-Infernal Hails, could you please introduce Angist to the
readers.
Hello! We are the Icelandic death metal band Angist. We are very excited to be featured in your zine!
-Please give us an explanation of the inception of Angist, What is your goal and your target what inspired you to create Angist ?
When it all boils down we are friends who are passionate about music and are creating music that we love. We love playing our music and we just want to get it out to people who share our passion. There’s so much filth in this world and people doing evil things and that’s what the lyrics are about so maybe more people will be aware of what’s going on around them.
-What can you tell us about your line up ?
Angist was formed by Edda Tegeder (vocals/guitar) and Gyða Hrund (guitar). When we decided to make this into a proper band we got Halli (Edda’s brother) to join as bass player. We’ve had few changes in drummers but our new drummer, Tumi, joined last fall after we released our EP with another drummer. We feel that now Angist is complete because it’s essential that all members are passionate about this project. Tumi is also in another band, tech/death band called Ophidian I.
-What do you think about the girls in the metal movement ?
Of course we support that! Metal shouldn’t be about gender, it’s an open party for everyone so the more the merrier! Gyða and Edda are the only girls playing in the metal scene in Iceland and have always been but we hope to inspire one or two. But there are a lot of girls that go to gigs in Iceland, support the bands, take amazing photographs and are just big fans in general so that’s also important. Any involvement is great, whether it’s playing or any other participation.
-Have you more success with the two blonde witches ?
We don’t believe so, maybe more people will check out the music out of curiosity but we believe the music stands for itself and it shouldn’t matter if we have girls in the band or not. Sometimes it’s even a set back because people don’t believe that girls can make music like that. But we aren’t advertising ourselves as having girls in the band because it really doesn’t matter, if the music is good, then the music is good.
-How did you learn to play?
Halli has been playing bass for many years with few band here in Iceland, Gyða is a band promoter that picked up a guitar in her 20’s when she decided that she much rather wanted to play music, Edda has been playing guitar since she was 13 years old when she locked herself in her bedroom with Metallica tab books and has been playing in many different projects since. Tumi has been studying drums in the Icelandic Music University for years and also played for few bands here and still is.
-What are the metal bands that influenced you or motivated you ?
There are so many bands that have influenced us in one way or another. Early Metallica, Bloodbath, Decapitated, Emperor, Suffocation and Slayer have all inspired us as metal fans but other bands like Led Zeppelin, NIN, jazz and all sorts of music always moves you and you take influence from everything you listen to. Also music that has sincere and meaningful lyrics, that’s very important to us.
-What kind of music do you listen to yourself ?
Well we listen to all sorts of music really. Of course a lot of metal as mentioned before, and different genres like black metal as well.
-How is the metal scene in Iceland ?
-Tell us about your current metal playlist and your occupation between musician and with friends ?
The new Hate Eternal album and the new Gojira album has been getting a few spins lately as well as Decapitated’s Carnival is Forever. Also our friends in Blood Feud just released a new album so we’ve been checking that out. We love partying and we throw a lot of parties and BBQ’s and it’s great to have a lot of friends over and have fun. The Blood Feud guys are a must if you want to party!!
-What kind of music do you play in your car? What car do you own ?
Haha Gyða is the only one who has a car, the Angist mobile (a very small Opel Corsa) that has an amazingly big trunk to fit stuff in for roadie-ing. But cars or ipods on the bus, it’s just whatever is on our playlist at the time.
-What are some of your non-musical influences?
The society and its imperfections influence us in making our music and the lyrics. There's so much violence and ugliness out there that is condoned by people and the society so we are trying to raise awareness of these matters. Subjects like human misery, destructive behaviour, violence, psychopaths, lack of conscience, addiction, apathy, self loathing and overall degeneration of humanity would describe our lyrics well. The human race is capable of such cruelty towards other people and them selves and we have amazing ability of destroying everything around us and even ourselves.
-What are your occupations outside Angist
Tumi and Edda are students, Gyða is a high school teacher and Halli is working for the state.
-Did you ever played other kind of music?
Gyða and Halli have just been in metal bands but Tumi is also in a prog rock band. Edda has been in many different projects like punk, trip hop/rock, troubadour and rock.
-What can you tell us about the songs that are available on your official myspace page?
Our Ruin and Rotten Mind are the first two songs that we wrote and came out on a limited edition demo. The other songs are from the EP Circle of Suffering.
-What do you planned after recording the EP Circle of Suffering ?
When we finished recording Circle of Suffering we went straight into finding a replacement drummer, which can be quite difficult on our small island. We finished recording the album in summer 2011 and it was released in October that same year. Few days after the release of the EP we went on a tour in France with Tumi as a session drummer and after that tour he became a full-time member. Since then we’ve just been busy playing a lot of shows and working on new material.
-Abyss Records! it's professional ! how was working with this label ?
So far it has been great. They are very dedicated and professional and we feel that we are in good hands. It’s very important to get support from your label and Abyss Records are fantastic. We are very much looking forward to work with them on our upcoming album.
