FLEURITY + DODHEIMSGARD

I met S.E. Hatlevik in Venice, near the station, in Castelreggio and after a certain research for a place where to speak away from the tourism confusion we started a very interesting interview, absolutely out of the ordinary conformism of some well-known ordinary talks.

I started talking about the epic mood, that’s for me one of the most famous topics in the metal tradition, and listening, from the beginning, to the different approach of the Fleurety’s music I asked if it’s true that they searched for a deeper feeling and involvement.
Hatlevik said that ...there’s not only metal in Norway, there’re always landscapes but I never thought to be inspired by nature, in spite of the fact that we are nature, everything around here is nature.

I asked him an answer about what’s the meaning of extreme music. Hatlevik after a longer breath started about how for him the difference is between the music listened by the masses, ...there’s the commercial music on the streets, the distinction is the extreme, is the music the few people listen to... and he made clear that ...there’s nothing in the music itself that make it extreme, fast or slow..INTERVIEW MADE BY "ILD" ILDANACHH

You have to know what people think to be normal to do something extreme...
Ild -What’s are your target when you write a new composition?
Hatlevik -You simply sit down and write something, the expression come afterwards...you let the thing happens.

I was interested to know witch was for Hatlevik the border between experimental music and the shocking target and he answered me without hesitation that ...If you’re making music there are no borders..., then I explained him of how I got the impression that some bands where too much influenced by the possible reaction of the scene instead of doing something personal, avantgarde band but also steady, Ulver as DarkFuneral, for different reasons, the first for the desire of rebellion and the other for keep a tradition, but Hatlevik say that ...it depends of how you communicate with people and if you have the idea of how the people are going, we (as Fleurety and Dodheimsgard) aren’t surely interested to do albums like Dark Funeral and It’s not a problem to try to shock people, if you want to shock them it’s ok fore me....

Then we start talking about the difference that I can hear from a trendy and commercial version of futuristic and pseudo-extreme band like The Kovenant and a real extreme challenge like Dodheimsgard and Fleurety and he claim, ...If you’re making music and the most innovative band for you is Marilin Manson you’re not going to do something special. I’m listening to a very diverse kind of music...when I was in contact with other guys in the metal scene there weren’t so many people interested in the intellectual aspect of the music. Black Metal was extreme years ago but now in Norway it’s not considered an extreme music. Under a Funeral moon is a very simple music but so many things happens, now it seems ridiculous but in the past it was ok and with a great feeling. Now it isn’t the same sensation, it’s not like in the past... I agree with Hatlevik that the lyrics of some interesting bands, and the intellectual side of their creation, isn’t the top priority for the metal crowd, but for some bands it’s a logical reaction to the emptiness of their lyrics, but I’m interested to know which music he’s actually listen to and he told me ...electronica and contemporary classical music...Aphex Twin, Square Pusher and for the contemporary "Ligeti and Nordheim..."It’s great to listen to something modern, of the present, of something that’s happening around you, we don’t sound like The Kovenant because I believe that we listen to different kind of music...

I was thinking about the incredible 7’’, the first Fleurety creation, and specifically about what I was believing to be an effect instead of the voice, ‘cause of how inhuman it sounds, but he assure me that this is a real human voice, passing to the debut album I asked about about the melancholic feeling that I can hear in the background and he made me a question about the meaning of that word, I answered something sad but that in some context can became positive, a personal emotion..., he prefer to talk of the calm and relaxed sensation of that album. Hatlevik: ...Many people are afraid and happy to be alone, it’s like to be in contract with yourself and I don’t think that the melancholic feeling is sad or desperate, you choose to be melancholic, you wanted to. When I think to ...Min Tid Skald Komme I listen to a relaxing album, like Pink Floyd and I use to listen to Pink Floyd.

Ild -The last Fleurety’s album is very different from the debut, there’s much more diversity, variety, different moods, not only an obscure vision but much more abstract...like a sensation of freedom, what’s the meaning behind that change?..., without fearing any hesitations the answer is that ...It’s a kind of attempt to demonstrate a kind of relativity, that there aren’t any rules in music and like in a lot of areas in life there’re conflicts with rules. It’s a demonstration of how the things can work against the rules. In metal the rules are dominant and they’re shrinking your world of experience, but who are the people that are fixing that rules? Where’re those people? I think that it’s more interesting to try the flexibility of the rules, of how they can be scratched. Ild -So do you think that rules there’s creativity?..., S.E. answer with a peremptory "Yes"

I was interested to know the reason behind so many well-known guest appearances in the last Fleurety Album, names like Hellhammer (Mayhem-The Kovenant), Sverd (Arcturus), Carl Michael-Ende (Dodheimsgard-Ved BuensEnde)...Hatlevik said that ...It was more like to make something living, alive, it was great doing it, people were coming in and, after listening to the songs, improvise.
Talking about a musician that I highly respect, Carl-Michael Ende, I asked S.E. some information about the actual situation in Ved Buens Ende and in Dodheimsgard. V.B.E. have talked about a new album from about 8 years and nothing happens, but I think that the next DHG album will be very interesting in a way similar to Ved Buens Ende. Carl-Michael is playing in DHG and it seems that his influences are giving an interesting addiction to the already extreme and awesome Dhg musical spectrum. S.E. ask me if I can hear some links between the Carl past musical experience in VBE and "666 International", the last Dodheimsgard album, that for me is a rebel son of the chaos path, for him the "connection is obvious" and listening to some passages of "666" I have to admit that fact.

Talking about other avantgarde metal acts like Sigh and Arcturus Hatlevik seem to appreciate, and he also like the last controversial New Mayhem "Grand Declaration of War", in my opinion very poor, he probably like their challenge to do something different, "They tried" he say "but yes...", he admit under my hint, "...the sound is horrible".

I think that it’s obvious that Fleurety’s members haven’t only a metal background and so I ask Hatlevik to tell me his past musical experience outside metal music. He told me that he was part of Psychedelic-Rock. S.E.Hatlevik I’ve been making electronic music and I’ve got a project on my own, Alexander (the other Fleurety’s member) lives in England, so we don’t’ meet too often, I’ve got a lot of things on my computer. I ask him the Fleurety’s future, having known the Alexander transfer, he thinks that they will probably make another album but he doesn’t know when.

"666 International" has been one of those album that you can hate or love, but that undoubtedly have something to say, personally I go totally crazy for some songs of that futuristic album of rebellion, I asked Hatlevik what he think about that album after some time of its release and he answered me that "...the ideas were good, but it’s too much messy and I think that the songs aren’t too well structured. I think that the next album will be better, in some way it will be more extreme...We’re not trying to do a lot of fans and I think that there’s a lot of unrealised potential in black metal, but the majority of the people are insecure, they listen to Darkthrone and think the they are greater then them and that they have to sound like them, but yes "666 International" is a very traditional black metal album..., then we start talking about the early ’90 and S. E. says that "the good music is supposed to change your life and that’s what happened to me listening to "A Blaze in the Northern Sky..." (I totally agree) and then we talk about how black metal is surviving from the decadence that in the past afflicted thrash and death metal, because of their conservation of standards and we agreed about the fact that black metal can be the gateway to different influences and experimental things, to other kinds of music.
We also talked about the actual Darkthrone flop and together with me S.E. said that the last Darkthrone’s album is boring, commercial..., and at the end we started to discuss about other things, also not strictly musical (Mass-media domination, society, international troubles)...and after that conversation I can say to have know a very interesting and guy, not only a skilled musician, a person that have a great respect for the music, its mood and attitude!

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