DARK THRONE
Darkthrone Interview (Elskrin)- Ave, Fenriz, and welcome on Elskrin! Let’s start from the news: your new album, “FOAD”, is bound to hit the stores in some days, and like its predecessor, it was anticipated by a single, certainly not something that most of us would have seen coming for a band like Darkthrone – was this your idea or something proposed by the label? I must say that I appreciate the fact that these singles offer something like covers and alternate versions for collectors and enthusiasts…personally i always liked just plain ol' full length albums. i do not deal with the business around darkthrone when it comes to versions of albums, merchandise etc, so i really do not know. it is better that i make the music. but i feel that darkthrone is a relationship, and in a relationship there's a lot of give and take. Ted gets a lot of business proposals and some of these i agree too, most of them i say no to. but you on the outside never see the smorgoslist of what i have said no to, hahaha. some ideas are not run by me, i can't take a stand to everything because i do not UNDERSTAND marketing, for instance. or, i refuse to understand. but lately it seems i don't understand it, plain and simple.collectors and enthusiasts, haha, you make them seem so positive and cute!!!some of my best friends are collectors, HAHAHAHAHA! and the young vinyl freaks in bands like Nekromantheon, i can see that they like that for instance DEATH BREATH are releasing 7"s and maxis etc.and finally, i do not understand what you mean with "a band like darkthrone", the law that is ONLY FOR US, that WE ARE THE ONLY BAND ON EARTH that is NOT allowed to release singles. this is a very strange phenomenon, that should come in the Guiness book of records! HAHAHAHA!1 Much like one could predict, the songs on the “NWOBHM” single show the band going even further along their path of selective musical regression to the roots of what would become extreme music. I noticed that this time around vocals are even more… peculiar (songs like “Hedninger fra Helvete” and “Wisdom of the Dead” prove this point) – trying to get rid of the last typical “Black Metal” elements in the form of rasped vocals?1 if i hear one more stereotype rasping vocals i am going to go BALLISTIC!!! haha! in the 80s it was no stereotype black metal bands, we are one of the un-stereotype 80s bm bands now i think. very good question! actually i was tired of those vocals in ca 93 already- Back in your early days you moved away form a genre you no longer found artistically stimulating (Death Metal); it can be argued that your “new” style implicitly places Black Metal in the same category, except that this time, instead of exploring something fresh, you’re taking refuge in the past by revisiting it in your personal way. Does this mean that Black Metal is just a dead horse being uselessly beaten? Or was it just a musician’s desire to rock out playing his major influences’ musical style, so to speak? Because from a listener’s point of view, I feel that signs of something like this to come were already apparent on albums like “Hate Them” and “Sardonic Wrath”; plus, we have a precedent like “Panzerfaust”…WHAT!?!?!!?!?! TOTAL misunderstanding! when we protested against death metal we did NOTHING NEW, we went PURELY back to 80s styles! we NEVER had contemporary influences, and the style on a blaze in the norhtern sky is PURE 80s style. we only listened to hellhammer, destruction, sodom, bathory, celtic frost, tormentor, treblinka, sarcofago etc in these times - as we always did since. this way it is true that the most trendy album we ever did was transilvanian hunger, because it's an expansion of some bathory/thorns riffs that everyone played at that time - only we did it MORE than the others.1 black metal is not a dead horse, but i refuse to acknowledge the 90s stereotype style as the "official" bm style. for me, there is none.- Whatever your dissatisfaction with Black Metal may be, songs like “Shut Up” and “Too Old, Too Cold” seem to claim the genre’s (past?) triumphs, as well as recognize Darkthrone’s own part in its history – quite a surprise, considering that Darkthrone is to this day considered by many the band that doesn’t give a shit about what is being said about them par excellence. How do you deal with the fact that so many artists nowadays look at you as a major inspiration? Lots of contemporary Black Metal bands often get dismissed as “Darkthrone copycats” when they sport a minimalistic approach similar to what “Transilvania Hunger” pioneered; while this is often true, I find that there are artists who pull it off really well (Armagedda and Vargsang come to mind) – your opinion?i have a RIGHT not to be very interested in the transilvanian hunger style - since i made all of it AND recorded all of it - in 2 weeks time.1 2nd yeah i'm not a curious guy, but everyone have their limits. i feel that i feel VERY BAD about everyone that has misunderstood our many current styles throughout the years - and also i have said that i never believed that more than 1000 people understands what we are doing. the style we had AND have is the result of inspiration from bands from the 80s and 70s, and it's the same now - i have no golden word here, to say. if i distance myself enough from the band style i find boring, i might return one day. but the death metal style i left behind in 90-92, i never really returned to. life surprises me every day, more than death (metal) HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!