Drummer. Songwriter. Metal historian. Staunch traditionalist. Curmudgeon.
There are a lot of terms that could be used to describe Darkthrone skinsman / recent vocalist Fenriz (born Gylve Fenris Nagell), and to a certain degree all of them would be true. But one tag he doesn’t get, and possibly should? Heavy metal philanthropist. No one else possessing such fame works as hard to raise the profile of new bands as this man, and his Band of the Week website / blog strives to unearth great young acts who uphold the standards of traditional heavy metal. While many may not prescribe to his rules, it’s hard to deny the honest intent, and unlike other such defenders of “true metal,” his band is still putting out stellar material.
Steady, subtle evolution leads to constant refinement.
Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have carried Darkthrone‘s punk / black metal hybrid into a new era by including a boatload of NWOBHM, speed, doom, and about every form of metal played in the 80s. The Underground Resistance is an absolute beast of a heavy metal record, but don’t take my word for it… take my word for it.
To find out more, the Last Rites team pooled their curiosity, and Fenriz was kind enough to answer our queries as only he can–like he’s teaching a graduate level course on the underground itself. The name dropping below is extensive, and so is the linking. Click away, listen to the obvious and the not-so-obvious, as Fenriz undoubtedly does interviews for the same reason he runs his blog: to spread the metal. And that’s why we’re here, right? Right.
[Note: Despite speaking the language better than half of the mouth breathers here in ‘Murrka, English is a second language for Fenriz, so forgive him the occasional run-on sentence or grammatical error.]-Zach Duvall
Last Rites: Do you actually take guitars on your hiking trips? If so, are you admitting that you write black metal with acoustic guitars?
Fenriz: No, that is VERBOTEN, people who do that are stereotype dorks or douches and can be almost exclusively seen in wholesome American films or horror movie parodies thereov.
Before 1959 when Link Wray slashed amps to get a distorted sound, all guitar music was made on acoustic guitars, or at least without fuzz. A rule is that if a phat riff sounds good on acoustic, it will sound even better with fuzz. I just have to come up with the songs and riffs anyway, when we record it’s Ted [Skjellum, aka Nocturno Culto] who does the guitars anyway. I started writing on acoustic around ‘98, I made mostly black’n’roll (Hellhammer was inspired by Motörhead back in ‘82-‘83 I think, I just put even more Motörhead into the Hellhammer style I was already dealing with, creating black’n’roll. I first did that on the first middle paced riff in “In the Shadow of the Horns,” btw).
LR: The Underground Resistance calls back to the classic metal of the 80s more than anything Darkthrone has ever done, while still maintaining a blackened edge. What was the mindset going into the writing and recording of the album?
Fenriz: I think the blackened edge comes from the outside listeners, being colored by the fact that we did quite a few black metal albums in our career. For Ted I think he is making a snapshot of most of the styles common in the 80s, while I concentrate on the speed metal and NWOBHM. We have no mindset or plan, as usual we just continue where we left off, two of the songs on this album were already recorded before Circle the Wagons came out. We don’t talk about music direction. Like right now we are writing songs for the next album and all I said to Ted was that my song seems to be slow and he said his one is a bit fast and black, but this might change before we meet to record them anyway. We don’t talk much about it, no.
LR: The song “A Stylized Corpse” from Circle the Wagons hinted at the more serious tone heard on The Underground Resistance. Was that song a point of reference for the new material or did it just happen that way?
Fenriz: I don’t understand what all this “serious” topic is all of a sudden, I would say we are more serious about metal than most players out there, especially considering my devotion to metal as a whole. I have written serious angry lyrics about my experiences through a life in metal, the way Lemmy often seem to have been doing, but any 14 year old writing satanic lyrics seems to be taken SERIOUSLY and no one raises an eyebrow but when I write lyrics about metal and those who fail metal, then it’s not serious. Ok. We can only write about dragons and hate, that’s serious then. I get it, but mentality like that only makes metal seem more ridiculous to the outside viewer. Anyway, that’s ALSO fine by me. Standing along, I think The Underground Resistance is as serious as for instance first Metal Church album.
