Negative Plane VIII
2025-01-14
by Niklas Göransson
In the wake of Stained Glass Revelations, Negative Plane found themselves at a crossroads of acclaim and bewilderment – a paradoxical reception that charted the course for their first European tour.
NAMELESS VOID: When “Stained Glass Revelations” came out, I mainly remember a lot of confusion. Some reviews compared us to GHOST and similar retro bands, while others called it ‘groundbreaking surf rock’ <laughs>. I’m sitting there thinking, ‘What the fuck are they talking about?’
BESTIAL DEVOTION: I get that these reviewers aren’t us – they’re not in our heads. But when people started bringing up the fucking BEACH BOYS, Ed and I were completely bewildered. We’d been looking to MORTUARY DRAPE and BLACK HOLE – clean guitars, intros, and loads of effects. Somehow, for some listeners, this translated into surf rock.
Released in January 2011 by The Ajna Offensive and Invictus Productions, “Stained Glass Revelations” marked a slight departure from NEGATIVE PLANE’s debut, incorporating layered effects and eerie atmospheres reminiscent of gothic rock and 1970s psychedelia.
NAMELESS VOID: Take the opening of “Angels of Veiled Bone” – I was sure people would call us out for ripping off BLACK HOLE. Instead, we were plagued by questions about THE BEACH BOYS. I tried to explain, ‘No, it has nothing to do with surf rock – the layers on the guitars are because of this obscure Italian metal.’
In surf rock, reverb creates a shimmering resonance meant to reflect waves crashing on a beach. This characteristic tone, coupled with twangy, melodic guitar lines, defines the genre’s sound. While NEGATIVE PLANE’s intent was rooted in creating unsettling, otherworldly atmospheres inspired by Italian horror cinema and BLACK HOLE, the overlapping use of reverb and clean guitar tones probably explains why some listeners made the connection.
NAMELESS VOID: My mindset was, ‘What’s more extreme than playing 8,000 notes super quick? Let’s pile on effects – reverb plus delay – so it sounds even weirder, less like a guitar, and more like an organ or synth.’ I definitely wasn’t thinking, ‘Hey, “Good Vibrations” is a killer tune, let’s do that.’ We were incredibly annoyed to see everyone misinterpret it as some quirky, hipster shit.
Do you think this was detrimental to the release?
NAMELESS VOID: On the contrary, it probably helped us sell more records. That’s something Tyler (The Ajna Offensive) would know better. At the time, there were all these ‘avant-garde’ or whatever releases coming out in the US, and we somehow got lumped in with them.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: That was the weirdest part. For years, nobody cared about NEGATIVE PLANE; then suddenly, a bunch of hipsters thought we were trying to be part of their scene. I just went, ‘What the fuck? Have you met me?’ Well, they don’t have to meet me, but still – I felt so confused.
NAMELESS VOID: I’ll be honest with you – we did get way more attention. I remember this one journalist… I forgot where I met him, maybe through one of the VILLAINS members, but he interviewed me at a bar over a couple of drinks. He worked for a classic New York magazine called Village Voice.
Founded in 1955, Village Voice was an alternative weekly newspaper known for its cultural criticism and investigative journalism. For decades, the magazine played a pivotal role in shaping the local arts and music scene of New York City.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: If it were 1975 and you got into Village Voice, that would’ve been a big deal – it really meant something back then. But by 2011, or whenever this happened, it didn’t carry quite the same weight. They probably thought, ‘Oh, another hipster metal band. Let’s make a quick note of it.’
NAMELESS VOID: The first draft of the article turned out pretty decent, in my opinion. I’d just moved to my current neighbourhood and was excited about random local stuff, like Houdini’s grave. But then the editor decided, ‘Oh, this esoteric angle won’t attract enough attention,’ and shifted focus to the fact that we didn’t have social media.
Seriously?
NAMELESS VOID: Oh yeah. I stopped by the newsstand on my way to work to check it out, and the headline said something like, ‘NEGATIVE PLANE won’t friend you because they’re not on Facebook’ <laughs>. That dumb shit completely ruined the piece – especially frustrating since this magazine was on every newsstand in New York.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: The fact that Village Voice would fabricate nonsense about a band as small as ours still blows my fucking mind. If it’s a pop star, stirring up drama might sell more copies. But with us? It’s ridiculous. And then there was that Terrorizer piece…
NAMELESS VOID: Terrorizer? I barely remember it.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: They interviewed me when I was in a terrible mood, so I basically trash-talked their magazine. The journalist didn’t take it well, and the headline ended up something like, ‘NEGATIVE PLANE are still mad.’ I just thought, ‘Shut the fuck up.’
But there must have been some positive aspects of “Stained Glass Revelations”?
NAMELESS VOID: Of course. First of all, we heard that Fenriz liked NEGATIVE PLANE, which felt huge – probably the biggest thing ever for us. When I first got into black metal, early DARKTHRONE was essential listening. Never in a million years could I have imagined Fenriz hearing my music, let alone liking it. And then, off the back of that album, we finally got to tour Europe.
