{"id":20150,"date":"2013-09-23T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T00:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=20150"},"modified":"2014-07-16T15:00:31","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T15:00:31","slug":"feature-sarke-09-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/feature-sarke-09-13\/","title":{"rendered":"SARKE – Jaunt Of The Obsessed (September 2013) | Features \/ Interviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SARKE – Jaunt Of The Obsessed<\/strong><\/span>
\nAnthony Morgan<\/span>
\nSeptember 2013<\/span><\/p>\n

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Sarke (l-r): Thomas \u2018Sarke\u2019 Bergli, Steinar Gundersen, Nocturno Culto and Asgeir Mickelson<\/em><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
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\nNorway\u2019s Thomas \u2018Sarke\u2019 Bergli \u2013 whose credits stretch to Khold, Tulus, and stints within Old Man\u2019s Child and Sensa Anima \u2013 harboured desires to spearhead a solo outfit for a number of years. By 2008, Thomas had penned the requisite number of compositions. This would culminate in namesake solo preoccupation Sarke, Thomas recruiting Darkthrone<\/a> vocalist Nocturno Culto to occupy the microphone stand.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just wanted to do an album by myself, where I could have control over everything,\u201d Thomas reasons. \u201cI talked to Indie about it, and they liked the idea. I wanted Nocturno Culto to do the vocals, mostly because I like his vocals very much. I think he has a very cool voice; it\u2019s pure, honest, and raw. I think he has a good extreme metal voice. I asked him, and after a while he said \u2018Yes.\u2019 Therefore, we just went into the studio, and recorded a full album. I did everything else except for the keyboards, which Anders (Hunstad) did \u2013 he did all of the keyboard work. I had known him for a long time, but I just chose him because he\u2019s very easy to work with. He\u2019s also very good, so I knew he was able to play the ideas that I had for the keyboards. When I make a song, I know where I want the keyboards to be. I told him where I wanted the keyboards to be, and he knew how I wanted the keyboards to sound. He was very easy to use on this, because he knew what flavour I wanted when I asked him. In all, there was only the three of us on the first album.\u201d<\/p>\n

The drummer is a longtime Darkthrone fanatic. \u201cOf course I got into Darkthrone when they did their early demos,\u201d he recalls. \u201cWhen they made their first album (Soulside Journey<\/em>, January 1991), it wasn\u2019t so usual for a Norwegian extreme metal band to have a contract to release an album. I liked that one very much, but when they released Transilvanian Hunger<\/em> (February 1994), I thought that was very good. Their second album A Blaze In The Northern Sky<\/em> (February 1992) was very good as well. I liked the first album when that came out, and I also liked their changes when they went into black metal. I think that was very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metal\u2019s elder statesmen arguably form Sarke\u2019s musical influences. \u201cIt\u2019s bands that I have been into, like Black Sabbath<\/a>, Celtic Frost, Slayer<\/a>, Mot\u00f6rhead, and maybe Mercyful Fate and King Diamond,\u201d Thomas cites. I just look at it as dark rock music, maybe. It\u2019s not black metal, and it\u2019s not heavy metal, and it\u2019s not rock \u2019n\u2019 roll. It\u2019s darker rock metal, maybe? It\u2019s elements of a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sarke founder\u2019s moniker dates as far back as 1991. \u201cWhen we started Tulus, we found an old book containing Norwegian names from the 18th century,\u201d he remembers. \u201cThere I found this old Norwegian name, and just chose that one.\u201d<\/p>\n

In February 2009, it was revealed that Sarke had inked an album contract with Indie Recordings. \u201cI guess it was back when we were signed to Tabu Recordings with Khold,\u201d Thomas figures. \u201cA lot of the same guys who worked for Tabu started Indie Recordings, so I knew them from before. They also have us for Khold. I just said that I was going to do a solo album, and asked if they were interested. They said \u2018Yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Vorunah<\/em> arrived two months later, in April of that year. \u201cI\u2019m very comfortable when I\u2019m alone,\u201d the composer divulges. \u201cI don\u2019t need to discuss anything with anyone. I did the guitars myself of course, and it\u2019s a bit cool for me to play guitar and bass \u2013 I usually only play drums. I experiment a lot in the studio, because often when I go into the studio, the songs aren\u2019t completely done. I make some of the songs in the studio. I have some riffs and ideas, and so I make the songs in the studio. I like to record fast, so a lot of the takes on the first album are the first take. That could be guitar, or drums, or bass. <\/p>\n

