Exclusive: Mystic Circle Just Dropped New LP – and Have Demos Done, Producer Set for Next One
It’s always unsettling, surreal, perplexing – pick your adjective – to see a black-metal musician filled with delight. But Mystic Circle’s Beelzebub had every reason to be when The Bad Penny recently caught up with the vocalist/guitarist/bassist/keyboardist who comprises one-half of the legendary German band for a video interview a couple of months ago. He and his partner A. Blackwar (drums, guitars, keyboards) had recently polished off the third and by far strongest studio album Mystic Circle have conjured since getting back together in 2021.
The harrowing Hexenbrand 1486 is a punishing audio experience through and through, and features grisly subject matter well-suited for the blood-curdling occasion. On the record, Mystic Circle explore the legends of Jack the Ripper and the Boogeyman, along with the Catholic Church’s nauseatingly cruel treatment of supposed witches and other nightmare-inducing topics. Marking something of a departure from the band’s blistering black-metal sound are allusions to horror filml soundtracks by Dario Argento and like-minded B-movie directors.
What follows is a surprisingly candid and extensive discussion with Beelzebub about the record, Mystic Circle’s career and other subjects that he graciously chose to discuss with us.
Mystic Circle have been around for 30 years now. Congratulations. Where do you continue to find new sources of creative inspiration, and how do you find new ways to evolve the band’s sound?
We get lots of inspirations from mystical stuff – you know, old legends and things like the Nibelungen saga.
Do you write in natural settings, like the woods and so on?
No, but we get inspired from our [environs]. I know we have lots of ancient myths here, [some of which we documented on] Hexenbrand. We first thought about doing another concept album about the Inquisition and the Malleus Maleficarum [nicknamed Hammer of Witches and denounced by the Catholic theologians at the time of the Inquisition in the late 1480s]. It a Hexenhammer book about torturing witches and blood. We still decided [to focus on] the Malleus Maleficarum, because it was written by [Heinrich Kramer, a German Catholic clergyman] who lived near where we were from – the book was printed in our area in the church by a spire – but the whole album isn’t about that.
As we started writing Hexenbrand, we [decided too] many bands [make concept records and that a] whole album [would] maybe [be] too much. So we decided to do three songs as a concept, with an intro and an outro, about Heinrich Kramer, one of the cruelest inquisitors at this time in the Middle Ages. [The tracks are the sixth, seventh and eighth ones featured on the LP: “Institoris (Heinrich Kramer),” “The Bible of Witch Chase” and “Blutschande Unzucht Sodomie.”] Hexenbrand is also dedicated to all the black-soul witches out there – you know, the women. We thought about them because they were murdered with cruelty at this time in the dark Middle Ages. They were burned on the pyre and so on.
Kramer was a monk or a clergyman, and he had these visions. The Catholic Church [eventually said,] “We don’t want to have to deal with you, because you are too cruel.” But then he went to the Pope, who signed a document [allowing him to continue his cruel practices and reinstating his book about torture methods against alleged witches]. We are interested in this subject, because it’s not so much discussed. Many so-called witches were normal people who lost their lives due to cruelty.
We are against these types of conservative institutions. We don’t have [anything] against anyone who [allows anyone else] to believe in what they want. But these [conservative institutions] only want to have power, so they [inflict] pressure on people. [To them,] it’s all about greed. You see the same tendencies now. The conservatives are coming again. We have to [protect] our extreme music and our free thinking [from censorship and repression].
The youth are getting more conservative too, [but it’s a double-edged sword]. When we were younger, we were more rebellious. There were punks. There were metalheads. Nowadays, everybody looks the same, almost. When we made music in ’99, for example, it was [considered] art in the black-metal scene. Now the metal scene is more open-minded – and that’s also good. When I go to a concert now, I see someone with a Mayhem shirt, someone else with an Iron Maiden shirt. Perfect.
I’m glad you said that, because I don’t think people appreciate how open-minded the metal community has become. When I was growing up, if you were into metal, punk rock fans would steer clear from you. And there were sharp divisions in the metal community too. You guys transitioned from melodic black metal to melodic death metal. Is that correct?
We call it “melodic extreme metal,” because in Mystic Circle there’s not only black metal in the way that we use Satanic vibes, mystery vibes and so-called “dark themes.” In our music, you hear lots of classical heavy metal elements, but played in a disharmonic way. When Aaarrrgon and I come together, we have our special style.
A funny thing is, when we listen to our demos from ’92 – of course they were not so well-produced, but the spirit and the melodies is there in the songs. We are absolute Venom and Deicide fans, but we also like Iron Maiden. So we [are inspired by] all that stuff. We’re both horror maniacs, and we’ve always loved the soundtracks [to those movies too]. So when we do an album, it’s not only about the songs, it’s about the characters, it’s about the layout, it’s about the videos.