When “Stained Glass Revelations” came out, NEGATIVE PLANE had undergone a line-up change. Diabolic Gulgalta, or Diego, moved to second guitar, while his bandmate from AGRATH, Thammuz, took over on bass.
NEGATIVE PLANE’s first show abroad took place without Diego – who had passport issues – at German underground open-air festival Hell’s Pleasure in July 2011. That edition was quite mental – GHOST and CANDLEMASS shared the bill with GOSPEL OF THE HORNS, NIFELHEIM, ROOT, and an old-school ROTTING CHRIST set.
NAMELESS VOID: That whole festival is a bit of a blur for me. I do remember the airport shuttle taking about three hours. We were crammed into a van with this very strange band from Sweden: REVEAL. They looked more like a bunch of weirdos than metalheads.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: What bands do I remember? REVEAL stands out the most. I really liked their debut album, and they were fantastic live – very good at the time.
NAMELESS VOID: They were so wonderfully awkward; the singer had this total Jim Morrison (THE DOORS) vibe, and everything about them was just weird. That’s one of my clearest memories from the festival – how much I loved their show.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: What else…? Oh, I met the guys from KATHARSIS for the first time. We’d been corresponding over email for years, so it was great to finally catch up in person.
NAMELESS VOID: We watched ROOT, which I’d never seen before, as well as ROTTING CHRIST. Oh, and GHOST put on quite a show.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: Another thing that stuck with me was the CANDLEMASS singer announcing – in a drawling Southern American accent – ‘Hi y’all, we’re CANDLEMASS from Sweden.’ <laughs> We thought it was the funniest thing ever and laughed about it for two days straight. That moment is forever burned into my memory.
At the time, CANDLEMASS had Robert Lowe from Texas-based doom metal act SOLITUDE AETURNUS on vocals.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: Hell’s Pleasure really was a fantastic festival – good times. I probably remember it more for non-musical reasons, though. One thing that really stands out is from around four in the morning, lying in a ditch in the forest, staring at the sky for what felt like an hour.
How did this happen?
BESTIAL DEVOTION: I could hear Thammuz calling my name, and for some reason, I thought he was chasing me. So I ran, tripped, and ended up in a ditch. I just lay there, looking up at the stars while ISENGARD blasted really loud from the festival speakers. Honestly, that was my favourite moment of the whole thing. The rest is kind of a blur.
The Hell’s Pleasure appearance was immediately followed by a European tour alongside Swedish death metal band TRIBULATION. The nine-date venture kicked off with three dates in Germany and one in Poland.
NAMELESS VOID: The Polish metalheads are just feral. And people can say whatever they want about Germans, but we have some insanely wild fans there – which I hadn’t really experienced before. Seeing people know our lyrics and sing along was incredible, and it happened in Germany more than anywhere else.
Oberhausen, which hosted the fourth tour date, is about 120 kilometres (75 mil) from Osnabrück, home to one of Nameless Void’s primary musical lodestars: German black metal band MARTYRIUM. After their 1994 debut album, “L.V.X. Occulta”, they split up, and two of the members co-founded SECRETS OF THE MOON.
NAMELESS VOID: One of the SECRETS OF THE MOON members showed up – that Shammash Golden guy, who wasn’t even in MARTYRIUM <laughs>. I was pretty drunk and not very diplomatic. There were definitely moments when I wasn’t reasonable.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: I don’t recall being quite as moved by the occasion. I know Ed was thrilled to ask the guy a million MARTYRIUM questions, which is like if someone came to a NEGATIVE PLANE gig just to harass me about LUNAR REIGN <laughs>.
NAMELESS VOID: Apparently, he tried bringing up SECRETS OF THE MOON, but I kept interrupting him, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, but MARTYRIUM is a much better band. Let’s talk about them instead.’ I really hope I didn’t actually say that. If I did, I apologise.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: I am starting to realise just how many occasions during this interview I’ve thought I should email someone and say, ‘Hey, sorry about that.’
NAMELESS VOID: I’m pretty sure our apology list is ridiculously long.

NEGATIVE PLANE’s stage debut was back in 2007 as support to WATAIN and ANGELCORPSE. Then, even more bizarre, their first European tour featured TRIBULATION as the opening act.
Following the 2009 debut, “The Horror”, the young death metal band – who’d recently signed with Invictus Productions and The Ajna Offensive – were preparing their follow-up album, “The Formulas of Death”.
NAMELESS VOID: Oh, we got along great. There are plenty of stories I probably shouldn’t relate <laughs>. But yeah, we had some interesting times. Looking back now, it’s insane to think TRIBULATION opened for us, considering they’re almost WATAIN-sized now.
BESTIAL DEVOTION: TRIBULATION were fantastic live, and I really enjoyed hanging out with them. I don’t know what their version of events would be <laughs>, but I thought we got along great. Amazing times – we drank a lot, played a lot, and just generally had a blast.
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