DISSECTION's JON NÖDTVEIDT: 'The Satanist Chooses Death Before Dishonor'

DISSECTION frontman Jon Nödtveidt, who took his own life earlier in the week less than three months after announcing the band's split, spoke to Norwegian magazine Slayer in 2003 on the topic of suicide. Asked how he views the matters of suicide and whether taking your life is "worth it," Nödtveidt responded, "The Satanist decides over his own life and death and prefers to go with a smile on his lips when he has reached his peak in life, when he has accomplished everything, and aim to transcend this earthly existence. But it is completely un-Satanic to end ones own life because one is sad or miserable. The Satanist dies strong, not by age, disease or depression, and he chooses death before dishonor! Death is the orgasm of life! So live life accordingly, as intense as possible!"

Nödtveidt formed DISSECTION in 1989 and released two full-length albums with the group — "The Somberlain" (1993) and "Storm of the Light's Bane" (1995) — before he was convicted in Sweden of felony murder of 37-year-old homosexual Algerian Josef Ben Maddour in 1997. He was released from prison in 2004, at which point he restarted DISSECTION.

DISSECTION announced in May that it would split up imediately following its final performances in support of its recently released CD, "Reinkaos". The band was subsequently forced to cancel its two previously announced appearances in North America (Sept. 1 at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, CA and Sept. 6 at B.B. King Blues Club in New York City) after Nödtveidt was denied legal entry into the United States as a result of his conviction.

DISSECTION's most recent album, "Reinkaos", was released in May on The End Records.