SVARTSOT Guitarist 'Making A Fresh Start'

On December 17, 2008, Michael Lundquist Andersen (guitar),Niels Thøgersen (drums),Claus B. Gnudtzmann (vocals) and Martin Kielland-Brandt (bass) announced their departure from the Danish folk/viking metal act SVARTSOT. They explained in a statement, "We are sorry to announce that because of different opinions on how to run a band and how the music should sound, we have decided to leave SVARTSOT. We will surely miss all of you people out there who have supported us at live gigs, and by listening to our songs. It has been a great adventure with you all, boys and girls, and who knows. Maybe we will see you all out there at the venues again in the future, in other bands. We will all continue playing music together outside of SVARTSOT."

In a brand new interview with Denmark's Antenna magazine, SVARTSOT guitarist Criss J.S. Frederiksen stated about the split, "A small correction is needed here. 'They' announced it, as I was at that time denied access by them to the band's e-mail account, MySpace etc. I have not personally had anything to do with that statement, and what they have said is 100% their own words and sentiments.

"Firstly, it's not quite true that I am the sole member. We were beginning to work with a new member, Hans-Jørgen Martinus Hansen, who had been Stewart's [C. Lewis; Irish whistles, bodhran, axes and other instruments] understudy for some of the tour we did back in October. He has decided to remain in the band, but for some reason he was overlooked by the members who left in their statement.

"Besides whistles, Hans-Jørgen is to play a selection of other instruments, including accordion and mandolin.

"The members' leaving was something that had been on the way over a period of some months. The band was already on the verge of splitting up before we went on the tour with TÝR back in October, and things just seemed to get worse since then. As it says in the statement issued by the members who left, we couldn't really agree on matters of band organization or musical direction, but in the end it had become a matter of principals more than anything else, I think. On the musical side, all of the members came from different musical backgrounds — a few of them didn't even listen to other folk metal bands. This led to some problems every now and again — they just never really seemed to get the gist of it. In this case, it was down to one particular track which both Michael and I had been involved in composing. This track fell outside of what I consider to be SVARTSOT's musical territory and had actually been dropped from consideration for the next album. For some reason unknown to me, it was taken up again, which was much against my wishes. I don't know if it was due to lack of material/time (at that time we were planning to record early next year),but that was no excuse, as far as I am concerned. I had offered several different alternatives, such as writing a new track to replace it, but these suggestions fell on bad ground.

"The band had already discussed matters of people objecting to tracks that were being considered for the album, and saw it a 'hindrance to the promotion of the band.' But seeing as this track was not folk-metal-orientated, I had always considered it a dead-runner. It had even got so far at one time that I was told that if I made objections again, I would be asked to leave the band.

"First and foremost, SVARTSOT still exists and will continue to exist. Exactly what form the band will take is difficult to say as we are currently looking for new members. I am also writing new material for the follow up to 'Ravnenes Saga'. All the material that the members who left were involved in composing has been scrapped. Basically we're making a fresh start, and I for one would like to progress from that era, so to speak."

Read the entire story from Antenna.

SVARTSOT released its latest album, "Ravnenes Saga", in November 2007 via Napalm Records.

"Ravnenes Saga" means "Saga of the Ravens," suggesting Odin's two ravens, Hugin and Munin (Thought and Memory). These two ravens would fly out over the world each day to return every evening and tell what they had seen. This theme fits the collection of songs on this album, telling tales of feats of courage and battles, feasts, creatures from the murky realms of folklore and womanizing. This is a pure folk metal album with Viking spirit.

SVARTSOT made a name for itself in the underground scene with its unique brand of Nordic folk metal that combines black metal influences and lyrics inspired by Scandinavian folklore and mythology.