- Music is not the only element that changed in the Darkthrone camp in recent years – a noticeable stylistic shift in the lyrics’ tone was clearly noticeable, again even before “The Cult Is Alive” was even announced: I remember that by the time “Hate Them” came out you said somewhere that you had changed the style of your lyrics “again”. When did the first change occur? You once defined your lyrics “Satanic Poetry”, how would you define your writings today?1 some soulful lyrics - some EXTREMELY POLITICAL IN RELATION TO OUR METAL WORLD. vote darkthrone for the necro alternative! today, no album that isn't "plastic produced" gets to be "album of the month" - think about it. as lyricist, it is EXTREMELY natural to change as you change as a person. remember - only RAIN MAN doesn't change! hehe- Continuing the thought: what does “Satanic” mean to you? I think you’re aware of the constant debates about how much lyrics and attitude can define the Black Metal genre – through Fenriz’s eyes (and ears), what does – musically and lyrically – make Metal “Black” (as opposed to “spastic, lame, and weak”)?i can only look at my own situation in life, what position i have in relation to the claim of Satanic background. i have had some things going for me, but i fear that no one has a "perfect" life that is portrayed on the covers of "the watchtower" jehovas witness cover arts...or the Satanic Bible for that matter. we can only acknowledge that we are born on the sunny side of the world and try to create something from nothing. i doubt many people living in HELL discusses these matters. i think these discussions are kid stuff...it is the most easy thing in the world to make western teenagers depressed. think about our music - always sad. african music always try to be happy. the music (in general) is an escape from reality. maybe westerns have it too easy? as our music turns from theatral sadness to hellbound rock, maybe it portrays that my life is more difficult? nah, i don't think so, but it's an interesting thought.1 i think what GIVES me something after all these years is great music - for black metal i got maybe most from "Don't Break The Oath" by MERCYFUL FATE. mirror it against all the bm trends. it's healthy and a smart move. and it always worked for me.- Norway’s once premiere Black Metal scene has been undergoing a lot of changes, especially as far as the original contributors’ music goes. Some have abandoned not only Black Metal, but Metal as a whole (Burzum and Ulver); some ventured themselves in the wilderness of totally free musical exploration (Dødheimsgard); others, much like you, took a more “back to the roots” approach, though it can be argued that they, too, always had this “Black’n’Roll” undercurrent in their DNA (Carpathian Forest), and others even went through both the experimental and regressive phase (Satyricon). Naturally, many listeners argued if such radical metamorphoses allow the music to be still defined Black Metal – your opinions on this?these occurencies are MORE black metal than just folding into the streamline, perhaps. again a very good question. i think Ivar of ENSLAVED said something valuable when he said something like "i think it is NOW, when the Norwegian old timers bm bands venture into ANARCHY, that it is truly interesting to follow". but i also understand those who think that bm is but ONE style. sadly, they are, ofcourse - WRONG.1 black n roll, hehe, we even had celtic frost riff on our first SOULSIDE JOURNEY album! celtic frost is the main band for blacknroll, but also the major link between metal and punk - although this link can be found in THOUSANDS of releases from 80s up to now, but mostly 80s and 00s releases. the black metal road eventually took us to the crossroads of MANY styles - and now we combine them. remember how NWOBHM the first slayer album was...- Nocturno Culto recently released his first visual project, “The Misanthrope”, for which he also composed some really haunting musical experiements. As for yourself, have you ever thought about doing something like this as well? And what about your extre-Darkthrone projects? I doubt you might ever resurrect Isengard or Neptune Towers, but if you were to try something different again, what musical genre would most intrigue you as a composer?no, we widened the box of darkthrone, so now we do almost what the fuck we want - it ends up sounding darkthroneSK anyway... i have had so many one man projects and side projects, it's sick. but i have no wish now, and haven't had for 5 years, another music style, i have already made my songs for the next darkthrone album ... so I'M ON THE ATTAAAAAACK!!!!! A METAL ATTACK!1 it seems that Nattefrost will do a split with an unreleased project i made in ca 93 now called FENRIZ' RED PLANET..will be a split cd perhaps. this style is total 70s 80s style of pentagram, black sabbath, trouble etc- I know it might be a bit early to ask, considering your new album hasn’t been released yet at the time of this interview, but what may lie in the future for Darkthrone? Nocturno Culto’s appearance with Satyricon at Wacken 2004 predicatbly stirred a lot of fuss among your followers – any chances of more public appearances like these?1 i am a public person in Norway atleast, but no live stuff for me - only studying more more more metal and music and the history of metal back to the 50s etc... and SUPPORT REAL METAL LIKE DEMON'S GATE (Australia) and ALPHA CENTAURI (Greece)- That’s it, we’re done for now. Much gratitude for granting us your time! Massive hails, and as usual, the last words are yours!very good questions, i must have used 2 hours on this one. and now i go to play my TRIPLE THRASH TREAT on national radio NRK P3,today i play NOCTURNAL (Germany), METALUCIFER (headbanging song, japanese version) and WHIPLASH (burning of atlanta from 2nd demo 85). HAIL TO THE DOGS OF METAL!!!Interview by Lord Jotun
E' atteso per fine dicembre il primo lavoro degli AmethistA , synphonic black metal band torinese ...Di spicco sono attese le tastiere di Alex ( ex Highlord ) , la voce della cantante che alternerà scream, groul e voce lirica e di tutto rispetto la velocità di Carlos.Sicuramente non deluderanno le attese!!!
