Inferno Magazine 2023

DJEVEL

THE STENCH OF DEATH

THIS ARTICLE IS BASED ON TWO CONVERSATIONS. I TALKED WITH CIEKALS IN THE SPRING OF 2021 AND KVITRIM IN AUTUMN 2022. DJEVEL WILL PLAY AT INFERNO FESTIVAL 2023 AND HAVING ESPECIALLY THE TWO LAST ALBUMS IN MIND, THIS IS ONE PERFORMANCE I WON’T MISS FOR THE END OF THE WORLD.

Before Djevel and at the beginning of Djevel, Ciekals had Ljå and NettleCarrier. But this is obviously going to be about Djevel, and a lot of dead songs. So, of course, we’ll start with ”Dødssanger”. What was it that you wanted with Djevel and how was ”Dødssanger” received at the time when few, if anybody, played black metal with a strong aura of 90s Norwegian black metal?

- Djevel was started up because I had begun to work on the second album for Ljå. In this period, I moved to Oslo, and it became very apparent to me that it was not going to work. It was as simple as that. I finished writing the album and had the album title ready. I informed the others but was not exactly met with standing applause. One of them didn’t like the album title at all and the others were generally lukewarm about the whole thing, so we just agreed that Ljå was over for me and that I went on, on my own. We actually did end it by texting, of all things. The last song I wrote on “Till Avsky For Livet” is called “Gjort til Djevel”, and that was it. Djevel was supposed to be a solo project, but there’s no getting away from the fact that I couldn’t play the drums, so I had to bring someone with me to the session. I was introduced to Hjelvik through a mutual friend. Hjelvik was really just going to sing on a song, “Djevelheim”, but ended up doing the first four full lengths.

“Norske Ritualer”, the fourth full-length, is dedicated to Norwegian Black Metal in its original form.

- It has to be clean and atmospheric, Norwegian, and furious (not blast beat furious). So, if my kids ask me what Norwegian black metal is, I’ll answer, “take a part of the moon, a bit of a fir tree and then snow up in a black boiler. Finally, you put a bible on top. You place this boiler in a church. Set fire to the church and let it burn down. What’s left in the boiler at the end is Norwegian Black Metal.” This is figuratively the essence of black metal for me. As a human being, I’m happy with progression and development, but not within black metal. Back in 92-93 we had a kind of dedicated elitist mindset.

Ciekals comes back to the dedication that was mentioned.

- I listen more to electronica, classical and pop than I do to black metal. But I don’t include such things in my image of black metal. Black metal means incredibly much to me and it had definitely been a central part in defining me as a person. When it comes to black metal, I’ve stayed in the mindset we had in 92-93, and it’s a mindset that you can’t take with you into a normal healthy development as a person, at least not from my point of view. I’ve chosen to keep the black metal feeling and mindset, but leave it when it doesn’t fit, rather than taking it into everyday life in a halfway way – then you water it out and turn it into a weak version. Some will probably call it hypocritical, but then I wish them luck because you don’t manage a balanced, enriching life if you are black metal, as it was in 1994, 24 hours a day, when you were young without responsibility and could allow yourself to live a pure black metal life. I think you have to continue to rejuvenate it when you can and bring it out when it can breathe, not otherwise. I chose very early on to focus on education and to build a platform in life where black metal would never be a basis for intellect and development. It goes without saying that you end up doing something completely different from what black metal is meant to be. This is not peculiar to black metal; it applies to all subcultures. That’s how it started and has continued for me. It starts differently for many others, of course, something that is partly about when you are born. You have those who have “Death Cult Armageddon” as their gateway to black metal and that should be respected, even if it doesn’t mean that I have to like it. It just gives a completely different starting point and foundation.

What is it about Norway that is so dear, when everything is really just a big coincidence and we just happened to be born here in the cold north? I have an impression, when I read texts, that Djevel does not go hand in hand with the spirit of Christianity, nor any other religion, so there is really no point in any of this we call life, is there?

- I have had many questions about this, about Norway. For me, Norwegian black metal is so clearly compatible with Norway. The boring, personal answer is that I hike a lot in the mountains and fields, I spend a lot of time in the nature. There is a lot of atmosphere, and there are the stories of devil worship and superstition that are major inspiration for me and the lyrics I write. We can call what I write Norwegian rituals. Norway is a very beautiful country. I can imagine a guy from India standing on top of Guru Shikhar or on the banks of the river Ganges and thinking it’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. We tend to take our cue from where we were born and perhaps most of all from where we have grown up. It’s in our blood. “Norwegian Rituals” is a tribute to historical Norway, especially that which existed before Christianity came to our land. I can see that Christianity brought along a lot of culture, but also a lot of negative culture. It is no more than 326 years since they burned the last “witch” at the stake here. But Christianity also contributed to a lot of culture being forgotten. Let me also say that I am a stubborn … there are many who point to Islam and believe that Islam is the new enemy. I would say that in Norway Christianity, and religion in general, is still a big problem. In 2020 more than four billion crowns [ca. 400.000 Euros] in state aid was distributed to the Norwegian Church. And the state also gave a lot of money to other religious societies. When the number of members of the Norwegian Church goes down, which it has done constantly, the aid per head becomes higher. And the support for each member of the other faith communities then becomes corresponding, which means that they receive more support. “Norwegian Rituals” celebrates the part I think is nice about Norway. A basic undertone, or should we say overtone … in Djevel is that I still think Christians are relatively sick in the head, like I thought back in 1993. It’s probably fine for those who find solace in Christianity or that it helps to save someone from drug addiction, but I still think in an overall perspective that it destroys much more than it gains. It’s not as if I get up in the morning and get annoyed by this, but you think about it. And when I think about it, I think it’s a bit strange that black metal is so big in Norway, where Christianity is after all not as dominant as it is in many other countries. But paganism is still very close to us. You have a lot of countries in South America, Chile, Brazil and so on, where Christianity is so strong. In Norway we can, after all, choose not to have anything to do with Christianity. We have the paganism that lies within us, without needing to bring Viking ships onto the scene and become completely Amon Amarth. There is a heritage there that we have to take care of.

