On "Verses in Oath," Hulder Embodies the Essence of Black Metal (Interview)

Hulder walks the walk and talks the talk inasmuch as a black metal musician can without dipping into arson and murder. The Washington-based musician, whose real name is Marz Riesterer, maintains a healthy border between her personal life and public persona, revealing few details about. What she has divulged include the following: She lives in the forest, forages for food when she can, and would rather stick to herself. She’s also spoken at length about her love of folklore and traditional Belgian tales that her grandparents passed on to her. It only makes sense that she’d play black metal and that her most successful project, Hulder, would begin as a solo project. Her individualism and close connection with nature persist on her latest LP, Verses in Oath, even after acquiring a backing band and beginning to perform live.  

While these developments aren’t groundbreaking on an absolute scale, they’re key moments in Hulder’s overall evolution since 2021’s Godslastering: Hymns of a Forlorn Peasantry. Not long after releasing that album, she signed with 20 Buck Spin and dropped her next mini-LP, The Eternal Fanfare, added Necreon as her drummer, and built a line-up for live performances. Her progress revolves around collecting more tools to better actualize her vision as she still holds the creative reins. Sonically, that vision now has a chunkier, more tangible sound that she revealed late last year with “Vessel of Suffering.” There’s more bite and grit on her tongue without foregoing the synths that cradled her. The best way to describe it is that her new work is bigger without overinflating—It’s powerful and domineering, as if Riesterer ate a Senzu bean. 

While it’d be easy to assume this direction is because she signed with 20 Buck Spin or because she’s placing more emphasis on her live shows, she assures us that isn’t the case. Though she has more resources at her disposal, her vision remains solitary. She’s chasing a perceived darkness borne from the spirit of her forebearers, nostalgia, and the physical world. This darkness isn’t evil, and, much like nature, is beyond morals. It’s not terrifying, but its might is to be treated with respect and admiration. The secret sauce in Hulder’s brew is that she accomplishes this amorphous goal effortlessly. There’s nothing performative about her. It all feels intentional and necessary as her black metal, conventional and mid-paced as it is, is unencumbered by flourishes, solos, or diversions. It’s cool kid metal in the sense that it’s so confident in itself and what it’s doing and has such a specific vision that you can’t help but respect it. 

Hulder was kind enough to answer our questions about 20 Buck Spin, her connection with the natural world and traditions, and what she enjoys foraging for. 

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Since working with 20 Buck Spin, your material has taken on a traditionally “heavier” sound, especially on “Vessel of Suffering.” How has working with the label affected how you make music?

Working with 20 Buck Spin hasn’t changed any part of how I create music, and that is why I chose to pursue a partnership with them. The decision to make things darker and heavier was something that felt necessary for me, and I was able to begin that exploration on The Eternal Fanfare. 

How does it feel to have a committed live band backing you up on tour, considering you formed Hulder as a solo project?

In the beginning, Hulder was just something that I felt I needed to do and hadn’t been able to collaboratively create in the past. Because of this, my interest in building a full band or including anyone else’s input into my creative process was something that I knew wasn’t going to work out. As my writing and vision began to build and the first album began to build interest, I started searching for a set of musicians that I could trust to accurately portray my music in a live setting. 

Since you say you are a reclusive person, I’m curious what made you want to share your music with audiences through playing live shows.

The thought of playing to audiences of any size wasn’t something that I expected would actually happen, but that changed after the recording of Godslastering … I was able to recruit Necreon to drum on the album and CK to handle engineering duties. The process worked out, so we began to talk about the possibility of putting together a lineup to bring the material to life. 

I felt that the music needed a proper introduction to the world, so we put together an exclusive show in the middle of the forest in Washington State. I didn’t have much of an expectation beyond putting together something that would be an experience for all who attended. Playing in the forest felt much more natural than a club somewhere, but it ended up igniting a fire to continue further. Since then, I have found that the live performance is a means to push the material to its fullest heights. 

You’ve said that black metal and playing music is your way of combining the metaphysical and physical worlds. I’d love for you to go deeper into this idea. 

The connection that I have with the natural world and my continued pursuit therein is something deeply personal, and Hulder serves only as a small glimpse. It is an inescapable truth that melody speaks to the core of most people and can, at times, create a sense of remembrance for that which you have not experienced in this realm. I allow this feeling to take over me when writing and can only hope that the listener will feel the frequencies of loss, pain, and ethereal beauty that I can only attempt to inject into each song.  

I’ve read about how important folklore (specifically Belgian folklore) was to you growing up. Seeing as how the Northwestern United States isn’t known for folklore, how have you filled that hole? Has Hulder’s mythos become your own form of folklore?

Folklore has always been an important part of my life and how I view the world. Having grown up in a small town in Belgium, shades of medieval life were ever-prevalent, and the elders in my community had seemingly endless stories to share. 

I no longer live in Belgium, but every region of the world holds its own lore and fables. The Pacific Northwestern United States is no different. Whether it be medieval stone architecture or vast forests of cedar and fir, humanity garners tales and justifications for the good and evil (for lack of a better term) that exists in their environment and actions. I find this fascinating as well as deeply inspiring and find the erosion of such traditions in modern times truly deplorable. When we lose touch with that which reared us, we become nothing more than passengers. It is our responsibility to learn and carry on the stories and traditions of our ancestors before they are lost to the annals of obscurity. 

You speak readily about how modernity has taken away much of what you treasure in life, like connecting with nature. You said here, “I like to think of my music as a meager means to defy this erosion of tradition.” How do you achieve this on a tangible, mechanical level?

I view each release as a mark in a specific time and place. No one else in existence will be able to interpret what I experienced and felt in the creation process, but that is the intent. Each listener will take what they see fit from a given release and utilize it as inspiration for their own endeavors. We live in a world where “intelligence” or “success” are quantified by a plethora of markers that I do not personally understand. 

Traditions and lore have long been utilized to echo the pain of those who have shed blood to ensure that their kin would not have to do the same. Many cultures globally are actively being stripped of these things, and it is being replaced with the “truth” and “convenience” of technology. While I do not feel that I will be any kind of cultural revolutionary, I can only hope that my music and words will prove meaningful to some. 

Foraging often comes up in your interviews—What can you forage in your area and what deeper purpose does it serve for you?

I am fortunate to live in an area that is very fruitful in that sense. Game birds, deer, salmon, wild mushrooms, berries, and numerous medicinals are a small portion of what is readily available here. In addition to this, there are many small farms that provide most else beyond what can be foraged. The idea of hunting, gathering, and sourcing locally is only part of a much bigger need to live a life that is more connected to the natural world.

It’s interesting that you live in regions with similar landscapes as various atmospheric groups like Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room, but your sound has always been more metallic, and seems to be continuing down that path with your newest album. Obviously, you can’t speak for those bands, but how does the nature around you influence you to play heavier metal, whereas other bands in your area skew towards the atmospheric?

I live in the Pacific Northwest, but I have not been a part of any “scene” or musical movement. The music that was created here 20 years ago served its place in history, but I have no interest in affiliation with that style or sound. The vast forests that surround my home serve as a personal refuge from the bombardment of technological and modern normalities. I am fortunate for the opportunity to regularly commune with the immense beauty of nature and find the slower experience of my home life serves as inspiration just as much as my disdain for the cold and harsh realities of the modern day. 

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Verses in Oath released February 9th via 20 Buck Spin.