It was 30 years ago that Enthroned first stormed the black metal scene, proceeding to release a string of classic albums that helped put Belgium back on the underground’s map. There for these pivotal early releases was guitarist, songwriter, and now frontman, Nornagest. Today, he remains the sole member of the band’s classic lineup. To commemorate this landmark anniversary, Nornagest oversaw the compilation of an epic new boxset entitled Hadean. We sat down with Nornagest to discuss this new collection, growing up with Cronos, and the triumph and tragedy of one of black metal’s most enduring acts, Enthroned. “Towards the Skullthrone of Satan” we go!
Greetings Nornagest and welcome to Defenders of the Faith! How are you doing today?
Nornagest: Good, good. It’s nice to hear from you!
It’s nice to hear from you too. Thank you for taking the time to do this interview. We’re nearing the release of a brand new Enthroned box set, Hadean. This collection compiles the band’s first five releases into one magnificent set. When did the idea come about to embark upon a retrospective release such as this?
N: I got contacted by Dissonance Records a few months back. They were interested in the fact that we were entering our 30th year of existence, so they thought a release would be a good idea, as there was a lot of demand from fans for those albums. Every time they were released there were mistakes, misprints, or they were not available anymore. I said I was OK with it as long as I had my input. I wanted to have a certain control over the thing to be sure that the people, and the band *laughs*, would finally get a release without mistakes, with the correct information and everything in it. They wanted to release a box set because you know how the situation is in the scene post-COVID. Nobody can afford to release six albums in the world in one day.
Basically, we did everything we could to make the best package possible with the correct track listing. We corrected some mistakes. For example, there were some songs on some albums that for some reason had the wrong title. It became kind of a joke, like the Spinal Tap syndrome *laughs*. We ended up having to name our own songs by the names that were on the fucking release and not the real name of the song. It was something that bothered us a bit. Two of those releases had artwork that we were never happy with. Basically, we have new artwork for these releases here and a few tracks that were never used. I threw them in as well.
I want to go back to the very beginning. Growing up, who were your favorite metal bands? How soon after discovering metal did you become acquainted with the members of Enthroned?
N: Well, it was actually extremely young. My family has a certain history in the matter of metal music. When I was a kid, we were visiting my uncle, my father’s brother, in Newcastle upon Tyne in England. I met my cousin Conrad (Lant), better known under the name of Cronos from Venom. He introduced me a bit to some Judas Priest and that kind of thing. He played his band. I was like, “What the fuck?” Well, I was a kid. I was not like, “What the fuck?”, but you know. I didn’t like it. It was fucking noise to me *laughs*!
You know how it is. You’re a kid, and then suddenly you start to really enjoy those Judas Priest albums, those Metallica albums. Then there’s those Slayer albums and then, “Oh yeah, actually, that band is not bad at all. It’s fucking awesome. It’s my cousin!” That’s how I got into metal, black metal, and things like that: discovering bands by myself. At some point back in ‘94 or ‘93, I was at a concert and met my future bandmate there.
I wanted to go for a pee. In metal, it always starts like that. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to go for a pee *laughs*. I went to the toilet and there was that guy yelling and screaming at the toilet door. I was like, “What the fuck is that?” Somebody passed out in there! Actually, that guy screaming was Cernunnos, the original drummer for Enthroned. We started to talk, drink, blah blah blah. He was telling me that he had a black metal band that was looking for a second guitar player and asked me if I wanted to try out. I went there to try out and got the job. The rest is history *laughs*.
At the time the band formed, was there much of a Belgian black metal scene besides Enthroned and Ancient Rites? Furthermore, how did yourself and other Belgian metalheads view the Norwegian scene?
N: Well, for the size of the country, because Belgium is tiny, there were quite a few bands. We had Enthroned, Ancient Rites. There was another band called Avatar. There was Metempsychosis, Black Shepherd, and a few other bands like that. Black Shepherd was more, if you compared them musically, closer to Possessed than anything else, but the imagery was there. They already had the paint. So yeah, it was a small country, but we already had a few bands. Black metal was not really popular, as you can imagine back then.
