Stefan Kozak: During that break I recorded all the music for the next Mystic Forest album. That was pretty intense. After finishing to record the music, I was unable to write the lyrics: I tried to work with Baalberith, but I quickly understood that this was not what I wanted. Then I tried to write the lyrics myself but I was washed up, no energy anymore... And here comes the funny part...

I had to move to a new house for a few months with nothing else to do every evening other than playing music, at the same time I had bought new instruments, new material for my home studio and I wanted to try it all, so I decided to record every little thing in order to find how to use my new gear...

And here it is. A few months later, a new CD was recorded before I got even the idea to record one! All this little things I had recorded I put together, threw on some lyrics, took the voice Debbie J. had recorded for Mystic Forest, and put it over one of the songs, decided to have a song sung in Japanese, and then changed my mind and asked for a Japanese radio announcer voice to record it.... I recorded my voices in an afternoon... And my new CD was ready!

Maelstrom: New instruments? Do tell. What are you playing on now?

Stefan Kozak: I had bought a Vigier Excalibur Supra. It’s an incredible guitar. It was handmade in six months in order to be the exact guitar I wanted. This guitar has opened me a new way of playing — this is really one of the best guitars ever made... really, I had played on many guitars, but this incredible feeling of touching a true piece of wood and not a piece of plastic; like what you feel when playing on a violin, for exemple, is incredible...

Maelstrom: What new recording gear are you using?

Stefan Kozak: A small home studio like everyone’s got these days... Everything is really "garage" in spirit. 

Maelstrom: My ear for detail has developed so much since the period when I first heard Eikenskaden. I could always feel the crazed intensity, but now I can actually pinpoint how, like, on that record, you turned all the toms and cymbals up very loud, and the snare and kick not. You love turning the cymbals up loud. On Black Laments and other albums, was this crazy mix choice intentional, and how do you feel about it now? 

Stefan Kozak: The fact is that I wanted to mimic the typical Pytten Grieghallen drum sound. I was in love with this way of having blasting toms. I am still in love with it, in fact. But now, with The Skaden, I use an old school rock drum sound... far more organic. It sounds huge and helps to give a certain feel to the musical landscape since I do not use many instruments in The Skaden songs.

Maelstrom: Something that I misunderstood about your bands... I thought you were actually playing the drums, and that it was an e-kit. It never sounded like a drum machine, even though (primarily) the tUMULt site lists it as such, because the performance sounded too passionately damaged and rabid... like a drum machine couldn't do... and there was something alive even in the sound of it.

Stefan Kozak: I’ve performed the drums in many different ways on all my records, but I think that with The Skaden, I’ve found the perfect way. I am very proud of this drum recording: a perfect mix of synthetic and organic parts.

Maelstrom: Care to go into more detail about examples of the synthetic / organic mixes on your records?

Stefan Kozak: Haha, no, I will keep a bit of my secrets, if you don't mind.

Maelstrom: Eikenskaden is listed as "broken up" on metal-archives.com, and the new album is called The Skaden. Why the name change? The continuity in German of "eikenskaden" ("oaken shield") seemed perfect. Now it's English / German "the shield," the logo still looks like Eikenskaden (or maybe it's because of the little man mascot that goes with all your albums) which sounds like a popular cable TV series about Policemen. What shield is it your music represents?  

Stefan Kozak: Do not try to translate what The Skaden means. I just wanted to change the band name in order to not fool people, The Skaden is not Eikenskaden, The Skaden is not black metal, it is far more than that.

I had thought that the "The" was pretty "rock'n roll," and I used "Skaden" because it was the part I loved the most in the Eikenskaden name... really everything was so spontaneous with this band that you do not have to think methaphysically — it is just a band called "The Skaden." Yes, I used my "mascot" on the logo, this mascot means "this record is a pure Stefan Kozak product." That's all.

Maelstrom: How about Mystic Forest? Is that alive or dead?  

Stefan Kozak: As I told you, as soon as I find the inspiration to write lyrics again for Mystic Forest, the new CD will be here. This may be tomorrow or in two years.

Maelstrom: Got it. Do you plan to make more records under The Skaden? How about Eikenskaden?

Stefan Kozak: Eikenskaden is dead for now. The Skaden is alive and well! I have already recorded 10 minutes of music for the next album...

Maelstrom: Is the music for the new Mystic Forest and the music for The Skaden two seperate things?

Stefan Kozak: Completely, and more than ever. The new Mystic Forest does not have even 1% of rock'n roll in its veins, while The Skaden’s got at last 50%. The new Mystic Forest will be the evolution of Romances, bue more complicated, with a LOT of guitars, a lot of lead guitar rhythmics, and all the Mystic Forest style will be there.

Maelstrom: French black metal has become increasingly in vogue and talked about on a world wide scale. Antaeus, Deathspell Omega, and now bands like Merrimack... All along, Eikenskaden made black metal records, kind of in a semi-parallel universe. How do you feel recognition for your work has gone along with the strengthening of the perception of French black metal?

