1. Salutations Rimfrost! It has been almost 3 years since our last interview. Could you tell what has changed since then? Not only in Rimfrost but also in your personal lives? Is Hravn married or is he still just betrothed?

Hi! Well I’m not married yet. I will be in late 2010...hehe! And I moved to Boras (near Gothenburg) from Hagfors (our city of birth). Throllv lived here already since 2006. We blew new life in Rimfrost and here we are today.

We have been rehearsing allot since Hravn moved here for the new album. We got our own place to rehearse autumn 2008 which was great, to share our ground has never been our thing if you know what i mean.

2. It hasn’t been very long since “Veraldar Nagli” got released. Could you describe the new album for those who haven’t heard it yet? What are the differences between the previous album and the recent one, what is the main theme of it and why they should buy it.

The new album is hard as hell of course as it is a Rimfrost album. It deals with many different styles of metal like traditional heavy metal for instance, its not a pure black metal album, all though black metal is the main influence. On this album we have focus more on the guitars then the drums. With that i mean the guitars are the leading part throughout the songs rather then the drums taking the all attention. Also the vocals are more dynamic then our previous albums. Veraldar Nagli deals with the subject death, which may be a cliché, but you know metal is about clichés and we like that.

3. In comparison to the previous album you added several tracks but on the other hand you cut them shorter. For me it is an obviously positive point since the length of the tracks from the debut was one of the negative aspects you were criticized for. Was the criticism one of the reason why are the new tracks shorter?

No not really. We have pretty long tracks on this album also. Some of the tracks are shorter yes and that’s because when we write a song it sort of completes it self, you just know when it’s done no matter how long the track is.

4. Music-wise, a notable change is evident after those three years. You still stick to your own way, your passion towards the thrashy sound is also there but the IMMORTAL’s heritage is probably the most evident. I guess you are not planning to give up those “recognizing marks” and that you are quite proud of them.

Of course we are proud of them. If you listen to Immortal you hear that they are great musicians. So when people compare us to them it is an honor, that means we are great musicians to! We have grown to a more unique playing style, our own now and you can hear it on Veraldar Nagli. For every release we’ll make, you will hear more of Rimfrost and less of others. I think it is important to a band to try something out first, and then later when you have developed yourself you are ready too do it on your own and you will automatically create your own sound.

5. It has not been very long since the long awaited new album from Immortal came out. What do you think about their reunion and the new album as the fans?

I think it’s great! Immortal is one of my favorite bands of all time and it’s just fantastic that they got together again to rule the world. It was to sad when they was gone. Hail Immortal!

That’s awesome! That record is hard as fucking rock! Their heaviness blows your ass off!


6. I found “Veraldar Nagli” much more sophisticated than its predecessor. Songs seem to be more epic and deep. Sound and compositions are much more elaborated. I guess this applies to lyrical philosophy as well. Am I right?

Yeah, you know, the lyrics is deeper this time because we wanted a depth we never had in our former recordings. The main theme is death, what happens after it, does something happen after it? And some personal questions has been brought up in the lyrics by me and Throllv to. All combined with the norse mythology.

7. In the previous interview you have foreshadowed the new album won’t be just about snow and winter but that you are going to move towards Viking’s mythology. So it is the “Veraldar Nagli” about?

Glad you remembered! Yeah, as I said three years ago the album is more into the norse mythology. That was something we talked about a lot at that time for our second album’s theme. What we will do for the next album will be more to our old themes. You are the first to know about it, and Mortem Zine´s readers!

Lets just say that the world will end in a freezing inferno!

8. I know that it is a bit early to ask about the next year’s plans. But I’ll ask anyway. I guess you’re going to have a break from composing but regarding concerting I wonder if you’re going to arrange some tour. I believe that you would find some fans at gig here in Czech Republic.

Alright! It would be really cool playing for you guys in Czech Republic but we have no plans for touring, yet.

9. And now about the album itself. Together with interview there will be review too. Now I’m listening to the new one as much as I can and with each listen I like it more and more. Personally I didn’t even expect that you’re going to evolve so much. The album is evidently on the higher level than the debut. It is evident that you were not fooling around those three years. Would you be so kind to tell us how the composition and recording proceeded? When you started with recording, what was your attitude to it and so on. You can also add some “behind-the-scene” piquancies.

Thanks! Some songs, like the title track, was written a month or two after arriving back home from the studio when we recorded A Frozen World Unknown. And others we wrote just before we entered the studio. All I knew when we got to the studio was that we was about to create a fucking masterpiece and if you ask me we succeeded quite well! Hmm..behind the scenes material…Haha! Yeah! I was sitting in a couch talking to my fiancée in the phone when suddenly I hear this big BOOM! It was Throllv who crashed his car into the studio wall! He thought he had it in reverse. Andy (LaRocque, King Diamond) wasn’t so happy!

Yeah that was quite embarrassing.

10. The previous album was released by No Colors Records. That’s a success for sure considering your youth. Three years later you moved to even bigger label. Season of Mist is no doubt a titan on the black metal market. What made them to close a deal with you. Do they care well about you? Could you compare between them and No Colours? What was the reason behind the label change?

We got in touch with Gunnar Sauermann (Metal Hammer) when we did a gig at Inferno Festival, Oslo, Norway. He liked what he saw and contacted us when we stood without a label in the middle of 2008 and told us that he works for Season Of Mist and wanted to give us a chance. He talked to the boss, Michael and the deal was a fact. I think they do a great job! And I’m glad NC believed in us and gave us a chance to stand up and let people see us.

11. One of your goals was to get RIMFROST out of your homeland. This will be much easier with Season of Mist. How far did you get so far? I guess you are getting responses from abroad. I wonder what are those responses like and what was the greatest distance you have received reactions?

Well, I think we have most of our fans in Germany maybe. We got reactions from the U.S and Greece. That’s cool!

Well I have got reactions from Africa to which i did not expected.


12. Are you satisfied with everything you have already accomplished or is there still something you want to achieve and you still haven’t?

We will never be satisfied! Haha… We have a new goal with every album.

13. Let’s move ourselves from the topic of black metal for a while since we are both quite ordinary people I guess. Could you bring in what are you doing in your personal lives, to which activities you dedicate your free time besides music and so on? I guess that under those war paints and gesture there are regular and cool guys. :)

I must say that i don’t really do much than practice on my drums, composing riffs and so.

Most of my time goes to practice guitar and composing. Rehearse with Throllv. The time I got besides that I spend with my fiancée, playing some tv-game perhaps and of course study, that’s my “work“ for the moment.

14. We wouldn’t like to torture you with questions. The last thing I will ask is about recent Christmas. Could you tell us how do you spend these holidays and if you celebrate them somehow? I guess that there is a difference between our Christmas with Carp and potato salad and yours.

I spent my holiday with my family and friends. Here in Sweden the food that stands on the table is meatballs, ham with mustard, wieners and herring. And snaps.

I spent Christmas at home with my family. For me which is half Finnish we have some different stuff on the table but i can’t describe it in English. We have the traditional Swedish Christmas food on the table as well.

15. Thank you for a pleasant interview. I hope that it will interesting for our readers as for you and I also hope to meet you someday at your gig in our home country. We’ll look forward to it!

Thank you! Of course we’ll meet some day! Just be in the front and bang your head!

Thank you! Well I will probably not see you anyway as I’m sitting behind the drums with a bunch of lights in my face.

Regular text: Hravn
Italics: Throllv