It was a tiny group with a lot of people in it *laughs* gathering in those dark things. You know, when you’re that age, you’re gathering in the cemeteries with beers and talking about the power of darkness and all that shit. Later on, it became more serious on every level. Everybody had their own vision about the black metal scene in general, including, of course, Norway, as they were in the spotlight with all the murders, the church burnings, and all that was going on. We were in contact with some of those guys since the late ‘80s.
We were in correspondence and pen writing with Euronymous from Mayhem, Morgan from Marduk, even though he was from Sweden, Mortiis, who was in Emperor back then, Samoth, also from Emperor, but from Thou Shalt Suffer back then. We were writing those bands. We had a vision. Personally, for me, they had some fucking great bands, and still do of course. They had that eerie feeling, but I never checked them out for the fact just because they were Norwegians.
I was a big fan as well of those bands from South America, like Sarcófago and stuff like that as well. They had that thing as well, but different. To me, it was a matter of feeling. I love Blasphemy from Canada as much as I love Emperor, Mayhem, Sigh from Japan, Samael from Switzerland *laughs* whatever, as long as it brought that kind of feeling to me. For example, our previous singer, Sabathan, was a really big fan of the Norwegian scene. To me, it was a matter of feeling rather than provenance.
The first album featured in this collection is Prophecies of Pagan Fire. While you didn’t play on this album, it’s obviously important to the history of Enthroned as it laid out the foundation for what was to follow. What are your thoughts on this album looking back on it today and which songs resonate the most with you?
N: Well, back in those days, I was already in the band before the album came out. Actually, I was already there when the recording process was going on, but I simply was not ready *laughs*. I was in between, let’s say, because I left my previous band. I was leaving my previous band and I was actually, at the moment, recording a full length album with that band. I was not ready to record the album with Enthroned because they were already busy with it. Basically, I was like, “That’s OK. Fine.” I just went with the rest to give my opinion about the mix and everything like that. When they finished recording the album, they sent me over the advance tape, asking me what I thought about the mix and things like that. I was happy that they actually asked for my input.
To me, some songs that resonate would be “Scared by Darkwinds”, which is a bit unusual of a black metal song, even for back then. It still is today when I think about it. “As the Wolves Howl Again”, that was a very emotional song back then. Not in a very sad way *laughs*, but emotional like it grabs me by the guts. I had my little favorites in a matter of intensity back then, a song with a very controversial title *laughs*, “Under the Holocaust”. I really digged that song back then. I still love it today. We might actually play it again. I think we can think about that *laughs*.
A couple years after you joined came the passing of founding drummer Cernunnos. In what ways did his passing impact the musical dynamic of the band and was the future of Enthroned ever up in the air?
N: To be honest, there were a few times that the future of Enthroned was up in the air *laughs*. We saw it all. Everything that could go wrong happened to this band. It had a big impact on us. He was my best friend back then. We were really like war brothers. We did all the good and bad things friends could do together. From a composition point of view, it didn’t affect anything to the album (Towards the Skullthrone of Satan) because the drums were all composed, written, and everything. We were glad and happy enough to have a very good quality rehearsal tape of the last rehearsal with him for the album.
A friend of ours (Da Cardoen), who was actually a teacher at Berklee in the US…he’s from Belgium, but he went to Berklee and became a drumming teacher there. He was actually visiting his family at that moment in Belgium. As he’s a metalhead, I asked him if he would be able or wanted to play on the album. He went, “OK, I never really played blast beats, so I’m gonna try.” He did everything you hear on the album in one take. *laughs*
We literally one day later got a phone call like, “Yeah, hi. I recorded the drums.” “OK, is there any problem?” “No, I just wanted you to come and listen if it’s OK.” “Wait, you mean you recorded the whole fucking thing?” “Yeah! It was fun!” I went to the studio. We were listening and like, “What the fuck?!” *laughs* It was basically what you hear on the album. He just did that in one take. The producer looked at me and was like, “What the hell man?”
So of course, we asked him if he wanted to stay in the band, but obviously he couldn’t because he had his thing in the US. The impact was probably that when we played our guitars, it was with way more harshness and feeling. It was definitely the same for the vocals and everything. It was that spirit, like he was with us, giving us that anger to record that album.
That album of course being Towards the Skullthrone of Satan, which many consider to be Entrhoned’s masterpiece. What did the band set out to achieve with this album in contrast to Prophecies?
