Recently, acclaimed Dimmu Borgir guitarist Silenoz, never a man of few words or interesting stories, was kind enough to speak with us regarding, among many other things, the highly anticipated re-recording of the group’s classic sophomore effort Stormblast…

Todd: What inspired the name Dimmu Borgir?

Silenoz: “At the time, we wanted to have something that sounded really different from all the other obvious Black Metal names… As it was, our former bass player’s parents were from Iceland, so he knew a lot about this place in Iceland with the same name. We read about the name and the legend about the place and thought it would be a cool band name. Normally, Dimmu Borgir is written in one word, but we put it as two words so we wouldn’t get in trouble with the Icelandic authorities or anything like that. It’s a natural place of ice and the legend suggests that it’s supposed to be one of the gateways to hell, so there’s a lot there that fits to our music.”

Todd: What was the main motivation behind re-recording Stormblast?

Silenoz: “The shit sound on the original (laughs). It’s been bugging us for all these years and we were basically waiting for the chance to…get off the original contract and re-record it. …It was originally released by an English label called Cacophonous. We were lucky we only signed for one album back then. That was probably the smartest thing we’ve ever done.”

Todd: It’s funny…I’ve never heard anyone say anything good about Cacophonous Records…

Silenoz: “And you never will hear anything good (laughs). …If you look at all the bands Cacophonous had back then…Bal Sagoth, Cradle Of Filth, Sigh…they’re all gone now, so they couldn’t have done too much good.”

Todd: What prompted the group to turn down an offer to tour with Korn? Was it because they have such a different target audience?

Silenoz: “…For us to play for such a different audience would have been a challenge we would have considered more if the timing had been right, ya know? We’d hate to play for the same audience over and over again, ya know? We don’t have nothing to compare to Korn. I don’t really like their music, but for us to expand our audience, it could have been a good move. It was bad timing and economically not good. Maybe under some different circumstances. Maybe not Korn, but some other band that has that same kind of big audience.”

Todd: Were they just not offering enough financially?

Silenoz: “I guess the offer was alright, but for us, whenever we tour, there are so many extra expenses. …To tour for that short of a time, the shows would have just been shredding money. I’m not sure it would have been worth it in the end because they have such a different audience. It would have been cool to go onstage and show those kids what the fuck this is all about (laughs). If it would make us be hated more by the true Black Metal people, that would be a positive thing (laughs).”

Todd: At this point, what is your overall opinion of the current Black Metal audience?

Silenoz: “…There are a lot of sixteen and seventeen year old kids that show up and try to tell other bands how to play Black Metal. It’s like ‘…Hello? Where were you ten years ago…’ (laughs). There’s a lot of that “ I know better than you” mentality, so to speak. …I don’t even want to fucking think about that stuff.”

Todd: With that in mind, have you ever considered attempting to distance yourself from the Black Metal genre?

Silenoz: “I think we’ve always looked upon ourselves as some kind of underdog in comparison to all the others. We’ve always said we were a Black Metal band, but not purely a Black Metal band because we have so much more in our music, ya know? …If we were just Black Metal, we’d be painting ourselves into a corner and that’s something that we won’t do because we have a lot more to show than just our Black Metal roots.”

Todd: Do you feel you accomplished that by recording Death Cult Armageddon with a full orchestra?

Silenoz: “…Our trademark is to be divers and incorporate a lot of different stuff, ya know? It’s not something that we do on purpose, either. It’s in our subconscious and it just come out.”

Todd: Have you found it difficult to re-create the symphonic element of Death Cult Armageddon within a live setting?

Silenoz: “No, not really. …And I’ve never heard a fan complain about it, either, which is always a good thing. I think it would probably be cool to play with an orchestra live, too, but I think arrangement wise, it would be too much. It would sound totally different than what Metallica did, that’s for sure (laughs). They just failed miserably.”

Todd: Overall, how would you describe your experiences with Ozzfest?

Silenoz: “I think it was a really positive experience for us, both with how we got treated and how everything was organized…it was perfect, which is something European festivals should take note of. Usually in Europe, there are so many problems with festival time schedules. Ozzfest was like ‘…bang, bang, bang…’ everyday, ya know? I guess it was pretty killer sales wise, too. When we got home three months after Ozzfest had ended, our sales had doubled or tripled. I’m sure that had something to do with Ozzfest (laughs).”

Todd: It’s ironic that you Ozzfest to be such a pleasant experience when so many other bands have found it to be an absolute nightmare logistically…

Silenoz: “…I cannot say for the second stage acts, but for the main stage acts, everything was on time. It was really professional from that point of view. I can’t tell for the bands on the second stage. I’m sure that was a lot more of a hassle because the changeovers are like five minuets apart. We did pretty good and our private crew that we had got really positive responses…they all said they were doing a really good job.”

