Satyricon interview (Frost)

There is no doubt that Satyricon is one of the most important bands of the once great Norwegian black metal scene. Since then, many things have gone and a lot has changed. Throughout their course Satyricon had the desire to differentiate themselves from other bands of the scene, while in their last albums made a shift to a more mainstream sound. This makes the wait for their new album greater. Given the chance, we spoke with the band's drummer, Frost. Unfortunately, the limited time we had at our disposal did not allow us to mention some of the additional issues that we had planned.

Hello, how are you doing?
I am fine.

You are about to release a new album. How long had you been working on that?
Working on this album has been going on for at least a couple of years. It has been a very intense period on writing and recording, but on the other hand it was a very productive, motivated and very demanding period for Satyricon. Besides, it has been a very funny and rewarding process. We are very pleased with the final outcome. So, now we are waiting the release of the album and we are expecting that everything will be fine.

So far i have not heard the album yet. Could you provide us some information about it, mainly about the music?
Basically, it is a Satyricon album. It contains many of the elements and different things that have been part of Satyricon during our existence. We have developed different dynamics within the band. The album is so tight. It sounds like Satyricon and it has all and everything perhaps that we have ever been. We are very pleased with the songs and the arrangement and the production. This is an album that every Satyricon fan should roll, should hear and enjoy the music we created. I think it will be rewarding for them.

In your last two albums you followed a heavy metal riffing approach in some parts. Is this going on with the new one?
Yes, at some time you feel that you wanted to make some major shifts, to dig further to the past and add something that you have been thinking for long. I guess in our previous album there were quite a few common factors pretty much based on some heavy parts and showed a pretty groovy Satyricon. Our new album is much more based on atmospheric and emotional structures that make room for young Satyricon fans and let them dictate how the songs turned out and besides make ourselves much more adaptable to business. Moreover, we are playing much more dynamically. We needed to work a lot in all parts individually or together as a band in order to make some parts, to add something that it was difficult to understand and generally we put a lot of work and a lot of focus. We gathered a lot to make it happen. We spent countless hours in diverse places just to make it possible for creativity to happen. In the earlier days of Satyricon, Satyr used to show me a lot of material that had already written and i contributed with some ideas and we passed just a few hours before we jumped to something that was to compose the songs. For the new album we spent hours to communicate, to compose music from the start, to have ideas coming and to find a way to work and certainly to release creativity.

There were periods when you changed your sound. With those changes what did you try to achieve? Did you try to push the boundaries of the genre as a whole or it was something that came out naturally?
Actually, it came out naturally. The sound came out from each individual song of an album. We wanted to have that kind of sound that makes the songs cold and grief. Now, our guitar sound is dynamic and we have those elements in order to make it possible to have a dynamic and a harsh album. That is hard to explain. Actually, it is something that you feel when you hear the album. There is an energy that is present even in the more lofty elements. I recorded the drums with a drum set that sounds very beautiful and also very expressible and possibly brings a lot of energy. Everything we created is full of energy and emotion. We wanted the production to be quite tough. The sound serves the idea and the general philosophy of the album.

Do you have any plans for touring?
Yes we do.

On your own or along with other bands?
The shows we are going to do this year are going to be Satyricon shows. We are going to do a show with the Norwegian Opera Choir in Norway, in September, some shows will follow in Norway and in Russia.  After that we have plans for a European tour in November and December. Then we will go overseas in the US and perhaps in North America for other shows. Our calendar looks very busy now and with lots of projects and shows from September, after the release of the album.

What is your vision for Satyricon? How do you like to see the band in some years?
What i want now is to go on with the work of this album, to do the shows with Opera Choir and everything. Apart from that i like very much the idea that Satyricon will be around for a long while, will have done different things and  enjoy the experiences are to yet to come.  Moreover, to make a lot more music, i imagine Satyricon to grow in the music world in the years to come. I would like to see the band to grow up in scale with the release of the new album. We always want to do things that bring in the band some kind of energy and dynamics. Somehow, we can always improve the performance of the album that is demanding and beautiful and varied. I feel that we have found a source of energy with this album and we will use this energy to bring to the music world our sound. We still grow as a band and certainly it is very possible to go further and find potential as a band to have such an impact on others, either bands or the audience. In the years to come we will see the best of Satyricon, being more concentrated than ever and more creative than have ever been.

You have been a member of Satyricon since the very beginning. During the 1990’s Satyricon was an exceptional member of the Norwegian scene, but on the other hand you seemed to be apart from the other bands. That was the impression we had. How do you explain that?
I guess that for a band like Satyricon it is very common to try to identify yourself. I guess it was the same thing with other bands. When you evolve and get older, you are trying to find a stronger identity of your own. Even though you are a part of a scene, you want to find your own way in life. This is pretty much what we have done. We have grown in business and i think that the other bands which were very different bands, they were trying to find their own path. All of them constituted the Norwegian black metal scene of the early ‘90’s. Most of those bands had their own sound and wanted to find their way on their own. We still feel that that spirit is still there. Many of those are still around making music, somehow having the torch burning. We don’t have a common spirit or common vision anymore. Each band has its own individuality and followed a different path. I think it is logical and natural.

Unfortunately we have run out of time. Thank you for your time and good luck with your new album.
Thank you too.