PRIMORDIAL Frontman Talks Politics, Religion And Upcoming Studio Album

Vocalist Alan "Nemtheanga" Averill of Irish dark metal masters PRIMORDIAL has issued the following update:

"A new year begins. The older we get, the faster the years seem to click by. Edging us nearer to the grave with every second.

"This year I have really had a sense that every moment in your brief flicker happens but once. The sun only dawns on you a finite amount of times. I stood in awe of Tintoretto's paintings on the ceiling of the Scuola Grande in Venice only two months ago and thought are we so selfish as men to think we deserve another state of consciousness, a heaven.

"Although beautiful, they depict a world of faith I find it impossible to penetrate. I can understand it — we fear death so had to create some way to circumvent it yet his bones lay in the ground like any other. Pauper, prince, faithful or faithless. The promise of eternity somehow the reward for what we go through in life.

"The fear I understand, the faith I do not.....

"Not far from Thessaloniki is Mount Olympus. I can see it looming ahead of the highway from the backseat as the rain steadily beats down.

"I brought the Irish weather with me to Greece. This is the seat of the Greek Gods.

"How are the gods different only more human than the Christian god? I ask myself. Maybe more natural but represent perhaps no less an attempt to understand our fragile relationship to life and how we cling to it.

"In your 20s you are certain of your own immortality, yet as we creep towards middle, some of the atheists become agnostic. No doubt I am the last in line of millions of 'artists,' and I use that word sparingly, who have tried to put pen to paper and make sense of death.

"What has all this got to do with PRIMORDIAL? Well, my friends, it seems that every lyric for the new PRIMORDIAL album seems death obsessed, steeped in faithlessness, weary and wary of spirituality. Of course, this may change tack as the months go by and year zero for album number seven comes closer, but right now this might just be the most personal set of ramblings I've put to paper.

"Rambling… seems the right word for this blog. ....

"Band stuff? The final viewing of the [new PRIMORDIAL] DVD ['All Empires Fall'] is tomorrow as I write this. The release date is now March 10th.

"Most things that could go wrong or stand in our way as usual have. Not least our fragile grasp of time, much to the exasperation of our patient and penitent label.

"I've waxed and waned lyrical about the DVD before, so there really isn't much more to say other than you will see very soon for yourselves.....

"[The reissue of PRIMORDIAL's 2000 album] 'Spirit The Earth Aflame' should be out just after the DVD. The slightly remastered sound has given it the bottom end and oompphh it lacked the first time around.

"It is strange to listen to how fragile some of it sounds compared to how the songs sound when we play them now. It misses some filth.

"The bonus disc is a real odds-and-sods collection but also features some songs no one has heard before. Rehearsals and live stuff from '92 that should be of real interest to 'hardcore' fans. ....

"We have loosely set a timeframe of summer 2010 for the recording of the new album and a September release date. As usual, I have no song titles as of yet!

"There is always talk to festivals and tours but right now we have to wait until January to confirm a few things. Kaltenbach Open Air in Austria and Rockmaraton in Hungary are confirmed and a few others on the precipice but we will have to wait a few weeks to confirm them.

"So I remember questioning the future of capitalism in a former blog and no doubt it seems like we did witness the end of the Reagan/Thatcher era of laissez-faire free marketism but looking at the markets it would seem that most of the world is bouncing back quicker than many economists predicted; either that or I'm just the victim of more spin. Of course, millions have lost their jobs but the worst-case scenarios seem to have been put on hold. I'm not really sure if this is a good thing as it simply has allowed the banks and governments, especially in the U.S. where the collapse was initiated (hedge funds etc.),to return in some respects to their previous codes of practise. Greater upheaval might have prompted bigger changes to society that the world needs to face. Our level of consumption and growth simply cannot be sustained at the current rate. The failure of the Copenhagen summit, for example, would seem to suggest that. The economists and politicians are aware but the markets seem to have bounced back with some small element of glorious bad taste. The end of the American century doesn't seem to have happened and Obama's Nobel peace prize will I'm sure seem like the Emperor's new clothes.....

"Ireland, of course, has fallen further than most. Our brief 'moment in the sun' came crashing down around us as the property bubble burst. Mainly due to mismanagement and endemic croney-ism from the inception of the state in 1922 until this very moment. The old institutions have come crashing down. Be they Fianna Fail the ruling party for the guts of a hundred years, the Church exposed as little more than a paedophile ring or the cohort of property developers and bankers now being bailed out with public money. All of this especially the political climate and revelations of clerical abuse have really made me question my concept of nationalism.

