GENNEMBORE

// If you’re at all privy to underground black metal, then there’s a good chance you’ve heard of GENNEMBORE, the USBM titans of Kentucky. As one of my favorite recent black metal acts, I had the chance to talk to friend and frontman, Piercer of Soul. //

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Cover of Gennembore's 2023 demo

Hello! Would you mind giving a quick introduction on yourself and your band?

↪ I am Piercer of Soul, guitars and vocals for GENNEMBORE. GENNEMBORE is the outward manifestation of the band’s collective attitude and heart for the spirit of black metal. We began writing independently, myself in 2019 and other members before/during/after this timeframe as we began to collaborate. Doom Morning Star, Splintered Shield, and I joined forces and wrote the songs together in an undisclosed bunker somewhere in the deep south. Aria of the Depths joined soon after, and together we composed our first demo in the name of glorious wretched battle. We are currently composing a new EP.

How did you settle on the name GENNEMBORE? It’s a Danish word, right?

↪ It is a Danish word, meaning “pierce” or “to pierce”. It’s both a pleasing word for me personally and an homage to some of our major influences in the Danish black metal scene who inspired us endlessly while writing our songs and riffs.

Since I’m much less knowledgeable on black metal than anything else, who do you pin as your influences? I hear a little bit of that second-wave sound as well as some U.S. black metal, but I can’t exactly put names to what I hear.

↪ As mentioned above, the Danish black metal collective known as The Korpsånd Circle were particularly influential on Splintered Shield and myself. We both took immense interest in bands like FANEBÆRER, JORDSLÅET and VAABNET. These bands all have a beautiful blend of melancholic punk driven madness that breathed a fresh blast of air into our usual listenings. You will surely hear such influences in our songs with slower, punchier sections that sometimes evolve into melodic punkish overtones. This was deliberate, as we let these riffs arise naturally and did not truly adhere to one sound or another. Other classics should not be overlooked either, such as the mighty NACHASH, WHOREDOM RIFE, OLDOWAN GASH and SATANIC WARMASTER to name a few. While we both adore and worship the Finnish black metal sound, we did not want to recreate or imitate it as much as we wanted to simply allow it to flow into our songwriting – which I think we did solidly. There are a great deal of established bands that certainly still have footholds in my songwriting but all these mentioned would be the primaries if I had to say.

Something I’ve noticed when listening to your 2023 demo is that you don’t write strictly black metal riffs. On “Regicide,” there’s some more trad-style riffing going on. Is this an intentional blend of styles or do you just write what comes naturally?

↪ Traditional heavy metal will surely always hold some bar in any riff we create, given that we are all metalheads and very deeply appreciate the genre to the fullest. There truly are no intentions to worship or hold close any particular sound, GENNEMBORE is simply sword and shield: Raging Southern Steel. We will not compromise and we will not be conquered. This is music driven by our hearts and souls.

What’s the metal scene like in Kentucky? The only bands I can think of from there are WOUND, BLOOD CURSE, CAULDRON BORN, CARRION RITUAL, and that old Christian band BRIDE.

↪ It depends on where you are in Kentucky. There are many great bands, especially the ones you have mentioned, but the others I think deserve recognition would be among TOMBSTALKER, PYROMANCER, APOCHRYPHAL REVELATION, VALDRIN, FORNICUS and the ever evil OFSTINGAN, as far the more extreme/black metal offerings are concerned. Any of these are worth a live gig and a tape at minimum, and I applaud them dearly for making this area a true metal haven.

You released your 2023 demo independently on Bandcamp, but also released it on cassette through Death Prayer Records. How has your relationship with them been? Will they release any future GENNEMBORE content as well?

↪ Death Prayer have been wonderful to work with, the label enjoyed our sound and put up our tapes/MP3s with zero issue. I do hope to continue working with them in future, as I mentioned previously we have several more odes to battle in the pipeline and I am ready to unleash them into this world as soon as possible.

One of the things that really gripped me about GENNEMBORE was your vocal style. I’m sure it’s more commonplace in black metal than I realize, but you’re basically doing shrill screams the entirety of the demo. Did you have to train to sing like this? Has your vocal style evolved at all since 2023?

↪ Thank you, I appreciate the kind words. My vocal style was born of necessity – in all honesty it took me several months to truly find my voice for this genre and implement it in a way that both pleased me and completed our sound. Of the many, many takes I attempted; the recordings on the tape were my best and I am happy to have cemented the first demo with them. It took me a few months due to inexperience and essentially teaching myself how to nail them down. I was listening to a ton of BLOOD RED FOG and NÉCROPOLE at the time and it suddenly just clicked one night – this was the type of vocal I was strongest at, and this was the route for GENNEMBORE.

Regarding evolution, yes, I have evolved significantly in the last year or so. In fact, there are some points in the demo that I look back at with a slight grin – I did my best at the time, but my best now is leagues better, in my opinion. I’ve learned from both recording other black metal tracks and from being onstage how to achieve the vocal I want at any given moment and this will be evident on future GENNEMBORE songs. I regret nothing about our first demo and I will not change any of it, but I will not regress on the next releases either. I am proud of what we accomplished and am extremely confident for what’s coming next.

