METALLIAN - Margantha

Members

Vocals

NOCTURNUS I [TOPIAS JOKIPII]

Guitar

Symphony Of Hate, Gorganera, I Sorg>>NOCTURNUS II [FABIO ROSSI]>>I Sorg

Bass

NOCTURNUS I

Drum

NOCTURNUS III

History & Biography

The act was assembled by an Italian guitarist and a Finnish singer/bassist and drummer. The guitarist had proposed a project to the singer, with whom he had worked before, earlier, but the singer had declined due to his time constraints. The members were all called Nocturnus, which per the band, "…the name chosen by the band members, Nocturnus, was inspired by the sleep paralysis experiences of the drummer." Rockshots Records issued the alliance of friends' debut EP Blood Moon Sacrifice on 27.07.2025. Wolves At The Door was mixed and mastered by Andy LaRocque at Sonic Train Studio. A concept full-length was due in late 2025. This was modified to a possible companion second EP.

Reviews

MARGANTHA - BLOOD MOON SACRIFICE - ROCKSHOTS
New band, first EP; quite a mature release, however. The death/black trio is comprised of experienced hands and it shows.
The Blood Moon Sacrifice has multiple layers to it and one is the bestial backing vocals. Is that supposed to be the monster the story is written around? Too bad there are background synthesisers. Curse Of The Full Moon is referred to as a ballad by the band. Good news: it is not and certainly not in the context most would expect. Miriam And The Endless Night is rather hypnotic, but a reek of desperation permeates its every nook and cranny. It is a thing of beauty when it speeds up. The melodic solo is fabulous. The lead soars and careens flying and aloof as the rhythm and drums under it pound the crap out of everything within a wide radius. Wolves At The Door is about the marriage of violence and dynamism. There is a riff a minute and again four minutes into the track that explodes. A short solo finally appears to top the machine gun riffing. Impressive. Some wild drumming supplies so much variety without ever being Finny-wimpy. The mini-album drumming is nothing if not creative.
I recommend the band splits up now because, we all know, the debut won't be topped - Ali "The Metallian"

Interviews

A Dangerous Meeting: An interview with MARGANTHA

Margantha is not a name that means much to many metal mavens, but the young band, comprised of singer and bassist Nocturnus I, guitarist Nocturnus II and drummer Nocturnus III, is worth researching. The music is extreme, alive (dead) and superlative. The concept inspired, interesting and intriguing. The band prefers to keep its secrets, so Ali "The Metallian" agreed to meet with the musicians, Nocturnus II and Nocturnus III, in a secret location under the cloak of darkness to speak about the concept, the genesis of the trio and all things related to the 2025 EP, Blood Moon Sacrifice. Nocturnus II and Nocturnus III took turns answering Metallian's questions as the Metallian knights secured the perimeter and conducted sentry duty in the vicinity. - 09.07.2025

METALLIAN: Greetings, children of shadow and sound. With twilight behind us it is time to capture and immortalise our conversation. When was Margantha formed and, seeing that there was an earlier proposal to form the project, when did that first approach take place?
NOCTURNUS II: The idea for the project came from me. I had this concept in mind and ended up meeting our vocalist Nocturnus I on Reddit of all places! We connected over shared musical tastes, old-school bands and live shows. That initial chat turned into something more serious when we met in person and realized we shared a common vision. From there, we each began working at our home studios developing the concept, the name, the lyrics and the music. There was a vague blueprint at first, some riffs, some themes, but we built it all up from scratch, putting in a huge amount of work in a really short time.

METALLIAN: Is there more to how all three members became acquainted?
NOCTURNUS II: I met our vocalist first, again, through Reddit. It was a completely random encounter, but we clicked right away. Later, we found our drummer Nocturnus III and everything just fell into place. There was no forced audition process or anything like that - just a shared passion and clear artistic chemistry. We’re based in different places, so distance is a challenge, but we’re making it work.

METALLIAN: When was all this?
NOCTURNUS II: It all happened very quickly, we met in the spring of 2024, worked on the songs, by summer all the tracks were ready and we signed the contract with the label in September. We took a bit of time to carefully re-listen to everything and we had already delivered the material for release by the end of January.
Saying it like that makes it sound like a smooth walk in the park, but it was actually really tough. Each of us had his own tasks and responsibilities to take care of.

METALLIAN: Nocturnus II, we know that the band’s name and the character behind it are inspired by a fable created by your grandmother. Did she create just the character or much of the story and concept?
NOCTURNUS II: The name 'Margantha' was something my grandmother used to scare me with when I was a kid and misbehaved. It was the name of a fictional monster, a creature that never had a defined shape; just a presence meant to terrify. Over time, that memory evolved into the basis for our band’s concept. The narrative we tell is a musical interpretation of her old stories. We even did some research that turned up similar legends about werewolves and shape-shifters. The names we use - like Abigail, Miriam and Landau - are inspired by King Diamond’s albums and woven into our own mythology.

METALLIAN: Let me point out that there is a discrepancy here. Your promotional interview, supplied with your biography and assets, states: "Where do your lyrics come from? What inspires your writing?" The answer given is, "The lyrics for this album are based on a legend that the singer’s grandmother often told, about a werewolf haunting a hunter’s village at the foot of a mountain range..."
NOCTURNUS III: Actually, we messed up the initial translation of the bio we sent to the label. The damage was done by the time we realized it, so in interviews we try to go into more detail and explain how things really are even though, to be honest, we don’t really care that much about who in the band did or wrote what.

METALLIAN: Nocturnus II, is your grandmother still around to see what her story has become?
NOCTURNUS II: Unfortunately, not. She passed away some time ago. But wherever she is, I’m sure she’s having a good laugh seeing what her spooky bedtime stories have turned into.

