Darkthrone has been through many eras in its long and storied history as a Norwegian metal institution: black metal, death metal, crust punk and beyond. And our Q&A with Fenriz — the band’s drummer, co-composer and co-conspirator with Nocturno Culto — makes it clear that we’re very much in the “beyond” stage, where the pair is basically doing whatever it wants. That sense of freedom is well-represented on the band’s latest album, Pre-Historic Metal, which Fenriz accurately describes as “some freak car from just old parts or something … a ’70s band wanting to sound 1986 or something.”
What follows is, as expected, a colorful and entertaining conversation about what inspired the album, how metal album production evolved over time, what Fenriz is up to with his podcast, and why metal could have stopped with Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind. Oh, and the Disney film The Lady and the Tramp gets a mention as well.
Don’t worry, it’ll make sense in context!
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Greetings, Fenriz, thanks for taking some time to answer our questions! Congrats to you and Nocturno Culto on the new album!
Let’s get right into it. What inspired the two versions of the album cover? For the photo version, you mentioned on Instagram that it invokes how you feel when listening to the Steamhammer edition of Sodom’s Obsessed by Cruelty (good choice, and one that desperately needs a proper reissue).
Hiya, should be battling a hazel tree right now but of course taking time to do this. An interview usually lasts for one to four hours as I have problems being effective and rather write too much with the touch-method I gained in ’87-’88 going to my first year at (10th-12th grade it was back then) at Kontra High School — which is now a music school but then it was a business school and it’s now more known for being the building closest to the church/graveyard where Euronymous lies to rest.
Yes, the Steamhammer LP version, not the one that got issued on cd with In the Sign of Evil as a bonus, that version was what many Americans got. But I had the Steamhammer LP version, which is a whole other recording (Angelripper hates both recordings).
And yeah, this album was supposed to be called Deeply Rooted and the title and cover was ready since years ago, but as studio time grew near I found myself making a bit more savage material, I listened to “The Barbarian” by Maninnya Blade, Endless Pain, Minotaur demos. And the studio session was more brute and alive than most, so I had this song called “Draconian Loyalty,” or was it “Draconian and Vigilant” with the title “Prehistoric Metal” in brackets behind it and i thought, “HEY I’ll change the title of the song to “Prehistoric Metal,” I’ll change the album title to precisely that AND I want a cover that would be good for a shirt,” which we never had.
So I wanted something like Acero Lethal’s Legiones album cover and I made a sketch that was kinda like Puke’s Back to the Stoneage album cover and then the work started with the artist but it took quite some time and then we were approaching deadline so I put on the Steamhammer version of Obsessed by Cruelty and took photos of myself the way I look inside while listening to that very important album for me — and a dirt gripper or what ya call it over there is far more brutal than a candelabra hehe. Even has dirt on it from airing a lawn.
What were some of the prehistoric metal influences that really informed this album? Did the influences emerge naturally from the creative process, or did you set out to emulate any specific artists? There are definitely moments that remind me of Mercyful Fate, Manilla Road, and Cirith Ungol — but as with most Darkthrone records, it seems that Celtic Frost and early Bathory always find a way to creep in.
Talked about this in the previous question but ok, nah, all my riffs since 2015 have come when I watch soccer so I dunno about influences. Probably everything I heard in metal so far, which is an insane amount, or just ourselves. It’s hard to take credit for anything when it just falls into your lap but it has to be put together, you know, and as many riffs as i have in my riff banks I usually still jump over them and bring something I just made instead to the studio.
And since I connected especially with Tom G’s style of guitar-riff writing and vocals at a very young age — as much as I SUCK at copying things — this influence is just in my bloodstream and comes through rather often, the string pulling technique for instance.
Ted as usual just starts to make songs three months before studio time and I have no idea what his influences are but it’s not like we’re making retro style as much as new bands doing old styles to the T. We’re more making some freak car from just old parts or something, not restoring a Ford Mustang replica. Maybe we feel like we’re a ’70s band wanting to sound 1986 or something these days. Several people mentioned Mercyful Fate, we love it to bits especially Don’t Break the Oath but I really can’t hear any of that in MY songs at least, maybe Ted made something that makes you think of the Danes.
Did you and Nocturno Culto divide the album up in any way? Meaning, are there songs that are more “yours” and others more “his?” I recall Arctic Thunder being structured in that way. Or is it all kind of a blend at this point?
Oi, after recording A Blaze in the Northern Sky in summer ’91 I told everyone to make their own songs and it’s been that way since then. But Ted needed two riffs for the “Deeply Rooted” song so I made those two last riffs and that was the first collaboration since summer ’91 except “Rawness Obsolete,” which we did in 2004. BUT in the studio we collaborated more than ever, Ted’s wish, so i play bass here and there and some guitar too and he wanted me to sing more than usual, so there ya go. And for all our albums up to this, I think it was stated on the back cover or whatnot who made which song but Ted wanted none of that on this album.
If I recall correctly, you’ve mentioned in other interviews that you’re a big fan of the way rock and heavy metal records were produced in the 1970s and early 1980s. You call out the drum sound in particular as something engineers got just right at the time. Leaving aside the fact you grew up hearing that production sound (which is just incidental), what is it about the records themselves that makes that era’s music so strong and enduring?
Nah, I kinda grew up listening more to the ’60s drum sound, which was more often very rudimentary because of the lack of studio channels. But I had a few 70s albums and they kept me going throughout the ’70s. I will send a photo of them, remind me if I forget.
