Chatting with the Guitarist of INSIDIOUS DISEASE / DIMMU BORGIR

Written by: Tom Wilson – Sense Music Media

Featuring members of DIMMU BORGIR, NAPALM DEATH, SUSPERIA and DEVIL’S HIGHWAY, INSIDIOUS DISEASE is a chunky concoction of meat-and-potatoes death metal – a loving tribute to old-school darkness, made by artists with decades of experience. Speaking of decades, it has taken the band ten full years to follow-up their 2010 debut, Shadowcast. Better late than never. Sven – AKA Silenoz – spoke to us from the Norwegian countryside.

How would you describe the stuff you’ve been writing this year, with lockdown and everything? Have you noticed anything different about your output?

It’s hard to say. I think what I’ve been working on sounds very varied, and obviously I need to differentiate what goes into the DIMMU pot and what goes into the INSIDIOUS pot, which is fairly easy to determine. I guess it’s more aggressive stuff! [Laughs] More despair!

What have you been doing to look after your mental health this year?

I’ve been doing meditation for quite some years now – not every day, but the body pretty much tells me when I need to take some time out, you know? So that’s very helpful. And just being creative and working on music and lyrical ideas, and just writing stuff, tends to be very good, you know? It keeps me on my toes. It’s very important in challenging times like this to keep your head as straight as you can … Still be open-minded, of course, but it’s important to not fall too far down the rabbit hole!

Do you have a family, or are you living by yourself?

I have an eight-year-old son now. My girlfriend still lives in the U.K., so that has been challenging, to not be able to travel when you want. I’m not the type of person that likes to be told what to do, and when to do stuff. [Laughs] We try to cope with the situation as good as possible, and try to find solutions. What’s really not the way to go is to sit down and be negative about it. Obviously, you will have setbacks, but it’s important to find ways to work around the challenges, you know? See opportunities, instead of sitting back and complaining all the time – that is not going to get you anywhere.

What does your son think of your music?

He’s not too interested yet, if he ever will be. We were scheduled to play a huge festival here in Norway this summer, and he wanted to come to that. That’s moved to next year, so hopefully he’ll come with me for that. He’s more interested in watching gamers on Youtube and stuff like that, you know? [Laughs] The hardest music he’s been listening to so far is NIGHTWISH and stuff like that. He hasn’t dabbled too much in his father’s music yet.

INSIDIOUS has a chunkier, less-technical approach to metal. To what extent would you agree with that?

Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think that the main idea behind INSIDIOUS stems from the band I had before I started DIMMU, and that was more death metal/extreme metal-based, so in 2004, that’s when I picked up that again.

 How did you first start working with Shane Embury?

Well, I’ve known Shane for many, many years. When we were putting INSIDIOUS together, I already had him in mind, because he’s experienced when it comes to both touring and being in the studio environment, plus being a top bloke, you know? That goes hand-in-hand with the idea behind this band, which is to have fun and kick back and play brutal music together, and that goes for the other guys in the band as well. And that’s what we’ve been doing, even though it took ten years to have a second album finished. It’s actually been ready for quite some time, and it’s been delayed a few times. This situation we’re facing at the moment, things got even more delayed, but it feels good to finally have it out now.

I feel like I have been orbiting around Shane Embury all year. One of my first features was Kevin Sharp of VENOMOUS CONCEPT, and then recently did Barney Greenway of NAPALM DEATH, so this is now the third so far this year!

[Laughs] He’s a busy guy, you know? I think, some of us, we need to have this creative outlet in one way or another. This is just our way of coping with the times, I guess. It’s a very positive thing, because it’s easy for artists – whether you’re a musician or an actor/actress or whatever – to turn to self-destructive ways when things like this hit you in the face, so I’m really grateful for having the opportunity to actually fulfil some of my creative things. That’s very important.

What are some of your favourite bands to watch live, and why?

I would say, since JUDAS PRIEST is probably my all-time favourite heavy metal band, that’s going to be my first pick. I love watching IRON MAIDEN play. All those big, old bands, I guess you could say. When we did Ozzfest in 2004, we were playing the Main Stage together with SLAYER, BLACK SABBATH and JUDAS PRIEST, so to do that for thirty-three shows in a row, and be able to watch them from the side of the stage … that’s the dream come true right there.

You lucky bastard.

Yeah! [Laughs]

[Of the people you’ve met], who surprised you? And who were exactly who you thought they were going to be?

