古老的东方传说 - 法国Epic/Atmospheric Black Metal乐队Belore专访

2 days ago16 min read

谈到史诗氛围黑金属，我们一定会想到Summoning，Caladan Brood，Emyn Muil等等乐队。而今天我们也采访到了一个法国的史诗氛围黑乐队Belore。乐队开始于2019年以中世纪幻想故事为题材，且至今已经发行了3张全长专辑。当你听Belore的音乐的时候，你会感受到那种来自大自然的声音，好似身处美丽的自然景光中。如果你也喜欢史诗氛围黑的话，请一定不要错过这支乐队，它一定能给你带来惊喜。本次杂志联系到了乐队主创Aleevok做一次专访。

（V: 代表笔者 A: 代表Aleevok）

When we talk about epic atmosphere black metal, we'll inevitably think of Summoning，Caladan Brood, Emyn Muil and so on. And today we interview an epic atmospheric black metal band called Belore from France. The band began in 2019. Their theme is about medieval fantasy stories and they have released three full-length albums up to now. When you listen to Belore's music, you will feel the sound of nature, as if you are in a beautiful natural landscape. If you also like epic atmosphere black, please do not miss this band. It must surprise you.And the magazine contacted the band's founder Aleevok for an exclusive interview!

(V: for the author A: for Aleevok)

采访对象：Aleevok（Belore乐队创始人）

采访时间：2025.03.29

V: 你好Aleevok感谢你接受本次采访，这应该是你第一次接受中国杂志的采访吧，和中国的朋友们打个招呼吧。Belore是一个来自法国的单人Black Metal计划，你是如何开始这个计划的呢？你的初衷是什么呢？你希望通过Belore的音乐传递一些什么东西呢？

Hello Aleevok, thank you for this interview. This is probably your first interview with a Chinese magazine. Let's say hello to our Chinese friends. Belore is a solo black metal project from France. How did you start this project? What was your intention? What do you hope to convey through Belore's music?

A: 嗨,伙计们!非常感谢你们在杂志上给我一个位置。我记得这个项目开始于2017年左右。那是我第一次在Garage Band软件上创作riff的时候就是为了取乐，没有任何目标，打发一下我的空闲时间。然后慢慢的是一首完整的歌，然后是两首……两年后，我有了一张完整的专辑。然后我想到了众筹，筹钱印50张CD，送给我的朋友和家人。当时我只是为了实现这项工作，从来没有想过有厂牌会对我的音乐感兴趣……但在朋友们的鼓励下，我发了几封邮件给几个厂牌。就在那时，Northern Silence Productions给了我一份合同！第一张专“Journey Through Mountains and Valleys”的成功远远超出了我的预期，这就是激励我投入这个项目并围绕音乐开发整个奇妙的中世纪宇宙的原因。在2020年的新冠限制期间，我有了很多空闲时间来制作第二张专辑“rtefacts”并在我脑海中有了地图和传说上。从那时起我想提供一些音乐以外的东西，通过创造一个完整的梦幻或者视觉世界，使听众在听Belore时能沉浸在其中。我很快就收到了几个有趣的现场邀请，在法国和德国。所以我组建了一个现场阵容并请Charlie帮助我在项目的其余部分作曲和录制鼓。他的到来对乐队的发展有很大帮助，防止我过于拘泥于自己的一些想法。在第一场演出之后，我们与欧洲经纪公司“In Fiction Entertainment”签订了合同，这使我们能够极大地发展这个项目，在许多欧洲国家和一些一流的舞台上演出！对于未来，我想进一步完善Belore的故事，无论是通过视频剪辑还是伴随专辑标题的短篇故事。

Hi guys! Thank you very much for giving me a space in your magazine. This project started around 2017 I think, I was having fun composing riffs on Garage Band software for the first time, without any goal, just occupying my free time. Then a complete composition came out, then two ... after two years I had a complete album. I then thought of crowdfunding to finance the pressing of 50 CDs and give them to my friends and family, just to materialize this work. At no time could I have imagined that a label would be interested ... but encouraged by my friends, I sent a few emails. And that's when Northern Silence Production got back to me with a contract! The success of the first album “Journey Through Mountains and Valleys” far exceeded my expectations, and that's what motivated me to invest myself in this project and develop a whole fantastic medieval universe around the music. I had a lot of free time during the various COVID confinements in 2020 to work on the second “Artefacts” album, on the map and lore I had in mind. From there, I wanted to offer something other than music, by creating a whole fantastic and visual universe that would help listeners immerse themselves while listening to Belore. I quickly received several interesting live offers, both in France and Germany. So I formed a live line-up and asked Charlie to help me with the composition and recording of the drums for the rest of the project. His arrival helped a lot with the development, preventing me from getting too locked into some of my ideas. Following the first shows, we landed a contract with the European booking agency “In Fiction Entertainment”, which has enabled us to develop the project enormously, playing in many European countries and on some superb stages! For the future, I'd like to develop Belore's lore even further, whether through video clips or short stories accompanying the album titles.

