The Hungarian war brigade of death, namely Age of Agony, is marching confidently towards victory, as evidenced by their soon-to-be-released EP. I've questioned bass player Krisztián Tóth, who transferred to us all the latest news. Behold the story of the "Raven Black"!!!
Hails! "Raven Black" is the title of your forthcoming material, which is going to be a 5-song EP. Is there an exact release date set for it already? What can the fans expect from your new songs?
- Greetings! Unfortunately, we don't know anything about the exact release date. The disc factory promised us to deliver it in early July, but we haven't heard from them since then.
The music on the new EP is the continuation of the style of our last LP "For the Forgotten" with some new elements. But no need to worry, there are no big changes. :)
Your reliable partner in crime, Terranis Productions will bring it to the masses. What formats and quantities do they plan to press?
- Our friend Tamás offered us immediately to release the EP, 300 copies exactly.
Have to admit, I am pretty impressed by the cover artwork of "Raven Black". It was accomplished by Grafit és Hamu. What's the connection between the cover and the lyrics? Could you please go into details regarding the lyrical content of the EP? By the way, who wrote the lyrics and what was influential on you?
- I have followed the work of Grafit és Hamu for a long time now, I just didn't have the opportunity to give him some work! :) He did an incredible job with the cover art, it's the perfect art to go with the concept of Hungarian medieval history. The title "Raven Black" is a reference to the Black Army of king Matthias Corvinus, they are depicted on the cover in full armor. The title song "Raven Black" was originally released on our 4th LP "Death Metal Artillery", since then we wrote the follow-up to it (Corvinus), so the spine of the EP is about the "Raven-King". The opening song "Regicide" is about the betrayal and murder of king Sámuel Aba, the "Battle of Kings" tells the story of the Knight King's (I. László) victory in the battle at Mogyoród and last but not least, "Invasion" is a memento for the battle of I. András against the invading German army at the Vértes mountain.
Everybody who follows the band knows that our songs are inspired by Hungarian military history. The lyrics are written by our good friend Csaba Kámán, you can say that he is the sixth member of the band. We talk with him about our ideas for new songs, which period, which events and because he is also a great history fan, after some time, he sends us the English lyrics.
Is the new EP a kind of precursor to your 6th full-length album? Do you have the songs written and ready for it or is it too early to speak about it?
- Yes, this means that there will be a sixth LP. It's almost complete, musically and the lyrics also, sadly our drummer Zoltán Schönberger quit the band (and also being a musician). We haven't found a replacement yet, so now we are looking for a drummer. That delays the release of the LP.
Since the release of "For the Forgotten" album in 2016 you've faced two member changes. Please introduce the new members to the readers. Where have they played in the past and do they have other active bands currently?
- Our founding drummer Balázs Kovács and our long time guitar player Lajos Nagy quit the band for personal reasons. Neither of them plays music anymore. Meanwhile Péter Kéméndi took the place of Gábor Ferencz, who played guitar on the last album. There was a bit of chaos for a while... Zoltán Schönberger, who played in Sear Bliss for a long time, became our drummer in 2017, sadly the Nunslaughter concert on August 16th will be his last gig with the band. Gábor Ferencz returned, and the slot of the rhythm guitarist was filled by my son, Bence Tóth. He was the evident choice for the position. Because of his age, this is his first band.
Due to your warlike lyrics and the nature of your music I would say you are very similar to the mighty Bolt Thrower. What do you think about this parallel?
- I'm glad you think so and I'm honored that you compare us to the band that was the greatest inspiration for me.
In 2016 there was a really special split released by Neverheard Distro, where you covered two songs of Witchcraft and they vice versa covered two songs of yours. Whose idea was it? Talk to us a bit about your friendship with Witchcraft.
- I don't remember exactly whose idea it was. I don't know if it was Balázs Kovács, our former drummer, Angmar the singer of Witchcraft or Balázs Káger (Neverheard Distro), I think they don't know either, but it was a good idea!
It's an old friendship, we played together a couple times, followed by heavy drinking. You can't end up sober after you meet these guys!
Actually all the band members reside in Zalaegerszeg? How is the underground life over there? Could you please mention other great death metal bands from your region?
- No, only the singer Kálmán Pápai is from Zalaegerszeg, Gábor Ferencz is from Körmend, our drummer Zoltán Schönberger comes from Vasvár, me and my son, we live in Zalalövõ.
Unfortunately, the underground scene here is not really strong. Monastery revived not so long ago, they play death metal. There are also Fanatic Attack, who play thrash metal. On the black metal front, there are Sear Bliss from Szombathely and Feretrum from Nagykanizsa. Sorry if I left somebody out...
As I see, there are two killer gigs ahead for the band, namely the Lowland festival and the Nunslaughter show. What kind of live program do you prepare for these underground rituals?
- By the time I'm writing this, we are after the gig at Lowland Fest. It was a great festival, but I wouldn't say it was really enjoyable for us. We began to play at 17:30 during a heatwave (41.5 Celsius), it was a brutal experience.
I waited for years for Nunslaughter to play live here in Hungary again. We played with them twice live, so I'm really glad that the honour is ours again.
It gets harder every time to make a setlist. There are a lot of songs from the last 27 years and we are writing new ones until this day. We will play 4 songs from the new EP and 6-8 "classic" songs at the gig in Budapest.
Any forgotten thoughts for the end? Please finish the interview by sending your regards to the readers of Encomium.
- I would like to thank you for taking an interest in our band and I hope that things will resolve soon in Ukraine, so we can meet on stage someday!
I think we talked about everything important that happened lately.
Greetings and thanks to the readers of Encomium, who were interested in our band and read the interview!
