Dark times were ahead for the last interview of the day. We had the honour to talk to Lord Ahriman, primary guitarist and songwriter of black metal band Dark Funeral. What did we talk about? Well, the usual stuff, flowers, potpourri and interior decorating…Whaaaaat? ☺ Of course not. We talked metal, black metal to be exact.
Dark Funeral is black metal. 22 years in the business. Can you tell us what has changed on the scene from your beginnings?
A lot has changed, everything actually. Back when Dark Funeral was formed we were all just finding our way in black metal. Trying new things, finding our own signature. One of the main reasons we started Dark Funeral was because no one was extreme enough in creating black metal and we wanted to change that. Push the limits, go fucking full throttle. We didn’t really have plans to release records or play concerts; we just wanted to make our own music. And then things just exploded and now, 20 years later we’re still here, stubborn bastards J.
When it comes to being stubborn and doing your own thing, do you try to invent new things on each new album, reinvent yourself?
Of course, I always try to implement something new and different for each new album. The last one actually I did a lot of new things. It’s just that many people don’t even notice. Especially some critics (even the ones that claim to be experts) comment that everything is the same. It feels like they didn’t even listen to the album and I wish they would because there are a lot of new things to discover. But the important thing is that the real fans notice what we do, and what we try to do with these changes. And a lot of fans reach out and ask me to explain certain things I do, the notes, new riffs. And it’s great but often the changes I do are really complex so that sometimes I have no idea how to explain what I did when I don’t know what I’m doing myself. Maybe I’ll have to start making video tutorials J
You had a lot of changes in the last few years. New vocalist, new drummer, new bassist. Was it more challenging to work with new people on the new album?
It was a pleasure working with Heljarmadr really. When we started working together I started working on the lyrics more. We talk, discuss the lyrics and the arrangements. We just have chemistry.
Kaligula as a vocalist was, of course, amazing but what I wanted to do on the new album with Heljarmadr was to bring it further, to use the vocal as an instrument. And we managed that, I think.
Are you going to keep on criticizing organized religion like you always do?
Well, that’s just me J. No seriously, when we see what is going on in the world today I think it’s more important than ever to do it. People need to realize that freedom is more important than following some stupid rules.
The visual aspect on your shows was always important but lately you seem to focus more on the music than the gimmicks?
It’s usually a question of budget. Simple. If we have more money than we do more effects. A lot of time people ask us to put on a pyro show and things like that but pay us nothing for the gig. So basically that’s it. We like to do big shows with a lot of effects especially on festivals because it suits the atmosphere and Dark Funeral but it’s just not always possible.
Is there a tour planned anytime soon and will you be coming to Croatia?
Yes, there is a tour planned in October. There are many East European countries to cover that we didn’t include in this one and we always try to include as many as possible. But there is going to be a second one so possibly we’ll be coming to Croatia. It’s better to do two parts of the tour than to do a really long one. You just get to exhausted to do it in the standard we want to so this is always a better option. What we prefer are three-week tours. That way we cover a good number of shows and still survive J
