I.C.E.'s Apocalyptic End in White roared on the black metal scene recently. Those unlucky ones who haven't had the opportunity to listen to it yet need to hear it to believe it. Those who have been exposed to the album still stand, jaws dropped, in stunning disbelief. Furious speed blasts, monstrous riffs, bottom heavy production, searing vocals - and everything is immersed in the subarctic COLD. I.C.E. members do not walk about in public, and don't easily grant interviews. However, Metal Reviews team has been one of the first to talk with these Reincarnated Demons of the Cold. Whether we got the answers we were looking for, or whether the shroud of mystery only got thicker - you decide.
Hi, guys, thanks for doing this interview. I am sure you have not had many so far, as I.C.E. is a relatively new band. First off, let me congratulate you on your first full-length Apocalyptic End in White. An Album of the Month on Metalreviews.com. As a casual black metal fan I have to say I am very impressed. With your 3-song demo flying very much under the radar (many black metal fans I know have never heard of I.C.E. before), was it difficult to secure the deal? How long is it? How many full length albums we can expect? Why Crash?
Yes, this is our first spoken interaction with a human interviewer, and we are glad to open the doors of truth to the ears of the contemplatable human race...let them know of their oncoming demise...there is more pain and fear that way ....unlike the wild animals who are oblivious to the approaching apocalypse. Be aware and know, that soon the time shall come, and you will all succumb. We know that many of you have never heard of I.C.E. before, and that does not surprise us, this is because we have spent many years secluded away within our caves amongst the frozen north....preparing our souls....we were once mortal, and now thru communion with the ancient spirit of Råvaskeith, we were chosen to be the ones...the ones to bring the subzero kingdom of old to existence once more. We speak the truth with our music, preparing the frozen apocalypse and raising Råvaskieth is a very time consuming thing, and takes many years...our link to our human lives is still buried within us...and so we felt compelled to gather together using our human talents of the past to create this album for the masses, as a taunting spit in the eye of humanity. You have no idea what is in store for you.....all in due time. It was not difficult to find a label to spread the word, especially in the metal scene where people seem to embrace the death and misery, I know there are some out there who also eagerly await the coming of the END, this music is for them. It is fitting that these humans upon hearing I.C.E. immediately embrace it, in wonder and amazement - because of their primordial astral fluid subconsciously screaming at them: YOU SHOULD NOT BE HERE....THE END IS NEAR... Cosmic, cold and ancient, the chaos gods of I.C.E. shall return to rule once more. We are not sure as to how long it will take for us to complete our mission. Communion with the amorphous energy of the utmost ancient will take many years......so I'm sure we will be back again to record another album of testimony....we shall see....for now revel in APOCALYPTIC END IN WHITE.
Apocalyptic End in White is a perfect fire, or should I say, icestorm. Rather than me trying to describe it, how about you tell us how one arrives at such a balance of speed, atmosphere, brutality and melody. Take it away.
To describe these things, I cannot really say. I do know that before we took it upon ourselves to take the jump and move to the wilderness of the north - feeling the pull of Råvaskieth, we were all musicians as humans...outcasts...different. To us all these things you talk of, all come naturally, and I suppose that the powers we inherited through our astral communions, may have influenced our talents even more so, giving us even more talent. All of our senses and abilities are constantly growing stronger, and the cold emptiness prepares us for the time, when we will be given the final power to raise the beasts, and bring the rightful unity of cold black emptiness to the universe once more. If this music sounds inhuman to you, then you are correct. Just by playing the album in your speakers, you are opening the eyes of the otherside to peer right into you....and you feel that as the music rages on.
What is I.C.E. song writing process like? Are these songs a collective creature or a work of an individual?
These songs all come from a collective....we gather together in this form only so often to spit forth this human way of expanding the mind and soul. Our inhuman souls are constantly colliding together on the astral level intertwining, and inspiring each other.....hence all these songs come forth naturally as a combined unity of power and conviction. No one person creates, we all just flow. We do not handle things as normal human men can comprehend....It is hard for me to explain...This music just IS....as we just ARE.
How does I.C.E. achieve such thick, bottom heavy production with all instruments, including vocals being so clear?
Our connection to our past lives as humans amongst the monkey cattle presented us with many contacts, that our brains retained during the transformation. When we gathered back together here in the States, we used these contacts to get in touch with who we thought could record this album the best. We gave that producer the challenge and he accepted. The album came out just as we expected. SUPREME. As for the vocals, we have no control of vocals or lyrics, the voice of Råvaskieth spits forth from us, whenever we open our mouths...we can not control that..nor understand the presence or power of it just yet...it just happens.