-Which label would fit your music?
Abyss Records!
-What its means the CD cover of Circle of Suffering?
It reminds us that Death is always near and life is an endless circle of suffering. The marsh with swarming souls depicts humanity and over them is Death.
-Do you have any future split with any band ?
Well there’s a talk about that but we just have to see what happens, we can’t say anything more at this time.
-Any fav bands to get on stage with ?
Of Icelandic bands we love sharing stage with our buddies from Skálmöld and Blood Feud. They are such great guys and everyone helps out. Of foreign bands it was awesome to play with Heaven Shall Burn and Sight of Emptiness but it would be a dream to share a stage with Suffocation, Bloodbath, Gojira, Decapited, Hate Eternal or any of our favorites.
-What is the biggest change compared to your the debut ?
Definitely stage performance. We are more comfortable and have such fun being on stage together, playing our music and seeing the crowd response to our songs.
Also we have matured a lot with the song writing and we have a clearer vision where we are going with our music.
-What is your daily consumption amount of alcohol,cigarettes,drugs ?
Edda drinks unhealthy amounts of coffee and the rest of the band just drinks alcohol on weekends.
-Would you like to ask me a question ?
Yes how is the scene in your country and do you get a lot of foreign bands to tour over there ?
In my country !!!! the metal scéne is dead since 2006 she is in her grave , and it was limited side organization, there were many amateur bands a few bands was good and had obtained whatever its foreign bands came from Belgium suhrim in 2003 slavery from France in 2005 Bloody sign France in 2006 ...........
-Thank you alot for sharing your time with No Mercy Zine , do you have any particular messages or any closing notes , last words are yours ?
Yeah we just want to thank you for checking us out and letting us be a part of your zine! Hello to the readers of No Mercy Zine and check out our Facebook site for music, information and updates! www.facebook.com/angisttheband
Hope to see you on tour, drink together and have fun!
Definitely! We shall raise glasses!! Skál!
Hello! We are the Icelandic death metal band Angist. We are very excited to be featured in your zine!
-Please give us an explanation of the inception of Angist, What is your goal and your target what inspired you to create Angist ?
When it all boils down we are friends who are passionate about music and are creating music that we love. We love playing our music and we just want to get it out to people who share our passion. There’s so much filth in this world and people doing evil things and that’s what the lyrics are about so maybe more people will be aware of what’s going on around them.
-What can you tell us about your line up ?
Angist was formed by Edda Tegeder (vocals/guitar) and Gyða Hrund (guitar). When we decided to make this into a proper band we got Halli (Edda’s brother) to join as bass player. We’ve had few changes in drummers but our new drummer, Tumi, joined last fall after we released our EP with another drummer. We feel that now Angist is complete because it’s essential that all members are passionate about this project. Tumi is also in another band, tech/death band called Ophidian I.
-What do you think about the girls in the metal movement ?
Of course we support that! Metal shouldn’t be about gender, it’s an open party for everyone so the more the merrier! Gyða and Edda are the only girls playing in the metal scene in Iceland and have always been but we hope to inspire one or two. But there are a lot of girls that go to gigs in Iceland, support the bands, take amazing photographs and are just big fans in general so that’s also important. Any involvement is great, whether it’s playing or any other participation.
-Have you more success with the two blonde witches ?
We don’t believe so, maybe more people will check out the music out of curiosity but we believe the music stands for itself and it shouldn’t matter if we have girls in the band or not. Sometimes it’s even a set back because people don’t believe that girls can make music like that. But we aren’t advertising ourselves as having girls in the band because it really doesn’t matter, if the music is good, then the music is good.
-How did you learn to play?
Halli has been playing bass for many years with few band here in Iceland, Gyða is a band promoter that picked up a guitar in her 20’s when she decided that she much rather wanted to play music, Edda has been playing guitar since she was 13 years old when she locked herself in her bedroom with Metallica tab books and has been playing in many different projects since. Tumi has been studying drums in the Icelandic Music University for years and also played for few bands here and still is.
-What are the metal bands that influenced you or motivated you ?
There are so many bands that have influenced us in one way or another. Early Metallica, Bloodbath, Decapitated, Emperor, Suffocation and Slayer have all inspired us as metal fans but other bands like Led Zeppelin, NIN, jazz and all sorts of music always moves you and you take influence from everything you listen to. Also music that has sincere and meaningful lyrics, that’s very important to us.
-What kind of music do you listen to yourself ?
Well we listen to all sorts of music really. Of course a lot of metal as mentioned before, and different genres like black metal as well.
-How is the metal scene in Iceland ?
The population of the
entire country is only around 320.000 people so it's quite obvious that our
scene is rather small but it's also very close knit, everyone knows everyone.
But because it's a small scene people try to help each other out so for example
when someone is going to record an album they usually put up a fund raiser gig
and the other bands help out by playing for free, making posters, lending
equipment, advertising etc.