V: 你去年发布了新专辑"Eastern Tales"，这张专辑貌似是一张概念专辑，能和我们谈谈这张专辑讲了一些什么故事吗？他的灵感来源是什么呢？

You released your new album “Eastern Tales” last year. Is it a concept album? Can you tell us some of the stories in this album? What was his inspiration?

A: "Eastern Tales"是第一张故事相互衔接的专辑（或多或少都有一点哈哈）。在之前的专辑中，我讲述了几个故事，这些故事分散在我的宇宙中。有些故事发生在西方故事之前或之后很久。但在这张最新的专辑中，我想让这个故事更加紧凑。为了继续这个故事，在被摧毁的城市Endeor的前盟友和新的暴政政权Therallas之间，南部土地上爆发了一场长达700多年的内战。在"Artefacts"专辑的最后，年轻善良的新国王Riarl希望停止这场战争，团结两个国家。为此他组织了一次对东方土地的联合探险。他把Therallas的钥匙留给了他的得力助手，一个名叫Denelïor的强大法师。在这个探索任务中，皇家队伍将发现一个隐藏城市的存在，这里居住着Endeor难民的后代以及Denelïor的前盟友，南方土地上第二大著名的法师：隐士Erethor。后者在 Endeor陷落后逃了出来，在Endeor事件发生后被他的同僚背叛和追捕。在这场战役中，Riarl的得力助手试图发动政变，控制Therallas并揭露了秘密形成的黑暗法师邪教的存在。随后，皇家车队不得不赶回首都，Riarl的军队和Denelïor之间爆发了一场战斗，这可以在YouTube上的"Battle for Therallas"视频中看到。在这个视频中，我还介绍了Lynna这个角色，Therallas的代表，这个城市参与了一场反对前专制政权的内战，但现在与Riarl结盟。随着故事的展开，这个角色将变得更加重要。我从各种各样的电子游戏、电影和文学作品中找到灵感。从"魔兽世界"到"巫师"，"堕落之书"，整个托尔金的宇宙，甚至是"星球大战"和"洛夫克拉夫特"！

“Eastern Tales” is the first album where the stories follow each other (more or less haha). In the previous album, I told several stories scattered throughout the temporality of my universe. Some take place long before or long after the events of Estern Tales. But in this latest album, I wanted to give the story a little more cohesion. To resume the lore, there's been a civil war raging for over 700 years in the southern lands, between the former allies of the destroyed city of Endeor and the new tyrannical regime of Therallas. At the end of the “Artefacts” album, the new King Riarl, young and kind-hearted, wishes to stop this war and rally the two nations. To this end, he organizes a joint exploration quest to the Eastern Lands. He leaves the keys to Therallas to his right-hand man, a powerful mage by the name of Denelïor. During this exploration quest, the royal procession will discover the existence of a hidden city housing the descendants of Endeor's refugees, as well as Denelïor's former ally, the second best-known mage in the Southern Lands: Erethor the Hermit. The latter escaped after the fall of Endeor, betrayed and hunted by his colleague since the events of Endeor. During this campaign, Riarl's right-hand man attempts a coup by taking control of Therallas and revealing the existence of a cult of dark mages formed in secret. The royal convoy then has to rush back to the capital, and a battle ensues between Riarl's army and Denelïor, which can be seen in the “Battle for Therallas” clip on YouTube. In this video, I also introduce the character of Lynna, the representative of the city of Emmera, which was engaged in a civil war against the former tyrannical regime but is now allied with Riarl. This character will become more important as the story unfolds.I find inspiration in a wide range of video games, films and literature. From World of Warcraft to The Witcher, The Book of the Fallen, the whole Tolkien universe or even Star Wars and Lovecraft!

