Interview with Dark Funeral's Lord Ahriman

R13: You're just in the middle of writing an album, aren't you? How's it going?
LA: No, we've just completed the recording of the album.
R13: Ah, right, how did it go then?
LA: It went very well.
R13: Are you pleased with the results?
LA: Oh yeah, for sure. It's our strongest album to date and it's a big improvement from our previous album.

R13: What sort of sound were you aiming for this time?
LA: Well, we were talking before we went into the studio about which direction we wanted to go, and before we came to the studio we thought maybe we should slow down a little bit. We've done so many fast albums we thought maybe it's time to do a little bit slower - still not slow, just a little bit slower record - but it just did work, that's not our thing, it's against our nature. So, we eventually ended up doing our fastest record to date.
R13: That's quite an achievement, given that the rest of your stuff is pretty fast.
LA: Well, it was a big step from the previous album to this one in fastness. This one's very fast, and it's like the people, the magazines that I've talked to so far say they like it, they meant that they've heard other bands play as fast as machine guns but this album is really machine gunner in the drums department.

R13: How do you, and Dark Funeral, approach writing songs? Is a team effort, or does each member contribute separately?
LA: I would that I'm basically in charge of the song writing. Still, I have a lot of input, lots of feedback and ideas from the other guys, but for 90 per cent, I write the music. But we work on arrangements, if someone has a riff that fits somewhere, of course we'll throw it in otherwise basically I've been taking care of that.

R13: And what sort of topics have you been dealing wit for this particular album? Is it similar to the previous albums or is it off on a different track?
LA: Do you mean lyrically?
R13: Yeah.
LA: Now, Caligula's the one who writes the lyrics. I don't want to go in depth because I'm not responsible for them but they're based on our anti-Christian points of view. But still I think that Caligula went deeper into himself and they're more personal - I think some of the lyrics were basically saying how he felt during the last couple of years. We've been through so much shit - but that's another story - it's been a big fucking mess though.
R13: Yeah, you've left a lot of labels, and it's really been quite chaotic.
LA: Yeah, and we are in major legal disputes, and it's so frustrating to never get a handle on all that bullshit. But I know that Caligula wrote this one song that shows how he felt over the past couple of years, so they're way more personal. It's the same with the music, everything is more personal. Yeah, as I said it's been very frustrating over the past couple of years so obviously I had a lot of hate coming out of myself - I think that very much comes out when you're listening to the music that I haven't kind of been a happy guy during the past couple of years.

R13: I can understand that, would you say you've thrashed it out of you by playing very fast music?
LA: Do you mean getting out all the bullshit that I've got within myself?
R13: Yeah.
LA: Yeah, but it's not only the shit. If you listen to the new record, it's without a doubt the most aggressive record so far, and I just put my feelings and emotions into the music. I didn't know I had so much anger within myself until we begin writing for real for this record

R13: And do you find, at the end of it all, that you're more at peace with yourself?
LA: Oh yeah, it's like getting a rock off my shoulder, I was like 'shit man, that was fucking nice'. And it was like, I saw someone the other day and I said "I hope our former label put on this fucking record, and all this fucking hatred is there in their face."
R13: And as you're music is quite dark anyway, it suits it you could say.
LA: Oh yeah, yeah.

R13: Fantastic. Moving on a bit, as a founding member of Dark Funeral, do you think the band has gone in the direction you and Blackmoon had originally planned?
LA: Ah, no because one of the things was that we grow apart from each other. We wanted to go in different directions I guess, but I guess if you were with the band at the time the changes, musically, in the band you will see that we were going in this direction. Still, I can't imagine that we would go this far. The last song that we wrote, that felt like the direction that I want to develop and go further on. That was 'When Angels Forever Die', so if you listen to that song, it will make more sense than perhaps to you that we ended up in this direction.

R13: And legal disputes haven't been the only thing that's been chaotic, either, you've had quite a few band members come and go. How does it affect the music that you write? - does it have quite a negative effect or do you thrive off it?
LA: No, because I've been mainly responsible for music over the last ten years, it's never been something that's affected the band whatsoever. But, of course, we haven't really, the members that have been in and out of the band, there have never been any major disagreements. I'm still friends with many of the guys, I still have a lot of contact with Dominion, but it was just that they felt like coming to this level, being on tour as much as we are, that [it] wasn't really their cup of tea, so to speak, maybe it's not right for us to continue on this level. I mean, I totally understand because I've talked to them about it and I've total respect for their decision.
R13: It's better to have band members take decisions like that, rather than stay on.
LA: Quite so, I mean the people you worked with, everybody's gotta have the same spirit for what you do otherwise it won't work. It's like Dominion told me "I don't want to hold you guys back, and it's better that you find someone that will completely dedicate themselves to the band because I can only give 90 percent, and I know you deserve someone who can dedicate themselves 200 percent. So, that's obviously how it works. I mean I miss some of the guys, but life moves on and you've gotta do what you've gotta do.
R13: It's all about the music, I suppose.
LA: Yeah, and it's like I've got to follow my own demons and nothing can stop me.

