Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli.

“People tend to avoid people in capes. I know that’s not the case here… but look at these people.” —Paul Rudd, Role Models

Indeed, there are few (public) places on earth where capes are not frowned upon. The LARP-friendly park space in Role Models is one of them; another is evidently the V.I.P. beer tent at 2006’s Download Fest in Donington Park, England, ’cause I saw Satyricon’s Frost totally stroll through the morass of international “journalists” like he was ready to leap off a Hong Kong skyscraper.

(I know, the Batman comparison is reaching — Frost is more like the kind of guy who’d sew a cell phone bomb in your gunt.)

Anyway, his band’s 1996 full-length, Nemesis Divina — the latest honoree in our Hall of Fame, which is a lot easier to assemble when there are two people to interview — struts just as confidently in the shaky terrain between orthodoxy and abandon. Of course, superfans will know that there weren’t just two interviews to conduct — resident Darkthrone hiking advocate Nocturno Culto helped out on guitar and very nearly stuck around permanently. That’s just one of many intriguing nuggets surrounding the creation of Nemesis — Satyr discovered that Frost was nearly blind, and the titillating NSFW “Mother North” video was one of Norwegian black metal’s first.

Some (adults) would suggest that this was Satyricon’s last good record. Some (kids) have always found them clownish. Where do you guys stand?

-AB

You can order the January 2011 issue of Decibel here if you wanna read the Hall of Fame entry on Satyricon’s Nemesis Divina. But if you get a full subscription, not only will you never miss a Hall of Fame, but every month you’ll get an exclusive flexi disc of never-before-released music, too.

So br00tal. I’ll bet he makes a killer smoked salmon.

[via Metal Inquisition]

-VN

When one thinks of black metal OGs Darkthrone, most likely, the image of a gangly guy with a candelabra comes to mind, and with it, black metal’s trappings and faults. But, like true originators, the band molded the style they helped create to their liking, moving from the raw mist of tremolo picking on Transylvanian Hunger to the (relatively more) refined old school black metal on 2004’s Sardonic Wrath to the anthemic and (dare I say) kinda fun blackened crust punk of their excellent last two releases, F.O.A.D and Dark Thrones and Black Flags. Despite being an integral part of one of the most important movements in metal’s history 20 years ago, Darkthrone are still putting out some of their best work right now, still raw and confrontational and, most importantly, still not giving a fuck about what people want them to play. Punk rock has always lurked underneath the band’s best material, but its attitude of individuality is what fuels Darkthrone and sets them apart from most of their frosty peers.

Part of the band’s artistic growth could most likely be due to its distillation to its core: Guitarist/vocalist Nocturno Culto and drummer/lyricist/occasional vocalist Fenriz have been the band‘s sole members for quite a while. The latter member has become a celebrity in his own right in the metal world through assembling the occasional compilation (his latest, Trapped Under Vice II, a collection of obscure trad metal and prog, is pretty fucking great) and generally coming across as a funny dude with a broad knowledge of metal by way of entertaining interviews. One of those interviews was recently with MetalSucks via email, where Fenriz discussed his band’s future (new album in February!), his approach to vocal work both in Darkthrone and his long gestating doom metal side project Fenriz’ Red Planet, his thoughts on production, and how “true” black metal was just black metal back when they started.

[Editor's note: English is not Fenriz's first language, but in the hopes of maintaining as much of what he wanted to say the way he wanted to say it, we did very little editing to his e-mail responses. In other words, we sometimes sacrificed proper grammar for the sake of keeping the interview interesting.]

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While Anthrax, Testament, Heaven and Hell and motherfucking Motorhead are among the most anticipated bands that metal pilgrims are converging on western Germany to see, it would appear that my favored people, those crafty Norwegians, also have a few things planned for the mayhem. While Enslaved will be appearing (and hopefully represented on a good stage, because you know they fucking deserve it) some others are teaming up with foreigners in combinations that are hard to ignore.

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