Stefan Kozak: I really was gravel in the French black metal scene’s shoe. There are maybe 5% of French black metal musicians whom I appreciate as human beeings. Damn, I haven’t had to speak to another French black metal musician for maybe five years now. As you said, I am in a parallel universe.

Maelstrom: I can hear the stylistic differences mentioned in The Skaden press release, and feel like this album is coming more from a heart place in comparison with the last Eikenskaden, which sounded like you were trying to do just one more record for whatever reason, but your heart wasn't really into it anymore.  

Stefan Kozak: There is no Light... got all the qualities of its faults. I mean, it is full of despair, pain, sorrow... it is breathless. It is a "real" true black metal record. Mysanthropic stuff at its best. Then The Skaden comes and here is all the best I have to offer! The Skaden was not even designed to be a band, a CD or whatever else, just me recording stuff for fun. And here it is, my best release.

There was no way it could not be my best release, I am at my best when I am in "whole improvisation mode." This is why it is not black metal anymore. This record is just the deepest part of my guts.

Maelstrom: About the Japanese bit at the end of the record... I find it interesting how the "you" in Japanese was chosen as "kisama," which connotes extreme hatred and disgust. Since in English, we don't have such pronoun nuances, that aspect can't be conveyed as well in the title without adding a bunch of words to get in the way. Were you aware of the pronoun choice, and why choose it? Your band photo is you sitting despondently with twin middle fingers extended. Whom is this vehemence directed at?  

By the way, did you know that the actual character meaning of "kisama" is "noble form"? The "sama" is the same "sama" used when people honorifically refer to someone, and "-san" is just not honorific enough. Somehow, through time, "noble master" became "you fucking piece of shit." I don't know how. It's interesting that other Japanese uncommon pronouns that convey disgust also started off as honorific terms. The other one that springs to mind is "onore," which is meant to mean "the self," or "myself," but means in contemporary Japanese as "you bastard." Thought you'd like to know, if you didn't already.  

Stefan Kozak: Here is the "secret" about this song, I had written the lyrics in French at first (I never do that...), then — and I have absolutely no idea why this crazy idea came to my mind — I asked for my friend Sakrifiss (one of my French black metal buddies, who lives in Japan now and is married to a Japanese woman) to translate it in Japanese in order for me to sing it...

To help me to do it well, I asked him to record a reference track in order to know how to pronounce the words. Then Sakrifiss, who works at a radio station, asked one of the female newscasters to do it. When I heard the incredible voice of this woman, first I understood why she was a newscaster, and then I told myself, "hey, don't be stupid, you have top stuff material in your hand, don't do shitty stuff. Use this woman’s voice!" I love the result!

Maelstrom: Excellent. Oh, one more aside point, it's funny how the woman uses "ore" as the "I" in the narrative. "Ore" is the most manly "I" there is, because the origin of the lyrics are from you, a man. But it's a woman reading it. So it's like a dainty woman reading the lyrics as if she were a pissed, testosterone-filled man. Weird.

Very cool cover art! Is that a photo of a person wrapped up?

Stefan Kozak: It’s a Kevin Rolly, and I can’t think of a better cover for a CD called "You will hope I had died." For me, it represents a person coming out of the coffin she (yes, despite the asexual look, it is a female model) was put a few hours before in order to be buried.

Maelstrom: Is there more concerning the asexual theme in this record?

Stefan Kozak: No, everything else is sexual!!! Hehe. In fact, at first, like yourself I thought that this was a man in the photo, but I saw that this was a woman when I had seen the whole picture series from which the cover is taken from.

Maelstrom: Listened to Green Hell, Welcome Back in the Forest, The Last Dance, and Waltz in the Midst of Trees again lately. I think Waltz will probably be my favorite album of yours ever. I like the melodies and compositions best in it, and the classical pieces played between the songs make it so fun. And the last track with the "waltz in the midst of trees" is classic. I didn't remember Green Hell being so good!

Stefan Kozak: A CD with the three Mystic Forest albums will be released by a small French label in a few months. For the first time ever, the first Mystic Forest demo will be available to a large number of people.

Maelstrom: Also gave The Skaden another good listen. I can see how you'd feel it was your best album. It's got the most balanced sound and greatest variety of musical approaches yet. But from a fan's standpoint, I feel so much more gusto coming from Mystic Forest, which I've realized is my favorite project of yours.

Is Julie no longer the Mystic Forest singer?

Stefan Kozak: Sadly, Julie moved to the south of France five years ago. I haven’t heard from her since. I was lucky a real singer like Julie accepted to sing with me purely out of friendship and artistic curiosity. She is the only person I played with I really miss, the only one I know I would never be able to substitute. So, I had to change the way I use female vocals since her leaving.

Maelstrom: You've been at it for years now, and have released at least eight albums. How closely have you been paying attention to the response of your work, your "fanbase," so to speak? What does the response to your art mean to you? How do you feel about it? Has it colored your work? In your case, does life imitate art, or the other way around?