Wednesday, October 31, 2012

DARK TIMES - Girl Hate EP out soon!!!

 Photo by Fredrik Bjerkenes
Cover by Maren Karlson.

Track list:
Side A:
1. Girl Hate
2. Kiss My Fist
Side B:
3. Waste
4. Worst Things

Comes out November 16th on Fysisk Format.
Release party on Last Train, November 20th.
Preorder it HERE

Saturday, October 27, 2012

SNAKEREIGNS release shows in Norway

Okkultokrati's second LP "Snakereigns" is out now on Fysisk Format. Here are the shows we will do in Norway:

Bergen:
Saturday November 3rd
Club Alrek

Oslo:
Friday November 9th
The Crossroad Club

Stavanger:
Saturday November 10th
Cementen

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

OKKULTOKRATI interview in the new Rock-A-Rolla

There is a short interview with OKKULTOKRATI in the new issue of Rock-a-rolla.

 You can read it in all its unedited glory here:

Can you fill us in on the background of Okkultokrati – how, when and where did the band start?

Tarblack: Back in 2008 Erik Svarte wanted to put together a bl'asting thrash metal band with some hardcore punk energy with Night Jerk on drums and Virgintaker on bass (RIP). And they were talking to some other guy to maybe do some vocals, but then I talked my way into the band and we made some 10 songs in a few weeks and recorded and releases a demo for our first show a few months later. But it immediately turned into something else than trash metal. More punk, more dirty and crushing.

Night Jerk: The early Okkultokrati stuff (the demo tape + the Knarkskog 7") is some of my favorite material to listen to. Purely a result of Erik Svarte and I going together without having a distinct plan for the band and just ending up with some heavy, crazy sounding punk tunes. Then Tarblack came and took us all of guard with some great vocals and lyrics that really defined the band from those very first recordings.

 Erik Svarte: I would never start a trash metal band.

The band shares members with other bands from the Norwegian underground. Can you fill us in on the band members and which other bands they are involved in?

Tarblack: Snake is also in Haust, Night, Blackest Woods and a few more not so active bands. Night Jerk is also in Problems and Night and a few other unnamed bands. Boris is in Hombre Malo and I am also in Night alongside Woody from Haust and Blackest Woods. then you have friends and affiliated projects like Sumar, Necrolust, Dark Times, Drugged SS etc etc. We need to keep busy or else we'll climb the walls!

Your Facebook page states your current location is “Ugly Fucking Oslo”. What’s that all about?

Tarblack: "Ugly Fucking Oslo" is a hit song by Haust on their first album ride The Relapse. It is a song about coming into the big city, being alienated and being content with being a freak, a misfit and a failure.

What was your initial intention behind Okkultokrati? Are you making any kind of political/social/etc statement, or is it music for the sake of music?

Tarblack: There is no political agenda with anything Okkultokrati does. That does not mean that we are oblivious to politics or have no views on social matters. I just feel that a band is a poor vehicle for social change and justice, and preaching to the choir is boring as hell. I'd rather fuck with your mind and rip out your soul with some well crafted rock songs!

Which bands made you want to start Okkultokrati?

Tarblack: From early on I would have to say local maniac bands in my home town like Skarnspage and Smorgasboard. Just fucked up obscure experimental punk with all the wrong solutions. Like early Am-Rep noisy punk rock mixed with a solid sense of DIY ethics and youthful hubris. Later I'd say Black Flag and Black Sabbath.

 Erik Svarte: Rudimentary Peni, Poison Idea and Sleep.

How has the Norwegian scene changed since the early black metal days, in your opinion? Where is it headed these days?

Tarblack: Black metal has turned into two things it seems. Tourism, museums, nostalgia and rehashing the glory days in a embarrassing way. And the other part has gone underground again and are content releasing tapes and playing close knitted festivals. Must say i prefer the second solution. I don't really care what happens to black metal. This isn't 1993 anymore.

What can you tell us about your choice of band name?

Tarblack: Okkultokrati is a made up word. But in essence is means occult rule, or occult upper class. Which is as good a name as any if you are to conquer the world with some classy, furious punk rock!

