GORGOROTH Frontman Doesn't Believe His Sexual Orientation Will Affect Band

GORGOROTH frontman Gaahl (real name: Kristian Espedal) has spoken to Norway's NRK about his decision to publicly acknowledge that he is gay.

In an interview that was published in the latest issue of Germany's Rock Hard magazine, Gaahl, 33, spoke for the first time about his sexual orientation, stating, "It doesn't feel to me as if I've outed myself because up until now the whole thing was a non-issue for me. All this evolved very naturally. I feel how I feel and I've never made any secret about it."

When asked what prompted him to open up about his sexuality in a magazine interview, Gaahl told NRK, "I know that people have been looking into my background. People have seen me at festivals with men and there are many others who have known about this, but who have not seen at it as any issue. But Rock Hard was the first [magazine] to dare to ask me about it."

After the Rock Hard interview was published and the English-language translation of the article first appeared on BLABBERMOUTH.NET, Gaahl's former boyfriend, 20-year-old Norwegian modeling agent Dan DeVero, told the Norwegian media that he had received death threats from the black metal community by phone and e-mail.

Gaahl claims that he has not received any negative feedback since he spoke out about his sexuality and he doesn't believe that it will affect GORGOROTH.

"I am not worried about any potential loss of income [as a result of people being aware of Gaahl's sexual orientation]," he said. "Some may have a difficult time swallowing it, but it can also attract other people. All in all, I do not think this will make a huge difference."