[Christine]

The King and I

Exclusive Earth-Dog interview with Gorgoroth's King ov Hell

by Darlingos

January 6, 2006

King ov Hell - Photo by Peter Beste

Gorgoroth gets a lot of press being that a couple of the members get into trouble with the law often. What we don’t hear a lot about is who is holding down the fort while all of the court dates and prison sentences eat up the calendar. The guy keeping his head down and Gorgoroth moving forward is bassist King ov Hell. He not only does that, he’s in at least four other bands including Abbath’s (Immortal) I , his doom/stoner project Sahg, his Norse Black Metal band Jotunspor and Norwegian Grammy nominees Audrey Horne.

Somehow he found time in his busy schedule to chat with me about what’s ahead for Gorgoroth and his other projects. This interview was conducted by instant messenger in January of 2006.

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What is the status of Gorgoroth’s next album ”Ad Majorem Satanhas Gloriam”? I read that you and Infernus did some of the recording already but now things are delayed having recently completed a Fall tour with 1349.

Infernus and I did some of the recording earlier this summer in Oslo. Frost had already done the drums here in Bergen. We have now brought the tapes back to Bergen to finish it in a third studio we use on this album. Gaahl will do the vocals this month. We will release the album in the end of April through Regain Records.

You wrote the majority of “Twilight of the Idols”, are you as involved in the songwriting process on “Ad Majorem Satanhas Gloriam”?

Yes. I’ve written all of the music for “Ad Majorem Satanhas Gloriam”. I`ve worked on this album for almost two years and it`s not been an ideal situation creating this album. There have been riots concerning the band almost constantly since I started the process creating the album. Nevertheless I think it has turned out for the best so far. This album contains the music which I've created that I'm most satisfied with myself to date.

Gaahl writes the lyrics?

Gaahl writes the majority of the lyrics at the moment. Infernus wrote lyrics to one track on Twilight of the Idols; "Forces of Satan Storms". I don’t know if he’ll write something for this album.

Gaahl in Tijuana Mexico 2004 - Photo by Darlingos

In another interview you mentioned that the title track from “Twilight of the Idols” “is seven minutes long and in my opinion a classic” but due to scheduling issues it didn't actually make it on to that release. Will that still make it on to AMSG?

Yes, but I have rearranged it. I simply got tired of it. So now it’s been rerecorded with some new riffs and it's way shorter. The atmosphere of the song is also quite different because we changed the drummer playing on it. Kvitrafn played on the original version and now Frost plays on it. I guess I`m more satisfied with how it sounds this time. So I guess it`s even more classic this time around even if no one has listened to it yet.

On your site news there is also mention of a new live album or at least some live tracks having been recorded on your recent tour with 1349. What are some of the songs you are doing on the live record? Are you already doing some of the songs from the forth-coming AMSG? When can fans look forward to that release?

We did not play any songs from our upcoming album on this tour or on the recordings for the live album. The reason for this is that no tracks have vocals on them yet. It will contain songs from our 6 previous albums though.

And that's still a year and a studio release away?

Maybe. It will be released when we find it suitable. I don’t know when that will be.

Gorgoroth goes through a lot of drummers. You recently had Dirge Rep joining you for live dates and now you have Frost on the forth-coming studio album?

Yes, Frost of Satyricon. I'm very satisfied with the way he played drums on this album. I believe he captured the essence of what I had in mind writing the music. I did a pre-recording at home by myself with programmed drums first before I showed him the music for the album. This saved us a lot of time in the rehearsal room. Well…you`ll soon hear the outcome of the recordings anyway.

Now that the Polish courts have excused Gorgoroth for involvement in the scandal there involving a live show video in 2003 thought to be in violation of Polish law, will you guys get that back and possibly release that as a DVD?

I`m not sure what’s gonna happen with the recordings of the show in Krakow. The producer of the show is now held responsible for the blasphemy the Polish police say is illegal in Poland. He is at risk of 2 years in prison. We might get the tapes back or we won’t. I have no clue.

Your band mates in Gorgoroth tend to get in situations with the law rather often yet you seem to avoid that… or you are just good at not getting caught, or rather, accused?

I’ve never been accused of anything so far.

Infernus in Tijuana Mexico 2004 - Photo by Darlingos

You seem to be the driving force behind Gorgoroth these days. Can working around all of the legal issues and scheduling become a burden for you?

It’s of course not the best situation for the band having members in conflict with the law all the time. We’ll see what the future brings. Hopefully we’ll be able to play live again in 2007.

Is that part of the reason you are involved in so many other bands?

