Interview:


You guys are or were pert of Ancestral Legacy, am I right? What made you go separate ways? Was it maybe the new, more melodic direction of Ancestral Legacy? Were you the tough guys who wanted to do tougher music?
That's right. The three of us were the original lineup in Ancestral Legacy. We made a couple of demos before we disbanded for different reasons. I had an accident that prevented me from playing for several years and Øyvind pursued other non musical interests.
Eddie had written some music on his own that didn't quite fit what we were doing then so he kept the name, got in some fresh blood and took Ancestral Legacy down another path. No drama involved.
When we decided to gather our forces again around 2010 we needed a new name that could tell the story of were we came from. We took the name from the last demo we did together, 'Emptiness', and Legacy of Emptiness was born.
Eddie is still active in Ancestral Legacy paralell to Legacy of Emptiness and they are in the process of recording a new album as we speak.

Legacy of Emptiness is around since the beginning of this decade (if we don't count the years you were active in the '90's as Permafrost), yet only two albums were released, why weren't you more productive from this point of view?
After the first album we had a great momentum going and went straight to work on the next chapter.
Right from the start the "curse" of the second album set in.
Eddie took a fall off a hill and fractured an arm and leg and was out of business for a long time. Not too long after I was diagnosed with cancer and shortly after that Øyvind had a stroke. This of course, took quite some time and stole away the focus from the music for a while but we all crawled back from the edge and came out standing in the end.
Also in this period Eddie recorded and released 'Terminal' with Ancestral Legacy.

The new album is called Over the Past and it seems it is the fruit of a really painful and arduous period, can you please elaborate on the happening during the composition and recording process of the album?
It wasn't supposed to be that meaning but as we see in the previous question that's how it became. I got the idea for the title just after we finished the first album. That was an album with old songs apart from 'Onward!' so I figured a new album containing brand new material needed a title reflect that. How little I knew about how well the title should fit in the end...

Although the cover artwork, track titles and probably lyrics are quite dark and oppressive, the music on it has some sort of light, it's like depicting hope among all despair. Am I right? And speaking about this, how personal are the lyrics?
There are some streams of light here and there but they all end in darkness, emptiness and despair, haha. We actually never have a masterplan for where we want to take a song. They kinda finds their own ways and we're chasing after them trying to keep up.
The lyrics are a little of this and a little of that. The most important is that the lyric fits the song. The music always comes first and then there are some deep listening and and almost meditative state where we try to capture the story the music is trying to tell us. Sometimes it fits with a poem from E.A.Poe or Lovecraft, other times images and lines comes from within our own minds. We also like twisted tales from Norwegian history so we managed to put in a couple of those as well.

I've seen/read lots of praises for Over the Past, but how do you feel about it, do you consider it a personal masterpiece, or better said, have you given it all at the moment you "forged" it? What's the best phrase to describe what's happening on it?
The feedback and reviews have been amazing! There are of course a few exceptions but if everyone liked our album equally well we probably wouldn't have liked it ourselves.
I would say the album is our best work so far but I see no reason why we shouldn't be able top it on the next one. We are in constant development as humans, musicians and composers and we don't really have any artistically restraints that limit us.

The banjo addition on teh track Despair is excellent, although I feel it's used too little. have you thought of using it more, maybe even adding it as permanent instrument? How did it happen that you decided to feature it on the new album?
Spice should always be added with care or the effect wil be counterproductive. The idea for the banjo came in fairly late in the process but it was quite clear to us that the track demanded it. Unable to master the banjo good enough ourselves we got help from a local musician we know (Geir Emanuelsen) that nailed it.
It's impossible to say if we'll use it more later as we are mere slaves to our music but it's har to see it being a permanent instrument.

What you and all the other bands are doing is a form of art. Have you ever thought of the future, when maybe your music will be studied by some? Do you think this form of art (I'm talking about Metal in general and Black Metal specially) has such power of influence over the World so that it "remains"?
Interesting question! Here in Norway all music that are on official physical releases are put in the archives of 'Nasjonalbiblioteket'(National library) for preservation and storage so we become a part of the cultural heritage by default. Do I beleive that our music will be studied and analyzed in 100 years from now? That's hard to imagine. But I think there will be studies on black metal as a whole in the future and maybe they'll pull out a dusty copy of 'Over the past' from the archives and let the good times roll again, haha.
Already today Norwegian ambassadors to different countries are getting crash courses in black metal as they always get a lot of questions about it in the countries they work.

08. What can you, what can any underground band do to convince people give your/their music a few minutes of their more and more precious time, to spin at least a track if not the whole album? Do you think we're getting more and more superficial? Is there a cure for that?
It's all about focus. People need to give music the place in life it deserves. Just think if people treated a new album the way they treat a movie. Put away phones and other devices put some snacks on the table and just enjoy the music for what it is.
Many do so and my impression is that "metalheads" are among the last standing true music listeners out there. We tend to hold on to the physical aspect to the music more than others. We want to hold the records in our hands and we like to read real magazines.
I think we get more superficial and that is inevitable as we now have access to insane amounts of information 24/7 and evereything is competing for our attention. I don't think there is any cure for this but if we are concious and disiplined it can be managed and controlled. My advice is to log off regulary, put on an album, read the lyrics and pretend it's 1986.

November 2017


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