INTERVIEW
Insignium sent us a list of questions; Aardtmann M. answers them all below:
1. How did the band come to be? It is obvious that you decided to follow Trollmann Av Ildtopbergs footsteps. Why?
"It all happened as an accident actually. We were playing some doom/death covers with a friend of ours at my place, when Aardtmann H broke one of the strings of his guitar.
Unable to continue, I plugged my bass into a guitar amp and started to improvise some simple riffs with maximum gain. Soon Aardtmann H got out his
old Yamaha keyboard en started to play some simple melodies. Surprised by the fact that this didn't sound too bad and somewhat similar to Trollmann av Ildtoppberg (a band that we both liked),
we decided to record it. So I turned on one of my microphones and about 40 minutes later "De Berg van Verdoemenis" was finished. The demo wasn't really overproduced to say the least."
2. What does your name mean and why did you choose it?
"Because the similarity to the music of Trollmann av Ildtoppberg, we decided to stay close to the name of that band "op vuurtopberg" is just a translation of "av Ildtoppberg".
Aardtmann was chosen because of the similarity to the word Trollmann, not so much because of it's meaning."
3. You did a good job on the demo, as much I've already stated. How did the demo come to be and what does it mean to you?
"Already answered this question in my reply to question 1."
4. This is maybe the most important question of all. Is there any plans of a full length in the time to come?
"Yeah, we are planning to make a full length record in the near future. We already have some ideas about how we want it to sound."
5. If so, do you have any plans for which bleaknesses will be included on it?
"It will definitely be a more serious attempt and somewhat different from "De Berg van Verdoemenis", but it will be drone and will still contain some Trollmann influences. Vocals will also be included."
6. Are you doing or planning to do any gigs?
"Not at the moment, maybe some small gigs in the future (if anyone is interested), but certainly not untill after the full length."
7. The dutch scene has produced many fine doom bands like The Gathering, Eria D'Or, Deinonychus and Bunkur. And now you have been added to that list. What do you think of the dutch world of metal?
"The dutch metal scene in general is very productive. There are a really large amount of great (and not so great) metal bands in Holland. Death metal is currently very popular so there are loads of death metal bands around at the moment. I'm actually not a real big fan of death metal myself, but some of these bands are really great. Gothic-metal is also pretty popular (will probably have something to do with the succes of Within Temptation). I don't like most of these bands, although I did like "Enter" and "The Dance" by Within Temptation.
Luckily there are also some really great doom bands here, apart from the ones you have already mentioned. Everyone who doesn't know the dutch doom bands Officium Triste and Bitter Hærvest (really looking forward to their new cd) should also check out these great bands."
8. Any final last words to fans of the style?
"First of all, thank you for doing this interview. Be sure to check out our official website at http://www.aardtmann.tk/ for updates on the new album and other events. Also, check out Trollmann av Ildtoppberg at http://www15.brinkster.com/fishbert/."
Contact: aardtmann@hotmail.com
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