This interview took place on the day of the bands first Oklahoma City appearance, fittingly on Halloween night.

METAL HELL: How long have you been compiling material for the new DVD?

LORD AHRIMAN: We’ve been shooting on & off for the last 5 years & then we got to put together the best of the shows. We put 3 of them on this first DVD.

MH: It was cool to see the cover of “Equimanthorn” (Bathory) on the bonus footage.

LA: Yeah, we used to do some covers back in the day so I thought that would probably be cool for the fans to see.

MH: Has the set list changed from what we see on the DVD?

LA: Yes, there are some songs that I guess we’ll always stick in the set list, but for this tour we changed it & put in a couple of songs that we haven’t played before.

MH: How much of the next album is written?

LA: Not much, but the plan is that we’re gonna finish off the touring we have scheduled at the moment, I think we’re gonna be done on November 26th. After that we’re gonna have a short break & then I’m gonna start writing for a new album, & I guess depending on what  (happens) the plan is to keep a low profile during the next year & focus on a new album.

MH: Would you like to go for a more raw sound?

LA: I’ve got some ideas as far as (the) production goes, to give it a very powerful sound but maybe a bit rawer, so I’ve got some studio things that I wanna try out. I’m looking forward to see how it’s gonna sound. Musically I really can’t tell. I never plan that kind of thing. What-ever comes-comes out, so we’ll see.

MH: Did you have much involvement with the re-issues?

LA: Yeah, pretty much, I’m the only guy who still has stuff that’s unreleased, so I thought all that part out.

MH: Why wasn’t the original 1994 EP released with those?

LA: We don’t have the rights for it, & also that had been re-issued under various names, without our approval. I wanna make clear that all of those re-issues of In The Sign are not approved by us. I think it’s all about ripping the fans off, making different color(s) on the booklets & stuff like that, & I’ve told them about it; that I’m not too happy about it.

MH: Would you ever like to re-record any stuff like “In The Sign Of The Hordes”?

LA: We actually have re-recorded “Open The Gates”, it’s on the 1994 mini-CD (originally), when we recorded the last album we made the re-recording of it, which we released on the Japanese version.

MH: Anything special planned for the show tonight, since it’s Halloween?

LA: As I was joking earlier, for us it’s like Halloween every night on tour, so we’re just gonna do what we do I guess.

MH: What’s your favorite Bathory album?

LA: Under The Sign Of The Black Mark.

MH: Did you like the Hammerheart era?

LA: No. When it became too (much about) Viking (stuff), I lost interest.

MH: It seems anti-christian things are more accepted now than the past. Do you think people are thinking more for themselves now?

LA: I guess so, but I think people don’t really need religion anymore. It’s belongs to the ancient times. It’s not like a 2000th century kind of thing. I think humans have progressed in the world a little bit, but there’s still a lot of religious excrements that seems to get more extreme by time, which is of course a worrying sign. It’s all about hypocrisy.  Religion is nothing but a hoax, so I guess the stories are finally getting out. Before I guess they managed to keep it behind locked doors, but now the press have really got to it so they’re exposing what’s really going on, that’s it’s a big fraud; it’s really good that people realize that it’s just a big fraud.

 “The Idea Was To Go A Bit Slower, But I Guess You Know What Happened.”

MH: What’s your normal practicing routine on guitar?

LA: I just keep on playing various things to keep in shape. I always try to develop the way I write riffs. I feel like for each record I take another step, in songwriting, the way I write the riffs & stuff like that.

MH: How did you develop your style?

LA: That’s all from practicing by myself on my own stuff. I guess I made up my own scales, & I just keep practicing it.

MH: I noticed the live sets are usually around 70 minutes, why not longer?

LA: In 2 hours I think both us, & the crowd would get bored, so it’s better to keep it instant & as quick as possible. I think the set we are doing now is around- under 80 minutes & I think that that’s enough with our kind of music. It all depends on what kind of music you play, cause we are mainly doing the faster stuff live. I think the audience would just get bored if we kept on (playing for) another 20 minutes.

MH: Would you like to write some slower stuff?

LA: We’ll see, it’s just like for the last time when were writing & recording the last album the idea was to actually go a bit slower, but I guess you know what happened. So even if we plan some stuff, how we want the next album to sound, it never goes that way, so that’s why I usually say whatever comes out comes out. To plan things doesn’t work really.

MH: Any future plans for Wolfen Society?

LA: Yes, we’re still in touch & we’ll see, but I’m pretty busy with Dark Funeral so there’s no time for me to think about the other stuff at this point.

MH: Would you like to concentrate more on the US market with the next album?

LA: Maybe, it all depends on what’s gonna happen after this (tour), but it seems like the interest is growing much over here. We’ll see what lies ahead in the future.

MH: Anything else?

LA:  Well, if you wanna check out the DVD check it out & just stay tuned for other news on this album.

* See Metal Hell #21 for an in depth report with tons of photos.

*Check out the Halloween show review in OKC.