Interview with Praetorian - Eternal Helcaraxe
MM: Where did the name 'Eternal Helcaraxe' come from?
We were all big fans of Tolkien’s work when starting this band, and “Helcaraxe” is a place in Middle Earth which is mentioned in his “The Silmarillion” book. It means “The Grinding Ice” in ancient Elvish, we felt it was very fitting to our music at the time of picking the name for the band.
MM: You teased going back to the studio this year, can you tell us anything about that?
Sure. We've been busy writing, but it was pretty aimless till mid last year, I've never been a fan of releasing albums just to release them, I feel it hurts the project more then helps it. I wanted to wait till a proper theme fit the music I was writing. Normally it's more fantasy/history based, I was writing lyrics like this and to be honest it was doing nothing for me. I've been writing a lot of poetry over the past few years, and it never occurred to me to use it for this band till someone else who liked my poems suggested it, and it all just oddly fitted together. Musically it's pretty dark, emotive, with a some post-rock style breakdown/build ups. We'll see how the recording turns out I suppose.
MM: You were confirmed for Iron Mountain Festival this year, how do you feel about it?
It's hard to get excited about something that might not happen with all this virus crap going on at the moment, we're meant to be playing in Germany in Berlin in March too but again I can't see it happening. If it goes ahead it'll be cool to play somewhere new, playing Dublin does very little for me these days.
Band Logo
MM: Obviously 2020 wasn't the best, are you worried about this year or do you think it'll be better?
Not really, I'm just gonna do my normal thing, work around what I have too, see what happens. I've an Endless amount of shit to do all the time with this band and others. It's the opposite of everyone else I'm talking to but with the writing of this release, and even outside the band I had a great year last year, a lot of stuff fell into place. It's what we make of it.
MM: Has the pandemic effected the bands writing in any way?
Well with the pandemic we've nowhere to rehearse properly at the moment excited at one of the guys house with the electric drumkit. It's not the same I think but we got there in the end. Also it's been hard to meet with all the lockdowns, and this release like alot of our stuff has a lot of layering in it, so it's important to have it all worked out.
MM: Does anyone in the band have any hidden talents fans don't know about?
Ah sure we do, we're more then musicians. But we live pretty private lives.
Photo by Cailin Maguire.
MM: Who would you say are your biggest influences?
It's hard to answer that, they change all the time, at the moment I'm listening to a lot of Shinning, Darkenhold, Gray Waters, Ólafur Arnalds, A Day in December, Jóhann Jóhannsson, Krigsgrav. I'm not sure if it comes through in the music I'm writing though.
MM: Are you releasing any new merch?
Of course yeah, with the new release there will be new shirts, patches, and a few other bits.
MM: What's the best experience you've had while touring.
One isn't jumping to mind, but over all its normally meeting new like minded people, and trying new food in new places, stuff like that.
MM: Do you have any advice or anything you want to say to people reading?
No.
Photo by Cailin Maguire.
Check out Eternal Helcaraxe on social media and on bandcamp