(TMR) Hello to to you from The Metal Resource Holland, how are things going there in Germany ??

(EE) Everybody’s watching Football (hey, 3:0 vs. Italy ? Congrats !) und the sun is shining excessively. So…everything seems to be fine.

(TMR)  First of all 'Eternal Emperor'  is a new band in the metal scene so maybe you can Introduce yourself and the other band members please ! (name and instrument)

(EE) Currently I (Shadrach) am the only constant member of this whole project. I came up with the whole idea, I’ve written all the songs so far, played guitar for our debut release and did the vocals. Meshach contributed with playing bass. He’s normally not very interested in Metal but he did it to build a makeshift line-up. So he’s still in the band somehow but I’m not sure about his future role in Eternal Emperor. Sadoth helped us out for rehearsing and recording the songs for “In The Beginning”. He is not a christian; this wasn’t a huge deal for us but I’m convinced that it would be better to look for a christian drummer for a constant line-up. Anyhow he wasn’t really interested in continuing in Eternal Emperor and also moved to another town recently. We have still no stable line-up and I’m far away from having some people at hand to form a whole band.

(TMR) Is this your first band ? what other bands have you guys been in ? (for each member personal) 

(EE) I started playing black metal with my first project Azareel. We never released anything and it’s even not really worth to mention in our history. I’m also involved in other projects but I like to separate all those projects and keep those things as secret (for now). Meshach played bass in several (mostly totally unknown) Hardcore bands and Sadoth did drumming for a band called “Götterdämmerung”. We had our rehearsal rooms next to each other that’s how we got in contact.

(TMR) Can you tell us something about the origin of  'Eternal Emperor' ?

(EE) As I told you I wrote some black metal stuff before. Busy with a lot of other stuff I took a huge break from this kind of music but started writing some songs and riffs again in late 2007. I talked to Meshach and Sadoth if they wanted to help out to breath some life into the whole idea so we ended up rehearsing 3 or 4 of my songs. Without any real aim or concept we decided to record some songs just for the sake of it. We got some technical support from a good friend and recorded those tracks. When we heard the first results of those sessions we were pretty excited cause it was definitely more than what we expected. That made us decide to put it out somehow without expecting that Soundmass would be interested in releasing our EP.

(TMR) Does the name 'Eternal Emperor'  means something, or is it just a name ? Is there a story behind that name ??

(EE) Very easy answer: I took it from Crimson Moonlight’s song with that name. It’s something like a tribute cause this is still my favourite song of this band.

(TMR) Who writes the music/lyrics in 'Eternal Emperor' ? .. how do you get in the mood for writing music? And which bands/situations have influences you for writing music and lyrics ?

(EE) Music and lyrics came out of my heart and mind so far. I can’t really tell how it all comes together and where all the influences and inspirations come from. Maybe the most important thing is a special atmosphere some people are able to create: 16 Horsepower / Woven Hand is a great example. I guess I don’t really draw most of my inspiration from similar music. I’m sure that also some extreme metal bands have some influence on me, but I can’t really give you any name. Maybe Antestor and old Covenant (The Kovenant) might be worth to mention, but I don’t think that you will find a lot of similarities in our music. Lyric-wise I’m interested in a lot of stuff and “In The Beginning” features only a small excerpt. I’m currently working on some more historical themes and you can expect more “less christian” stuff in the future. I hope I can give some very diverse material to the listener with Eternal Emperor. I hope nobody will misconceive that this is something like an approach to lose our “christian band image”. There will be “in-your-face christian lyrics” and also pure storytelling without any deep meaning or special moral.

(TMR) How do you describe the music of  'Eternal Emperor'  ??

(EE) Intense. I hope that we are doing some intense stuff. I’m not interested in doing brutal music but it should be intense and beautyful, even it’s some very hard music in parts. It’s not that it’s a MUST but I guess I will end up always with music that combines a lot of elements. I’m a fan of heavy, doom, death, black and thrash metal. So it’s something natural for me to work with all those elements: melodic moments combined with heavy riffs, blast beats and acoustic guitars – everything that falls in my hands and heart.

(TMR) How does 'Eternal Emperor' stands in life till events in the world, religion and politics and in which proportion stands that till your music and lyrics? 

(EE) I’m very interested in what’s going on all over the world. Religion and economy are the two main factors for political decisions nowadays and it would be disastrous to ignore all those coherences. All the hate, conflicts and wars coming out of those three things are shaping the world of today. It’s frustrating what a heavy grip it has on us.
Maybe there will be a time when I will feel “appointed” to use lyrical concepts about this stuff. I will not put any limitation on EE’s lyricals direction but at the moment I’m focusing on other things.

(TMR) For a lot of bands the lyrics are just a accidental circumstance, but for some bands they use them to communicate ! ..can you tell us how that is for 'Eternal Emperor' ??

(EE) Depents on the content. “In The Beginning” has some very clichee christian metal lyrics in my opinion. And I wanted to have them that way ! On the one hand I wanted to show clearly, that Eternal Emperor is a christian band and that this fact is very important to us and we really mean what we are saying. On the other hand Eternal Emperor will always be about entertainment, too. I wanted to give this release a more “unblack” atmosphere without making it sound stupid. Honestly I’m only a limited fan of this “unblack” scene and “In The Beginning” is still far from belonging into this “goatcrushing satanicide” stuff – if you know what I mean. I will never write any senseless lyrics just to have something to growl and scream. But don’t expect that it will always be profound, complex and absolutely sophisticated stuff.

