It tirelessly follows us in the darkness, lying in wait, exerting pressure and waiting for the right moment to quietly play out. The music of Orv is about fear of quality and reliable, professional musicians. What is it that scares you? Is there something like that at all? In particular, where do you find connection between the feelings and the dark, oppressive atmosphere?
I think we are just like any other fan of the darker genres of music. It’s hard to recreate that heavy dread and oppressive atmosphere as perfectly as in the good death/black/doom songs. It would be really scary if we were not able to express these feelings through music. Of course there is literature, painting and other forms of art that are equally valid, but I cannot think of anything more menacing, devastating and uplifting at the same time than physically experiencing a piece of really dark music.
“Sneaking around” is what definitely fits your approach, as you have been making music for decades and it is quite difficult to find traces of you, even though your musical creations possess a lot of value. What is worth knowing about your background?
If I remember correctly, we met for the first time at a high school camp and listened to the album Schizophrenia by Sepultura, which has since become a classic for both of us. Two years later we both played guitar in a grindcore band called Message, and after that, in 1998-1999, we formed Hetumoger, more specifically the predecessor called Kaltes. Later Tamás also played guitar for a short time in the bands Sin of Kain and Tesstimony. The “sneaking”, and not leaving too many traces was never intentional, there was no conscious disguise and image building, it just happened that way, but it is certain that it was always more important that we put our music first and not ourselves.
Is Orv the most persistent and longest project that you have ever been involved in? Are you constantly push this thread forward to new levels?
Yes, Orv is our most serious project to date. The plan was to function as a full band and, if possible, play concerts, but so far it hasn’t worked out. Maybe it will stay that way, but that’s what makes us dive much deeper into the music, and we see more and more things in it in a musical sense.
Your musical creations can easily be called unique! You have managed to touch the human soul in areas and depths that I am not sure many have reached! Your music is mostly black metal, with occasional elements of death and doom – all with a pulsating push, creating a kind of vortex that pulls the listener down hard. What would that really be? How is it possible that it all work so well? What would you say of Orv’s music?
Thank you for the recognition, it is an honour that we were able to achieve something like this. It’s for sure that the mentioned elements are all present in our music. We use black metal in a more melodic sense, the traces of death metal influences can be found in the sound and vocals, while doom metal is important in terms of mood. The truth is that the project was not created on the drawing board, we could not calculate the totality of the elements, nor could we describe them by using catchy labels. Of course, it is important to position ourselves, because even though we want to be unique, we also draw on our respected predecessors. When we write in the promo materials that our music is a mixture of Finnish/Swedish, sometimes Dissection-esque black metal and Peaceville Three influences, we are talking about the influences and moods that are important to us. So we are obviously not trying to rewrite albums like Somberlain or Silent Enigma.
You started in 2019 with the demo entitled “Tidal”, then continued with the EP called “A Crowning of Misery”, with a sound still slightly different back then. What are these two releases like and what is it that you think it’s important to know about the band between 2019-21?
In typical fashion, we tried to find our voice without knowing where we wanted to end up. The sound, with all its flaws, is the current result of a learning process, because since the Crowning EP we’ve been trying to record and mix everything ourselves. Of course, this has its advantages and sometimes also audible disadvantages. Tidal was an absolute first attempt, and at the time the goal was clearly to become a concert-ready band as quickly as possible, but as you can hear on Crowning, we preferred to spend time polishing our own sound and finding our own voice, and we were happy to receive minimal but positive feedback on the EP. The first two materials set the frame in many ways: a mix of deep and aggressive, fast-paced themes and haunting but menacing and melodies.
You further developed these two releases and preserved their values, resulting in the newly released “Calmness Is Pretence” EP, with the support of the great Iron, Blood and Death Corporation. The bitter and painful melodies of those four songs can be of interest to all those who love this kind of music. What is it that we should know about these musical creations?
First of all, we are grateful for the support of Antonio and Iron, Blood and Death Corp. Recently we received some CDs, and if anyone would like to purchase a physical copy, that option will soon be available on our Bandcamp page, as it is already available on our label’s Bandcamp page. I think all four tracks on the new EP try to capture the mood of decay, collapse and helplessness of the individual witnessing this. This can be a sense of threat from the perspective of the individual, as in “State of great turmoil”, or a seemingly natural phenomenon, as in the second song “A fissure beneath”, or a human and social collapse, as in the case of “I have come with the fall”, or the opposite of the material-earthly and the cosmic, which is the guiding thread of the closing “Hollowed songs”. Accordingly, musically the connection and separation of aggression and beauty is the most important motif in all the material.
Can you imagine that you’ll release a full-length album in a few years? Is it still a long way to go to the point when you can achieve it? How far ahead do you plan and how much more PR activity do you want to exert, compared to what you’ve done so far?
We are currently working on the first LP. We will try out some new ideas on a new 2-3 track material, but we are already thinking about how to turn those ideas into full-length material. I like EPs, 20-25 minute recordings, but it seems that sooner or later a longer one will be needed. What we have now is more than just a few scattered riffs or ideas, but these are not full songs yet. We want to finish the planned full length LP in 2025. In terms of publicity, we need to be more mindful of promoting ourselves, but we simply cannot cross many established and expected thresholds expected from bands these days in terms of self-promotion, none of us are that kind of character. Of course you have to reach out to listeners, because we are releasing the material for others to listen to, so we have to be open to that, but far be it from us to push ourselves on the world by any means.
What kind of music do you listen to? How much do you like the diversity and continuous evolution of black metal?
It is absolutely clear that there is an enormous amount of creativity at work in black metal, where there is room for both orthodox respect for tradition and radical innovation. Both extremes are very important, because it only works as long as this duality is the driving force. Of the two of us, Tamás is musically more open and likes a lot of music and genres besides black/death metal, he also follows various mainstream and underground music. I am less open, but within black metal I am just as much a fan of Deathspell Omega with its complex and progressive world as of the cult following the classic Beherit-style. But I am a fan of Southern Black Metal and war metal as well. But we also have many common favorites. In addition to the aforementioned Schizophrenia album and the Dissection records, the brilliant Odium by Morgoth, the cold harshness of Thorns and the late goth rock/pop records by Tiamat to name a few.
How different is your current songwriting process compared to the days of „Hetumoger”?
Orv’s music comes from Tamás, he is the one on whom both the basic idea and the development of the songs depend. My job, in addition to the lyrics, is to give an opinion, to suggest, to be the first listener of every detail, either themes or just a note. Hetumoger was quite a while ago, but as far as I remember, there was some traditional songwriting in the rehearsal room, and there were also individual song ideas from both Péter Kéri and Tamás. Orv is not a pure studio project either, because we also try out the riffs in the rehearsal room, but it’s important that the work does not focus so much on instruments, but more on moods that we try to guide through the songs.
How surprised were you earlier by the interest in the release of your one and only demo entitled ” Hét avar alatt”? What kind of memories do you have from that period?
I think that all of us who were involved in the creation of this material and also in the creation of the Kaltes demo are very proud of both. This is not only due to the positive response. There were fewer bands back then, new music and bands got the attention they really deserved, and it was possible to be a musician and a fan at the same time and listen to each other, while new demos and albums did not disappear from the public’s memory after a few weeks. We really enjoyed playing those songs, and it was the energetic, magical musical experience, which was completely incomprehensible to outsiders, that made us really proud.
Thank you for your replies – I look forward to the continuation!
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