With releases such as 1993's 'Dark Medieval Times', 1994's
'The Shadowthrone' and 1996's 'Nemesis Divina', Norwegian (Oslo) based
black metal act Satyricon firmly established themselves as one of the
founders and leaders of the Viking/medieval movement within the underground
black metal scene.
But by 1999, Satyricon (who primarily consist solely of
vocalist, guitarist, bassist, keyboardist, songwriter and Moonfog Records
founder Sigurd 'Satyr' Wongraven and drummer Kjetil 'Frost' Vidar Haraldstad)
decided to branch out well beyond what was traditionally considered
the standard within the black metal scene, with their forward thinking
fourth release 'Rebel Extravaganza' courting both controversy (from
the black metal underground elitists) and high acclaim (from those with
an open mind) in equal measure for its ambitious experimentation and
broad take on the growing avant-garde genre.
Satyricon's follow-up album 'Volcano' (released in 2002,
and their first for major label Capital Records) maintained their progressive
move onward, and was hailed as a success from both fans and critics
alike, and even went on to earn the group four European awards in the
Norwegian Grammy for 'Best Metal Album', an Alarm Award for 'Fuel For
Hatred' in the category for 'Song Of The Year', an Alarm Award for 'Metal
Album Of The Year' and The Oslo Award for 'Best Overall Album').
It's been a long four years since their last release but
Satyricon have once again returned with their latest album 'Now, Diabolical',
which again has seen the band alter their sound and style beyond its
predecessor 'Volcano' by taking a more straightforward approach to black
metal, which in turn has revealed a far more prominent rock vibe, which
has again further split their fan base.
Fresh from a quick visit to the UK (where the band won
a Metal Hammer Golden Gods Award in the category for 'Best Underground
Band'), I caught up with drummer Frost relaxing at home in Oslo to find
out his opinion on the current black metal scene, how his working relationship
with 'Satyr' has changed over the years and what he thinks of the continuing
divided opinion from fans over Satyricon's direction over the last few
albums.
"We're very happy with 'Now Diabolical'. The response
to the album has been tremendous, which has meant that of course, we're
very satisfied with the response. The record company too is doing a
very good job promoting the album. So overall, we're very happy with
the way things are going at the moment. It seems to be a success story
thus far and I hope that it will continue to stay that way as time goes
on. But in answer to your question, I guess it's true that reactions
to 'Now, Diabolical' have kind of been divided. But in saying that,
I feel that the vast majority of the reactions have been positive because
I actually haven't seen too many of the negative reactions. I know that
there are a few of them out there, because something would be wrong
if they didn't exist."
While Frost is fully aware of some of the negative comments
surrounding 'Now, Diabolical', he's also too aware of the common theme
that runs amongst most detractors in regards to Satyricon's streamlined
rock approach to their style of black metal. But what most don't know
is that both Frost and Satyr were aware of the sort of division the
new album's direction would attract, and who would understand just what
they were trying to achieve.
"I think this thing about simplifying things too
much and that kind of response is something that you have to expect
from quite a few people in 2006, because the black metal genre is very
much associated more with the speed you play at and the technical side
of things. We feel that the connections are very wrong. Black metal
in its truest form revolves around dark atmospheres and we have created
an album that is much more in style to the albums that we ourselves
like a lot. It's more like the classic black metal albums of the '80s.
Old school black metal music was much more rock 'n' roll orientated
and far more direct than most of the black metal music out there today.
Music back then didn't contain a single blast beat. We wanted an album
like that and we thought it would be healthy for the black metal community
to hear that. We wanted to create some awesome f**king black metal without
there being tons of blast beats and the unnecessary technical complexities.
We wanted an album where the focus is more on atmospherics and good
song writing instead of a lot of technical showing off and musical masturbation."
In a lot of ways, the black metal genre has continually
been evolving, with almost every album attempting to up the ante by
pushing things to the extreme in terms of complexity and showmanship.
In turn, this has meant that fans' tastes in regards to modern black
metal have changed a lot since the scene's humble beginnings. It's a
comment shared by some, including Frost it would seem.
"I think it's just like that. Death metal is very
much based around musicality and technicality and it seems like that
has been rubbing off on the black metal scene in recent years. We felt
that it was due time that somebody said, 'Stop! We should hold onto
our hats and start thinking about what this whole black metal genre
is all about.' All the concentration is placed upon the technical side
of things, and the real songs and the atmospheres are completely left
out of the picture. There are few acts on the scene today that remain
true to those sorts of ideals. It takes more to create a black metal
album in the simple and traditional way than it is to do it in a very
modern way. Today, you can just play fast and scream and yell a lot,
choose a certain image for the band, and just like that, you end up
in the black metal basket. It shouldn't be that easy. If you're doing
things in a simpler manner, it will show very easily if you're not able
to accomplish what real black metal is about. If you hide that ability
to express darkness musically by hiding behind the technical side of
things, you will fail. I guess that's why so many bands are taking the
easy route to playing black metal. They play fast, and they think that's
good enough. If they master the technical side of things, they feel
that they're masters of the game. In reality, they really don't have
the essentials."