(TMR) What is the message you want to bring with  'Eternal Emperor' ?

(EE) Currently we are one of those typical christian metal bands that are floating around in the christian scene. I personally love this scene, cause it’s very international. But as long as we are bound to only this scene we are very limited in our ability to spread some special messages. It’s great to write some uplifting and emboldening lyrics but currently it would be a waste of words to start writing lyrics addressed to non-believers. That might change rapidly when we have the opportunity to play live and when we might get some attention from the secular scene. I wall also deliver some very entertaining and fascinating stories. That’s why I will work on some more historical stuff that will be (hopefully) very atmospheric and interesting. Sometimes christian bands have a compulsion to focus only on christian themes and that’s not always really “healthy” for their art, cause it’s getting uninspired and forced.

(TMR) Is there already a highlight you will always remember, since the beginnning of  'Eternal Emperor' ?? (for each member personal)

(EE) I guess we all didn’t expect that we will have a release on a real label only 6 months after we started the whole thing. That’s why the complete Eternal Emperor history seems to be a highlight. I feel very blessed and honoured that my vision for this project grew that fast.

(TMR) And the worst thing ? (for each member personal)

(EE) To answer this as general band problem: we have no / never had a stable line-up. That’s keeping us away from any stage and yeah … it sucks !

(TMR) Tell us something about your debutalbum 'In the beginning' please (among other things about the songs, recording)

(EE) We put a lot of work into this little beauty. No professional studio or engineer was involved that’s why we are really proud about the result even though it’s far from beeing a perfect sounding experience. We only recorded some basic drum tracks in our rehearsal room and did the rest at home. I used only guitar amp simulation software (yeah, how UNtrue !) and it helped me arranging the second guitar and those few, simple solos that you can hear. We had several issues with the drums and used a lot of tricks and sampling to make it sound good. At first I wasn’t sure about doing the vocals all by myself but in the end they turned out quite good – even though I was totally unexperienced recording good growls and shrieks.
So everything was mor chaos than order and it was impressive how everything came together in the end. It’s a good start for a band to focus only on an EP. If this would’ve been intended to be a longplayer the total loss of control would have been the result of this experiment…

“Psalm 91” came into beeing while we were recording the EP. And originally it wasn’t intended to be included on the CD cause we only messed around with the verses and at first we thought: “This song is way to simple to put it on this release.” Now I really love this song and I would miss it on “In The Beginning”. I had only some lyrical concepts in mind but most lyrics were written after we recorded the music. It’s a very simple topic but we always forget about God’s unbelievable creation. And this evolution theory crap is deforming this awesome gift that God gave to this world. We are taking nature and its beauty for granted and there is so much to explore even in the most boring looking meadow. Only our pride keeps us away from crawling on all fours to seek all those cute little beetles and spiders with a magnifying glass. Yeah, THAT’s metal, haha ! That’s why I wrote “In The Sky And On The Ground”. “The Fortress” is a clear statement of Satan’s weakness. Even though he controls a lot of things on earth there is no way for him to overcome God’s mighty realm and he is doomed to be defeated.

It’s pretty interesting how all the kings and rulers dealt with the problem of death. They had all the power on earth but were facing the fear losing everything in case of death. “Death Ritual” is inspired by old egyption death cults and their worthlessness. I also wanted to include one German song as an interesting aspect. “Ew’ger Herrscher” is simply a worship song, meaning in English “Eternal Emperor”. Originally our debut was intended to be a self-release as CD-R with a nice 4 page cover card under the title “Ew’ger Herrscher”. Those cards were already printed and we were looking for distros that might pick up our debut when Adam (Soundmass) came up with the idea to release it professionaly. Title and layout were changed but we are very happy with the result and also had total control on those things. Adam does a great job and he is very focused on having the best possible result without ignoring the artists thoughts and point of view. We are very glad to work with him.

(TMR) What more can we expect in the future from  'Eternal Emperor' ??  (concerts a full lenght album maybe ?)

(EE) The most important thing: Eternal Emperor will continue. Even though we have those acute member problems I will find a way to propell this project. I will continue on working on some great and diverse material. I will also include a lot of keys and some symphonic elements but it will have the same sound and atmosphere as our material on “In The Beginning” basically. This all means that there will be full length release (maybe in early 2009 ? can’t promise anything…). To have a complete line-up and the ability to tour would be a huge gift. Maybe Eternal Emperor is doomed to be a studio project, but I’m personally hungry to bring our music on stage.

(TMR) Name some of your favourite bands to play with live and tell us why ?

(EE) Even though it’s not the most populair band on earth Sacrificium are a killer live band and I would be honoured if Eternal Emperor could be opening act for them once in a lifetime. And Crimson Moonlight would be fun, just to hear some silly jokes about our band name, haha !

(TMR)  Guys thanx for your time and the interview !! we wish 'Eternal Emperor' all the best !!.....is there anything you wanna say at last ?? (any final statement ??)

(EE) Thank you too ! It’s an honour that people seem to be interested in our music and what’s going on in the EE camp. I would love to thank everybody who spread the news about our release and bought a copy. It’s very important to show the label that we are worth the investment of time and money. There are a lot of distros who ordered copies so “In The Beginning” is available all over the world now – also “thanks” for that ! We are happy about every kind of feedback or personal question; you can find our official band e-mail address on our website or you can get in contact via myspace. Would be great to hear from you guys !
God bless you all !

Shadrach