DHG/ Dødheimsgard from Norway has been one of the most creative and genre pushing black metal bands. Alongside Hexvessel, they will be headlining SoundArt Festival 2024 in Quantic Club. This served as a perfect occasion for an in-depth talk about the creative process of the band, their history, but also about other projects. Here’s what main visionary Vicotnik had to say.
What inspires you to create such innovative music?
DHG manages to increase the record of pushing boundaries album after album. Tell us about “Black Medium Current”, your latest album. Where was the point where you felt, OK, this will blow minds again in its own way, like each one of the previous albums?
I was not overly concerned about that, I was just more or less trying to hone in on specific moods that resided within myself. Also, I felt there was some sort of universal facticity to these moods. Something that has been moved down from generation to generation and through thousands of years.
So, instead of having a disproportionate concern about being weird or original, it was of greater importance to me that the content was more akin to a conversion from emotion to thought, then to from thought to method/process and finally into music. Living it was one aspect, creating it another. Whatever fit this narrative was welcome to stay on the record. Rather than being wired, the mood had to be credible and rooted in something both personal and relatable. Joy is relatable, but easy to reproduce, any form of escapism would usually do, but confronting the matter that we commonly seek escapism from is harder to create, credibly convey and find comfort in.
You seem to create in 8 years cycles – must we really wait until 2031 for a new Dødheimsgard album? How does work commence for a new DHG album?
I hope not. I have started making music again, so hopefully I can break the cycle.
I think I will stay within this realm for sort of a trilogy. Not that it would be exactly the same thing between each one of these future records, because I believe pretty much anything can happen within this realm, but that they will be somewhat relatable. I think conceptually as well, there is a lot more to unearth here. So, I don’t want to prematurely leave this path for the sake that I already managed to scratch the surface of it.
It’s obvious who the architect is, but I was also curious about the involvement of the other members in the creation of “Black Medium Current”.
The biggest contributor besides myself was L. Måløy, who made the piano tracks in collaboration with me. My impact of them outside lyrically and vocally, is that I had specific pieces in mind that I tried to convey to L. Måløy using prescriptive language and sending audio examples of where I wanted to go. Then, he had the daunting task of piecing it together.
All other songs are mine, I made pre-productions of them and moved them on to the others involved. When in the rehearsal environment everyone was welcome to suggest adding or subtracting to the equation, and thus everyone came chipped in with input and added layers that hopefully and most probably benefited the final outcome.
Listen to Abyss Perihelion Transit: https://youtu.be/GDNEFXIJbDI?si=9fmL4Csly0L07X5n
We know Doedsmaghird will debut this year via Peaceville. Could you describe the project for those who missed out on the Dark Side of the Sacred Star compilation? I know it mentioned this being connected to sounds of ‘90s DHG, especially “Satanic Art”.
I guess a bit of a hybridization between satanic art and 666, but saying things like this can make people`s anticipation ascribe to wrong ideas. For I am not saying these albums will be like either albums, but I am rather saying or asking, which was the whole idea really, if the Doedsmaghird album could potentially make sense as a release between the other two.
It always starts with thinking right, so the whole idea was to make a concept from the vacuum that exists in between satanic art and 666 international. If there was an imaginary timeline where there was a way to bridge the two. Then, I had to develop the methodology for it, sort of recreate the conditions of the time and frame of mind. I knew if I made the content the same way I make music today, extensively rehearsed and booked an expensive studio, I would fail to capture the essence. But all this should really just matter to me, I think anyone that listens to it should listen to it from their own frame of mind.
The album is done, just have to get the practical details out of the way.
Since we are on the subject, I wanted to ask you about what caused such a shift in sound between “Satanic Art” and “666 International”. I’ve read some articles saying Norway’s black metal scene got infected by the “Matrix virus”. Care to share your thoughts on this?
I think for one, I had already made most of the music for sat art and 666 international years ago. On a riff level, things were already several years old, so this paved the way to sit down and think about the presentation. Another aspect was that we were really getting into all sorts of music, and a lot of these music had a specific culture attached to them. Like clubs, bars, drugs, crime, people, different environments, concepts, beliefs, tropes, dress code etc etc. Visiting all these different environments leaves assets within you that you can choose to or choose not to utilize.
Third aspect is technology, I think that even if digital recordings were in its infancy, it still created a lot of opportunities that would be too strenuous or expensive to imagine just a few years prior.
So, these are a few aspects, I am sure there are tons more, but I will leave you with one last one. The Norwegian scene itself. There was just so much going on and so many ideas floating around here in Norway at the time, that we all, in the pretty close-knit scene, did stuff that rubbed off on each other, not least at a competitive level.
I want to go back to “A Umbra Omega”. I always wanted to ask you about how a song like “Aphelion Void” is created. It’s so complex and overwhelming yet flows so naturally. Since I heard it the first time, I thought this is the modern equivalent of “Echoes”.
A Umbra Omega was a process of piecing things together. All these songs had very different forms at different times. I think the first amalgamation of what was to become A Umbra, was very like Supervillain 2. As years went by, they started adapting to where I was in life I guess. A product that yields from the disconnect between the past and the present, and still part of the same overall narrative. At some point, I was also pretty sure A Umbra would be my last record, so in a way I tried to make sure I really said it all up to that point. That I brushed in on every past rendition of my music and fused with new ideas and placed it all into sort of a meta-verse where it all could co`exist void of time.
Listen to “Aphelion Void”: https://youtu.be/QJrI07bNfnc?si=du1onVTM7zkT-JvS
Sticking with “A Umbra Omega”, could you tell us about the artwork? I promise I will stop here, but it reminded me of Hipgnosis.
Its hard to remember every aspect that goes into something, but it definitely ties into what I answered above. The black and white aspects of the cover are aspects of the past, the colorful pyramid is the new essence poured upon the past, and the coexist in this realm as a simultaneous timeline. All at once.
Can we expect a follow-up for Dold Vorde Ens Navn?
Haavard is currently writing new music, and I am brushing up on ideas conceptually/lyrically.
I am trying to find tragic stories around the Oslo area as inspiration and to draw these stories around different overarching narratives. Like the way you lose your life and what brought you there. Not in a practical sense, but more deterministically. What mechanisms drew you to your fate and what concepts triggered these mechanisms.
This is not your first time in Romania, but your first in Bucharest. Any memories from your previous visit here?
I always love coming to Romania. The hospitality and warmth of the Romanians I have met has left a mark. Cannot wait to come back. On a more practical level, I stayed for a few days on my previous visits, so I got to go on long hikes, visit restaurants, see some sites etc etc, and not only be stuck at the festival area. Which is always a great bonus.
Any message you’d like to send to fans coming to see you at SoundArt Festival 2024?
One of the loudest audiences in Europe in my experience, (Hungary being another example ;), hope you guys and gals coming to the festival can keep my impression alive. Gonna be a blast.
DHG FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/DODHEIMSGARD/
Listen to “Black Medium Current”: https://peaceville.bandcamp.com/album/black-medium-current
FB page: https://www.facebook.com/soundartfestival
Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1737923913391024/
Tickets: https://www.iabilet.ro/bilete-soundart-festival-2024-92470/
The interview was made by Octav Medis, one of SoundArt Festival’s promoters.
