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.
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