Inborn Psychedelia on White Nights' "Into the Lap of the Ancient Mother"

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Infinite colors. Spaces wider than the mind can comprehend. This is where White Nights dwells. Eschewing the black metal which obviously inspires the project, the mystery person behind White Nights embraces the kaleidoscope, resulting in a psychedelic, droning, metallic experience. Listen to an exclusive stream of Into the Lap of the Ancient Mother below.

At times both harsh and soothing, this debut EP draws from a variety of influences, be it the droning, motorik nature of kraut rock, the darkness of deathrock, or the pummeling nature of black metal, yet it is neither. This is a truly creative, bizarre release which transcends genre. Read a brief interview with the mystery person behind White Nights below.

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White Nights has elements from a variety of sources, the most of which is black metal. However, black metal can be strict about defining itself. Do you consider White Nights to be black metal? If not, what do you classify it as?

I would say the influence is obvious and inescapable considering our love of the satanic arts, but we are not a black metal band by any stretch of the imagination. In fact… our full-length, if it ever comes out, has even less of that influence running through it overall. We try to not define or classify what we do. We feel that it’s best to leave that to people who actually care about such nonsense.

The album itself and the visual elements which accompany it are psychedelic in nature –a kaleidoscope of colors and mushrooms adorn the presented artwork. Is this album meant to be accompanied with psychedelics?

“Psychedelics are illegal not because a loving government is concerned that you may jump out of a third story window. Psychedelics are illegal because they dissolve opinion structures and culturally laid down models of behaviour and information processing. They open you up to the possibility that everything you know is wrong.” –Terence McKenna

The European pagan elements (Irminsul, for instance) clash with the more new-agey/Eastern psychedelia which paints the album’s color palette. What spiritually inspired the creation of Into the Lap of the Ancient Mother?

“The Yuga Cycle doctrine tells us that we are now living in the Kali Yuga; the age of darkness, when moral virtue and mental capabilities reach their lowest point in the cycle. The Indian epic “The Mahabharata” describes the Kali Yuga as the period when the “World Soul” is Black in hue; only one quarter of virtue remains, which slowly dwindles to zero at the end of the Kali Yuga. Men turn to wickedness; disease, lethargy, anger, natural calamities, anguish and fear of scarcity dominate. Penance, sacrifices and religious observances fall into disuse. All creatures degenerate. Change passes over all things, without exception.” — Bibhu Dev Misra

“Brothers will fight and kill each other, sisters’ children will defile kinship. It is harsh in the world, whoredom rife—an axe age, a sword age—shields are riven—a wind age, a wolf age—before the world goes headlong. No man will have mercy on another.” –Völuspá

The vocals which accompany the music are half-dictated and half-sung, which creates a harsh dichotomy when compared to the black metal roots to which the album clings. What led to the use of this vocal style?

The music is not black metal, so it made sense to also make the vocals, art, etc. of a similar nature. As I stated above, if we ever release our full-length, everything will continue to be a reflection of itself as it unfolds. Less of some, more of others or possibly nothing at all!

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Into the Lap of the Ancient Mother releases April 24th via Iron Bonehead Productions.

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