RUÏM Explores The Mysteries of the Left Hand Path (Interview)

An artist rarely releases their debut studio album three decades into their career, but there are few musicians with Blasphemer’s (Rune Eriksen) resume. Originally gaining infamy with Mayhem, he later joined the black metal supergroup (if the genre were to ever have one) Aura Noir with Aggressor and Apollyon. Years later, he’d form Vltimas with Flo Mounier and David Vincent, applying his trade to death metal. It’s only now, with nearly 30 years of recording experience under his belt, that Blasphemer has a project of his own. RUÏM is his vessel through which he explores his biting black metal origins alongside César Vesvre, an explosive French drummer. The latter’s hunger is Black Royal Spiritism – I.O Sino Da Igreja’s limitless battery. Vesvre flexes his slow and fast twitch muscle fibers with equal proficiency, pacing himself throughout the desolate, 10-minute “Blood.Sacrifice.Enthronement” just as well as he ravages the underbelly of tracks like “Fall of Seraphs.”

Due to its context, Black Royal Spiritism – I.O Sino Da Igreja is Blasphemer’s most personal project. He explores a religious movement he’s grown more comfortable with since moving to Portugal, the Umbanda and its left-hand path known as the linha da esquerda. This path deals with self-exploration to become a greater human being and using practical matters rather than esoteric beliefs. Blasphemer reflects this intention through Black Royal Spiritism – I.O Sino Da Igreja as he explores his past self’s ideas with a wiser mind. These past ideas include riffs from his time in Mayhem that sounded like less of a time capsule and more like a spark that lit something that lay dormant in him. He was enthralled by their ferocity and, with nothing but time on his hands during the pandemic, he took to recontextualizing them given his new life as an enduring presence in black metal. His spiritual beliefs and portfolio alongside exceptional musicians modernized the artifacts he buried decades ago.

Blasphemer spoke to us about the album’s conception, his desire to assume more control in the writing process, and how he’s managed to stay heavy throughout his career.

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You have César Vesvre (CSR) joining you on drums, but aside from that, Black Royal Spiritism – I.O Sino Da Igreja is technically your first solo album, right?

I do around 96% of everything, like guitars, vocals, and bass, but I’m not as good of a drummer as CSR. He contributed his energy and good ideas to the album too. Besides that, it’s my name and my concept. I needed a drummer and he was the perfect fit as he’s young, hungry, and brings a ton of aggression.

I bring up the solo album question because, for the past 30 years, you’ve been collaborating with people who’ve been in the game for a while. How does it feel to be this deep into your career and be the chief decision-maker?

It was important for me. I feel like I stopped a cycle with this record. Of course, with this album, I’m involved in the decision-making as I am with Vltimas, but that’s a three-piece thing. We’re all equals there, whereas here, as you said, it’s pretty much a solo thing. It’s my decisions all the way. It was important for me to do this, especially during the pandemic where I was locked up and wondered what I was going to do. I couldn’t travel or meet up with my bandmates (in Vltimas) anywhere. We tried so many times to get in touch, whether I flew to Texas or David (Vincent) came over here, but it never worked out. So I put my foot in the ground and decided this was my moment. Despite all the negatives of the pandemic, it also brought something in me that I can build further without relying on other people. I make all the decisions and call all the shots. It was very important for me.

It sounds like since you were forced to be alone, you realized you had the ability to do pretty much everything.

Exactly, it’s something that a few people mentioned to me over the years. They asked why I wouldn’t make music alone because I’m quite obsessive with my art. So the pandemic did some good things for me, and this was one of them. I found a power that I hadn’t been able to use before.

Do you think that power came from having to be alone?

Well, I’m not sure. I think it was brewing for a long time from being pissed off at working with people, and this has nothing to do with Vlitmas, by the way, just a general statement. When you work with a bunch of people, you work with people who aren’t on the same level as you or who don’t have the same intentions or prospects as you or who don’t share your will to do something. So, I had it all.

I don’t believe in luck, but I believe in determination and things aligning, and finding CSR was great. He’s young and passionate but has an old spirit and mentality. It felt like it made sense when we came together. We knew Black Royal Spiritism – I.O Sino Da Igreja was going to be brutal. As for the future, I never repeat any records. Who knows what the second will sound like? Obviously, the seed has been planted, but it can go in slightly different directions. But I believe I found a drummer who can help me fulfill what I visualize.

I’m glad you touched upon the heaviness because as artists age, they lose their edge or their drive to stay heavy, if we’re speaking in broad strokes. However, you’ve kept that throughout your career.

It’s funny. I’ve been thinking about this recently and recognizing that I’m in my late-40s and this music can be compared to Wolf’s Lair Abyss in terms of intensity and extremity. I find it amusing myself because I think, although all the riffs are mine, the synergy between CSR and myself pushed everything to the next level. For sure, he had a great impact on the record in that sense.

I see some things in him that I saw when I was 22 in 1997 when Wolf’s Lair Abyss came out. Or maybe it was ‘98. It’s a bit of a “fuck you” attitude that’s passionate. That’s what’s important; the passion and the delivery and the intensity. It’s intention. It’s not just to streamline everything or get the go-to producer or whatever and just make everything sound like it comes from the same factory. This is quite liberating for me as an artist because I’m not a part of that clan. I’m me. And I succeed by revealing something that’s truly unique and truly me.

