Dark Forces was a Swedish fanzine written in Swedish. Here’s an interview with Tyrant (Erik) translated to English for you.
Nifelheim: Knights in Satans Service
“It can hardly get any more metal”. If you don’t recognize that quote, you either don’t own a TV, or your brain is registering the wrong things when you’re sitting on the couch watching. The creators are not only full-time IRON MAIDEN fans, but also figure in the lesser-known black metal constellation NIFELHEIM. The latest album “Servants Of Darkness” whipped organs, and an interview with bassist/guitarist Tyrant was absolutely necessary.
Now you might as well dump the MAIDEN stuff in the nearest dumpster, because after I’m done with you, you’ll never worship any other metal phenomenon than Dark Forces! What do you say to that?
— Fuck off!
We throw ourselves at the impressive pile of questions, and find this one: Why did you actually break up with the over-the-top scumbag Paul Thind?
— What the hell do you think? That cunt Paul is all out retarded! Necropolis is a shitty label that no one should have anything to do with! They are completely incapable of doing anything right at all! They will have to change their name to NecroPaulis when we are done with them!
I have heard rumors that he apparently visited Gothenburg and then made an extreme effort to avoid you… Is that true, man, and what would you have come up with for fun if you had met him?— This is true, he was in Gothenburg but we had not heard anything from him. Anyway, we found out that he was in town and we were quite pissed off, which is understandable since we were still on Necropaulis Records at the time.
So we decided to look for him, and actually managed to meet him (with a beer can) but then he started raving that he had to go and meet someone, but that we would meet where we met him an hour later.
So we waited while the thief (Paul) ran away, and of course he didn't come back but it turned out that he had fled to Linköping instead! And then home to the USA, talk about a cowardly faggot! One day…
What do you expect from Black Sun that Necropolis couldn't offer?
— Money and some semblance of intelligence.
If I say that "Servants Of Darkness" is among the coolest things to come in the way of black metal from Sweden since "Storm Of The Lights Bane", what do you say then?
— That it's true.
What do you think distinguishes it from "Devil's Force"?
— Above all, the sound is different from the "Devil's Force" album. We wanted a clearer and more distinct sound this time, but I prefer obscure productions so it's definitely not a standard sound we're talking about, even though it's a bit clearer this time. You have to find the right balance so that it's neither too thin and shrill nor too rumbling and dull to get the ultimate feeling of violence in the soundscape. Musically, there aren't any major differences except that this one is even more violent. It's less "thrash" and more primitive "black metal" than on the last album, I mean why play like SLAYER when you can play like HELLHAMMER?
Speaking of "Devil's Force", I don't understand how you can find such a terrifyingly ugly fucking cover, you must have tried pretty hard?
— The only thing that's not done on purpose on the "Devil's Force" cover is the painting itself, which looks a bit silly, and that Necropolis, despite our requests, managed to print gray squares around the logo. But otherwise we are completely satisfied with that cover.
On “Servants Of Darkness” you have Martin Axenrot from SATANIC SLAUGHTER on drums. What qualities does he have that make him a particularly worthy member of NIFELHEIM?
— That he is one of Sweden’s fastest and best drummers and that he understands our music. He is also a real headbanger and no sissy. We get along very well.
Will you play anything live now that you have finally found a drummer who can handle that kind of stuff?
— Yes, as soon as we have found two guitarists, because unfortunately we still lack them. I think we have found a guitarist who fits so you could almost say that we only lack one, so the situation is better than usual on the lineup front. But it may still be a while before there are any gigs. So those of you who have not planned to party in the near future don’t need to worry because we will play live sooner or later, and then you will die!
From what I understand, your live shows will be pretty spectacular. What exactly will they contain? Any ideas for things that no one has done before?
— Murder the audience maybe?
“Servants Of Darkness” has an extremely raw atmosphere that today's black metal bands seem to have a hard time getting right. What's the recipe?
— To be evil.
What do you think is the reason why all the old black metal bands got such a feeling in both music and sound, when they mostly just recorded in the rehearsal room and were real rakes on their instruments?