From what I’ve seen, you primarily play Les Paul and SG-style guitars. I certainly don’t see the SG much in black metal – what’s your axe of choice? Is any one specific guitar you own better at doing the GENNEMBORE stuff than the others?

↪ Oh, the SG is pretty well known in black metal! Just take a look at NEGATIVE PLANE, NACHTLICH, etc. – I caught both of them live at the Eve of War festival and both bands rocked beautiful SGs onstage. My current assortment of axes includes an LTD EC-256 of which I mostly use to play in my punk band, a 2001 Gibson “Gothic” Edition SG and a 2024 white Gibson SG Standard that I recently picked up. The very first few riffs for the band were written on the LTD, and recorded using Splintered Shield’s Ibanez Destroyer. I wrote most of the newest material on my Gothic SG, but have since been letting it rest and giving my new white SG plenty of studio time. The SG model in general is probably my favorite body style, it just works very well ergonomically for my body type and the short neck is great for my shorter reach. They look like true weapons of war.

Tell me about the choice to use a Gustave Doré drawing as the cover for your demo. I’ve seen his stuff used on every kind of band – trad, power metal, speed & thrash, death, doom, etc. – What do you think it is about Doré’s art that’s so alluring to metal bands?

↪ Classics are classics for a reason, especially scenes of ancient battle and turmoil. Doré in particular has such a patent style that it’s almost synonymous with metal; rakes the bones as it should with ferocity.

As per tradition in black metal, everyone credited on the GENNEMBORE demo uses a pseudonym. You chose Piercer of Soul – did this have anything to do with the name GENNEMBORE or did it just sound cool?

↪ GENNEMBORE (meaning “pierce” or “to pierce”) and Piercer of Soul were what I came up with when I conceptualized the band. I sent some recordings to Splintered Shield and Doom Morning Star who took immediate interest in the sound and the aesthetic, and it all worked from there. Everyone else in the band uses pseudonyms to hoist our aesthetic, I was Piercer of Soul from the beginning due to this being exactly my goal musically.

The GENNEMBORE logo was designed by Patrick Zöller (AKA Karmazid), whose work includes artists like BEWITCHER, LAMP OF MURMUUR, CHEVALIER, and MALOKARPATAN among others. What was GENNEMBORE’s experience working with him?

↪ Karmazid is a wonderful friend and an extremely hard working artist, I had befriended him some years ago online while talking with him about Bloodborne, actually. Our acquaintance blossomed from there and turned into occasional long winded talks about who knows what, eventually leading to me sending him a few samples of the band… at which point he drafted up a logo for me; and I instantly knew this was the beginning of the band becoming a true reality and not just a bedroom project. I cannot thank him enough for not only his artistic offering but also his guidance and conversations with me about music. He is a true black metal warrior to the core and I am very fortunate to call him a friend.

Since I know you’re a man who enjoys lots of metal styles, what have been your favorite recent metal (or otherwise) albums? Would you suggest GENNEMBORE as a good band to get into black metal?

↪ Some of my favorite recent albums would be from bands ANGEL SWORD, NOCTURNAL WANDERER, GJENDØD, and DEMON BITCH, to name a few. I would say I primarily listen to black metal at any given moment, but I will never shy away from heavy metal as it stands. I grew up on MOTÖRHEAD, IRON MAIDEN and co. of course, and have branched out significantly since then, but I will never ever deny my roots in classic heavy metal. Would I suggest GENNEMBORE as a good band to introduce a new listener to black metal… probably not. I think there is a certain mystique to the style/blend of styles the band employs that is somewhat inaccessible to someone who may not be of maniac status just yet. The vocal style, the long winded repetitions, the somberness even could be off putting. However, I will not say don’t listen to the songs – give them a shot if you want to try out this genre of music, it may just work for you.

Do you plan on ever playing live or do you want Gennembore to just remain as a studio project?

↪ I would love to play GENNEMBORE live! I have rehearsed by myself countless times with my guitar & vocals, unfortunately I don’t know if this will come to fruition anytime soon. Splintered Shield is a busy man, and life will almost always get in the way of music. Doom Morning Star plays drums for several other bands, plays guitars and vocals as well for others, and lives about 8 hours south of myself and Splintered Shield. In an effort to not get too disheartened by this reality, Aria of the Depths and I began composing some shorter simplistic black metal songs in the form of a secondary band that we wanted to get onstage with as a sort of placebo while GENNEMBORE awaits its triumphant debut, but that’s discussion for another time. Ultimately, we would love to play live shows, but I do not know just yet how close this goal is to completion. It would truly establish the band as the force to be reckoned with that I know in my heart it is.

What’s on the horizon for GENNEMBORE? What should people be expecting from GENNEMBORE in 2025?

↪ A longform EP/short album of sorts is in the works for the coming year. Doom Morning Star is currently in the process of writing drums for five tracks, and I have been writing a sixth to add to it – I want to create a truly special release that showcases the growth of the band and our craft. Uncompromising true black metal is what we play and our passion is evident, all hail the RAGING SOUTHERN STEEL!

Thanks for entertaining my questions! Any final words?

↪ Keep it heavy, play it loud, remain unconquered and stay forever fucking true.

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Interviewed: December of 2024