UGULISHI
From the dark and mysterious reaches of Finland come Ugulishi; a primitive, raw black metal band with a strong Satanic spirit and a respect for the great Scandinavian bands of the genre’s first wave. In advance of an expected split release with Ordo Blasphemy and Inverno, I caught up with founder Adoyah to find out what his underground creative outlet was up to at this point in time.
Hierophant Nox: Hail Adoyah, how are you?
Adoyah: Hail. Just struggling in daily shit. So nothing special
Hierophant Nox: We’re here to talk about your band Ugulishi. Could you tell us how the project was formed, and who the members are?
Adoyah: The cult was founded by myself and Malakias (drums) in 2005. We have been friends for a long time before we began the band. In these time we lived in small village surrounded by local zealots. We were teenagers and naturally we started to hate these people, so we ended up to forming Ugulishi to manifest anti-Christianity and hate against all human filth. In later times, the band’s views have turned more to dealing with Satanism and esoteric themes. Vültyr (guitar) joined when I and Malakias moved to another city.
Hierophant Nox: What is the musical aim of Ugulishi? What kind of sound do you create?
Adoyah: When I write music I try to create a balance between music and lyrics to reach a great atmosphere. In fact, when we recorded our demo and split we didn’t have a clue how to get good sounds. I don’t mean clear and produced sound but raw and cold like black metal should sound. Now these things are getting a better direction thanks to Vültyr…
Hierophant Nox: Does the band’s name have a meaning?
Adoyah: It is a combination of two words taken from Tolkien’s fantasy world. If I formed Ugulishi now I would give it a different name but now I don’t see any reason to change it. It is now the banner of my Lord and we carry it with pride.
Hierophant Nox: You are preparing to release a split in 2009; can you tell us some more details about this?
Adoyah: The split’s title is “Triptych Satana”, and we share this creation with Ordo Blasphemy from France and Inverno from Italy. Ugulishi’s part consists of 2007 recorded material. I am quite satisfied with these songs but it should be out earlier in this year and there is more material waiting to be released…
Hierophant Nox: How did you come to create a split with French and Italian bands?
Adoyah: We got to know each other over the internet. We all appreciate each other’s music and statements. It is important that we all have real devotion to playing black metal. The guys from Inverno are possibly coming to Finland in January to play with us, and they went to France to play with Ordo Blasphemus earlier in this year, so this friendship isn’t limited to the virtual world.
Hierophant Nox: You released a demo back in 07 but your sound has changed since then; in what was have Ugulishi developed in the past year?
Adoyah: Some of that demo’s material was from 2005 when we still sought our musical and lyrical style, and it really doesn’t represent what Ugulishi is now. I might say that we fell in same pit of lame and meaningless releases as thousands of other bands and of course I think now that it shouldn’t have been released at all…what’s done is done and it could be worse anyway.
My style of writing music has changed, my ideological views has developed and I fall ever deeper in His black arts. Ugulishi is now very vital and it develops musically in a more atmospheric direction.
Hierophant Nox: What does black metal mean to you? Does it influence the way you live your life?
Adoyah: Black metal is a great channel to manifest Satanism and the destructive powers of chaos. These are relevant things in my life and would be even if there wasn’t such a thing as black metal. If I didn’t create music I am sure that I would create some kind of art dealing with these themes. If you are really into black metal you have to be ready to make sacrifices with your social life for example. I know people who hate me because of my ideology but I will not apologize for my statements to anyone. I don’t try to hide who I am and what I stand for. There are always more conflicts the higher/deeper I develop in Satanism but that is not a problem for me. Of course there is and always will be pathetic worms in the black metal scene who don’t know what they are dealing with, but they will not stand for a long time.
Hierophant Nox: What are the main ideas contained in Ugulishi’s lyrics? Are lyrics an important part of your music? Who writes them?
Adoyah: I write all of the lyrics. The general themes are Satanism, occultism and hatred. AlI kind of dark and mystical things I undergo in my life could be written down and possibly revealed as some lyrics. Lyrics are vital for us. They make the atmosphere within music and they are the main key to reach our goals with this black art we create.
Hierophant Nox: Which bands have influenced you the most? Do you like older bands more than new ones?
Adoyah: I think that Ugulishi is influenced musically mostly by Nordic black metal bands as Darkthrone, Diaboli etc. Nowadays there is not much same spontaneous and pure madness which can be heard on records from Beherit, Hellhammer, Vlad Tepes and Burzum. Maybe that is result of this time of technology when anyone could shit their music onto the internet and perform as a real serious band. There are still great newer bands who are devoted to follow black flame and I think black metal in general is more serious nowadays so I can’t say which I like more.
Hierophant Nox: There are a lot of great musicians in Finland; do you think it is a good place to create metal?
Adoyah: To myself Finland’s nature is unlimited source of inspiration. But if I would create death metal for example I wouldn’t express same things in my music and take the same influences as in black metal. So I don’t know if Finland is a great country for creating other metal genres or not.
Hierophant Nox: Your demo and your new releases are with Nocturnal Woodlands Productions. How did you begin working with them? Are you happy with this label?
Adoyah: We sent our demo to NWP and they wanted to release 300 copies of it. They also wanted to release our split too and that was fine with us. The only problem has been the delay with releasing it. It is very shitty situation for a band who are creating new material all the time. But I respect that they release only good quality releases and large amounts of copies, not some limited 20 copies CDR releases.
Hierophant Nox: What is next for Ugulishi? What are your plans for 2009, after the split has been released?
Adoyah: We will play our second live ritual on 17.1.2009 with Morrigan and Neutron Hammer. The split should be out then. There will also be another release, the name of which is “Dark Illuminations”. It will be best and darkest Ugulishi material so far. That will be probably released in the beginning of the next year too by another label.
Hierophant Nox: Many thanks for your time. If you have any further messages for the world, please go ahead!!:
Adoyah: Burn yourself in light of Lucifer!
