Exclusive Interview: Servant talk “Blessed By The Light Of A Thousand Stars”!

Said to have been gestating for five long years, last month saw the arrival of the debut album from German Black Metal warriors Servant, a quartet with an axe to grind and at the helm a man known to many as Farago as their main songwriter. He was once part of Ancient Wargod, a band who rose to prominence in the 90’s and it is his vision, guitars and vocals that grace “Blessed By The Light Of A Thousand Stars” alongside the talents of Apophis (Drums), Thanatos (Bass) and Samael (Guitar). Here’s an exclusive interview with them about how this new chapter came to life…

How have you found the reaction to “Blessed By The Light Of A Thousand Stars” so far? “I think overall the reaction has been quite very good. Black Metal Promotion did an exclusive live stream for the album, two days before the official release date and the reaction you could find there was quite overwhelming. Besides this MDD Records also supported us with presenting our first single and video. At this point we have to thank both for supporting us with their platform”

It has been a decade since the demise of Ancient Wargod after a 2010 reunion so what made 2021 the year you chose to arise again with Servant? “We did not choose a specific point of time to release the debut for Servant. It was more a choice made by instinct and it simply happened. For myself when Ancient Wargod split up I did a lot of different music from different styles of metal, rock, industrial and electronic and I have been producing many different albums. Some of the collages you can hear on the album are from about 2007. Between this time and 2015 many different things happened. At this point we didn’t work on Servant with focus. In 2015 we started to work on some more material and between 2019 and 2021 we finalized the material. Samael supported me with lyrics and the arrangements for the songs were done with instinct, so to speak. At this time Apophis also laid down the drum-tracks and gave them his personal note. We worked on the different tracks and at this time it was clear that Servant will become a real band. With Thanatos and Apophis we already had good friends who were willing to support us”

Musically the album is really interesting and diverse; did you find yourself re-writing any parts that were in keeping with the project? “Yes, we rewrote parts. As mentioned before we tried to give every song the shape it needed. When we realized some tension was missing in a specific song we also re-arranged the whole section, did new lead-tracks, added choirs, strings and so on, for example. So we tried to follow the song, or the composition, not to execute a plan we had in mind before”

What were your favourite parts of the record during the recording? The flamenco style acoustic guitars during the cinematic “Foreshadowing Rite” are spellbinding! “Thank you very much! Samael tracked down the guitars for that piece. We wrote this together within a few hours and then we finalized the guitar arrangements with the choirs, string-section and so on. Besides that, every song had its moments and could not be compared to each other. We tried to give every song the shape and the arrangement it needed. I think there are different things to consider when it comes to performance. First of all, the song and its message should be in focus. Of course, it is always helpful to be inspired by music outside of Metal. When you pursue a vision, it is also important to achieve it. Each of us has done different musical things before Servant. For example, I have a wide range of musical preferences. It goes from electronic industrial to classic. Samel for example loves classical music and plays a lot of classical guitar himself. Our drummer Apophis originally comes from classic rock and progressive stuff. Thanatos plays a pure fingerbass and likes stoner and doomy stuff. But when it comes to Servant, we share a common vision”

Ancient Wargod’s 1997 album “When Darkness Rises…” is something special; when you line up some shows do you see yourselves playing any of that material in the set or is it going to be strictly about Servant going forward? “I think Ancient Wargod stands for itself, so does Servant. There are no plans to mix this up. We just want to dedicate ourselves to Servant and try to follow the rules of art”

What is next for Servant? “At this moment we work on our live set and the show we want to present. Besides that we work on the second video for the album and also on some very special live performance we hopefully will be able to execute in a few months. And of course writing material for the second album”

“Blessed By The Light Of A Thousand Stars” by Servant is out now via Black Sunset