There are bands that stick consistently to a specific musical genre and style. There are also those that like to try something different every so often. In the music we love, we celebrate and at the same time we dismiss examples from both categories. Most of the time, our reaction has to do with the result and not with whether or not they stayed true to a particular path. Unless you play black metal, whose die-hard fans don’t look kindly on major changes.
Satyricon has experienced, and continue to experience, something like this; their first three albums are considered classics of the black metal sound. Common characteristics include long durations, mesmerizing atmospheres, Satyr’s riffs and screams, Frost’s thunderous drumming, clever folk influences and plenty of lyrics in Norwegian to complete the picture. That’s more or less how “Dark Medieval Times” (1993), “The Shadowthrone” (1994) and “Nemesis Divina” (1996) were made, which are universally acclaimed. The latter, in particular, is one of the greatest albums in the history of this genre and “Mother North” (which was also their first music video) is one of the most iconic and recognizable black metal songs ever created.
And since, in just three years of discography, they had left a lasting mark on that style, they decided to try something different. Two EPs paved the way until the release of “Rebel Extravaganza” (1999), on which we saw them transformed, yet not entirely detached from black metal. The core elements were still there and the overall aesthetic and sonic direction featured strong industrial influences. It’s a challenging album that runs for an hour, yet contains only seven songs and three short instrumentals. It’s understandable that it was met with skepticism, especially after the unsurpassed “Nemesis Divina”, but the band itself felt it needed to take a different path. They saw black metal becoming increasingly melodic and blending with gothic aesthetics, so they wanted to create something colder and harsher. Over the years, of course, it gained the status it deserved and had a profound influence on industrial and avant-garde black metal.
And somewhere around that time, another major change took place. The Norwegians signed with EMI/Capitol (a huge achievement for an extreme metal band) and, with “Volcano” (2002), drifted even further from their roots. Call it blackened heavy metal, call it black ‘n’ roll, one thing’s for sure: a lot of people wrote them off for good, while even more started listening to them. “Fuel For Hatred” became what we call an instant classic and earned them extensive airplay; they won a Grammy in their home country and two years later achieved major promotion and distribution in the U.S. through eatURmusic, the Columbia sub-label created by Daron Malakian of System Of A Down. It was only natural that they would follow up in the same style with “Now, Diabolical” (featuring the ultra-successful “K.I.N.G.”) in 2006 and “The Age of Nero” in 2008. The creative slump came, as expected, with the self-titled “Satyricon” in 2013, which was rather weak and experimental. However, it did manage to produce one of the most distinctive songs in their history, “Phoenix”, on which Sivert Høyem of Madrugada sings exclusively in clean vocals.
Satyricon, however, hadn’t said their last word and thankfully “Deep Calleth Upon Deep” (2017) came along, which I personally consider their most mature and overall best work of this millennium. All their previous albums featured very good compositions (some more so than others), although this one was perfectly balanced from start to finish. But to return to the title of this piece regarding experimentation, in 2013 they gave a concert at the Oslo Opera House accompanied by the Norwegian National Choir. The audiovisual result was captured in “Live At The Opera” (2015) and in 2022 the Munch Museum, dedicated to Edvard Munch (whose work covers their latest album), invited them to collaborate on an art exhibition that would feature paintings by the Norwegian artist alongside an audio component composed by the band. The exhibition ran for five months and the nearly one-hour-long audio part was released that same year under the title “Satyricon & Munch”, which featured new and unexplored soundscapes for the band. In fact, it seems to have influenced the creation of their next full-length, which we hope will be released soon, as it’s already been nine years since their last one and we’re heading toward the tenth, an unprecedented delay by their standards.
But continuing from the introduction, you can experiment and end up with either an impressive or a disappointing result. You could even release the same album over and over again, simply with different cover art and song titles, sometimes with outstanding quality and other times with mediocre or poor. Some might say that Satyricon sold out and betrayed the black metal sound. What’s certain, however, is that they never rested on their laurels; they’ve left their own mark on the broader extreme music scene and over the course of their 35-year long journey, they’ve composed exceptional music, regardless of whatever label was attached to them at any given time.
George Terzakis
