Semen Datura


"Describing our music is difficult, because if we were able to express it all via words we could sell our instruments!" exclaims Conrath, main axeslinger and mouthpiece for German experimental black metallers Semen Datura. The band recently released their fourth full-length album, 'Einsamkeit,' via cult European label ATMF Records, and have been making waves with a sound that blurs the lines between black metal, post-rock, industrial and all manner of experimental and avant-garde styles in between. Noisecreep caught up with the enigmatic frontman and did our best to bring some light into the darkness.

"The new album 'Einsamkeit' is definitively our opus magnum. We feel that we reached a point of honest, artistic expression with this album. So we are actually not sure about the future, because Einsamkeit contains all that we wanted to express," Conrath muses.

"We worked something about three years on the material and stayed very focused and isolated from the outside world. We started recordings in June 2007 and finished the mastering in October 2008. The nature photographs in the CD booklet were done by a good friend of ours on locations around the Baltic Sea during the last 20 years.

"Also, we liked the idea to have a handwritten booklet ... so we did it. It underlines the personal meaning of the whole album. As far as working with ATMF goes, we feel that a label should stand for quality and attitude -- a kind of selector in the grey wide mass. As we listened to some ATMF bands we were impressed by the innovation and the sovereignty of the acts, so it's great to be a part of them."

With a killer new album and respected label to back them up, surely Semen Datura's next move will be to conquer the European hordes, beyond their Saxon homeland?

"If I look to the billings of German metal festivals, I don't think there is enough place for interesting and innovative black metal. But hope dies last. I'm delighted by any dark ray of light in the scene. We have to do a lot in the next years to make people really start to sit up and take notice. Our ambition is to play on some festivals in Europe. It depends on organizers, but if there is an interest to see SD on stage, we will do a lot to make it happen!"

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