After attending the amazing live perfomance of Trepaneringsritualen in Moscow, MAGREB decided to talk to Thomas about his sources of inspiration for this project.
What is Trepaneringsritualen for you, personally? How does it reflects stages of your own journey? How did it all started?
The T × R × P curse befell me out of nowhere. I think it came out of a processes of cleansing work that I was doing. It’s a heavy yoke to bear, but one that I carry willingly. This journey is taking me further than I would ever have imagined, into a great darkness in which I strive to attain illumination. The exact purpose of all of this is still a mystery to me, but it is a rewarding journey.
Trepaneringsritualen sounds obviously different from your early projects, like Dead Letters Spell Out Dead Words, it seems more shamanic and “inspired” than created artificially. Do you have a “co-writer” from other side?
Yes, on a both aesthetic and spiritual level it is worlds apart. Dead Letters was a far more destructive spectre, acting in an entirely negative space. It was slowly destroying me, even though at a time I thought I was working towards redemption. A complete an utter failure I might add.
T × R × P on the other hand is working towards illumination, and as such it is a positive force. I am quite aware that people perceive T × R × P as a far darker entity, but I want to make it clear that that is not the case. T × R × P is an ecstatic experience, a path towards the eternal sun. T × R × P is ever-radiant light.
There’s probably something of me in the mix, but I am certainly guided in this endeavour, sometimes even fully controlled by something far greater.
Does your interest in occult subjects is pure theory and inspiration or you’re actually practicing magic? Which way you do it, if it’s not a secret.
Aside from the public workings of T × R × P, I prefer to keep my practises private.
Considering your stage appearance and a lot of ritual instruments you’re using live, along with more penetrating and crushing than entertaining quality of your performance, could you talk about yourself as a shaman? Who is a shaman for you?
T × R × P has nothing to do with entertainment. Some might only perceive the spectacle, but those people do not interest me. I want to reach those who are willing to throw themselves headfirst into the abyss. T × R × P is an ecstatic revery, a direct connection with the spiritual word. In that sense I guess I am a shaman or a psychopomp. It’s rare that I come across someone who I feel has a shamanic influence on me, but I would like to mention my brothers in Sutekh Hexen, Bölzer and Arktau Eos, and Michael Idehall.
What are your sources for inspiration in life and creating your music?
The search for the illumination of the eternal sun.
What is the most unexpected/inspiring thing or dream that happened to you recently?
In a recurring dream as of late, I find myself walking a great plain the wind howling like the cries of a thousand honorable dead. In the sky hangs two suns; one blood red, the other black as pitch. I cast two shadows, one in the form of Nauthiz, the other in the form of Uraz.
Can you explain us a little, how do you understand the situation in ‘real’ world now, and what do you think young generation, who are not totally involved in all this shit but should do something with themselves? Which path they could take? What they must do?
It’s not for me to say what someone else should do but I believe it is essential that we all strive towards godhood. The cosmos is collapsing, and this is because we, as a race, have lost our connection with that which lies beyond this frail world of flesh. We are in the end of times, and nothing we do will change that fact.
What can you say about stereotypical point of view that all ‘strange people’, who look like not very “normal” ones – are perceived as satanists who oppose against church, bad people at all, schizophrenics, maniacs etc (i mean can you look at this question from a point of view of ordinary box-minded human, and tell us what’s going on in your own reality?)
Humans are naturally xenophobic, it’s in our genes, and it’s something that has proven beneficial to the race on a whole. We will always look at those not belonging to our own tribe with suspicion, and even hostility. I spend very little effort thinking of how others perceive me, and I think that is the best course of action. We are all strangers.
Question from sweet-sweet childhood, like in good old times – tell us please about your own favourite music (3 bands), movies (3 films), festivals that still exist or maybe new, i.e. about anything that inspired you and felt like something that reflects in you in a very good way?
I give you three bands, because music always resonates more strongly with me than other artforms: Cortex, Crass, and Current 93. The list is really endless, but these three are bands I will always return to. Films rarely has as lasting an impact on me for some reason. I enjoy watching movies, but non has ever changed my life. Aesthetically I am drawn to black-and-white films, preferably silent or at least with very little dialogue. Anything from Körkarlen, to La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc, to Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, to Begotten.
What are your next plans and goals for a year\three years?
I never know where T × R × P will take me. But I will continue to do its bidding, both on stage and on records, in the hope that one day I reach full gnosis of what its purpose is.
