> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://blackmetalzine.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Interview: Abghül (Ghül/Imladris) - URL: https://blackmetalzine.com/interview-abghul-ghul-imladris/ - Published: 2026-08-26T13:00:02.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-26T13:00:02.000Z - Description: Interview with Abghül (Ghül/Imladris) on Tolkien's legendarium, Summoning worship, and the UK black metal scene. Read more... - Author: Michael - Tags: Interviews ## Introduction I recently had the opportunity to chat with Abghül, mastermind behind the black metal project's Ghül and Imladris, among others, about his latest release Imladris - "Kings of Forgotten Lore" (also check out the review for this album, it's definitely my aoty currently), Tolkien, and black metal. It was an absolute pleasure chatting with Abghül. Enjoy the interview. ⚔️ **Its obvious that the all mighty Summoning have served as an inspiration across both of your projects now. Imladris however sees a significant shift away from Ghül's more raw sound and into a far more atmospheric landscape. Is this something you've been working towards for awhile and finally found the proper outlet for or was this a sort of one off project?** Abghül: Creating a “Summoning” project is something I have considered doing for a while, and the idea for the project actually predates Ghül. However, for whatever reason Ghül came first and for a while took a precedent. At the time I was playing in a couple of other bands and was fairly unhappy with the band dynamic at the time. I like to create very much within my own vision and on my own terms, and writing within the scope of a one-person Black Metal project gave me the opportunity to do this and has allowed myself to develop and explore my own musical journey. ![](https://blackmetalzine.com/content/images/2026/08/1000031428.webp) Imladris - Kings of Forgotten Lore Regarding the creation of Imladris, I have always dabbled with elements of Dark Ambient and Dungeon Synth and I felt the time was right for those elements to be given a bigger platform within their own musical realm. I wanted to build on the Raw Black Metal foundations of my other projects and I feel this still very much occupies a space on which the rest of the soundscape is built. I am sure these foundations will be built on even further, but I cannot answer when that will be. Like Ghül, Imladris tells a story, but it tells this story in a different way. **When where you introduced to Tolkiens legendarium and how did that discovery eventually become a black metal project?** Abghül: Like most, my first experience of Tolkien was actually at Primary School when a teacher read "The Hobbit" with us. I grew up in a house full of books, and often spotted "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Silmarillion" on the shelves. However, it was when I was in the hospital suffering from a condition called Diabetic Ketoacidosis, which is a particularly nasty and sometimes life-threatening illness which affects people who suffer from Type-One Diabetes when my Mum brought me "The Lord of the Rings" to read. It was shortly before the films were released and I felt myself escaping into Middle-Earth. Later on as I started to really discover music in all its forms, I started to notice Tolkien's influence on it. Firstly in Led Zeppelin - once again introduced to me by my mother - but then to find it in more extreme music too, which was somewhat unexpected. I certainly did not expect to find the legendarium to be such an overt influence on Black Metal - the most “evil” genre, especially considering how overt the Roman Catholic symbolism is in Tolkien's works. He himself would have most likely been appalled by bands and artists such as Gorgoroth and Burzum, as he was quite conservative in regards to his christianity. He would have certainly been disgusted by church burnings. When I stumbled across Summoning, it hit me in a diferent way. Here was a band that were not just using names or a little bit of imagery here or there, but explicitly using the lore and stories and interpreting them into their own music. This was arguably the biggest inspiration for me on my Black Metal journey, not necessarily their sound, but their interpretation of the legendarium and how they used it to weave their musical tapestry. This was very much in my mind when I started writing for Ghül, which at its heart will forever be a Raw-Black Metal project channeling the kind of ritualistic musical darkness you find with artists such as Pa-Vesh En or Black Cilice. **"Shadow of Grief", your last release as Ghül covers Túrin's story, possibly the darkest tale in all of Tolkien's legnadarium. What keeps pulling you back to "The Silmarillion" specifically?** Abghül: I think the sheer breadth and depth of the said lore is what keeps drawing me back. "The Silmarillion" has much more scope for your own interpretation than "The Lord of the Rings" does perhaps. It is a book made up of many stories that are full of despair, and these are ripe for exploration on both a musical and emotional level. For example "Rhiw", one of my previous full-lengths is told from the perspective of one of the Noldor travelling The Helcaraxe - a story where self-exiled elves navigate inhospitable ice and blizzard - and discover the fragility of their own mortality (which may seem odd, but Tolkien's elves can of course die) eventually succumbing to the cold and accepting their own death. Simply put, "The Silmarillion", the stories in it and the way it is written absolutely allow themselves to be adapted and interpreted in a way that allows depth of emotion. I didn't want to write something that is as shallow as “orcs are evil” or “the Nazgul are bad” for example, and the stories in "The Silmarillion" like many great myths are full of flawed characters, tragedy and complex falls from greatness. Despite them being in a high fantasy setting and containing Elves, Dragons, Gods and Spirits I find the tales within it intrinsically human. **What are your thoughts on the current state of the UKBM scene?