INTERVIEW: Malokarpatan

Slovakian blackened heavy metal mystics Malokarpatan have been a firm favourite band in the current underground for several years now. It is now time to explore their world of metallic mysteries and folklore…

1. Hails! Please introduce yourself and the band to us!

Hello! I’m Adam from the Slovakian band Malokarpatan. I view us simply as a black metal band, but you’ll get lots of nerdier definitions from different people – I guess everything needs to be pedantically pigeonholed in the era of internet over-saturation. There’s sadly a lot of people to whom black metal is synonymous with the Scandinavian 2^nd wave style – which is but one of many forms of the genre, it just got the most spotlight partly due to its musical innovation and partly due to the crimes and controversies of the early 90s. Our sound has its roots in times prior to that – particularly bands that arose behind the Iron Curtain, but also Venom, Mercyful Fate, Italian bands like Death SS & Black Hole and even further back in time towards Black Sabbath and occult 70s rock.

2. “Stridžie Dni” was your first output, back in 2015. I understand the themes to be relating to a celebration of local / rural myths and witchcraft. But I think you could explain it much better, so please, what is the real story of the record?

Correct! It was in many ways a very spontaneous record. It first started as my solo project to pay homage to both early black metal of the 80s and to the darker idiosyncrasies of local folklore. But I wanted it to be more of a real band, so early on I invited more people to take part. Musically, it owes a lot to The Return era of Bathory, more so than anything we’ve released since. But you already get Mercyful Fate and Tormentor vibes too, which heralded our more melodic and archaic sound in the future. It was done on an almost zero budget, recording in bedrooms and rehearsal garages, the only money going to a guy in Czech Republic who mixed it to resemble early Bathory style of production. While not a concept album per se, lyrics are mostly centred around the winter carnival traditions of the Carpathian’s. Up to the 20^th century, our ancestors believed this is when dark forces are the most powerful and they performed various rites of primitive folk magic in order to ward them off – cracking whips, blowing alpine horns, dancing in grotesque masks etc. That’s the  atmosphere we wanted to conjure with the album.

3. How was the process of creating your first LP? Can you tell us a bit about it?

I kind of answered that in the previous question I guess. Spontaneous, DIY recording with lots of passion and lots of boozing. It was recorded during winter which gave it a specific wintertime feeling, at least in my ears. The climate here might not be as punishing as in Scandinavia for example, but during December there really isn’t much more to do than lock yourself away from the world with a guitar, old books, movies, and a bottle of liquor.

4. “Nordkarpatenland” came next in 2017. This felt like a further exploration of the sound you were trying to achieve on the debut and perhaps ventured a little further out there. What was different when creating this record?

It was quite different. I didn’t expect any bigger success at all with the debut, just had hopes a few underground maniacs who are into the right kind of bands will get it. That happened, but it became way more popular than I’d imagine. Soon we had a contract and live gig offers. So we quickly transformed into a full-time band with five members, rehearsals and all. It was still just me writing all the material though, so there hasn’t been much change in that. While not consciously on my mind when writing, the big difference to the debut was that this time around there have been expectations for the album. So it became more ambitious on all levels. Influences were still similar, it just dwelled a lot less on Bathory and I was inspired by listening to many NWOBHM records at the time. We expanded our sound and have continued doing so ever since. It’s also the first time you can trace 70s influences in our music, although there were already tiny hints of that on the debut in guitar solos and Moog synthesiser.

5. “Krupinské Ohne” is the next in your full-length discography (I will get into the shorter releases later). This 2020 LP felt like by far the strongest work yet from the band. I have enjoyed them all, do not get me wrong, but this felt a league above all that came before. The injection of a lot more classic heavy metal being the most obvious factor for this to me. What led to this change in sound towards that more traditional attack? Was this a conscious shift? And what was the story of “Krupina” and the witches that dwelled there?

Interesting how views differ here! It’s definitely a controversial album because some people consider it our best and some our worst. That was basically my aim with it as well. Nordkarpatenland was popular in the underground and the first thing I’ve thought was – I can’t and won’t do a Nordkarpatenland 2. There’s no point in repeating yourself. So we went from shorter, catchy songs to long epics that take time to immerse oneself in. Influences were the epic era of Bathory and Root, early doom metal like Witchfinder General & Pentagram, and generally the more occult kind of heavy metal and rock, including progressive & psychedelic. It’s our darkest album, which was done to fit with the lyrical concept of a witches coven. Story-wise, it’s not much different from most European witch trials of those times. I just picked it because it’s local and no one has ever used the story before. It gets more interesting when you speak Slovak, because it’s written using a very archaic speech from the 17^th century which creates a special atmosphere.

