What are you doing currently? Have you started to compose your new material? When do you plan to record your new album?

I'm just finishing a MCD titled 'Holy War EP'. It will be released on CMI in April I think. After that I will start working on the next full-length album. I expect it to be a year or so until it is finished - I am painfully slow when it comes to creating music.

The debut album of your soloproject was released quite time ago. What do you think about this album today? Do you think result achieved is the same you tried to achieve when you have started the recording of the album? What do you think about reaction of fans, press? I guess almost all attention of Cold Meat/ dark ambient fans was taken by new album of Raison D'etre...

The response has been a lot better than I had dared hope for. It has sold extremely well considering that it is a debut from an unknown artist. I've also had a lot of splendid reviews to back it up. All in all I'm very happy with the album and the impact it has made.

Could you tell me about other people who took part in recording of debut album of Coph Nia?

Not too many people were involved actually. The female vocal recordings with Clara Pahlen were done a long time ago. And the guitars on 'Sanctus' by Bill Brisette were originally done for a remix by Mindspawn. Apart from that everything is of my own creation.

As a rule CMI bands avoid agendas and hide their political/ ideological views. At the same time labels like State Art, TESCO, MDP use their music as a tool for spreading propaganda. You seem to be one of those who write music for the sake of music. Do you think it's fair (to use art as propaganda) or an artist has right to do everything he wants? What do you think about censorship?

Censorship of course sucks! Everyone should be able to freely express his or her beliefs, be it in art or no. But I think a lot of bands in this genre are toying a bit much with questionable imagery; Elevating fascism and war to the most high. I'm not outraged or upset or anything; just a bit confused... Perhaps I'm stupid.

Where are origins of your interest to dark ambient? I have seen your bio and it tells that you have changed your sound two years ago... Was it dark ambient as well?

My interest began in '86 or '87 I think. I stumbled upon bands like Coil, NWW, C93, Psychic TV and I was totally blown away. These were moods and ideas that rock oriented music just couldn't portray (for me, that is). I said to myself: Wow, you can make really dark and evil music by just adding different sounds together... You don't even have to be able to play an instrument! Well, I was in for a surprise. It wasn't that easy. Let's just say that I'm not particularly proud of my earliest experiments.

How do you write music? Is it comes from inside of you or something from outside/ environment inspires you to do so?

Hard to say. Input comes from the outside; my music comes from the inside... Am I just a filter in between perhaps?:) seriously, it is very different from time to time. In many cases I have the concept clear before the creative process starts. In other cases the music seems to guide me in the right direction.

As I understood Coph Nia is your soloproject. You write all the music. Is that right? What advantages are there for you in working alone? As opposed to working with other people?

The advantage is that I rule! Having said that I also have to admit that it can at times be extremely frustrating and tedious to work on your own. No one to help you out when you get stuck, so I have to rely on another source of help - Time! Sometimes I just have to let a piece rest for a while and then all of a sudden I know what must be done.

10 years ago Great Russian Empire USSR was destroyed. We decided to dedicate our upcoming issue to this event. What do you think about such anniversary? What has changed in the world and in your life since then?

I must admit that I'm not very knowledgeable about the history of your country, so I will keep quiet and not expose my ignorance.

Please tell me about Golden Dawn movement. Ordo Templi Orientis belongs to this movement or it's something else? I know it's rather impossible to put all information in short answer...

The Golden Dawn was an important order founded in 1888 if I remember right. Almost all contemporary occultism derives from it in one way or another, but I don't care for very much for the Golden Dawn system itself as I find it to be overly complex. Moreover the regalia used looks very silly:) Crowley was a member for some years but he eventually founded his own order: The A.'.A.'. and later on the Ordo Templi Orientis. The OTO was a Masonic style order, focusing on Sex Magic, that Crowley sort of 'took over' and revised.

Why did you choose these things and why do you think they are right ones?

I didn't really choose them - they just presented themselves to me.

Have you seen any proofs that this stuff works?

Beyond all reasonable doubt!

Every man is a star/ Slaves shall serve... I'm sure lots of people know these words of Crowley. Even if they don't know about his philosophy. Honestly, I do not understand the words... To me the first one totally denies the second one. "Slaves shall serve" sounds like something Nietzschean, but "Every man is a star" is more in Christian vein. How do you fit together those two statements? Shall a slave serve and how can he be a star? ...

This is a very complicated issue, as we are dealing with phrases from a 'religious' text pulled out of context (you will also find some strange shit indeed in the Bible or the Koran or ANY holy book). There plenty of room for anarcho-faschistic interpretations of "The Book of the Law" but that's not my thing. Thelema for me is solely about the supremacy of the individual - I'm the King of the world, and all the rest are my servants!

Returning back to your debut album... To me it doesn't sound like one piece. Some tracks differ from the rest. The track with words "I'm the blue-lidded daughter..." is very different from first dark ambient tracks. Was it your intention (to create an eclectic album) from the very beginning, or it means CN still on the way to it's very own sound and some changes may happen in future as well?

Since man (myself included) wants to classify and label all phenomena I was a bit concerned for a while that the album would be too diverse. Almost all feedback I've received has been very positive so it seem I'm safe:)
I sure hope changes will continue to happen. Coph Nia is the outlet for my creativity and I don't intend to start any side project to suit any songs that doesn't "sound like Coph Nia". The "Holy War EP" which should be out when this interview is published will show yet another side of me.

You told me that you are interested in occult stuff. We all born in materialistic environment of contemporary civilization. How could it happen that a guy from 21-st century became interested in something as old as pyramids? Why?

What I am interested in is a lot older than the pyramids and it will still be here when they are gone... It is eternal.

BTW, what do you think about writings of m. Blavatski?

I know of her importance as predecessor to the Golden Dawn movement, but I haven't actually read any of her works.

What do you think about contemporary Sweden? In the past your motherland was a country of brave Vikings and warriors who brought a lot of troubles to their neighbors. We all remember Swedish war when Russia had really bad luck for some time... Well, even my homecountry Belarus (Great Duchy of Lithuania) was in war with Sweden! And in this century Sweden became some sort of it's own caricature - you were one of few countries who didn't take part in WWII. Your country earned money on this Pan-European disaster - sometimes you companies sold its stuff to Nazis and Allies at the same time. Today we know Sweden as totally liberal country with feministic pressure and low moral... Do you like the way Sweden develops over the years?

Err... My answer regarding Russia probably applies here to;) I may be living in Sweden but I don't really feel a part of it. I consider myself a bit outside of society. Sounds pathetic I know, but it's true nonetheless. "feministic pressure" - not on me... "low moral" - a global issue... But I'm not sitting around dreaming of past "Greater Times"

I do not know if you tuned to last scientific news. I've heard that American astronomers have discovered "dark matter" (I'm not sure if I use the right English words to call it). This stuff fills the void among stars and it weights almost 90% of universe. So there is no vacuum! But it was known thousands years ago. Ancient Greeks knew that. Pretty the same situation with decoding of human Genome. Now scientists know our Genome is not very different from Genome of a fucking rat. Human doesn't look like crown of evolution. Bible said the same shit thousand years ago - we all made of the same clay. So, it looks like modern science doesn't lead us to anything and there is no so-called "progress". What do you think about all that and do you believe in progress as a vital force of human civilization?

Yes I believe in progress; both 'scientific' and 'religious'. Most generally accepted science may be boring and discomforting. It is constantly trying to reduce the human to merely chemical processes, completely overlooking the Soul...
What a great opportunity for me to end this interview with Crowley's slogan for a series of books called 'The Equinox': "The Method of Science. The Aim of Religion." - This is the way progress is made.