SATYRICON Drummer Talks About Norwegian Black Metal Scene

SATYRICON drummer Kjetil "Frost" Haraldstad recently spoke to AllThingsMetal.net about his inability to tour with the group in the U.S. and the Norwegian black metal scene, among other topics. Several excerpts from the interview follow:

AllThingsMetal.net: What is the story on you not being able to get into the States to tour? Joey from SLIPKNOT is going to handle the drumming on the tour, correct? Good choice! I saw SLIPKNOT, at Ozzfest, and they tore it up. A great live band. How did you hook up with Joey?

Frost: "I have a criminal record and am therefore denied a work visa in the U.S. The case which it all stems from is ten years old, but you know how strict things are these days. We have tried REALLY hard to get me in, but we didn't succeed in the first round. Perhaps we'll make it later. Anyway, Joey is going to do a good job. His attitude is very good, and so are his skills. I'm really happy he can do the tour, and I guess he is too. Joey has been a friend of Satyr for quite a while and is a dedicated fan of SATYRICON, so asking him to do the job I am hindered from doing was an obvious thing."

AllThingsMetal.net: Speaking of DARKTHRONE, the song "Black Lava" mentions Black Metal 1990-1995 in the lyrics. On the last DARKTHRONE CD, on the song "Rust", they mention early Black Metal. In retrospect, how do you look back on those early days now? Did you know Dead and Euronymous? I know many people are fascinated by Norwegian Black Metal 1990-1995, so to speak. You have the unique insight of being there, all I know is what I read from the book "The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground". What can you tell us about those hallowed days of old, when the churches were on fire in Norway, and Christianity was exposed for what it was (a complete fraud)?

Frost: "Black Metal as a whole, as a phenomenon, was something extreme and exciting in the early nineties. Every new (Norwegian) BM album was a milestone; I remember looking forward to the releases with a kind of excitement and enthusiasm I can hardly feel now. And the BM movement itself. it had such a dark and weird atmosphere. It is my opinion today that my understanding of what was going on was very shallow at the time, but I did nonetheless feel that special atmosphere and was marked by it, which I am glad that I had the opportunity to. Whether Christianity was suffering any serious injuries as a result of the church fires, now that's a different question. Rather to the contrary, I suppose. But the burning churches for sure provided some strong symbols and images."

AllThingsMetal.net: What do you think about the Black Metal scene in Norway now? I like your other band 1349. CARPATHIAN FOREST is still great and the new MAYHEM is excellent. Do you think Norwegian Black Metal is on the upswing again? Are there any new up and coming Black metal bands that you like?

Frost: "The Norwegian BM scene is still strong as hell! Don't be fooled by all the worthless releases that are categorized as Black Metal but which are either not Black Metal at all or completely lacking quality. I'd say there are as many, or more, good bands now as there were 10-12 years back. It's only the RATE of good bands/albums that is smaller, since BM (or 'BM') releases are being spewed out on the market with continuously increasing frequency. Yes, the bands you mentioned are great ones; SATYRICON is better than ever, the forthcoming AURA NOIR album is a jewel, GORGOROTH stands strong (the next album will be great!),DISIPLIN gets better and better and there are more obscure acts like ORCUSTUS and FURZE that breeds Darkness of the very finest quality. The forthcoming GEHENNA album is fantastic (and pure BM this time),and you can expect top notch releases by for instance DÖDHEIMSGARD and KEEP OF KALESSIN in the foreseeable future. And there's more."

Read Frost's entire interview with AllThingsMetal.net at this location.