Oslo black metallers Svarttjern are our ‘Band of the Day’. Svarttjern have a new album out, ‘Dødsskrik’, on Soulseller Records this Friday. You can buy Svarttjern’s ‘Dødsskrik’ here here.
How did you get started?
Svarttjern was created back in 2003 by Haan and Hans Fyrste. Grimdun and Fjellnord joined the same year and quickly became steady members of the band. We have had a few bass players over the years, but we are really satisfied with the latest addition to the band, Malphas, and hopefully we can now get steady on that front as well. Haha! What can I say that hasn’t been said about bass players…?
Did you have a specific sound in mind when you formed the band, or did that grow and evolve as you played together?
The ONLY thing we were sure of was the fact that we wanted to create black metal without any rules and regulations of the scene, without replaying all the stuff that the band during the nineties got famous for, and I think we have succeeded in doing so. The sound definitely grew and evolved as we got older and better at our instruments, but the core philosophy of Svarttjern remains.
What kind of stuff are you and the rest of the band into? Who would you cite as influences?
We use most of our time outside of our daily life on music. We all play in different bands and projects on the side which in itself brings new and great influences to Svarttjern.
The great thing about giving a shit about what other people or bands think is that you have the freedom to create what you want. We can find as much inspiration in old school thrash and heavy as we can in new school black metal. The epic ‘The Satanist’ from Behemoth really caught our interest after we toured with them and saw them live night after night – what a masterpiece!
How does your writing process normally work out? Will you meet up with song ideas pretty much fully formed beforehand, or do you tend to jam stuff out a bit more?
We tend to mix it up a bit. Haan has always been the main riff master and a lot of Svarttjerns songs are his inventions. On our Dødsskrik we jammed a lot more than we have done in a while and had a great time working with different ideas from all the band members. This resulted in Dødsskrik being our most diverse album yet. Hans Fyrste has always been the force behind Svarttjern from the lyrical point of view and continues the pure misanthropy that has followed us from the start.
What are your ambitions for the band?
Dødsskrik has so far received some great reviews and it gives us the energy and will to create more music. We will also with our live performances continue to be a force to be reckoned with within the underground black metal scene around Europe and maybe enter some new territories as well.
What’s been your best moment as a band? And on the flipside, what’s been the worst thing to happen to you in music?
A lot of great moments with this band, but Inferno Festival 2012 home in Oslo was fucking epic. We played on the smaller of the two stages with a crowd way too big for the place and it ended up as a sweaty, grim death fest that will be remembered.
The worst thing? Hmm.. Often when you arrive at a venue you have way too much time and not much to do before you play. I cured my boredom with whiskey and snaps before a show in Oberhausen, Germany and as a drummer that is not always a good idea. The rest is blurry history.
What’s next for you?
We have some great shows coming up, Maryland Deathfest and Party San. We are really looking forward to be playing such eminent festivals and having the time to meet up and drink beer with some of our crazy, blasphemous fans.
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