1. Cheers to Oslo! It has been two years since you founded DJEVEL. We know from various sources that you left your previous band because you disagreed with its musical direction. Is it true? What was the direction of Ljå?

No i did not leave Ljå because of the musical direction. I left Ljå because as a band it did not work the way i wanted it to, and i dont mean in a musical way. The distance between me and the other members was one of the main problems. Ljå is still a black metal band, if it even excists...have no idea..

2. At the beginning you wanted to have DJEVEL as one-man band. Things have changed since then and now you work as a trio. Is it because you plan live performances?

It is not because i plan any live performances, its merely beacuse i wantet Dødssanger to be the best it could possibly be, and in order for tht to happen i needed some help

3. Why did you hired Erlend and Mannevod?

I realised after a while that it would be good to include some other members since i am first and foremost a guitarist. I met Erlend (vox) a few years ago, and he turned out to be a big fan of my work with Ljå, so i played some Djevel for him and asked him to sing on the song Djevelheim. I was so pleased with the result that i asked him to join Djevel as the lead grim voice. I play with Mannevond in Nettlecarrier, and we have been friends for a long time, so a few weeks before the recording i asked him to do the bass. It is not because i plan any live performances, its merely beacuse i wantet Dødssanger to be the best it could possibly be.

4. Recently a debut album entitled "Dødssanger" came out. At the Aftermath’s site we can learn that you brought into DJEVEL some material which you had prepared for a next Ljå recording. If you should compare an amount of former Ljå material with the material you created just for DJEVEL, which would predominate?

Well Dødssanger was as you say intened to be the third Ljå album, the one i started composing after the last Ljå album "Til Avsky For Livet". If you listen to the music i composed for Ljå you will hear that it is also very melodic like the Djevel material is, so i dont think it is that much different from what i composed in Ljå. But as i have now composed all music it sounds more complete i guess.



5. Have all of you three participated in composing or was it solely your own work?

No its only me. I do everything. Djevel is my creation. The entire concept of Djevel, the booklet, the logo, everything is done by me and based on my ideas.


6. "Dødssanger" is booming with an old and filthy black metal. Is this music a personal emanation of your inner self or you simply wanted DJEVEL to be the band worshipping the genre’s roots?

Dødssanger is the result of the fact that i started playing black metal in 1992. Since then the feeling of black metal have always been inside me, and i have never changed in that perspective. I take black metal very seriously. Other aspects in my life has changed since i now am 33 yyears old, but the black metal feeling remains the same.

7. Is this type of black metal your life-style? Style to which you gave your soul?

Depends on how u se it. For me now black metal is only a part of me, as i am a complex person... It was easy in 1993 to live a black metal life, because we were 16 years old and had no obligations except from black metal. So nothing else mattered back then. Black metal is the same as it have always been for me, but now its just one side of me, and i keep that side to myself. Djevel reflects that side of me 100%. I have a family and a job that needs attention, and also i am a reflected grown up person, not that narrow minded kid with black clothes and inverted crosses around my neck., I do a lot of tenting and try to bee in the woods as much as possible, which awakens the black metal feeling inside me.

8. Do you think it is difficult nowadays to find a band which represents black metal in its original form without sounding like a cheap rip-off?

Hmm lets see, its hard to perform black metal in its "original" form over and over again and not sound like anyone else. I can hear a lot of different bands in my own music, even though i try to make it my own in some way. But i think there is a HUGE difference of the bands that contain people that were a part of black metal in 1990-1994, and the ones that started with black metal in 2000. Its easy to detect this fact.;Lack of feeling is the best way to describe the latter...

9. What do you think about the nowadays evolution of black metal? Lot has changed during the last two decades – many bands are experimenting with various genres. This applies for example to Kvelertak, Erlend’s band.

The day black metal started to progress was the day it started to die. Its the same with every genre.. I dont think anything of it, i dont care. The ones that are experimenting are labelling themselves as "extreme metal" and the can do whatever they want as far as i am concerned, but obviously im not a fan. In 1995 there was so much bad stuff happening with black metal, and the choice was easy; get out or stay dying. So i got out and went into a long slumber that took me 6 years to wake up from.

10. By the way what is your opinion on Kvelertak? There are not many bands that manage to gain such attention with their debut.

Its amazing what they have accomplished with their music, and i belive its well deserved. They are genuine music lovers and they do their thing that people happen to like. Personally i like a lot of their music, and i think they combine the different genres well. Their guitarist asked me one time if i disliked the fact that they steal from black metal. Obviously i dont as they are not a black metal band. If they claimed to be a black metal band it would be a different story.

11. Your government plans to train its foreign ambassadors in black metal’s history and music, considering it to be the part of Norwegian culture. Have you noticed this information? What do you think about it?

Actually i just found out a few weeks ago, and i felt very sick when i did... i cant even begin to describe how amazingly stupid and lame this is. For me who took part in the early black metal scene its a violation and a disrespect that is beyond everything i have experienced. One cannot describe the feeling that is black metal, it has to be felt. And these people obviously dont have the ability to do so.
Its the writer Håvard Rem that are "teaching" black metal to these people.. A fucking writer that has no idea of what black metal is.. aaarrrgghhhh. die die die die die and then die again..!

12. Let’s get back to "Dødssanger". Not everyone understands Norwegian, so could you please describe what is the album’s lyrical content about?

The concept of Dødssanger is the pact between man and devil. Its based uopn ancient norwegian devilworship, and its a story about a man who sells his soul from birth until death. The song "Djevelheim" is about the house where he is born, and the song "Paktens ende- i Satans eie" is the story of his death and the moment the devil claims his soul..


13. What about DJEVEL’s future? Will you let us know with your next album or we will hear from your every know and then?

Now that the cd is out, the next step is the vinyl version. There will also be different merch like zip hoods and different shirts. I have started to write for the next album, but i have no idea when it will be ready for recording.

14. Thank you for the interview. If you have something to tell then the last words are yours.

Raise the dead...