SATYRICON's 'The Age Of Nero' To Be Reissued As 2-CD Package With Bonus Tracks

Norwegian black metallers SATYRICON will headline a 24-city North American tour which begins on September 25 in Baltimore, Maryland. The influential outfit will also release a special-edition, two-CD version of its critically acclaimed latest album, "The Age Of Nero", on September 29 via E1 Music (formerly KOCH Records). The bonus material on this special "The Age Of Nero" package has never been available in North America before. Featuring eight live and rare recordings, this set is a must-have for SATYRICON fans.

In an April 2009 interview with Sweden's Loudfarmer web site, SATYRICON drummer Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad stated about the group's split with bassist Victor Brandt, "We had to [part ways with him]. Being in a live band means that you have to be a team player in addition to being an individual artist, and if you cannot really manage that talent and if you can't understand what it takes of you, then it's simply not possible to go on. You will, sooner or later, get into insolvable problems regarding attitude and how the band works together and eventually it will start to have a destructive impact on the music and the performance. You can only go so far with a very deconstructive air in the band, and we felt that we were getting there. If he comes to us and says, 'I don't really feel motivated to give my best now,' and 'I don't like the vibe in the band,' it's better that we just part ways, I think. And that's what he came to us and said. He was really at a point where he was telling us out straight that he couldn't really give us what we want. And, I mean, we're SATYRICON, and we cannot have an attitude like that, and I think that he cannot live with that either. So we have had a good co-operation; his style has been very suitable for SATYRICON. But sometimes when you work with musicians in a live band, you'll come to a point where the co-operation doesn't really work out anymore. And then you just have to end the co-operation and part ways, and that's what we did. Nothing very dramatic. We hoped to have a more stable lineup that would last for awhile, but we will move on and so will he."

SATYRICON's current session bassist is Anders Odden, whose experience includes stints with such bands as APOPTYGMA BERZERK and CADAVER, as well as touring with CELTIC FROST.

Commented Frost: "[Anders is] a very skilled musician. He has a very profound musical understanding and a very solid platform. It's a temporary solution, but . . . it's tight and he goes into this with everything he's got and the band has never sounded better, really, so it's good to have him there."

Video footage of SATYRICON's performance at this year's Bloodstock Open Air festival, which was held August 14-16, 2009 at Catton Hall in Derbyshire, England, can be viewed below (courtesy of Dave Ingham a.k.a. YouTube user "triptykon").