So, I think this is not very much argued about that the ’70s held the best/fattest drum sound. But after a decade of perfection, the producers around the world were enamored with new techniques to produce (drum machines or copying the drum machine sound) the more than often stupid arena sound drum sound, etc. And then came the thin clicky sound also because us drummers were starting to play so fast that the “round” bass drum sound got muddy — but bass drums ARE like that. I just slowed down eventually. It sucks that our first album had a modern sound but after that all our albums have had a lo-fi sound or hi-fi with very ROUND bass drums.
The bottom line is, to me (and a lot of producers I suspect) almost all of the 70s recorded drums sound ace. But, for instance, typically half of the 80s drums (in metal) and the ’90s…? Don’t even get me started, it nearly killed my interest in new metal. Things got better in the 2000s.
I can’t tell ya WHAT made it so cool because if I knew I would be a billionaire as sooo many try to reproduce the ’70s sound and 99% can’t hack it. It’s all over Youtube as well, studio peeps are going crazy trying to figure it out. If ya like the sound better on a stock Aitken Waterman production compared to like 10cc in the ’70s or Led Zeppelin or even disco or the warm phat sound like on Chic’s “Good Times” … I’d say you were pulling my leg, Sire. Haha!
I also have other views, like Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind soundscape is ALL metal needs. Of course I’m not saying the Necrovore demo should have that sound but people are too argumentative instead of just trying to understand THE POINT. “Yeah but then metal wouldn’t evolve!” It’s not about that, it’s about trying to zoom out from the planet and at the same time getting down and discovering some bare facts like Piece of Mind really is some sort of pinnacle and arguably metal did not REALLY need more than that. Anyway, haters gonna hate on my views and certainly they will WANT to misunderstand.
But, I do digress.
Do you have a favorite song on the new record? I really dig the first two tracks and “The Dry Wells of Hell” (especially that groove at the end!).
The groove where I finally start the “disco beat” on the hi-hat on Ted’s everlasting riff? HAHAHAHA yeah it’s some sort of release. On this album pretty much the only thing that was discussed between us was that we wouldn’t repeat riffs many times on this album, make shorter more effective songs, and thus the album would be filled with more riffs than the previous ones. Then Ted repeats that riff sooo many times at the end, but it’s like the Lady and the Tramp Disney cartoon (shown famously in Norway and Sweden every year since the 70s with other old Disney snippets on 24th of December) — “You’re the boss” haha!
To me that riff could sound like an old Accept riff. We really like old Accept (up to and including Balls to the Wall) but their albums are uneven, like, we have clear faves. If people sometimes struggle with us being repetitive, try Accept’s best song “Princess of the Dawn!” Yeah I know “Son of a Bitch” and “Fast as a Shark” are awesome but really “Princess of the Dawn” is the Rolls Royce (or disco queen Rose Royce) of Accept songs, haha!
My fave PART of the album is the second slower thrash riff after the bass-composition in “Siberian Thaw.” That REALLY worked well. Ted’s ending with his synth playing of “They Found One of My Graves” (grapes?!) as well. Got several, several, several of those fave parts when everything works, but I deem that it often takes 15 years to see if an album has stood the test of time, so no real faves so far.
What do you think is next for the band creatively? Do you guys intend to continue the homage to classic heavy, thrash, and doom metal while peering through Darkthrone’s black metal lens? Or would you consider a different course? For example, could death metal make another appearance? I mean in a very conspicuous way so that it stands out.
I think there’s two or three death metal riffs on this album. On the previous albums there was a bit more death metal but we’re not discussing this much ever. We’re free to make what we want. From the looks of it, we are going full brute mode on the next album. But that is faaar ahead in time now. And also when the humans make plans the gods are laughing, so we’d better not assume that we can land anything playable, we never do. Every album is a miracle for us, seeing as we haven’t rehearsed since 2003 and also use no metronome or in-ear shit in the studio, we’re just bashing it out — with some finesse here and there, though. But in my dreams i’d like to regress to first-Kreator-album level, like FULL CAVEMAN MODUS ENABLED.
Finally, do you have any interesting plans for your show, The Fenriz Metal Pact? Could you see this outlet as something that continues even after Darkthrone is declared finished?
I’ve always been a dude that has gotten into something avidly and then it just dwindles or wanes out. I think most people are like that? Things get tiresome, but keep in mind that I started podcasting in 2015 because I was saying yes to check out the promo circle that normal journalists take part in. But whereas usually the editor delegates the promos, I took in all of it. I ended up checking out 600-800 releases a year and wanted to play it for a bigger crowd. Then that got a bit much after some years and after jumping off the promo wagon I also stopped my show after 50 episodes.
But after a year I felt I wanted to do a show in Norwegian so i did that on Spotify, 114 episodes. But then I wanted to have a show where I actually played music again (the deal with tons of rock, as Spotify said I couldn’t actually play the music). So with the help of my trusty sidekick SHANDY, I started up the Fenriz Metal Pact on Patreon and after a while stopped my Norwegian show.
But this new show was supposed to be more about how I got to where I am, musical-background related. But this quickly got out of hand with all the music tips I always get (too much, people, I have heard too much music already, please stop haha) so now it’s a little of both. It wasn’t even intended to last as long as it has, I just did episode 132 so I am unsure of the future. It’s a “get-it-while-you-can” situation.
But what if I stop it? What will I do then? The pactors (listeners) make me feel alive and with a purpose, so I guess it’s going to go on. But for how long? No one knows, as AGAIN humans make plans and the gods are laughing.