N: We didn’t really think. That was the thing, and that’s still a bit of a thing. Personally, I can only speak for myself now, but I still have that thing. I’m not thinking. When I’m writing or composing, it’s just what comes out. There’s a feeling in everything and it has always been like that. I can say for those times, and the time especially for that album, it was the same for the other guitar player (Nebiros) and for Sabathan as well. We just did what came out. That was basically it.
There’s one song on the album that I wrote for my previous band. I just changed the lyrics and the title, which is the song “Ha Shaitan”. That song was originally a song from my previous band that was never used, never recorded. The rest, we just gathered in rehearsal and put our feelings out. Our guitars puked those notes. That was about it. It was a nascent thing which was channeled through a conduit and we would say that that conduit was our unholy forces or whatever you wanna call it. I cannot come up with a better explanation than that. It was purely chaotic, but there is what is there.
This latest expanded edition of Skullthrone features never before released live tracks from the era, during which you toured with bands like Dark Funeral and my good friends and fellow Chicagoans, Usurper. What memories stand out to you from these shows?
N: Oh, those were intense times. The scene was way better back then than it ever has in the past 20 years. I remember those specific shows where those songs were recorded. I think most of them were recorded in Italy. When we arrived at that venue, it was in the middle of the mountains, literally in a small village. I thought, “Nobody will come here.” We were driving for hours in the mountains. We ended up in this small Italian village, not a soul outside. I thought, “Fuck!” We did that soundcheck and the venue was full *laughs*, funny enough!
Those times…try that today. See if you’re gonna get someone. It was intense. We were way younger as well. Nobody was obsessed with those click tracks or in ear monitors or anything. We didn’t care if we made mistakes. We just went onstage and unleashed the fury! That’s the thing. That’s an argument I sometimes still have with my bandmates today. “Yeah, but we should put that on a click…” Fuck off! You should know your songs! Go onstage and play for fuck sake! That’s it. That’s how it should be. That’s black metal. We don’t play fucking Dream Theater stuff. If you’re fucking Dream Theater, OK. I can kind of understand that, but we play fucking black metal. We have to unleash the fury.
You’ve said it better than just about anyone I’ve interviewed on this topic thus far. It’s become such an issue within metal in just these past few years. I’m of the disposition that if you can’t do it live, you shouldn’t do it at all.
N: Exactly! Why do you have so many problems with the sound when you see a band live? Because there’s so many fucking gizmos thrown into the fucking play. Oh, come on *laughs*. Just have your amplifiers, your fucking rage, your microphone, your drumset. As long as you hear everybody, and you can deliver, just deliver. That’s it.
Skullthrone also features two songs with backing vocals from none other than Cronos, “Satan’s Realm” and “Hertogenwald”. Being your cousin, was Cronos supportive of Enthroned from the beginning? How did he feel about the music on this album?
N: He was excessively supportive back then up until some years ago. He really liked the album and some of the other things we released afterwards. We just lost contact at some point. Family things, I’d say. The last time we spoke, because I saw him briefly when we played together on the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise, well, he was very happy *laughs*. *sniffs* If I can put it that way without saying anything else *sniffs*, he was very happy and very supportive on that evening *laughs*! If you see *sniffs* what I mean *sniffs*. He has always been supportive, as have the other musicians in the family as well, like his brother, my other cousin, Anton, who played in Venom as well actually. I’m still talking with him today.
Also receiving an expanded release is Regie Satanas – A Tribute to Cernunnons. Joining the aforementioned EP is a collection of bonus demos, as well as a previously unknown song from Cernunnos himself entitled “Words in Tongues”. How did you come across this song?
N: Actually, that song…we had a recording, a tape, because when we had those, not ghetto blasters, but those tape recorders we had in the ‘90s and everything. We had that and basically, we recorded some things on there. What happens when you drink a bit too much? You forget things, so we forgot that we were recording. That tape became the subject of a lot of laughter after because we were drunk and having a discussion with stupid jokes and everything. At some point, the conversation started to slide towards more serious topics, like about our beliefs and satanism and occultism, our own vision of life. All that was on that tape.