The song was just another song, we don’t think like that or plan at all, to have one song as point of reference, only…. Circle the Wagons title track was a pointer to what I did on this album on my 3 songs, but then I made some ‘85 Celtic Frost again and that mystified me, it seems I can’t plan ANYTHING hahaha.
LR: There are a few moments where doom metal really shows up on the album (the intro of “Valkyrie” for example). Think we’ll hear more of this in the future?
Fenriz: No, the doom metal pops up in the beginning of “Come Doom, The Entire Warfare” with total 1986 Candlemass style!!! That’s Ted’s song. The beginning of “Valkyrie” was me waking up in September 2011 with a riff in my head that quickly arranged itself to sound like the beginning of “The Ides of March” by Iron Maiden 1981 and so I had to rearrange it to sound like ME and then it came to be that I had to think of it being played by acoustic guitar and then make a driving supporting rhythm guitar under it so it ended up sounding like “Gypsy” by Uriah Heep 1970. But I think that slow Uriah Heep is actually doom metal too, or proto-doom, I mean the slow parts in their “Pilgrim” song was my first hearing of anything slow and heavy (I was 3 when I got it in 1974) so I think you have a good point here. Anyway we always had real slow parts, one of our first logos says clearly ON the logo “death epic doom”.
LR: You do a pretty damn good King Diamond impression at times (beginning of “Leave No Cross Unturned”). Planning to keep that up? Have you considered challenging Ihsahn in a King Diamond karaoke contest?
Fenriz: Has nothing to do with King Diamond, has everything to do with Geoff Tate 1984, John Cyriis 1985 (Queensrÿche, Agent Steel). First time I did castrato high screams like that was on “Dommedagssalme” (Isengard) in ‘92, it’s the same technique of vocals used by the abovementioned, King Diamond uses another technique but sounds similar. It was totally normal to sing like that in early 80s for a lot of vocalist and henceforth it has been normal in my life too, those who know me know I always does that at parties and so on. I think King Diamond is best when he does his more round lower vocals, like I do in the “Hanging Out In Haigar” song, but also that wasn’t inspired by King but by vocalist of late 80s Coven with a song called “General’s Eye.” Deep metal knowledge reference here.
I wouldn’t consider Ihsahn for anything in my life.
LR: The punk influence in Darkthrone’s recent albums has gotten a lot of attention, but punk has always had a relationship with black metal. Can you talk some about how you view this relationship?
Fenriz: Venom, Hellhammer / Celtic Frost / Bathory. First Bathory had more 50s rock’n’roll feel than the others, the others had a lot of punk, extremely so with the d-beat grooves of Celtic Frost. Anyway, a lot of metal came from punk as well as heavy blues based rock, psych rock or prog and hard rock. Link all that together you get various 80s metal. If someone still don’t know this, LEARN YOUR LESSONS!!
LR: With all of the styles being incorporated into Darkthrone’s music these days, are you ever tempted to bring your death metal roots back into the mix?
Fenriz: As you know, I haven’t made death metal since…well there was one track on Hate Them that had TOTAL first Death album Scream Bloody Gore style riff. Hate Them was the first album in a while that had us freestyling, the same song had my only typical crust punk riff ever (I did metalpunk later which is different, try listening to Puke from Sweden anno ‘85 and ‘87 to understand). So freestyling it was already then. But I am not tempted at all, instead listen to Sonne Adam, they have perfected a lot of the stuff we were trying to do as a death metal band. Or listen to Obliteration for that matter.
LR: New Darkthrone releases still seem to spark intense debate, even after years of expected (and somewhat telegraphed) evolution. Does this surprise you?
Fenriz: I can’t even cross the street without provoking someone, it seems. I don’t get it, I just try to spread the real metal all my life and that is so provoking? Granted, I know it’s annoying with change of styles always, but WE AS PEOPLE always change too and Darkthrone is like a science project proving that a band entity CAN change as the people change too. Only when I switch LPs on my turntables from first Obituary to the first Mötley Crüe, it takes longer time to change the style of songs and such, understand? Darkthrone will always mirror what kind of metal styles we are mostly into at any given moment, but moment…it takes time, changing album takes a second. Anyway it seems our honesty and freedom provokes people, Ted has said that plain people will always be scared of FREEDOM and want to chase it like a village mob.
