Verdelger is a young Black metal band from Holland. Very underground, I had the honour of being the first webzine to interview them.

JesusMetal: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Heer Zwaardvader: It might sound crazy, but I get my inspiration for writing songs in fantasy books. And books with pictures about the Middle Ages. But the real musical inspiration I get in classical music. Really depressive classical music makes me get in some kind of mood which is perfect to write Black metal songs.

Herr Darkpriest: I get my inspiration in the Bible. Especially books like Joshua and Judges, because they've got many battles. But the messages in them are really cool also. And I pray to God to help me write, and He does.

Baron Eulogian: I wrote a couple of lyrics, but that was a necessity solution. We began with the two of us. Herr Darkpriest writes the songs now, but I got my inspiration in what I knew/thought about the Bible, some Bloedoffer lyrics by me are litterally taken from the Bible.

JesusMetal: You guys are christians, do you put that in your music and how?

Heer Zwaardvader: In the first place you can hear this in our lyrics, you can't see it just by looking at us. The lyrics are really christian, especially the songs Satanic Lamentation and In het Holst van de Zwarte Nacht.

JesusMetal: Why do you use corpsepaint?

Heer Zwaardvader: That's more theatre and I think it just belongs to this kind of music. I don't like it when a Black metal band doesn't use corpsepaint. It isn't dark or evil to me at all, and we also don't try to copy the satanic scene. But we want to make the art of Black metal in our way. And in the Middle Ages the warriors used paint in battles, and we see ourselves as warriors of God as well...

Baron Eulogian: At first place because we are just like all Black metal bands (besides the lyrics), this belongs in the atmosphere. It has nothing to do with 'trying to look evil'. And in second place I think it's really cool!

JesusMetal: With which band do you compare yourselves?

Heer Zwaardvader: Depends on if I'm talking with a christian or a non-christian. To a non-christian I would say: Darkthrone and Marduk. To a christian I would say: Horde and Vardoger.

Baron Eulogian: Compare... I hear people say we sound like Marduk, Horde and Darkthrone (but I gues they'll be better). But we try to make our own style, not to be a clone. Like the new songs will be more Black/Death metal, but these are not at our demo.

Herr Darkpriest: A Black metal specialist said to me we sound like Dark Funeral, I agree with him.

JesusMetal: How often do you practice and where?

Heer Zwaardvader: We practice one or two times a week, on Saturday and sometimes on Sunday. We practice in our own studio, the Verdelger studio.

JesusMetal: The first demo is released, are you satisfied?

Heer Zwaardvader: I'm really satisfied, the quality is not that good, but better than I suspected. We just don't have professional sound equipment. Further I'm very satisfied with the booklet, except for some scribing mistakes.

Herr Darkpriest: Whoops! Those scribing mistakes are mine. I'm really satisfied, especially with the samples, they complete it all. Further the artwork is great, thanks to Sir the Wart for that, who is also guest-guitarist in the song Doomed to Burn.

Baron Eulogian: Generally I'm satisfied, and so are most the fans, or just the people who listen to the demo.

JesusMetal: How will the next demo be?

Heer Zwaardvader: More Death/Black metal, we want to use some more technic and that often brings a Death metal influence. Probably the next demo will be better produced, as we have a soundsman now. Further I'm telling nothing about the next demo.

JesusMetal: Are you being, as young as you are, taken serious in the scene?

Heer Zwaardvader: Sure, surely as a band. We keep getting positive reactions about the samples we've spread in the past year. Even satanic people take us serious. It began with death threats which were probably not meant serious. But when I spoke them and they heard our music, than we got their respect.

JesusMetal: How long does Verdelger excist?

Heer Zwaardvader: About one year

JesusMetal: How did Verdelger began?

Heer Zwaardvader: It began when I got the idea to begin a solo project, what would be Death metal in the first place. Two weeks later I let Baron Eulogian hear about my plans, and immediately he offerd himself to be the drummer. Because we didn't like our not very well played Death metal song, we decided to turn to extreme Black metal. When we wrote and recorded our first song Doomed to Burn, Herr Darkpriest heard it and said he liked to be our bassplayer. Not much later we got a second guitarist: Sir the Wart. But he quitted after three months because he had a lack of time. After that we really started to write more songs, to practice a lot, and to work on our friendship inside the band. And after a year there finally was the long expected demo.

JesusMetal: On the 29th of November 2002 you will have your first concert, how will it be?

Heer Zwaardvader: That is a question to us too, we've got plans. But I'd say, come and look for yourselve.

JesusMetal: Will there be songs played which aren't on the demo?

Heer Zwaardvader: We're now busy working on an introsong and we want to play some songs like Doomed to Burn with an extended playtime. Maybe we'll play a song from our next demo, but we first have to see if that works with practice because our new song is much more difficult.

JesusMetal: Heer Zwaardvader, next to Verdelger you're also playing in Bloedoffer and Duister Maanlicht, aren't you really busy?

Heer Zwaardvader: Well, I'm not that busy. I'll surely be busy, because next to Verdelger, Bloedoffer and Duister Maanlicht I also am busy with Shitifications Highway. But I've got the time. I also write a book which will contain a story for the lyrics for the band Schedelplaats. It's named: Warrior of the Amlachtoth.

JesusMetal: How do you describe your music?

Heer Zwaardvader: I describe it as extreme, but with passion. Like the theme from The Shimmering of the Last Days is quite emotional. In one sentence: Emotional Minor Noise.

Herr Darkpriest: I just call it noise. I'm happy to say that the new songs will be more technical. Although I like making that noise. Further I would describe the music as music to God.

Baron Eulogian: ...allot of missery!