Interview taken from Mindview

Could you give us a full overview/background of the musical career that  Dargaard has marked so far? What was the direct reason for starting it?  Where did you came up with the supreme voice of Elisabeth?
Tharen: After my split with Abigor as a singer I did some keyboard intros/outros for them, Heidenreich and my own Black Metal band Amestigon.  It was in the year of 1997 I decided to start my own band, because I felt that I could do much more out of my ideas and visions as only as a metal keyboarder.  I simply wanted to create my own realm and not adding to someone elses any more. This was the hour of birth for Dargaard. After I had recorded the music for the first album I thought of a singer the first time. I knew Elisabeth from her appereance on Abigor´s Nachthymnen and from a local demoband, so I decided to ask her. It was a wise decision I must say for myself, because everything went the way I hoped -She brought her own ideas into Dargaard`s realm and gave “Eternity Rites” a special touch. With the finished Cd we contacted Napalm Rec., I know them for a long time since Abigor started, and they signed us nearly the same moment they listened to the Cd. With “Eternity Rites” we really had good responses from the public, so we went back into the studio with a greater budget…”In Nomine Aeternitatis” is the result.

How do you personally look back on your first album 'Eternity Rites'?  What were the reactions on that debut?
Tharen: As I said, the reactions were very positive, I never thought of that at the time we recorded and released the Cd. I for myself must say, that there are many things I want to change/overwork nowadays, especially the sound of the Cd, but seen in general I´m satisfied with it.

How would you describe the progression you made with 'In Nomine...'  towards 'Eternity...'? What are the main differences, from your perspective seen?
Tharen: We progressed much in the time between the release of both CD´s, I spent much more time on the songwriting with more complex structures and so on, Elisabeth had better room to unfold her voice, and due to my studies as an audio engineer and our greater budget I had more possibilties in the studio to give a better sound to the Cd. I´m much more satisfied with “In nomine..” now. But let´s see how it is in 1 year. I´m sure I´ll find something I want to improve.  Anyway, I think it´s an evolution in the right direction. 
Elisabeth: Well, I´m happy to say that my voice and my possibilities are still developing. But the main difference for me between our 1. and our 2. album is the fact, that I knew the music for “I.N.A” from the beginning and as result I was more into the atmosphere of Dargaard - which made it much easier to find convenient vocal lines.

How do you compose this kind of music? I suppose a lot (if not all) is made with your computer (hail to Logic Audio Platinum héhé:) and synth, or do you record in a studio?
Tharen: You´re right, I use my computer and my Roland XP-80 Workstation to record the midi-part of the music, but the whole rest is recorded, mixed and mastered at a studio, namely the “Hoernix” Studio in Lower Austria, not far away from the town I live in. I simply don’t have a 3000$ microphone and the whole equipment(like Fx, micamps, etc.) that a real studio has.
Elisabeth: Of course a studio opens a lot of new possibilities in composing for a vocalist, because you can sing more than one line and can rehease it. (in the case of Dargaard there are always 2 or 3 different lines and some of them also doubled). So I´m always glad to work in the studio; for a concert we had to search two more female singers to translate the vocal arrangements into action.

What kind of (darkwave) bands have influenced you directly for Dargaard ?  Do you agree with acts such as Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, Arcana, Dead Can Dance etc...?
Tharen: I like all the bands you named, but honestly I must say that I´m not influenced by any Dark Wave band. Due to my origins as a black metal musician I think, that I´m influenced by many things as I was in that time.
Maybe it sounds strange, but in my opinion Dargaards Cd´s own more of the mystic from, for example, Darkthrones ”A blaze in the northern sky” than from any Dark Wave band. I cannot really tell you what my musical influences are, I don’t know it exactly by myself.
Elisabeth: I would say the only influence of the darkwave bands you named is that I know and like them, but, concerning the vocals,I´m rather influenced by classical or medieval music.

Now, what kind of feeling do you want to transfer to the listener? Napalm mentions 'Dunkle Romantik'... How do you see that?
Tharen: Dark Romantics…Hmmm…. I hate the word “romantic” in connection with love, broken hearts and so on. We are not a slush-band with a pseudo- vampireblablabla- image. We make serious music for serious listeners. I hate this fucking upcoming love-lyrics-and-pretty-faces-trend with naked woman on CD-Covers and so on, may it be in Dark Wave or in metal music. Romantic in connection with nature and ancient buildings like castle or other ruins is ok. For me almost nothing can beat the atmosphere of an ancient castle in the nightsky.
Elisabeth: I hate this prejudice which is always connected to a female voice: That it has something to do with love or erotical feelings; I either don´t like that conception of an angel´s voice. I just want to transport a very pure, clear and mystical tone colour in my voice, fitting the music, which doesn´t mean that it has to be lovely.