Some years later, after his death, I was alone in my apartment. Back then, I had a really shitty apartment at that point, after my studies. Your first apartment, which is basically a room. I was there and just jamming around and I was thinking about the guy, my best friend, so I started to put together a song as a tribute to him, but it was mostly instrumental. Then I thought afterwards, “Wait a minute.” I was listening to that tape with our conversations and everything. I picked up a part where he’s talking about his own things and a key sentence that was there.
That sentence was, in French, “It’s everything, but in the end, it’s nothing. We’re everything, but in the end, we are nothing.” It was those few sentences and he was repeating that several times in French. I thought, “I’m gonna use that.” I used those lines because there was so much emotion in his voice when he was saying them because they were so deep and so true. I put them on the music and that’s how I came up with the song. Basically, I recorded that song on my own. I just recorded everything and it’s his voice there with probably the deepest things he could’ve said *laughs*. It was something extremely personal for him.
Another thing about this release that stuck out to me is its ripping cover of Sodom’s “The Conqueror”. I imagine Sodom was an important band to Cernunnos and subsequently Enthroned. Why this song in particular for the EP?
N: Simply put, it was his favorite song *laughs*. He always wanted to cover it. We were talking about it, but he did what he did and we never could do it. In the end, he still had his cover. There was also that song “Satan Never Sleeps”, which was actually a song from the pre-Enthroned band, Morbid Death. It’s one of the first songs he completely composed, lyrics and music. He composed all the instruments, the drums, the guitars, the vocals, the lyrics. Each song we chose on that release is well thought. There’s a reason why it’s there. The re-recording of “Deny the Holy Book of Lies”, which is the opening song for Prophecies of Pagan Fire, it was the only Enthroned song that he wrote the lyrics for. It was his vision.
From there, we arrive at Enthroned’s third album, and your second with the band, The Apocalypse Manifesto. By this point, what was the band’s songwriting process and who handled what in terms of music, lyrics, and so forth?
N: Musically, it was me and the other guitar player, Nebiros. Lyrics-wise, it was shared between me and Sabathan. We had another drummer then (Necro Daemon Namroth Blackthorn). He used to be the drummer for that pre-Enthroned band, Morbid Death. We had another way of working. Still, that thing, let’s say, “No, we’re not gonna go in that direction.” Nothing is calculated. The only thing we wanted was to release a brutal album because we had all that frustration. We had all that rage and we wanted to…those lyrics we had back then were more dealing with extreme biblical apocalyptic visions. The music had to reflect that in some kind of way.
In pure Enthroned tradition, we didn’t think a lot *laughs*. We just went like a bunch of barbarians, meatheads almost *laughs* making those tunes and unleashing the fury once more. That’s basically how it happened. Me and the guitar player met. We had ideas. It was like, “OK, just put some blast beats on that.” The drummer did some things to make it not too linear *laughs*. Back then for us, it was, “Yeah, brutal!” But afterwards, you realize, maybe it’s a bit linear *laughs*.
We couldn’t go to the same studio anymore. That was a big bummer for us. One day, we were at a show. Marduk was playing. They had Peter Tägtgren of Hypocrisy as a session guitar player. We were talking and they asked us how the band was doing. Peter asked me, “How are you gonna record the new album?” “We don’t know.” For the first time, we didn’t know because we had our studio there with that guy. We were always happy with him, but he decided that he didn’t want to do any metal anymore and he’s moving to Cuba to record bossanova! Oh fuck.
Peter proposed, “If you want, you can come and record at The Abyss Studios.” I was like, “Eh…I don’t know.” I didn’t want to sound like everybody because everybody was recording there *laughs*! He said, “I guarantee you, if you come to my place, you’re not gonna sound like anyone else.” “Well…OK, why not? Let’s try it out.” He did a good job, but still *laughs*. He did his best to make it sound individual, but I was never happy with how the sound came out because it was not how I wanted the album to sound like. You learn from your mistakes.
The final album in this collection is what I consider to be the rawest and most bestial in the Enthroned canon, the aptly titled Armoured Bestial Hell. Were there any circumstances within the band as to why the music on this album came out so brutally?
