Interviews

Urachel Interview

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Nowadays – thanks to the Internet – we can always find gems, especially in the black metal scene. In the last few years, I’ve come across a lot of underground Hungarian music on YouTube of very high quality. Although I didn’t get to know the music of Urachel from that source, still, I’m almost 100% sure that many people discovered you on that platform! I think you have managed to carve a distinct niche inside this genre, where only Urachel can fit. Therefore, I’m happy for the newborn songs! What do you think it’s important for us to know about your blood-curdling music? When was Urachel formed? What was going through your mind back then – why did you feel the need to give birth to it?

Hello. Thank you for the interview request, I welcome the readers of Kronos Mortus and before I get into the answers, I would like to thank the web magazines for their help in supporting the presentation of my music. bands like the old Venom, Bathory, the Hungarian Tormentor, Fantom, Angel Reaper, the Norwegian and Swedish black metal bands that started in the late 80s or the 90s, yes, including Immortal, they know a lot and can capture the atmosphere. I try to convey the musical mood and feeling of life to half of the listeners with my music. I started writing songs when I left my band at the time in 2019, I started creating ideas for which I still tried to find at least a singer, which I did not succeed in. There were also requests to create different music productions in the meantime. These are recording for the band Fate, mastering 3 songs for Mozsó for a video clip, and we started recording the album of my old band Detox, which only took time for the black metal material to be ready. The big boost was the completion of the Detox album gave, which continued the musical momentum and I started to deal with the AI images that were criticized with shocks. The completion of these images also contributed to the fact that my music became what it is.

Let me continue by saying that you created 2 albums and a split release in a very short period of time! Your musical output is amazing! Let me add here that despite you have just started Urachel, your musical history goes back a long time. Can you talk about it? Do you think that the things that had been evolving inside you for so many years just erupted from you during the last few years?

I started playing music and guitar in 1988. A high school friend of mine (Mihály Bodnár) and I put together a 2-person band playing punk music, which was soon joined by a mutual acquaintance (Attila Tóth) on bass guitar, so the 3 of us played and gave concerts. There is another cassette which preserves our work from that time, and I would like to mention that in 1989 there was a charity concert with several bands, there were 314 paying guests in the Műv.Ház, and there were no big-name bands. All amateur rock, blues, and punk metal bands performed. With this example, only that I wanted to convey how different it was to make music then. If a musician played well, the audience watched and enjoyed the concert, which gave such positive feedback, which was extremely inspiring. Today, unfortunately, you are happy when 30 paying guests come together at the party of most amateur bands. .Returning to my musical past, Detox was formed after the military, we gave many concerts, there was an audience, there were good parties. But in 1995, something changed a lot in metal music, in fact, live music disappeared, and there were no concerts of major metal bands either in Pest or at least very little. It took a couple of years before it was restored as it was. I also started playing music again in 1998. I gave concerts under the name Hocus Pocus (Mihály Bodnár-bass guitar, Siska-drums) but so that it was not easy we played instrumental music (Satriani, Eric Johnson songs), which here in the countryside was almost only of interest to the musicians, but they were very interested. After that, I had a short period in the White Light band in Kaposvár, and then in 2011 I started playing in a Pécs/Komló band that played cover songs for Aiming High. and my friend Spiritbell Pixi (singer) with a then young talented drummer (Ákos Heil) and the bassist of the legendary Pécs Morris band (Csaba Golyák). .Many rehearsals, concerts, but you could already feel that young people don’t go to these kinds of parties very much. I got bored. This is where the idea of the black metal album came into play. In other words, I spent 4 years collecting the musical themes that made up the first Urachel album. It gave me the impetus to make it. and that’s why the second album was completed so soon.

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Going back to Urachel, let’s first talk about your debut album “Pseudomonarchia Daemonium” released in 2023, which included an Immortal cover. I assume you didn’t choose this song by chance! If we had to think in categories, we should mention Immortal among your influences, right? And – by the way – what kind of opinions did you hear about your recently released songs? Have they stabbed everyone enough to get noticed?