6. Your most recent album, 2023’s “Vertumnus Caesar” beautifully followed on from its predecessor. The mixture of black and heavy metal with all these archaic elements from all over the musical spectrum is profoundly wonderful to listen to. These two albums feel the most “close” in sound to me. Do you feel you have found your sound and something you want to hold onto or will Malokarpatan always reach for the unpredictable and unwieldy?

Thank you! Again, interesting because to me it’s more like the debut and Krupinské ohne are close to each other, and Vertumnus Caesar is closer to Nordkarpatenland. The biggest change was going from D Standard tuning used on all previous albums to E Standard. Using D Standard was inspired by Black Sabbath and early doom metal, the shift to E Standard was to get closer to classic heavy metal. It creates a lighter, more melodic sound. Vertumnus Caesar is a conceptual album about the life of Emperor Rudolf II who was infamous for his dabbling with occultism and that hugely influenced how it sounds. It’s very mystical and its darkness is more subtle. We also hugely increased the use of synthesisers, inspired by 70s progressive rock – especially its darker kinds like Goblin from Italy. As much as all our records differ, I think this helped to solidify our sound: Classic E Standard tuning, melodic riffs inspired by 80s metal, and 70s progressive/psychedelic elements that create a specific occult aura. Mix that with raspy vocals and you basically have the Malokarpatan formula, although there are a few more subtleties to that. That being said, I always want to move to a slightly different direction with each album and our next record will be another proof of that.

7. Can you tell us about how your write, record and produce your albums? What goes into the lyrics, mixing and artwork? Your outputs are something truly unique and the insight into this from start to end would be fascinating to hear.

It’s a quite painstaking and long process! I am my own harshest critic, so I overthink each riff, each lyrical verse. When in the proper mood, melodies and lyrics can come easy to me. The difficult part is assembling it together. I think good songwriting is a bit of a lost art in the current metal scene and many bands just stick random riffs on top of each other, without thinking too much of having the song tell a story. I want a song to make me feel like a good book or movie does. It has to have development, an element of adventure, memorability and some sort of conclusion in the end. I’d say the biggest influence on how I write songs is Tony Iommi. He usually starts Black Sabbath songs with a catchy verse and chorus, and then when other bands would just dwell on that, he suddenly wanders completely some place else. Once I pair the music with lyrics, I tend to adjust arrangements so the music follows the emotion in the lyrics. The final touch on top of that is the artwork and band pictures, it all has to follow the same atmosphere and work as a whole. You can’t write a song about 16^th century alchemists and then pose in work clothes and have a flaming skull on the album cover.

8. Okay, we have really covered the albums but as real underground maniacs you haven’t overlooked doing EPs or splits, some as recent as 2023. What is the importance in doing these shorter releases when you have such grandiose albums as well? Are they ideas that do not fit the longer format or do you simply enjoy the collaborative creative effort with another band?

I never plan those releases and all basically happened by the bands contacting us to do something. In case of the EP, it wasn’t even planned as a standalone release, it was just part of a split release done for a small festival we played in Germany. Sun & Moon Records from Romania then offered us to release it on vinyl so we said sure, why not. Generally, the material we put on these short releases tends to be more experimental or outside of our usual style. It can be anything from experimental ambient through cover versions of a local country band to primitive early Törr worship. There’s one very unusual split song coming at some point with Caixão from Portugal, after that I don’t really plan to do any because I don’t have any extra songs. It’s totally ok for fans to skip these smaller releases, they’re meant for collectors and for diehards of the band who want to hear our less usual material too.

9. Building on this I know you collect and listen to some excellent records. I won’t ask you to pick your top ones, because we did that in the last issue. I will ask you though; what is the importance of physical music to you? Do you prefer one particular format or are they all valuable and perhaps what is special about each? 

I’m quite far from a collector haha. I’m used to living on minimal budgets, so I don’t buy a lot of material things. I was mostly buying tapes as a kid in the mid-late 90s using money from parents and grandparents – at the time I was obsessed with the Scandinavian 2^nd wave so that was a major part of what I bought. I have some old death metal tapes which I traded from an older friend who is no longer around. Some vinyl from a record collection a friend’s dad got rid of – classic 60s/70s stuff, nothing too rare or unusual. And then I have a bunch of CDs from 70s progressive bands which I used to buy from bits of extra cash I had in my student years. Some other stuff I got for free or as trades, but that’s roughly it. LPs are of course the best format for many different reasons, but tapes are the nostalgic one for me because due to their cheap price that was what most metal kids in Eastern Europe grew up with. I haven’t held a CD in my hands before at least 1997.

