Following the release of their new album Age Of Pandora (check out our review here!) we caught up with Nothgard for a chat. See what happened below!
Thanks for the interview – can you introduce yourself and tell me a bit about the band?
Hi, I´m Ziegler, the drummer of Nothgard. Nothgard is an epic melodic death metal band from Germany that has just released it´s latest album, Age of Pandora. Haven´t heard of it yet? Go and check it out, it´s even available on spotify. If you like it, buy it 😉
Speaking of Age Of Pandora, can you describe the writing and recording process?
The whole album was written and composed by Dom R. Crey, except the drums, this was my part. Dom wrote all the songs and has sent them to us, the other bandmates. When we had some ideas, we discussed them with Dom and eventually changed some things. The guitars were recorded by Dom at this home-studio, and we re-amped them in the studio, as it safes a lot of money and you can take your time to get the guitars 100% the way we wanted them. The only thing that was recorded in the studio were the drums and the vocals.
Were there any songs that were more of a challenge to get right?
Definitely. We took a lot of time and only wanted to record songs with which we were 100% confident with. Dom is a perfectionist, even more than I am with the my drum-parts haha. When we had some songs finished, it could happen that it was put aside or re-written as it only was an “Okay-song” and not a song with which we were 100% confident with. That´s the reason it took so long to create our latest piece of art. I think you can´t force creativity, and it just takes time to write an album like that
Which song are you most proud of?
Hard one… I´m a big fan of Anima, No One Holds The Crown and In Blood Remained, but actually this is a hard question. I really like all the songs we recorded even though this may sound very selfish 😀
Any interesting stories from the studio?
We were visited by Robse from Equilibrium as he made some guest vocals in our song Obey The King. We had a great time with him and Freki of Varg, who also visited us, as the studio is near their rehearsal space.
You recently toured Europe with TrollfesT and Equilibrium – what was it like?
I can tell you it was a blast and fucking awesome. Equilibrium and Trollfest, both bands you should definitely check out live! I can only say these guys are very cool people, very friendly, helpful and very funny. I think both bands are very nice live-bands as I enjoyed every evening listening to their set, even though it was 17 times the same setlist! So go and visit their concerts, you won´t regret it!
What can people expect from your live performance?
A massive wall of guitars coming right at you and lots of fun!
What has been the best show you’ve ever played?
Wow… Can´t name it… But we´ve played some SICK shows on tour, Munich and Paris are the ones that come into my mind when I think of the tour.
And perhaps the strangest or weirdest?
Wow, very tough one.. I can´t really name one… I guess the show in Lindau which was on the Erdentempel – tour, was very strange as we had some problems with our sample system… I remember feeling very embaraced after the show
And finally, if Nothgard could put their name to a product, what would it be?
Hmm… as I love food I would take some food, meat perhaps haha… But no, for Nothgard in general it will be either some liquor (Whiskey) or beer.
