Hell Spawn

The story goes that the concept of Ereb Altor is already older than Isole (even older than Forlorn). How come then that you redirected your focus more to Isole instead of Ereb Altor then?
That is not true. Let's see if I can shed some on this story. Ereb Altor is a child of underground Doom band Forlorn which later changed the name to Isole. The more Bathory influenced material became Ereb Altor 2003 when we decided that some of these songs were too good to fall into oblivion. So in other words Ereb Altor was formed in 2003 and not in 1990 but the songs we recorded on "The Awakening" demo was written as Forlorn songs in the early 90's, but they didn't really fit under the Isole moniker and the idea to do a more Bathory sounding project was born.

Another story says that Ereb Altor was formed in the first place to make music that pays tribute to Bathory or more specific Quorthon. How true is that story?
That story has a lot of truth in it. We thought maybe it was time to unleash our old songs to honour the remembrance of Quorthon. I still haven't heard any band that have come anywhere near his epic work in style and we gave it a shot. Still I'm not sure if we really succeeded.

There are some Bathory influences hearable (far less than on "By Honour"), but you can't call Ereb Altor really a tribute band, there are a lot of other elements (doom, folk, pagan, pure heavy metal, ...). What do you consider as your main influences?
I agree, our debut has more Bathory influences. I figure you can't try to sound like that on several albums. Ereb Altor moved a bit forward to its own style, and that comes natural I guess. Our main influence is of course Bathory, that kind of obvious but we are not Quorthon and our roots sets our stamp on the music. Influence is a hard issue, it's not that easy to pin point what you are influenced of from time to time.

Especially the share of folklore or elements of your native music has been quite extended. I read you were both in some folk band in the early nineties. Must have made some impression or was it always in your blood?
Yes, we played in a folk music band "Februari 93" in the middle of the nineties. We have always been fascinated by our folk music so it's clear that we bring some of these elements in when we create music.

"The end" is less raw than your debut "By honour" but I'm still not sure if it's because of a cleaner, more open production or because of more use of acoustic parts. Can you help me out?
The compositions are a bit more complex on the new album and the production is cleaner. That is probably two things that differs the two albums in this matter.

Actually when you write music, do you let your inspiration flow or do you decide if you're in a Isole or Ereb Altor mood?
When I write songs and I often have an idea of a full composition and I know instantly which band it suits, to me the compositions of Isole and Ereb Altor is different. It's a lot more pressure when it comes to Isole, we are four rather strong wills pulling in all kinds of direction and everyone has to be pleased with all compostions. So Ereb Altor is kind of a relief, I feel that I could do as I wish and don't have to consider what everyone thinks. I don't have the luxury to build up certain surroundings our moods to create music, I just let the music come to me whenever the music is willing to embrace my soul. It could be while I'm sitting with my acoustic guitar in my kitchen when my kids is running around screaming and making all kinds of noise or it could be when I'm out taking a walk in my neighborhood humming a melody that is stuck in my head. When I come to think of it I think I write music while driving my car as well, ideas comes to me when I am alone and when I let my mind flow free.

The artefact on the album cover seems a valuable historic piece of art. What is it, what does it symbolize?
It's a medallion of mine, it's supposed to be a good luck charm when you travel. It's the Fenris wolf bound in his chains so the world is safe. It's called Fenris bound.

I know you did some festival gigs after the debut, because that was easier to organise (and probably to afford as well). Are you thinking in the same way to promote this album or would you consider a club tour as well?
We will probably not do any club tour. Festivals should suit us rather fine since we have to borrow guest musicians on every occasion. But if the right opportunity comes up for a tour we will of course consider the possibility.

In the interview we did for Isole last year you told us that you wanted to do something else before thinking or recording a "Redemption part II". Was this Ereb Altor album that 'something else' or are you already in the process for a new Isole album as well?
No, this is not "something else" that I wanted to do in between. We will probably start to record the next Isole album this summer but it will NOT be "Redemption part II". Isole will wait a bit until the complete Redemption story is written before we unleash the next part. Concept albums takes longer to create so we thought it was better to do a "regular" album in between.

http://www.myspace.com/erebaltor

Pow