R13: Well, that's good to hear. You've also toured quite extensively so I guess it's quite a punishing schedule, and you've got quite a punishing schedule. Is it something the band absolutely love to do?
LA: Oh yeah, this is our life over the years. You know, it's kind of weird to say this, but you're home and you just fucking feel like 'I've got to get out there, I can't sit down there, I can't just sit here and rest - I've fucking need to do music, I need to get out there.' And when we're on tour, we're like 'Godamnit! I want to fucking go home, and relax.' I suppose not really like that, but you do come to those points, but then this is our passion it's just something we've gotta do. I don't know what else I would do, this is my life. - the music is my life and I'm tireless.

R13: You've gone to Japan and a lot of bands go to Japan, but you've also been to other places in the Far East such as Taiwan and Singapore. What was your experience of playing out there?
LA: Very different from here, but it's still very cool. There's plans to go back there, but it's very hard to [adjust] - for example, when you're in Japan, it's like being on another planet, it doesn't feel like you're on planet Earth. So it's a really weird feeling to walk downtown there.

R13: And how did the crowds receive you? Were you positively received?
LA: Oh yeah, the response has been very good. It's still very difficult to be invited to play in Japan, and we've been there twice today already, for one album and I can't think of another band that's been there twice for the same album. So that's pretty cool I think. But I would say that black metal is still a pretty small music style over there. I would say they're more into guitar based solos, more regular heavy metal. But then they have another scene, which maybe we come close to because it seems the noisecore scene is very big - I can't really figure out that kind of music. I heard a few bands whilst I was there, and I was like 'what's this? This is pure fucking noise'.
But, I mean, that's all cool with me. It was an interesting experience to learn more about that music style. So the new album, it's more extreme, faster, maybe that will attract them more over there. I don't know, but we'll see.

R13: Do you think you'll be writing music for many years to come?
LA: Yeah, I can see myself writing; maybe I stop writing for albums and write for myself one day. But I can't see myself stop writing.
R13: Because this isn't the only project that you have either, do you eventually want to create a few projects to work on?
LA: I've been asked to start a lot of new projects, and I did one in 2001 called Wolfrone Society, and actually I was talking to the guys today, was saying "now that the new Dark Funeral one's out, so let's get [moving] with getting a new full length Wolfrone Society one down too. We'll see when there's time for it, but I'm going to start writing more for that project as soon as time allows - I'll see what the other guys have for ideas, and it's going to be a group effort, it's not just going to be me who'll write the music. Everybody will participate in the songwriting.

R13: So it's going to be very different from Dark Funeral, then?
LA: Of course, because that's the whole point. It wouldn't really make sense for me to do a side project similar to Dark Funeral. I do it for the experience, and working with some other cool guys, interesting guys, and with dedication to their music. And of course it's going to be different from Funeral.

R13: And, finally, just to round it off, what next for Dark Funeral?
LA: Next, I guess, is touring.
R13: And have you got a worldwide tour planned?
LA: You know, the first thing we'd like to do is hit Europe, but we're not with any booking agencies for Europe. So we're discussing with several booking agencies right no, and there's lots of interest but we feel that when we tour Europe we want to do a very good tour, a very organised tour. That's why we're taking it slowly, but we're trying to book dates for [it] as soon as possible. We've already got offers for USA and South America and Asia, and it's kind of weird that those territories have been before European agencies in terms of offers. So yeah, we really want to tour Europe before we go elsewhere in the world, but I wouldn't be surprised if we're not touring Europe before anywhere else.
R13: It's a shame because you're based very much in Europe.
LA: It's a very weird situation for us because the interest in USA, South America, and Asia seems to be much bigger than in Europe.
R13: It's a shame, but I hope you get some luck with it soon.
LA: Oh yeah, but I'm talking - we're all talking - to agencies just now. We'll see - there are some options it's just we want to make sure that the tour is professionally arranged because we're not doing another fucking bullshit tour where we eventually have to cancel because everything is fucked up. It's ridiculous. But, we're working on it, and I hope early 2006 we can Europe, that would be just killer.

R13: Well, good luck for the future then. Anyway, thanks a lot for your time, those are all the questions I've got and it's been a pleasure.
LA: Me too, and thanks for your interest.