Mitternacht Interview

Forged in solitude and shadow, Mitternacht stands as a solitary manifestation of Black Metal’s inner necessity. Stripped of excess and collective compromise, its sound emerges from the still hours—cold, deliberate, and heavy with intent. Guitars cut with austere resolve, rhythms move with restrained force, and atmosphere hangs like a veil drawn tight around the listener. This is not chaos for spectacle’s sake, but isolation given shape.

Mitternacht dwells in the liminal space between reflection and confrontation, where silence carries as much weight as sound. Through minimalism and control, Sigillvm channels a singular vision—one rooted in introspection, discipline, and the unseen gravity of the midnight hour.

This interview descends into that solitary chamber, where Black Metal is stripped to its essence. Across thirteen questions, we trace the origin, intent, and inner architecture of Mitternacht, allowing the project to speak from within the stillness that birthed it.

Thirteen Questions that emerged from the still hours

Q1: Mitternacht is a solitary creation. When did this project first take form, and what compelled you to give it a voice rather than keep it as a private ritual?

Sigillvm: The ending riff (and overall motif) in “Blasphemous Warfare” was written in 2019 and everything was put together with a convenient label in 2020. When I wrote that riff, I knew it had to materialize into its own form.

Q2: As a one-man Black Metal act, every element flows through a single will. What does solitude offer you creatively that a traditional band structure could not?

Sigillvm: “Freedom I think they call it…but I bet there’s a better word for it.” 

Its insularity comes from both abundance and necessity. It is easier to arrange and record something without scheduling conflicts or differing views on how many times a riff should be played or someone’s ego trying to override mine (which I assure you is more inflated). Playing shows was never a priority for this project so I only think in terms of recording. 

Q3: The name Mitternacht evokes liminality, stillness, and unseen hours. What does “midnight” represent to you on a symbolic or spiritual level?

Sigillvm: Its meaning does not exist entirely outside of that common cultural and spiritual understanding that you explained. I visualized the heightened emotional state that occurs in the dark hours of night, as we know that our mind compensates for lack of information by filling in what we fear. There is also a connection regarding “panic” and the invocation of Pan, as what is written is frenzied in the same manner as that emotion. Many rituals are performed at this hour and these factors cannot be dismissed from that inclination. 

Q4: When you begin writing, what comes first: atmosphere, emotion, or narrative? How do you know when a piece has reached its intended form?

Sigillvm: When actualizing the project and its ethos, the modus operandi was always “forward march.” Although there is substantial quality control from my particularities as a writer, I know when something is complete by the nature of what is written rather than meeting any predetermined confines. If it was otherwise, then “Torture” would have been drawn out for five minutes like the Bathory tracks it pays homage to. I go where the muses speak.

The atmosphere is a result of the material’s frantic aggression. Those who are in the culture know that atmosphere is a byproduct of aggression, as Fenriz put it in the early ‘00s, rather than something sought after from the beginning. 

Q5: Your music feels deliberate rather than excessive—restrained, yet heavy with intent. How do you approach the balance between raw aggression and controlled atmosphere?

Sigillvm: Everything is deliberate within the ink-on-paper, but its execution is where the nature of each piece gains its power. “Blasphemous Warfare” uses two triplet ostinatos throughout the track if you listen closely to the main riff variations and the chorus, respectively. “Crescent Horns” has a Rune/Blasphemer style arpeggio between each part of the main riff and is just blast beats throughout the entire song without any breaking. That track encapsulates how I felt at the time, pure frustration and monotony. – just beating the life out of the instruments.

Q6: Lyrically, do you approach writing as storytelling, confession, or invocation? How personal are the themes you explore?

Sigillvm: The underlying discussion with each track alludes to pagan vengeance against abrahamism using Satan as an instrument of power. I have always written using prayer rhetoric, so as a result the proclamations carry an innate power to them. 

