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From Baden-Württemberg in Germany, Nebelhorn is the project from Wieland and shows the strength that the country still has in the metal scene.
With one EP and 3 full-length the project makes a journey through the viking era and also talks about emotions and nature. If you like Viking Metal you should check the project that in 14 years of existence already gave us excellent works.
GroundCast: To warm up, could you tell us a bit of the band’s journey so far?
The “founding” has no specific “date of birth” in my view, it started as an unnamed idea out of my enthusiasm for the Viking culture and mythology, as well as for Metal. So it formed more and more around 2000 … As far as I can remember I drew the logo back in 2002 for the first time as it is today. Music, text and sound ideas concretized / condensed in the time span. Together with Thorsten and Frank, me and my then wife rented a rehearsal room and there we practiced there until the recording of the mini CD “Utgard” in 2004.
2005, “Gen Helwegs Grund” came out which I think is the most well known Album of Nebelhorn out there, in 2007 I issued the Album “Fjordland Sagas” which was not that present in the listeners minds because of the shrinking support of the major magazines. The growing trend of filesharing did the rest.
GroundCast: What are your influences?
I think every genre has influenced me in certain ways, if you want to hear band names directly, I think of old Thyrfing, Einherjer and Enslaved. At the early days I listened to Dad´s stuff like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Uriah Heep, and more! Moviescores as well. Many moods and feelings, certainly influences from the medieval world had an effect on me. The Edda and various history and nonfiction books with archaeological background have always fascinated me. In my opinion, this is the “factual part” of Nebelhorn’s lyrics. The “emotional part” comes from my experiences of feeling, as well as from the recognition of circumstances and processes in the environment. The result is the stories that are found in the texts beyond the Edda and mythology.
Today I have a very wide range of genres and I am enjoying it listening to all of them often. To me, every music genre has their own charme and gems.
GroundCast: I looked in the metal-archives and in the first EP Nebelhorn was a band and after became a one-man band. Why did happen?
To be honest, it was not an easy day. Thorsten and Frank did great on the Utgard, but as time went on our points of view depending the way of Nebelhorn got to different, so we decided to go our own ways.
GroundCast: I live in Germany since 2014 and always when I see a band that plays Viking or Black Metal everybody tells me that I have to be careful, because it happens often that the band members have extreme right political view. Could you tell a bit about the scene you are in and why do you believe that so many NS try to connect with this style?
First of all: Nebelhorn is idealistic in the way of preserving nature, animal protection and fairtrade. It´s about feeling, caring and learning in every way. In my songs I try to show the beauty of nature, the good or damage it can cause, as well as certain decisions people make in my stories, or simply bringing the life and believes of the viking era into music…
In general this is a very big and complex topic. I hope that my english is good enough to explain my point of view…There are so many variations of thoughts, ideals and beliefs in this world, that almost everyone finds something “bad” about “the others”. Discrimination and superstition seem to grow these days and everyone knows so much about what is best for the others and what they should be aware of…The will to “protect someone from evil” is usually a good deed… but is also capable of causing the complete opposite…the “other side” looses his voice and where talking stops, violence rises up. Categorisation is a blessing on one hand, because we can talk about differences more precisely, but also a horror when misused as a tool to put individuals into one group and literally damns them as a whole “Genre” because of the lack of his/her knowledge… In my opinion, the best thing to get about all this is simply asking the individuals instead of trying to categorize one experience or information and project this into “a Group” . Sure, individuals can lie too, but it´s their personal problem when they got caught up being dishonest. 😉 The NS functionaries (like every nation government) wanted to boost the moral of the people and their identity by showing them their heritage…this has the positive effect of…”Oh! We got so much in common! Unite and do great things!” …The problem here is: Every individual has got different priorities and interprets the saying “great things” in his own way… That´s why I don´t relate Viking/Pagan metal (Music) with NS, if a Band or musician means he has to mix it…there are people out there who like it, so what? Take it away, forbid it and things will get better? Just because it is forbidden? … Perhaps, it would be wiser to ask what deeds some institutions have to proclaim and think that they are chosen and are standing above all others to rule them by the law of…whatever, God or Leader of the Nation? Killing remains killing, oppression remains oppression …even if a Book or whatever says “kill and oppress the unworthy/ the unbelieving …authority X says so/legitimates it! Do it and it will be good!” Wrath and violence is always the sad result of that…
GroundCast: Nebelhorn is relative old (14 years of existence, you can correct me if I am wrong). How do you see the evolution of the band/project and what do you believe that evolved the most?
Evolution comes by intuition, feeling and heart blood, so I can´t quite explain that… 🙂
GroundCast: Urgewalt is the third full-length after 11 years. Can you tell us why did it take so long to be done?
Since the beginning of Nebelhorn this was an essential part of the whole project…true 
independence! Honestly composed, strength giving music with a lot of emotion and deep thoughts packed into intense lyrics… Far away from the financial oriented „you have to deliver“ deals of the big labels. If there is an Idea that feels good to me, I´ll do it with joy, passion and heart blood you can hear! 🙂 All is possible with the deep relation to the listeners! Time pressure and all this negative influences away from the music and art almost made me mad in this so called „real, hard world“. I am not willing to follow this hasty, heartless competition shit celebrated by most of the people out there! Also it´s hard for me to understand the paradoxon of most of the listeners: …“Consuming? yes sure! Nice Stuff! More of it!…But…Money for realization of the music? Ah…come on, sorry, but it´s YOUR hobby!“ Sure there are others but they are very few… (Thank you very much for your part!!! You made all this possible!!! 🙂 ) So share and care, or it will be gone. This fits on Nebelhorn as also on any other independent art, music or whatever Project out there… You´ll get what you support! 😉
GroundCast: We live now in the internet era and it is normal that people download music, movies and games and even country like Germany that have a better control on it is impossible to stop. What is your opinion about the file sharing and do you think that it destroys the entertainment industry or they should find a better strategy to make the new generation consume music (and other medias)?
From my point of view, the positive side depending social media is the freedom to choose how you want to promote yourself and the possibility to express yourself much wider than it was possible with the print media. Also I think its really great to chat with the listeners personnally if they have any questions, ideas or requests 🙂 I am enjoying it very much!
The downside is clearly the illegal download which makes it hard to survive as a solo artist. Also the big music industry which is capable of running wide spread commercial and promotional campaigns for „their flagships“ to catch the listeners attention much earlier than independent musicians could ever do. The people have to realize, and I am repeating myself in that matter: they get what they support…
GroundCast: What are the plans for 2018?
I ´ll try to bring out new Shirts that are biological and fair trade with a good durability and long lasting print while composing on another Album. 😉 Also the new website needs some overhaul too. And of course I´ll try to answer any question of the listener in time. 🙂
GroundCast: Now the space is yours to say something to our readers.
You´ll get what you support! 😉