Sonntag, 2. Oktober 2011

"Tribute" to "Cult" Acts

On Nargaroth’s 2001 album Black Metal ist Krieg there are, amongst other things, cover versions of songs from Moonblood, Root, Lord Foul and Azhubhamn Haani, and due to the fuss around Nargaroth, which was at its peak then, these bands saw themselves exposed to a mass of mere consumers, interested in Black Metal only as a cultural extreme and thus a welcome means of self-portrayal. As a consequence, virtually a whole generation of confused children, lacking any “philosophical” or even “spiritual” connection to the very own foundation pillars of Black Metal, who otherwise probably would have never got in touch with the works of named artists, declared these bands “cult” and reached any rehearsal recording, no matter how irrelevant, over the (mostly virtual) sales counter for downright preposterous amounts. Worth mentioning in this context surely is the Moonblood LP Taste Our German Steel which in March 2004 changed hands at the on-line-auction Web site eBay for sheerly tremendous nine hundred and thirty-five Euros—thereby probably only tackling the tip of the iceberg.

In interviews, Kanwulf was always keen to stress of what great importance these bands were for his development, both personally and artistically. The latter may actually be the truth, but for entirely different reasons than the ones implied. As, in fact, it was as late as 1998 at the earliest, when Kanwulf got to know Moonblood in the first place. As late as that year, Kanwulf told a former associate, Marcel “Darkmoon” Spaller (Sombre Records), that Moonblood were, quote, shit. Lord Foul, Azhubham Haani and Root, Kanwulf, again according to some of his then-associates, got known to not before 1999 as well—and covered them only weeks later for Black Metal ist Krieg.

That with the ‘Strid winter’ is crap, Kanwulf didn’t even know Strid at that time. […] Root, Azubham Hani [sic!], Lord Foul and Moonblood, Kanwulf only knows through me, as well. The lyrics Kanwulf got from me, too, and covered the songs a few weeks later for Black Metal ist Krieg. When he was on a birthday celebration of Akhenaten once, he still told me that Moonblood was crap, when I gave Akhenaten a Moonblood LP.[11]

Marcel “Darkmoon” Spaller in a letter dating from January 7th, 2006

Needless to say, that couldn’t prevent Kanwulf from strengthening the “legendary” or “cult” status of the mentioned bands before all those who at that time gathered around him in cultic adoration and attached the value of a papal bull to each of his words by statements such as the following:

‘Moonblood’ and old ‘Absurd’ are a part of my later youth and my Black Metal history.—Black Alchemy magazine, 2004
What arose at that time […] is the Black Metal I am dedicated to. That’s […] the Lord Foul demo, ‘Killing, Raping, Burning’ (rest in peace!), […] definitely A. Banhani [sic!] and a few single tracks.[12]—Moral I., around 2000
Azhubham Haani, that is one of the strongest and most profound trailblazers for this scene. Not a soul knows about that anymore![13]—Magacinum ab ovo, 1999
Sometimes I wore shirts of them (ed. note: Azhubham Haani, Lord Foul, Moonblood), and I mentioned them in some interviews. Many people were asking me to record them their songs. But I not do this [sic!], because they were my treasure.—Maelstrom magazine, 2003
Black Light magazine: List some of the bands you admire. Kanwulf: Azhubham Haani, […] Moonblood, Absurd, Strid, Nargaroth.
Although Kanwulf certainly is to a very high degree to be blamed for the suddenly arisen interest in certain bands, although thanks to him at least the owners of the one or another record label will probably have grunted happily and made a killing with hastily botched-down re-releases of various “cult” items, still none of these bands was paid actual tribute to by Kanwulf. Quite the contrary, these bands served Kanwulf merely as a means to satisfy his very personal craving for recognition, did he insult not just the bands mentioned, but again the cult as a whole.

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