I met Nils Degerlund a few weeks ago at a barbecue. Imagine the combination of a northern Swedish accent, eyes you can’t fool and great understanding of meta-politics. I recall his words: ”The problem with right wing music is that they have often focused too much on politics and too little on production and musical quality.” Therefore it comes as no surprise that Nils has put a lot of work into his one man band Nova Arminius.
Being an old fan of Helloween I immediately liked Nova Arminius debut song ”Times of Sacrifice”. Sad to say, I will have to wait before I will have the chance to hear anything else from him as this is a one-song release only. The chorus ”Crusaders, Barbarians, defenders of our nation, prepare for times of sacrifice.” has echoed in my head for a week now. I have waited long for a good right wing classical heavy metal band to emerge, and Nova Arminius is a great example of the new awareness and self-esteem coming from the right side of the political spectrum. Skinhead punk just won’t do anymore, music lovers want to hear music they can love, not just lyrics that express the anger they feel.
I definitely look forward to hearing more music by Nova Arminius and we will absolutely write about him in the future. There is a good chance that his first album can reach a wider audience of classical heavy metal fans. I also want to hear more right wing metal bands that may be inspired to focus on production quality. But for now, listen to ”Times of Sacrifice” and enjoy the rise of a new and powerful meta-political movement.
THE FIRST SEVEN
1. IF YOU COULD BOIL DOWN YOUR MUSIC INTO THREE WORDS, WHAT WOULD THEY BE?
Intense, epic and melodic.
2. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF R3C MUSIC TODAY AND TOMORROW?
I have to say that I don´t have a great view of the scene but from what I´ve heard, like your own band Lilou and John, it sounds really great, it has the quality that´s needed to reach out to the masses. I think the future for this scene looks bright as the politically correct establishment finally are being challenged both on a metapolitical level and on the parliamentary level.
One part of the metapolitical battle is music, music of all genres that can deliver a message that´s either discreet or very straight forward, but that shares some core values that defines us from the establishment. For example: A will and strive to preserve our european ethnicities that´s the foundation for our cultures instead of propagating for a multi-ethnical society with fictional identities like ”world citizen”. A will to propose ideals like traditional family values, honour and pride instead of proposing destructive ideals like individualism and materialism.
Another integral part of us being successful is that nowadays we are not depending on record companies to finance and distribute our music. Today you can pretty much record a song in your living room and make it available for all the world to hear. That actually gives us a chance to compete with the politically correct music scene if we just manage to write music that attracts people and that reaches out to people.
3. YOU SING ABOUT ”CRUSADERS” AND ”BARBARIANS”, AND I UNDERSTAND YOU WANT CHRISTIANS AND ASA-BELIEVERS IN SCANDINAVIA TO WORK TOGETHER, CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT?
Yes that´s correct, though I think of it in terms of Europe and not only Scandinavia. We don´t have the time to argue weather we should be pagans or christians, we are europeans and that´s what´s most relevant and the chorus is just a call out to all europeans to be united in the fight for Europe. The verses describe how the modern man have become anxious, comfortable and numb and therefore unable to make any resistance even though his own land is conquered right before his eyes.
Many ”normal” citizens understands that this multi-ethnical experiment is wrong but they are unable to react because they´re being ”provided with sin” and ”bribed with the promise of eternal prosperity” by the establishment to keep quite and pose no threat. We are being ”imprisoned in a world with walls made of gold” to keep calm and ”deceived to believe resistance is in vain” to give way to defeatism, but ”chaos will reveal mans true destiny” the day when the elite can´t uphold the materialistic standard.
So the essence of all this is that we can´t ask for a change if we are not prepared to make any sacrifice. We can´t just be comfortable and close our eyes and believe that a change will come by voting every fourth year, we need to act on many different levels without using savage methods or violence, unless we´re being attacked of course. To define what I mean with acting is simply, do what you think you can do best to help Europe survive. If you have the possibility to create a family then do so, if you can write articles then do so, if you feel the urge to engage in a political party then do that, and so forth.
If you don´t feel you have the ability to contribute with something or don´t have the time then at least be a donor to some alternative media project like podcasts, music, youtube channels, newspapers or other projects that aims at protecting Europe. If you don´t have the financial resources then at least spread the word to your family, friends or colleges, just don´t be an obedient slave to the establishment, everybody can do something and everything is important and needed. So as we live in a time when sacrifices are needed by all of us, I thought the title Times of sacrifice was suitable for the song.
