Singer: DIMMU BORGIR Will 'Never' Consist Of More Than Three Members Again

CrankItUp.se conducted an interview with vocalist Shagrath (real name: Stian Tomt Thoresen) of Norwegian symphonic black metallers DIMMU BORGIR when the band played at Trädgår'n in Gothenburg, Sweden on October 17, 2010. You can now watch the chat below.

When asked about the DIMMU BORGIR's split with Swedish multi-instrumentalist Snowy Shaw (real name: Tommie Helgesson; THERION, DREAM EVIL, KING DIAMOND, MERCYFUL FATE, MEMENTO MORI, NOTRE DAME) a short time after Snowy appeared in the band's video for the song "Gateways", Shagrath said, "We have never really made any official statement regarding Snowy Shaw. I guess there's a been a lot of rumors about this and that and he did some interviews himself, whatever, but we have never announced that we have a new member in DIMMU BORGIR. DIMMU BORGIR is three people — it's Shagrath, Silenoz and Galder. For this new record, we have used in total over 101 musicians to be a part of the record, and he was paid to be a part of the record and play on it. There was never any consideration of becoming a permanent member in DIMMU BORGIR, and that's the end of the story."

Regarding whether DIMMU BORGIR will ever again consist of more than three people in the future, Shagrath replied, "Never. More people, more bullshit — and that's how simple it is. We had so many lineup changes throughout the years. We've been around now for almost 18 years, so it's... People come and leave... People with strong opinions, it's very hard to get a band going with a lot of people in the band like that, and for us it just works so much better to just be a three-piece. And the remaining members of the band are the ones who have created most of the music anyway, so we feel much more comfortable continuing as a three-piece, and then we use different people for different purposes — either be a part of the record or be a part of the live thing. It just works much better for us that way."

DIMMU BORGIR's current touring lineup reportedly includes Geir Bratland (APOPTYGMA BERZERK, THE KOVENANT) on keyboards and Terje Andersen (a.k.a. Cyrus; SUSPERIA) on bass, although this has not yet been officially confirmed by the band.

"Abrahadabra", the ninth album from DIMMU BORGIR, sold 9,400 copies in the United States in its first week of release to land at position No. 42 on The Billboard 200 chart. The band's previous CD, "In Sorte Diaboli", opened with 14,000 units back in May 2007 to debut at No. 43. This was more than double the 6,400 first-week tally achieved by its predecessor, "Death Cult Armageddon", which came out in September 2003 and landed at position No. 169 on The Billboard 200 chart.

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.

The first show of DIMMU BORGIR's European tour as the support act for KORN took place on September 19 at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam, Holland.

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