„Serving the world beyond perception.“

ENID

ENID PLAY A VERY STRANGE AND YET MELODIC MUSIC. A MUSIC THAT CAN TRAVEL YOU TO THE LANDS OF FANTASY. THEY MANAGE TO COMBINE BLACK METAL WITH CLASSICK AND FOLK MUSIC. I THINK THAT THEIR NEW ALBUM SOMEHOW CAN WORK AS THE MIRROR OF OUR SOUL. HERE WE TALK FOR PURE ART AND NOTHING MORE. IF YOU DARE, CHECK THEM OUT. THIS INTERVIEW MIGHT GIVE YOU A TASTE

1.FIRST OF ALL CONGRATULATIONS FOR YOUR NEW ALBUM. NOW I WANT YOU TO GIVE US THE MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS OF THE BAND'S HISTORY UP TO DATE.

Alboîn: „Good evening Nick! Thank you very much for the congratulations on the recent album – we’re still extremely proud of it of course, eventhough we’d surely do a lot riper and better today, but however. ‚Seelenspiegel’ – to answer your question – is probably the most important moment in the history of ENID as a band. I mean, we’ve worked as a duo for so long, we’ve published 4 releases as a pretty much restricted musical solo-project, and ‚Seelenspiegel’ as our first homegenious album has been a fantastic experience! The height’s of a band’s history are of course the first release – our demo in summer 1997 - , the first label contract (with CCP recorrds in 1998) and the debut album (‚Nachtgedanken in February 1999), the next step with a new and better contract and label (signing with code666 from Italy in Summer 2001) and for me also the first rehearsal in a great line-up, somewhere in the cold winter of 2000/2001.“

2.CAN YOU TELL ME HOW YOU SELECTED THIS MONICKER? WHAT DOES IT MEAN? HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR YOU THE CORRECT SELECTION OF A BAND NAME?

Alboîn: „ENID doesn’t have a specific meaning... actually it’s and old English female name. When we’ve founded ENID in April 1997 Martin read a book about the tale of King Arthur, and now and then when I visited him I had a look in this book and one day found the name ‚Enid’. The tale was about the most beautiful virgin who beared that name – two knights competed for her grace, and eventually they killed themselves in this battle for a girl. A nice story with an interesting metaphoric background – we decided to use lyrics from this book for the first songs and called ourselves ENID – simple, beautiful and easily to remember. You can’t say there’s a ‚correct’ choice of a band’s name – it always depends on the music, on the people behind, on the content, on the will, aim and possibilities. Languages and words are nothing but tools to express what the art of the band is like (or should be like). Of course the name is important, it’s mostly one of the first aspects you get to know of a band...“

3.TELL ME A FEW THINGS ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO RECORD IT, IN WHICH STUDIO, WHO WAS THE PRODUCER?

Alboîn: „We recorded ‚Seelenspiegel’ after only 4 months of existance as a band, which has been a risky enterprise as you can guess. Our recording budget was not too high, so we had to choose a not-so-expensive studio, the Mirror Sound in Austria where the bass player of Austrian Gothic-Metal-band DARKWELL, Roland Wurzer, and a friend of his, Stefan Graf, produced the album together with Martin. All in all we had only 9 days for all recordings and the complete mix – close to nothing for a totally unexperienced band, but nevertheless we somehow managed to deliver a great result, in my ears.“

4.WHAT DOES SEELENSPIEGEL MEAN? WHY DID YOU NAME THE ALBUMY THIS WAY? IS IT A CONCEPT?

Alboîn: „It’s not a classic concept album, no. ‚Seelenspiegel’ means ‚soul mirror’, the painting you may see on the front cover. We looked out for a title summing up all lyrical content and the overall atmosphere of the album, so we agreed that all music and lyrics are a mirror of Martin’s soul, Martin as the artist behind ENID. From there on it was pretty logical to call the album ‚the mirror of the soul’, the soul mirror – and for the listener it’s a mirror as well, as it may reflects her and his emotions during the listening as well, if they are somehow like-minded to us.“

5.YOUR LABEL CHARACTERIZES YOU AS "METALLIC FANTASY ART", BUT I AM AFRAID THAT THIS DESCRIPTION MIGHT CONFUSE THE FANS. CAN YOU GIVE US SOME INFO ABOUT YOUR MUSIC? DO YOU AGREE THAT IT HAS A STRONG SOUNDTRACK FEELING?

