Interview: Jarno Nurmi (Serpent Ascending, Desecresy, etc)

Howdy Jarno! Thanks for taking the time to do this interview. You’ve been involved with death metal for a long time. What initially sparked your interest in extreme metal? Which bands would you consider influential to your frame of mind as a musician?

Thank you very much for the invitation! I think I went through a quite ordinary route that my
generation, born in the 80’s or before, took where we got into the traditional names of heavy
metal and eventually got into the extreme metal of the 90’s and further. What first got me
interested in metal was simply the heavier riffs but also the more esoteric feeling that the music
carried.

I could list a lot of bands who influenced me, but I will keep this simple. Iron Maiden is the band who I learned the basic tenets of metal from, especially the idea of using guitar harmonies and melodies. Perhaps there was an influence from them where they utilized varied song structures because they have their moments of going beyond the normal simple form found in commercial, radio-friendly types of metal. The thrashier influences found on the early demos were not really from thrash metal but were more akin to USPM; bands like Iced Earth and their first three albums, Nevermore’s Politics of Ecstasy, Sanctuary, etc. Later I had found that this genre in general is one of my favorite styles in metal as many bands stretched the idea of heavy metal and took it a bit further, yet not going too far into thrash or death metal territory.

In Death Metal, I was mostly influenced by Morbid Angel and early Sentenced, which are fine examples of how to create great and original riffs. North From Here, especially, has stood out as an excellent but unfortunately one-of-a-kind album in the band’s catalogue, with its high intensity and creativity. If I had to choose one death metal album that is the most influential to me musically, North From Here would be it. For influences from Black Metal, bands like Burzum and Graveland are among some other household names who have influenced me in regard to their atmosphere. I’ve also been listening to progressive rock bands such as Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson, Rush, etc. Progressive is an influence that can be traced in some aspects of how I approach creating melodies and song composition, including the application of different time signatures.

Desecresy stands as a bold statement to slower death metal without becoming doomy. It is very atmospheric but also extraordinarily powerful. What is the history behind this band? Why did you depart?

In 2009, when Slugathor was coming to an end, Tommi Grönqvist asked me if I was interested in joining his new project. We had played together in Slugathor for some years and he had helped me record the first two Serpent Ascending demos. I think the idea was basically to continue from where we had ended up with Slugathor but it was clear there would be no live performances, rehearsals nor any ordinary band activity like that. The focus was solely on creating albums with consistent atmosphere and more defined lyrical and visual concepts. We discussed a lot about the albums and what kind of themes and spirit there would be on each of them. Arches of Entropy was quite raw sounding but the basic components of Desecresy were already present. I remember we recorded the vocals in the Slugathor rehearsal room and in the neighboring room there was a lousy cover band playing songs like “What if God was One of Us” by Joan Osbourne, or whoever wrote this song, and it was all audible on the vocal tracks we did. Naturally those were removed from the finished versions but potentially there could still be something left of that cover band to be heard on the first album.

Everything is integrated nicely between the first album and The Doom Skeptron. The Doom Skeptron feels more complete, like there is a clearer thread going through the album. The following releases mostly followed the same solid pattern laid out on The Doom Skeptron but there were some exceptions like experimenting on shorter songs on Chasmic Transcendence. Lyric-wise, we avoided using words like ‘I’ or other expressions that would hint at some person behind the music. This is pretty much how I looked at the creative process behind Desecresy and maybe it gives an idea about the general feeling of the albums.

I was quite free to do my own parts in the way that I felt was the most fitting because we had a good mutual understanding on what Desecresy was about. Yet, in the end, Tommi wanted to continue alone after the first four albums. My departure would have been inevitable as I moved to Northern Finland in 2017, and I have since worked mainly on Serpent Ascending. I think that we had, and still have, a good artistic connection, and I’m very happy about all the albums that we did together.

One of your earlier projects, Nerlich, has a classic death metal air of being to it. It is quite excellent. Do you consider yourself a death metal purist when you approach the songwriting process?

Not really, but I think that is how I initially started learning about the songwriting process of which I utilized for a long time and developed into more directions later. Nerlich was the first band I was involved in, and there was a lot to learn with that project. I remember that I had to force myself into a specific direction with how I approached writing riffs for Nerlich, and that was a good experience to have back then. It helped me to progress further in regard to writing riffs and songs, making them more complex and original.

Serpent Ascending, your solo project, has a traditional death metal underbelly as well. However, it gives the impression that it is more personal than your other projects. The riffs are thoroughly intricate and seem like they are the result of long contemplation. Do you feel that you can express more in a solo project than in full bands?

