Draugr have just released their second album “De Ferro Italico”, a very interesting work of epic folk pagan black metal. Since there is no label behind them and as a result not much advertisement and support, I thought it would be great to let them speak about their band and present their work to the public. After all, their album is very good and it deserves your attention. So we found Helsior and Jonny (their keyboardist and drummer) and asked about everything.

-          First of all I'd like to thank you about your new album and your willingness to answer these questions. Since Draugr are many years now in the stage, I'd like to take things from the start. Tell us a few things about the beginning of the band. How did it all start?

Jonny: The project was born in 2002, at the time the line up included: Svafnir (vocals), Stolas (bass), me (drums) and Tenebrion (guitars). One year later, Triumphator succeeded Tenebrion and after years of “ranks” and some demos, in 2006 was released the first album of the band: “Nocturnal Pagan Supremacy”. In 2007 Helsior (keyboards) and Warth (guitar) joined Draugr and after some year of live activity, in 2010 we entered the studio to record the new album. Shortly afterwards, Warth left the band.

In 2011 went out our new album “De Ferro Italico” and since the several line-up changes in the previous years, we decided to remain in 5, with the help of the skillful guitarist Mors as session member, live and not.

-          How did you come up with the band's name? I know there is a symbolism behind Draugr. Would you like to tell us about?

Jonny: Draugr means “wolf” in Sindarin (a Tolkien’s language). The wolf is the best representing animal of Abruzzo, as well as the symbol of Rome and a creature that returns back to life searching for revenge in the Scandinavian imaginary (which first inspired our music). We added the final letter “r”, so to give a cacophonic sound.

Helsior: Besides, in the concept of "De Ferro Italico" the word Draugr is used as an adjective for the main character of the story, who by fighting in Ultima Thule during the roman conquering campaign, is considered by the inhabitants an immortal and untamed spirit, a Draugr, for his skills to fight and kill, without being killed.

-          What were the first influences of the band and how did you try to create your own personality? What did you want to express through your music?

Helsior: Our music is influenced by our italic sentiment. In effect, we try to put local folk sounds (ancient and modern) in a metal context and to characterize our lyrics by inspiring ourselves to historical roots and popular legends. In this way we aim to let the italic spirituality and the name of our ancestors be alive… this is our message since 2002.

Jonny: For what concerns musical influences, we’re 5 totally different minds and influenced by a lot of artists and past musical experiences. Drawing up a list of names it would be pretty useless, but it has actually helped to create Draugr’s own personality.

-          The band released 3 demos before its debut album. What were the reactions to these demos? How did you get the attention of Christhunt Productions?

Jonny: to be more precise, the first 2 are demos; the third one is a promo with some of the songs later in the first album. We had a good feedback despite our being at our debut, but we came up thanks mostly to “Spirits of the North”.

With the promo of 2004, we’ve attracted the attention of some labels and Christhunt was the one who best lived up to our expectations: in fact, they actually did a very good work.

-          In 2006 your first album “Nocturnal Pagan Supremacy” was released. Can you tell us some thing about this work and its concept? I think it's quite different compared to your new album.

Jonny: “Nocturnal Pagan Supremacy” is a very various album and maybe a little immature because it was composed without a specific concept and songs came out from the most different musical influences of each band member; despite of the stylistic differences among the songs, the line which is intended to be the cultural line of Draugr is remarkable. We mean paganism, land, folklore… they’re all elements we came off to blend at our best in the new album.

-          What happened afterwards? The band was away from discography for 5 years. I know you started composing the current album in 2007, but it took you a lot of time.

Jonny: After having spent a little time to promote “Nocturnal Pagan Supremacy” we found ourselves in a static period because of personal commitments of each of us, then with Helsior at the keyboards we came back to work and I mean, I think that by listening to “De Ferro Italico” it’s quite easy to understand why we needed almost 3 years to compose it!

-          Could you tell us some things about the composition progress? Where do you get the ideas and how do you “transform” them into music?

Helsior: Usually, our songs rise from a definite cultural reference that characterizes lyrics, sonority and atmospheres; for this reason we set ourselves no limit or rules when it comes to compose. We limit ourselves just to match a guitar riff or a tune of acoustic instruments with what the theme requires and so does the atmosphere of the track.

-          What were the ambitions of the band with “De Ferro Italico”? You chose to release it on your own. Was it your choice or you couldn't find the “right” label?