For example, with [1999’s] Infernal Satanic Verses, we [incorporated] many classical bombastic elements. On [2023’s] Erzdämon, we did horror themes and soundtracks. And on this album, it’s a combination of cool, old-school, melodic, heavy metal guitar playing with a middle-age vibe. And on “Ghost of Whitechapel,” which revolves around Jack the Ripper, we have this big band, these bells and the footsteps of Jack the Ripper. We play with the songs, so we have a picture, like a movie.
[When we set out to create an album, we consider everything from] the stage shows to the merchandise to the songs. We call it the “Mystic Circle Universe.” [Hexenbrand] also deals with other topics like Jack the Ripper, the Boogeyman, Satanic themes like Lucifer and the sign of the goat. In “Boogeyman,” there are many disturbing acts in the background. Also, we have a singer on this album. We like to play with characters, so Karo Hafke plays the witch. We also have Sarah Jezebel Deva from The Kovenant (and formerly Cradle of Filth).
What connotations does the boogeyman have in Germany? We have that term here too, but it’s used more in a playful way. Is it the same over there?
Yeah, but that’s the point: When you go deeper into [the myth], it’s one of the scariest demons. The boogeyman is your deepest inner fear. He plays with you, teases you, scares you and then suddenly comes out of the dark and rips your soul into the abyss after tapping into the deepest fear inside you. It’s not just physical; it goes to your soul.
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“We are inspired, and it’s our passion, and we don’t have fear, because we are so creative when we come together. So it’s no problem.”
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Why did you feel it was particularly timely to make music about the topics that you’ve been discussing now? Do you feel like there’s some sort of a parallel or connection to what’s going on in the contemporary world or contemporary Germany? Or was it more just a matter of you guys having been around for 30 years and trying to find new material to discover and write about?
We are not a socially critical band, like a punk band. We don’t talk about politics. The world is fucked up enough. When we go into the world of Mystic Circle, we do [so to engage in] our passion.
Does your obsession with such grisly subject matter spur you to come up with more inventive, clever or unique black metal?
No. We don’t put the focus so much on cruelty or sadistic things. We use the vibe more. We want to honor the cruelty, murder, witches and [rebuke] the institution and Heinrich Kramer. That’s what we do.
You’ve been around for 30 years now. Congratulations. Where do you find your creative inspiration after so many years, and how do you find new ways to evolve the Mystic Circle sound?
I don’t know. We always have new music or melodies in our head. We can’t get enough of it, and the world never stops. We actually have the demos for the next album finished.
Already?
Yeah.
Are you willing to talk about what it is, or you want to keep that under wraps for now?
It’s not time yet, but the demos are ready, and we will produce again with Nils Lesser [who produced 2022’s Mystic Circle, 2023’s Erzdämon and co-produced Hexenbrand 1486]. When we go in the studio, we call him our “third band member,” because he knows exactly what we want.
What are you most proud of in terms of how the new record turned out?
Everything, really. You start with nothing, and [we become] like directors [coordinating] the artists, visuals, layouts, photographer and video artists who help put together the whole thing. But we are the chiefs, the pilots, and we must be 100 percent satisfied with the product. Nobody is telling us what we have to do, so it’s 100 percent Mystic Circle.
Do you find that, as time goes on, you have to constantly remind yourself to keep an open mind?
Well, it’s easy, as long as we are interested in [what we’re creating] and have good [intentions] in our heart. As long as it’s real and honest to us, then we do it. We are inspired, and it’s our passion, and we don’t have fear, because we are so creative when we come together. So it’s no problem. [Making music is] like second nature to us. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s in our blood.
Looking back over the three decades you’ve existed as a band, what was the most challenging point or period Mystic Circle braved through?
It was when me and Blackwar split in 2000. We did many tours from 1997 till 2007 – we toured lots – and you get to a point when you go onstage and play, and you don’t have the [same] feeling anymore. It [took] all [our] strength. Seven years [elapsed], and then I [wasn’t] feel[ing the band] anymore. And if I don’t feel it, why should I do it? It’s a lie to me, it’s a lie to the fans. So I quit, and it finished in 2007. Then Blackwar and myself came together in 2020 again, and we found [our] old spirit. We sat together and talked, and the next day we began writing Mystic Circle, which came out in 2022. This is why one of the words I would use to describe Mystic Circle is “authentic.”
I’ve always felt that you guys are very true to yourselves, and that you don’t compromise, or that you’re not pretentious. But the story that you’re telling about the band’s timeline, it reminds me an awful lot of At the Gates, because they had a similar kind of thing where they broke up for quite a while, and then when they reunited, they had just tremendous material. They put out two or three great albums in three or four years like you guys did. When you come back together, it’s like you needed that time. You needed the hiatus in order to develop and regenerate and come back with even stronger material.
Maybe, yeah. Or we had this luck that we came together and got over myself, and then the spirit was there. It was good. Otherwise we [wouldn’t have reunited]!
The Bad Penny (beta) 
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