To celebrate our second birthday, we held a tournament on Instagram from the end of September to 6 November, in which 64 albums that had played a role on our blog to date took part. In a very exciting final, our readers chose Morgul Blade‘s amazing debut Fell Sorcery Abounds, released in 2021, as their favourite, ahead of Dragonbreath – The Awakening, Oathbringer – Tales of Glory and Claymorean – Eulogy for the Gods. We are very pleased that Klauf has once again been willing to be available to us as an interview partner. At this point I can already announce that my friend and colleague Aidan is currently working on a special in which he will also deal with Morgul Blade – you can already look forward to that. But now let’s raise the curtain for our winner from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Your flesh will be pierced by the Morgul Blade!

André: First of all, congratulations: You won our Epic Metal Blog Birthday Tournament. For us, you were one of the favourites right from the start. But would you have thought that you would be so popular among our readers?

Klauf: Honestly, means a lot to win, bragging rights are a valuable thing. It’s like beating your crosstown rivals in a derby, like a nice 3-nil win over Schalke 04 for you, André [laughs].

André: Yes, a 3:0 would certainly have been possible this year if you hadn’t snatched Erling away from us – but even a 1:0 was fantastic [laughs]. Are you still satisfied with Fell Sorcery Abounds? Or are there things you would do differently today?

Klauf: I wouldn’t change Fell Sorcery Abounds for anything. The next record is shaping up to be different, and it’s what seems to be a natural trajectory and evolution of the project, but that couldn’t happen without the groundwork that Fell Sorcery Abounds laid for it. The new record will be more dynamic, showcasing all of the genres I love a little more.

André: I think every Morgul Blade fan can look forward to the new record – I can’t wait, and I speak on behalf of my colleague Aidan as well, of course. When can our readers expect a new Morgul Blade album?

Klauf: We’re about 75% done writing a new record, next will come practice to the point of madness, then demoing, then recording. Our goal is to be in the studio by April.

André: Sounds promising! Let’s look back: What was the feedback in general about Fell Sorcery Abounds? And was there a review that particularly amused or perhaps even annoyed you?

Klauf: This whole thing has been a dream come true, feedback has been largely positive, except for one Belgian blog who said “like a whisper in a hurricane Morgul Blade’s debut will also be forgotten” or something like that, that made me laugh. The blog was mostly covering tech death and djent so I’m not really sure why they even tried our record in the first place. Oh well.

André: Yes, you should limit yourself to genres you like – you won’t read a review about thrash metal from me… Another topic: 2022 is coming to an end: What were highlights for you as a band? What were special moments for Morgul Blade?

Klauf: Easy, we played our first hometown show, and went on our first tour! My mom sister and fiancé were at our Philly show, it really meant a lot.

André: Which albums released this year did you like the most?

Klauf: So much good music this year, I’m gonna list a handful that I loved in no particular order with a small description:

• Bad Manor – The Haunting: spectral black metal with absurd vocals and organ. Follows a rather grim but cohesive story.
• Negative Plane – The Pact…: brooding black metal meets heavy metal meets old school death.
• Gudsforladt – Friendship, Love and War: shimmering and triumphant melodic black metal with Thin Lizzy influences and a romantic edge.
• Bergfried – Romantik I: a combo of black metal, folk rock, and Jim Steinman songs about star crossed lovers across infinite dimensions.
• Stangarigel – Na Severe Srdca: black metal in the early Satyricon/Ulver style. From members of Malokarpatan.
• Hällas – Isle of Wisdom: Swedish adventure pop rock.
• Sunrise Patriot Motion – Black Fellflower Stream: blackened post punk from members of black metal band Yellow Eyes.

André: In Europe, the festival scene is currently splitting a bit into more conservative festivals that celebrate the past and festivals that focus on young bands and give them a chance to prove themselves as co-headliners or headliners. What is the situation like in the USA?

Klauf: Actually I would say the opposite, every fest here has a really eclectic great mix, for example we are playing Hell‘s Heroes in Texas in March and we’re sharing the stage with bands from every era.

André: Last question: Did you watch Rings of Power? If so, what did you think of the series?

Klauf: I did, and at first I loathed it, but I tried to take it easy and just enjoy it for what it was, and it grew on me a lot. Sure I could poke holes in it for hours on end, but in the end it was solid. I don’t use Amazon, I don’t even have an account, I’m very against mega corporations that control the world, and I definitely question the motive behind corporatizing Tolkien like that, but, in the end, it’s Tolkien adjacent and that makes it cool inherently. I give it a 7.5 out of 10.

André: Thank you very much for this spontaneous interview! We are continually in contact anyway, so I’ll just say, until soon!