DIMMU BORGIR : NORTHERN DEATH CULT

-Shagrath : There were more people involved making the songs and we also had more time preparing ourselves before we went to the studio, ‘cause we have a home studio right now. We spent one year making the songs and the whole band have been taking part in the arrangements as well, so it’s a step forward in the right direction anyway ; it’s sounds different from ‘Puritanical...' because it’s a step forward in the direction we wanted to sound, so we’re happy with that ; we also used an orchestra for both albums, but this time we used a bigger orchestra, so it sounds more massive and bigger.

-You had a big orchestra this time : was is important for you and do you intend to tour with it one day ?

-S : It would be cool to have this on tour but I don’t think it's possible, because there's too many people. They need to get paid for each show and we don't have that kind of big budget. Maybe one day we'll do one or 2 shows… We'll see.

-Is there a central theme in it, or important topics ?

-S : It's basically based on the typical black metal ingredients. It's not a concept album because all the lyrics are very different from one another, but the general theme is hatred towards religion, Christianity, Satanism. Silenoz, our guitar player, has written most of the lyrics for this album.

- The singing is different on this album, there are less clear vocals…

-S : Yes, because if we used too much clean vocals, it would be too typical. Vortex has a great voice, but if we used it on every song, it would become boring, we want to keep in more unique. We want to find the right balance and put it in where it really fits, that's also why this album is a little bit more extreme than the previous one. It's more suitable to have the grim voice instead of the clean vocals. It's only on 2 songs of the new one.

-There are two songs sung in Norwegian on this album : do you think this is a new orientation for the band and you will do more ?

-S : I think so. It's hard to say now, because we really take one day at a time, so we don't really make plans for the next albums. It's a good vibe, because we used it on the 2 first ones and it worked great. It seems that the fans like it, even if they don't understand it. It sounds more harsh in Norwegian, more straight to the point. We want to keep the old school roots that we had in the past.

Would you be tempted to release 2 versions of the album in English and Norwegian?

-S : That would be too much work. (laughs) It's a cool idea, but it would be too much, I think. It's good to have just a couple of songs in Norwegian. Besides, most of our fans understand English, so they'll be able to understand what we're singing about.

-You do a Bathory’s cover this time : "Satan’s master", is it for a limited edition ?

-S : Yes, it's gonna be on a special digipack version or some kind of special version, because they're making a normal CD with 10 songs, a digipack with 11 songs and a metal box and several LPs with different covers. They have a lot of ideas, but it's up to Nuclear Blast. I think "Satan's master" will be on the digipack version.

-Let’s talk about the DVD box set : can it be considered a state of affairs for the band ?

-S : Yes, because if I was a fan, I would like to see what has been done in the past, what's new, etc. Collecting all this in a box is a good thing. There are behind-the-scene footages, live stuff, backstage, partying.

-We can see many live footages in the DVD : what countries have been the most welcoming with the band ? And the less ?

-S : The first one that comes to mind is Columbia, or South America in general. Not many bands go there to tour and when you come, they really appreciate it. They really give you a good vibe and get really aggressive. It's always fun to play that type of shows. Especially Columbia, where we played in front of 5 or 6,000 people.

-Have you ever been tempted to produce other bands yourself ?

-S : I don't really have much experience, we still have our home studio, we've been engineering all the stuff at home. It could be cool, but I think we need a lot more experience.

-And apart Dimmu Borgir, did you never want to do side projects, with other musical styles for example ?

-S : It would be interesting, but we don't have the time, really. Maybe in the future, I don't know.

- In that case, what kind of stuff would you like to do ?

-S : I think I would play a kind of rock'n'roll doom metal. I'm very much into bands like Monster Magnet, Rob Zombie, stuff like that.

-Could you tell 3 or 4 records which changed your life ?

-S : Kiss's "Creatures of the night", Venom's "From hell to unknown" and maybe the new Thorns album. Slayer's "Reign in blood".

-What do you listen to today ?

-S : I listen to all kinds of stuff when I have time. I find it interesting to listen to other types of music than metal: pop music, rock'n'roll, jazz, lots of 70s and 80s bands. I'm very open-minded when it comes to music.

-Could you tell one album to which you would have liked to collaborate, as a singer, or musician, or else ?

-S : Maybe the Thorns album, it's a Norwegian black metal band. I really enjoyed listening to it.

-If Dimmu Borgir were a movie ?

-S : Action, horror, thriller… (laughs) Maybe in the style of "Lords of the rings", the Indiana Jones movies. I've always liked adventure.

-About the Website of the band : is it an important tool for you ?

-S : I don't use it a lot, but I think it's important to inform the fans about what's going on. It's cool to publish the tour dates on the site, so people are aware of where we're gonna play.

-Talking about the Internet, are you a big Internet user ?

-S : I maybe surf one or 2 hours a day. Basically, it's all about business and checking e-mails. I use computers a lot, to work with Photoshop, digital cameras, etc.

-After all those years with Dimmu, how do you judge the career of the band ? Are you satisfied with the way things evolved ? And you own evolution since the days as a kid when you imitated Gene Simmons from now ? Is it close to what you expected ?

-S : I always wanted to be into music and, when we started out this band, we didn't have any expectation to become big, but the more feedback we had from our fans, the more eager we were to work and create something better. We always strived for perfection. I'm happy that we have achieved so many things for the last 10 years, but it's still a working process.

- You recently received an award (editor's note: the Norwegian Grammy award for metal 2001). Does it mean something to you ?

-S : It's a good publicity. I think we deserved it. (laughs) It doesn't really mean anything, though, it doesn't help us so much as a band. We're still the same band, it's just a good bonus.

-What are your next projects ? Touring ?

-S : We've just been working on photos, interviews, etc. After that, we'll start rehearsing for the tour. We'll probably go through the world: Australia, American, Japan, Europe.

- Do you have something to add for French fans ?

-S : Check out our new album. We're gonna tour France in October. Watch out for the new video…

Interview by JP Coillard

Check out Dimmu Borgir's official site.