Helsior: Auto-production falls in a wider concept of self-management we decided to take up since a while, at the basis, there is the need to take the complete control of what we do, without relying on a third party.

There have been labels interested in producing “De Ferro Italico”, but after considering some proposals, the need I’ve mentioned, lead us to this choice.

-          I believe there is a musical redirection with your new work. You also used your native language this time. What made you change that much?

Jonny: Yes, we’ve already used our language in our precedent album “Nocturnal Pagan Supremacy” (listen to “Furore Pagano”. In “De Ferro Italico” we wanted to permeate the concept of our language because we think in Italian, and sing the italicity, so any other language wouldn’t have been more adapt to transpose our thoughts in music... Moreover, there are also some parts sang in Latin and Oscan and this last one is the real particularity because it’s a dialectal form of Latin spoken by pre-italic populations in our region.

-          Could you analyze the lyrical concept of this album? Is there any bigger message you want to express through your music?

Helsior: Like I said before, the fundamental message of our music is the celebration of our culture and of our archaic traditions: we live in a quite “magic” land and we feel like we have to render honors to the atmospheres, sonorities and people who live and lived there in the past centuries.

The concept of “De Ferro Italico” is a para-historical write-up set in 391 A.D. when emperor Theodosius started the Christian persecution of pagan cults in Rome and its territories in favor of the rising Christendom. Our ancestors fought desperately and, despites many centuries are gone, their sentiment in us is still very strong and we wanted to show it in this concept. The chapters of this concept are based on the most various points. For example in “Ver Sacrum” we celebrate the rite of “sacred spring” in which the migratory stream of totem animals was followed to create new civilizations. In “Suovetaurilia” we sing about the namesake rite, in which, through sacrifices, fortune in fight was propitiated. In “Legio Linteata” we describe the military traditions of our folks.

-          What were the first reactions to you new album?

Helsior: Up to now, the request is massive out from Italy and Europe too, despite the album is to be bought only from our website. For this reason, we keep on translating our lyrics in English, which will be soon available on our website. About criticism, I can say our fans are not dumb, because they understood and appreciated our swing to new and traditional sonorities compared to “Nocturnal Pagan Supremacy” and they keep on supporting us and our proposal.

-          What do you think now of “De Ferro Italico”? Did it meet your expectations, or would you change some things if you could?

Jonny: We don’t regret anything and in general we could state “De Ferro Italico” has come out as we wanted. Of course there are some errors due to inexperience on some fronts, but they’ll be useful to improve ourselves in the future. Our proposal is on evolution and learning from past errors is a good medicine.

-          How do you plan to distribute your album? It isn't easy to promote it on your own. Will you send it to web-stores, or will you sell it on your own? Do you expect to sell CDs, or do you mainly care about spreading your music through the internet?

Jonny: Like we said before… at the moment we’re selling and promoting our album through our websites and live shows, but we’re open up to consider every offer from web-stores or distro which can help our music to arrive in valid national or foreign channels.

-          Do you plan to play any gigs? What should a Draugr fan expect to see in your shows? Any chance to see you in our lands?

Helsior: We’ll start playing live again in Italy and abroad (if possible) from August 2011. We only aim to attack the listener with an epic and extreme assault… it’s an experience which has to be lived to be told and we hope it’ll happen soon to our Greek fans. You can figure out how your land fascinates us under the cultural and historical point of view. So, managing to bring our music to you would be a meaningful experience.

-          Are you satisfied with your current sound, or should we expect more “surprises” from you in the future?

Jonny: Never say never. Our sound is always evolving, so everything could happen in the future. At the moment we’re satisfied of our sound because our main features (I mean folklore, epic and extremism) haven’t changed in the passage from the first to the second album, and we’ll keep on this way until the end of the project.

-          What do you think about the Italian scene? Do you watch it? Any other bands out there deserving our attention?

Helsior: A lot of Italian (or italic) bands I used to follow have split up with my great regret, as for example Hinthruna and Spite Extreme Wing. At the moment we’re not following the Italian scene this much, in fact we usually know after a long time about album (often very good) which came up from the Italian reality. So we can assure you that it’s possible to find very worthwhile bands from Italy. And we’re really glad about that.

-          Thank you very much for your time. I wish you all the best with your new album. Last words are yours.

We thank you for the interview Dimitris and Heavy Metal Cosmos for the space given and we invite you to listen to our “De Ferro Italico”. For every curiosity, visit our website www.draugr.it which is constantly updated, with the hope to meet on stage in the not-so-distant future.

dimiarch