V: 我很好奇你在音乐创作前是否会对整张专辑有一个总体的想法，还是在创作完音乐后再去构思整个故事的呢？同时你觉得你的音乐的歌词是否是你的专辑的一个重要部分。

I'm curious if you have a general idea for the album before you write the music, or do you write the story after you write the music? And do you think that the lyrics of your music are an important part of your album.

A: 在一开始，音乐会是主要元素，故事围绕着我所写的歌曲展开。一旦我写好了一首曲子，我就会想着当我听到这首曲子的时候，脑海中可能会出现的风景或故事。但现在我写了更多的故事，我就不会这样了。我已经写了足够多的故事来写2张甚至3张专辑了！虽然我不确定我将要如何创作下一张专辑，但我可能必须要在写作过程中尽早地将两者联系起来。对Belore来说，歌词很重要，是的，对沉浸感很重要。但你可以在不知道背景的情况下听我的音乐并投射出你自己想象的形象和情感。这是一种挪用音乐的方式，对我来说非常有效。

In the beginning, the music was the primary element, the story being built around the compositions I wrote. Once I'd written a piece of music, I'd try to imagine the landscapes or stories that might run through my mind as I listened to it. Now that the lore is much more inked, it's different. I've already written enough stories for 2 or even 3 albums! I'm not sure how I'm going to proceed with the next one, but I'll probably have to link the two a little earlier in the writing process. For Belore, the lyrics are important, yes, important for immersion. But you can listen to my music without knowing the context and project your own imaginary images and emotions. It's a way of appropriating the music that works really well for me.

V: 其实在我看来你的这一张专辑比前两张专辑更加的史诗，那你觉得你的音乐怎么样呢？在这张专辑里面，有没有你特别喜欢的歌呢？

Actually, in my opinion, the new album is more epic than the previous two albums. What do you think about your music? Are there any songs on this album that you particularly like?

A: 对的，最新专辑“Eastern Tales”确实比之前的作品更加史诗，主要体现在大幅强化的管弦乐编排上。比如专辑的intro和主打曲"The Hermit Awakens"里，你能听到一部分全部是管弦乐的段落。这种手法我特别钟爱并为其注入了全新的生命力。正是这些细节处理，让我远离了早期Summoning、Caladan Brood等乐队的影响框架。当然我在保留这种精神的时候也会尝试增加一些现代感。我个人很喜欢"Storm of An Ancient Age"，这我认为是完整度极高的作品，它逐渐的营造了一种史诗感，比如多组音乐主题交替推进，氛围随着故事的展开而改变，创作这首歌确实是一个很困难的事情！主打曲"The Hermit Awakens"也是我很喜欢的一首，其整体气质更偏忧郁深邃，但管弦乐的结尾依然是史诗的（这首歌超过了160个音轨）。虽然前奏明显受了Moonsorrow的影响，但我确实很享受用我自己的方式来发展其余的歌曲部分。

Yes, the latest album “Eastern Tales” is more epic than the previous ones, in the sense that I've added a lot more orchestration. If we take the album intro or the title track 'The Hermit Awakens' as an example, there are some purely orchestral moments. It's something I really appreciate, and it breathes a new life into the music. It's these kinds of details that take me further away from my basic inspirations such as Summoning or Caladan Brood. I'm trying to bring a touch of modernity while keeping that spirit. I prefer the track 'Storm of An Ancient Age', which I think is very complete, taking the time to set an epic mood, with several musical themes following one another and the atmospheres changing as the story unfolds. It was quite a challenge to write it! The title track 'The Hermit Awakens' is also one of my favorites, which is more melancholy and profound, but just as epic with its orchestral finale (over 160 audio tracks on this song!). The beginning is very Moonsorrow-influenced, but I really enjoyed developing the rest of the composition in my own way.

V: 你们的专辑封面和专辑内页设计可以说是我见过的专辑中最漂亮的设计了。事实上我第一次听你的歌也是因为专辑封面漂亮。那你觉得你的专辑设计怎么样呢？

Your album cover and liner design is arguably the most beautiful design I have ever seen. In fact, because of your beautiful album cover, I began to listen to your songs. What do you think of your album design?