I would say Ronnie James Dio. I met him twice, within nineteen or twenty months, I think it was. The first time was in Texas, and I stood in line after the show to get some of my albums signed … I got to shake hands and exchange a few words. Then, like, twenty months later, when he played in Oslo here in Norway, I did the same. I took some other albums I hadn’t got signed yet and waited for him to come out after the show. There were several other people waiting there, and he always signed for everybody. It didn’t matter if you had one or twenty albums with you. When it came to my turn, he looks up to me and goes, “Oh, Sven, right?” And I’m like, how the hell did he remember my name? Apparently, I’ve heard from various sources that that’s how he was. He was really good at remembering names and faces and stuff … He was great onstage, and he made great music, so he’s probably my main hero, I guess you could say.

 The INSIDIOUS DISEASE record has some great artwork by Dan Seagrave. How did he come to work with you guys on this?

Well, it’s really a dream come true to have Dan do the artwork for our music. When we listened to the old death metal albums from the late-80s/early-90s, he was doing quite a lot of them, you know? That alone was an inspiring thing, you know? To sit there with the albums and look through the artwork and all that stuff – it was totally escapism, you know? So to have him finally do our artwork was great. We met him at the Inferno Festival in Norway a few years ago. That’s when we really hooked up and agreed to work on the artwork for this album together, and yeah, I feel like he totally nailed it. [It’s] really dark, and we wanted to have earthly colours to go with what we feel is an earthly sound on the album. We wanted to have an organic type of sound, so I think this goes hand-in-hand with that.

You’re known primarily for your work in black metal. What do you love the most about the genre?

I think it was in the early 90s when things started to happen. It was like this invincible, otherworldly, atmospheric feeling that you couldn’t really put words to. Being in your mid-teens, and you’re rebellious by default, so when this thing came around, it wasn’t hard to get inspired, to put it that way. I think that’s the main feeling, and that’s the same feeling to this day. The main purpose for a band like DIMMU is to create atmosphere, be it dark or epic or whatever you want. For us, I think we look at it as some kind of release – like a cathartic type of thing … It’s like a purge. Every time we get into the studio and finalise an album and release it … When you’re able to tour that all over the world for various types of people, with various backgrounds, and they are all getting into the same groove as you when you’re on stage, and you see that energy flow going back and forward, that’s the cream of the cake, for me personally. That’s where you really harvest the crops of your blood, sweat and tears.

If someone was going to make a movie about your life, what would be on the soundtrack?

I would say something from the Enthrone Darkness Triumphant album, our third DIMMU album, because that was sort of the breakthrough thing, where we really found ourselves, although the two previous albums [both] have some charm to them as well. I would say that Enthrone Darkness Triumphant is an epitome [of our sound], same with Death Cult Armageddon, and the new one, Eonian, which came out in 2018. All those three albums have links to each other, albeit camouflaged, I guess you could say. Also, the new INSIDIOUS album too, which I’m really, really satisfied with. It’s been long in the making, but it has, from my point of view, a good variation. I’m really proud of that stuff.

Settle this for me: which is more metal – hair, or no hair?

Well, I still have both, but my hair is in my beard right now. [Laughs] I don’t miss my hair at all, to be honest. My only regret was to not do it sooner. For me, every metalhead or rocker had long hair – it just came with it. It wasn’t something that you thought about much – it was just the unwritten rule, so to speak!

Where is DIMMU at these days? Are you working on some new material?

Yeah, we do. We started the writing process a little while ago, and since we weren’t able to do any live shows this year, we figured, well, we better spend the time, as much as we can, on new stuff. We usually don’t write when we’re on tour, and when we come home from tour we have some time out before we go back out again, so not much writing is being done during those periods of time. So now, we’re like, “Well, let’s start the process.” And already we have quite a lot of material. The challenge is never to come up with enough material – it’s to get rid of the fat that doesn’t need to be on there. It’s a great process. After so many years, we all know each other really well, so we try and extract the strengths of each person, instead of focusing on what we’re not good at. I’m looking forward to continuing it. We have sessions a couple of times a week … We don’t have a formula on how to do things. We just chip in, every one of us, and put it into the pot and stir, and either we agree on what comes out, and we use it, or we don’t agree, and it’s not being used. [Laughs] It’s pretty simple!

After Death is OUT NOW on Nuclear Blast

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