But we have a lot of
bands and different styles so within the scene there is a scene of black metal
bands, death metal bands, technical death metal bands, hardcore bands etc. and
when there's a gig on you get almost every time a range of bands which is great
because it can broaden your musical horizon and you can get into a genre of
music that you didn't know you liked.
What I would also say about the scene
here is that the people are very dedicated and hard working. We have so many
amazing bands here and even though we are usually just playing for the same
people there's always a gig going on, people recording and releasing records on
their own, financed from their own pockets and lately bands are getting more
attention outside of Iceland and scoring record deals which is great! We
definitely recommend people to check out bands like Sólstafir, Blood Feud,
Skálmöld, Gone Postal, Gruesome Glory, Atrum, Beneath and many more!
-Tell us about your current metal playlist and your occupation between musician and with friends ?
The new Hate Eternal album and the new Gojira album has been getting a few spins lately as well as Decapitated’s Carnival is Forever. Also our friends in Blood Feud just released a new album so we’ve been checking that out. We love partying and we throw a lot of parties and BBQ’s and it’s great to have a lot of friends over and have fun. The Blood Feud guys are a must if you want to party!!
-What kind of music do you play in your car? What car do you own ?
Haha Gyða is the only one who has a car, the Angist mobile (a very small Opel Corsa) that has an amazingly big trunk to fit stuff in for roadie-ing. But cars or ipods on the bus, it’s just whatever is on our playlist at the time.
-What are some of your non-musical influences?
The society and its imperfections influence us in making our music and the lyrics. There's so much violence and ugliness out there that is condoned by people and the society so we are trying to raise awareness of these matters. Subjects like human misery, destructive behaviour, violence, psychopaths, lack of conscience, addiction, apathy, self loathing and overall degeneration of humanity would describe our lyrics well. The human race is capable of such cruelty towards other people and them selves and we have amazing ability of destroying everything around us and even ourselves.
-What are your occupations outside Angist
Tumi and Edda are students, Gyða is a high school teacher and Halli is working for the state.
-Did you ever played other kind of music?
Gyða and Halli have just been in metal bands but Tumi is also in a prog rock band. Edda has been in many different projects like punk, trip hop/rock, troubadour and rock.
-What can you tell us about the songs that are available on your official myspace page?
Our Ruin and Rotten Mind are the first two songs that we wrote and came out on a limited edition demo. The other songs are from the EP Circle of Suffering.
-What do you planned after recording the EP Circle of Suffering ?
When we finished recording Circle of Suffering we went straight into finding a replacement drummer, which can be quite difficult on our small island. We finished recording the album in summer 2011 and it was released in October that same year. Few days after the release of the EP we went on a tour in France with Tumi as a session drummer and after that tour he became a full-time member. Since then we’ve just been busy playing a lot of shows and working on new material.
-Abyss Records! it's professional ! how was working with this label ?
So far it has been great. They are very dedicated and professional and we feel that we are in good hands. It’s very important to get support from your label and Abyss Records are fantastic. We are very much looking forward to work with them on our upcoming album.
-Which label would fit your music?
Abyss Records!
-What its means the CD cover of Circle of Suffering?
It reminds us that Death is always near and life is an endless circle of suffering. The marsh with swarming souls depicts humanity and over them is Death.
-Do you have any future split with any band ?
Well there’s a talk about that but we just have to see what happens, we can’t say anything more at this time.
-Any fav bands to get on stage with ?
Of Icelandic bands we love sharing stage with our buddies from Skálmöld and Blood Feud. They are such great guys and everyone helps out. Of foreign bands it was awesome to play with Heaven Shall Burn and Sight of Emptiness but it would be a dream to share a stage with Suffocation, Bloodbath, Gojira, Decapited, Hate Eternal or any of our favorites.
-What is the biggest change compared to your the debut ?
Definitely stage performance. We are more comfortable and have such fun being on stage together, playing our music and seeing the crowd response to our songs.
Also we have matured a lot with the song writing and we have a clearer vision where we are going with our music.
-What is your daily consumption amount of alcohol,cigarettes,drugs ?
Edda drinks unhealthy amounts of coffee and the rest of the band just drinks alcohol on weekends.
-Would you like to ask me a question ?
Yes how is the scene in your country and do you get a lot of foreign bands to tour over there ?
In my country !!!! the metal scéne is dead since 2006 she is in her grave , and it was limited side organization, there were many amateur bands a few bands was good and had obtained whatever its foreign bands came from Belgium suhrim in 2003 slavery from France in 2005 Bloody sign France in 2006 ...........
-Thank you alot for sharing your time with No Mercy Zine , do you have any particular messages or any closing notes , last words are yours ?
Yeah we just want to thank you for checking us out and letting us be a part of your zine! Hello to the readers of No Mercy Zine and check out our Facebook site for music, information and updates! www.facebook.com/angisttheband
Hope to see you on tour, drink together and have fun!
Definitely! We shall raise glasses!! Skál!
