Aethir (NATVRE'S): we express the despair and indignation

Metalfan: Hi and welcome to Metalfan.ro! When I think about Greece, the first things that come to my mind are Zorba the Greek, the national football team that won Euro 2004, and the bands Rotting Christ, Necromantia and Nightfall. What are the first things that come to your mind when you think about Romania?
Aethir: Hi! We’re glad to talk with you. I think that Vlad Ţepeş and Transylvania are the first things that come to any mind that thinks about Romania. I also barely remember as a kid the news about Ceauşescu’s downfall and of course the Vlachs, which is a group that correlates our countries.

Metalfan: How did you start playing metal? How did you discover music in the first place? Do you have any musical education?
Aethir: If you mean music schools or something like that I have to tell you that we don’t even imagine how a music school is from the inside. We are all self-taught. Everyone so far has made his own efforts to improve himself, but our friction with music improves our skills daily. We are three guys that grew up in a similar way, so our incentives were common, we have always loved extreme sounds, extreme music and generally music, so I think that metal discovered us and not the opposite.

Metalfan: Even if it was formed in 2014, Natvre's is still a new comer. Could you please tell us how did it all start? Your story in your own words...
Aethir: We used to play together in another band until we separate our ways for many non-musical reasons, but as we continuously followed more and more the underground path individually, we decided to reunite and create Natvre’s, working on Foedraan’s ideas. I think that we are still new comers. Our album is not officially released yet. Argento Records will undertake this task soon, so we include it in the 2016 releases.

 

 

Metalfan: Your music have been described as a mix between Mayhem, Darkthrone, crust-core, Scandinavian d-beat and post rock. Do you agree? How do you see your music?
Aethir: We agree with everything. It depends to the ear. Our music is our inner expression, but technically speaking you can hear all these in our sound. We could also add many other influences, there were many people who told us that when they hear our music they recognise influences that in many cases we didn’t even think about them in the first place. Surely the foundations of our music are based on Burzum, Darkthrone, Mayhem etc., but we are equally inspired from the dark underground of the last 15 years and bands like Cursed, The Secret, Grime, Mgla, Cornigr, The Body, Antimob, Portal, DHG, Menace Ruine, Mortuus, Leviathan and many other bands.

Metalfan: In December 2015 you have released your first full-length album - Wrath on Bandcamp and on 26th of January via Clean Head Productions. Why “Wrath”? Please, could you tell us more about the meaning of the title?
Aethir: As I told you before, music for us is an inner expression and we want to transmit emotions through it and not just sterile melodies and lyrics based on a musical technique. So there was nothing better for us to name our album with the dominant emotion that prevails in our inner world.

Metalfan: Day and night, sun and moon, good and evil… On Wrath you have an extreme approach of the music. I personally don’t consider that a metal band always have to play fast and loud to create interesting music. Do you consider or see yourself trying something else in the future with Natvre's? Like something in the direction of the Ulver’s works from the last couple of years or even Hawkwind in the search of the boundaries of the Universe…
Aethir: Our music always transforms, but the basic core remains the same. We don’t want to prove anything, we just want to create music that characterizes us, music that when someone that knows us personally will hear, he’ll “see” our reflection coming out of his speakers.
An experimental ambient approach already exists in our first album and it is something that we like and we are going to include it also in the second album, but in a more advanced way.

Metalfan: Nature creates, nature destroys. You obviously create some good music, what do you want to destroy? What is the message you try to transmit through your lyrics and through your music? Please, tell us more...
Aethir: Creative chaos is the right expression. We have a nihilistic approach as persons so that comes through our music and our lyrics. We express the despair and indignation of all these contradictory “natvre’s” [Ed. Note: nature’s] that are included in the human existence.
 

 

Metalfan: Maxime Taccardi from K.F.R. has signed the artwork for your debut album. Please, tell us more about the final result and about this collaboration...
Aethir: Saathield found Maxime’s work on Facebook and we immediately noted that his aesthetic perfectly matched our own. Maxime goes far beyond graphic standards and creates within an artistic mood, inspired by the music and contributing literally, even with his blood. On the cover we see exactly what we wanted to reflect, a feeling of discomfort, despair and indignation. Furthermore the cover has also contributed to the title.

Metalfan: Historically, the Greek civilization is one of the most important in the human history. How do you see the situation of Greece from the last couple of years? I'm thinking about the financial crisis and also about the immigrants looking for a better life...
Aethir: Past is past. You should be proud of it only if you seem worthy standing beside it, if you just carry it just to cover your weakness you don’t deserve it. On the other hand, we admit that the situation is difficult for us and for all the people, but we have to accept that we live in an age where things are going to be more and more worst globally. Nobody can hide from the financial crisis, the human stupidity is greater than the universe, so we are doomed to live the circle again and again.

Metalfan: Here at Metalfan.ro we are fans of mix-tapes. Would you like to choose 12 songs from 12 different bands for a “virtual mix-tape”? Which it would be the title of this compilation?
Aethir: This is great. Let’s keep it simple. We’ll name it “Natvre’s Mix-Tape” and its going to have three parts. Foedraan side:

01.    Hexvessel – Woods To Conjure
02.    New Model Army – I Love The World
03.    Virus – The Agent That Shaped The Desert
04.    Antimob – Δόγμα

Aethir side:

05.    The Secret – Seven Billion Graves
06.    Wolfbrigade – In Darkness You Feel No Regret
07.    Darkthrone – Divided We Stand
08.    Mayhem – In The Lies Where Upon You Lay

Saathield side:

09.    Dødheimsgard – Traces of reality
10.    Trap Them – Darker Handcraft
11.    Lethe/Ληθη – Funereal Pall/Νεκροσαβανο
12.    Skitliv – Skandinavisk Misantropi

Metalfan: This year you’ll perform in Romania on the stage of November to Dismember Metal Fest. What have you heard so far about this festival? Have you ever been in Romania before?
Aethir: No, none of us have been in Romania yet. To be honest we’ve learned about November to Dismember Metal Fest when Mihai “Coro” sent us an email to join November to Dismember Metal Fest’s 2016 line-up. We saw material that he sent us and we liked it very much. Also Mihai is a very communicative person and we became friends so we feel that we’re going to give a show in a familiar environment.
 

 

Metalfan: There will be any merchandise with Natvre's at November to Dismember Metal Fest? Like CD’s, t-shirts, etc.?
Aethir: Everything is going to be arranged properly I hope. We’re going to have CDs from the Argento Records release, maybe some vinyls and T-shirts and of course Coro’s tape release on Wrath in a special limited edition only for November to Dismember Metal Fest.

Metalfan: Until November to Dismember Metal Fest do you have in mind to release the second album or at least an EP?
Aethir: The next album is almost ready in demo version. We plan to record soon, but it will be fully released in 2017. Maybe some friends will have the opportunity to hear some new staff at our live gigs, but I can’t promise that.

Metalfan: Thank you for your time and for your answers! In the end would you like to add something or to send a few words to our readers?
Aethir: We’d like to thank you for your interest, we are glad that we have the opportunity to present our work in Romania and we hope to meet everyone that reads this interview right now at November to Dismember Metal Fest.