DIMMU BORGIR Frontman Talks 'Abrahadabra', Touring With KORN In New Video Interview

Vocalist Shagrath (real name: Stian Tomt Thoresen) of Norwegian symphonic black metallers DIMMU BORGIR was recently interviewed by the German edition of Metal Hammer magazine about the band's forthcoming ninth album, "Abrahadabra". You can now watch the chat at this location.

On breaking the tradition of using a three-word title for a DIMMU BORGIR album on the band's latest effort:

Shagrath: "It was a tradition for the last records to use a three-word title, basically, for the fact that it represents much more of a unity thing than just one word. 'Abrahadabra' is more about the transfusion of new blood, I would say, in a way that we have chosen to do a lot of things differently from what we had done before. We wanted to break out of the patterns in many ways, including the people who play on the record, and also the studios we have used for the record — everything is basically different, so therefore we felt it was more right to use a one-word title instead of a [three-word one]."

On two members — bassist/clean vocalist ICS Vortex (real name: Simen Hestnæs) and keyboardist Mustis (real name: Øyvind Mustaparta) — leaving DIMMU BORGIR and almost 100 guest musicians coming in to replace them:

Shagrath: "Well, you can't see it like that; it's a stupid way of saying it. I wouldn't phrase the question like that. It doesn't make sense, really, because the orchestration has nothing to do with the firing of the two members at all. That's just a stupid question. We have used an orchestra before, but this time we're going for a bigger orchestra to make it more epic and sound bigger, and that's the way we want to go and that has, basically, nothing to do with any previous members leaving or being fired."

On how DIMMU BORGIR plans to reproduce the new album live:

Shagrath: "It's not gonna be easy to bring 100 people on tour to do a show like that every night — that's basically impossible — so we'll probably use backing tracks for a lot of stuff live but also play some of the stuff on keyboards. We are planning, though, a one-off show — we'll see how it goes, but it's still in planning phase — to do a live performance with a full orchestra and a full choir, and it will probably happen sometime next year in Norway, if everything goes as planned."

On DIMMU BORGIR's upcoming European tour with KORN:

Shagrath: "I am, personally, not a KORN fan at all, but I respect them as musicians. I can understand that some people think, 'How can you tour with KORN?' But what's so strange about it? If you see other extreme metal bands playing at mainstream festivals, would you say the same thing? No, I don't think so. It's basically more about the timing. They have a new album out, coming out in that time period and are gonna tour Europe at basically about the same time as we are going to promote out new record. So, basically, it's more about timing; it's not about liking a band or not. But I'm a bit more grown up than... It's just too many childish comments [on the Internet] about [the pairing of the two bands]. Of course, we are different than KORN, but most people should be able to see through that."

"Abrahadabra" will be released in Germany on September 24, in the rest of Europe on September 27, and in North America on October 12 via Nuclear Blast Records.

The word "abrahadabra" (which roughly translates into "I will create as I speak") first publicly appeared in Chapter III of "Liber AL vel Legis" (commonly referred to as "The Book of the Law") written by Aleister Crowley in Cairo, Egypt in 1904.

"Abrahadabra" track listing:

01. Xibir (2:50)
02. Born Treacherous (5:02)
03. Gateways (5:10)
04. Chess With The Abyss (4:08)
05. Dimmu Borgir (5:35)
06. Ritualist (5:13)
07. The Demiurge Molecule (5:29)
08. A Jewel Traced Through Coal (5:16)
09. Renewal (4:11)
10. Endings And Continuations (5:58)