Interview: A Hill To Die Upon

Photo by A Hill To Die Upon

You say black metal, I say blackened death metal. Black metal, blackened death metal. Same thing. Right?

Maybe. Maybe not. Regardless of what side of the subgenre aisle you find yourself after listening to A Hill To Die Upon, anyone with ears to hear cannot deny the musical genius that the band brings to the…well, whatever-you-want-to-call-it scene. It’s melodic and ferocious all in unison, leaving the listener with a smorgasboard of musical delights.

Blacforje had the honor of interviewing the band about their upcoming release, their spirituality, and what lies ahead.

Thanks for joining Blacforje for an interview on your upcoming release! I’m a big fan of your band, so when I saw that you are working on something new, I was immediately interested in speaking with you about it. Typically, I like to start off with an icebreaker question, but I’m too intrigued by the news that I have to ask this right away: is this a full-length or an EP that you guys are working on?

We appreciate that, sir. The Black Nativity is a full length. It was going to be two EPs and an album, but we wanted to distill it down to the most essential parts. It is a concept album, so we wanted to keep everything on the path, so to speak.

What can you tell us about The Black Nativity? Anything listeners can expect sonically, lyrically, and emotionally?

Lyrically, we are expanding on Adept in Divinity. That idea felt like it needed more attention. There is an essential element I can’t divulge yet, but if you think about an album based off of Adept in Divinity, you might be able to see where it is going.

Musically, Sakis Tolis from Rotting Christ said some of the new material reminded him of Satyricon quite a bit. I’m not upset about that one bit.

We recorded it at Mythic Panda Studios in Texas, and our old guitar player Elisha Mullins mixed and mastered it. We are really happy with the end product. Adam and I did all of the vocals in one day and couldn’t speak by the end. VENIVENIEMMANVEL

What led you guys to return to the studio to make this release? Was there any inspiration behind the album/EP?

Jairus, who runs Rottweiler, really pushed us to release this. The concept was his idea, and he really sold us on it. We have had several artistic ideas fermenting over the last few years, and we weren’t sure how to move forward. This concept allowed us to bring all of them together in an unexpected way.

AHTDU is based out of Colorado, correct?

We are based out of west central Illinois. Right now, we are a bit spread out. My brother, Adam, still lives in Illinois, and I live in central Missouri. Nolan just lives on tour, I think, working live sound.

Photo by A Hill To Die Upon

Do you think you’ll be doing any live shows once the new album is released?

2024 will probably still be fairly selective, but we just signed on with Atomic Music Group for booking, so hopefully we will be able to get out a bit more. Nolan does front of house for War of Ages, Currents, and Impending Doom, so you are more likely to see him behind the sound board. I am out most weekends playing with The Comancheros. Adam has a good crop of kids and chickens going right now, but he is out with The Comancheros quite a bit too.

Fans of yours know your faith and spiritual roots, but new readers may not be familiar with you. For those individuals, I want to ask: what role does faith, spirituality, and philosophy play into the music of AHTDU?

It is not Evangelical in nature, but black metal has always wrestled with these issues. It does not seem that strange to me. Aleister Crowley said “do what thou wilt” and what “I wilt” is essentially to play rock n’ roll and go to church.

You’ve become a legendary band in what some call “unblack metal” and others call “Christian black metal”. In the many years you’ve been doing this, do you think your music has found a home with listeners outside of the Christian metal underground?

I hope it has. While we are very religious people, our goal was never to make “Christian” music. We just wanted to play music and weren’t going to hide out beliefs. I’ll admit, I really do not like the term “unblack”. It’s all just rock n’ roll at the end of the day.

What artists and bands have influenced AHTDU the most over the years?

Dimmu Borgir and Behemoth were huge early on. Satyricon’s Now, Diabolical was pretty inspirational. Recently, we’ve been listening to a lot of Ray Wylie Hubbard and Rotting Christ.

Last question for you: will you be coming out with new merch anytime soon? If so, what’s the best place for fans to visit to pick something up?

There are new shirts on our bandcamp now, and more will be coming through Rottweiler Records shortly.

You can follow A Hill To Die Upon on Bandcamp, Instagram, and Facebook.