"Like a thundering cavalry charge across a primordial landscape, the Ukraine's Balfor hit you hard and fast with their dramatic, snarling death-infused black metal assault. Having reviewed their promo EP "Pure Barbaric" recently I was very interested to find out from frontman Thorgeir Berserk what was in store for the band in the near future, as well as to discuss comparisons, influences, live shows and the beauty of living in the shadow of the Carpathians."

Hail Thorgeir and thank you for agreeing to a Vampire interview! How are you doing?

Hi Ellen and Vampire readers. We're fine, thank you. Looking forward to your interrogation!

As you recently made your first appearance on our site, please could you tell us a little about the history of the band, such as how you got together and what you've been up to since 1997?

Well, as you know, Balfor have been playing since 1997. That year my friend Svart and I founded the band as our side project. We were playing in death-metal bands at the time, but liked Black Metal. In the summer of 1998 we wrote some material and decided to record our first demo. We invited a drummer and a guitarist from our main bands and recorded our first demo “Drevnost', Gordost', Proklyatie” . It was really homemade at our rehearsal base! After that we had a couple of gigs and received quite good feedback from the Ukrainian public. Some years later, by the end of 2001 - the beginning of 2002 we recorded our first LP “Volki Severa” , which was released by the Ukrainian label Thunderclaps Records. Svart then moved to another city and the band went into hibernation. In 2005 I left all my old projects and decided to concentrate all my attentions on Balfor. Berowar and Erland joined in November of 2005 and together we recorded “Pure Barbaric” and played a lot of gigs to promote it. Now we are ready to record a full-length album, which we are planning to do in the winter of this year .

I reviewed your “Pure Barbaric” EP recently but you released it in 2006- how do you feel about it now? Are you proud of it?

We think, that on "Pure Barbaric" we definitely took it up a notch, several notches in fact, in terms of musicianship. We managed to achieve quite an expressive and powerful sound. And although many journalists have drawn a comparison between “Pure Barbaric” and Immortal (Sons of Northern Darkness), we think that we managed to take a considerable step forward towards establishing our own sound. We are proud of this work, but this does not mean that we are going to stop here. We are moving forwards and I am sure that on the full-length album you will hear a much more powerful Balfor.

Have you had good responses from your fans and the press about “Pure Barbaric” ?

Yes, nowadays we are receiving only good reviews from the Ukrainian and world press. I won't hide the fact, that before recording I worried about how this material would be accepted by our old fans and critics, as this material essentially differed from what we had done before. But the feedback has more than met all expectations. We are getting more and more good reviews, which makes us very happy!

I really like the artwork- how did it come about? Are you happy with it?

The artwork is by Viterzgir. He designs artwork and websites for a lot of Ukrainian Black Metal bands. We were looking for a good designer when I came across some of his work. We liked what he did with our website so we asked him to make the cover for our promo. We are very satisfied with the final result. Viterzgir is now developing merchandise for us.

It seems that Balfor are really taking off, thanks to this EP and some quality promotion; does it feel like you're getting more attention and a higher profile these days?

We are working very hard for this. We are seeing a constantly growing interest in the band from all over the world. We are receiving good feedback from Metal Heads and people who are involved in the music business. Besides, we think that our amazing manager Patricia Thomas, who agreed to work with us, has been a help in focusing our efforts. She manages and works with some incredible bands, including the legendary Maniac, and to see how these bands function is a learning curve. We are very happy, that she is with us!
Now our target is the big European tour at the beginning of next year, recording the album and looking for a good label that can help raise Balfor's profile even higher. Now we can definitely say that things are starting to happen for the band and we are glad of it.

I read that you plan to expand “Pure Barbaric” into a full-length album- how is that going? What are the new tracks like?

Yes, as I mentioned, we've prepared the material for the upcoming album, which includes more than 60 minutes of a total storm of barbaric hatred. We hope to record it this winter. It's hard to tell which song is the favourite one. All of them seem to be more mature and we are constantly developing and perfecting ourselves. But I don't want to say that you will hear a something radically new on the album, the Balfor sound will still be there, it's just going to have developed and improved. Hopefully it will keep our existing fans happy and attract new ones.

Of course the EP version of “Pure Barbaric” was available via Nailed Skull- how did you get in contact with this Netlabel?

It was amazingly easy; Nailed Skull came across us by themselves. Ed, the boss of Nailed Skull, heard to our stuff on MySpace and contacted me offering to issue Pure Barbaric for free downloading on the Internet. We studied their work and found the offer to be really interesting for the promo-release. We discussed everything with him very quickly and after two week the release saw the light of day.

What made you decide to offer the EP for free download, rather than going by the conventional route?