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\u201cOn the first album, some of the guitars are actually the guide guitar. In the studio, when I did it myself, I recorded the guitar tracks first. I then played the drums, and then I played the guitar again. I actually used some of the guide guitar, because they sounded okay. I kept them, and some of the drum tracks are the first take. I usually play the whole song through. When I play the drums, I improvise all of the time. I haven\u2019t played the drums at rehearsals, and then done exactly the same in the studio. I just play as I go along.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across several instruments, Thomas is proficiently skilled. \u201cI would say that I\u2019m maybe average on all instruments,\u201d he critiques. \u201cI\u2019m not very good but I guess I\u2019m not very bad either, so I would say average. I never rehearse, so I guess my skills are average (laughs). I would say that the drums are my main instrument, though. I play guitars more than drums, but drums is my main instrument. I always make and create songs on guitar, but if I compare myself to Steinar (Gundersen) who\u2019s in the band, he\u2019s very, very much better than me on guitar because he\u2019s a very good lead guitarist. My main instrument is the drums though, so if I had to choose, then it would be the drums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queried regarding his drumming influences, the Sarke lyricist finds it difficult to cite specific examples. \u201cI\u2019m not sure if I have any,\u201d he ponders. \u201cI have some local dudes that maybe taught me some stuff when I started playing drums. Of course, Sean Reinert (Cynic) who did the Human<\/em> album with Death (October 1991), he sounds very good, but I don\u2019t have any particular influences. A lot of jazz players are very good, but I don\u2019t think so much about that now. I\u2019m not sure. I don\u2019t have any favourite drummers, but I\u2019m more of a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll drummer. If I had to choose between Dream Theater and AC\/DC, I\u2019m much more AC\/DC.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas shares positive sentiments with respect to Vorunah<\/em>. \u201cFor me, mostly I like it, because it\u2019s my solo album,\u201d he explains. \u201cI did everything, and played most of the instruments. It\u2019s very honest and pure. I wrote the lyrics. I usually don\u2019t do lyrics, but I did lyrics for the whole album. I would say it\u2019s a bit special because it\u2019s my solo album, mostly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The band\u2019s inaugural effort was cut at H10 Productions in Oslo, Norway, the first of three Sarke outings to be recorded at that location with producer \/ engineer Lars-Erik Westby. The Sarke bassist \u201cjust met him through other bands that had been there. He also liked that style of music; he likes a lot of 70s rock and 80s music, and he knew what sound I wanted. I think he\u2019s very good to create that sound with. I know how I want the songs to sound, but he helps me out. He doesn\u2019t produce the songs so much, but he maybe helps me to produce the sound. He helps me a lot by doing the sound on the guitar and the bass, and he also helps me out on the keyboard side, but my own songs are produced by me of course.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the new studios have a lot of technical things; everything\u2019s done on the computer, and they trigger the drums and that sort of stuff. I like to keep analogue drums and do the guitars through an amplifier, and not a computer. It\u2019s old guitar boxes, and amplifiers. I just like old stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indie Recordings requested that Sarke perform on their \u2018label night\u2019 at the Inferno Festival in Oslo on April 8th, 2009. Rounding out Sarke\u2019s live personnel were Asgeir Mickelson (Spiral Architect \/ ex-Borknagar) on drums and Cyrus (Susperia \/ Dimmu Borgir) on guitar. The five-piece\u2019s studio debut arrived in the form of April 2011\u2019s Oldarhian<\/em>. \u201cThe record company asked me if I could do a second album, but I didn\u2019t feel like doing a second solo album,\u201d Thomas admits. \u201cThe second album is different, because then we were a band. They also asked for me to play live, so therefore I needed to make a band to play live. Then I thought that maybe the live band could also do the album, so I just called around people I knew. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery member I have known for at least ten years, because I just called the people that I wanted to have in my band. Of course I also have Khold and Tulus, but I didn\u2019t want to involve any of those people. I wanted to work in a band with new people. They all live quite near, except for Nocturno \u2013 he lives far away. I called friends I knew who were very good, and could play. They also live near me, so it was a bit easier to rehearse. That\u2019s why I asked them. We did some live shows and stuff, and then I asked them if they wanted to do the album. They all said \u2018Yes\u2019 \u2013 it was quite easy.<\/p>\n

