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Gorgoroth Interview


Having just left Gorgoroth for 'ideological reasons' days before the release for 'Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam', The Gauntlet felt it was time for a chat.

The Gauntlet: What have you been up to since leaving Gorgoroth?

King ov Hell: We'll see what the future brings. Basically I wanted to do this interview because the album is my work and I have been very occupied with it for the last four years or something like that. My signatures are all over the album.

The Gauntlet: You were the main songwriter for 'Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam'. What was the process for writing the album?

King ov Hell: It was basically in my computer. We have not been in some time. We have not had a drummer so we have not been able to rehearse. We got ahold of Frost after I had written a lot of the material on my computer. The guitars and drum programming were already done. Then we took on the priority of the studio work and co-producing. We succeeded in finishing the album in 2006. It was a very long process.

The Gauntlet: When you were writing the album in the early stages, did you have Frost in mind for the drum parts? He was a member of Gorgoroth in its early stages.

King ov Hell: I didn't have a drummer in mind actually. I just had the patterns written out. Frost contributed with his own style of drumming. The outcome and final result of the album has his signature and his personality on it.

The Gauntlet: Satyricon has gotten a lot more mellow. I have forgotten how good of a drummer Frost was until I heard him on 'Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam'.

King ov Hell: I cannot ask or question how he thinks his drumming is compared to it in Gorgoroth. For many, many years back in the early days of Gorgoroth, he participated in the albums as a drummer as well as on some other bands albums. He has also done some touring with us in South America. He is a member of the band in concept and he knows how we think and he captures it in a great way on this album I think.

The Gauntlet: Did you do the writing of the lyrics?

King ov Hell: No, I did all the music and arrangements. Gaahl did all the lyrics. So that is his work. He is in jail as we speak. He would be better than me to answer for the lyrical content than me. They take a larger part of us and the Satanic agenda and Satanic way of thinking. It will be kind of odd if I try to explain what he was thinking when he wrote this.

The Gauntlet: Did he write the lyrics from prison, or where they completed before he entered?

King ov Hell: In the end it was just me and him in a studio in Burgen. He had to go to jail in like 2 weeks. We were more or less locked in a room for 2 weeks writing and had to do four or five songs. It was more or less something we had to do with time pressure on our hands because of him going to jail. He wrote the lyrics in the studio actually after listening to the tapes.

The Gauntlet: We recently spoke with Infernus and he stated he mastered the album.

King ov Hell: We mastered it at The Cutting Room in Sweden. He was not the one mastering it. But he followed the tapes to Sweden. But that is incorrect, it was mastered by The Cutting Room in Sweden. Mastering an album is very much a technical thing and we have people mastering who have been doing it for years and years. It is not for people like us. We have our opinions on how we want the results to be, but in the end its professionals dealing with the mastering. We don't have the equipment or other skills to master an album.

The Gauntlet: Aside from being a fractured band, what other difficulties did you endure in writing and recording the album?

King ov Hell: Besides that fact, it worked really great. Of course we had some problems with people having legal problems and stuff like that. But it really ran smoothly.

The Gauntlet: What is your status in the band?

King ov Hell: We will have to see what the outcome of all this will be. At the moment I am representing my work and not Gorgoroth.

The Gauntlet: The release that the band sent out and posted on the official site stated you had ideological differences. What happened, did you find Jesus?

King ov Hell: No.

The Gauntlet: So what led to your sudden departure?

King ov Hell: It is plain and simple, The King has problems with the ideology in public, and not private life. It is nothing to do with the band Gorgoroth personally. We are best of friends and will probably work in the future. There are some things I need to sort out and I can not afford to be in Gorgoroth at the present.

The Gauntlet: So it wasn't the themes in the bands music?

King ov Hell: No, it has nothing to do with the band. It's a personal issue. After all these years of being in a band like Gorgoroth, there are lots of pressured situations you must face and have irrational thoughts about your surroundings.

The Gauntlet: Do you find it difficult to stay in the Gorgoroth frame of mind at times and stay in that persona?

King ov Hell: In Gorgoroth, you are on stage representing an art form and presenting Gorgoroth music and the agenda of the band in sort of a psycho-drama. It is hard to give any rational explanation about doing music. I am not pretending when I am up there. It is a state of mind. Other black metal artists might not stand behind their words and will have a problem with their image in the long run because the forces are working against them.

The Gauntlet: Gorgoroth has been in existence for 14 years now?

King ov Hell: Yeah, the first three records it was Infernus and a different variety of session members. Since 1999 it was he and Gaahl and others doing the music. We have the ability to be a three piece. We also use a lot of different session drummers and will in the future.

The Gauntlet: I understand you recorded a live album for release next year?

King ov Hell: We recorded two or three of our last shows from the European tour in 2005. The outcome of these recordings will be a live album released in 2007 called "True Norwegian Black Metal". That release will be in 2007 sometime. I haven't heard the tapes myself yet.

The Gauntlet: Will you be involved with the live album and getting it to market?

King ov Hell: If everything works out, we will have to see what happens. Things aren't always like they appear to be. Don't listen to the hype. What is on the website, there is nothing more, nothing less. We are still talking. I am not talking much with Gaahl as he is in jail. He will be back on the streets in December.

The Gauntlet: Gorgoroth has always garnered controversy, was this intended when the band formed?

King ov Hell: We have never done anything to make controversy or to be controversial. We have an agenda that every member is behind. I think making controversy is a punkish attitude. We never ask for attention. We are sincere and are not making jokes but trying to front our ideology based on reason. A lot of people provoke or threaten us as they feel that way by us.

The Gauntlet: What is going on with your other projects?

King ov Hell: I am in a doom band called Sahg. We will be going to the US in September for 3 weeks with Celtic Frost. We are doing the East Coast dates and some in Canada. We just finished the record with for the band 'I'. It is the new band with me and Abbath from Immortal. That will be released on Nuclear Blast. That will be a great album so check it out. I am in all different bands at the moment.


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Tags:  Gorgoroth  , King ov Hellinterviews

    July 29, 2006

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