A: 非常感谢你的夸奖！我真的很注意我专辑的设计。只是第一张专辑没有相同的目标，也没有相同的预算来制作第一张专辑。但从"Artefacts"开始，我想通过邀请已经在电子游戏或其他领域工作过的概念艺术艺术家来开发视觉世界。一个简单的方法是直接使用Albert Bierstadt的画作，就像许多Atmospheric Black Metal乐队所做的那样，但这并不能满足我围绕这个项目创造的宇宙的要求。在后两张专辑的小册子中，每两页都对应有一首歌及插图。对于"Eastern Tales"，我请艺术家Fovea Nivalis为每首歌都创作了大型油画，这很受欢迎，我知道有些人在听乐队的歌曲的时候喜欢在音乐中加入额外的元素。特别是这张专辑，封面描绘了Erethor（法师隐士）从东方土地返回 Therallas夺回城堡。"Artefact"的封面展示了一个年轻的德鲁伊正在取回Moonstone，一种能量神器。对我来说，封面的颜色和色调必须代表这张专辑所提出的音乐宇宙。

Thank you so much for your compliment! I really pay attention to the designs of my albums. It's just that the first album didn't have the same objectives or the same budget to be developed so much. But right from the 'Artefacts' album, I wanted to develop the visual universe by calling on concept art artists who had already worked in video games or elsewhere. The easy thing would have been to use paintings by Albert Bierstadt, as many Atmospheric Black Metal bands do, but that wouldn't have served the purpose of the universe I've created around this project. In the booklets for the last two albums, each double page corresponds to a title with its accompanying illustration. For 'Eastern Tales', I asked the artist Fovea Nivalis to create large oil paintings for each song, which was much appreciated, and I know that some people love to have additional elements to the music when they listen to a band. For this album in particular, the cover (digital art) depicts Erethor (the mage Hermit) returning from the Eastern Lands to Therallas to retake the castle. The Artefact cover shows a young druid recovering the Moonstone, one of the artifacts of power. For me, the colors and tones of the covers must be representative of the musical universe that will be proposed by the album in question.

V: 我发现你们最近参加了很多的演出，有没有哪场演出让你们印象特别深刻呢？我注意到你们的演出里并没有键盘手，你觉得这是否会影响演出的整体效果呢？

I noticed that you have being a lot of performances recently. Is there any performance that impresses you in particular? I noticed that you don't have keyboardist in your show. Do you think that will affect the overall performance?

A: 在过去的两年里，我们十分幸运，在欧洲巡演了很多次，而且还会继续演下去。我们已经在为2026年做一些大的准备了。同时我们也很幸运地被邀请参加一些非常大的音乐节，比如今年夏天的Hellfest（法国）和Wolfszeit Festival（德国）。我想这两场音乐会对我们来说将是一次特别的经历。至于真正让我印象深刻的时刻，我想到的是我们的第一场音乐会（Dark Medieval Fest - France），在几百人面前，其中一些人几乎已经完全熟悉了所有的歌词、鼓声等等。唱了几首歌之后，我才意识到Belore现在是一个现场项目。这对我来说是一个非常激动的时刻。我们没有键盘手在舞台上的一个简单的原因：有我们的作品里有了太多的合成器了！而且要重现与专辑中完全相同的声音会很复杂，因为我要做很多分层。另一方面，我们现在有一个新成员，负责笛子和伴唱。他叫Matt，也是瑞士乐队Cân Bardd的吉他手。我们决定给第五名成员加入一些民间元素。第一场音乐会非常成功，所以我们迫不及待地想和他再次合作。

We've been lucky enough to tour a lot in Europe over the past two years, and that's going to continue. We're already working on some big opportunities for 2026, but in the meantime, we've been lucky enough to be booked on some very big festivals like Hellfest (France) and Wolfszeit Festival (Germany) for this summer. I think these two concerts will be an exceptional experience for us. As for the moments that really stood out for me, I'm thinking of our very first concert (Dark Medieval Fest - France), in front of several hundred people, some of whom already knew all the lyrics, drum rolls and so on. It took me several songs to realize that Belore was now a live project. It was a very emotional moment for me. We don't have a keyboard player on stage for a simple reason: there's far too much synth in our compositions! And it would be complicated to reproduce exactly the same sounds as on the album, as I do a lot of layering. On the other hand, we now have a new member on Tin Whisle and backing vocals. He's Matt, who also plays guitar in the Swiss band Cân Bardd. We decided to add a folk touch with this 5th member, and the first concerts were a real success, so we can't wait to play with him again.

