Dimmu Borgir: None more black

Dimmu Borgir survives Norway's violent black metal scene

By Newt Briggs

Norway may seem like a quiet, peaceful land of fishing villages and ski hamlets, but beneath its icy charm lurks a long history of pagan rituals and Viking bloodlust. Although not always obvious to outsiders, this dark history has had a profound influence on Norway's national character, feeding the collective anxiety and terror reflected in Norwegian artist Edvard Munch's all-too-familiar painting "The Scream."

Perhaps this same angst fueled the development of black metal--the sonic scourge of the country since the early '80s. Influenced by the quasi-satanic (but largely theatrical) heavy metal of British acts like Black Sabbath and Mercyful Fate, black metal festered in Norway's winter darkness and eventually became the inspiration for countless church burnings and a series of grisly murders. Although Dimmu Borgir was not at the center of the movement, it did survive much of the chaos and destruction reaped by bands such as Emperor, Burzum and Mayhem.

Yet as a recent interview with the Mercury revealed, Dimmu Borgir frontman Shagrath isn't particularly troubled by the wanton destruction reaped by his fellow Norsemen. In fact, Shagrath is disarmingly blase about the series of events that virtually held Norway hostage at the beginning of the '90s.

Mercury: Since you witnessed it firsthand, how many of the stories about the black metal underground in Norway were true and how many were just legends?

Shagrath: You mean, as far as the criminal activities? Most of it was true, I think. A lot of churches were burned. A few people were killed. It was really a lot of hassle for us because we were always in for questioning with the police.

M: But you didn't participate in any of it?

S: No.

M: Did you know the people that were doing all of the damage?

S: Of course.

M: Did they frighten you?

S: No. Why would they frighten me?

M: They seemed a little crazy. I mean, they were killing each other.

S: Ah, yes. Well, they were troubled boys, and it was a different time.

A different time, indeed. Since then, most of the pioneers of Norwegian death metal have either died or been locked away in Scandinavian gulags, and only a handful of original bands remain. Perhaps predictably, black metal turned its fury inward, ultimately collapsing in on itself. Case in point, Burzum frontman Varg Vikernes (a.k.a. Count Grishnackh) stabbed and killed Mayhem guitarist Euronymous in 1993. No motive for the crime was ever firmly established, but Vikernes complained that Euronymous had shamed the death metal scene by wearing a white sweater in public.

Nothing so drastic ever went on in the Dimmu Borgir camp--although the band did embrace the bondage outfits and anti-Christian imagery favored by death metal's founding fathers. "We've always been a band that goes its own direction," Shagrath says. "We're not a typical black metal band. If you want pure Norwegian black metal, you should listen to bands like Darkthrone or Maniac or Emperor. We've always sounded a little bit different than the rest of the scene."

For one, Dimmu Borgir added a symphonic element to its sound, blending Wagnerian keyboard arrangements with hyperspeed guitar riffs and double-kick rhythmic thunder. The unique combination lent a dark, atmospheric vibe to Dimmu Borgir's music--a sound Shagrath equates with "running through the woods with an axe in your hand." It was also the perfect complement to the band's geographic moniker. "There's a place in Iceland called the Dimmuborgir," says Shagrath. "It's quite mysterious. It has a lot of caves and volcanoes and lava formations and a very dark history. A lot of people have disappeared there."

Shagrath himself hasn't actually spent much time there, but as he notes, a lack of experience has never hindered the band creatively. "Most of the orchestral parts are created by our keyboard player, and he doesn't even listen to metal at all," he says. "He like lots of music--everything from classical to techno--but metal doesn't really inspire him."