Mithraic Magazine

Pervogoat is the second in our series exploring the lives and legacies of one-man black metal bands whose founders are no longer with us. While black metal has always been shrouded in mystery, certain figures remain particularly elusive – either lost to time or remembered only in fragments by those who witnessed their brief, chaotic existence. In this installment, we uncover the story of Pervogoat one of the genre’s more obscure, and often excluded, characters.

If you haven’t yet, be sure to check out the first part of this series, where I spoke to Pete from Diaboli about Nidhoggr, another artist whose presence still lingers in the shadows of underground black metal, and in my opinion, one of the unintentional originators of DSBM.

The Majesty of Decay: Suicide, Black Metal, and Finnish Nihilism of the 1990s

To be alive is to bear the weight of an existence without justification, a slow erosion of the soul beneath the crushing indifference of the cosmos. Finland, in the 1990s, became the manifestation of this condition: a land steeped in the silence of its own despair, a place where the sickness of being bore its most ruthless expression. The economy withered, purpose disintegrated, and suicide became less an act of desperation than a final affirmation of the void’s domination. In these frozen landscapes, death was no longer a fear but an invitation, a consummation of that which had already been lost. The noose, a bullet, or to embrace the cold winds of nowhere, each was but an instrument in the grand symphony of self destruction.

And from that abyss, a sound emerged, not to heal, but to carve deeper wounds. Black metal was not a distraction from the sickness, nor a remedy – it was the echo of the disease itself, and the exaltation of ruin. Bands like Beherit and Impaled Nazarene did not scream for salvation, nor did they wail for deliverance. It was a sound sculpted from the marrow of misanthropy and became a celebration of opposition.

To the logical, the suicides that marked the decade were not tragedies but inevitabilities, the rational consequence of consciousness in a world stripped of false pretenses. Finland’s forests, thick and unyielding, bore witness to those who wandered into their depths never to return. The lakes, cold and absolute, swallowed their sacrifices without protest. Even the cities, pale and indifferent, were filled with shadows who had long since ceased to believe in their own reflection.

Introduction:

Clearly, you don’t need me to tell you that winter in Finland is bleak as not all were so lucky to survive it. When I first discovered Pervogoat about a decade after Black Spell’s death, there was only the rumour of a second demo, and no mention at all of any other unreleased tracks. Fast forward 15 years and Demo 2 was discovered and uploaded, alongside 3 rehearsal tracks from Pervogoat’s later Spell-era.

I’ve long been fascinated by the fact Pervogoat’s Facebook page has over 1’000 followers despite the fact that 1) Pervogoat only released 2 very obscure demo tapes in the 90s, and 2) Black Spell died in 2003, years before true social media was conceived.

It fascinates me that people still choose to gather through this unofficial medium knowing there will never be any new music or any words from Black Spell himself.

So, to get some answers, and to illuminate this period of Finnish black metal history, today I’m talking to Niko, better known as Behemoth from Aske, about his time with Black Spell and Pervogoat in the 90s.

To me, Behemoth is best known for his time in Aske, but has also been apart of many projects recently including Black Cum, Call of Pazuzu, Cursed Penetrator, Kurnugia, Kuutar, Necro Ritus, and Putriditium, and those are just the recent projects. It feels like Behemoth has been a member of half the underground Finnish black metal scene since the 90s, and he’s still going strong with Cursed Penetrator and Necro Ritus both having releases in 2024.

Pervogoat, on the other hand, was a predominantly one-man black metal project from Finland in the second half of the 90s, who released two underground demos before exiting existence in 2003.

“Pervogoat Interview” (An Interview With Behemoth of Aske, November 2024 by Vipoig)

Let’s start at the beginning, how did you know Antti, aka Black Spell?

Antti was original Aske bassist’s friend, we met in street when we were all teenagers and back then Antti would listen to New Kids on the Block and stuff like that. We talked and he became interested in metal music and that’s how our friendship started. Well I grew up with heavy metal and later thrash, speed, death and black metal. And of course always I was interested about witchcraft and horror stuff. It take a some years before Antti developed an interested to play some instruments, he would just spent time with me and S.Killer (ex-Aske, ex-Kurnugia.)

Tell me about black metal in Finland in the 90s, how did it compare, if at all, to its Norwegian counterparts? What would you say were the defining differences between the two at the time?

In my opinion early Finnish black metal was more brutal than Norwegian. For example, Archgoat, Beherit, and Satanic Evil! But when there was more and more Norwegian bm bands Finnish bands start to sounds bit similar like them except few better ones. I am not big fan of Swedish or Norwegian scene except Abruptum, old Mayhem and so on.

You worked with Antti, aka Black Spell, for a few years during this time in both Aske and Pervogoat. What was that like? Do you have any good memories of the Black Spell-era Aske or your time with Pervogoat that you can share?

Yeah we spend a lot of time together, actually we lived together for a moment in the house where our rehearsal place was. Booze and rehearsals, sometimes just listen music and drink coffee whole day. That was the time before he use drugs (during the Aske era) I have a lot of good memories our time together. Sometimes we got drunk together with my father because he was living downstairs to our rehearsal place haha. When things changed and Antti started to use drugs and missed rehearsals it was impossible to keep him in Aske, then he already had Pervogoat. Some years passed before we started to keep touch again. He was sometimes difficult at that era, but anyway my friend. He asked me one day to play guitar in Spell (or Black Spell – name was not sure back then.) We played some Pervogoat tracks and two new Spell tracks and recorded them with my 4-track cassette recorder, and when he died I recorded vocals in one track, all these track were released on the compilation. He was at one point pretty low and got involved with the underage daughter of a dealer. Then I put our friendship in ice, but little bit before he died I helped him, for example, give him food and let him sleep my home.

