Celestiial

Celestiial Marty Rytkonen, of Bindrune Recordings, was one of the "maybe six or so" people to receive a copy of Celestiial's demo Ashen, but he was the only person associated with a label. However, the album had not been recorded in a studio. Five of the songs — the five that composed Ashen — had been recorded one evening in the corner of the Azrael rehearsal space, and the three additional songs on Desolate North were recorded later. One of them was in early 2005, and was recorded in the same place as the first five, but the other two, the songs featuring the harps, were recorded at Anderson's home, with his microphone literally tucked under his chin. In early 2006, following the release of Desolate North, Tim Glenn joined the band as a drummer. In 2008, Jason Walton joined the band on bass and the line-up has remained the same to the current day. Bindrune is due to release Celestiial's second album in summer 2007. The music was also used on May 24, 25 and 26, 2008 as part of the newest Ballet Deviare production, Memento Mori. Ballet Deviare's performances to Celestiial's music have also appeared on the MTV Two show Headbangers Ball. In 2008, it was announced that Celestiial was releasing a split album with Blood of the Black Owl on Bindrune Recordings. The final mastering was done by Mel Detmer, and the release (titled only as Celestiial / Blood of the Black Owl Split 12"LP) is limited to only 500 copies. Other projects Outside of Celestiial, Anderson is a member of Obsequiae, and he is a former member of a black metal band, Azrael, and Autumnal Winds. Anderson is currently involved with several other projects. He is part of "an obscure death metal band" Additionally, Jason Walton and Tim Glenn are both involved in several other projects. Walton is a member of the band Agalloch as well as Sculptured, Nothing and Subterranean Masquerade. Glenn is a founding member of the experimental/black metal band Heatdeath, who are signed to Conspiracy Records. Anonymity Despite the fact that other bands signed to Bindrune Recordings have MySpace profiles or websites, Anderson says that he has no desire to promote Celestiial, and beyond answering e-mails and chatting on message boards, desires no Internet presence, and only allows himself to be interviewed through devotion to Bindrune Recordings. He has said that he plays in a band where "anonymity is important/understood by all involved". ==Musical style==

The music of Celestiial's debut album, Desolate North, makes use of minimal vocals, instead relying on electronics, guitars and syncopated drums (with liberal use of cymbals). Also, these are backed up by more traditional instruments, such as harps and Native American flutes. Celestiial is a funeral doom metal band. However, Desolate North has been described as taking the genre in new directions with comparisons to ambient, goth, experimental and dark folk music being made. Anderson admits that there may be death metal influences in the vocals, but says that it was not a conscious design, and that the music does not have any other similarities to death metal. He claims that there are no black metal influences. He says that describing Celestiial's music as folk is a bad idea, as folk is such a broad, vague description as to make it meaningless. He says that what he is creating is neither folk, nor traditional, and even the harp songs are not traditional works, though they are influenced by the traditional music of the United Kingdom and traditional Irish music. ==Imagery==

in nature." Anderson responded to this by claiming that he doesn't know why people compare his music to black metal; hypothesising that it is simply the raw production of the music, or the double 'i' in the band name. He has instead described the double 'i' as being present in the name "to give it character." Anderson was once asked about whether there were any pagan beliefs in Celestiial. Anderson responded that Celestiial "is romanticized Paganism with very real pagan values behind it." He talked of how Celestiial celebrated paganism and the natural world, but that paganism is often viewed as something that it is not. ==Discography==

• Ashen (demo) (2004) (Self released as sample) ==References==