I just finished watching Lady Gaga’s Super Bowl halftime performance (sorry, my days of live television viewing are over), and it’s only about half a ridiculous of the promo clip for Dimmu Borgir’s “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse.” The story behind the lead single and video from the Norwegians’ 2003 mainstream breakthrough Death Cult Armageddon is just part of our 7-page feature in the March issue of Decibel. Here’s a taste:
The video for “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse” was ridiculous. Any interesting stories from making the video?
Shagrath: I will give a lot of credit to Patric [Ullaeus] for this video. He had a really great vision. He paid a lot of attention to the details in the lyrics. He understood our grand idea behind the song. He did a good job of putting pictures to our lyrics. It was done in this huge gas clock, with all these industrial parts hanging all over the place. It had a really awful atmosphere. There’s so much reverb in the room. When we started playing—especially Nick’s drums—it became hard to hear anything. There was so much reverb. It sounded like chaos. [Laughs]
Silenoz: I remember I had a sneeze attack. I could not stop. Like for half an hour. We had to scrap a clip Patric wanted to do ’cause I couldn’t control it. He said to me, “When we come back make sure you’re not sneezing.” He was pretty serious. [Laughs] I also remember the first time seeing the pipe organ treatment Patric had for Mustis’ keyboard. That was so cool. The video and visuals go well with the music. We knew “Progenies” would be the kick-off track.
Nick Barker: It was done in one day. A long 18-hour day. We went through the song like hundreds of times. We were in some kind of disused gas container. It was dirty, smelly. My drum kit was fucking brand new. All I could think of was, “I don’t want my drum kit in all that crap!” [Laughs] It was also damn cold. Then, I thought, OK, let’s do this to maximum effect. I had the idea to drench myself in blood. After, we went to town with the blood. That’s when the director Patric said, “Yes! This is what I was looking for!”
Read the full story when you get the March issue of Decibel. Also, Gaga rules.
