Interviews About Albums: Martre - Hvor Lys Ej Når (2025)

In this new interview, we sat down with the Danish Black Metal band Martre to ask questions about their album, "Hvor Lys Ej Når".

1. What can you say about this new EP/CD?

Hvor lys ej når is perhaps my most emotionally charged and thematically focused release so far. It explores some of the darkest corners of human history, true events and figures whose actions reflect the extremes of the human condition and mind. It is, however, not about shock or gore; it’s a much more to be seen/heard as somber reflection on loss, guilt, innocence shattered, and the weight of violence that ripples through time and place.

2. What is the meaning of the EP/CD name?

The title comes from the final line of the closing track, “Under Bølgen”

“Hvor lys ej når,” which means “Where light doesn’t reach.” It symbolizes a place of spiritual and moral darkness, where the people and deeds described in the songs are beyond redemption or understanding. They exist in a psychological shadow, unreachable, and swallowed in the darkness of their horrible deeds.

3. Which one is the composer of the CD/EP?

I composed, recorded everything myself, and even did the artwork as well. Martre is a personal project, and this album was yet another solitary journey; this time around though, it was about my thoughts about other things, than my plain old self and struggles.

4. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

Under Bølgen feels like the emotional centerpiece. It ties the whole album together, not just musically but also thematically, culminating in that aforementioned final line, which gave the record its name. It captures the sorrowful weight of the project and the impossibility of fully grasping these stories.

5. Is there a special message in this EP/CD? If there is what is it?

A first clear message that has to be delivered is that the album doesn't celebrate the perpetrators of violence, far from it. Instead, it is about the fragility of innocence, the echo of loss, the gruesome extent of human darkness, and the terrifying acts some people are able to put upon fellow humans, and even the ones they love the most.

In addition to that, there’s also an obvious element of mourning in these songs, a desire to remember the victims, and understand the psychological abyss that can consume a person; It’s about tragedy, not spectacle.

6. Are there some lyrics that you'd love to share?

Should I mention a couple of lines; that has stayed with me is, then I’d have to choose these from Evige Nat:

"her står vi,

kun mindet,

tårer og sorg tilbage,

evig nat og ingen dag"

Translated to English it means:

“Here we stand,

(With) just the memory,

tears and grief left,

eternal night and no day”

Simple words, but it’s the easiest way of describing the loss, and the heavy burden and loss that families are left with when a daughter, son, mother, or father gets stolen from their lives.

On a more personal level, the song is about a case, where the wife of a priest went missing - later to be proven murdered, dismembered, burnt, and finally thrown into barrels - with the intent to dissolve the remains with caustic soda; the killer was her own husband, and this wasn’t just some case I saw on tv - or read about online. This was a family, living only five hundred meters from my home, the priest went to my school, a few years older than me, and in addition to that, I know her sister, and actually mixed up the two, when I saw the first “woman missing posts” on Facebook. It made a huge impact on me, as two of my girls are the same age as the victims' children in that terrible story. It literally hit too close to home.

7. Which inspirations have been important for this album? Like musically or friends, family, someone you'd love to thank especially?

Lyrically and thematically, the stories themselves were the driving force, and each case brought a particular mood and tone the music - and I’m happy how they manifested musically on the album; offered the opportunity to celebrate a few people who made some off all this happen, I’d like to thank Simón da Silva for the mastering work, Lucia Macip for always being supportive of my works - and obviously Mauro Roma and These Hands Melt for supporting the upcoming CD release.

8. Something to add?

I hope listeners don’t approach this album looking for sensationalism. This is a record about terrible actions, and cases that stays with you forever; if it unsettles, moves, or lingers in someone’s mind after listening, then it’s done what it was meant to do.