interview by: Alisa Z

Hailing from Norway's third biggest city, Trondheim, the quintet Bloodthorn has seen its fair share of turbulence. Musical differences and line-up problems threatened to terminate the band's career; however, they solidified their position within the metal scene after their latest album, Genocide, was released. Far from monotone and lifeless, Genocide allocates Bloodthorn onto the death metal battlefield. We spoke with their bass-player, Harald, during the Wacken Open Air Festival.

Maelstrom: Norway is famous for its black metal scene; death metal isn't as prominent. Do you think that's going to change with time?

Harald: It seems now, maybe, there are more DM bands coming from Norway, but I think the whole scene is changing a bit because there's a lot more bands of every genre. All the bands started playing BM but now there's a lot of bands playing trash metal, death metal... so I think it's changing, but I don't think it's gonna be a boom like the BM thing... it's not gonna happen. The crowds in Norway are more open to DM now than they were ten years ago.

Maelstrom: As far as your musical influences go, do you have any who are outside the metal scene?

Harald: Umm, not really. (Laughs) I don't think we listen to some other stuff other than metal; not so much.

Maelstrom: No ABBA?

Harald: No ABBA. (Laughs) I mostly listen to... basically, I only listen to metal and some other bands, some Pink Floyd and some stuff like this; but as far as the influence on Bloodthorn goes, I think it's strictly from metal music, I would say. That's what we listened to when we were growing up and that's what we listen to still.

Maelstrom: Any examples?

Harald: We were kids who grew up and got into metal in the mid-‘80s and started to listen to trash metal and heavy metal and stuff. Bands like Slayer, obviously, and early Metallica even, Sodom, Autopsy, Death, Morbid Angel... they were early death metal bands. All this, and all death metal and thrash metal from the ‘80s and the early ‘90s.

Maelstrom: Since your band's musical direction changed, do you feel that it is closer to what you want to do? I mean, as musicians do you feel more inspired to play brutal music?

Harald: Yeah, definitely! Because, as I said, we grew up with this kind of music and when I got into [Bloodthorn], they had already released one album. I think that album also was a bit different from what they thought themselves because the demo tape was very rough and very, you know, ugly (laughs), and then the album came out a bit polished with a lot of female vocals that they intended to use for one song or a couple of songs just to add something extra and it kind of... took over. It became everybody talking about Bloodthorn; talking about the female vocals and the keyboards. It's the same with the keyboards, they were just meant to add something extra but they kind of took a leading position in the sound, which wasn't intentional.

Then, for the next album, it was the first time they recorded as a full band and a couple of the members in the band, who were involved in the songwriting, were more into heavy metal and into more atmospheric stuff, and wanted to take the band into a more commercial direction, so the second album, Onwards into Battle, was a bit confusing, maybe. So after this we had to clean up the mess (laughs) in the band and then we got into the stuff we do now, so we definitely feel more comfortable playing that because it's more close to what we do, what we like.

Maelstrom: When you joined the band, who was in the band?

Harald: It was Krell, our singer, and Tom, the original guitar player. They were the two who got the band started. At first, it was only them and they had programed drums on the demo tape. Then, they had several session musicians for the first album — the drummer, the female singer and the keyboard player — they asked them to join after the album was released because they wanted to play live. And then we got another guitar player at the time that I joined the band; who is now playing in Griffin, a heavy metal band from Norway. So, it was the first time as a complete band; when I joined, it was the first full line-up because before that, it was just two guys.

Maelstrom: Why did the change happen?

Harald: The musical change? As I said, the stuff we listen to ourselves is trash metal and death metal mainly. It came to a point after the second album, that it was a bit confusing and the style... there was too much going on. You know, we had to clean up and we just wanted to play harder music. We hadn't sat down and though that "Okay, it's going to be like this and like this"; we just started writing material for the third album and it just turned out the way it did. Once we did that... it was gonna be a big change, we heard it ourselves (laughs). We just started to write the music that we wanted to play and the first song we wrote — it was Tom, the guitarist, and I who wrote it together — we knew then it wouldn't be totally different (laughs).

Maelstrom: But then, why start a band that's completely different in the beginning?

Harald: As I said, when they started the band, it was very raw and very ugly, stripped down, really, for the demo tape. I think it got a bit out of hand, with too many people with different opinions about how it's gonna sound; and maybe, too much democracy so that everybody had their say. But, ofcourse, when we did it we felt it was right but afterwards we just knew that we couldn't continue with that direction. We knew we [weren’t] gonna do this anymore. I said that we didn't have a plan that "Okay the next album is gonna be like this." We kicked out the female singer and the keyboard player and got a guitarist and started writing new songs and it turned out the way it did. I think, for the fans and for everyone else, the change was much bigger than for us. So I understand that it was a drastic change, but for us it was natural.

Maelstrom: Just like it's really hard for fans of Satyricon to accept the new album.

Harald: Yeah! I undesrtand there's a lot of people who didn't like our new stuff because they wanted the doomy, atmospheric stuff but we couldn't continue. It was either quitting or playing something else. (Laughs) And as I said, we didn't have a plan for it, just how it turned out and it came from the heart (laughs), if you can say. It's a stupid thing, but that's what it is.

Maelstrom: Yeah, brutality from the heart.

Harald: (Laughs) Yeah, it was. That's what we wanted to do.

Maelstrom: How do you envision the band in a few years time; where do you hope it will get you?

Harald: We just want to keep on releasing albums and touring, to put a lot of focus on touring and playing gigs, festivals... because, after the last album, there were a lot of problems with the line-up. Tom, the guitarist, left the band, so we almost broke up. We had to find a new guitar player, which took a while, and eventually we also had to part ways with Alex, from Agressor, who played on the last album because the distance... it wasn't possible anymore because we wanted to work harder as a band and rehearse as a full band. There was a lot of stuff that took a lot of time, so for the last five years we hardly played any shows unil this year. We did like two shows or something, after the release of the previous album, in Norway. So that's what we want to do now: tour and play as much as possible.

Maelstrom: Where would you like to go on tour?

Harald: Ah, everywhere. (Laughs) Europe is an especially important market; it's the most important market. So definitely, tour Europe as much as possible. Also, I want to go to the States, South America, Asia...

www.bloodthorn.net