Natürgeist EP 2021

Natürgeist Reinvigorates Terror on New EP (NSFW, Early Stream + Interview)


Black metal is a lot of things, but few ever discuss what it has… and that is spirit. Be it possessed by, inspired by, or filled with, it is black metal’s true, natural spirit which the genre truly owns. Inspired by these spirits, the denizens of the deepest woods—farthest from any modern concept of god—is Colorado’s Natürgeist.

The eponymous solo project of the Natürgeist entity (otherwise known as Blood Incantation and Spectral Voice guitarist Morris Kolontyrsky, as noted in an interview which can be read below), this new black metal project concentrates on black metal’s most spiritual elements and evil nature and brings them forth in unadulterated sound. Across the two tracks which populate the Reinvigorate Terror 7″, which is streaming in full below, Natürgeist evokes black metal’s spirit and most primeval form: a bleak, cold atmosphere, an evil nature, and an incensed character, skyclad and bathing in crimson moonlight.

A little research will show who you are, even though you operate under the Natürgeist name with this project. From the world that you are known for being in, what was it like transitioning to black metal?

The thing in my mind is that it was never a transition. Black metal was the first form of extreme music I really got into after, like, thrash. Bands like Cradle of Filth were like my gateway into that world. I’ve been listening to black metal since day one and I’ve always wanted to do some sort of a black metal project, be it a band or a solo thing, so the time eventually came where I had all the pieces and figured out how to do it over the course of many years. I couldn’t wrap my brain around how these dudes would do everything themselves and I always really wanted to do that. I guess after playing in both Blood Incantation and Spectral Voice for a long time and touring and meeting lots of people and seeing other perspectives on how music works and how people recorded, I finally figured it out and was able to do it.

In this journey of figuring it out, what did you find yourself learning overall?

The most important thing was time. The time to process ideas and just let them come to you naturally. Oftentimes I would write a riff… I had probably five or six other songs for the 7″ that I scrapped. Time and atmosphere and the idea of what you’re trying to portray. There’s so much black metal, so many one-man bands. Why are you doing this? What are you going to get out of it personally and what kinds of ideas do you want to explore? How do you want to make yourself musically comfortable in this world? Are you going to learn something from this? Time is the essence of all of that.

With everything that you’ve learned, obviously I know Natürgeist has gone through a few iterations. What kinds of changes did Naturgeist go through over time?

The biggest thing was drums. I can’t play drums on the level that I hear. As far as vocals go… drums and vocals were the two big things. I was initially always going to do everything on the strings and synth, the production, but I actually never recorded harsh vocals before. I was kind of scared of doing it since I never fully threw myself into that role before. I realized after a while, after I’d worked on these songs for so long, that I kind of wanted to throw myself into it. I was going to ask Casey Hogan to do vocals, as well, but that never materialized. The more I talked with him about it, the more he told me I should just do it myself. I was considering getting a real drummer, but I put so much time and effort into programming these drums… for this release, specifically, I wanted to have everything under my belt.

What plans do you have for the future of this project?

I definitely want to do a full-length, but it’s ;going to take a while. With every release I do the production is going to be different since I’m learning more and more over time. I’ll probably have real drums, but not on this next release which will be on a compilation, but the release after that will be either an EP or a full-length and that’ll have real drums. The production will change, it will probably be a little less murky but still extremely atmospheric and Nosferatu-sounding, but with each release I learn how to do more. It’s going to change every time.

How did you end up connecting with Electric Assault Records?

I’ve known Henry for a long time. I grew up in New York City and actually moved to Colorado in 2008. I’d always visit my parents a few times a year, especially over Thanksgiving, and I’d go to that store Heaven Street (I think it’s called Material World now). He used to work there back when it was called Heaven Street. I met him there one day, probably five or six years ago at this point, and we stayed in touch. We’ve hung out plenty of times on tour and he has helped my other bands with countless amounts of stuff. It was a natural thing. I sent him the tracks one day and it happened from there.

It’s cool how the scene gets bigger and the world gets smaller.

I can see it from an outside perspective as being different factions of this kind of thing, but it’s funny how it’s all the same people doing numerous different projects or labels.

I think what a lot of people are going to take from this EP first is, and we’re going to have to discuss it, the cover art.

Sure.

I didn’t expect to see you naked.

[Laughs].

Obviously there is the element of the nude male figure being an integral part of the blasphemous underground black metal scene.

Absolutely. Profanatica.

And Anal Blasphemy, Grausamkeit, et cetera. This lineage of people going against the Christian morality of covering up the nude figure. What was it like for you to become a part of this movement?

My perspective on it isn’t overtly religious. Obviously with all extreme music and personal history, religion comes into play like politics does, without question. The forefront of the idea wasn’t necessarily to keep that type of spirit alive. It was to keep the natural spirit alive. I wanted it to look ancient, cold, dark, and evil, but the nudity… I didn’t even think twice about it. It has a lot to do with what the band is about: the natural aspect of evil, the natural aspect of spirits. Spirits don’t wear clothing, why should I if I’m trying to portray one? As far as the lineage of all the bands, they definitely play a part in it as I love all those bands and that aesthetic is fucking sick. I just melded the two together. I didnt think about it too much. It was a spur of the moment idea and I went with it.

It’s shocking and I think it’s going to elicit some sort of response from people and I think that’s a good thing. I was slightly apprehensive about it leading up to the release. I stood behind it, but I became worried a few days before. Now I stand by it even more.

Reinvigorated Terror releases May 7th on Electric Assault Records.