I am sure I was not the only one who made comparisons to Immortal in my review. Do you agree with this or not? How do these comparisons make you feel?
We do not know of this "Immortal"? Surely there can be no immortal on this planet.....this is a corporeal planet, and thus all living energy will eventually be frozen dead, once the Gåmorkian powers make there way from the abyss across the frozen emptiness of space....all will perish. There are no immortals but those who still dwell within the strain of the frozen black holes and expanding nebuli.
You can’t talk about I.C.E. and not mention the Image. What is in the band’s name? Song titles? The outfits? The overall approach?
We are IMPERIAL CRYSTALLINE ENTOMBMENT. The name says it all, but you will not be able to comprehend this until you are convulsing in terror and pain as you see the endless snow falling over your strained and wincing face. Then and only then will you know the meaning of this Imperial Crystalline Entombment. As for the song titles and lyrics and such, I talked of this before: we have no control of vocals or lyrics, the voice of Råvaskieth spits forth from us, whenever we open our mouths...we can not control that..nor understand the presence or power of it just yet...it just happens. The clothing we wear simply conceals us amongst the vast frozen landscape during our communions. We need not be disturbed by any who many spot our ritual communions. Also these cloaks conceal and hide our now sunken and frozen bodies...hideous are flesh as become thru the transformation. We feel nothing and our blood now pumps sheer ice
Råvaskeith. Did I.C.E. create this God of Cold or does he arrive from some Northern mythology?
I.C.E. created nothing. We are merely mediators between the ancient and this corporeal universe, nor is the great Råvaskieth a myth. All your human scientists have comprehended that the concept of time is nonexistent, and "just is" and “has been”, far before humans designated "time" to it. They also have stumbled upon the hundreds of traveling black holes that sift through this sun's star cluster alone, and yet they are still far from realizing the origin of these shifting masses and their power and that empty black matter that fills the vast, cold abyss of space. We where chosen, conjured and brought to the north to be the first creatures of this universe to conjure and summon the waves of ice through the ever expanding universe. This is fact, and we have no control nor invention over this power, It will make itself known soon enough.
What do you think a death from hypothermia would feel like?
You will all know the answer to this eventually firsthand. However, when we originally died within the great storm of the aurora aligning, it was more than hypothermia. Hypothermia was just the beginning, the portal, the calm before the storm....you will all know the meaning of this.
You are probably aware that the net is rife with speculation on structure and membership of I.C.E. The shroud of secrecy is thick and I am positive you are not going to unveil it for this curious soul. How much are you willing to divulge? Your booklet does not even talk about which member plays what instrument.
Our identities died the minute our souls were ripped from our chests and cast upon the whirling winds of the Blissered shrine. Even if we retained memory of who we were as mortals, it would be unimportant to the mission of I.C.E. We will divulge all that you human monkeys are allowed to know of the ancient. Concerning the instruments, all these songs come forth naturally as a combined unity of power and conviction, there are no instruments but us ourselves, as the instruments for the open eye of Råvaskieth.
With I.C.E. members being involved with other projects what are the long term goals for the band? Will it remain the band? Should we expect the next album sometime? When?
What other projects? There is nothing else in our lives / death apart from I.C.E.. We were given a new life, and until our mission is complete, I.C.E. and the summoning of the END, shall be the way. We will continue to thrive amongst the northlands, hidden within caverns of ice and snow, communing with the ONE. Your children shall continue to be abducted by us, and skinned within the piercing blizzard winds of astral nebuli. You mortal monkeys are so quick to inquire about more I.C.E., more death, more misery, more hateful blasting. It is no wonder that your deaths will come swift and painful the way you subconsciously desire it to be....because primordially deep down, you know what should be. The end of life, the rise of the Råvaskieth and the rightful frozen universal kingdom.
Your personal message to the readers of Metalreviews.com
Those of you who have always looked at this existence and known that something is not right, something is wrong.....you look with hate and misanthropy...I.C.E. is for you...to open your souls and have the great eye of Råvaskieth stare into you. Feel the hate, and when the cold winds come and the screaming begins....take your knife with you into the snow....bury yourself deep and end your own life, then and only then will you who understand, perish in emptiness without the vicious pain of the astral cosmic regime....

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