I guess I wouldn’t be involved in so many bands if Gorgoroth had a more active future in 2006 and 2007. It’s important to me to be rehearsing and playing live with bands. Besides, I’ve already written lots of music for the untitled [Gorgoroth] album which will be released after “Ad Majorem Satanhas Gloriam”. Gorgoroth will get back harder than ever when we`ve sorted out our legal problems.

You are also now involved in a new band with Immortal’s Abbath called “I”. What is the status of that project? Are you involved in the songwriting there too? Will I tour or just record?

Abbath is the one making music for I. He had already written the whole album when I joined. Arve (Enslaved), the other guitar player in I, has been a part of I since the beginning and has worked with Abbath making these songs. We will enter the studio within two months and hope to release something within 6 months. We will play concerts with I and some shows are already confirmed.

You also play in Sahg and the Norwegian Grammy nominated Audrey Horne. The styles of both of these bands are quite a departure from Black Metal. I notice a clear separation for Audrey Horne as you don’t use your bm moniker or appearance. What is your involvement in these bands?

I make some of the music in both bands and play bass. Neither of these bands meanings have anything to do with my views on life. It’s not about Satanism. It’s just about the music for me and to socialize with friends. The people involved in these bands have been friends of mine for years. They are not into Satanism so it would be unnatural making bm music with them. I get to express my views and [the way I want] black metal music to sound like through Gorgoroth anyway. Sahg will release our debut album on Regain Records in March. We have made a video I’m very satisfied with to the track “Godless Faith”. This is stoner/doom rock of high quality. I guess people into Pentagram or Black Sabbath will get something out of this release. I will also release an album with Kvitrafn (ex-Gorgoroth). We call this project Jotunspor and it contains Norse noise Black Metal. The album will be out in February in the states released by Candlelight Records.

Well of course everything doesn’t have to be about Satanism or Black Metal. There is something to be said for friends and fun. I think most people would expect you to have other interests besides bm and Satanism. I didn't mean to sound accusing with that question.

Well, Black Metal and Gorgoroth have to be Satanic. It’s our main goal to spread the word of Satan. The other bands I play in are not, so I’m in there for improving my skills as a musician and making music I like. And yes, I have other interests in life. I enjoy playing backgammon as well.

What is an average day like for you? Being an American, I have this wild imagination of what it’s like being a True Norwegian Black Metal icon day to day.

I guess I do what most people and most people don’t do in my everyday life.

Ok, thanks a lot for your time. I'm quite impressed with the volume of stuff you do.

I’m a busy bee at the moment.

end


Many thanks go out to King for his time and interest in this interview. I will say it was quite enjoyable chatting with him and the more layers I feel I have peeled away, the more I think are yet to peel. Best wishes to Gorgoroth, King and all of his projects. ~ C

[deny_them_all]

awesome interview. congrats
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www.myspace.com/eternalbass

[LowercaseE]

Another great job Dar!
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"When you embrace the waaaah, you embrace the mall." -drtboi

-- Lionsgate is to horror as Trivium is to metal --

[BB667]

congrats on a great interview

[PermaFrost]

Nice work! If he's the King, then you're the Queen!
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[Christine]

thanks people!

He's King "ov Hell"

I might be Queen of Miss Clairol or something.

[Shaxul]

Very cool! I didn't know anything about this guy before the interview
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“We’re Manilla Road, and apparently we’re the ultimate cult band… I’m not too sure myself I was too busy reading about some albino’s Runesword draining men’s souls”.

-Metal Archives Reviewer's interpretation of Manilla's Road's thoughts in 1982

www.shaxulrecords.com
www.myspace.com/passiveaggressivesf

[Goatfish]

Expect nothing less from Christine!!! Excellent as always!!!

I find it interesting that Infernus isn't taking a more active role in his band lately (legal issues-aside).

But it's cool that 'King...' has stepped up to the plate, musically-speaking!

[Bad~Kitty]

Awesome job Xtine!

[LordoftheFlies]

nice!

[Christine]

[ifdead]

Thats pretty kick ass. I want to hear this stoner/doom band.

[Christine]

I am pleased to share that King's rock band Audrey Horne (Arve from Enslaved is also in this band) won the Spellemannsprisen = Norwegian Grammy in Oslo last night!

Those looking for extreme music won't find it with this band but I really think they are a great, solid rock band and big congrats to them!

[Christine]

You may have seen the announcement already but King has left Gorgoroth. It's a shame. It's unclear what will happen now for Gorgoroth.

The new album Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam is out now on Regain in Europe and will come out late July on Candlelight here in the US. I think it's quite good, especially a track called "Sign of an Open Eye" seems to be the standout for me. Plus it's short for my tiny attention span.

Of course he is still a member of *I*, Sahg, Audrey Horne and Jotunspor so he's not going away anytime soon.
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Celtic Frosting

[PermaFrost]