Necht's The Prophecy of Karnifor merges mythology and black metal, telling the epic, doomed tale of B’Ahn, a sun god battling the cosmic dragon Karnifor.
1. The
Prophecy of Karnifor delves into themes of ancient mythology and cosmic
conflict. Can you tell us more about the story of the sun god B'Ahn and his
struggle against Karnifor?
With
pleasure, Herald. In ancient Enkari lore, Karnifor was considered the
Mother of All, who swam alone in the Star Ocean, both birthing and consuming
the stars and planets as she slithered through the cold, endless dark.
Their creation myth tells of one many-coloured star that caught the Dragon’s
eye, its patterns and light pleasing Her. Rather than consuming it, She
therefore carried it on Her back where, over time, it was transformed by Her
living presence and in it, awareness grew. After many eons, when Karnifor at
last grew tired of the star and moved to swallow it (as She swallows all things
in the end), the awareness in the star flared to life and it was transformed
into the form of B’ahn, Her Son, who raged against His impending death and,
with His rage, fashioned His Lightning Spear and Thunder Shield that He may
battle to defeat Her.
The Enkari
believed that B’ahn was their Father, and it was only His ceaseless battle
against Karnifor that prevented Her from swallowing the world. Over time,
this belief gave rise to the militaristic religious order of the Cult of B’ahn,
based in the city-state of Lashmir, who believed they must similarly prosecute
an endless terrestrial war, that B’ahn may be reinforced by an army of warrior
souls.
2. Your
music blends Scandinavian second-wave black metal with modern influences. What
inspired you to combine these elements, and how do you see them reflecting the
story of Karnifor and B’Ahn?
Like most
bands, our music is the sum of our individual influences; the bands we grew up
listening to as well as those we choose to listen to now. Having said
this, black metal is the perfect musical vehicle for telling the ultimately
hopeless story of the Enkari – a story that is epic, brutal and doomed – which
feelings we hope that, as a Temple, we have conjured for the listener.
3. You
describe NECHT as more than a band—a temple dedicated to transformation. How do
you envision listeners experiencing personal change through your music?
Our music
is the means by which we set our Sermons; each of which is drawn from the
writings of the Enkari-B’ahn scrolls, writings left behind by the Qa’ars
(priest-kings) of Ishpan. Through our music, we invite listeners to join us on
a journey as we reveal more of these writings and the culture of the
Enkari. In doing so, we hope to inspire listeners in the contemplation of
the meaning of their own existence and the lessons that may be learned from the
distant past. Whether this leads to personal change for the listener is, of
course, up to them. However, we – the Temple of Necht – are ourselves
transformed in each live Ritual into the embodiment of the ancient Cult of
B’ahn, where we exhort our listeners to join us in B’ahn’s Ceaseless War to save
the world from the Apocalypse of the Dragon.
4. The
album explores what you call “the excesses of humanity” through the lens of
myth. What specific elements of modern life or culture do you see as being in
need of transformation, and how does The Prophecy of Karnifor address
these?
The tragedy
of the Enkari civilization is a simple one; two competing narratives of
religious duty locked their people into a never-ending war: Lashmir prosecuting
a war in the name of supporting B’ahn and saving the world from Karnifor;
Ishpan seeking to eliminate the Cult in order to accelerate the Apocalypse,
which they viewed as a re-birthing that would be preferable to the incessant
brutality of their constant warring. We have only the writings of the
Qa’ars of Ishpan by which to understand the Enkari, but doubtless their society
was no more homogenous than any other.
By which I
mean that, beneath the apparent simplicity of two competing sides, there must
have been those renegades and contrarians who defied the orthodoxy, who argued
for a better way, who saw the folly of society’s actions and the certain doom
it was leading them to. Equally, there would have been those fanatics and
zealots, the vested interests and the venal political class, who held the
majority of the power and conspired to secure the status quo of their positions
no matter the cost to others. And ultimately the failure of the first and
the success of the second group lead to the utter destruction of all.
It is no
great leap to translate these learnings from the ancient past to modern
society, for what has fundamentally changed?
5. With
Lovecraftian influences and ancient mythological themes, the album creates a
distinct universe. How do you go about constructing this narrative in both your
lyrics and soundscapes?
Lyrically,
each Sermon is carefully built to reveal some part of the story of the
Enkari. We focus on distinct passages of writings from the Enkari-B’ahn
scrolls, and/or from the interpretations of Dr Birgitta Olsson, who translated
these scrolls, or from Karl von Mecklenburg, the 19th century explorer who
discovered them, and in general we use these as inspiration to imagine the life
and emotions of individuals that lived through these times. As such, the
Sermons are generally expressed from a first-person perspective, as we wish to
humanize and bring to life these ancient peoples, so that the modern listener
may empathize with them. Overall, we are revealing, piece by piece, something
of their way of thinking and acting, as their society gradually changed over
time.