What was Black Spell like as a human being? Aside from some slogans scribbled on the cassette covers, very little is known about Antti. I’m curious what traits and characteristics you associate most with him? What kind of person was he?

He never talked with me about political stuff, but somethings come to my mind, for example, violence! Pretty often when we got drunk we would beat up people in Kotka/Karhula and sometimes had problems with the police.
Early times with bands was quite normal, we talked music and practiced because when Antti started he did not know much, like how to play or anything, so I taught him something with drums and guitar and I think Shadow from Vornat also taught him and help a lot with Pervogoat stuff. Well, in sober Antti was a quiet person before era with drugs. But for me he was always nice and friendly. As you listen his material there is not so much about political stuff in the lyrics. Pretty good memories about Antti!

Is there anything you can tell us about his project Spell? According to The Devil’s Cradle, Pervogoat changed the name to Spell around 2000. Was this during the time you were rehearsing together? Can you provide any clarity on if Pervogoat changed its name to Spell, or if Spell was its own separate project? The internet suggests material was recorded under the name Spell, but never released. Don’t suppose you happen to know anyone with a copy?

As I mentioned earlier about this, but, under that new name, 3 tracks were recorded which are a compilation on the album. I actually had to record the vocals for one track because he died. That was the beginning of Spell and I do not believe he recorded more stuff under that name!
I just think he wanted to start a new band, we were both a bit confused what we will do when we play these 2 new track and we decided to add Pervogoat first demo track together with new material, not a big mystery behind Spell band.
But one thing I do not know why, the label did not mentioned these tracks are Spell and not Pervogoat. Also, the Devil’s Cradle book is full of nonsense. For example, with me and Aske, Aske exist many years before Vornat and so on. I do not know why they did not ask their questions straight to me.

Do you think there is any other unreleased Pervogoat music waiting to be found? Was Antti a member of any other projects we don’t currently know about? Metal Archives lists only Pervogoat, Aske, and “Spell”.

If I remember correctly, I once heard a Pervogoat rehearsal tape, but according to my information there is nothing unpublished. His father is also now dead, so I don’t know what cassettes could have been found in his apartment, for example. But Antti himself at least never said that there was anything that should be published!
I am not contact with his sister so I cannot ask but also his cousin does not know nothing about unreleased recordings and they were pretty close.
My conclusion is that there is no unpublished material!

When I first heard Pervogoat, around 2010, it was said Antti had taken his own life. Now, it seems like drug overdose is what is often listed. You may not wish to comment, and that is understandable and I can respect that, however if you would like to correct the record, now is the time for someone to set the record straight. What really happened in 2002?

Actually, the death was partly due to drugs, but I can’t say more because there’s a lot more to it! I don’t want to take any risks, I’m just saying that I heard accurate information from a reliable source!

Now that he is not here to talk about himself, is there anything you would like the world to know about Antti? Anything you think Black Spell would like the world to know about him?

One thing comes to mind that he also wrote once before one suicide attempt and hospital episode,
“My black soul will never die fucking whores!”
I don’t know if that piece of paper was meant to be his last message, because he never talked about it much! Or was it just a way to express his thoughts, who knows… Antti was a Antti hehe. Difficult to say something shortly about him, sometimes a pain in ass and sometimes very good person. He still appears very often in my dreams and says ‘I am okay…‘

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions about Pervogoat, but now let’s turn the spotlight onto you as I see Aske is back? What’s going on with the project? I see a lot of splits, are there any plans for a follow up to 2019’s Down The Gates?

Full length album has been in my mind long time, but always a problems to get people together to fulfill it. Lack of time, family, kids, daywork and so on. And, of course, have some pressures to make good full length album, so let´s see what will happen.
It can take time…

There’s no denying the return with Vuohi in 2016 fits right in with your earlier releases and could be mistaken for being released in the 90s alongside Saatan Legio and Goatfuck. That said, Down The Gates in 2019 has a slightly different sound from earlier releases. It’s still clearly raw, chaotic, and gloriously blasphemous black metal but it feels like a deliberate progression from Vuohi? If anything, what led to this slight change in style?

Vuohi demo was originally intended for the Black Cum project, but it became an Aske release through many coincidences. At that time I was listening to many old demo tapes so I think that’s why Vuohi sounds so raw.

Down the Gates was supposed to be a rehearsal tape originally, but it became an EP, I don’t remember how that happened and the vinyl mixing made it even better, I can’t say what caused the change in style and sound.

I see you were back with Vornat recently too, however this stopped in 2023? What happened there?

In fact, in 2019 we played a gig in Vornat’s hometown together with Azazel, and yes, also in 2023 at Steelfest.

Another original band member wanted to include a person in the band who, for example, has called my wife a [you can guess], so I thought it’s better for me to leave the band. I don’t want to and I can’t work with assholes.

Finally, what have you got planned for 2025? Any new projects, any upcoming releases?

Yeah for example the Necro Ritus full length album. I also have the Noise/experimental project Okkvltismi, just released full album and next year split with Absolute Key, I do also in my real name some experimental minimal electronic music.

Cursed Penetrator split with Black Offal Messiah came out through Unpure Records and soon also Cursed Penetrator second demo as a tape which was a last recording, I have talked with Ram Priest of Impurity about split with Necro Ritus next year, I hope we can also finish our death metal band Putriditium’s new stuff soon!

Appreciate your time today, Niko. Any final comments, thoughts, or projects you’d like to mention?

Thanks for interview!
Hail Satanas!!!!

HTBLOF.