10. I think it would be wise to ask if there are any newer bands you find particularly noteworthy or inspiring despite your very ancient sound? I am sure you can recommend us some very deep cuts from the Slovakian or neighbouring underworlds…

I’m really the wrong person to answer this because I follow the scene only very minimally. I live in the past because I believe the music was better. So I just have a basic overlook on what is happening, but most bands play in styles that are way too modern for my taste. I can recommend the new death/doom metal band from my town called Hrob, they released an album this year which I think will do fine internationally. It’s old school without being forced and you can feel they have their personality. There’s also a new traditional heavy metal band called Cmÿter – which is an almost nonexistent style here because almost every melodic Slovakian band plays the flashy kind of Euro-power metal instead. I think our black metal scene is doing quite alright, they all play in styles influenced by 90s Scandinavian BM or newer, so maybe fit more for a different kind of zine.

11. So far, Invictus Productions has been your main label, although others such as The Ajna Offensive, Hexencave Productions and a few others have been involved. How has the working relationship been with Darragh and the others? I assume you must be quite happy to stay with him for so long and be a part of such a strong roster.

There’s always things that could be improved, but we’ve had a friendly relationship with Darragh on a personal level going back over a decade now. There were offers from bigger labels and I almost signed one of those after our third album, but seeing all the million tiny mechanisms they have to control different aspects of the band, I just freaked out. The certain unpredictability and chaos of independent labels fits me more. I don’t like being bound by contracts – we in fact never had one with Invictus and all works just on mutual trust. There’s downsides to everything including this, but as you can see, we haven’t felt the need to jump ship over the years. Our next album will once again come out on Invictus as well. When it comes to their roster, I actually feel like we are the odd bunch out, but I’d feel like that on almost any other label too haha.

12. Before we end things, I am curious; is there a reason Malokarpatan do not play many live shows? Do you enjoy it or not particularly? Can we expect more in the future? Lastly, are there any intriguing tales from prior shows you can share with us?

It’s a combination of reasons. One is that, I indeed am not the biggest fan of playing live and have always preferred the quiet seclusion of studio work. I never understood the kind of bands who have just a bunch of EP releases out and focus on playing millions of gigs instead. Then there’s the practical side of gigs – the endless waiting, tiresome travelling, terrible food, cheap beer and the often poor amounts of money you make in the end – if you make any at all. Not to mention the disgusting practice of Pay For Play which many bands agree to with hopes of future stardom. If anything, live gigs are a sort of fan service to me. I believe the fans deserve them for their support so I mostly do it for them. But for several years now, there have been logistical obstacles stopping us from doing so. Our old drummer left, the new one is from Sweden which isn’t exactly a stone’s throw away from Slovakia, and there’s generally a shortage of musicians I could pick for live gigs here. Slovakia’s metal scene is tiny and the absolute majority of bands play in a style more modern compared to ours. Malokarpatan songs aren’t super technically challenging to play, but they require a certain 70s inspired groove which you’ll find in Mercyful Fate or Black Sabbath. Most metal musicians play in a stiff style which became prevalent especially from the 90s onward. So there are people who could play my music, but not many who could play it the right way if you get me. Like blues – you just have to feel it rather than painstakingly practice it. I’m still trying to figure out a way to do some gigs, so it’s not yet a closed question. It just may take some extra time. I’ve had to stop answering gig offers because I still get them on an almost weekly basis despite us not playing live for 6 years now. It gets really tiresome to reply the same thing in dozens of different emails.

13. I’ll wrap things up by asking you what comes next? Album five seems to be underway, can you reveal some details about that?

Our new album Baron Ferat is recorded for a long time now, just slowed down by the usual delays. Currently, I’m waiting for the guy who’ll be mixing it because he’s busy with other jobs. Artwork is almost done except a few details and I think it’ll be really special this time around – certainly nothing like you see from other bands. Musically, we build upon what started on Vertumnus Caesar, but it’s once again something a little different. Some people told me it reminds them of the more direct, catchy songwriting on Nordkarpatenland. This is partially true as I tried to simple things down. But there’s also new elements – there is a lot of synths throughout for example. We’ll just mix a lot of them low so it creates a more subtle cinematic atmosphere instead of being abrasively symphonic. It’s also very inspired by soundtracks of 70s horror movies, even though people will probably mention something completely else in the reviews like they often do, haha. I can’t tell you a release date because of the infinite delays, but it should be this year at least!

Available in print as part of Shrieks From The Abyss fanzine issue 8! Buy here!