Eerie shadows are lurking in the dark corners of spring 2018; the spirit that denies, a force able to distort our conception of space and time. Over seven years, deathlike silence has filled the halls of the world’s biggest black metal forge, Dimmu Borgir, whilst powers have been gathering to resurrect the band right in time for their 25th anniversary. Now they finally mark their return with a vicious work of art that can be defined as timeless in the truest sense of the word: Eonian.
With the up and coming release of Dimmu Borgir’s highly anticipated album, Eonian, I spoke with founding guitarist, Silenoz, about the making of the album and potential touring opportunities following the release.
Xavier: It’s been almost eight years since your last release, Abrahadabra, marking the 25th anniversary of the existence of Dimmu Borgir with the up and coming release of Eonian, meaning eternal or everlasting, is proving that Dimmu Borgir isn’t going anywhere any time soon. How do you feel about this album with it being so different from the older music and going back to more of a harsher black metal sound with less symphonics, yet still having that classic Dimmu feel to it?
Silenoz: Yeah, I think, I mean it’s hard obviously as you know for a musician to try and dissect and analyse your product but we just went with the flow, we try not to sit back and analyse too much because you know, once you do that you’ll never get finished, you have to stop somewhere and being our own producers and not having a deadline that gives you an extra challenge. I think this time it was good that we didn’t have a deadline, sometimes it’s bad to have a deadline because you might have to rush something in the mix or whatever it is so, this time we just did it in our own temporal and I think also the label appreciates that we are in control over our art because if we can spend the time we feel then we will get a decent product to sell. Even if some of the hardcore fans have been impatient in waiting for the new album, I totally understand it from their point of view but hopefully once they get to hear it and they get to live with the album for a while they will maybe forgive us for the time we spent on it, I think the end result will speak for itself.
Xavier: Well I think it was worth the wait for me, being a huge fan myself.
Silenoz: Yeah, that’s good to hear coming from you, you know our music from a more deep perspective. It was hard for us to wait for this to come out as well because the album was finished and mastered in April last year so it’s another year going by before it comes out. Other people I’ve been talking to that have been listening to the album for a while, they say the same pretty much as you, and to me that’s of course great to hear such feedback but I knew that once we were finished in the studio last year it was already a success for us because we were really happy with what we had achieved and for us it’s just, if it sells five hundred copies or five million copies, at the end of the day the five million copies would make my life a bit easier with bills but still if it was only five hundred sold we would still be happy with it and proud of the product and what we have achieved.
Xavier: The theme for this album is based around a philosophical concept dealing with the illusion of time and luciferian codes, how did this philosophy come about?
Silenoz: I mean that was just a few exerts that the label wanted for press, we initially told them that we don’t want to speak too much about the themes on the album because the whole idea behind the words this time is that we want to try and leave something up to the imagination and whoever’s listening to it, or whoever actually cares about the words because lets face it, some people, they don’t care about anything else but the actual musical side. Before we even had the first song finished musically, I had already like fourteen, fifteen sets of lyrics written so, I started with the lyrical process probably around 2013 – 2012, something around there and it’s been a really ongoing, long mentally and physically draining process which I hope that some people will maybe recognise in the words. I mean if I tell you that every word is a self-experience you will probably get a little glimpse into the metaphysical world that I’ve been travelling in, with that being said I will leave that up to those who find it interesting. I also want people to form their own version of it, if I give the fans like, “Oh this is how I see it from my perspective”, then they already have a pre-conceived idea of what I think it should be about, which is the total opposite of the whole idea.
Xavier: As you were saying before, some of the tracks on this album were written back in 2012.
Silenoz: Yeah or the main ideas which as we went along writing the rest, we went back to those songs and we worked them a little bit and maybe chopped off some of the fat you know, and made them a little bit shorter, that’s also probably why the first single sounds closer to the previous album then many of the other songs on the record.
Xavier: What took you so long to release any information about that you were writing new music?
Silenoz: Well, that was kind of done on purpose, we kind of have decided to keep a low profile on purpose just to maybe try and regain some kind of mystique about the band you know, not telling everybody what we’re up to everyday. Especially now when social media has become so big it’s so easy to get thrown or sucked into that ego trap, which it basically is, so we felt like let’s just give some hints and things when we feel like it and not just over do it, which a lot of other artists do I think. I mean, we’re a metal band and we’re considered symphonic black metal band so I mean, I hate labels myself, the older I get the less and less I care about labels but I guess that’s the closest description you can give us, so we felt like lets just leave it in our own little bubble and concentrate on what we’re supposed to do instead of being distracted by a lot of other non-creative stuff so that’s pretty much why we haven’t done so much in the media and the press the last few years.
Xavier: So, with the release of the new album have yous got any shows booked or planned as of yet and if so will you be coming to Australia? [Editors note: Tour dates now announced]
Silenoz: Yeah we do actually, that’s pretty much being confirmed as we speak to be honest, I’m really looking forward to coming back and to be able to do headline shows this time, of course we enjoyed the Soundwave festival a lot in 2011 when we were there but playing half an hour in the sun is not really the best spot but of course it’s great exposure and we’ve had fans in Australia for many many years and hopefully some of them are still following the band and will come out to the shows.
Hopefully we’ll be playing the main bigger city’s and maybe some other places to which is not frequently visited by other bands. We will go to places we feel that we have something to offer and I mean, it’s obviously economically speaking it’s not the best idea to do tours like that, but at the same time we need to be able to share our music with the fans you know, and there’s no other way to do it than to suck up to the expenses and just do it. We also have to remember why we do this in the first place, we started out as a small band just jamming with no ambition and I think a lot of bands lose sight of where they’re actually coming from and they think only where they can gain something you know, for us it’s not like that, for us it’s about sharing the music with the fans who care and the fans who support us and those who are actually directly helping us to continue do what we love to do.
Xavier: I want to thank you so much for taking the time out to speak with me.
Silenoz: No problem man, I appreciate it.
DIMMU BORGIR performing at:
October 14th – Auckland, The Studio
Tickets: www.utr.co.nz / www.valhallatouring.com
October 16th – Melbourne, 170 Russell – SECOND SHOW
Tickets: http://soundworksdirect.eventbrite.com / www.170russell.com
October 17th – Melbourne, 170 Russell SOLD OUT
October 19th – Brisbane, Eatons Hill
Tickets: http://soundworksdirect.eventbrite.com / www.oztix.com.au
October 21st – Sydney, The Metro
Tickets: www.ticketek.com.au