METALLIAN: The release being on Rockshots is a surprise. Isn’t Rockshots a rock music label and how did you decide on the label?
NOCTURNUS II: We had two options on the table: either go with a Finnish label or choose an Italian one. We really wanted to work with someone based in one of those two countries. Rockshots stood out because of the quality of their work; I had already had some indirect experience with them through other extreme metal projects. In the end, it felt like the right choice.

METALLIAN: Hmmm… only labels in Italy and Finland were considered. Was this so you could walk over and choke the owners by your own hands as needed?
NOCTURNUS III: (Smiles) exactly. We would’ve taken the first train to go wring someone’s neck if there were any problems. Jokes aside, at this stage it was really important for us to have a label, a manager we could talk to directly, someone we could look in the eye. That made a huge difference.

METALLIAN: Blood Moon Sacrifice is reportedly supported through a narrative PDF. Could you fill in the readers on this collateral?
NOCTURNUS II: Absolutely. The full story can be downloaded from our Threads page. It’s a short narrative in PDF format, complete with illustrations. We wanted listeners to be able to fully immerse themselves in the storyline and the atmosphere, not just the music.

METALLIAN: Breathing fire into the shadows so to speak. It sounds worth finding. Granted, Margantha is not Attic; nonetheless I counted three connections to King Diamond. There is the mention of Abigail in the lyrics, the chariot on the cover and the employment of Andy LaRocque to finish the album. How many connections did I miss?
NOCTURNUS II: Those are definitely intentional nods. We all have a huge respect for King Diamond and Abigail was a landmark concept album for us. It shaped how we thought about storytelling in metal. The hearse on the cover, the nighttime blues; the character names, they’re all tributes. As for other hidden references… Let's just say there are a few more if you listen closely.

METALLIAN: Speaking of which, What did Andy think of the aforementioned connections?
NOCTURNUS II: Honestly, we never asked! But we’re honoured to have had Andy LaRocque involved. Just knowing he was finishing the album was surreal for us and his solo on one of the tracks (Miriam And The Endless Night) is absolutely spine-chilling. If you're a fan of King Diamond, you really shouldn’t miss it.

METALLIAN: Now, why would you not take the opportunity and have the chat with Andy? It seems like the perfect occasion to do so, doesn't it?
NOCTURNUS III: Honestly, we didn’t have time at all. We put together the EP in literally less than a month. Andy invited us to the studio to be there for the mixing and mastering sessions and everything, but we had to do it all remotely.
We were absolutely buried in things to do. Sure, the timing was perfect, but next time we’re definitely going to visit him. He had a great time working on our EP. Nocturnus II actually met him during the Milan show on the King Diamond tour.

METALLIAN: All these mentions of King Diamond, and the bio brings up Queensrÿche as well, however, could confuse people into thinking you are a hard rock or a heavy metal band whereas you are obviously a more extreme metal entity. Thoughts?
NOCTURNUS III: Yeah, we get that it might cause confusion. We create and play extreme music with a horror theme, and on a global level, King Diamond is without a doubt the undisputed king of the genre.
Playing this kind of music without acknowledging him as an influence would be ridiculous, to say the least. Abigail, in our opinion, was a turning point in metal, the concept, the songwriting, everything was perfect. Every self-respecting metalhead should have that album in their collection.

METALLIAN: Agreed. Let's turn our attention to the tracks. The song Blood Moon Sacrifice has multiple layers to it and one of them is the bestial backing vocals. Is that supposed to represent the monster?
NOCTURNUS II: Exactly. Those guttural, feral vocals are meant to convey the transformation, the moment when man becomes a beast. Our vocalist, Topias, did an incredible job capturing that primal energy.

METALLIAN: Curse Of The Full Moon is referred to as a ballad. I imagine that I get where you are going with this, but would you elaborate in case the speculation is inaccurate.
NOCTURNUS II: It’s our take on a dark and hypnotic ballad. We were inspired by bands like Mgła in terms of atmosphere, but we aimed to craft something with its own identity. Hopefully we struck the right balance.

METALLIAN: To be clear, no one should expect a soft song. Tell me, who are the contemporary wolves at our modern doors?
NOCTURNUS II: For us, the real monsters are corrupt politicians and those in power who manufacture war and fear for their own financial gain. They pit people and nations against each other for profit. That’s what we wanted to reflect.

METALLIAN: Could we point the finger of blame at all the people who vote for these fascists instead? With that said, you told me earlier that there is a concept full-length album in the offing. Could you say a few words about it including a timeline? Would the EP’s songs be included or excluded on that release?
NOCTURNUS II: The (current) EP is out on June 27 and includes four tracks, one of which features that killer solo from Andy LaRocque. After this, we plan to release another EP that tells the story of a vampire wreaking havoc in the 1800s. We’re aiming to build something like a musical version of Penny Dreadful, those Victorian horror tales published weekly. We’ve started doing deep research into European folklore and legends and some friends are helping us gather the best stories out there. If things go well, we’d love to eventually package both stories together into a single full-length concept album. One thing’s for sure: as long as schedules allow, we’ll keep working with Andy.

METALLIAN: NOCTURNUS II and Nocturnus III, it was a fruitful meeting and informative conversation. It is also good to hear about the potential next release. Let's end by knowing why Metallian is the best website in this reality or any other.
NOCTURNUS II: Because you’re honest, transparent and support emerging bands without bias. That’s rare. Too many platforms engage in gatekeeping, even when bands have talent and solid backing. That’s not the case with Metallian. So yeah, thank you for everything you do. Keep going!

For more on Margantha and the Blood Moon Sacrifice EP go here

If you enjoyed this, read Wolves In The Throne Room

Margantha