Pseudomonarchia Daemonum, or The False Monarchy of Demons, first appears as an appendix to Johann Weyer’s De praestigiis daemonum. An abbreviation of a grimoire similar to the Ars Goetia, it contains a list of demons, as well as the corresponding hours and rituals that can be used to summon them. – gluttony, Satanus – anger, Abaddon – laziness, Asmodeus – lust and Azazel – the demon of strife (in some text environments he appears as Satan himself) and even a small demon was included among the big ones, Frucissiare, who is a dead summoning demon, the song Necromancy is about him, and at the end of the album is the song Immortal-Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark), which is an extremely atmospheric composition. When I first saw the video clip (which was not now), I was very impressed by both the video itself and the song. The idea of putting it on the album as a kind of hidden arrangement came from the beginning. If someone feels that my music has been influenced by it, that’s fine, I’m honored, but I’ve read critics who cited the American band Absu as an example. Although I prefer Venom and Hungarian I’m trying to call Tormentor a musical influence. The reviews that appeared on the internet (in German, Polish, Peruvian webzines and on Hammerworld’s website) reward the album with 7-8 points or more, as do Hungarian webzines like you or Rozsdagyár, Rockstation, Fémforgács ,Fémvár also gave a good review. There is an editor whose year-end list also appeared.

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The sequel to the first release arrived so quickly that I thought it’s still just the continued promotion of the previous one – but I was wrong! Under the title “Gehenna”, we received another cursed Urachel release: an adequately filthy, dark, fear-filled blood spit, full of great riffs. How did you manage to put it together so quickly? In which extent would you call the songs that we hear here a sequel or something else? Do you think people who loved the first release will love this sequel even more? How would you best describe it?

The first album was born from old themes, which is why the sequel was able to follow so quickly, because the themes just kept gathering on the fly. The songs of the new album are separate songs, that is, they do not have such a close concept as in the first album. I tried to expand the music of Urachel even more, many heavy metal musical solutions appear in the songs, harmonies, twin guitars. There are also a few traditional black metal songs, of course, but I think the most interesting is Skin-Walker (Navajo: yee naaldlooshii), in this song I tried to include things that are extremely interesting, especially the mood and themes of the song. I think you’ll either really like it or hate it. I’ll be curious to see what the critics will say about it when the promo CDs come out.

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And the icing on the cake is that since then another release came out as a split with the Hungarian Bál, containing one song. The release entitled “Feltörve a felszínre” features the song “Burial at the Sea”. Where was the common point of connection between you two that made you agree on doing such a collaboration? Is the included song one of your newer compositions? In which extent can someone identify the music of Urachel based on listening to this one song for the first time?

The idea was suggested by Bálint, who also runs the Bál records label. My first album was released in a limited edition, on cassette. I think that’s where he got the idea to make a split CD. It’s interesting to compare the two bands to see how differently we approach black metal. The song “Burial at the Sea” on the album was also a reimagining of an old idea of mine.
One of my favorite songs is Marriner by Iron Maiden – Rime of the Ancient.. I’ve wanted to make such a long song with a similar atmosphere for a long time. From this idea was born this “black Maiden” inspired song, as I call it. I tried to include everything that something that characterizes Urachel’s music, and this is, apart from black metal themes, the melody, the atmosphere, the more metallic songs.

Most people will probably get it digitally, but fortunately there is a possibility to buy 25 copies of all Urachel releases on CD, or even on a double CD. Did you deliberately decide for so few copies? Do you think it will be enough in the long run 🙂 ? Do you even have any more? I think you will have to release more copies already in this year, because there are a lot of people out there, who want to get to your hell!

I wish you were right. The CDs of the first album are all sold out, I sent many of them out for promotional purposes. That’s why I’m now preparing a publication that comes out in a “decorative box” packaging and contains the first and second albums, with the difference that they won’t be on these discs 25 hand-numbered “Gehenna” CDs are being prepared again, with a hidden arrangement and a thicker CD booklet containing the lyrics. I am doing this mainly for those who bought the first album. people already buy so many CDs, most of them don’t even have a CD player anymore, listening to digital music is enough for them.

