Danish black metal band Denial of God have been crafting horror-inspired nightmares for 21 years. Their latest album, ‘Death and the Beyond’, is a cold mortuary slab of dark art; one which is sure to appeal to fans of traditional 80s and early 90s black metal. It is essential to state, however, that this band defies any simple genre classification. As their courteous guitarist Azter elaborates, Denial of God – whilst proud to acknowledge its core influences – is a distinct entity, pursuing its own path: in life, death, the beyond, and wherever else their excellent new album may take them…
AN: First of all, may I just thank you for brightening up my life with your latest moribund creation!
Azter: I thank you for the kind introduction and must conclude that darkness is actually light.
AN: One of the most impressive aspects to ‘Death and the Beyond’ is the diverse range to the music. Are the influences I cited in my review – Trelldom, Misfits, Marduk, Ophthalamia – valid comparisons? Having read other interviews, I know for sure that Death SS are a prime influence, but which other bands would you consider as the most influential for Denial of God?
Azter: We always wanted Denial Of God to have very dynamic songs with lots of variation and different moods, and I think with the album we have achieved this goal the best so far. After 20+ years in existence I am very little fond of comparisons because I believe we have carved our own niche and have something that is definitely our own. As for the bands you mention, I don’t think a comparison is very valid. I know all bands, like some of them, but none of these bands were ever an influence for our songwriting nor an inspiration for us. I believe that the bands that you listen to early on are the ones that shape your musical core and besides Death SS that you so rightfully mention, we were very inspired by (but never trying to copy) bands like Venom, Mayhem, Bathory, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Alice Cooper, Mercyful Fate, King Diamond, Black Sabbath, Infernäl Mäjesty, Paul Chain Violet Theatre and so on. These are probably the names that were most important to us, but of course we listened to many more bands and artists that might have influenced us as well. And for example Iron Maiden is a huge source of inspiration for Galheim.
AN: It seems that the horror genre has as much of a bearing on the band’s work as underground music. How do you feel this sets DoG apart from other bands, and which writers/filmmakers might you say have had an influence on the aesthetic approach of the band?
Azter: This is true and first of all it sets us apart from other bands visually and of course lyrically as well. At the moment it seems a lot of bands are openly expressing their love for the horror genre and this is of course well deserved as horror has long been a source of inspiration for many bands, even if sometimes just for a few songs. But we have been praising and delivering horror for 21 years now. As for the aesthetic approach, it is very hard to say what influenced or inspired us the most but besides the maybe obvious bands like Mayhem and Death SS, I think we try to take a certain feel from old Hammer movies as well as the darker zombie and undead movies even if I would not say we look like anything taken out of these movies. But, I think with the new album the aesthetics have become more gothic and ghastly. Slightly more noble while retaining the very “necro” look.
AN: How important is cover art for DoG? Looking through past releases, there has been some striking imagery over the years…
Azter: The cover art is always extremely important to us because we like to deliver the “complete package” with music, lyrics and art that sums up the atmosphere and themes of the songs we release. This is something that was always important to us and this is also how we liked to see the records that we were inspired by, like a total experience, musically, lyrically and visually. Our cover artworks have been quite diverse over the years but I feel that we always used images that summed up the content of the records really well.
AN: Although prolific with EPs throughout your career, why have there been so few albums up to this point? Do you intend to become more prolific with full-lengths after ‘Death and the Beyond’?
Azter: In the beginning there were only offers for EP releases and then with “Klabautermanden” we felt that we were going to do another EP since these songs would not be album material. Not inferior but simply not for an album. When it came to “The Horrors of Satan” the main reason was that we were without a drummer to record the album for about 4 years. After this album we had some new songs ready but again felt that we wanted to do some EP releases (like our first and so far only split EP with Abysmal Grief) because the songs were not going to be album material. Basically you could say that we used half an album’s material for these EPs. As for the future, I definitely would like to see more full albums and hope we will be a bit more prolific regarding this. I have started to write some new songs now and only time will tell if these will appear on an album or if we are gonna do something different before the third one.
AN: For those unfamiliar with your previous releases, how does ‘Death and the Beyond’ differ with regard to songwriting, playing and recording?
Azter: I think the album is very much a natural continuation of our previous songwriting, so it is hard for me to talk about differences as such. But, in my opinion the album is much more gloomy than anything we have done before, the songs have overall better arrangements with a lot of sense for details and the production is the heaviest we have had to date. And it is without doubt the recording with which we have worked the hardest and put the most of emotion into yet. And you can hear on this album that the same line-up has been together for 7 years now. To me personally it is an improvement in every aspect.
