[INTERVIEW] With UK Black Metal Band ANDRACCA!

September 2022 sees an epic looking mini tour of the UK taking place, with three Black Metal bands, Sidious, Andracca and Volniir taking in four dates around the country. So to get people prepared for this feast of darkness I've spoken to each band, starting here and now with Andracca.

Greetings to you Andracca and thank you for answering my questions. You are gearing up for a UK mini tour with Volniir and Sidious. Excited? What are your expectations going into the tour?

"Incredibly excited, this will be the first tour for myself as well as Andracca. Playing a show and going home always leaves me hungry for more, hopefully doing 4, playing double duty with Volniir, will leave me satiated for more than a day or two. Expecting long days, extreme fatigue, and an excellent time.

Are Volniir and Andracca bands you have shared a stage with often? How tight are the bonds between the three bands?

"We've played with Volniir a couple of times and Sidious just the once, but since I'm filling in on bass for Volniir on this tour, and we attend more shows together in Manchester I'm definitely closer with the Volniir guys. We share a lot of the same values and tastes in music, and have had a great deal of mutual support for each other as up and coming bands that are relatively young. That being said, I have had the chance to hang out with some of the Sidious guys after our most recent show in York, their last album is a belter, I look forward to getting to know them better on the road."

You are playing in four locations. Cardiff and Liverpool book end the tour, and in between Ipswich and Banbury. Which do you feel has the potential for the most extremity and carnage?

"One of the best things about this tour for us is that we've never played in any of these locations before, so we're covering completely fresh ground. That does also mean it's very hard to tell what the crowd will be like in each place, I've got high hopes for Banbury though, heard great things about the venue from peers."

On the flip side of the last question, what Can these four locations expect from an Andracca live attack?

"Anyone that's spoken to me for more than 5 minutes at a show knows how much this band means to me. At every show I re-live pallbearing over and over, grief, anger and redemption. Every lyric and riff is delivered with devout passion and intensity and the understanding it could be my last. I know that these experiences are mostly universal for people, so I hope bring a visceral assault on the senses for everyone in attendance that has felt death's touch."

It's been a couple of years since your last release, what do you have in the pipeline in terms of a new opus?

"A great deal that I sadly can't fully discuss just yet. I've had this album written for about 3 years (yes, since before the EP), but delays in endless forms kept getting in the way. Now the recording is 90% complete, and after all this time, the frustration of waiting has fully been captured by each performance. We've been working with and talking to some very exciting people about next steps, but for now that's as much as I can say. It was worth the wait for me, once it's out, it will take its course."

Am I right in thinking that your lyrical concepts are based around fantasy and in particular Tolkien? How do you go about crafting your lyrics? Also what are your favourite works by Tolkien?

"On Morgulduin yes, at the time of writing I was around 18 without too much life experience, or at least the courage to write about it.

As alluded to above, the next album encapsulates my experiences with death taking 4 members of my family in breath-takingly rapid succession. From standing on a bleak shoreline watching black clouds obscure the sun as death arrived, to finally accepting and releasing grief, and coming to terms with my own death. This acceptance of death is what pushes me forwards, perhaps too hard some times, to do what needs to be done, and being supremely grateful for the chance to do it. I write my lyrics mostly in bits and pieces as profound life events take place, sealing that moment in time. A lot of the time whilst walking, a line will come to me. In the final stages things are placed together and adapted to flow more optimally, but I'm not one for sitting down and writing verses in one go.

I do still love Tolkien's work, Morgulduin was based mostly on the Silmarillion."

I'm curious about the name Andracca. Can you explain its origin? Is this too taken from the work of Tolkien?

"It is indeed, it's a Middle-English translation of Ancalagon, the largest dragon in the Tolkien world. The largest dragons are the ones I'm most interested in contending with."

Other than the tour next month, what plans do Andracca have in store over the next 12 months? Anything interesting you can divulge?

"We have our debut in London coming up alongside Necroritual and Nahemia which I'm greatly looking forward to, although I'm not particularly fond of London as a city or culture, the scene there is great. There will be a flurry of activity next year around the album that will be firmly and proudly planting our flag in the scene as a band to watch. The beginning has been slow and arduous, but we are now well and truly on fire, and I fully intend to set ablaze any further obstacles, within or without."

That's all from me. Thanks again for taking the time to speak to me. The final words are yours.

"Allow yourself to suffer.

That is where liberation lays." 

* You can check out Andracca's Bandcamp page by clicking HERE! *