Blackened Horde: How did the band get started?
Lord Narcissus: I was doing a project before Ulfrinn that was more on the depressive side of things but it had a muse and that muse wasn’t providing me inspiration anymore. So I started up Ulfrinn in the summer of last year and basically improvised the first demo. Then just kept going with it as I realized it was more honest…
Blackened Horde: What kind of music do you play?
Lord Narcissus: Its been called atmospheric black metal, depressive black metal and even blackened doom. I think its an honest statement to call it black metal without adjectives. Its always changing in some way and I don’t think any of the demos sound similar to each other. So, experimental black metal maybe?
Blackened Horde: How has the fan response been?
Lord Narcissus: It’s been okay. More people seem to like it than I expected. When I started Ulfrinn I seriously thought no one would listen to it and if they did, they’d hate it. I seem to be mostly wrong about this but of course this music’s not for everyone Hell, I’m not really for everyone either.
Blackened Horde: Where did the band name come from?
Lord Narcissus: Ulfrinn is Old Norse for ‘The Wolf’ and refers symbolically to the beast I have within me. This is of course a reference to the howling of grief, rage, depression, longing, anxiety, etc. I’ve also always had a penchant for the Old Norse language.
Blackened Horde: Introduce the band members and what they do in the band.
Lord Narcissus: Just me. I play every instrument and do all of the recording.
Blackened Horde: Who writes the music? Lyrics?
Lord Narcissus: I’ve always liked going completely solo so I write all of the music and the lyrics. My lyrics are generally incomprehensible but to me they have much meaning..
Blackened Horde: And where do the lyric ideas come from?
Lord Narcissus: Primarily from within. I deal with internal themes and I often use terrifying descriptions to elaborate on what I’m talking about exactly. For me it’s often musings on the past, present and the inevitable future, which is the End. The only thing for certain in this life is Death and I think that’s an important point to emphasize here.
Blackened Horde: What is your view in Satanism and Occultism?
Lord Narcissus: I’m not a Satanist of any vein. I’m not LaVeyan, Theistic, Anti-cosmic, etc. but some Satanists I’ve met have been incredibly admirable in their ways of living life. However the majority of them are very misinformed and pathetic. As far as Occultism goes, that is a life-altering science if the Work is applied properly.
Blackened Horde: How many albums/CD’s have you released?
Lord Narcissus: So far 3 demos and 2 splits. I have a full length coming out later this year and another split planned with a band from California. Ought to be interesting!
Blackened Horde: Tell me about some the songs on the latest CD?
Lord Narcissus: I’ll just talk about the upcoming full length. The songs on that one are a bit simpler than they were on my previous material but this simplicity adds to the straight aggression and agony present in my music. They are better constructed and they have an objective as opposed to just going with the flow. This is also the only album where I play real drums throughout the entire thing.
Blackened Horde: Do you have any side projects?
Lord Narcissus: Not quite yet however I am working on a very strange project in the vein of what some might call dark ambient. More to come on that…
Blackened Horde: Who are some of your musical influences?
Lord Narcissus: There a lot of black metal bands that have influenced me but that list is quite too long to list. I will say that most of them are from the USA. I’m also influenced by goth bands like Christian Death, Neofolk groups like Death in June, and even classical guitarists like Nikita Koshkin.
Blackened Horde: Which current bands?
Lord Narcissus: Leviathan, Krieg, Striborg (wish he’d put out another album. I sure hope he does…), MGLA, etc. Also some really underground bands like Vore, Natanas, and Atel. Those guys are all one man bands and they certainly have one hell of a work ethic.
Blackened Horde: What is the band like when you play live?
Lord Narcissus: Ulfrinn has never played live but I have considered it and people have offered to make that happen.
Blackened Horde: Have you guys ever played in another country?
Lord Narcissus: Only in my delusional fantasies.
Blackened Horde: How big of crowd shows up at shows usually?
Lord Narcissus: If we do play live I’d imagine not that many!
Blackened Horde: How is the crowd response when you play?
Lord Narcissus: When it does happen I’d imagine we will get a lot of strange looks…
Blackened Horde: What do you think of the US Black Metal/Death Metal scene?
Lord Narcissus: Just like with every other scene, it has its good and bad. Here there is an over saturation of black and death bands, which of course I contribute to, so its really hard to find gems in the ocean of utter crap.
Blackened Horde: What do you think of the Overseas scenes?
Lord Narcissus: Same as above, unfortunately.
Blackened Horde: What are some of new favorite black metal/death metal bands?
Lord Narcissus: Well I don’t think they’re really new but anything off Voidhanger Records and Ancient Records (Sweden) is pretty fucking amazing.
Blackened Horde: When do you guys plan on writing any new material?
Lord Narcissus: I always am writing new material, I don’t think I’ll ever stop.
Blackened Horde: What does the future hold for the band??
Lord Narcissus: A lot more releases that are hopefully better and better. Also I am getting some merch made like t-shirts, patches, etc. Hopefully that goes well.
Thanks for the interview.
Contact them at:
https://www.facebook.com/ulfrinnusbm