4. WHY DID YOU CHOSE TO WORK AS A ONE-PIECE BAND?
For me the main thing with playing music is the creative process and not the actual playing of instruments. That moment when something appears in my mind that I hopefully manage to transcribe into real music, that´s what I enjoy the most and what gives me some sort of satisfaction, and that has never been possible for me in a band situation. I just need to sit alone in a quiet place to be able to hear the music in my mind, I know it sounds pretentious and maybe wierd, but if I have people around me the ideas won’t come to me. For me, to create music is to be able to catch that blurry idea in my mind and then transcribe it into real music, which is the hardest part and something that can be pretty frustrating at times.
When it comes to playing the instruments I would say that I´m first and foremost a singer and secondarily I´m a guitar player, though I started out in my teens as a bassplayer. The drums I program in the computer as I can´t play drums at all, though I understand theoretically how the drums are being played. I´m also open for the possibilty of someone else playing the instruments, for example guitar solos as I´m pretty lousy at that, so playing all instruments is not an end in itself, it´s just how it turned due to lack of other options. The important part for me is the creative process which I can´t compromise with.
5. WHY THE NAME NOVA ARMINIUS, ”NEW HERMANN”, COULD YOU PLEASE TELL OUR READERS A BIT ABOUT THE TEUTOBURGER MASSACRE AND WHY YOU HAVE CHOSEN THE NAME?
Arminius, or Hermann in german, was born in the Germanic tribe called Cherusci, but was brought up in the Roman Empire from an early age. In the Roman Empire he learned the strategies of the army and how to fight and become a soldier, though he never forgot his heritage. Time passed by and by 9 AD Arminius, which now had established himself in the Roman army, managed to lure three Roman legions into a trap in the Teutoburger forest, in todays northwestern part of Germany, where the united Germanic tribes slaughtered all three legions, about 20 000 men. This was a devastating defeat for the Romans and a decisive victory for the Germans, and as time would tell the Roman empire would never be able to conquer the German tribes and create a Roman province there.
So Arminius is a great symbol of being loyal to your people no matter the circumstances or if it´s beneficial or not. He also represents a way of thinking, that even if your facing an enemy that seems to be invincible, which the Romans seemed to be at the time, you can´t give up and you do what is right, there´s always a way forward that leads to victory. Nova is new in latin and I used that for a sense of freshness to the name and to avoid the risk of using a name that had already been taken as Arminius is a rather famous figure in history, especially amongst nationalists. Though I must say that I don´t see myself as a new Arminius or a new hero or something like that, but it´s a great and positive name that hopefully brings strength to all fellow european brothers and sisters and is a reminiscence of our glorious past. It’s a name that´s supposed to bring a vibe of confidence instead of giving way to despair.
6. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE PREDOMINANTLY ”WHITE” MUSIC GENRE HEAVY METAL IN SWEDEN AND CAN NATIONALIST METAL SPREAD WIDELY AMONG METALHEADS?
I think everything is about the music in this case. If we manage to create music that is equally great or greater than most ”normal” metal music, then people who like this sort of music will listen to it. If you manage to catch peoples attention with the music then they will also be open for the message that´s delivered in the lyrics.
7. WHAT FUTURE PROJECTS CAN WE LOOK FORWARD TO?
Hopefully I will be able to release an EP with 3-4 songs this coming autumn/winter, but I can´t promise exactly when as the quality is more important than the quantity, but there will definitely be coming more nationalistic metal from me:).
THE QUICK FIVE
8. HEART OR BRAIN?
When it´s about music I must say heart, even though it sounds all too politically correct;).
9. PRECISION OR ENERGY?
Precision as it´s relevant in all kinds of music that I like.
10. ELECTRIC OR ACOUSTIC?
Electric.
11. LIVE OR STUDIO?
Studio, that´s the place where the ideas come to life. And anyway I can´t play guitars and sing at the same time so not much of a choice here I guess.
12. SOLITARY OR SOCIAL?
Solitary. I´ve never been much of a guy who likes to sit and jam with other people.
Ursprungligen publicerad på Belzebubbles.
Om skribenten: Lilou och John
