CONFLAGRATION OF DARKNESS
KMC: How and when was Charnel Winds born?
Shu-Ananda: Charnel Winds was born in the late fall-early winter of 2003. Three men with vague visions, ideas and a strong dedication to back it up held a ritual by an ancient chasm lake drinking each other’s blood and vowing allegiance to Satan and each other. On the way back from the lake we saw a star falling from the sky and that threefold vision became the foundation of our work.
KMC: What drew you into playing Black Metal?
Shu-Ananda: I guess it was the purity and strength that shunned all formalities that took me by surprise. Nowhere else had I felt such a surge of raw primeval electricity going through my being. Black metal was a gateway to another dimension, where the night side of nature was an integral part of it, not to be feared and avoided.
KMC: Any influences in the beginning?
Shu-Ananda: All the classics of the nineties I could say. Also Finnish Black Metal was breaking through at the time with such records as Strength & Honour and Womb of Pestilence, we listened a lot to those. Yet I cannot say those influenced us so much musically as they did inspire us sound- and style-wise. We knew from the beginning that our compositions would be something different reaching to the netherworld and emanating the darkness therein more than to copy any existing work.
Charnel Winds - The Spear And The Crocodile
(Taken from 'Der Teufelsbund' Werewolf Records 2011)
KMC: You are from Virrat. How is your hometown treating Charnel Winds?
Shu-Ananda: Pretty good I must say. There are a surprising number of open minds to Black metal and the not so open-minded haven't caused us so much trouble. I personally have been beaten only twice for what I look like here in Virrat. We even got a 500 euro stipend from the culture fund of the city of Virrat which is pretty good for an openly satanic band.
KMC: What kind of live band is Charnel Winds?
Shu-Ananda: We aim to deliver our songs as good as we do on record so we rely heavily on a solid presentation by the members who all know what they're doing and have been doing it for some time now. We are more mystical than we are chaotic yet the later mentioned aspect is always there.
KMC: Do you play gigs often or rarely?
Shu-Ananda: Once per year has proven to be a good ratio. We have been pretty much a demo band to 
this point and whilst we have a strong supporting in a dedicated group of people attending nearly our every gig, there has been no point to play live more often.
KMC: Any memories from the first Charnel Winds show?
Shu-Ananda: Sure. There have been two first Charnel Winds shows. First was organized in Virrat at the place we practiced at the time with only a chosen few of closest friend / supporters invited and we were a two-man operation at the time. The first public gig with the lineup that eventually recorded Der Teufelsbund was held at Ilokivi, Jyväskylä in the height of the summer 2006. I remember that as I played the first notes, my feet went limp and rest of the gig I was in some kind of an out of body ecstasy as I watched from the ceiling whilst the show commenced.
KMC: Upcoming shows in the future...?
Shu-Ananda: We will be attending the Satanburg festival in St. Petersburgh for the second time in December. There are gigs coming next year but they will be announced by the organizers.
PURIFICATION OF THE SACRED BLACK HEART
KMC: 'Stigma Prior Nefastvm' Demo Tape was released through Spread Evil 2004. Label from Tampere, Finland (released tapes from Anal Blasphemy, Musta Kappeli, Noenum etc.). In the labels website it says "Charnel Winds spawns from the middle Finland with evil Black Metal much in the vein of for example Deathspell Omega and Funeral Mist". Is there any musical "Funeral Omega" similitaries in 'Stigma Prior Nefastvm' Demo, in your own mind?
Shu-Ananda: The similarities aren't musical. They are in that 'Stigma' (and even I.I.I.) tried to reach the kind of devotional fervour or religious ecstasy the aforementioned bands achieved by their novel works. By the time we were called 'orthodox evil black metal' and often I had to stress that it's a different thing what one listens and what one does musically.
KMC: Does Spred Evi exist anymore?
Shu-Ananda: Not to my knowledge. Spread Evil merged with Hammer of Hate as I understood it. You'd have to ask the man behind it.
Charnel Winds - Conflagration of Darkness
(Taken from 'Stigma Prior Nefastvm' Demo Spread Evil Distribution 2004)
KMC: How and where was 'Stigma Prior Nefastvm' Demo recorded?
Shu-Ananda: It was recorded in my bedroom at my parents house where I had our drums and recording equipment at the time. There was nothing really special to the process beyond the fiery passion of young men recording Black metal. We had already done a first demo that went to labels and its material later evolved to both 'Stigma' and 'I.I.I.' so it was nothing really new to us. I recorded the drums with Sandh playing the demo guitar and worked everything else by myself from there.
