In 2014, Ne Obliviscaris ventured into unchartered waters and launched a crowdfunding campaign that enabled them to finance a world tour, something no other band in the world has achieved. As they now gear up to release their fourth album, Exul, they explain the emotional story of its conception.

Words: Cheri Faulkner

“I remember wondering how many people could really get into this progressive, extreme violin metal stuff? Literally one week after Portal Of I came out, we were contacted by Season Of Mist saying, ‘We want to offer you a record deal for the next album.’”

Tim Charles

No sparkling vampires round here… just the odd dusting.

Images: Matteo Ermeti

“Xen’s secretly a vampire, he’s 463 years old!” chuckles Tim Charles, Ne Obliviscaris’ violinist and ‘clean’ singer. “If you see photos of him from 20 years ago, he pretty much looks the same,” he continues.

The photos Charles is referring to come from the band’s conception – they’re now in their 20th year – and he’s right. Harsh vocalist/lyricist Marc ‘Xenoyr’ Campbell, also known as Xen, exudes an ethereal glow sitting on a regal gothic throne in his home for our interview, having not appeared to have aged a day since then.

“On his birthday every year on social media it’s become a tradition of asking fans to send him rainbows and unicorns because we’ve also never seen him wear anything except for black in the last 20 years,” Charles laughs.