AN: Which other DoG releases would you identify as essential to newcomers, and why?
Azter: I would probably recommend ”The Horrors of Satan” and the EPs released between that one and “Death and the Beyond”, simply because I think these are our best songs and recordings and because I think they represent us very well.
AN: Forgive me for going off on a slight tangent here, but do you consider that coming from Denmark rather than Norway or Sweden has had an effect on DoG’s international exposure? If so, do you see this as a positive or negative point?
Azter: I think this definitely had an effect on our exposure, especially early on. It is negative on one hand because we may have been ignored by some for this reason alone. On the other hand, if we had only had a certain amount of exposure because of coming from the “right” country, I think it would be sad as well. We wanna be acknowledged for our musical work and nothing else and if this means less fame and fortune, so be it.
AN: What were the motivating factors to sign with Hells Headbangers for the release of ‘Death and the Beyond’, and how is the relationship going?
Azter: I have long been in touch with Hells Headbangers due to my label Horror Records doing a lot of business with Hells Headbangers, and when I learned that the guys were into Denial Of God, I asked them if they would be interested in releasing the next Denial Of God album, even if we had at some point strongly doubted that we would ever sign with a label again, due to very bad past experiences with other labels. I was already aware of the good distribution and reputation that the label has which is of course important, so this was certainly a motivation to sign with them. Anyway, the label was interested and I told them everything about the new album, how we wanted everything to be released, where we wanted to record and so forth. We easily came to a conclusion and signed a deal which in my opinion is very fair for both parts and leaves us with a lot of freedom. It is still very early in our cooperation, but so far I can only say positive things about Hells Headbangers. The album was released when we wanted it and how we wanted it and already very early on in the promotional campaign I could feel that they are doing a very good promotional work for us. I think I can now almost say that they have already done more for us than any label in the past, so I am very happy to be working with them!
AN: Are you optimistic that ‘Death and the Beyond’ will raise the band’s level of exposure, or is that an irrelevant question?
Azter: That is certainly not irrelevant although we would never ever make any artistic compromise to achieve more exposure. But, with the label doing the great work they do and the feedback we have received so far with the new album, I am quite confident that the album is already now raising our level of exposure which I of course welcome with open arms. After all, we are doing our thing for 21 years now.
AN: Are there any other projects from the members of DoG which the uninitiated should look out for – musical or otherwise?
Azter: Galheim is active with a couple of bands – BONE and a King Diamond/Mercyful Fate tribute band called Mercyful Diamond. And Ustumallagam is as always doing his Tornado Magazine. Neither I nor Ustumallagam are doing anything musically besides Denial Of God except occasional lyrical or musical contributions to a few albums of brethren bands.
AN: I imagine that the chilling vibe of DoG’s sophisticated black metal translates incredibly well in the live context. Do you play many gigs, and are there any intentions to invade Europe in support of ‘Death and the Beyond’?
Azter: We have never been very active on the live front, something I hope will change with the new album out. Currently a couple of shows for 2013 are in the early planning stages and I expect more shows to take place later this year as well. So nothing is planned at the moment but hopefully this will change very soon. I think our songs translate very well into live situations where we always try to make every show a really intense and gloomy experience with a stage appearance and show that enhances the atmosphere of our songs.
AN: Out of interest, are there any modern bands/releases which you particularly enjoy or think could inspire the band in any way?
Azter: To be honest, I don’t really think that any new band inspires us very much because our musical cores have already been shaped ages ago. This does, however, not mean that we do not enjoy any new bands or releases. I think 99% of the bands out there are rather useless or acceptable at best and whenever I hear one of the few bands which does something for me, I try to sign them to Horror Records and help release and spread their music as well as I can. I am currently involved with releases of Anima Morte, Abysmal Grief, Hands of Orlac, Sodomizer, Black Oath as well as some older bands of whom I will release some material in the near future. But these are the “new” bands I particularly enjoy at the moment.
AN: Finally, is there anything you would like to add for the readers and fans out there?
Azter: Not much except for urging everyone into horror and Death to check out “Death and the Beyond” and watch out for some more horror shows in the future!
AN: Thanks a lot for taking the time to answer these questions, and once again, for creating such a brilliant new record!
Azter: Again thank you for the kind words about our musical horror and thank you very much for giving me the space to talk about the ghoul cult!
Interviewed by Jamie Wilson
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