Alboîn: „To be honest, the description is our creation. You know that it’s not always easy to label music, and if it wouldn’t be necessary for the press and the potential buyer of the album, we would have left that part out. Though, we had to deliver a description, so we tried to sum up the main characteristics of ENID – that is: we’re not just playing music, we try to lift it up into the region of art, to create something lasting and timeless; then it’s not metal, but metallic – with electric guitars playing the basic lines and melodies and pounding drums; and the last and maybe most important part: it’s fantastic, in the sense of creative and dream-like. The soundtrack influences are obvious, just like the fantasy touches in the keyboard layers. Not to forget the pretty poetic lyrics that can be interpreted in various ways... just let your fantasy flow when you listen to ENID, that’s the point. I do not hope that this description may hinder people from listening to ENID, actually I regard the labelling as pretty fitting, better fitting than ‚black metal’ for example (even if we may sell more albums then...).“

6.NOW TELL US A FEW THINGS ABOUT YOUR LYRICS. I FOUND THEM TO BE A LITTLE BIT ESOTERIC (EXPRESSING YOUR INNER WORLD). IS IT TRUE? WHAT KIND OF THINGS INSPIRE YOU IN WRITING LYRICS AND WHAT CAN TAKE AWAY THE INSPIRATION FROM YOU?

Alboîn: „Nice to read your opinion – if you compare your words to what I tried to say in an answer ago, you will find out it’s pretty much the same: all lyrics express Martin’s inner world, and as I consider him to be an artist, his inner world represents something higher as well. Martin is inspired by all kinds of impressive experiences, may it be a thought of his own, a book, a movie, a tale or a talk between friends. Whatever, the main thing is that it wakes up a glow within him and lets him think deeper about it, then it’s likely that will end up in an ENID booklet one day. It’s hard and not his will to reveal the themes he’s writing about, or at least not the complete contents. An important motive in all his lyrics is feeling foreign in this world, of being a lonesome wanderer on earth’s surface without feeling at home – some others are death, patience, sundown or difference – just how you interpret it.“

7.IN THE HEAVY METAL MUSIC EXIST A PART OF PEOPLE THAT CAN'T ACCEPT THE MIXING OF THIS GENRE WITH OTHER MUSICAL STYLES AND ACCUSE THE BANDS THAT DO SUCH THINGS, CALLING THEM "FALSE" OR EVEN FURTHER AS "DESTROYERS" OF THE METAL SCENE. WHICH ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?

Alboîn: „I can’t even express to you how little I care about that. For me, for ENID and for everybody who likes ENID it doesn’t play any role if anybody can’t accept anything in metal music. I don’t feel as a part of the metal scene – we don’t call ourselves metal, we don’t play real metal, we’re not signed to a metal label and we don’t even have long hair. All ‚true’ and satanic supporters of heavy metal, satanic metal and whatever may stuck in their poor level of spiritual development and drink bloody beer if they like, wearing their stinky allround-leather-trousers all day and night and painting their hollow head black and white, I DO NOT CARE. ENID makes quality music and art, we’re doing what we like, we do it with pride and faith – and if we destroy the metal scene and all the narrow-minded poor human beings who believe in the exclusive validity of metal music by that, it’s only a positive side effect for me – ah, and I like the idea of having a such immense might with our band! Compared to that destruction it’s more of a pity if a sausage bursts on my barbecue...“

8.WHICH ARE THE THINGS THAT YOU STILL FIND ATTRACTIVE IN THE METAL SCENE AND WHICH THINGS DISGUST YOU?

Alboîn: „According to what I mostly read and see there’s really few left that’s attractive to me. Like everywhere, all moral has declined below nothing, all indivuality is worth nothing anymore. All musicians I deeply admire (Nocte Obducta, Falkenbach, Rimmersgard, Ordo Draconis or Summoning, to name a few) do have a certain distance to the so-called metal scene. Absolutely disgusting for me? The average quality of the releases, the horrible lack of spirit and soul within the music, no originality – and first of all: wearing clown costumes made of leather, varnish and metal, with the fitting painting and an absolutely ridiculous face expression. All these exaggerated image works without anything behind them are just funny and sad at the same time... if there’d be quality music behind it, but not even that... Sorry to bore you with my hate tirades, but there are really few positive aspects to mention.“

9.CAN YOU TELL ME HOW YOU COMPREHEND MUSIC? AS AN INTERPRETATION AND PRESENTATION OF EMOTIONS OR SOMETHING ELSE OR EVEN MORE?