KMC: What is your own opinion about the demo? What kind of thoughts/memories does the demo bring to you when you listen to it nowadays?
Shu-Ananda: It was probably the darkest period of my life thus far and it conjures those feelings of hatred, self-loathing and determination whenever I listen to it. By the time there was nothing else than my vain attempts to reach Satan, the being I had glimpsed. By day I was reading occultism, practicing and listening to any Satanic records I could find. By night I was cutting myself and sometimes sleeping on the floor with a knife in hand because the comfort of the bed would soften me and the demons I conjured were after me. Even though not that much has changed since, haha.
KMC: 'I.I.I.' Demo, released through Saturnian Productions 2007. Label from Seinäjoki, Finland
(released tapes from Saturnian Mist, Cosmic Church, Verge etc.). The general sound in 'I.I.I.' is much more clearer comparing to 'Stigma Prior Nefastvm'. Was this a conscious decision?
Shu-Ananda: Of course it was. We (or I) had evolved in expressing ourselves and we didn't want to go back to the clumsy presentation of 'Stigma'. More importantly, the material itself was something that would not have benefited from the super-gritty fuzz of 'Stigma':s soundscape. In 2005 we booked the JJ-studio in Tampere that had a wonderful backline and a possibility to do nearly everything ourselves. We had the studio for two consecutive days and I worked without sleep for 'I.I.I.' (and on the way back I drove our car straight into a lamp post when I fell asleep while driving). The demo was to be released as a split with Noenum but I guess they didn't like the cleaner sound or something and we never heard from them again. I always considered the recordings to be a complete failure and thus I didn't seek a label to release it. Later when the new Charnel Winds members founded Saturnian Productions and offered to release it, I re-recorded the guitars and Wyrmfang did the vocals for the second song and was quite happy to release the new versions though in my opinion they were still far from perfect.
KMC: What kind of response did the 'I.I.I.' Demo get?
Shu-Ananda: We haven't had much response to it as it still was a cassette demo and people tend to overlook such things. The little I have heard has been positive.
Charnel Winds - The Black Temple
(Taken from 'I.I.I.' Demo Saturnian Productions 2007)
KMC: This year (2011) Werewolf Records released 'Der Teufelsbund'. Your debut full-length. What does the title 'Der Teufelsbund' means?
Shu-Ananda: It is a word-play from Julius Evola's term der männerbund that translates to union of men and means the secret orders and societies that kept mysticism and warrior heritage untouched during the years of oppression of the Christian Church. Der Teufelsbund is more or less the same and stands for keeping the knowledge of the true, lofty nature of Satan alive and vibrant through these current ages of materialism and hedonism.
KMC: How did Werewolf Records came up with the idea to release Charnel Winds debut album? Did the label find you, or did you find the label?
Shu-Ananda: It was a little bit of both. I have been in contact with Werewolf Records since before it was called as such and the guy behind it has heard pretty much all our material. Der Teufelsbund was the first release that appealed to him in a way he could do a release.
KMC: Is there a vinyl version coming?
Shu-Ananda: We were promised a vinyl release in addition to the cd. At the moment I don't have any specific info about the release date and such.
KMC: 'Der Teufelsbund' recording sessions, how was it?
Shu-Ananda: Pretty mundane. The advantage of having practiced the songs for a very long time was that we were able to do things very quickly (it took a normal working day and a half to record pretty much everything). The disadvantage of course was in that there was less space for improvisation as all decisions had to be made from the word go and every player was on sort of autopilot. Which actually kind of what we were looking for feel-wise and sound-wise: That 60s progressive rock and heavy metal vibe when bands had very little studio time and had to depend on the flow and skills of the people involved.
Charnel Winds - Assembly
(Taken from 'Der Teufelsbund' Werewolf Records 2011)
KMC: Can you tell me about the lyrics. What kind of lyrical stories/facts does 'Der Teufelsbund' include?
Shu-Ananda: It's several stories about my own life, decisions and feelings as well as those immediately around me intertwining into a story of its own. I can point out some things from the lyrics I made. The Spear & The Crocodile is basically the turning point when I drifted from the traditional Black metal concept to creating my own and as such is kind of a spiritual homage to all the great visionaries of Black metal that came before me. Chained Kumâra is a poetical take of my first vision of Satan. Assembly underlines the conclusion of Chained Kumâra and the importance of people working together to achieve greater goals and Shadow dismisses the possible wrong ideas by pointing out the worthlessness of people without a higher goal in their lives.
