I had never heard of Thuringia before I listened to MOSAIC‘s emotive Black Metal.
When you think of the cultures that our corporate nation-states are trying to erase in the name of unity for profit, you realize that every part of this planet has been colonized and re-colonized by those who are the most power-hungry and have the least integrity. The places we call “nations” today are just economic organizations of different cultures and ethnicities, arranged that way so the highest bidders get all the profits. The ones reaping the profits invented “race” so they could corral ethnic groups together and create stronger numbers for control and exploitation. And if our “leaders” keep us in check along national and racial lines, they can use our bodies and minds to impose their will on others — if we give ourselves to them.
What the fuck does all that have to do with Black Metal?
Germany’s MOSAIC draws its influences from the cultural region they call home, Thuringia, a state in Germany that was first occupied by the Thuringii tribe in 300 AD and has been established, dissolved, and re-established again and again throughout the history of that region, as European colonizers came and went. An area known for its dark forests and with folklore extending back centuries, Thuringians have their own traditions and cultural practices that have inspired MOSAIC to compose scathing, dire, and darkly celebratory music about the way its humans have learned to bend to the will of the forest and live with its ghosts and demons. Their new album Heimatspuk comes out April 22 via Eisenwald — pre-order it here and also here (NA). Today we’re happy to be sharing their new single “Nordwaldrauch” with you below, so let this vicious auditory experience inspire you to detach from nationhood and recognize the human collective.
This song was the last one written for the album. Actually, the album was already finished when I started to work on this song. At that time we played some shows with Zwischenlichten & Mosaic under the theme “Nordwald Musik”. A concert series mainly based on acoustic folk music inspired by our home region – where the Thuringian Highlands merge with the Franconian Forest – historically also known as “Nordwald” (North Woods/Forest) and that’s when I got the idea – based on that – to capture a more “raw” expression of it.
– MOSAIC
It was originally written with just bass guitar, drums and synths – the atmosphere was great – but didn’t fit with the rest of the album. So I ended up adding guitars and then it fit into the album like the final piece of the mosaic. With the guitar work, it now has some cross-references to “Old Man’s Wyntar”, but still has some more facets – like the continuous increase of the vocals.
Lyrically it is based on own verses as well as on “Im Ring des Jahres” by Franz Vetter – a poet who worked mainly in my current residence Gotha. His verses are strongly influenced by melancholy and escapism, and especially in this book of poems about “life” and “death” – central aspects of the new album.
