SATYRICON's FROST: 'If You're Too Pretentious, Then You Can Easily End Up Looking Like A Silly Clown'

In a brand new interview with Stereoboard.com, drummer Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad of Norwegian black metallers SATYRICON spoke about whether black metal bands sometimes take themselves too seriously.

"I think it's not necessarily wrong to take yourself seriously, but I think it feels a bit foul when people get too pretentious and don't realize it," he said. "There is a bit too much self-irony."

He continued: "Black metal is a serious genre and that comes with a price: it can very easily turn into something pretentious. It is for the wise to find that balance.

"We have a lot of self-irony in our personalities. Sometimes we display that on stage, but most of the time it's bloody serious when we perform as SATYRICON. It's a genre where we create darkness and grimness, and there's a lot of raw energy."

Frost added: "I'm very driven by fury when I'm on stage and that's how I like it to be — it's how I connect with the music.

"When I go up and play live, I don't have a lot of that self-irony. It's life or death. As a private person, I am not like that — you have to separate that.

"With art, you have to choose whether you bring everything personal into it or if you want to channel certain energies.

"Black metal isn't the arena for writing about fast cars, love affairs and everyday experiences. That in itself has nothing to do with self-irony, but if you're too pretentious, then you can easily end up looking like a silly clown."

As previously reported, SATYRICON has signed a worldwide deal with Austrian label Napalm Records for release of its upcoming DVD, "Live At The Opera".

To coincide with the release of its self-titled, eighth studio album, SATYRICON played a very special, exclusive show on September 8, 2013 at at Den Norske Opera & Ballett in Oslo, Norway, where they were joined by the 55-strong Norwegian National Opera Chorus as part of the Ultima Oslo Contemporary Music Festival.

The performance was professionally filmed and recorded and will be released as the "Live At The Opera" CD/DVD on May 1 in Europe and May 5 in North America.