V: 在将来有来中国演出的可能吗？

Is it possible to perform in China in the future?

A: 我们想在中国做一次巡演，但更广泛的是在亚洲！比如我知道我们在印尼有很多歌迷，所以如果有合适的机会，为什么不去那里举办几场音乐会呢，当然也包括中国。作为一个徒步爱好者，我一直想去参观云南地区的山脉，这听起来像是一个很棒的省份。但要做到这一点，我们需要中国组织者来联系我们，因为我们在当地没有联系人。

We'd love to do a tour in China, but more generally in Asia! I know we've got a lot of fans in Indonesia, for example, so why not, if the right opportunity comes along, tour several concerts in that part of the world, including China of course. As a hiking fan, I've always wanted to visit the mountains of the Yunnan region, which sounds like a wonderful province. But to do this, we need Chinese organizers to approach us, as we have no local contacts.

V: 你觉得有没有对你影响特别大的乐队或者是你特别喜欢的呢？

Are there any bands that have had a big influence on you or that you particularly like?

A: 有几个。我最早受到的影响当然是Summoning，Caladan Brood，还有Moonsorrow（更自然/环境/民俗的一面）和Saor（旋律方面）。在那之后我尝试从其他类型的音乐中汲取灵感，我听了很多电影和电子游戏音乐并且管弦乐作品在我的日常生活中占据了越来越多的空间，这将对的Belore的其它的部分产生直接影响。我也听了一些地牢合成器，我在"Eastern Tales"专辑的插曲"Denelïor’s Betrayal"中尝试了这种风格。这是第一次尝试，但我想找点时间进一步发展这个分支，当然它也会属于Belore。

There are several. My first influences are of course Summoning, Caladan Brood, but also Moonsorrow for the more natural/ambient/folkloric side and Saor for the melodic aspects. After that, I try to draw inspiration from other kinds of music, I listen to a lot of film and video game music, and orchestral compositions are taking up more and more space in my daily life, and that's going to have a direct influence on the rest of the project. I also listen to a bit of Dungeon Synth, and I experimented with this style on the Eastern Tales album with the interlude “Denelïor's Betrayal”. It was a first attempt, but I'd like to find some time to develop this branch a little further, still in the Belore universe.

V: 你在2025年有什么新的打算吗？下一张专辑是否在筹备中了呢？

Is there something new for Belore in 2025? Is the next album in the works?

A: 我们将很快发布一个现场视频，是去年夏天录制的，有三首视频和我们的最新专辑的全乐队现场版本。结果真的很棒：我们找到了一个可爱的工作室，并用视频剪辑中的横幅和许多蜡烛装饰它，给它一个舒适而史诗般的感觉！至于新专辑，我才刚刚开始创作一些新的Riff，因此我不知道它会走向何方。现在我正在从忙碌的2024年中休息一下并努力寻找新的灵感来源，新的声音和情绪，以便创造出一些比我们迄今为止所做的更有成就的东西。这是一个很大的挑战，但这仍然是我在音乐家的生活中最喜欢的阶段：作曲。

We'll shortly be releasing a live video session recorded last summer, featuring video and audio capture of 3 tracks from our latest album in live version and with the full band. The result is really superb: we've found a lovely studio which we've decorated with banners from the video clip and lots of candles, giving it a cosy yet epic feel! I've only just started composing a few new riffs, so I don't know where it's all going to lead. Right now, I'm taking a break from the busy year of 2024, and I'm trying to find new sources of inspiration, new sounds and moods, so as to come up with something even more accomplished than what we've done so far. It's quite a challenge, but it's still my favorite stage in a musician's life: composition.

V: 在采访的末尾，我们很高兴看到Belore的背后的一些事情，我也会持续关注你们乐队的。最后有什么想对中国乐迷们说的吗。

At the end of the interview, we were excited to see some of the things behind Belore, and I will keep following you as well. Any final words for Chinese music fans?

A: 再次感谢你花时间为我准备这次采访，我真的很喜欢回答这些问题。我希望那些发现了Belore的人会被我们的音乐吸引，而那些已经知道了Belore的人会想要更深入地研究音乐背后的故事！

Thank you again for taking the time to prepare this interview for me, I really enjoyed answering it. I hope that those who discover this project will be won over, and those who already know about it will want to delve even deeper into the story behind the music!