- Music portal "True-metal.ru" warmly welcomes Code! First of all, a couple of words about yourself?
- Warm welcomes in return. I am Aort, and I have been banging my head against walls through making music since 1998. In the very early 90s I was a tape trader, ran a distro and put out fanzines and newsletters….basically doing things the old way. These activities have shaped me into the slightly cynical yet hard working figure I am today. Nice to meet you.

- Let's start our conversation with the question about your band: how and when Code was created and who was the initiator?
- Code was created in 2002 by myself and Kvohst with the aim of creating a variant of black metal that appealed to us. We were both perhaps a little uninspired by what we were doing at that time and decided to get together to create something new and natural.

- What is the story behind the name Code? How does it reflect what you’re doing?
- The band name reflects our ambiguity to a large degree. Originally we wanted a band name that was open to interpretation and did not restrict us to a very specific genre. It gave us room to develop and for the band name to remain relevant. Code can mean anything to anyone.

- The impression from your music is quite mixed. How would you name your style?
- It is becoming increasingly difficult to put a tag on our style over the years. We are not a band who exists to pay pure homage to a particular genre and to operate in those pre-defined boundaries. I do understand the need for categorisation as these are the sign posts that people use to share information but we have always created music that pleases us so in that way it is more a product of the individuals involved than closely defined musical tastes.

- Since 2002 your band has gone through a lot of transformations, why?
- Since we began, the line-up has always been a little fractious, partly due to the fact that we were spread across Europe and also partly due to the personalities involved. It has never been my intention to have so many changes in terms of line ups, and indeed, finding a solid line up has been my goal since we began. We are all different, agendas and outlooks change and all I can say is that now this is the strongest we have ever been both in terms of our live performances and our song writing.

- Tell us about the current setup of the band. Who are the people playing in Code now?
- For the first time, Code now is a completely English band. The second to half to our guitar team is Andras who has been playing with Code since just after Resplendent Grotesque. He previously showed his talent on the solo in I Hold Your Light and since then has been a core part of Code. The remaining members are do not come from the extreme metal field but have brought with them a fresh perspective and fresh set of influences that we have never had before. LORDt plays drums, Syhr plays the bass and we are rounded off by Wacian on vocals.

- Is there an Idea you want to share with your fans by your music?
- There is no specific idea or agenda we wish to share with people. We create music that we enjoy and we hope that people will be entertained by it. It is as simple as that.

- There are some associations with 19 th century decadence pictures appearing when listening to your music. Are these associations right?
- This idea has been mentioned many times over our the course of our existence and in all honesty, it was never something that we thought about or sought to create. The beauty of music is that it can be open to individual interpretation, and a few people have picked up on the same interpretation. It wasn't planned, but if Victoriana is what you hear, then that is right for you.

- Are you somehow close to the ideas of Expressionism? Illusion denying and existential crisis – can these be associated with some parts of your music?
- If these ideas can be associated with our music, then that is in the eye of the beholder. We are not a philosophical or political band in any way. We create music which we hope will be found interesting, emotive and inspirational but if you want to find more in what we do, please go ahead…..music is open to interpretation and we ask you to look for what you want to find.

- Pure vocals and some musical components look like allusions of Ved Buens Ende, what would you say about that? Is that the influence of Viper who was part of the band, or this is simply the coincidence?
- This would have to be a coincidence. I have been a fan of VBE since I first heard the demo so their style undoubtedly floats around in my subconscious somewhere, but the idea behind Code was never to emulate any band. Musically, I never have another band in mind when writing music for Code as that would be a terrible place to start from. I like to think the music I write is very honest and not written to evoke associations with other bands.

- What bands inspire your music mostly?
- That is a very hard question to pin down as we have a very eclectic set of musical tastes. The safe answer would be that our music is a product of this particular interaction of individuals and the experiences and influences that they bring with them. There really isn't a list of bands that are strong influences and we like to think that our music comes from within us rather than a reflection of our own personal favourite artists at any one time.

- For 11 years, you’ve got only 2 albums – why so few while your fans expect much more?
- The lack of output is not by design but by circumstance. Line up issues have been the reason for the less than prolific nature of our output, but I hope now that we now at last have a solid line up, the wait for the next album will not be so long.

- Are you following the current music events, especially "heavy" part? What, you think, is happening to the black metal nowadays?
- I am not as aware of the general state of black metal as I was in the early 90s, but I have noticed that over the last few years in general that there are lot more interesting things happening. I tend to notice new bands by accident rather than seeking them out and as a result, I do sometimes find out about bands rather late. For example, I have only recently discovered the genius of Peste Noire. I do always automatically follow the bands I have admired since the early days too, for example, any time Profanatica release anything I will always buy it.

- It’s interesting to find out what do you think about the multiple brand-new music styles?
- I'm afraid I don't exactly understand this question, but if the question is what musical styles I enjoy then I would say there are too numerous to mention, but at the moment jazz from 1965 to 1975 is spending a lot of time on my turntable these days.

- Apart from music, what are the people in the band up to? Any other hobbies related to art?
- It is safe to say that music takes up the majority of our spare time. We are all in other bands too which usually sucks up any spare time we may have. Having said that, LORDt is a keen writer and has work published so he is the wordsmith of our troupe.

- As far as we know, you’ve got no video so far. Can we expect any in the nearest future?
- We have plans to release a promo video in support of the new album which should coincide with the album release, so keep a look out for that.

- Finally, when should your fans expect the release of your new album?
- The album is scheduled for an Autumn 2013 release on CD and LP through "Agonia Records". Please grab yourself a copy!

- Last but not least, let’s say there is an award for influencing the Metal Music all over the world. What teams would you nominate for this award? What nomination would Code win at?
- Easy! Iron Maiden will always win any award in my opinion. But I am of course biased. Code would probably be nominated for the band the persevered unnoticed award.

- Thanks a lot for your responses! We wish you a good luck and successful way to the top of the mountain of Art. Would you like to address a couple of words to our audience?
- Thank you for your time and interest in Code. To your audience, please do take the time to check out what we do, we always keep wwwfacebook.com/codeblackmetal updated so come along find out more. And most importantly, check out our new album due out this year on "Agonia Records". Oppi Fjellet.

Code: Aort
True-metal.ru: Katbert, Terry, Твердислав

© True-metal.ru, июнь 2013