I think so, though I’ve always enjoyed playing in other bands as well. On each Serpent Ascending release, I have a larger image or idea in my mind which I am trying to bring into audial form, which is usually somehow related to the general idea that I’m pursuing with Serpent Ascending. It’s not just about writing a bunch of riffs and lyrics but ideas I’ve been reflecting on in my mind for a long time. It takes time, and I’m afraid it would be frustrating to go through the process with people who have their own expectations and who might not share the vision. In the beginning, I thought I would find members to join the band later, but it seems it will likely stay as it is as I’m quite protective about Serpent Ascending and how things should be done in the band. Should this change someday, I’m open for the possibility of working with other musicians.

You mentioned that you are completing work on the next Serpent Ascending album, the follow-up to 2016’s Ananku, which will be out this year via I, Voidhanger Records. Many people will be excited to hear this release. Which direction will this new album go?

The new album is called Hyperborean Folklore and the lyrics are centered around Fennoscandian mythologies, literature and themes which are conversant from the last album as well. On this album, I further developed the elements that were already present on Ananku. While Ananku had many shorter songs, now ideas are knit together more carefully to form larger song structures with more time to build atmosphere, tensions and ways to release them. I have given myself more freedom to wander into directions that felt unsuitable on Ananku. Those familiar with previous records can probably follow the thread that continues between these releases. There are a lot of influences from heavy metal and black metal, progressive rock, etc. I feel that I have really managed to capture something more essential than before, and I am eager to know what people think of the new record. An instrumental version of one of the new songs was already released on a Finnish compilation cassette called From the Finnish Underground, but I guess only few have heard it. Tommi of Desecresy has painted a set of art to be used on the album cover and booklet.

Much of your lyrics revolve around themes of nature and ancientries. Would you consider yourself anachronistic to the temporal domain (modern Finland) in which you currently reside?

This is a complex issue which is comprised of many levels. Looking at how I personally live, I think I’m quite modern in general and I’m not trying to pretend that I’m not. Yet there are many currents these days that I don’t see worth following too far. I’m speaking about some of the more biased reactive ways of looking at things. What lies behind the lyrics of Serpent Ascending, and how I think, is a panentheistic worldview and how that translates into looking at life, which might feel anachronistic at times because it has been heavily influenced by various philosophical and religious traditions which thoughts seem marginal in the everyday life that people live today. I am interested in the ideas such as unity of humanity and nature, cosmos as a conscious organism, bridging the gaps to that which is unknown to us, and so on. Often mythologies and related worldviews are good sources in finding ways of working on these themes.

Finland has rich pagan roots. Has this influenced your work in any capacity?

It definitely has, and its importance has grown on each album. For a long time, I was more interested in the western and eastern esoteric traditions. Looking far away in time and distance sometimes seems clearer than it really is while something much nearer might seem too close to get a good picture of. On Ananku, there were songs that were influenced by Scandinavian mythology combined with human-nature-unity like The Mound of Ing, but the songs which could be interpreted having roots in Finnic paganism, or at least as hints to that direction, were more about navigating through my own darkness and negativity. By looking into the past, there is realization that which most people think of something as “ancient” or “obsolete” has not really disappeared nor become outdated. There are ancient notions that are still valid and can grant us a lot of understanding. We have too strict of distinctions between what we call culture and nature, religion and science, etc. and believe they are all fixed categories instead of flexible tools that have different uses in understanding our existence.

Finns have the appearance of shadowy dispositions compared to other Europeans. I heard about people taking group pictures at funerals as if it’s any other mundane gathering. This wouldn’t be acceptable in other countries. What are your thoughts on Finns in juxtaposition to other Europeans?

I don’t remember seeing any group funeral pictures being taken. But if it happens, it’s not out of disrespect or anything like that. Most of the Finns are quite respective when someone has died and are careful not to hurt those in grief. It might be that funerals are the rare occasions when all of the family is gathered, and the moment is photographed to be remembered. Finnish family ties often seem looser than in other cultures. There are long distances between people, and relatives only see each other occasionally. Death brings people together. In Finland we probably have a different sense of intimacy and privacy compared to some of the people from southern Europe. We are used to having a lot of space around us and not being surrounded by people. Naturally, there are different temperaments within the population, but a certain kind of mentality seems to connect people that have closer local identities formed in similar social and natural environment.

Finnish metal is unmistakable. Do you think it is influenced in part by Finnish cultural music such as Uusikuu (Finnish Tango)?

I have to admit my ignorance and that I wasn’t familiar with Uusikuu at all. I listened to some of their songs and I think it’s the general feeling of melancholy with hints of nostalgia that strikes me as something distinctively Finnish in their music. This and other closely related musical styles are quite popular among certain older people, and I guess most of my generation is familiar with the style, having heard it at least in the radio and tv when we were younger. Likely it has influenced the musical tastes of many metal musicians even though we have later gone into different directions.