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Sarke (l-r): Asgeir Mickelson, Steinar Gundersen, Nocturno Culto and Thomas
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\u201cFour different people wrote songs. Of course instrumentally it\u2019s a bit stronger, because better people are playing, and there are some very good songs on that album. It has a very good sound and everything, so I like the second album as well. Of course it was a bit different for me since I wrote maybe five, six songs, though. The other people collectively wrote four, so for me of course it was a bit different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Possessing songwriting abilities wasn\u2019t a prerequisite for joining. \u201cThey didn\u2019t have to be able to write, no,\u201d the Sarke mainman confirms. \u201cI could\u2019ve done all of the album, but they wanted to make some songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critiqued against its predecessor, Oldarhian<\/em> is a more varied affair. \u201cAsgeir wrote the songs in the spirit of Sarke, so it\u2019s not so easy to hear that it\u2019s not me who made some of the songs,\u201d Thomas judges. \u201cCyrus made a big difference, but he also made a song in the spirit of Sarke. Nocturno\u2019s song is a bit different, because he does what he does. You can hear a bit of difference, which just makes the album a bit more varied. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith Cyrus for example, his was a bit more melodic. He\u2019s a guitar player, which is a bit different than how a drummer makes songs. He likes to play more on the guitar, and so he can play more notes, and the riffs are more complicated. Nocturno\u2019s also a guitar player, so there\u2019s much more going on in his songs. I\u2019m a drummer making songs, so I guess I make the songs more in a drum type of way. That\u2019s why it\u2019s a bit different. Maybe for some people it\u2019s better to not have one songwriter on an album, to have more different songs. It could be a good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing as a member of a group or as a solo artist both have their advantages and disadvantages. \u201cWhen you\u2019re solo, you can decide everything yourself,\u201d the sometime drummer muses. \u201cYou don\u2019t think so much about the live aspect. I also make songs that I can play myself on the guitar. I just do everything at my pace. When you\u2019re a band, you have to ask other people \u2018Is this song good?\u2019 or \u2018Do you like this?\u2019 Other people in the band, maybe they play different. The drums I also played myself. Now when I make a song though, I know the drum pattern, but Asgeir of course does his own style on the drums. When I make a guitar riff, maybe I think of the drums, and then he plays a bit different. I always have to talk to other people and have that in the back of my mind, but when you\u2019re solo you do everything yourself, and you don\u2019t think to ask anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albeit a democracy, not all Sarke members share equal power within the group. \u201cIt depends on who, because some people are more in the band than other people,\u201d Thomas reveals. \u201cI am of course the mainman, so if I don\u2019t want it, then it\u2019s not gonna happen. Everyone can make a song, though. Everybody can ask and everybody can have their wishes, but if I say to everybody else that a song isn\u2019t so good, then we don\u2019t use it. On the new album though, there are nine tracks; I made eight, and Asgeir made one. Asgeir made song number eight \u2013 \u2018Icon Usurper\u2019. He wrote the lyrics himself. It\u2019s quite cool, a bit uptempo, and it\u2019s also heavy. Maybe one of the most black metal songs on the album, one of the most extreme songs on the album.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sarke founder nonetheless has the final word on the assortment\u2019s affairs. \u201cYeah, and I also should,\u201d he argues. \u201cThis is a solo band. If everybody has to decide, it can sometimes be a bit more messy. I think it\u2019s okay if one person has the final vote.\u201d<\/p>\n