That might be a bold statement but for Satyricon, 'Now,
Diabolical' is their way of spearheading the campaign to bring back
traditional values back in the black metal genre.
"In a way, that's exactly what we're doing. We're
trying to show that things can be done differently. We're showing some
out there that there's a different way and hopefully some people will
take notice of that. Perhaps they'll also find a new interest in the
forefathers in the genre. Perhaps in the roots of the current black
metal scene, there will be an increased understanding of the whole genre,
and hopefully that will make things a little bit better."
To quote Frost from earlier on, 'It takes more to create
a black metal album in the simple and traditional way than it is to
do it in a very modern way', and as you would expect, 'Now, Diabolical'
was anything but an easy experience.
"It was a pain in the ass to get the drums sounding
right. These things happen when you're recording in analogue and in
full acoustic studios. In a room that sounds as good as the ones we
recorded in, you have to be careful about how you place the microphones.
There's always a cable that doesn't provide the right signal, so you
end up working day after day setting things up. The whole drum set up
was painful, just like the guitars were throughout the whole recording.
It was a lot of work making the sounds we created in the studio onto
tape the way we wanted them. The whole process was extremely time consuming.
A huge part of the whole process was the setting up, and that was very
frustrating at times I guess. But we got where we wanted to eventually,
or at least to a great extend at least. I think the album has that very
analogue pressed sound that we thought this album needed to have."
Another frustrating process associated with the making
of every new Satyricon album is the element of compromise between principal
songwriter Satyr and Frost - a constant battle that sees the pair disagree
at times.
"Oh yeah, disagreements happen. Satyr listens to
my opinions at certain times, but more often than not, he has a certain
idea about how things are going to be, and there happen to be times
where we have disagreements. Just about every time a situation like
that comes up, he'll always say, 'It's fine that you disagree with me
on this, but I think that you should trust me on this one!' It's only
when I've heard the finished take or song that I'll hear that he was
right all along. That's usually the case. So generally, I try not to
be too stubborn. I always tell him when I think something is terribly
wrong, or if we should do something in a different way at certain times,
but what happens is that I try to be a bit patient, because when I hear
the final result, his ideas usually have a meaning. That is the difference
between Satyr and me. He very often sees the whole musical picture because
he's creating that vision in his head. All I get to hear is what he
presents to me on his guitar so it's only natural that a few arguments
arise. I only have what I hear from Satyr initially to judge the final
product. That's something we just have to live with. That's the flip
side of the coin being a two-piece act. But in saying that, it gets
easier with time. Experience has helped in that manner! (Laughs)"
One of the concepts that Satyr brought to the album that
initially didn't sit well with Frost was the actual title 'Now, Diabolical'.
"I believe that some subconscious powers were at
work there since the title just presented itself to Satyr in something
like a vision or a strange kind of perception. He simply told me one
day that 'Now, Diabolical' was going to be the title. I guess it was
just meant to be the title right from the start. Perhaps it was the
subconscious at work trying to sum up the whole essential atmosphere
and feeling of the album in just two words. It does sound a little strange
and mystical, but I guess there's a strange kind of meaning behind it
as well. I've become very used to the title now, and I like it a lot,
even if I did find it strange to start off with. I guess I still find
it a little strange! (Laughs)"
With 'Now, Diabolical' now three months old, Satyricon
plan to take their primitive black metal extravaganza on the road, with
plans to really undertake some serious touring towards the later part
of 2006.
"It's summertime now here in Europe, so that means
we'll be playing festivals, and then more festivals. We have just finished
up a few of those, and after a couple of days back home, we're leaving
for some more festival shows here in Europe. The whole summer looks
like that for us. We just finished the Download Festival (UK), Graspop
Festival (Belgium) and a lot of others. We finish up those in September
and then we hit the road for real. We'll stay there until Christmas.
The album was released in Europe well before the US so it's logical
for us to cover Europe first, with the US o follow. That's the plan
for now at least."
Although having toured Europe extensively and brief stints
in the US in the past, Satyricon's partnership with Roadrunner Records
for 'Now, Diabolical' has meant that the band now has the opportunity
to explore new territories outside their previously conquered terrain.
"Distribution has tended to be a small problem for
us in the past, but hopefully we have a solution to that now. I guess
the wider distribution has now opened the doors for us, but it will
still take some time before we actually see the results of that. For
now, we're currently travelling around Europe because we have a pretty
strong market there, but perhaps this new deal will finally open other
new territories for us. We would love to places like Japan and Australia.
It would have been unthinkable for us to come down there a couple of
years ago, but now, we will probably get down there to play. Things
are now finally really happening for us. I'm not saying it will happen
with any certainty but the chances have increased a lot. Roadrunner
Records are working on that now so hopefully that means that we'll finally
be able to play a few shows in Australia later this year, or in early
2007. We very much want to tour Australia and hopefully that will happen.
It would be pretty exotic for us to go down to Australia. From what
we've heard, the fans over there are going wild and that is something
we would like to experience."
I would personally like to thank Kjetil Haraldstad
(Frost) for his generous time and Bob Stevenson at Roadrunner Records
for making the interview possible.
For more information on Satyricon, check out - http://www.satyricon.no
© Justin Donnelly - justindonnelly@ozemail.com.au