** Abghül: The UK Black Metal scene has grown substantially in the last few years, mostly in a positive way and if you told me ten years ago that events like Fortress exist I would not believe you, but I do feel that it still has some way to grow musically. While some heroic stalwarts who have propped up and supported what is in fact a very niche scene over the last few decades, perhaps due to the lack of musical identity in the same way that artists from places like Norway, Finland or Ukraine have a lot of UK bands seem to rely on and be drawn into either Second-Wave nostalgia or atmos-black. While this may seem rich coming from somebody who has just released a "Summoning worship" project, I would really like the UK scene to discover its own musical identity. How or when this happens is a question I cannot answer and I do think we are stepping in the right direction. There are really exciting bands and projects on the horizon And maybe it is time for somebody to take the scene by the proverbial horns and give us a masterpiece. I do think a key part of this would be for artists to be brave enough to break down some boundaries and perhaps be a little more expansive in their approach. ![](https://blackmetalzine.com/content/images/2026/08/1000031426.png) Abghül **Since 2023 you've released like 6 full-length albums and almost as many EPs, what's that look like behind the scenes for you? Crazy work ethic or passionate drive that's still a serious amount of releases in a short amount of time.** Abghül: These releases don't include a number of projects that are out there that have been released as anonymous or under an alias. The perceived frequency of these is down to a number of factors and sometimes different releases vary from one reason to the next. All I can say is that every single one of them comes from a place of deep, real emotion and introspective reflection. It may seem cliche to say but I very much write when inspiration strikes, and I find that this can manifest itself in many different ways. Some releases have drawn from places of sorrow and despair, some from a sense of self-hatred and anger. One of the immense benefits of being a one-person project is that you are unrestricted in terms of expressing your creative output, so this allows me to very much work at my own pace and on my own terms. Perhaps this means I do have a tendency to hyperfocus when I approach a project, and this of course does have its flaws. I have crafted entire albums worth of material and have not felt satisfied with the result so I have abandoned them. It is not quite so much a search for perfection that does this but the need and desire to express a vision. **Tolkien’s work carries a deep sense of environmental nostalgia and mourning for lost, untouched nature. Beyond the epic battles and First Age tragedy, how much of your sound is influenced by personal connection to real-world landscapes and nature?** Abghül: When considering Tolkien and the role nature plays within his works it is important to understand the spirituality of it. He carried this interesting juxtaposition of deeply held Roman Catholic faith and an almost pagan belief that spirituality and God is found in every living being. He used this as a literary device quite often, and his translation of "Beowulf" is a perfect example of using Pagan and Nordic themes to express a Christian viewpoint.The decline of a more ancient mystical nature throughout the ages in Tolkien's works, alongside the dwindling of the Elves and diminishing magic reflect a decline in humanity and a fall from grace. A belief that we will never again reach the glories of a bygone age and a more primal untouched nature - something that I think probably resonates quite heavily with Black Metal fans. I myself live in Derbyshire, in a small-rural town placed on the River Derwent. I live a stones-throw away from The Peak District, and I am surrounded by tilled fields and woods. It is the type of place that The Fellowship set out to save against Sauron's looming industrial darkness. I have spent a life wandering in fields and alongside rivers and finding myself at home in the quiet serenity of woodlands. To say that my surroundings have had an impact on me would be an understatement. I don't think I can express in words how profound this impact has been and perhaps this has been a major contributing factor to finding a connection to both Black Metal and Tolkien's works. **Black metal has had a long, chaotic relationship with Tolkien's lore going back to the early '90s second wave often focusing purely on the surface level evil. What made you want to take a more narrative, lore-accurate approach to the broader history rather than just the surface-level darkness?