Orgg combines atmospheric black metal with historical narratives of World War I’s alpine front. In this interview, we discuss their creative process, musical evolution, and upcoming album.
1. Orgg’s
music focuses heavily on the First World War, especially the alpine front. What
inspired you to choose this particular historical period for your albums, and
how do you approach translating the horrors of war into black metal?
Imagine hiking in the Italian Alps. It’s a bright day, and the views are
unbelievable. You feel a connection with the place, the wind, the trees, the
grass, everything is as perfect as nature can be. And suddenly you see some
rusted metal remains. Stuff that has been there more than one hundred years,
still acting as testimony for the war that happened there. The huge contrast
this created in my mind is the source of the passion for the historical
analysis that drives the concept of Orgg, and is the fil rouge connecting the
concept and the music. Our kind of Black Metal is, for us, the most effective
way to convey these feelings.
2. Your debut album, The Great White War, received a lot of acclaim for its
portrayal of the brutal battles in the Dolomitic Alps. How do you balance the
historical narrative with the atmospheric black metal sound?
We try to focus on how things should have felt back then, during the events
that we’re narrating. Some tracks take the listener in the heart of a battle
and are as ferocious as the experience of being maimed by bullets, shrapnel and
falling rocks; some other tracks convey different feelings: the wait for the
incoming battle, the fear, the mourning, the absence of the loved ones. The
most atmospheric parts are usually inspired by dolomitic legends and lore,
which we merge with the actual historical representation of the events to paint
a more detailed picture.
3. In Dimonios, your second album, you introduced a more complex sonic
approach. How did the addition of drummer David Folchitto influence the
evolution of Orgg’s sound between these two records?
David is a drumming legend, and we were so honored to feature him in Dimonios!
The approach has been to give him the freedom to express himself, his art and
his technique, combined with his endless experience in the genre. He was able
to bring ideas that really added power and complexity to the album.
We usually have an event, or concept, we want to focus on for each track. In “Die Eisstadt”, for example, we were fascinated by this citadel dug in the ice of a glacier, and inhabited by soldiers to hide from the enemy and get some protection from the elements. That’s the inspiration, that’s where “Burrow and Torture”, in the lyrics, comes from. If you can imagine yourself in that scenario, the lights, the night sky faintly glaring through the ice on your roof while explosions rip the air, then the next step is clear: write the music that appropriately represents this. Since this is mostly the representation of inner feelings, our composition process is usually a one-person effort. The band then refines and improves a track that is mostly complete.
5. The natural beauty of the Alps contrasts starkly with the brutal subject matter of the First World War. How do you capture that duality between the serenity of nature and the devastation of conflict in your music?
As fast as things can change in that scenario, so do our songs. Most of our tracks explore the duality with opposite feeling beginnings and ends. As an example, “A Darker Shade”, the opening track of “Dimonios”, starts of as a thrash song representing the hubris and pride of the beginning of a battle, while ending with an almost theatrical and atmospheric part when the reality of the fight develops and the uselessness of so many deaths becomes apparent.
6. Your upcoming third album, slated for release in 2025, continues your exploration of the First World War. Can you share any insights into the themes or musical direction you’re taking with this new album?
We’ll be following our own tracks, and touching some new extremes. While the themes will stay exactly the same, since we’re a concept band and that’s our main purpose, I’m sure our fans will have some surprising moments with the brutality of some of the new material. Of course, we’ll retain the mix of speed, coldness and melodic content that is our trademark. We’ll be taking it a bit further than what we already did, though!
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7. With a new lineup in place for the third album, how has the dynamic within the band changed, and how is it influencing the songwriting and recording process?
Orgg was not born with live performances in mind, it was more a studio band. During the years since The Great White War was released, we received a lot of live show requests that we had to decline. We simply thought that was not in scope for this project. But as years went by, we recognized that the band had a very strong live potential and decided to bring it to the stage. It wasn’t easy, since the live lineup needed to be completed and we wanted to play with actual members of the band. It took more than one year to complete the line up with Tymarr (guitars) and Vael (drums) and they have both been able to bring their own weight in the composition of the new album and in giving the old tracks a new life in a live setting. Different views, new influences, all this means new blood being poured in Orgg’s creative process.
8. The artwork for your albums, created by Vladimir "Smerdulak" Chebakov, beautifully complements your thematic focus. How involved are you in the artistic direction, and what role does the visual aspect play in your overall vision for Orgg?
We think our artworks are as important as the music itself. That’s why we wanted tailor-made paintings to be the face of our albums. Smerdulak’s talent in painting complemented “The Great White War” with an incredible artwork that perfectly captured the atmosphere of the concept and having him also on “Dimonios” was a natural step. Actually, his work on the new album will be as good if not even better, choosing him once again was just the right thing to do. As for the previous albums, we provided him with a basic concept but left him the freedom to make it real.
9. Your music delves deep into the history and personal experiences of those who fought on the alpine front. Are there any particular stories or historical figures that you find especially inspiring when writing your lyrics?
While there is one specific historical figure (the incredible story of Sepp Innerkofler, narrated in “The Ascent”), we usually focus either on generic events or concepts. Of course the most brutal battles (like the battle on the Ortigara in “D.Q.N.S.P”) are one of the main sources of inspiration, as are the local legends where, like in “Conturina”, we have an imaginary encounter between a dying soldier and this mythological being.
10. Black metal as a genre often explores dark and intense themes, but your approach with historical narratives adds a unique layer. What challenges or advantages do you find in merging black metal with these historical contexts?
There are two sides to the medal in being a concept band. The upside is that the concept gives you a direction and some rails to travel on. Consistency with the concept is the key to not becoming a generic band but an entity with a well-defined focus. Of course the boundaries you set are, by definition, also limiting. We sometimes had ideas that we would have liked to explore, but wouldn’t fit with the concept and were therefore abandoned. Sometimes that’s a painful decision, but we have a mission we want to accomplish, and we don’t want to be lured away, as enticing as that can be, also to appeal to a wider audience.
11. Looking ahead, with The Great White War and Dimonios serving as a prelude to your third album, what do you hope listeners take away from your body of work as a whole, both musically and thematically?
We believe that our listeners will appreciate the coherence and dedication to the representation of the scenario we’ve chosen. If that can spark the historical or naturalistic curiosity in some of them, well, we don’t know, but that would be a great accomplishment. Musically, we hope the listener's mind will be experiencing the feelings we want to convey, while they imagine the desolated and corpse filled valleys of the war-torn Dolomites ripped by thunderous artillery, or ethereal dancing creatures in crystal alpine lakes. It’s a journey as much in beauty as in tragedy, between things that die and things that are without an end.
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