Artist: Corpus Christii
Orgin: Lissabon, Portugal
Genre: Black Metal
Label: Folter Records
Link: https://www.facebook.com/corpuschristii?fref=ts
Bandmember:
Vocals and all Instruments – Nocturnus Horrendus
Time For Metal / Rene W.:
Hi Nocturnus Horrendus,
My personal thoughts about One-man-projects in the metal scene weren´t the best. With Corpus Christii, you disabused me. How does it feel to release an album completely alone, knowing, that everything was made by yourself?
Corpus Christii / Nocturnus Horrendus:
In a way Corpus Christii was never a one man band, in the beginning I had Ignis Nox helping out with programing and Keyboards, then a period I had Necromorbus on drums. A period yes I had no one, just me, and now I have J Goat helping me with some guitars and bass. I do the core and essence of the band, it is my band, my creation, my vision.
But external help is welcome, I never had issues with that, in fact I appreciate it. Doing everything alone is a lot of pressure, and you are never really sure if it is truly good you know ?! you need some external ears to let you know that maybe this or that is not that ok. Well, in most cases I don ́t t really care and do my own thing anyway, I am a stubborn ass and believe in being spontaneous, but then again, it can help, just an external word. I have done things all alone in all my bands, be it in C.C, always in Coldness or in some periods in Morte Incandescente. These days I like the sharing, the building up music with someone else.
Time For Metal / Rene W.:
Corpus Christii is one of the most successful black metal projects in Portugal. Since 1998 you release your thoughts and inspirations through your releases to people in whole Europe. This year you are going to release the successor of Luciferian Frequencies, called Pale Moon. How did you use the time between the albums, what influenced you and what can we expect of the new CD?
Corpus Christii / Nocturnus Horrendus:
My biggest influence for this new álbum was the old days of Black Metal, what brought me to Black Metal, how I felt in those days. The true essence and how fed up I am of how B.M. and music overal is these days. Things just aren ́t like then, I am disgusted and in rage of the whole scene. I just have no hope for anything regarding music. So many subgenres, so many trends and shit. So I had to spit on all that and go back to my roots and just do na álbum which reflects how I am inside and how I see Black Metal.
PaleMoon is precisely that, how Black Metal is meant to sound like. I was for almost 4 years just not having the strenght to do anything with Corpus Christii, issues with label, issues with a bunch of shit. So I focused on my other bands. But now it is time to deal with C.C. again and do more music. I am already in the processo f writting more music.
Time For Metal / Rene W.:
If you compare Luciferian Frequencies and Pale Moon, where do you see the differences? What did you do different this time an how do you feel about the recording process of Pale Moon?
Corpus Christii / Nocturnus Horrendus:
There is not much to compare between both albums. L.F. is a much schizo complex álbum, hard to listen to, a lot of changes and drama. P.M. is straight forward and grim. But if you listen to both bands you can easily identify that it is Corpus Christii. Gladly we have our own sound.
The recording process was basically the same, for both albums I went with the albums written already besides bass lines and vocals. Well, for L.F. I first did guitars and this time I started with drums.
Time For Metal / Rene W.:
I’m also interested in your procedure of creating new songs. We already know that you do not have to deal with other musicians. How do you start? Do you have a formula or do you wait for good ideas to come?
Corpus Christii / Nocturnus Horrendus:
I already had people helping me out, just for 2 or 3 albums that I did everything alone. Have to mention that Corpus Christii started with me and Ignis Nox. He did keyboards and programmed the drums. Then I also had Necromorbus helping with bass and some guitar lines. Then it was a long period just myself, but now I have J Goat helping also, he is a crucial parto f C.C. these days. But the core of the band is me of course. I decide everythign in the end.
The formula is what comes to my mind and heart, whatever comes, I use. I believe in being spontaneous. Just pick up the guitar or some lyrical concept and go from there.
Time For Metal / Rene W.:
Since 2011 you release your stuff in the name of Folter Records all over the world. This fact is one of the reasons, why the interest in your music is raising in Germany. How did the collaboration between you and Folter Records start and how does it works, despite the distance?
Corpus Christii / Nocturnus Horrendus:
No, I just started with Folter, before I was on Candlelight. But before I was on Undercover, also from Germany. So I have a background in German labels. Things work fine with Folter, great contact and dedicated people to the Black Metal cause.
Time For Metal / Rene W.:
As an multi-instrumentalist you have always a problem performing live. You are not able to play all instruments at once. Do you resign playing live or do you have a team of musicians supporting you?
Corpus Christii / Nocturnus Horrendus:
I always had session musicians, but indeed it has been a battle, for several years I had to go get musican friends from abroad, because over here it was very hard to get competente Black Metal musicians. These days finally it has been better, but we are always the same musicians in several bands. Lets same the same “Black Metal Mafia” in in the Portuguese scene.
It was good with the foreign musicians but I could never have a steady week rehearsal situation, now I can and that is crucial. Also with logistics it was a nightmare.
Now we are all from around Lisbon so it works fine. We have other bands, but once every two weeks we rehearse, sometime once a week. Depends if we have concerts or not. Still Corpus Christii is a priority for us all, even if just me and J Goat are the only full time members.
Time For Metal / Rene W.:
You are not only good in playing instruments, your growls and shouts are also on a high level. This is a versatility, which makes your songs better. Are they a possibility to bring emotions into the lyrics?
Corpus Christii / Nocturnus Horrendus:
It is crucial for me to give emotion to each word I sing, each word has to be sang in a specific way. Of course it could just be monotone, also works and I like it also. But for some reason I cannot restrict myself to just that, depends very much on the track and lyric itself.
I am a very expressive with my vocals, maybe a bit too much for some people but that is my way. I coulnd ́t care less what people think. This is my trade mark and I am glad I have my own “signature”.
Time For Metal / Rene W.:
A lot of musicians, who make music on their own, separate themselves from their comrades and are focused on their own person. What about you? Are you integrated into the scene or are you a “lone wolf”?
Corpus Christii / Nocturnus Horrendus:
I consider myself a lonewolf, but in a way not by choice. It is a consequence of the world and sorroundings in which we all live, or me in special. I do not accept how things are, I get nauseated and angry or just disturbed very easily. This goes for most things, not just in Black Metal. I guess I take things too personaly. Always in constant observation and learning curve. And the more I learn, the less I like what I learn. That ́s my nature.
Time For Metal / Rene W.:
In my opinion Pale Moon is a really good album, which will leave a lot of releases from the same scene in 2015 behind.
Thank you for your time and I wish you a lot of fun with your art in the future. The last words are yours, feel free to use this space to speak to your fans and our readers.
Corpus Christii / Nocturnus Horrendus:
I just want to give my appreciation to the people who has given us support for all these years and believe in my work. I am here to stay and to continue to annoy the crap out of all the haters who back stab me.
Hail Satan ! Hail the Light!