WOLFCHANT INTERVIEW By CRAIG OBERT
It’s no secret that Germany is home to a host of outstanding Metal bands. Accept, Helloween, Kreator, SCORPIONS! (a personal favorite.) Get ready to add another name to a very long list. WOLFCHANT!! This band was formed in 2003 in Lower Bavarian (Germany) St. Oswald.
They are new to me, but I expect they will become a fast favorite. Give them a listen; I am sure you will agree. Wolfchant brings us outstanding music. Depending on who you ask, it can be labeled as (and I hate labels by the way) Black Metal, Power Metal, Pagan Metal…whatever label you care to use, this band brings it! A perfect combination of clean and harsh vocals, intense guitar work, and furious drumming, Wolfchant is poised to be a frontrunner in the Metal world.
They have taken time to talk to Metalheads Forever…..thank you so much.
How are things in your world? Just a little busy I imagine.
Hi, yes we are always very busy – together as a band with music but also in our ordinary personal lives. Sometimes it feels like time is always working against us but that’s how it is. We’ve had also a quite intensive and emotional year up to now which for sure will stay in our memories for a very long time.
Wolfchant is a new band to me…and perhaps to some of our readers. How would you describe your music?
It’s a good question which we also sometimes discuss within the band. In the end if you call it kind of Epic Pagan Metal you can’t be completely wrong. We are no fans of creating new names for mixtures of several styles anymore.
Since you are new to me, I get to listen to all of your material in one fell swoop. It is intriguing to hear an artist evolve over the years. What are your thoughts on your progression as a band? Where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
Well it’s clear that the musical skills and the growing experience matures a band over time which is good. For sure other things like line-up changes or being in different phases of life have its part on it as well. Finally you are never the same band as several years ago due to the fact that so many things are going on all the time. It’s difficult to say where we are in five years from now and what it will sound like. At the moment the future looks quite promising and we are motivated to reach the top of whatever this will be!
Your new album Bloodwinter was recently released. What do you want fans to know about this new album? How does it differ from earlier albums?
That’s true, Bloodwinter was released in January this year. For me it’s the most epic and consistent one compared to the older stuff. As done in most of the previous records we have songs in English and German language, strong hook lines and a combination of melodic and harsh vocals. This time we used orchestration as a stronger element as before to underline the epic feeling transported through our lyrics and melodies.
With a new album comes a tour (hopefully)…what are your plans for touring?
We already participated on a short tour called Wolfsfest and we also had several great festival shows in Germany such as Wacken and Summer Breeze. In winter we will play some more single shows in Austria and our home base in Lower Bavaria. In the beginning of 2018 we play a lot of concerts and also a lot of Festivals around Europe. Also a small US Tour is in our planning.
You have been playing a lot of festivals. Do any of them stand out from the others? In your opinion, what would be the ultimate line up for a festival?
This was a memorable year in our band’s history as we played two of the biggest Metal festivals Wacken and Summerbreeze first time and in the same year. In February 2018 we will enter the great 70000 tons Of Metal cruise which will be another emotional milestone for us. We like the challenges and there’s more to come hopefully also in other parts of the world.
You have had a few lineup changes over the years. How does this affect the overall production? Can you share your creative process?
Yes, it worked out to be quite challenging to keep a constant line-up over many years. You always need to find the right constellation regarding personal and musical agreements and skills and sometimes it’s simply fate that deals a new hand. But at least over the years the founding members Skaahl and Lokhi which are doing most of the songwriting and lyrics are still in the Band, so the basic sound of WOLFCHANT is still the same.
Your lyrics are most provocative. Newborn Killer is especially amazing. Can you share some of your musical influences…and your non-musical influences?
We have many influences and several lyrical themes that are always present in our songs. We have a mystic feelings about nature’s powers, it’s creativity but also its destructiveness. We are fascinated by the basic instincts of its creatures including human. Sometimes also current topics like the child abuse of the catholic church or all the war that happens around the world is influencing the lyrics. In the beginning of Wolfchant we created a lot of stories out of the nordic mythology in which we are very interested.
You recently lost Gorthrim. Our sincerest condolences. Can you share any material or thoughts on how this affected the band?
Thank you. In this regards we cheer our friend In Memory! We were simply shocked and deeply saddened. The only way was to move on also in his spirit.
There are many bands playing Black Metal…Pagan Metal…Power Metal. How do you stand apart from the rest? What are your plans for rising above the rest?
If I look around I don’t actually see so many bands doing the same melodic and epic style with two vocalists sounding as we do. If you are a band you simply realize after a time once the stamp is one it you’ll keep it forever. Wolfchant was started as a Pagan Metal band and this image will always remain in the heads of the people even if the band and the music has changed a lot over the band’s history. It’s ok as it is I would say.
Cheers and thanks a lot for the interview. Nortwin / Lokhi / Wolfchant
Craig Obert/MHF Magazine
