GORGOROTH Singer's Appeal Case Begins

GORGOROTH frontman Gaahl's appeal case began last week in connection with the 18-month sentence he received last May for beating a 41-year-old man in what the victim called a ritual attack.

The 29-year-old black metal vocalist, who has several prior convictions, including one for assault and battery, was sentenced at Sunnfjord court in Forde, Norway. In addition to the prison term, Gaahl was ordered to pay 100,000 NOK (approximately $15,800) in damages to the victim.

In the court of appeals last Wednesday (Feb. 16),Gaahl explained that he was attacked by the 41-year-old man without provocation.

"He grabbed me and started banging me against the wall," the 29-year-old explained.

The accused claims that he cannot remember everything that happened the night that the fight took place.

"The last thing I remember before everything turned black is that I was lying on a sofa trying to protect myself from his punches," Gaahl said. "When I came to my senses again, I was standing on the floor while he was sitting on a chair bleeding."

Gaahl says that he does not remember using any violence and cannot tell what happened from the time he was lying on a sofa until he regained consciousness.

"I was standing on the floor, so I must have defended myself without being able to say how," Gaahl said.

The 41-year-old victim, whose identity hasn't been revealed, was hit and kicked several times in the face and head and needed stitches to close cuts in his head. His nose was broken and he suffered major dental damage.

Speaking to the U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine last spring, Gaahl shed light on details overlooked by the police — something he believes to be the key factor in the comparatively short sentence.

"He left a weapon in my house that has my blood on it," Gaahl said. "The police picked up the object but they didn't run any tests to check out whose blood it was. On the first day of the trial, the judge mentioned that I could get anything up to 12 years, but in the end, the prosecution requested 18 months. This is a strong piece of evidence that I will use of the appeal.

"If the appeal does not work, I will have to go to prison for 11 months, 'cause I've already served some of it last year, but it could take one to three years before it happens anyway, because there is a long waiting list for prisons in Norway."