The Bad Penny (beta)

With the Netherlands’ general election taking place in exactly one week, The Bad Penny touches base with one of the country’s best underground bands, black-metal/hardcore sorcerers Terzij de Horde to discuss how they too are facing a potential authoritarian takeover similar to the one happening in the U.S. Specifically, bassist Johan van Hattum and vocalist Joost Vervoort.

“The situation is a little different here than in the U.S., but not by much,” Vervoort says early in the conversation. And as our talk ensues, his point is validated by the topics we touch upon: vitriol from rural communities directed at the government and immigrants, a bracing fear of technology and rampant individualism that – while once glorified as the embodiment of freedom, is turning against the good of collective societies. Specifically, bassist Johan van Hattum and vocalist Joost Vervoort.

Terzij de Horde draws their inspiration from a poem by Hendrik Marsman, a 20th century Dutch author to whom they refer as “a dark vitalist.” 

“He was a poet who, [during] World War II … wrote poetry about how the darkness was consuming him and consuming everyone around him, and how he wanted to break free from that, how he was struggling with that, but also trying to get on top of that,” Vervoot notes. “He has a poem called ‘Lex Barbarum,’ [which translates to] ‘The Law of the Barbarians,’ [and it] ends with him saying – and [we] also [put it] to [our] music: ‘I acknowledge but one law, which is to live.’ And I think that basic energy still is very much at the centre of what we do.”

That’s just the tip of the iceberg in this heady conversation conducted earlier today with the excruciatingly bombastic and brilliant Terzij de Horde, whose new album, Our Breath Is Not Ours Alone, came out less than two weeks ago on Church Road Records. Enjoy this intercontinental conversation that is relevant in countries across the world during the harrowing times in which those of us who value freedom and democracy find ourselves battling through.

Check out The Bad Penny‘s ongoing On Tyranny series, which we launched in the spring, here. Recent installments include interviews with The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, Deaf Club, Cosmic Reaper, MyVeronica, the Gunshy, Planet on a Chain, Necrofier, Cheap Perfume, Bobby Conn, Truculent, Spiritiste and many more.

This entry was posted on 10/22/2025 at 2:40 pm and is filed under Features, Interviews, On Tyranny, On Tyranny with tags authoritarianism, autocracy, black metal, Church Road Records, fascism, gaza, hardcore, On Tyranny, Terzij de Horde, tyranny. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.