Vladimir is the guitarist and vocalist of three black metal bands in the raw sun® roster. We talked about how one musician ends up in Wardra, Majestat and Rotten Fantom simultaneously, what the «Sunn O))) loop» means in the Petersburg scene, and why writing black metal is the easiest thing there is in music.
Tell us how you came to music and why you chose guitar?
Guitar came before black metal. First there was an interest in heavy music in general — Sunn O))) turned everything upside down at some point, after then I started listening to drone and slowly sliding toward extreme genres. Guitar gave control over sound: you could sit at home and build walls of overtones for hours, independent of anyone.
We started inspired by Sunn O))), and played drone as support for O'Malley. Now there's no more KTL, no Cetus Project, no Aethyr, no Aktovy Zal. It turns out we «closed the loop» in one specific stretch of time.
«We closed the loop in one specific stretch of time — Sunn O))), Aethyr, Aktovy Zal. Today that's gone, and because of that black metal in Saint Petersburg sounds different.»
— Vladimir, Majestat
How did you choose your subgenre?
In my view, Wardra's first album resembles seedlings only reaching toward their future form. It was conceived as green, cascading black metal, but turned out more aggressive — without ambience and with traditional riffs. The following albums found a unique and complete form.
Do you think Majestat have defined their sound?
Yes. For me Majestat is about traditional black metal with an emphasis on medieval imagery. The album «Summoning Evil with a Sacrificial Spirit» turned out exactly as we envisioned it. The tampo-printed cassettes released by raw sun® are also part of the sound for us — that's the physical form of the album.
How do you write music?
I record guitar riffs as they come, without forcing structure. Then at home I assemble it into a demo and bring it to the band. At rehearsal we rewrite half of it — what seemed good in solitude doesn't work with drums.
In my view this is a very encouraging message for beginning musicians. To record you need to develop skills, but to compose — it's easy. It doesn't cause dread.
