Secrets Of The Moon is one of the better bands in the german black/thrash scene. With a dark sound, full of agressiveness and above all with the true metal warriors' spirit.Enjoy this interview with their guitarrist Golden. Hello Golden! First, tell us something about the band name, I think that SECRETS OF THE MOON is a very good name. Why do You choose this nickname? The secrets, mysteries and legends which surround the moon, in connection with themes like occultism and spiritsm, fascinates us a lot, so it was more than clear to dedicate our conceptual work to our queen luna. We finally choose this name to express our own musical and lyrical imaginations ! The moon also influences a great part of our human existence and shows us the way through different stages of our life. There is no better name to describe our music! Who of the actual members of SECRETS OF THE MOON played in MARTYRIUM (R.I.P.) before? Only Daevas, vocalist and bass-player of SECRETS OF THE MOON, had been active in MARTYRIUM from 1990 to 1994, sang on their legendary L.V.X. Occulta album and finally made the band rest in peace. Compared to MARTYRIUM, I think that SECRETS OF THE MOON is more a traditional black metal act, what do you think? I can not stand the definition traditional black metal. I think that many traditional black metal bands from the early 90's had a great influence on our work, which you can also hear when listening to our promotape but I think with our new material we have found our own sound, so a description like traditional Black Metal doesn't fits very well. Do you have some previous recordings before your promotape `98? Yes, in 1995 we recorded our first demotape called "Unearthed arcana" which sold about 450 times and we are still very satisfied with it. In 1997 we released "Vanitas", a tape with rehearsal and live-recordings which sold about 300 times. Both tapes are sold out and can not be ordered anymore! I think that your promo has a great variety, fast songs other more melodical and some furious thrash influences. Is variety the first goal in SECRETS OF THE MOON or just an expression of different feelings? The songs included on our promotape were created in eras from 1995 to 1998, so it is more than clear that all songs are quite different to each other. All our songs are more expressions of different feelings because we developed over the years, musically, personally and as a unity. |
The variety of different styles is no goal in SECRETS OF THE MOON. We just don't like to bore us and the listener, perhaps this is the case! Tell us something about your lyrics, especially of the song "Orion in the wintersky". Is there a fascination with orion-constellation/mitological hunter? Definetely! "Orion in the wintersky" describes the structural composition of the nebula of orion and it's extreme importance in the astrological and astronomical sciences, I think you know what I mean! Our lyrics are inspired by personal experiences in the realms of occultism, (chaos)-magic, astrology and personal feelings which is actually our great influence, I think. Our lyrics all quite personal and mostly hard to understand so there is absolutely no need to speak closer about them, sorry! The sound of your band is far away from modern black metal (full of keyboards and gothic gay-like parts!). What do you think about the Modern/mainstream black metal bands? I have always listened to the music I adore, so for me there is no difference between modern Black Metal, old-school Black Metal or whatever. For me there is only good music and bad music, nothing else... When it comes to Black and Death Metal I prefer bands like EMPEROR, GROTESQUE, SAMAEL, BEHERIT, CARPATHIAN FOREST, NECROMANTIA, MORBID ANGEL, SATYRICON, PROFANATICA, MYSTIFIER and old-MAYHEM (R.I.P.) but there are also other great bands like DREAM THEATER (my personal fave band!), NEVERMORE, LAIBACH, DEAD CAN DANCE, SISTERS OF MERCY and ULVER who have nothing to do with Black Metal but they also have a huge influence on my guitar playing and song writing. I have lost the view about all the new Black Metal ands, but most of them only copy the originals or sound too powerless for my taste. I receive many promo CD every month since Iam running my own fanzine TWILIGHT OF THE GODS (in which I support nothing but true bands with the right attitude!) but Iam not able to listen to most of the shit more than one time! The last great B.M.CD's I have listened to were the latest SUMMONING album and the first full-length album of TAAKE. My best gratulation to these band for sounding unique and for spreading the right atmosphere on their releases. Tell us something about your live-experiences, esspecially about your gig with DESASTER and PENTACLE! Oh, that was great! Perhaps the best show I have played so far. We know the guys of DESASTER since quite a long time know and they are great and honest people without any rockstar-attitude and they became real friends. We also played with them last weekend and it was absolutely fantastic. |
The PENTACLE guys were also excellent and we had a great party after the show. All in all I like playing live but I don't like drunken people talking nothing but shit to me after the gig and breathing their bad breath into my nose. We played about 15 gigs so far and the reaction from the audience has mostly been fantastic. Our live performance is notable for it's aggression and competent optical appearance, with regard to stage decor and our competent,abnormal outfit which has brought us a good repution on the live-cirquit and we are very proud of that. We played about 15 gigs so far and the reaction from the audience has mostly been fantastic. Our live performance is notable for it's aggression and competent optical appearance, with regard to stage decor and our competent,abnormal outfit which has brought us a good repution on the live-cirquit and we are very proud of that. I see some rivalry between norwegian bands and german bands. What do you think about this? Nothing! The only norwegian bands I stand in contact with are URGEHAL and KAMPFAR and they are great guys. I can not judge about other bands, but due to the fact that black metal classics like "In the nightside eclipse", "Under a funeral moon" or "De mysteriis dom sathanas" were created in norway, I see it still as one of the leading countries in connection with black metal. What do you think about the importance of internet in actual metal scene! It becomes more and more important, because of the fast communication with people from all over the world, but still Iam more happy about a personal, handwritten letter by snail mail than about a quite impersonal, computer written email. The year end 2000 of christian power. What do you think about the new millenium? Maybe have some info/computer chaos? What do you think? I think many people will be disappointed when they wake up on the 1st of january 2000 and everything is still the same as still in 1999. It doesn't interests me much. If something will happen, it will happen anyway, Iam very curious, hehe! Some secrets for the end... Secrets won't be betrayed. Just wait and find out what will happen... Thanks for the interview my friend! Hail to LUNAR AURORA, PEST, INFESTED CARRION, MOONBLOOD and KATHARSIS. SECRETS OF THE MOON Philipp Jonas Im Steerte 47 49205 Hasbergen - Germany - Fax: +49 (0) 5405-4752 mail: djonas14@aol.com |