6. The
Enkari-B’Ahn writings seem to play a central role in the album’s story. Could
you tell us more about these writings and how they influenced the themes or
structure of The Prophecy of Karnifor?
Certainly.
The Enkari-B’ahn scrolls are obscure and controversial, with their existence
long suppressed. They were originally discovered by Karl von Mecklenburg,
a German explorer and archaeologist from the 19th century. To protect his find,
he refused to reveal the location in which the scrolls were unearthed, which
lead to his ridicule and ostracization by the press and academia of the time,
who collectively declared him to be a fraud. He subsequently left Germany
to continue his archaeological explorations but was never seen or heard from
again. As such, the location of the Enkari civilization remains unknown.
With von
Mecklenburg’s disappearance, the scrolls were ignored for many decades before
finally being translated by the Swedish researcher, Dr. Birgitta Olsson.
She published an English-language book in 2015 describing her work and the
content of the Enkari-B’ahn scrolls, but this book was similarly mocked and
only one, small print run was ever made. Just as with von Mecklenburg, Dr
Olsson has since retreated from the public eye and little is known about
her. However, Zenith Maharg (voice) of our Temple found a copy of this
book in a second-hand bookshop in southern Alberta, which itself inspired the
formation of Necht.
In terms
of The Prophecy of Karnifor, we aim to introduce the listener to
the world of the Enkari, and so on this Grand Meditation we include Sermons
dealing with some of the core beliefs and characters of the time.
Musically, we aim to conjure the epic, grim and martial nature of their society
and religion.
7. As
the creator of this temple-like experience, what is your personal process for
channeling the emotions and philosophies that drive NECHT’s music?
Each Sermon
begins with the construction of the music by our Ascendants; our Temple is a
musical endeavour, after all, and without a solid musical foundation the Temple
cannot stand. Based upon the emotive power of each constructed piece, our
Zenith then chooses a subject or section of the Enkari-B’ahn scrolls as
Scripture to guide the narrative, and then commences to scribe the Sermon
itself. Thus, the words of each Sermon are designed to fit the emotions –
aggression, sorrow, awe – that the music conjures in the mind of our
Zenith.
8. You
describe The Prophecy of Karnifor as a way to lead listeners
"through the shadows of despair to find enlightenment." Can you
expand on this journey and what moments of the album reflect this progression?
It is not
difficult to find reasons to despair of the modern world. Equally, for those
who lived through the constant warfare of the Enkari, there must also have
seemed to be endless reasons to despair. We hope to lead our listeners to
the Illumination of B’ahn by a consideration of this ancient world – by
revealing its structure, its flaws, hypocrisy and its heroics – and encouraging
a comparison against our modern lives, whereby certain truths that are
fundamental to our survival or failure as a society may be understood.
Some of these truths are dark and hopeless; others are truths of resilience and
hope. As a Temple, it is not our role to explicitly reveal these, but rather
our role is to invite the listener to join us and seek this Illumination
themselves.
9. The
album art and overall aesthetic seem closely tied to the story. How does your
visual presentation complement and deepen the narrative of NECHT’s music?
Rather than
choosing a traditional black metal logo, we deliberately based our logo on the
runes of the Enkari-B’ahn scrolls as depicted in Dr Olsson’s book. In a
similar way, we embody the Cult of B’ahn when we perform any live Ritual; hence
our mode of attire reflects what is known about the Cult’s manner of dressing –
the black armour, the veiled faces/eye coverings, the symbolic importance of
the Zenith’s weaponry being a spear and shield – though this necessarily
involves much interpretation as we have no way of knowing exactly how they may
have looked.
In terms of
the cover art, this depicts the desiccated body of one of the Qa’ars; these
holy men essentially meditated to death at the end of their lives and, due to
the peculiar attributes of the cavern in which they did so, ended up as
mummified corpses.
In other
words, we have deliberately chosen to present all aspects of Necht in a
coherent manner that invites the listener to more deeply imagine they inhabit
the world of the Enkari.
10. What
message or emotional experience do you hope listeners take away from joining
the Cult of B'Ahn and experiencing The Prophecy of Karnifor?
Fundamentally,
we trust that listeners enjoy our music as a series of well-crafted black metal
Sermons. However, beyond that, we hope that their curiosity is piqued by the
history of the Enkari and by the eternal struggle of B’ahn and Karnifor. By
both reading and listening to our Sermons, we hope that they may take some time
to meditate upon the true nature of that struggle and what it represents and
furthermore, to open their minds as to how they may choose to approach the
conflicts of the modern world in a different manner.
Post a Comment