On Power, Glory, and Winston Churchill: Digging Deep With Atlantean Kodex

With The White Goddess, Germany’s Atlantean Kodex have released what is undoubtedly one of the most well-received, critically adored, and all-around fantastic heavy metal albums of the year. Note that I said “heavy metal,” not just “metal." There’s a pronounced difference between metal as a whole and its most grandiose subgenre. True heavy metal and its acolytes seldom enjoy the kind of wide-eyed knob-slobbing that experimental whatsits and progressive whatevers have come to expect, and are often swept under the rug in favor of something faster, heavier, louder. It’s a shame, too, because Atlantean Kodex and bands like them have so much to offer. Soaring vocals? Check. Triumphant, sword-rattling melodies? Check. Galloping twin guitar leads? Plenty. Poetic, soul-stirring lyrics? Got ‘em. Bombastic overtures? Got ‘em in spades. Power metal’s breast-beating histrionics, doom’s melancholia and staid tempos, traditional heavy metal’s thunder: Atlantean Kodex swirls together the best of each and makes it look easy, like vintage Manowar tackling a “One Rode to Asa Bay” cover. Moreover, they make it look cool.

Guitarist Manuel Trummer is still blown away by the response The White Goddess has gotten, as one tends to be when national newspapers start knocking on one’s door asking for interviews and Pitchfork gives your record a glowing review (I may have had a hand in that, but still).

"Yeah, that‘s what surprised us the most. We knew we had a pretty strong album, which would eventually be able to transcend the more narrow underground scenes," Trummer said. "Just because the songs are more focused, the mix is more powerful and the playing is tighter before. But we never expected it to pierce the wider mainstream as well. You know, the music we play is still totally noncommercial from a stylistic point of view. After all, who in the hell wants to hear 12-minute songs with lyrics about Bavarian Folklore and neolithic fertility cults? But we had the biggest daily newspapers in Germany writing articles about the album and doing interviews. I still can‘t fully explain where that interest suddenly comes from. Maybe we hit a nerve with our obscure art pour l‘art approach."

Noisey: Atlantean Kodex borrow plenty of elements from power metal, but add in tons of traditional doom and heavy metal. Which of the genres do you feel the closest kinship with?
Manuel Trummer: I‘d consider us as a successor to the traditional ‘80s heavy metal bands with that certain epic and mythical edge to their sound and lyrics. You know, bands like early Manowar, Warlord, early Fates Warning, Manilla Road. But on the other hand, you can hear a lot of the drama the 1990s had to offer in our sound. Without bands like Bathory or Solstice (UK) we wouldn‘t even exist, I guess. Other than, especially in terms of authenticity and sound aspects, we feel a certain kinship to hard rock and folk rock bands from the 1970s, for instance Uriah Heep or Fairport Convention.

Do you feel that there is still a place for well-crafted melodic heavy metal in a world glutted with trendy black metal/death metal/doom clones?
Yes, of course. Actually there was always a place for this kind of music even in the 1990s. Over here in Europe the younger crowd is starting to realize there‘s a whole world to discover in the “traditional” heavy metal genre. Festivals like Keep It True, Hell Over Hammaburg, and Up The Hammers are more popular than ever, especially with the younger crowds. I wouldn‘t call it a trend yet, but for a couple of years now – at least in Germany – the tables have been turning. Classic underground metal is more popular than ever. Maybe because it offers an alternative to all these McDonaldized clones.

In another recent interview, you expressed doubts that you'd be recording anything new anytime soon; are there conflicts within the band that need resolving, or do you just prefer to work at a slower pace?
No, no conflicts at all. It‘s just that we‘re absorbed by a lot of different things outside the music. And most of all we don‘t want to rush things, you know, recording an album just because two years have passed. As soon as we feel inspired to work on new material again, we will record another album, but I really can‘t say when that will be.

Tell me about the creative process behind The White Goddess; what went into this record?Actually it all went surprisingly smooth. We started out with a couple of small fragments for lyrics and melodic bits and from that point onward things grew pretty rapidly. I wish I could tell you some funny anecdotes about fuck-ups and nervous breakdowns, but really didn‘t have any bigger issues when working on the album.

