Photo Credit: Andreas Schieler

German melodic gothic/black metal outfit Nachtblut released their new album Vanitas in October 2020 via Napalm Records (order here). We caught up with drummer Skoll right before the new year to discuss their latest effort.

How has the response been so far on the new album, Vanitas?

The feedback by fans and critics has been very flattering. I really enjoyed reading all the comments and articles.I guess with Vanitas, we reached a lot of new people and opened some new doors for us.

What has it been like for you to release a new record during a pandemic?

Luckily the release had not been affected by the pandemic. All songs have been written before and also the recording took place before COVID-19 became a thing. The only things that have been a bit more complicated were video and photo shoots, but we managed those as well.

What songs were the most challenging to write?

I don’t think there was one song which was more challenging than all the others. Every song has his own peculiarity. Songs are written when the theme/issue is present to us, that helps with the songwriting and to get things off your chest. From a drummers’ perspective “Nekrophagen” was “challenging” due to a lot of dynamic changes and grooves which are more maverick.

Can you talk more about the themes on the album?

Obviously the main theme is “Vanitas,” which we include in the artwork. Mostly it’s referred to death and transience or vanity, but we wanted to examine the other aspects of this art and intuition. Our aspiration has always been to reflect/deliberate your surroundings, lifestyle and people, which is a big part of the Vanitas art too. So beside death, inspired among the Dance Macabre, transience and loss, you will find issues for example like dictatorship or who’s in charge of your knowledge and connected to that your view on the world and definition of happiness. Just to name a few. Not only the music offers many facets, but also the lyrics including a variety of different topics.

What albums helped you get through 2020?

I think it was our album Vanitas. Due to the huge amount of work we put in it. That distracted me/us enough from all the sh**t going on the last year. Luckily 2020 didn’t feel like “last forever”. Now I’m looking forward to 2021/2022. Let’s cross fingers, it will be better.

Otherwise, I listen to a big mix of everything. Something you will always find in my playlist is Ghost and Rammstein.

While concerts remain uncertain, do you have any plans for a livestream or virtual tour?

We talked a lot about alternatives to “normal” concerts. We acknowledge that livestreams or playing seated shows, even drive-in-theater-concerts are kind of alternatives. But none of the options seems to fit us. It always has been part of our shows to interact with the fans, including a lot of movement in front and on stage, e.g. stage diving, mosh pits etc. So go big or go home! We will give concerts again, when it’s possible to have 100% of the experience. YouTube, livestreams or seated concerts will never live up to a real concert.

Is there anything else you’d like to say or add?

I keep it with the famous last word of every interview: listen and enjoy our new album Vanitas and hopefully see you at one of our shows, whenever they happen again. Stay safe and healthy!