On the last two albums, Kvitrim has done the vocals and the bass. He has also performed live with Djevel. I would say Djevel’s music is quite introvert, so, where does he get the energy needed to play live in front of an audience?

- I have never got any energy from the audience. I am quite introvert and the energy that comes from me comes from withing me, if you see what I mean? To communicate with others cost me a lot and it drains me of my own energy, even when the setting is ok. I think it demands even more from when I am on stage and have to work hard to bring forth my energy.

So, there’s no help in us standing there upfront and shouting “hey hey hey”?

- Well, it would only make me more pissed, I guess, so in that sense …

Djevel is not really the “hey hey hey” band, in contradiction to in example Satyricon and Dimmu Borgir?

- You’re right, yet at the same time there’s a bit more aggression in Djevel’s music compared to bands I have played live with previously. Not “hey hey hey” of course, but … if it had been Mare, it would never have worked. It’s a totally different universe, to put it like that.

I guess it goes without saying that we won’t see Mare at Inferno, something Kvitrim confirms.

I even wonder if Djevel is suitable for the main stage at Inferno? They did however open the final day of Inferno in 2018, the 1st of April …

- Vemod suits well for Rockefeller since there’s more air in our music. I’m not sure if Djevel is suitable for a big venue? That’s more for a smaller venue, I guess.

Rockefeller is perhaps the limit for Djevel, but both Kvitrim and I think the band’s music is more suitable for John Dee. However, they played at Rockefeller in 2018 and will play at Rockefeller in 2023 as well. I, for one, am curious about how the newer, longer tracks will work in that less intimate venue compared to John Dee. But do you look forward to doing such a concert, or is it more just a struggle?

- Well, that depends. I have been better to point out what I want to do and what I think is interesting. Then I actually manage to look forward. Inferno is kind of special, being of a certain size and with loads of circus activities, to put it like that. So, I guess it’s time to show people where the closet shall stand. You can’t have people and bands who claim to be true standing there unchallenged. It’s important that you can smell the stench of death, so to speak.

Djevel has released their new album, “Naa skrider natten sort” when you read this article. This is Kvitrim’s second Djevel album. I do look at the music from the outside, but what do you think is the album’s strength(s) looking at it from the inside?

- Comparing it to the previous album, I think the new one is a continuation of the atmosphere, yet it is different. The album is more dynamic and varied, though it’s not more uneven than “Tanker som rir natten”. The album is rather lengthy (ca. 60 minutes), but still, I don’t feel that it is that lengthy. Perhaps “Tanker …” is more dreamlike, while the new album is more present, kind of … At the same time the intense parts are just as intense, if not even more. But the album does follow the same blue thread, to put it like that. When I got the demos, I didn’t have a clear view of how it was going to be in the end. But the pieces fell into place the more I worked with the material. It felt really great to send the material back to the others with my parts because it became insanely good.

The two first tracks have piano, or is it keyboard? Kvitrim points at the piano standing there in the same room we’re having our conversation.

- It is that piano, yes. We did spend quite some time to figure out the order of the tracks. We wanted them to fit into one LP, and that was not easy since the album is like 60 minutes. We’re definitely pushing the envelope here.

When I spoke to Cieklas, I suggested that the two shorter songs could be on a 7” EP. But that would’ve made the new album too similar to “Tanker …” I guess. Kvitrim agrees.

- The opening track of the album would perhaps fit more on the B-side? It’s quite calm and it takes some time before the track gets going. “Naar taaken tetner” is not the typical opener, and it’s a very conscious choice by Ciekals. He said that he didn’t want to give anything to the listeners who want a quick fix, which is quite the opposite of how albums normally open. Just take a look at Spotify, where the first track always gets the most plays. People do not have the necessary patience to listen to the whole albums anymore! The first track on the album is kind of like a single, if you see what I mean. This 13-minute-long track is anything but a single! Many of our songs have three parts. You have the first part, and the middle section with piano or acoustic guitars or something before the final part is more like epic closure. You mentioned the piano, and that’s perhaps a bit more coincidental. The demo had the piano part, only done by keyboards. I’m not so fond of the piano sound played by synth, so I suggested that I just dubbed this part only adding a few minor things.

Djevel performs at Rockefeller stage Thursday 6. April 18.00.