1. You have been active since 2005, you are about to celebrate twenty years as a band, if you haven't already, what memories do you have of when you started with Vultur? Why did you decide to form the band and what does the name Vultur refer to?
Here Nicola "Attalzu" voice/guitar of Vultur. we were born almost as an experiment, all the original members were already part of other bands known in the Sardinian extreme metal underground, but we often happened to meet up to drink a few beers around, one day the drummer and the bassist proposed to me to play some Misfits covers, this to see what could happen between us... we found a good understanding and later they told me that they were interested in carrying on a black metal project, they had two tracks ready, but they needed to complete them, so in a short time I found myself writing two more songs and defining the other two songs as best as possible. In June 2005 we had a demo ready, with themes inspired by Milton's Paradise Lost. The demo was titled "Sulphureous Abyss", it had good reviews and good feedback. I remember that from that period we were very determined and motivated to insert Vultur into the island's extreme metal scene. The name Vultur (Latin for vulture) was chosen by me, I liked it as a rotten animal that devoured carrion, but at the same time for many ancient populations it was a divine animal because it cleaned the dead from their bodily remains, which it then put back into nature, and it also completely freed the soul from earthly materialism. Currently I am the only member from the first line up.
2. You have been about ten years without releasing the continuation of your second album, in between three splits, an EP and a couple of compilations, of course, also facing the change of band members in between, what happened all this time within Vultur to pass so much time between these two albums?
During that time we played a lot of gigs, but to create an album you need a quiet moment where you can find inspiration, so after some line up changes (which are always positive), we finally found the right moment to find the concentration to create the basis of what then became “Cultores de Perdas e Linna”.
3. Coming back to the subject of time, ten years is a long time. What remains of the sound of that “Ogu liau” released in 2014 today when facing the sound of the new album? How was the process of composing the recording of the new album? What brands of instruments have you used in the process?
I have always liked the sound of “Ogu Liau”, but over time it is difficult to maintain the same characteristics, we recorded in a new studio with much more powerful and professional sounds, even if we tried to maintain a similar line, obviously evolving it to the current times.
“Cultures…” was created mainly in the period between the covid pandemic and its official end, even if I had frozen some riffs for about 15 years! The new songs were created mainly by me and our former bassist Federico Ruggiu. Regarding the instruments we used, first of all I can tell you that 3 rhythm guitars were recorded on the album, one of which was played by me using a basic Jackson RR model, with a sharp and raw sound, the other two rhythms were recorded by Nicola Spaziani using a BC Rich Beast from the early 2000s, while the solo parts were always done by me with the RR. We used these guitars to have sounds that could give an atmosphere at least partly old school and vaguely rough. The bass instead is a classic Ibanez. I don't remember the drums exactly, but I think it was a Tama. For the voice instead I used a professional microphone from the studio, and thanks to a bottle of spirits to clear my throat I recorded the voices in a single session.
4. Your sound has always been characterized by that interpretation of a dark black, with a certain occult tone capable of transporting us to a classic proposal in terms of sound, with a good balance between violence and melody. How would you describe the sound of the new album for those who have not heard it yet? What bands and styles inspire you when composing music for Vultur?
For those who have never listened to us, I would first say that our sound is like an intricate night journey, a distressing nightmare made of dreamlike visions of witchcraft in a popular, folkloristic context; like finding yourself in an old cemetery in a small town, or in the basement of some isolated convent in the countryside and witnessing some old black magic ritual. The bands we are mostly inspired by are Mayhem, Dissection, Satyricon, Immortal, Marduk, Enslaved, Rotting Christ, Thou Art Lord etc.
5. You use Sardinian to write your lyrics, there is also some Latin in your lyrics. When did you make this decision to use Sardinian for your lyrics?
After our first album “Corona de Frastimus”, which in addition to the main use of the English language, we had inserted some important phrases in Sardinian, I later decided to make the lyrics entirely in our language. Shortly before that album we had already experimented with 2 tracks sung entirely in Sardinian in an EP entitled “Sardinian Occult Black Metal”. The decision that pushed me to continue only in Sardinian was for the themes covered, I could not sing certain things in a language other than ours, it would not have given the right power to certain words, but above all I could feel a total and visceral hatred in expressing certain concepts, with the voice that exuded an ancestral and spontaneous anger, something that would never have happened if sung in English.
6. In your lyrics there is a theme centred on the history of your island, more specifically what themes do you deal with in your latest album? What would you highlight most about Sardinian history and culture and how has it influenced you to focus on Vultur?
Our themes deal with various subjects such as black magic, witchcraft, ancient pagan rituals, or we tell stories of particular characters, often linked to the period of the Inquisition, or of ancient mysterious peoples and arcane or cursed places; naturally for us they are all stories centered in Sardinia. For us our island is an infinite source of inspiration, it has so many mysterious and millenary history, so many unique and particular very ancient places, see the Nuraghes, the Domus de Janas, the Sacred Wells, the Tombs of the Giants, Menhirs, Dolmens, caves, forests or suggestive landscapes where you can totally immerse yourself in a surreal atmosphere.
7. The cover of the new album is illustrated with a popular Sardinian mask "Su Boe", one of the most important characters in the tradition of the Sardinian carnival, why this illustration for the cover? Had you already worked with Maristella Spanu on other occasions?