LR: Are you turned off when fans become adamant about the artistic choices they think Darkthrone should be making? And do you find any parallels between this phenomenon and your own criticisms of the metal scene?
Fenriz: No one ever says, why don’t you play like Angel Witch or Saxon more? They always want a return to OUR old albums, but that is philosophically impossible, they really only want to rediscover again the first time they heard Under a Funeral Moon, and that is ALSO impossible. But when I want Bonded By Blood by Exodus, I go and listen once more to that album. I don’t sit and dream about Exodus making that album once more. Because if they DID get that exact same sound the riffs and songs would be different and you would still react as if it had changed a lot. It is philosophically invalid wishes. And especially has no root in reality.
LR: Previously, you’ve made it quite clear as to why Darkthrone will never play live again, but now that you’re penning songs that aren’t nearly as isolationist and intimate (“Valkyrie” and “Circle the Wagons” are practically battle cries), do you expect people to be calling for it again? Are you tempted to explore this concept as your music grows increasingly extroverted?
Fenriz: They are constantly, also the label, and anyone imaginable asks constantly about it. Fuckin’ hell it’s lame, I mean I can’t sing like I do behind a drum kit. Only growling like Chris Reifert is possible. That is ONE out of 100,000 small things standing in the way of me wanting to play live at this point in time. I could be rich in two years if I played live but I want to keep working in the postal industry so I can listen to music on my headphones and keep spreading other people’s music instead. EVERYONE can see who benefits the most from this idealistic way of life, but I prefer to spread others music than my own on stupid stage with sheep onlooking.
LR: If you could have foreseen how many shitty imitators you would inspire, would you still have written Transylvanian Hunger?
Fenriz: That is contrafactual history writing, almost. Something I am extremely against. That album came to me and was written and recorded by myself completely in two weeks tops. The sound of those two guitars together with those riffs was magic to me, I could never make it again (the TH tracks on Panzerfaust I don’t [think] succeed the same way at all). It was as Whitney Houston sang it (hahahaa), “One Moment In Time,” it can’t be undone and I would chose a whole lot of other things to do over again but I won’t. Anyway all the cloning would have happened anyway, would have been even more Mayhem De Mysteriis clones without TH or even worse, In the Nightside Eclipse clones. I was once played a bit from that album but had to beg to turn it off after 2.5 minutes. I liked Emperor when they did the Wrath of the Tyrant demo, though. Anyway my point was that the clones would still be there, maybe copying Under a Funeral Moon stuff more which would perhaps be better, at least Zephyrous’ song “Inn I De Dype Skogens Fabn” is maybe our best black metal song ever
LR: Your “Band of the Week” shows how much you still pay attention to the underground, and like to help give good bands more exposure. What keeps you interested and excited enough to keep digging as deep as you ever have?
Fenriz: Knowledge about where metal came from, love and passion for old metal with old style, or new bands that play old styles with old sound.
LR: Any bands that have gotten you more excited than usual lately? Any reasons why or why not?
Fenriz: Mion’s Hill really kicked ass LIVE the other night. Apart from that I have gotten many of the best songs on the Arkham Witch album on my brain, just before this interview I got one of their songs on my brain while showering. Some songs like “Infernal Machine” are awful, but many songs are really fine. Old sound too. Then there’s been the Corsair album, I made them both band of the week, had them in my monthly FENRIZVIEW in German RockHard mag and finally now as band of the MONTH (or MOTH as I call it hahaha) in Sweden’s Close-Up mag. Also, upcoming Purson and Dead Lord albums will be great.
LR: How many denim vests have you owned, and approximately how many patches have been on those vests?
Fenriz: I just have 3 now, I think maybe 20-30 patches on the vests only, I mean each vest. In ‘89 I didn’t have patches, I drew the logos on my jacket, I had backpatches before since 85 and also drew. But the patches thing was something I got more into when real metal was at its weakest, around 98. To make a stand, I guess.
Special thanks to Fenriz, and to Ryan Feldman at Fresno Media.
Photos courtesy of Ashley Maile and Peaceville Records.
Link to Whitney Houston song courtesy of Zach Duvall being a jackass. Enjoy.