— Because black metal at that time was something completely different than now. It was the evilest and hardest style that existed and above all not a trend that anyone jumped on. That's why only those who really had the right soul played black metal, and that's why it naturally got better.
Most of the old bands have admitted in recent years that they never really meant anything serious with their lyrics etc, like BATHORY, VENOM and HELLHAMMER. But still, those bands are the ones that are considered the most "true". What is the reason for that, are hard rockers generally very forgiving people or are we just stupid in the head?
— The reason why the old bands are considered the most true is because they were the first to do what they did and that they influenced the most people with their lyrics and music.
Do you think today's "evil" bands will say the same thing in ten years, like "Well, you know, every single lyric on 'Opus Nocturne' is a total farce, didn't anyone get it?".
— Some will certainly do it, but overall I don't think you'll hear much of that. Today's bands are run in a different way, although you never know.
Front cover of the magazine.
Are you deadly serious about your lyrics etc? When I saw you on TV, I got the impression that you were quite relaxed and not as stiff as many other black metal guys who have appeared on TV seem to be.
— Let me explain this with TV commercials etc. Those of you reading this should be able to understand that you want to be a bit flexible when you know that a million Svenssons are going to be staring at you, so it's not so smart to say what you think and feel unnecessarily but just play some half-mongo that everyone thinks is so cool and fun. The worst thing is that most people think they know us after watching us on TV for a minute or so... NIFELHEIM is serious!
According to reports, you scrap all written material that sounds "too good". Now I quietly wonder how the hell that can happen, since every single riff on "Servants Of Darkness" is crystal clear? What distinguishes a "too good" riff?
— You have apparently misunderstood what is meant by “too good”, and it is not that easy to explain either. But if we brought in a lot of technical and more melodic stuff, we would not sound like NIFELHEIM, and you yourself said in the question that every riff is clean and that is how we want it! Of course there is no “too good” riff, but even if a riff is good it does not have to fit anywhere, a good song has to be a unit.
What do you think is the worst thing about today’s black metal?
— That the true lifestyle is dead! So is the expression and the music. Black metal means nothing these days and no one even has a clue what black metal is anymore. We should just wait out the last days of the trend and then we will take back the flag
Do you consider yourself part of today’s underground, or do you just stick to the old stuff? Are there any bands that have come out recently that have surprised you positively?
— I can't say I have anything to do with this time. But we are still part of today's underground. There are still a few people who like the underground thing — but very few new bands — so there aren't many new surprises that I like. By the way, it seems like everyone is going to play crappy HAMMERFALL music these days, it sounds fucking miserable. Like some fucking STRYPER white metal shit, it could go to hell.
How did you react to the murder Jon Nödtveidt was involved in?
— Nothing special. We got into a lot of trouble because of that, but we're still very good friends.
I've heard that he cut his hair and left black metal behind, what do you think of that?
— Yes, you've heard that? The only thing I can say about that is that he definitely hasn't left Metal, so you're completely wrong. DISSECTION will continue as soon as he comes out. (Fuck how good! /ed)
According to an uncertain source, there are recordings of the material that was supposed to end up on DISSECTION's third album. Have you heard anything about it?
— I've heard some new material and it sounds very good. But I don't want to talk too much about DISSECTION, a lot of it will probably be out of date before something happens anyway.
Now I want to know exactly what Jon contributed to "Nifelheim" and "Devil's Force".
— He played some solos on the albums, mostly things that I had already decided how they would go but also some of his own stuff and improvisations. Some songs he has played on are from what I can remember "Witchfuck", "Demonic Evil", "Deathstrike From Hell", "Satanic Mass" (the very last solo) and others.
Is it bad to have a girlfriend?
— I have to say that I actually like it.
I've been thinking about something: When you wear both a leather jacket and leather pants, the zippers on the sleeves scratch the pants, so you get a lot of gray streaks. Do you have any tips on how to avoid this?
— Pull down your pants and you'll get pink streaks on your legs instead.
That's probably all I had for this time, end this with some well-chosen words! Thanks as hell!
— OK… Stop reading now for the hell of it and go downtown and beat up some senior citizens instead!