Q7: As the sole performer and producer, how important is the recording process itself? Do you see it as a technical task, or as an extension of the ritual behind the music?

Sigillvm: The recording process is all that I know. It is what I did in my formative years and what I will continue to do now.

Q8: Production in black metal often walks a fine line between rawness and clarity. How do you decide how far to push either extreme in Mitternacht’s sound?

Sigillvm: Whenever I record something I end up wishing it sounds worse. The instrumentals were put together in two sessions, one for drums and one for guitars (with a power outage happening during the second session, amusingly enough) and the vocals were done in a proper studio – if it worked for Transilvanian Hunger I figured it would work for this. 

The thought behind the album and its preceding demo’s recording was to have a liminal feel to it, which was inspired primarily by Marduk’s Here’s No Peace EP since the beginning. In another interview I mentioned the use of an HM-2 pedal when recording, which I applied to the EP as well, to blur those lines just as Beherit did on Drawing Down the Moon. I found out later that Misthyrming also used one on at least one of their recent albums. It is obvious that this is a black metal album, but I had to channel the spite from the ‘90s for both a pro- and anti-black metal statement. 

Q9: Does the American black metal landscape influence you at all, or do you feel more aligned with the genre’s European roots and traditions?

Sigillvm: I was never inspired by American black metal outside of Von or obvious Canadian relics like Conqueror and Blasphemy (the drum fills on Gods of War in particular). When I think of that term “American black metal” I picture the wave in the ‘00s/’10s that put out a lot of terrible music, assuming it was around the time of Until the Light Takes Us (and not the informative deleted scenes and interviews). 

There are standouts but I never heard anything that moved me in the same way as those from Europe (or South America, like everyone else). Its influence is apparent, but without devolving into record label culture-metal, so there should be no anticipation of traditional instrument filler tracks – only boring synth filler tracks the way Satan intended. 

Q10: Working alone demands discipline as much as inspiration. How do you maintain momentum and focus when there is no external pressure or collaboration to rely on?

Sigillvm: I would not consider this project to have any momentum, maybe the future will prove something different. The Barbarian Witchcult “rehearsal” was a way to perceive momentum, although meant to fulfill the sentiment I have for bands’ rarities and novelty releases. Originally I was going to drop a few Impaled Nazarene covers with it but ultimately decided against that – how many times does one really need to listen to a cover of The Horny and the Horned? The tape exists for those who are close listeners to things like Grymyrk (like myself, see the bassline in the EP version of “Crescent Horns”). For better or worse, there are new songs being written. 

Q11: What emotional or psychological state do you hope listeners enter when engaging with Mitternacht—from the first note to the final echo?

Sigillvm: A composer forces others to feel how he feels. In response to my feelings toward the spiritual and carnal I make declarations which reflect my own pathos of distance. Beyond the increased scope of what could be written in extreme metal that the black metal genres demonstrated, there is an unnamed quality within it that I seek to express. 

Q12: As a solitary artist, how do you know when a piece is finished—is it instinct, exhaustion, or a sense of closure?

Sigillvm: Just like in poetry, a song is complete when the idea is. Exhaustion sets in after the recording process, so now I limit how many demo versions are recorded and how long I work on something.

Q13: Finally, when looking ahead, do you see Mitternacht as a fixed vision, or a vessel that will continue to evolve as you do?

Sigillvm: Everything about Mitternacht is archaic in some way, I am not an innovator but a curator. A voice is there for the project based on what my interests are as a writer and stemmed from the decision to make aggressive metal. Although, no matter what I write someone always compares it to thrash metal, but for me that is metal – even if I put on makeup and write one of those two-chord riffs someone will call it “first wave,” which is fine by me. 

If there’s anything you’d like to add that we haven’t covered, feel free to include it.

Sigillvm: Cassette tapes for the self titled EP will be released through Death Eternal in January 2026 and available on the Mitternacht bandcamp. Many thanks for the feature.