THE BEAST

Italy's "Heavy Demons" radio show recently conducted an interview with drummer Frost (real name: Kjetil-Vidar Haraldstad) of Norwegian black metallers SATYRICON. You can listen to the entire interview below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the band's new studio album, "Deep Calleth Upon Deep":

Frost: "It's down to how the album sounds and feels, the vibe, the openness, the depth of it. There's something about the kind of power and conviction that emanates from that album. We feel and understand that this is one of those game-changing albums that will put such a strong mark on its genre and its time. It really marks a major change and something that cannot be ignored, something that is defining of a new feature and a new direction for this genre of music."

On SATYRICON's 2013 live collaboration with the chorus of the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, which was immortalized via the band's 2015 "Live At The Opera" CD/DVD:

Frost: "I think it was a great moment for SATYRICON and an experience that I will remember for the entirety of my life and I know there were many present that felt the same and all of us in the band felt that way about it. I heard from members of the opera chorus they really felt that this was something very special and outstanding for them and for those that were in the crowd, it also seemed like a very, very special moment for them. I think back on it that it had a very solemn and very monumental touch to it. It was SATYRICON at its most epic and majestic. The fact we did the show in the opera house gave it a very particular atmosphere and feel to the entire show."

On how SATYRICON has managed to diversify its sound over the years:

Frost: "SATYRICON has become much more musically diverse and open over the years. We always try to learn and develop when we work. As we pick up new techniques and as we discover a wider musical role in our work and find it can be brought into SATYRICON and empower and enrich the band, and when we do so with this album, we operated much more intuitively and openly and freely than we have done before. I guess the eventual result is that we used many different mechanisms and musical tools and as we go in and out of styles and moods and all of that without thinking that much about limitations, boundaries, conventions or rules. I think the album has become much more interesting and intriguing due to that fact."

On what he misses and doesn't miss about the pre-Internet days of the early '90s:

Frost: "I'm most like a normal, private person. It was a little bit easier being private when the means of communication was simple and there wasn't information flowing all the time and people didn't expect that you should always be available. Also, I might miss how it was with the position of music in people's lives and the approach to music by people pre-Internet. You listened to CDs and before that, you listened to vinyl or cassette tapes. I think that the relationship between fans and the bands they liked were much closer and I think music was understood as something more important, as something more powerful and something that had a physical presence in people's lives due to how it was approached. For me, personally, for instance, having something physical that is connected to the piece of music where you have artwork, you have lyrics and there's something for you to hold in your hands, that brings you much more in touch with it. I think that music should be that important. It shouldn't be something that is always around being in the background and being consumed without participation or passion. Unfortunately, the Internet has made music just a piece of entertainment that is always there and you can't reflect that much about it. There are many positives about the Internet, I definitely admit. I do appreciate that now there is progress and it's inevitable. I don't fight it. Of course, there are elements of the pre-Internet time that I miss quite a bit."

"Deep Calleth Upon Deep" was released on September 22 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").

The "Deep Calleth Upon Deep" front cover is an obscure drawing from 1898 by perhaps the greatest Norwegian artist of all time, Edvard Munch. Via Blabbermouth