To tease our readers a little more: you are involved in almost countless other musical projects. Can you talk about them in a few words? Maybe you would like to get featured in even more… 🙂 ? Why is it good for you to move so many threads at once? What do these projects have in common, and which one leads where? What are the directions you are aiming for?

Then I’ll start with Anxiety Collapse, which is a death/thrash metal madness, we brought this project together with Detox drummer Siská, who later couldn’t commit to it because of work after the first EP (allegedly…hahahahahaha) but I don’t think so he could handle the pace (Hahahaha). That’s how I was left alone. That’s how the first album was completed, followed by a Tribute CD, on which guests play (guitar solos, drums, vocals) full of classic thrash metal notes with me. Now I’m gathering ideas for the second album. another musical project is Haatan. As it turned out later, my friend Siska can still play the drums, so we agreed to put together a heavy/doom music production that works at a much slower pace. Although Haatan’s first album is available digitally and on CD was also completed, which was a re-play of older songs (songs between 1995 and 2011) There is still a CD of this material, if you are interested, feel free to find it (the album is on YouTube). In the meantime, Haatan’s second album of completely new songs is being prepared which is already going quite well, we are planning to release it for the summer. I have another idea for a new project which would be an instrumental music production, a tribute thing with songs by guitarists like Satriani, Malmsteen, Eric Johnson, Vinnie Moore, Blues Saraceno, Joey Taffola, it’s something it would be similar to what Tamás Szekeres did on the Guitar Hits album, but I don’t know when I’ll have time for that. Maybe when we finish with Haatan. Besides, the reason I deal with so many kinds of music is because I like, listen to, and feel these styles and the creative process itself, which it moves me so much. I love playing music.

Now it’s time to “fearfully” ask you, whether we can expect another Urachel release coming this year 🙂 ? Another way of asking the same question: when will there be a sequel? Will it arrive at the usual crazy pace? How much might it still be subjected to changes; how much might it be different from the previous ones? What do you think should be improved?

I don’t know when there will be a new Urachel again. There will be for sure, but for now I’ll let the album run its course, and then I’ll see – I have two other productions that are taking up my time, if I finish them, I might start the third one. Will there be anything from it this year? I don’t know yet. I want to keep the pace, but not focus all my energy on Urachel.

So, I would like to ask you, how do you find time for such intensive creative processes, for making so much music? What do you think makes you so productive? What is it that fuels this satanic fire in you?

I had collected a lot of ideas, using them I got so excited now that I figured out how to use or take advantage of my voice, and studio tricks when recording and mixing. I gave up my principle of looking for a singer. The only problem is with singers ( Hahhha).Of course I’m aware that I can’t sing, I only vocalize, but luckily many people still like my songs. Besides work, I have nothing else to do but make music.

Apart from being a kind of oddball, how do you see yourself? What do you think your personality is like? Where do you feel yourself the most comfortable? How often do you gaze at the Moon? Do you like people in general? What is it that fuels your imagination the most?

If you think that I sacrifice satanic rites or virgins and sing while lighting a candle in order to get into the state of composing, I have to delude you. Basically, I’m more of a stay-at-home type, I don’t go anywhere much. Maybe I’ve become anti-social? (Hahaha) I don’t think I’m alone in this. In any case, the process of creating music can start with a picture, a good book or a good guitar riff created only during practice. It’s an interesting thing, but fortunately it works. I like to live the moment, to suddenly “paint”, to improvise. Not everything is written in advance in my songs.

Let’s just say that the whole world is constantly rotting, and everyone hates everyone else – but the music is capable to bring the remnants of intelligent people together. I’m glad that you create music and we can get to know it. You must be getting some love, because you’re doing your best! Thanks for the replies!

I thank you once again for the opportunity. I hope the interview was meaningful and I was able to give exhaustive answers to all your questions. Those who read it and will find my music based on this, I welcome them to my little musical world. I trust that listening to it will give them a lot of pleasure, be it any my music product. Hello.


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