The trauma and nightmares of war according Moonreich

Conceived as a solo project in 2008 and one disastrous first performance in Paris of 09. During the recording of their debut album look martial the band was reborn again as a band. "Loi Maritinale" is depressing black metal that explores the trauma and nightmares of war.

Greetings Weddir and PFZ and happy new year I hope everything is all well with you!
First would you please give the readers a brief history of the band and how long Moonreich been together have there been any member changes since the band been together?
Weddir: I created Moonreich in 2008, did it alone and at the beginning, it was only a solo project. There was a first line up during 2009 for one show in Paris but it was unfortunately pretty bad. After that I didn't want to form a line up any more and one year later when I started recording Bass for Loi Martiale, Odarec, our current drummer wrote me, we met and decided to do it for real. Then the others members came-up, rehearsals started and the recording of the album could seriously begin.

Moonreich is now on ATMF. What are the leading factors in the band's decision to sign ATMF?
Weddir: We knew it could be a great opportunity for us, they make an incredible work with their bands. Atmf is a really honest black metal label, it is important for us that people with whom we work have the same vision of Black metal. They offered us a deal for "Loi Martiale" and we hope everything will be fine.

Is this the first album for the label? Was there any other material the band released before "Loi Martiale"?
Weddir: "Loi Martiale" is the first album on ATMF, we released an EP in July 2009, it was a TAPE released by the French label Infernal Kommando.

Can you name some of the band's influences and how much of an impact they had on you growing up as fans and musicians?
Weddir: It depends, personally I listen a lot of Swedish black and death metal bands, old Bathory's, some Watain now there is a lot of good bands but I don't really care. When I'm composing I don't think about others bands, only the feeling matters for me, inspiration can come from darkness, war documentaries etc... but not really from other bands.

PZF: I’m more into Thrash Metal like Sodom, Venom, Audiopain and it has a lot of influence on my voice when I’m doing my part… Concerning black metal, bands as Taake, Sorhin as well have an influence on the way I place my voice.

Most of your songs on "Loi Martiale" are written and sung in your native tongue. Seem like a lot of bands these days are singing songs in their native tongue. Is it much easier for you to compose and write the song in your native tongue?
Weddir: I think singing in French is totally natural for us. We have a beautiful mother tongue so why not use it ? I would not agree with those saying that a lot of bands sing in their mother tongues, not in France actually. Most bands sing in English, maybe it sounds " cool " or I don't know what. Maybe the day will come for us to do it in English, it depends on the feeling of songs, of what we need to express in songs but for the moment we do it in French.

PZ: First lyrics were in English and after a talk with Weddir, we decided to use French. All my experiences in the past as vocalist were in English and I was really curious to see if I could find the same feeling in French.

Can you tell me and the readers about the album cover?
Weddir: Yes, an artist did it for us, I saw his art and thought his touch could totally work with our music. I appreciate his work and especially the cover of our album, it perfectly reflects its ambiance.

Alright, can tell me about some of the song on the album if possible what they translated to in English?
PZF: The EP is the story of a soldier during the few days after the end of a war and all the violence inside him growing more and more. "Loi Martiale" starts here. We talk about war in the lyrics, but not the act by itself, the impact that war has on human mind. The album starts with “le Regard du pendu”, the soldier could not bear being alive anymore. All lyrics are about what a human can do on his own mind after a violent emotional traumatism.

Many ways the french black metal scene played an intergal part of the black metal in the early nineties but never got much credit at the time you feel that the French BM is getting it's due recognition it deserve?
Weddir: I don't really care about the French scene, we do what we have to do, what other bands do does not really interest me. Of course we have good bands and of course we have assholes, like everywhere else I guess.
Lately there been alot of good bands comingt out of France not only in the BM field also ther been alot of good horror flicks coming out of France. I don't think there's anybody can top high tension and frontier(s). Most of the good horror is coming out of Europe.

What are the main sources of inspiration for some of the songs on "Loi Martiale"?
War, death, devastation. Traumatism.

Thank you for your support!