Illinois Entertainer February 2018 | Page 34

THE HEAR AND NOW MORE ANVIL! By Kelley Simms Photo by Rudy DeDoncker Wantain's Erik Danielsson ing for The Wild Hunt, which lasted nearly three years. But (we) have also been work- ing on other things on the side of Watain during this time. Pelle has been building a lot of weapons, some of them you can see in the “Nuclear Alchemy” video. Me and Håkan have been doing quite a lot of graphic art on the side and got deeply into that for some time. Then it was time to gather the ideas together and start sum- moning the darkness again. This turbulent and mystical process began in early 2016, and we completed it a bit more than a year later. Mosh: What does the album title mean or reference? Erik: The Trident, the Wolf, and the Eclipse are - and have been for many years now - the three core symbols of the band. Putting them as words in a title simply made for a very effective summary of not only the album but Watain itself and how we define our struggle, ourselves and our work. The title should be seen as three separate words and is meant to motivate contemplation on these three powerful symbols. S wedish black metal vets Watain start- ed 2018 with a new album, their sixth full-length recording Trident Wolf Eclipse (Century Media Records). Five years after the release of the polarizing album, The Wild Hunt, Watain has returned to its roots with the same vicious sound the band displayed on its first three, now-classic albums. Frontman Erik Danielsson, drummer Håkan Jonsson, and guitarist Pelle Forsberg are ready to bring their spectacle to the States for the first time in three years. Watain’s live shows are notorious for their gory, ritualistic atmosphere. Mosh: It’s been five years since The Wild Hunt was released. Why did it take you so long to record and release Trident Wolf Eclipse?? Erik: We were occupied with many other things, partly related to the massive tour- 34 illinoisentertainer.com february 2018 Mosh: The album's press release mentions that Trident Wolf Eclipse is not about the past or the future, it is about the here and now. What does that imply? Erik: Well this is just to put emphasis on the fact that this album was not written in consideration of anything that was or any- thing that is to come, but it is a pure and honest expression of exactly what Watain is now, in this day and age. Many bands who are releasing their sixth album tend to think too much about what is expected of them, and those expectations are gener- ally related to what has been done before. But Trident Wolf Eclipse is not such an album, it is an album of acuteness and urgency taking place at this very moment. Mosh: The production is gritty and punchy with a mix of the old-school Watain sound, yet with modern produc- tion values. Is this what you were trying to achieve? Erik: We were striving for something that would underline the savage and predato- ry intention of the work, something that elevated it into an onslaught of infernal black metal ecstasy. Our references, pro- duction-wise, were mostly stuff from the late ’80s and early ’90s when people had still not learned how to make things sound nice and polished. A lot of pro- found things happened by accident or mistake then, which is something I always try to keep in mind when working on any- thing creative. Mosh: “Nuclear Alchemy” explodes right out of the gate. Was this the clear-cut choice for the opener? How was shooting the video? Erik: We have a tradition in Watain of let- ting the first single for each album be a bit of a hammer blow in the face. It’s our way of saying, “Hello, we are back now.” So yeah, “Nuclear…” was quite a simple choice, although there are other songs on the album that could have served that purpose as well. It’s never easy to pick a single, but once the album is out, it does- n’t really matter either. Recording the video was pretty much like how the video turned out - a poisonous whirlwind of fire, black smoke, burning flesh and sav- age black metal chaos. Continued page 43 46 Continued on on page