What can you tell us about your second album, Snakereigns?

Snakereigns as a whole is about everything coming to a bleak end. End of all life in every aspect. Severing the ties to the world, to people, to the past/present/future of history, to thought, space and time. With no possibility of reincarnation or rebirth. No ouroboros. Just null, void, blank and emptiness. Blow everything up and get rid of it all!

As far as the musical content is concerned, how would you compare it to your debut?

Erik Svarte: It`s just much better played and with a lot more feel to it. And a hell of a lot more angry.

How did the writing and recording process of Snakereigns compare to the experience of putting together the debut album?

Night Jerk: I'd say the process was more focus in the way that (contrary to the debut) we knew what label was gonna put it out, when it was gonna be released and so on. We knew that these songs were gonna end up on this album. More importantly, Snake and Tarblack really focused their efforts as far as song writing goes, and worked hard on every single song.
Finally, what’s next for Okkultokrati?

Night Jerk: Still being a band. Touring, releasing records, doing what we know best.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

SNAKEREIGNS // MUSIC VIDEO

Shot and directed by Ildfar. Graphics and editing by Hai from Next Life. Snakereigns LP/CD out October 26th.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Okkultokrati - On Mouth of Hells - live at Dortmund Bodega.

Nothing Awaits In The New World

There is a new OKKULTOKRATI song unveiled from the upcoming "Snakereigns" album up at Invisible Oranges and a small interview as well:

What does Okkultokrati mean exactly? Why did you choose it as your band’s name?
I guess roughly translated it would mean something like Occultocracy. Meaning occult rule, or occult upper class. We wanted a powerful and elite sounding name, and something that a hundred bands weren’t already named.

What motivated you to play a combination of black metal and hardcore? Which artists from each genre inspire you?

From punk, it’s mostly really classic bands like the Ramones, the Stooges, Black Flag, Misfits, Rudimentary Peni and Poison Idea. From metal, Black Sabbath, Ildjarn, Emperor and Judas Priest. I mean, there is just tons and tons more, and not limited to those narrow genres that inspire us. But those are the big ones we keep coming back to. I know there is seemingly a black metal/hardcore hybrid genre or a “blackened hardcore” style or whatever you want to call it that is popular out there, but we never intended to make anything that could fit in that category. We don’t sit around trying to make the guitars sound like “Wolverine Blues” or that whole schtick. We’re on an entirely different trip. “Feel the Darkness” sounds so much more bleak and menacing to us (to be clear, I like early Entombed/Nihilist fine, I just don’t see the point in any more bands sounding like that). We’re driven by another set of demons.

What does it mean to you to be included in Norway’s “Black Hole Crew”?
Black Hole Crew is our very informal, small circle of people drawn to each other for a somewhat similar musical philosophy and tastes to hang out and be creative and destructive. We weren’t happy with a lot of music coming out in our town so we felt we had to do something about it. So far the other active bands are Haust, Dark Times and Problems. Then you have smaller side-projects like Night, Blackest Woods, Sumar, etc. who might suddenly become more active and release more stuff. And then you have smaller, even more obscure things like Necrolust, Drugged SS, and other unnamed affiliated things that we have no control over and don’t even know what they’re going to come up with next. All I know is that it’s all an outlet. We need to keep busy or else we’ll go stir crazy!

What are your thoughts on Norway’s metal scene? Likes/dislikes? How has your music been perceived there?

I have no idea how we are perceived. People can love or hate us, it makes no difference. Norway has a great legacy of excellent metal bands. But it seems everything is pretty settled and established. I hate it when people reduce a genre to simply being a musical export or a tourist attraction. It just completely kills any hint of mystique or danger. That kind of attention has a tendency to bring a lot of lame cultural aspects on the side: you know, the industry types that cater to the lowest common denominator of metal stereotypes. That stuff annoys me to no end, and it never seems to go away. But I do like a lot of Norwegian metal and I get excited about younger bands like Töxik Death, Nekromantheon, and Obliteration who just throw out all the distracting bullshit and go straight for the jugular and just kill it every time!

http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2012/10/io-exclusive-track-premiere-okkultokratis-nothing-awaits/