The production on the album is very polished and professional, as opposed to the more "live" feel of 'The Golden Bough.' What made you decide to pursue this sound?
Exactly, I totally agree. We engineered the album ourselves in our own studio, from setting up the mikes down to the mastering, 100% do-it-yourself. There was no external producer involved. The approach was totally different from ‘The Golden Bough’. We wanted ‘The Golden Bough’ to be a statement against all these artificial, standardized pop productions which are so popular in the present-day metal scene, so we went for a really raw and live sound. But, when it came to the new album and when we thought about the sound beforehand, we felt that it was kind of redundant to do the same statement again, and moreover the songs demanded a more powerful mix. I think we quite succeeded, but still the songs kept their “natural” sound. They don‘t sound artificial or like how all the other bands sound.

One of the most engaging aspects of Atlantean Kodex's music is the cerebral richness of the lyrics. Much of the album is something of a sprawling metaphor for the rise and fall of Europe, which isn’t exactly a simple tipic. Why did you decide to tackle such wide-reaching subject matter?
Simple answer: because we found it interesting. I read a lot of books on all these matters in the past few years and we all were affected in our lives by the crisis of Europa the one way or the other. I guess all these subliminal influences manifested themselves in the lyrics of the album. I think an album always reflects us as people in a way, the things we had to deal with while recording the album, the things that happened in our lives, the books we read, the fears we had, the myths we were interested in. It all shows up on the album in a way.

The lyrics reveal a keen interest in and knowledge of mythology, history, and religious dogma; it's an impressive mix, and undoubtedly lends the music its epic air. Can you tell me a bit more about the stories behind the songs?
Part of enjoying an album by Atlantean Kodex is trying to get behind the meaning of the lyrics by yourself, and in the end that‘s what‘s important – what the listener makes of the lyrics. But to put it simply: the theme that holds the album together is the idea of death as the true inspiration and power in our lives. It‘s a classic Memento mori approach: the fear of death which leads us to create something that outlasts our lives, the wish to conquer death by making history, art or poetry, before we ascend once again to the acosmic nothingness from whence we came. The figure of the White Goddess is an allegory for this life/death relationship. She‘s an pan-European deity who shows up in all religions from ancient Greece to the Nordic pantheon, but she‘s always associated with aspects of life, death and rebirth. She seemed to make a nice, mythologically interesting metaphor for the album as a whole.

Do you think that lyric writing is something of a lost art?
Difficult to say… But I think the importance of well-written lyrics has indeed diminished in the past decade. Maybe it‘s also a genre issue. I mean, with all these Cookie Monster vocals in brutal death metal, metalcore, deathcore, etc., you can‘t understand the lyrics anyway. A lot of this new kind of metal is about physical power, about experiencing your own body, about extreme feelings and situations. There‘s simply no need for elaborate lyrics. But I wouldn‘t say that there are no good lyricists left. You can find good lyrics in a lot of different subgenres. Musicians who are still writing very impressive lyrics are for instance Alan from Primordial, Rich Walker from Solstice and first and foremost Martin Walkyier (Skyclad).

The Winston Churchill quote on "Twelve Stars And An Azure Gown” is both unexpected and powerful; how does it fit into the song's narrative?
Well, the quote conveys the same message of hope the whole song does. Rising from a Europa in ruins, Churchill reminded the people of his time of the great history, legacy and cultural heritage of Europe in order to create a new shared foundation upon which the European community would be built. Now that this shared idea is in danger, it‘s about time to remind people once again, what Europe could be, if it stood united.

Did Manowar vocalist Eric Adams really appear on the album? That cackle on closing track “ White Goddess Unveiled” sounds awfully familiar…
Haha, great that you recognized the laughter! Actually it‘s amazing how many people noticed it. But I have to confess that‘s it‘s just a 5 second sample we included as a tiny joke for the people who would recognize it. Still, it would be a dream to work with Eric Adams one day.

What else have you got planned for the rest of the year?
We‘re playing a couple of shows at festivals throughout Europe, for instance Keep It True and Hell Over Hammaburg. Maybe there will be another EP with some songs, which didn‘t make it on the album. Other than that, there are no further plans so far.

What were your favorite albums of 2013?
SOLSTICE - Death‘s Crown is Victory
BÖLZER - Aura
PROCESSION - Reaping heavens apart
KRYPTS - Unending Degradation
RUINS OF BEVERAST - Blood Vaults

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