militia moniker, it feels like a more advanced version of ‘Jacob’s Ladder’, its predecessor. You’ve taken another step in further adding some complexities to the mix. That slightly unorthodox way of song crafting has been something that developed with each subsequent Hell Militia album. Was this something that was planned from the outset, but simply became clearer as time progressed?
Totally planned. We had this idea of wanting to get back to the roots of ‘Canonisation of the Foul Spirit’ with the more complex approach of ‘Jacob’s Ladder’. We simply took this idea and built around it, and it just felt right so I guess we were right using this method.
That brings me to a subject that never ceases to interest me: the creative processes musicians go through and the paths they follow to eventually end up with a new record in their hands. So, when you decided it was time for a new Hell Militia album, how did that work? How exactly did this album come about, specifically in terms of creativity?
The album has been in the works for a long time, the creative process has been slowed down by poor decisions. I mean the decision to make what became ‘Hollow Void’ was almost straight after the release of ‘Jacob’s ladder’, but it still took ten years… It was also a completely different way to write for Hell Militia, whereas everything was written by Torturer before, it took a much more collective approach this time. I guess this way of doing brought a breath of new air and helped our creativity.
Another thing people wondered about after the release of ‘Jacob’s Ladder’: it took about ten years to come forward with its sequel. In that decade of silence we haven’t seen or heard much of the band, at one point I even saw a claim that the band was on an indefinite hiatus. Ten years is indeed a long time, what kept you from returning to action?
We were never on a hiatus, but life & Death happened. Meyhna’ch didn’t want to tour anymore and left, Torturer vanished, we figured we needed a break from playing live to work on the writing of ‘Hollow Void’, unfortunately that didn’t go as planned and it ended up being dragged way too long. And then covid delayed things even more (funny story: the day we got out of rehearsal having decided on a date to start recording was also the day that France got into lockdown…).
With the resurrection of the band and around the release of ‘Hollow Void’, Hell Militia also got way more active playing live shows. I saw you playing the Veneration Of The Dead festival in Rotterdam in 2023, but you have done quite some more shows too. I understand that playing shows is a logical way of promoting a new album, but I can imagine that it was quite challenging after such a long period of relative inactivity and with a partially new line-up?
Not really, as said previously we never really were inactive, just very slow. The new line up brought new blood and it has been working very well since. Surprisingly getting back on the saddle was very smooth. Now I’m not sure we take live as a promotion tool, that’s really what we like to do best and we’d do it, new album or not.
One aspect that always stood out about Hell Militia was the choice of vocalists. First there was Meyhnach (Mütiilation), who was with the band from its inception and for the first 10 years, followed by Dutchman Rogier Droog (formerly of Funeral Winds and Bethlehem, among others) for the next decade, and most recently the relatively unknown Spir Ignis. Can you explain the choice of your new singer? What made you trust he was the right choice? After all, he has some big shoes to fill…
He did have big shoes to fill indeed. But choice came fairly naturally, first he’s a friend and second we knew what he was worth before asking him. As a result I believe he’s our strongest frontman when it comes to live performance (at least the feedbacks go this way). Next step will be recording.
Still, I think you tend to keep good contact with your former vocalists, or at least with Meyhnach as he appeared on ‘Hollow Void’ for a guest appearance. His trademark vocals are very evident and give the song a bit of a glimpse of the past. Was this a way to close the Meyhnach-chapter of Hell Militia, or was there another reason for it, perhaps on a more artistic level?
Absolutely not a way to close a chapter, Meyhna’ch is a good friend (was before joining Hell Militia too, if you can spot the pattern here), and we were listening to early demos of “Hollow Void” at my place and he immediatly said he’d like to do an appearance on a song. It only felt very normal, sort of a continuity. On a more artistic note, the song he appears on is about the perpetual corruption of the mind/world, he was the perfect choice for that.
Speaking of keeping contact and ties to other musicians. Ever since I got into Extreme Metal, people like to say that France is a dead country when it comes to Black Metal. However, there were and are many excellent and influential French bands, with a wide variety of musical preferences too. Blut Aus Nord doesn’t sound like Aosoth, and Mütiilation is rather different from Deathspell Omega. As an insider, how do you view the French scene, both back in the 90’s and in the current musical climate? Do you think there is a lack of global recognition? And how do you view the interpersonal relationships between French bands?
France is a weird country when it comes to “rock ‘n’ roll” as a whole. Musical culture here doesn’t tend to lean towards extreme metal, that’s maybe why it generated something good in the end. That good old sense of rebellion if you will. Now I’m not in this for “scenes”, it’s usually pure bullshit. And also it turned out to be a shitshow anyway. All that matters is individuals and how you get to interact with them.
An obvious last question… Of course, now that you guys are “back,” I hope Hell Militia will be more definitive on the front lines. Is there anything taking shape as a successor to ‘Hollow Void’?
Something is brewing at the moment, yes. I could give a tentative date, but I would probably be jinxing it.
Thank you for your time and for giving us a glimpse into the world of Hell Militia. I’d like to leave the final words to you…
Keep it underground, keep it real! This is the only place where things still seems to still have an importance. All these new silly trends to appeal to the masses are not what Black Metal should be about, I’ll leave it at that.
