maanantai 2. marraskuuta 2015

Don't take this a sign





In time...

Orfvs | Returning Home

For good and bad, nostalgia is a hellishly strong emotion. The Greek word nóstos, which the word nostalgia is partly derived from, literally means “returning home.”

Being a word of Greek origin, appropriately enough we’re talking about nostalgia with the Finnish band Orfvs who have taken their name from Orpheus, the musician and prophet in ancient Greek mythology. Considering that not only was Orpheus able to charm all living things and even stones with his music but was also one of the few characters in Greek mythology to visit the Underworld and return, Orfvs certainly makes a very fitting name for a black metal band.

Although the songs on Orfvs’ 7” EP (2011) already showed the band steering away from the mythological themes of Demo I (2010) into what Profundiis deems “more basic black metal themes,” it’s not like the man’s fascination with Greek mythology was short-lived. In fact, Profundiis remembers it dating back to the age of ten when he read the Odyssey for the first time.

Having spent most of the noughties playing drums for a number of bands in Central Finland, with Orfvs Profundiis finally finds a true creative outlet for himself. Musically, the band also takes him back to his roots as regards what originally got him into black metal.

– This was the kind of stuff I started with in my early days, but I got no chance to express myself musically via the right ways as the circumstances were not favourable to me back then. Later, I got involved with different bands and projects as a drummer and it took many years for me to start doing music on my own, not just playing songs that other people wrote for their bands. Now I am in a good situation, having two bands Funerary Bell and Orfvs with whom I can execute my musical passions, Funerary Bell being more a personally modern era project and Orfvs evolving from the past... Not that I underestimate other bands I’m involved in, but these two are the only ones I compose music and write lyrics for.

– I started composing songs in the summer of 2010 when I went through a serious health disorder after spending far too many years fucked up by my physical and mental condition. When resting and curing myself I had time to think about my past, present and the reasons which drove me to that state from different aspects, and during that self-examination process, a flame of inspiration caught fire within myself and I started to dig up old familiar feelings and emotions that I felt when I got into black metal music via the melodic kind of bands. I can tell you it is the feeling of nostalgia that plays a big role in Orfvs. Those early days of my history in black metal were not maybe too special or miraculous as I was mostly alone without the right kind of band mates sharing those similar visions with me, but now I am finally able to do this kind of music with the right people around.

With the melodic kind of bands Profundiis is referring to the likes of early Gehenna, Thy Serpent and Dimmu Borgir. Unlike those three bands, however, the concept of Orfvs seems to be less nature-oriented. Although there are some allusions to forests and so on, Orfvs would seem to be more inclined towards mythological and even alchemical themes, which Profundiis utilises in the song Union to drive home his point about modern humanity: “Letters fade from the pages / The ghost disappears into the oblivion / Mountains crumple [sic] to the ground / When truth becomes a legend / The union is dead and forgotten.”

– The song deals with the current modernization of humankind towards the more materialized world and values. Mankind has lost its conception of roots and origin whereas we are now disgustingly focused on secondary kind of things like money, (temporary and fading) authority and different earthly subjects. I would rather see people searching for the real reasons of our being and existence rather than fighting for frivolous things. I am happy that after all there are people who have a will to return to these forgotten but ultimate questions.

“Every act of rebellion expresses a nostalgia for innocence and an appeal to the essence of being.” (Albert Camus)