Todd: When you tour in the US, do you bring a crew with you or do you already have people waiting for you before you arrive?

Silenoz: “We have an American drum tech that has been with us for many, many years. We usually have people from all over the world. My guitar tech is from Portugal and our tour manager is English. The bass tech is Portuguese… It’s a huge crew, which costs a lot of money, too…to keep the crew happy. For us to do a proper show, we need our back line. We don’t want to compromise the light show or anything like that. Of course when you come to the states, you have to compromise one way or another because you can’t really bring the whole light rig over. You would come home with no money to pay your bills (laughs). You have to try and save where you can.”

Todd: Where do you draw the line in regards to cutting back on things to save money?

Silenoz: “When we can’t take the light technician, then there’s no show (laughs). It’s as simple as that. Luckily, we haven’t come to that point yet and I don’t think we will, either. If we play a show in Greece and then a show in Germany, the fans in both countries deserve the same, ya know? We rather not play at all instead of compromising.”

Todd: How have the sessions for the next album gone thus far?

Silenoz: “We started a couple of months ago and we have the skeletons to a few songs already. We’re pretty excited about what we’re working on at the moment. We’re just not gonna stress with it…we’re gonna take our time. I guess most of this year will be used just for writing this next album. …Of course we have to get out there and do some shows so we can incorporate a few more Stormblast songs into out set. We’ll see if we can do some shows in the Summer, but mostly we’re just gonna work on the next album.”

Todd: Do you think your next album will be stylistically similar to Death Cult Armageddon?

Silenoz: “…I can say that it will definitely sounds like us (laughs). I guess it’s too early to say what the whole album will sound like. …I don’t think anyone in the band is too into the idea of using a full orchestra again. We’re just gonna try to make it on our own. If there’s some parts here and there which totally requires orchestra, we’ll think about it. We shown ourselves that we can do it without orchestra as well. …There’s a thin line ya, know? You have to know what you’re doing. That whole Metallica thing went real bad. I know a lot of fans probably thought we were going to ruin everything like Metallica did when they used an orchestra, but we know better. We need people that understand out music to help us conduct the orchestra parts. …You have to have someone that really understands what you wanna do. If we would have used the same guy Metallica did, it wouldn’t have worked at all, trust me (laughs).”

Todd: What led to (former drummer) Nick Barker leaving the group?

Silenoz: “I guess we just came to a point where we had to make a decision if we were gonna continue with him in the band or if we were gonna break the whole band up. It was that serious. …We were sad that it had to come to that decision because he’s a totally great drummer…one of the best drummers I’ve ever played with. Hopefully he’ll be happy in another band hitting the skins, which is what he does best.”

Todd: Musically, what are your influences?

Silenoz: “It’s hard to tell because I don’t think any of us take any direct influences from any bands. It’s probably all just laying around in our subconscious. We listed to so much different stuff…everyone in the band, ya know? Our keyboard player hardly listens to Metal music at all, which has proved to be a good thing for us because he always comes up with ideas. His mind is fresh from not listening to Metal music 24/7 (laughs). We have so many diverse tastes…I think that also reflects in the music that we make. That’s why we sound diverse and not one dimensional.”

Todd: As a group, what motivated you to start wearing costumes onstage?

Silenoz: “That was something that happened naturally, I guess. We thought that using the name and wearing make up…were good ideas for us when we started out. We’ve kept it on because once you start fucking around with how you look, it’s probably going to make a few people roll their eyes, ya know? It’s been a huge thing for the band, visually, since the start. We’re so used to it, we feel that’s how it should be.”

Todd: Have you ever found wearing the costumes to be a burden?

Silenoz: “Yeah, especially with Ozzfest. It was really bad in a few places…leather pants and the sun is hitting you like a hundred and fifteen degrees. We only played like five songs on our Ozzfest set, but it felt like an hour, ya know? The only really hassle we have with our stage gear is when we go to fly, especially when we come to the US. Spikes and bullet belts of course rise more than a few eyebrows when you’re trying to go through customs (laughs). You just explain to them that your in a band…and it’s usually not too much trouble.”

Stormblast (re-recorded) (2006) ****

Death Cult Armageddon (2003) ****

World Misanthropia (DVD) (2002) ****

Puritanical Misanthropic Euphoria (2001) ****

Spiritual Black Dimensions (1999) ****

Godless Savage Garden (1998) ****

Live And Plugged (Video) (1998) ****

Enthrone Darkness Triumphant (1997) ****

Devil’s Path (EP) (1996) ***

Stormblast (1996) **

For All Tid (1994) *

* released via No Colors Records

** released via Cacophonous Records

*** released via Hot Records

**** released via Nuclear Blast Records

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