{"id":19367,"date":"2015-09-18T05:00:03","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T08:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groundcast.com.br\/?p=19367"},"modified":"2015-09-18T07:12:46","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T10:12:46","slug":"interview-aethernaeum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groundcast.com.br\/en\/interview-aethernaeum\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW: Aethernaeum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"English_Slider\"<\/a>Aethernaeum is a\u00a0Folk\/Black Metal band from\u00a0Berlin (Germany). The lyrcal themes are spirituality, nature, poetry and romanticism. They make a coherent sound and the people that like the style MUST check this band.<\/p>\n

We talked with Alexander Paul Blake that told us a bit of the band. Check below our chat.<\/p>\n

GroundCast \u2013 To warm up the things, can you tell us how the band started?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alexander Paul Blake:<\/strong> \u201cWell, I\u2019m doing music for about 20 years now in several bands and covered lots of different styles. But my love for Black Metal never really had an outlet in those years. In 2012 I finally had the time and ideas to release a solo\"Aethernaeum-04\"<\/a> album with some Black Metal tunes. It was called \u2018Die R\u00fcckkehr ins Goldene Zeitalter\u2019 and has been released under my pseudonym Alexander Paul Blake. Afterwards I turned the project into a real band since I didn\u2019t want to stand so much in the focus as a single person anymore and also liked the idea of sharing the creative process with other musicians. We called it Aethernaeum and released the first (or second \u2013 depends how you count) album \u2018Wanderungen durch den Daemmerwald\u2019 in 2013. And now we\u2019re back with the new record \u2018Naturmystik\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

GroundCast \u2013 What are your influences?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alexander Paul Blake: \u201cGenerally speaking I listen to nearly anything, but with Aethernaeum we try to create atmospheric Folk Black Metal with big atmospheres, dynamic, passion and lots of melodies. It has been bands like (early) In The Woods\u2026, Empyrium, Dornenreich, Agalloch, Burzum, Emperor, Wolves In The Throne Room or Moonsorrow, that have inspired the music, but I think we managed to create a unique style out of this, which sounds like Aethernaeum.\u201d<\/p>\n

GroundCast \u2013 This year you will release the album Naturmystik. What can you tell about this release?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alexander Paul Blake:<\/strong> \u201cFor me it\u2019s the consequent next step. We tried to continue what we\u2019ve started with the\"Aethernaeum-05\"<\/a> previous two albums, but also integrated some new influences, for example the tribal aspect in \u2018Der Baumpercht\u2019 or Post Rock influences in the instrumental song \u2018Jenseits der Mauer des Schweigens\u201d. The recordings took us about one year and the arrangements are very dense, sometime we gathered up to 100 different tracks within one song, which was also difficult to mix. So it\u2019s an album with lots of details beyond the surface and I guess you can listen to it quite often without being bored. So, headphone recommended!\u201d<\/p>\n

GroundCast \u2013 Exist some concept behind the band\u2019s songs, something would you like to tell?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alexander Paul Blake:<\/strong> \u201cIt\u2019s not a concept album, which tells a continuous story, but like on the previous albums the songs deal with nature, spirituality and self-discovery again. It\u2019s all woven with each other and has several layers. I try to write lyrics, which create images in the listener\u2019s mind, but also have a certain mystery. I don\u2019t want to be too concrete. It\u2019s naturmystic poetry, so to say.\u201d<\/p>\n

GroundCast \u2013 What means the name Aethernaeum for the band and how it reflects in the songs you make?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alexander Paul Blake:<\/strong> \u201cThe name combines \u2018\u00c4ther\u2019 (German for ether) and Athen\u00e4um, which is the name of a magazine, that was published some 200 years ago in the time of German romanticism. I am a big admirer of romanticism and it has a strong influence on the lyrics. Likewise does the spiritual side, which is expressed in the ether part of the band name. I know, that it\u2019s not the easiest name and lots of people have problems to spell and pronounce it right, but I like the sound and meaning. And I also think a band, whose music demands some attention, may have a difficult name ;-)”\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

GroundCast \u2013 What are the future plans to the band? What can we expect to hear from you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Aethernaeum-08\"<\/a>Alexander Paul Blake: \u201cWe\u2019re going to produce a videoclip by the end of this month with Rainer ZIPP Fr\u00e4nzen, who has already worked with bands like Dimmu Borgir, Leaves\u2019 Eyes, Atrocity or Faun. In March 2016 we\u2019re going on a Germany tour with Dornenreich, which will be a big opportunity for us. Apart from that we\u2019re working on a new album with our other band Eden Weint Im Grab at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

GroundCast \u2013 We are in the internet era, where everything can be easily downloaded in any place on Earth. What is your opinion about it? I know that this is a theme that divides water, while some musicians support it 100% and others not.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alexander Paul Blake:<\/strong> \u201cWell, I think you can\u2019t turn back the wheel of time and have to cope with the way things are now. You have more opportunities, to reach people all over the globe very easily with the internet, but it\u2019s much harder to earn enough money to pay the costs for the music. Not only because so much is online for free, but also because there are so many releases that people can\u2019t afford to buy everything. It demands some sense of responsibility from listeners, they must understand that it\u2019s necessary to support artists and that not everything can be for free. We definitely prefer real albums with a booklet and also release an artbook with 60 beautiful pages, because we think it supports our music better than just a download.\u201d<\/p>\n

GroundCast \u2013 Do you have any projects that you would like to share here with us?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alexander Paul Blake:<\/strong> \u201cYou mean other bands? As I said, 4 of 5 Aethernaeum guys also play in Eden Weint Im Grab, which is more of a dark metal\/gothic metal band with German lyrics and a kind of horror image. You can watch some videos on Youtube or find us on Spotify and other streaming platforms. Apart from that we have our own Winter Solitude Studio here in Berlin, in which we also produce other bands.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

GroundCast \u2013 Thank you for your time and now the space is yours to say anything to your fans and our readers here.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alexander Paul Blake:<\/strong> \u201cWell, thank you for your support and to everybody who read this interview. We hope you will give us a chance and check out our songs wherever you find them online \ud83d\ude09 Thanx and stay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n

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