MARBLEBOG | Interview with Gabor of the Hungarian Black Metal band MARBLEBOG

Diabolical Conquest (Travis Swanson): Greetings. I have not had the opportunity to hear the Marblebog material postdating Forestheart; are your most recent recordings heading in the same direction as that album? Feel free to discuss Marblebog's growth as an artistic entity.

Marblebog (Gabor): Hi! Gábor is here from Hungary. 'Forestheart' was recorded 5 years ago (the drums were added after one year), it was the 2nd full-length of Marblebog – the 1st was 'Csendhajnal' created in Autumn 2003. The 3rd album was 'Wind of Moors' which was recorded 4 years ago. It means that Marblebog has been busy only with re-releases and split recordings for 4 years now.

'Csendhajnal' is an album consisting of slow doomish BM songs and repetitive, monotonous, meditative ambient tracks. It was created by me only, it has quite raw sound and simple song-structures. The vocal style of 'Csendhajnal' is insane high-frequency screaming, just think on early Burzum or early Fleurety.

'Forestheart' is an album recorded with a real drummer, its whole sound is more clear and organic, the songs are more mature, having more riffs within a song, the vocals are fitting to the traditional BM style.

'Wind of Moors' is an album containing pure ambient music created with a synth and nothing else.

But, as I said, 'Wind of Moors' itself was recorded 4 years ago, and we created new songs in the period from 2004 to now, I guess they are a little bit changed in their atmosphere. I started to use different vocals, deeper grunts for instance and more complex song structures, guitar solos, etc. We have still a few split releases which are going to be finished this year. After these are out, I want to work on the 4th full-length which will be quite different from everything which was released under the name Marblebog before. The spiritual direction of Marblebog is far beyond the usual BM dimensions but this time even the music itself will go beyond this genre. Marblebog will move towards more experimental, more original music. I don't want Marblebog to be one of the thousand BM projects all around the world.

DC: While much of Forestheart is incredibly harrowing, I feel that in it, much of the sorrow of Csendhajnal is traded for more passively melancholic, exotic sound that channels more traditionally positive energies (the first two songs in particular). The timing of the first sparse acoustic passage in the song "I am the Forestheart" after several minutes of Burzumic tremolo picking, in particular, is even uplifting. Is the tone of your music dependent on your temperament while writing it, or was this intentional?

Marblebog: It is an interesting question. Once I read an interview with David Lynch, the film director, and he said that an artist doesn't need to suffer in order to show suffering in art. You know, he has practiced meditation for 35 years and believe me, after so much practice your mind becomes clear like space. But his movies are full of darkness, suffering, strong emotions, violence. Why am I saying this? I'm not a depressive person (anymore), but my musical ideas, which spontaneously come out from my hands while playing the guitar, are quite sick and melancholic sometimes. In music I like to listen to stuff which has very deep atmosphere. So, even if my current temperament is happy, I can write dark and bizarre lines. I think that real happiness, real peace contains both aspects. As the cliché says, a tree must be rooted deeply under the ground to grow high towards sunlight. The uplifting moments as you call them are the result of the aforementioned growth, perhaps.

DC: One thing that makes Marblebog stand out from most black metal is its increasingly aesthetically pleasing use of ambient synth passages. "Opening," for example, is genuinely soothing without sounding like Enya or some shit. Should we expect such moments to be less or more prominent in future recordings?

Marblebog: You should listen to 'Wind of Moors'. Furthermore, almost all current split releases of Marblebog contain at least one ambient track. The 4th album won't be a full ambient recording but you may expect such moments. I don't think these are special tracks, however, very simple if not primitive structures are used in order to build them. The feeling is more important than the technical abilities or the expensive equipment. For instance, I love Korean-Chinese-Sanskrit ritual chantings where only a moktak – a special instrument aka 'wooden fish' – is used to pace the rythm plus the voice of the singer(s). A chant lasts sometimes for 15-20 minutes using just 4-5 different sounds. Simple, ancient, powerful with a great supportive spritiual power. The more simple the better in this case.

DC: Black metal has always shunned modernism in favor of the "noble savage" philosophy, favoring archaic culture to modern life. Is Marblebog an exception? What exactly, do you think, intrigues people about primitivism?

Marblebog: This topic seems to be quite absurd since I'm giving answers to a webzine about a project which uses electronic instruments such as the guitar, the keyboard and the computer, so I don't think I can tell you anything clever about this. Well, our life is full of contradictions and that's not a problem at all. Yes, we like to go to Nature, spending there days without cell phone, internet and modern things for days, and we like to chat with our friends from all over the world, and that's it. We just have to keep the balance. Marblebog has a homepage, a myspace site (again), but I have lived without TV for 4 years now, for instance. Most 'cold misanthropic forest souls' would die in Nature in a few days if they are alone – especially in Winter.