We thought that it was the best way to allow people to hear and discover what was effectively an unknown band to most of the world. We had originally planned this as a promo record that we were going to spread as widely as we could right from the outset anyway. I think that we were right to take the decision to go that route. The Netlabel has been perfect for achieving what we wanted! We succeeded in getting the band more widely noticed. We could never have achieved as much coverage as we did if we had self-released.

As I've said, “Pure Barbaric” is a year old and it's been quite some time since your debut, “Volki Severa” . How would you say your music has evolved over your career?

For sure it differs from what we've done before. We started out as a classic melodic Black Metal band. Since “Volki Severa” was recorded, I am the only original member left. At the outset the music was written by myself and Svart, and now most of the material is written by me. Now I can definitely say that we are comfortable with the musical direction we have chosen, and I think that Balfor will continue in this direction.

I mentioned in my review that I loved the fact you start the EP with the line “I am the mighty raven dark” - awesome! What bands have influenced you over the years, in general or as musicians?

I think at this point we can't escape the Immortal comparison can we? I agree though that this band had a definite influence on us, but I would stress that it is not more so than the music of other bands. (Good point- Ellen) Of course there have been many bands that have influenced us in one way or another. I think that in our music you can feel the influence of the Swedish Death metal school as well as the school of British Heavy Metal. I can't really single out one band in particular. It's rather an overall feel.

Perhaps quite a vague question, but what does black and death metal mean to you?

REALLY vague question! Maybe it's what lives in our hearts and souls and comes out in our music. This music plays a great role in or lives. Perhaps everything we do is Metal. I can't imagine myself not playing this music and not being involved in all this. This is our passion; we spend all our free time on it. It is in our bones. We can surely say that this is our life.

About your lyrics; what are the main themes that you cover? Do you write lyrics together or is just one person responsible for that?

First of all our lyrics portray our vision of the modern world. We make a connection between the mythological aspects and the present times. They deal with the epic themes, if you like, of valor and ancient glory. We admire the heroic deeds of our ancestors and our lyrics are a tribute to them, a way of showing our respect. You could say that our texts are the modern sagas, the chance to cast aside the restrictions of modern society and free your primal, wild, barbaric emotions. Usually lyrics are written by more than one person. For the songs from “Pure Barbaric” , the lyrics were written by myself and our drummer Erland. Now Vathar, the guitarist from the Ukrainian black metal band Dammerung, helps me to write the lyrics.

I really enjoyed watching the live clip you made; it looks like Balfor's sound translates very well into the live arena. Is playing live an experience you enjoy?

Thanks. Yes, we really enjoy playing live; this is all part of Balfor. After recording "Pure Barbaric" we played a lot of gigs to support it, both in the Ukraine and abroad. We love to feel the power that comes from all those Metal Heads who come to see us. Real pleasure.

What was the best show you ever played?

For me - I liked the headline performance at the Ukrainian Pagan Fest. The hall's energy was just crazy. Many of them sang our songs. That was a wonderful show!

And the less fun question- what was the worst, and why?

So far we have been lucky that we haven't had any real bad ones. I can name only one show during which we had problems. It was our performance at Metal Heads Mission Fest, where our drummer was suddenly taken ill and we had to search for a session drummer who had very little time to prepare. We were worried as you can imagine. But fortunately we played the show as well as always .

If you had the chance to open at a concert for any band, living or dead, who would you choose?

Its hard to say. Maybe it would be Emperor and Bathory... Or maybe Amon Amarth and Marduk.

I've come across quite a few Ukrainian bands recently; is the scene quite strong in your country?

Yes, we really have quite good scene including internationally known bands such as Fleshgore and Nokturnal Mortum. Nowadays the Death Metal scene in particular is well developed. But at the same time there are very good local bands such as Dammerung, Tini Zbutih Predkiv and Serpens. The main problem, as things stand at the moment, is that there are no well-established local labels with the finances and the distribution to be able to support the scene effectively.

Do you think your location effects your music in any way? I've never been to the Ukraine so I don't know if it's grim and frosty or not!

Of course our country has an indescribable natural beauty and atmosphere. In summer it is warm enough, and in winter it's very cold and we get a lot of snow. Plus we get very beautiful autumns and springs, which really inspire many different emotions. Besides, if you weren't aware, the Carpathian Mountains and forests are situated in the Ukraine. Very beautiful places , grim and thrilling .

Finally, what are your ambitions (realistic or not realistic!) for the next few years? What would you like to achieve as a band?

Hah! We have big ambitions. We would like to record a few killer albums, to play lots of live shows including the well-known metal fests... hehe. To sign a contract with a good label. We really love music and it would be great to be able to leave our mark in the annals of musical history!

Thanks again for your time- if there are any messages you would like to give to the world, please go ahead:

Thank you for your support, Ellen and we want to thank all the people who support us. PURE METAL BARBARITY TO YOU ALL! AND KEEP FUCKING SUPPORTING METAL!

A big thanks to Patricia for introducing me to the warriors of Balfor. The promo can be found here .