Here there are many carnivals with different masks and rituals, but we chose the Boe (specific to the town of Ottana) because it is one of the oldest and most representative masks. The Boe is an anthropomorphic character that is halfway between a man and a bovine, who is tamed by the Merdule (another mask, but with the features of a deformed man), at times the Boe may seem tame, subjugated by his "master", but then he has outbursts of anger and his bestial side emerges, who does not want to be tamed by the human figure. He is a character who keeps alive his bond with nature, with bestial and free instincts, so he has a character of pure primordial anarchism. On our cover, behind the mask of the Boe you can see the figure of a goat, which indicates our bond with the occult, then there is the Nuragic dagger that pierces the head of the mask; the dagger that symbolizes the nuragic culture, therefore our most distant roots of a millenary evolved and mysterious era. Maristella is also our current bass player, and it is also the first time that she collaborates with Vultur as an artist.
8. The album was recorded at Cut Fire Mixing Studio by Alberto Bandino in the spring of 2023, why so much time between the edition and the publication of the album? Why did you choose to work with Alberto Bandino?
We chose Alberto because we already worked with him to make the ep “Sa Processioni de is Mortus”. We got along well first of all with the person, who made us feel at ease and supported us in a professional way, then he has very powerful instruments and he is a real sound engineer who is constantly updating, so we wanted a production that would give a good push to the album, also because our style could not be limited to something low-fi, even though I am a lover of certain raw sounds, but for Vultur something “big” and modern was needed, without falling into tackiness and uniformity.
We recorded the album in a very short time, practically in less than a week. As for the length of time, unfortunately we had to discard several labels that came forward, initially they promised us certain things that then in reality would not have been feasible, or they did not keep their word given at the beginning of the negotiation.
9. The new album has been released by the Italian record label Masked Dead Records, how did the possibility of joining your paths for this release come about? Will there be releases in other formats such as cassette or vinyl?
Going back to the previous answer, after a few years of negotiations with labels that weren’t entirely clear, Masked Dead Records finally showed up, interested in supporting bands from Sardinia, so after noticing the good results obtained with other local bands like Kre’u and Ilienses, we decided to try and trust them, especially because Matteo Antonelli from Masked Dead was clear from the beginning with his way of working. Thanks to him, in a very short time we had a visibility that we lacked in our 20 years of activity.
For the moment the format is only on CD, then who knows…
10. What is the extreme metal scene like on an island like Sardinia? Is it very difficult to keep the band running normally, for example, when it comes to giving concerts or seeing other bands live? Which bands would you recommend from Sardinia? Which bands would you like to go on tour with?
We have many bands of excellent quality, in addition to the names in the previous answer, there are Deathcrush, Infernal Goat, Unholy Impurity, Worstenemy, Black Capricorn, Ilienses Tree, Stigmatized, Shardana, Left in Agony and many others. Then there are Cogas who are a death/black band of Sardinians transplanted to London, who deal with similar themes to ours and keep alive a small dark corner in England. Many of these bands play outside the island and have excellent feedback, but obviously for us going out becomes very expensive and uncomfortable with the very long travel times. For us going to the rest of the continent is not easy, none of us live comfortably, on the contrary ... but for our passion we do what we can. We do not have favorite groups to want to go on tour, for us it is essential that there are no arrogant assholes.
11. How were your beginnings in music: first concerts you attended, first albums you bought? What event in your lives pushed you to want to be musicians?
I started with music in the very early 90s, I listened to Pink Floyd a lot, thanks to some cassettes of my older brother, but I started with metal exactly 30 years ago, the first concerts were the usual school festivals or at the parties of some small town, while the first concert I saw of a historical band was with the Cro-Mags, here in Sardinia... I'm not a big fan of the hardcore punk scene, but some time ago any historical group that came was of interest and you went to see it... it was a nice aggressive and adrenaline-filled concert. My first albums purchased were by Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Metallica, Sepultura...
I have always had a particular attraction for the electric guitar, then over time seeing videos of bands like the old Metallica and Sepultura, when they were angry, pushed me to take up the instrument to vent so much anger, given that life in the small town where I come from was really closed, restricted, without prospects, where everyone was conformed to the system, I could not stay in that cage. Listening to metal, being in metal gangs and playing music meant freedom and feeling like yourself, an escape from a bigoted mentality, towards an individual and higher lifestyle.
12. Which album represents the essence of black metal for you? Which latest albums have you bought?
Mayhem “De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas”! the last record i bought was a reissue of Darkthrone's "panzerfaust"
13. Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions for Black Metal Spirit, if you want to add something for Vultur fans this is the place. I hope you like the questions.
Thank you for the space you have given us! I want to report the release of a CD that collects our first two demos "Sulphureous Abyss" and "Et jaghet cughe s'ossa sua", published by the Chilean label Infernal Overkill Productions. In the booklet there is my story of Vultur.
To contact us you can write to vulturband@gmail.com or write to us on social media such as facebook or instagram.
For those interested in our latest album "Cultores de Perdas e Linna" you can contact Dead Mask Records or write to us. and thanks for the nice questions.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vassafor / Temple Nightside – Call Of The Maelstrom 10,99 €
Vinyl, LP, Limited Edition