"The reasons our forefathers fought for freedom, every concept of nationalism and independence they held dear were systematically revealed as nothing but romance. 'Romantic Ireland's dead and gone, it's with O'Leary in the grave.' Our great thinkers, poets and intellectuals, purged in the formation of the state or executed before its birth would turn in their graves at the last century as we turned nearly half a million children over to the institutions of the state to be abused, worked to death or farmed out as slaves in all but name.

"To put it in simple terms, we had a chance and we blew it. Like many Irish people right now I don't know if I can look society square in the eye, or at least the instruments of the church and state without wanting to see them burned to the ground. You can almost taste the betrayal, and it is bitter sweet.....

"If the church had one neck I'd gladly wring it....

"If the state had one artery I'd gladly sever it....

"All of this has made me question how I relate to the concept of nationalism.

"To many, the concept of nationalism in the global free market without borders is somewhat of an anachronism. Yet for those of use who want to see our cultural and historical inheritance not crushed under the weight of capitalist incentivisation or even the current middle class trend of Marxist revisionism it leaves little room for idealistic manoeuvre when you feel so wholly betrayed by the institutions of the state.

"Spending your waking moments in opposition can be a tiring thing. It really is no wonder 'Pop Idol' is so damn popular; doom and gloom is indeed exhausting. ....

"It made me question, what exactly does the Irish flag represent and why do we hang it from our amps onstage? Or is it simply the last vestiges of resistance open to us in the United States of Europe, which seeks to homogenise every aspect of our culture or merely a smokescreen to stop us confronting bigger questions.

"Confusing times, but nothing that gives me any solace. I'm sure we can expect some of the same questions in the next PRIMORDIAL.....

"What else? The recording of the BLOOD REVOLT album is finally happening. Jaws will definitely drop, believe me. Mostly the concept has been met with incredulous disbelief from underground people. More mainstream, and I use this term very loosely, you could read 'open-minded,' PRIMORDIAL fans have found the idea extremely interesting, it's been the 'not even born when the BLASPHEMY demo was out' underground brigade who seem to be unable to get their small minds around the idea that REVENGE/AXIS OF ADVANCE and PRIMORDIAL are not as far apart as they seem and a musical collaboration makes perfect sense. At least to us it does, anyway.

"Expect pure militancy and genuine extremity, not pastiche C. Moyen cartoon Satanism. Carpet bombing courtesy of Profound Lore in the States and Invictus Productions in Europe.

"All Empires Fall" is scheduled for release in Europe on March 1 via Metal Blade.

Disc 1 of the two-disc set is the centerpiece of the DVD and features a full PRIMORDIAL headline show recorded live on January 24, 2009 in the band's hometown of Dublin, Ireland. The concert was filmed with five cameras and has an exceptional vintage look due to the hard work in post-production. A truly impressive and powerful live gig, exciting from start to finish in front of die-hard PRIMORDIAL audience and a perfect soundtrack that is available in stereo and 5.1!

Disc 2 features live clips from the band's appearances at Ragnarök Festival (Germany),Hove Festival (Norway) and Graspop Metal Meeting (Belgium) in 2008. The second disc also contains a band documentary with all the inside stories and loads of ancient footage from the early stages of the band. The documentary has a playing time of approximately 60 minutes. Interviews with all band members and rehearsal footage complete the second disc of the set/

The special deluxe version of "All Empires Fall" features expanded packaging and two additional audio CDs featuring the Dublin show.

"All Empires Fall" track listing:

Disc One - Dublin:

01. Empire Falls
02. Fuil Arsa
03. Gallows Hymn
04. Sons Of The Morrigan
05. Cast To The Pyre
06. The Golden Spiral
07. As Rome Burns
08. The Coffin Ships
09. Traitors Gate
10. Journey's End
11. No Nation On This Earth
12. Gods To The Godless
13. Heathen Tribes

Disc Two:

* Documentary (approx. 60 minutes)
* Interviews

Ragnarök Festival - Germany 2008:

01. Empire Falls
02. Gallows Hymn
03. Sons Of The Morrigan
04. As Rome Burns
05. The Coffin Ships
06. Heathen Tribes
07. Gods To The Godless

Hove Festival - Norway 2008:

08. The Coffin Ships
09. Gods To The Godless

Graspop Metal Meeting - Belgium 2008:

10. Gallows Hymn
11. As Rome Burns
12. Heathen Tribes