Intervista Satyricon (Frost)

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On the occasion of the second part of the “Deep calleth upon Deep world tour” we have interviewed for you an “essential” Frost. We looked into the topic Satyricon and tried to deepen the man behind the musician, trying to discover something new about him. Here you are the result of our pleasant chat.

Have a nice reading!

Interview by Marco Donè

Hi Frost, I’m Marco, welcome to Truemetal.it. How is it going?
All well, thank you. We have just started the second European leg of the Deep calleth upon Deep world tour, and it feels good to be back on the road.

Let’s start our interview by talking about your last album, “Deep Calleth upon Deep”. This full-length was released on September 2017, do you feel fulfilled about what you have achieved with it, so far?
Certainly. We did indeed intend to make this album expand Satyricon’s musical world significantly, and that is what it has happened. In a way there’s more of everything that constitutes this band, but there is also something entirely new – a different kind of life and clarity encompasses every song on the album.

The cover of “Deep Calleth upon Deep” has been taken from a panting by Edvard Munch , “The Kiss of Death”. Why did you choose this work in particular? Which is the connection between Munch’s painting and Satyricon’s music?
That drawing by Munch is simply a beautiful visual representation of Deep calleth upon Deep. The raw and naked organic style, the sense of darkness and danger, the drama of it, the combination of the direct and the expressful, the motion. It’s an almost frighteningly striking parallel.

How much is art important for Satyricon, and especially for you, Frost?
I know Satyr is a passionate lover of visual art as well as music. Personally I am definitely more strongly connected to music than any other form of art, but aesthetics have always interested me, and I certainly value a good painting or indeed any kind of visual art. Great literature and movies have a place in my life as well.

Let’s go back to the album. What is the meaning of the song “The Ghost of Rome”? Honestly speaking, as Italian, this title and the lyrics have aroused my curiosity…
Satyr has said about Rome that whenever he’s there, he gets in touch with an ancient spirit from the imperial times which makes him feel like he’s transported back in time and sensing life in the city in the way it was then. The greatness, the victories, the fears, the smell in the streets, the eventual fall…that is what The Ghost of Rome is about.

Now, Frost, I’d like to ask you a delicate question: we know that Satyr has been facing a really serious time, in this last period; we’re talking about something that leads to an intimate change, and to an inner transformation. Has it influenced the music composition and the atmosphere in this album?
I am sure it has, but in what way and to which extent is impossible to tell. Something deeper, darker and more gravely serious, but also something more calm and quiet, found it’s way to our music as we made Deep calleth upon Deep, and there’s absolutely a chance that our situation had an impact. It’s like that with art; the boundary between the artist and the art almost disappears sometimes.

Satyricon is one of the most important influencers among black metal bands and some of your albums are considered as manifestoes of this music genre. By analyzing your career since its very beginning, you have changed throughout years, and you evolved into something that – as far as I could notice – has led you to a deep search for atmosphere and darkness, far from the impetuousness of the first albums. If you compared Frost in the Nineties and nowadays Frost, would you notice any differences? Which are they?
A sense of musicality has eventually started to seep into my work and my thinking, and slowly but surely started to make me a more proper and versatile drummer. Such processes goes on at a slow pace, at least in my case, but the difference between twenty years ago and now is striking.

What do you think about the nowadays black metal scene?
I don’t think about it. I just work contributing to it.

What a faith, Frost! Going back to Satyricon, in 2015 you published the live album “Live at the Opera”, that captured the show in 2013 with Norwegian National Opera Chorus in Oslo’s Den Norske Opera & Ballet: is this a unique chapter of Satyricon’s history or will you propose it again? Could it be a new full length, with a new collaboration?
It was most definitely a unique release from our side, and it is not in our nature to repeat ourselves on albums. New types of collaborations might happen, though, but in terms of albums we will not record and release anything unless it has an absolutely unique character, like Live at the Opera has.

You have just started a worldwide tour that will bring you as protagonists in Europe, America, Japan, Australia. Then, you will conclude your adventure in some music summer festivals. How do you feel about a so tiring tour?
It feels good even if it is devastatingly exhausting. It is fantastic to tour with an album like Deep calleth upon Deep and to sense the magic of the live shows.

Besides Satyricon, you are also the drummer of the band 1349. When will be published the successor of “Massive Cauldron of Chaos”?
Probably next year. We have already commenced work on the next album.

Frost, among our readers there are a lot of musicians, and people who aspire to become musicians. You are a reference point for many drummers. Would you mind to talk about your drum kit and about the techiques that you prefer?
Rather come to one of our shows and see and experience it. That is the only way that makes sense. How do you talk about energy, expression and spirit? Talking about techniques tells nothing about what is going on.

Frost, we have finished our pleasant chat. I thank you, and I let you conclude this intervew with some words to greet our readers.
Hope to see you on the road.

Marco Donè