SATYRICON's FROST On Veganism: 'Plant-Based Foods Seem To Make The Body Happier'

Drummer Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad of Norwegian black metallers SATYRICON spoke to the "Heavy Demons" radio show about his relatively recent adoption of a mostly vegan diet. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It has to do with what is good for my health, and in turn what is good for me as a drummer. Because I understood more and more over the years that everything that you do will also have an impact on your work. Since what I do is very physical, I basically need to bring in some of an athlete's mind in order to do my best. I have to pay attention to very many of those things that athletes do. I should never consider it being any type of sports, because that would reduce it, but there's definitely an element of it. And that also means that I have to think a little and deal a little as an athlete would think and do. And athletes care a lot about nutrition — they think about what they drink and what they eat."

He continued: "I realized at some point that plant-based foods seem to make the body happier. It's as simple as that, really. If I eat a meal based on meat, it will take a serious while for me to digest that meal. In the meantime, I will feel a little low with energy, I will feel a little tired and perhaps sleepy. And I just discovered that there are so many times where that is something that I can't really have. I mean, if I go to rehearsal but also perhaps might be hungry, then I should have something to eat in order to make it through the rehearsal. But on the other hand, I should try to avoid eating something that is heavy to digest, and that means basically any kind of meat. And I just had so many discoveries where when I eat plant-based foods, I can basically install myself behind the drum kit and start to play; I didn't really need lots of time to digest the food or to rest in between or any such things. And that just told me that it seems like the body reacts in a certain way to plant-based food that it doesn't do when I eat meat, and vice versa. And as I had these discoveries, I started also to be a little more interested in how to get good sources of energy but without eating meat."

Frost added: "Obviously, since you do something that is rather physical, you will need a little bit of proteins and various kinds of nutritions, or else you're gonna be hardly struck by fatigue. And indeed, there was a time where I lost quite a bit of weight and I experienced quite a lot of fatigue. So I just had to learn all of those tricks that people doing sports but also being vegetarians or vegans do. So that is something that I still try to learn. But I get better at it, and I find that there are lots of things that you can eat that will give you all the energy that you need and it will give you all the building blocks — meaning proteins — and you will get the various carbs and the vitamins you need and all of that, no problem."

The vegan diet means eliminating all animal products from your diet — as in meat, fish, poultry, dairy and eggs.

According to Vox, 2020 sales figures showed that plant-based food retail sales grew much faster (27 percent) than the total U.S. retail food market (15 percent).

Plant-based meat sales grew by 45 percent and plant-based milk sales were up 20 percent from 2019.

Elsewhere in the "Heavy Demons" chat, Frost confirmed that SATYRICON is working on the follow-up to 2017's "Deep Calleth Upon Deep" album for a 2022 release.

"Deep Calleth Upon Deep" was released in September 2017 via Napalm Records. The disc was recorded in Oslo, Norway and Vancouver, Canada, during early 2017 and mixed together with revered studio guru Mike Fraser (who previously worked on SATYRICON's 2006 album, "Now, Diabolical").

SATYRICON's first two albums, 1993's "Dark Medieval Times" and 1994's "The Shadowthrone", will be released as remixed and remastered reissues with altered cover artworks, on May 28 via Napalm Records.