Black Royal Spiritism – I.O Sino Da Igreja synthesizes your history in metal as well as your move to Portugal and embracing Umbanda and the spirituality there. I like how you interpreted those ideas, and the left-hand path, and brought them into music.

These ideas have been growing on me for a while. I’ve been exposed to it for over 10 years because here in Portugal, there are not just a ton of Brazilians, but it’s a very connected country. Umbanda has been imported, it’s not widespread, but it’s kind of accepted. It’s interesting because I’ve never been a part of, or seen, anything like this before. Given my history, I have some knowledge and feats of the energies of the path. It was unique to me cause I hadn’t heard any band try to do something like this or attach their music to these types of themes. It fit me like a glove. There’s endless material to take from it as well, given that I know more about this than people in the industry. It brings out the excitement in me. It is different.

How do you try to represent that in the new album?

There’s a ton of lore related to the different energies and how they came to be. And the human torture one had to endure to become what one had to become. This is also a very interesting thing. There are traces to princes who were fierce in war, etc., who were beaten apart in the name of this tradition. A part of this lore is what I tried to build into this band and actually inject some of its energy so that it seems intangible. It’s my homage to them, in a way.

The music itself is obviously not something that is comprised because I’m not going to sit down with a pair of drums and record hymns. Obviously, I will put it in my context. It’s my offering and dedication to the great energies.

It’s cool because you’ve combined the lore and the self-knowledge you’ve accumulated with the heaviness that’s stayed with you for so long.

I mean, I could’ve done literally anything. It didn’t have to be in this context. But this felt like I was putting an end to a cycle, which is why I injected the “Fall of Seraphs” song. Making a stand, for me, to complete the circle, and from here on out, I will depart from it. Those records I participated in are still a part of me. They’re still very close to me. So, I think this is my way of saying that I’ve come to a point in my life where I can reach a deeper peace with what I’ve been going through and what I’ve become as an artist.

Would you say that circle began when you joined Mayhem?

I’d say so, because I’d played in a death metal band prior, but we only did local shows. Nothing special. But obviously, my career started when I joined Mayhem in 1994, so I think this is pretty much it. I’m comfortable with what I’ve become and what I haven’t been, and everything in-between. Maybe it’s even a celebration of that in a different lyrical and thematic context.

If this is the closing of your circle, do you feel a weight being lifted off your shoulder?

Actually, I did. After recording the album and finalizing the mix, I felt super relieved. But things never really stop before the mastering process started. That’s the thing, and I’m going to be perfectly honest, but it’s hard to be 100% happy with everything. It’s a constant search for, not necessarily musical perfection, but some form of perfect ambiance and energy. A feeling, that makes you feel like “this was 100% me.” I’m not sure if I’m there yet. Well, I’m sure I’m not there yet, but I’m very happy with the record. It turned out to be its own crazy thing. It’s exciting to see what it will do, not that I’m too worried about people’s opinions or anything. It’s fun to see some people dig it.

But, it was a long process, and at the end of any recording, you’ve drained yourself of these energies. Especially after such extreme records as this one, I felt off for a long time. Even though, for me, what’s inside the record is a positive force toward something, it’s still draining.

It’s like running a marathon.

It really is, and I got so screwed up that I was really unable to work for a long time. I walked around like a zombie for a while, but that was a sign that it could not be recreated. I don’t take anything regarding my art lightly. It is a real extension of everything that I can give and what I am at the moment. It’s overwhelming. Afterward, I traveled almost immediately to the United States to work on the next Vltimas record and I was just sitting in the corner with my guitar, unable to walk around cause I was so exhausted.

I know the next Vltimas is recorded and very good, but the first meeting we had was close to Christmas and that’s when I realized I need a period of half a year between albums, depending on what kind of music I’m dealing with and if I’m totally in charge or not. But for one guy to be in charge and oversee everything until the last minute, I need six months after that. I guess I didn’t have it, cause I’m about to record another one. But I’m okay now.

It sounds exhausting, in a rewarding way. It makes sense given you were releasing feelings you’d built up over three years during the pandemic.

As well, once I do something related to black metal, I go for it all the way. It has to be real. It’s not something I take on lightly. I bleed for my art, which is another element that’s important to highlight. There’s so much blood, sweat, and tears that’s unrivaled in relation to my own records.

You sing in three different languages on the record. How did your lyrics differ when singing in each language, and how did each language change your content?

It was a huge difference when I sang the Portuguese lyrics. My engineer in Drudenhaus Studio in France said, “Uh-oh, that guy is back.” It was like a different guy coming through the speakers. It was good fun. The Norwegian song, “Evig Dissonans,” is the most relentless. The lyrics aren’t related to the theme of the album, they’re a standalone track. Actually, the working title was “1994,” so this was an attempt to go into the energies and frame of mind I had in the mid-90s. It was terrible because I was terribly young, but I tried to go into that dark little me that I had. It’s a flashback to the mid-90s.

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Black Royal Spiritism – I.O Sino Da Igreja released May 26th via Peaceville Records.