** Abghül: As I mentioned earlier, I find the relationship between Tolkien and Black Metal somewhat ironic. Here you have a legendarium very heavily influenced by the author's own catholicism in which its main and most famous story is essentially a tale about divine providence and bands in the early 90s that spent their time trying to write the most blasphemous music possible and burning churches took so much from it. I am neither Christian or Satanist and sit very firmly in the Atheist camp. I have to admit that I tend to find a lot of surface level darkness quite cringeworthy and evil for the sake of evil has become qúite dull and tired. I am, however, fascinated by myth and legend and Tolkien with his myriad of influences ranging from Arthurian legend, Icelandic and Norse Sagas and Old and Middle tales such as "Beowulf" manages to create a very compelling myth albeit for modern audiences in a verý English way. **Legendary atmospheric acts like Summoning have notoriously chosen to remain strictly studio entities to preserve the grandeur of their sound. Do you view Imladris as a purely solitary studio endeavor, or could you ever see the project taking form in a live setting?** Abghül: In all honesty at this point in time I don't think a live setting could do this project justice. If somebody could provide me with a full symphony orchestra then perhaps I would consider it. **When translating Tolkien’s prose into song lyrics especially given his dense, archaic poetic style how do you strike the balance between directly adapting his original verse and writing your own lines without breaking that distinct First Age atmosphere?** Abghül: Finding this balance was admittedly quite difficult and to try and replicate Tolkien's style with its intricacies and form would actually be a fool's errand, let us not forget that the professor was a master of language, so much so that he invented his own. Once again, I find that when writing that the best approach is to be open in my interpretation. Each release and record is different, some songs such as "Fuin Eriol Na-Gul" - a song and live favourite about the fall of Numenor and the hubris of Al-Pharazon uses direct language and form from Tolkien himself, as does "Oathbound" by Imladris as another example. But some compositions are told from the perspective of characters or scenarios, the albums "Shadow of Grief" and "Rhîw" taking this approach. It is best not to limit yourself to write in a certain way, otherwise I think you may get bogged down by what you perceive to be stylistically correct, which is something I do want to avoid. **Looking back across the entire flurry of releases since 2023, is there a specific track or section from either project that you feel best captures the exact visual or emotional picture you had in your head before hitting record?** Abghül: Yes, the last section or movement from the album "Rhìw". This album is without a doubt my most expansive and ambitious piece of work. It is not an easy listen and quite hostile sounding but immersive. The last track for me is a real outpouring of pain leading to release and acceptance of the inevitability of mortality. However, this album is a cold, immersive and elemental soundscape to be listened to in full, so to experience it this way is a must. **Is there a particular corner of Tolkien's legendarium, (lore or events) that you would like to cover but have yet to get into writing about?** Abghül: Feanor, without a doubt. **If you could cover any song and appropriately do it justice, what would you pick?** Abghül: "Ramble On" or "The Battle of Evermore" by Led Zeppelin. Thanks again to Abghül for taking the time to answer these questions! Go check out some of his music, you can support him here: [Kings of Forgotten Lore, by Imladris5 track album![](https://blackmetalzine.com/content/images/icon/a3368169536_3-a2fa7c63-2a71-4e89-9d46-43e03da67ea7.jpg)ImladrisAimfri![](https://blackmetalzine.com/content/images/thumbnail/a3368169536_5-c799851a-66e2-4b56-904b-97eed9cccb86.jpg)](https://imladrisbm.bandcamp.com/album/kings-of-forgotten-lore?ref=blackmetalzine.com) [Shadow of Grief, by Ghül5 track album![](https://blackmetalzine.com/content/images/icon/a1846348207_3-b0041946-b139-4d49-afc1-ecbba7338bd9.jpg)Ghül![](https://blackmetalzine.com/content/images/thumbnail/a1846348207_5-05374b2a-c900-4841-9da4-cef8ecff5a96.jpg)](https://ghuluk.bandcamp.com/album/shadow-of-grief?ref=blackmetalzine.com) ### Reviews [Review: Imladris - Kings of Forgotten Lore (2026)Imladris - Kings of Forgotten Lore (9.5/10) Atmospheric Black Metal from the United Kingdom. Imladris sees Abghul (Ghül) step away from the blast-driven rawness of Ghül, into the cinematic, synth-driven world of the likes of Summoning. Read more!![](https://blackmetalzine.com/content/images/icon/logo_sidebar_bmz_artwork-5-6167ba33-70b4-4f0e-897f-e534b163daf7.webp)Black Metal Zine - Album Reviews, Interviews & Live ReportsMichael![](https://blackmetalzine.com/content/images/thumbnail/1000029124-50fb8dfb-03d8-4a1e-b38d-26e62a9e11e1.jpg)](https://blackmetalzine.com/review-imladris-kings-of-forgotten-lore-2026/) ## Signup to our newsletter and Social Media Below you can sign up to our newsletter(s) one of those is The Infernal Records, a weekly newsletter where Fractal our dedicated researcher finds new releases of the previous week that are worth your time. You can sign up here: ## Unleashing the Darkness Within become a member of Black Metal Zine Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. 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