Where do you find the inspiration for the lyrics? What are they about in general?
Tharen: I´m not the kind of poet that thinks of his lyrics the whole time. At first I´m musician. But the lyrics take an important part in Dargaard of course. Inspiration I take from my dreams and “visions” of other realms and dimensions. In my dreams I´m in trapped in my own realm, I simply want to transport the feelings I have if I´m there. Besides that I´m very interested in occultism in any form, ancient cultures and their myths, mysticism and so on. The lyrics are simply a mixture of all that interests me.
Elisabeth: 3 of the lyrics on the album are taken from other poets, 2 of them are antique texts, one written in Latin by Ovid and one written in ancient Greek. The latter one is my personal favourite - I searched for fitting contents according to the music: It is about a ship that gets caught in a storm. It has a special attraction to me to sing something that has been dead and conserved only in letters for such a long time, to duplicate the thoughts and emotions of a person who has been dead for thousands of years… Alkaios from Mytilene has written this text 2400 ago. Also Latin and ancient Greek were the languages in which knowledge (and also secret and occult knowledge) was delivered for hundreds of years…

If it has any, what is the meaning of 'Dargaard'?? And what about the title of the name album 'In Nomine Aeternitatis' (my guess is In Name of Eternity?)
Tharen: Dargaard is the name of a cursed stronghold that stands in everlasting darkness after a tragic failure of it´s owner. I took it from a Fantasybook I read once, because I liked the meaning and the sounding of the name.
Elisabeth: You´re right about the title.

Darkwave bands appeal a lot to dark minded metal people, maybe even more than the average goth. The sphere of Dargaard is a bit "parallel" for instance to some b.m. bands: gloomy, medieval, melancholic etc... How do you see that link to "metal"?
Tharen: Fuck, I should read the whole questions before starting the interview!!!
As I said above, I see the same parallels to some old B.M., especially the sinister atmosphere, but not the new ones. Time of mystic Black Metal is almost over in my opinion.
I was very amazed, but it seems that many B.M.listeners got the point and like Dargaard. Maybe more than in the Dark Wave scene. I got more response from Black Metallers who say, normaly they only listen to metal, but Dargaard is one of the few bands they like out of their(our)“hermetic” scene. Amazing, eh?

Now for something completely different, what's that little sign on your forehead?
Tharen:It´s the sign of the “Sangdrax”, a kind of dragonsnake and a symbol for eternity.

You will play live. Tell us how that will take place, and what can we expect from a Dargaard show??
Tharen: To be exact: We´ll play one live concert. Due to my studies and Elisabeth´s job we have no time for more concerts. Even this concert is a compromise, because I hate concerts, may it be Dark Wave or Black Metal. For me it´s the same as I would read the book and see the movie afterwards. It´s almost everytime a dissapointment. But to make the Dargaard-Concert an exception, we signed two more female vocalists for the concert that will happen on the Wave/Gothic meeting in Leipzig on the 15.th of June I think.
Elisabeth: I searched for two fitting voices for Dargaard, and I am now working with the singers to manage the various vocal lines.

Tell me all about the other bands/projects you're involved with. I mean, what's going to happen with them in the near future... ABIGOR, AMSTIGON (RIP?), HEIDENREICH etc...
Tharen: At the moment I´m fully occupied with Dargaard, my project “dominion” and the “new” “Amestigon”. dominion is a kind of industrial/electro/ritual/ambient music. It´s very powerful with distorted percussion and vocals. The release date for the debut Cd “the hand and the sword” is may 2000(Napalm Rec.).
With the reformed Amestigon we just recorded our up to now untitled new demo. The new lineup is: Silenius: Vocals; Herr Wolf:Guitars; Jörg Lanz:Guitars,bass;Tharen: drums, vocals, keys.
Elisabeth: At the moment I am only involved in Dargaard and dominion. But Dargaard is the main band for me as a singer.

Ok that's about it - thanks a lot for your precious time and if you still want to get something of your chest, then go ahead!
Tharen, Elisabeth: Thanks to you for the interesting interview! Maybe see you in Leipzig. For all the others: watch out for the dominion CD and enjoy the mysticism of Dargaard!

PS: Thanks for your appreciation of our art. Maybe you could send a copy of your magazine to my adress?

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