Battle Dagorath Interview

The following interview was originally published during the winter of 2013 for the Spanish and print only 'zine QUINTAESENCIA, which is based out of Chile. As such, Battle Dagorath asked me to post the English version so more people could read it.

QUINTAESENCIA: Salve give me an introduction to the band, for those who do not know.
Black Sorcerer Battle: Greetings, Battle Dagorath was conspired in 2002. We have recently released our 3rd full-length album on Italian label ATMF, entitled “Cursed Storm of Ages.” The group consists of myself (Vocal, Guitar, Bass), ShadowVoid (Guitar), & Vinterriket (Keyboards) and on this latest offering we are joined by Radok (Lorn), who has done the drums. Battle Dagorath represents the Darkness and Mystery of the Universe.

One of the inspirations for Battle Dagorath is JRR Tolkien. How has it influenced you and the band?
Tolkien has inspired us, yes especially in the past, on our first album. And still he does today. But the group has evolved now to incorporate other ideas into the fold. Lyrically we have become much more Alchemic and Hallucinatory. But yet in the end, the message is still much the same as Tolkien’s.

Musically I hear some Limbonic Art within Battle Dagorath, but obviously Battle Dagorath has a personal seal, which would be your musical influences?
Thematically speaking, on this latest album there is a continuation of the occult conjurations initialized on “Ancient Wraith” with more of a surrealist influence also applied in various ways. The song “Processional Across Dreamed Landscapes” has the influence of some Werner Herzog films, dealing with ritual hypnosis, psychoanalysis and untouched places. “Macrocosmic Haunting Vision” is influenced by Carl Sagan writings. “Interdimensional Passageway between Worlds” is about shamanism and the astral plane. “Myth of the Cold Ghost Sea” is about Zecharia Sitchin’s “12th Planet” Nibiru and the subsequent Nibiru Doomsday theory.

Battle Dagorath represents literally the approaching end of the world, as you think will be the annihilation of humanity and will be a new rebirth or the end of everything?
We have evolved as a predatory species our destiny is invariably annihilation. History is a manipulated story used to amuse and entertain the masses. Humans like to imagine ourselves as something supreme, the most arrogant creature known. Likely an asteroid will destroy us and mass extinction will occur again.

Winter represents, in some measure, desolation and a spiritual isolation, for you what is winter and do you see it spiritually?
Winter is the end of the cycle, the final act and the grandest of them all. Where death and sleep operate in parallel. This is the glorious darkness that is our inspiration.

Do you think that war is something intrinsic in the human being?
I think that the Dragon King Deities (satan) and Hybrid reptilian bloodlines designed it as such. Well in the cosmic scheme of things now the world is in the throes of chaos. The Annunaki have changed sides, become good and left the earth permanently. The illuminati has no more negative entities to drive their blood rituals. The committee of 300 is in the throes of collapse with no real leader.

What do you think of the demiurge who is imposed us the cosmic order? your time as the macrocosm (opposing forces fight)?
I think H.P. Lovecraft answered this question well, “We live on a placid Island in the midst of the Black Seas of Infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.”

In darkness the key, in the antimatter, the Kingdom of darkness, as understand it intuitively?
Death is the great mystery. Death is the great leveler. Death is all.

Where do you find your occult, science, nature and religion?
I don’t separate these things; they are all related inside our little world.

How is your area where you live? Here in Chile of the Andes is a great inspiration for me, some bands that you can recommend in your geographic area?
We live in a man-made oasis within a basin submerged between steep mountain ranges and surrounded by the endless pacific ocean and Death Valley (Mojave Desert). We live on the San Andreas fault line always in constant danger of the inevitable earthquake that will sink us into the bottomless pit. Our little human ingenuity which pales next to earth’s power has created a distorted illusion of safety, we live within this phenomenon. Yes, the Andes are something incredible -- I must visit Machu Picchu before my last days. I’m sure you must have been there.

As far as bands from here, I can mention to you Lord Time is really good. Beyond that we lost interest in the watered down local “scene” long ago. This is only a way to perpetuate the drones/puppets with weak cliché tribal mentalities. It’s better to avoid all these falsities.

Do you expect to achieve a connection with the cosmos, some astral travel, some understanding of the incomprehensible?
Think about space. Not only outer space and physical boundaries but also inner space. It is impossible to scale and this makes us feel small. I feel small and far removed at times and I push myself farther away in a kind of compulsion, we cling to our temporary comforts. But eventually we are driven in search of more… emotions and sensations elude us. We chase them. I can become mesmerized by something outside myself, a person or a place, that I try to reflect its power and the way it makes me feel. With this emblematic gesture we tap into other dimensions. With these oblique visions we create our altered state to accompany us for this journey of dementia and illumination. Here is the only journey possible for exceeding the limits of the human condition. Inner fulfillment and inner transfiguration, the meaning of that freedom is more than human, which means no escape, but the principle of a pure force that is realized in the domain of the irrational part of the polished cold mind. This is the essence of our art.

Thanks for your time. What can we expect next from Battle Dagorath?
For now we shall disappear for some time into the abyss and at some future point we shall re-emerge with news about a 4th album. Until then we won’t know when we shall meet again, in case we don’t return, then will see you all in Hell my friends!