DC: Just as true liberation is found within, failure to responsibly gauge our own action is disadvantageous to personal freedom. Metal artists who lack any religious inclination often use moral relativism as an excuse to masquerade as Marilyn Manson-esque shock rockers (I won't name any names, but just look at any popular act), which, to Christians and other assorted theists, ironically only reinforces the ethical duality of "good" and "bad." Marblebog, however, seems much more mature and ideologically candid. You wrote, for instance, this: "Good and evil differ only at surface / in the deep everything fuses". Can you elaborate on the philosophical implications of your music or lyrics?

Marblebog: Maybe it is disappointing that I'm saying this but I guess we've covered this topic with some of the previous questions and answers. To add a few things, commonplace ethics is not useful in my opinion. Primitive light people are often dangerously destructive in reality and primitive darkness people are just don't take a deeper insight into their own life. Is there any love left under the mask of misanthropy? Ha-ha…

DC: Does the bizarre, evocative band name have a story or meaning behind it?

Marblebog: If somebody knows what a 'Marble Bog' is, please send me the right answer. I have no idea! That's something what makes your rational thinking collapse. Images are better than words. Sounds are better than images.

DC: If applicable, what's Marblebog's (potential?) live situation? Is it safe to assume music like this is better experienced in solidarity?

Marblebog: I have mixed feelings about that. I had the fortune to perform on stage supporting other bands, it was a very good experience, but the idea of a Marblebog gig is not something which constantly appears in my mind as an unfulfilled desire. I can happily live without this experience.

DC: If you would, enlighten me on the state of the Hungarian metal, of which I'm largely ignorant. Does it possess any distinguishing characteristics which Marblebog adheres to or deviates from?

Marblebog: We have very good, original bands, we have average bands, and we have awful bands. My favourite one is Barbaro who play totally unique rock music, the founding guitarist is a genius, you must hear them! They were formed in 1987, you can check their songs and a lot more info if you visit their site at www.barbaro.hu . There is another original band who play not rock but metal music, their name is Korog ( www.korog.hu ). The style is very eclectic and original metal from the darker kind. Their previous album was recorded with Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Tormentor, etc) on vocals, totally sick stuff.

As for BM hordes, Vorkuta, Vérzivatar, Hexenwood, Funebre are the better ones but we have tons of bands. Finally, there are some outstanding ambient/neofolk projects as well, Sturmast, Cawatana or Teophania. The list could consist of 100+ projects.

DC: What/who are your base musical influences as an artist? If not black metal, what kind of music do you think you'd be playing?

Marblebog: My influences started with standard rock music than the spectre became harder and wider.
Ii would be cool to play spiritual jazz-rock with John McLaughlin but I don't have 6-8 hours a day to practice the guitar nor 10 years to keep this schedule. But without hard practice it doesn't work. I saw them – JMcL & the 4th Dimension – on stage a few weeks ago, the sound and the music itself were incredibly clear and powerful. That's really another dimension.

DC: Man is a natural scientist. Ever since the dawn of rational thought, everything we've observed in this world has filled us with questions like "how" and "why," as well as a readiness to dissect it in order to learn its secrets; thus, it's no surprise that a love of nature often paradoxically entails antipathy for human nature. Still, I'm beginning to notice more and more nature-loving fatalists who see environmental destruction as an inevitable component of a process far greater than some pretty trees. Do you view sentient ecosystems such as human societies still as an extension of nature, or something that has grown (or perhaps degenerated) into direct contrast with the natural world, therefore should be contained?

Marblebog: Very rich topic. I think that originally we are part of Nature. We are not able to destroy this planet but we can kill our own race and we've already killed several other races. I don't want to go deep into this topic, one thing is sure, no change is possible through political or social actions. Only the mind can be changed. How to change the mind? Why is it important? Is it really possible? This is just an interview with a music project…Recommended reading: Arne Næss, Alfred N. Whitehead, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, ZM Seung Sahn, HH The 14th Dalai Lama. These minds should be enough to start with.

DC: What's new with Marblebog? Any new material planned? Feel free to use this question as a platform for any promotion.

Marblebog: Lascowiec/Marblebog/Vérzivatar CD (Turanian Honour) and Evilfeast/Marblebog CD (Alles Stenar) are out now!
'Forestheart' CD & LP (Autopsy Kitchen) and 'Wind of Moors' CD (Tour de Garde) are still available!

Coming next:
Marblebog/Vorkuta 7”/MCD/MC
Bilskirnir/Marblebog 7”
Hexenwood/Hunok/Marblebog/TBA 7”
Evil/Marblebog 7”/MC
'TBA' (4th full-length)