Surfacing during September 2013, Aruagint<\/em><\/a> is Sarke\u2019s third outing to date. \u201cThe start is that I make songs of course, and then we rehearse a little bit, working on the songs we want to,\u201d Thomas discloses. \u201cWe went to the same studio that we went to for the two other albums, and we recorded the album with the same guy. We also used some of the same equipment that we used on the first album \u2013 like the same drumkit, for example. We did it in the same way as the first two albums. We recorded the drums first of course, and then guitar and bass, and then vocals and keyboards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would say that the new album maybe reminds me more of the first album. It\u2019s a bit rougher I think, a bit more straight to the point. It depends on the song, also. Of course maybe the sound is a bit more heavy, but I think it\u2019s a Sarke album like the two other albums were \u2013 so I don\u2019t actually hear so much difference. Of course, these are new songs. I have a bit more feeling for the first album than the previous album.\u201d<\/p>\n

As was the case with Vorunah<\/em> and Oldarhian<\/em>, Aruagint<\/em> is a fictional word. \u201cMaybe I had picked out five to eight words to choose from to make this word,\u201d the songwriter tells. \u201cI think Aruagint<\/em> is a place like Hell \u2013 a dark place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Generally speaking, Sarke\u2019s lyrical content isn\u2019t light in nature. \u201cWhen I play dark music, the lyrics are often a bit dark and cold, and are about people who\u2019re either dying or killing or having a dark time,\u201d Thomas elaborates. \u201cThey\u2019re usually dark stories. You have \u2018Skeleton Sand\u2019 for example, which is a place where people can go to die and sink to the bottom. Their skeleton turns into sand, so the whole bottom of the sea is just skeleton sand. \u2018Jaunt Of The Obsessed\u2019 is about a guy who wants to find a formula for something, so he\u2019s looking for some papers, or a script. That\u2019s the story there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aruagint<\/em>\u2019s front cover photograph was discovered online by Asgeir. \u201cHe contacted the guy who took the photograph, and he then did some more layouts for the album,\u201d the Sarke wordsmith informs. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you have the booklet, but there\u2019s some stuff in the booklet which is quite cool, stuff that he made for this album. Asgeir handled all of the layout, how it looks. He got this guy to do some paintings, and some drawings.\u201d<\/p>\n

A music video is in the pipeline. \u201cWe were supposed to do a video this summer for \u2018Strange Pungent Odyssey\u2019, but that has been delayed because Nocturno is doing a film, and our band is going to be in that film,\u201d Thomas illuminates. \u201cWe were supposed to do a video at the same time, but we have to wait a little bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat song is about a person who\u2019s dreaming actually, so it\u2019s just a dream. If you read the lyrics, you\u2019d know that. There are lots of things going on in that dream \u2013 he\u2019s on a journey, where he\u2019s being followed. It\u2019s a bit catchy that track, a bit light. Maybe you don\u2019t have to be an extreme fan to like that song \u2013 maybe it\u2019s the most easy-going song on the album.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, Sarke has performed live infrequently. \u201cWe did some gigs at the start, but there have been few gigs,\u201d the Sarke bassist affirms. \u201cI\u2019m not sure why that is, but we\u2019ve talked about doing a bit more live shows now. Our booking agent is looking into finding some gigs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aruagint<\/em> was released on September 20th, 2013 in Norway, Germany, Austria, and Sweden via Indie Recordings. The album was subsequently issued three days later worldwide through the same record label.<\/p>\n

Interview published in September 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SARKE – Jaunt Of The Obsessed Anthony Morgan September 2013 Sarke (l-r): Thomas \u2018Sarke\u2019 Bergli, Steinar Gundersen, Nocturno Culto and Asgeir Mickelson Norway\u2019s Thomas \u2018Sarke\u2019 Bergli \u2013 whose credits stretch to Khold, Tulus, and stints within Old Man\u2019s Child and Sensa Anima \u2013 harboured desires to spearhead a solo outfit for a number of years. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[781],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sarke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20150"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20268,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20150\/revisions\/20268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}