KMC: What is your own opinion about the album?
Shu-Ananda: I find it very hard to form an opinion about it. It was such a painful and life-consuming task to make it breathe, I'm close to hating the record and the band that made it despite the uplifting impact it has had in my life. If I would try though, I would say that it is original in a way that's quite rare these days and it actually is full of meaning for the listeners to find out. The downsides are that the record is somewhat lacking sound-wise and in the whole productions department. It almost feels like those people responsible didn't give a damn in the end if the record was ever finished or not and kept going for momentum alone.
Charnel Winds - Das Leiden
(Taken from 'Der Teufelsbund' Werewolf Records 2011)
KMC: I noticed in your MySpace page that there is a split release with Verge coming up. Can you tell me more about it?
Shu-Ananda: ”Two Serpents” is not so much a split as it is more of a collaboration. When the Satanic Warmaster / Clandestine Blaze-collaboration split came out in 2004, I and Ialpirgah (with whom I was working with the concept of Charnel Winds early on) were really interested in the idea of two bands abandoning their differences and focusing on the things that unite them ideally. It wasn't until I met Wyrmfang of Verge and we started working together, he for Charnel Winds and I for Verge that this vision could be realized.
THE BLACK TEMPLE
KMC: What does Black Metal mean to you?
Shu-Ananda: Black metal for me is a journey to the unknown parts of nature (were it human or worldly). In a way it is true escapism because when you shift to the night side of the world, you denounce the realities of modern society and modern life and have to define your own path. Furthermore Black metal is the most sincere in recognizing Satan as an archetype to be the one behind the scenes of all music, of everything that comes from the unconscious mind.
KMC: Black Metal in Finland today?
Shu-Ananda: Better than ever. We have devoted bands both celebrated and those unknown by the 
majority. We have dedicated gig-organizers, labels and distributors keeping the thing going. Even better we have individuals that try to take Black metal to different, new directions while keeping the foundation solid.
KMC: Opinion about NSBM?
Shu-Ananda: It doesn't appeal to me much even when some of my all-time favorite bands have dealt with NS themes or been openly NSBM. I can understand the aesthetical appeal of things like the holocaust, eugenics and Nazi occultism but in my books, political (and everything else this-worldly) and spiritual views that I feel Black metal represents don't mix so well. Non satanic black metal somebody said some time.
KMC: Opinion about christian "Black Metal"?
Shu-Ananda: Does such a thing exist? Black metal as an individual path requires the denounciation of all mass beliefs religions presuppose. Other than the Gnostic views many of the religious Black metal bands have sported that is but they can be hardly called christian in a way the term christian is defined in Black metal.
KMC: Name five of your favourite BM albums ever made?
Shu-Ananda: This task is close to impossible as their order changes as often as I listen to them. First two or three are easy to name. Darkthrone's Under A Funeral Moon would be first because it is what made me understand what Black metal was all about for the first time. Then it would be Drawing Down the Moon by Beherit as it made me realize what is in the soul of Finnish Black metal. The next is Filosofem by Burzum as it represents to me the beauty of Black metal that is about contrast of opposites creating something more. Then it gets difficult as there are wide arrays of bands for both things I value in Black metal. First is the feeling of primal ecstasy of fear and mysticism that records like De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas (Mayhem), Mystérion Tes Anomias (Ofermod) and Salvation (Funeral Mist). The second category is the fact that Black metal can be challenging intellectually (were it lyrically and / or musically) and take Black metal to new places at the same time it contains the primal drive and it contains records like Anthems to the Welkin' at Dusk (Emperor), Babalon Patralx De Telocvovim (Enochian Crescent), Carved in Stigmata Wounds (Secrets of the Moon) alongside with many others.
KMC: What does Satanism mean to you?
Shu-Ananda: To me Satanism is in its essence individualism in the sense that a Satanist takes his own life to his own hands, takes responsibility of his own actions and defines what he believes in. Yet not all individualists are Satanists because the latter names that freedom of choice Satan, the opposer of all herd-mentality.
KMC: Thank you for the interview.
Shu-Ananda: Thank you for the wide array of insightful questions. Hail Satan.