Alboîn: „I’m not so good in comprehension when it comes to music... I just listen and feel if I like it, no matter if I understand the structures, language or whatever. Music, or better art in general, for me should be the expression of something lasting, everlasting, timeless, godly – mixed up with a personal touch, with your unique way to let it out. That may be emotions, pictures, thoughts, whatever – the main thing is that the feeling is clear, structured and absolutely honest, straight from the heart. If the musician is a healthy being, the result won’t be a song about hate and destruction, believe me. Everything else is not musical art like I understand the meaning.“

10.WHEN YOU GIVE INTERVIEWS DO YOU PREFER THE QUESTIONS TO BE MADE BY A PROFESSIONAL REPORTER OR BY A PERSON THAT LIKES YOUR MUSIC?

Alboîn: „I do prefer questions asked by a person with taste, an own opinion and a sense for art – a certain intelligence in conversations can help as well. In most cases a professional reporter will only be blessed with the last character trait I mentioned. On the other hand, a person who ‚just’ likes our music is not pre-destined to guide and write a good interview as well. The ideal therefore lies somewhere outside the golden middle – for a good interview, you should be interested, creative and able to react to what the band offers you. Understanding is the key to a fruitful conversation that means.“

11.WHAT WOUDL YOU DO IF YOU WEREN'T ABLE TO COMPOSE MUSIC?

Alboîn: „Oh, I’m absolutely unable to compose music – it’s Martin who does it. In case Martin couldn’t spend his time with music, he would be an author or painter probably, who knows. He’s an extremely creative and imaginative character, and as long as I know him he always wrote songs and lyrics. Maybe he would be able to teach something like biology, German or history as well, who knows... there’s not too much sense in speculations about things that are not real and not current.“

12.ARE YOU ANNOYED BY PEOPLE WHO JUDGE THE ARTISTIC VALUE OF A BAND BY THE NUMBER OF CDS IT SELLS?

Alboîn: „I guess it’s not really necessary to say more than... yes, of course. What I’ve told so far shall be enough to know my standpoint.“

13.IF ELECTIRCITY DIDN'T EXIST WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN TO HEAVY METAL MUSIC? DO YOU THINK IT WOULD BE FORGOTTEN OR WOULD IT BE TRANSFORMED IN ANOTHER WAY?

Alboîn: „I hope it would be forgotten... the best music has always been the one performed without modern tools. It’s the same in all fields of life: the best way to it is the ancient, traditional, ORIGINAL one. Though, I have to admit I’m somehow addicted to the modern world as well, but I do not feel too well in it, nevertheless. Music with acoustic guitars, woodwinds and percussions for example is much more beautiful than any metal album I’ve heard (except for ‚Stronghold’ by SUMMONING maybe...), so I hope the musicians using electric instruments for artistic music of today would transform their ideas to natural instruments then. I would be glad if the rest could stop spreading their ideas.“

14.IF YOU COULD CHANGE SOMETHING IN THE WORLD WHAT WOULD THAT BE?

Alboîn: „The egoism and blindness of mankind is hard to bear... the collective mankind is fallen from any grace and has lost all pride and understanding. Think well about the sentence as it’s not as ridiculous as it seems to be at first sight: everybody should be able to understand and read the bible. Apart from all the contradictions included the book has many true cores, a pity only a few comprehend. All negative aspects in the world derive from the inner decline in every person, so it’s useless to start at the outside.“

15.WHAT TITLE WOULD YOU LIKE THIS INTERVIEW TO HAVE?

Alboîn: „Serving the world beyond perception.“

16.THANK YOU! HAVE I FORGOTTEN TO ASK YOU ANYTHING AND YOU'D LIKE TO MENTION?

Alboîn: „I haven’t noticed anything left out... I can only thank you deeply for the good interview, hopefully I’ve not answered what everybody out there expected. A successful year 2003 to you and all readers! If you have some spare time around New Year’s Eve, have a look at www.enid-webrealm.de - we’ll start the big ENID competition soon!!“

NIKOS "William_Kidd" PARASTATIDIS

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