N: Well, a lot. It was one of those moments where we were at the verge of splitting up. We had a lot of feud with the record company back then (Blackend), internal problems as well because some members took the freedom, let’s say the liberty without talking to the other guys, to contact the record company with insults. You know the shit. The whole band was blamed. We started to get threats of being taken to court, being sued, shit like that, so we wanted to terminate the contract with them, which we could not *laughs*. It was a lot of fucking bullshit. As well, the drummer wanted to try new things. Things went bad on us when we were in the recording studio because the drummer was trying new things that were not planned.
Also, we had to continue the recording in a bit of a hurry. At one point, me and the guitar player just went, “Stop.” We were pissed. We were fucking pissed entering this fucking studio like, “Now stop. Band meeting, we have to talk. We had to recalibrate everything. “OK, we’re not happy with our record label? Fine. We’re gonna give them the album, but we’re gonna do it like we always did, maybe on a shorter notice.” We went to play live, record some parts live in the studio. We put all that frustration, that anger, using that almost like a therapy, and release all the anger and frustration we had within us in there.
The problem, that album was kind of cursed, was the producer fell sick. So there was another guy, who never recorded metal except an album of Scorpions, who came in to take over the recording. Yeah, so once again, we tried a new studio and ended up with a result we were not happy with because the drums were written last minute. The vocals were almost improvisation. The lyrics were there, but the vocal lines were on the spot.
The good point, it gives that kind of very rough and raw, brutal, crude side to the album, but really, it was not how it was supposed to be *laughs*, I can tell you that. It has its charm in a certain kind of way. It has its singularity, but I cannot deny that it’s probably the most spontaneous thing we ever did, literally *laughs*!
Out of curiosity, do you know which Scorpions album this producer worked on?
N: Oof…I would not be able to say. I can check because I have my Scorpions albums here *laughs*! Regan Cairns was his name, so I have to look. I don’t know.
That’s quite the quantum leap from Scorpions to Enthroned!
N: Well, I think you could put it the other way around, no *laughs*? It’s like, damn, that’s fucking sad. The guy used to produce Scorpions and now he has to produce Enthroned *laughs*! That album was, I can guarantee you, there were a lot of headaches on that one. A lot of frustrations. After that album, we had to recalibrate the band a bit. We went different ways with the drummer as well because he had some attitude towards the fans that were not tolerable. We decided…we may be black metal people, but we are still decent people as well *laughs*. If somebody is behaving like a jerk towards our fans, no.
Armoured Bestial Hell is also one of two releases in this collection to feature new album art, created by you. What was it that you and the rest of the band found disappointing about the original album art?
N: Originally, we had another artwork, another one that’d feature on the album, but the record company wanted somebody with a name in the scene to do the artwork for some obscure reason. As we were pissed off with them, we said, “OK, we’re gonna take Rok from Sadistik Exekution.” They expected us to take Joe Petagno or somebody who worked with Motörhead. “No, fuck you. We want the guy who’s gonna do the dirty, but fucking cool artwork.”
Well, karma is a bitch because he did it dirty, but we didn’t like it *laughs*. It was too late to change, so we just told them, “Come on. Let’s use the first idea we had. It fits the album better.” Most of the lyrics are about Renaissance era occultism and satanism. Why a fucking tank? It made no sense! All the lyrics are Renaissance period. Why a bloody tank? “Yeah, but it’s very in at the moment.” They were talking with the guy behind our back! You had Marduk and Angelcorpse who had the tank, and it was selling well, so they wanted us to have a tank. So we had a tank.
We were like, “Oh fuck.” We were pretty pissed about that. Fun fact: They put us on tour for that album with Angelcorpse and Marduk. You should’ve seen the fucking merchandise stand! It was the Panzer Division Tour, so there were bloody tanks everywhere! It was like, fuck man! You wondered if it was a World War II memorabilia event or a fucking black metal show. So yeah, we were not really happy with that.
As soon as I could have that opportunity…I was working on that painting for some years. At some point, I just dropped it. “I will finish it one day.” Then, the opportunity for this box set came up, so I finished it finally after I don’t know how many years. 23 years? I finished that artwork and I was talking with those guys from Dissonance and Cherry Red. They were like, “Fuck yeah.” OK! Finally *laughs*!
The same happened with Regie Satanas. We wanted an artwork that represented what he (Cernunnos) was. He was always about that big goat *laughs* towering over fucking London. That was always a joke. The label came up with something completely different. “Cool, it’s a picture of him, but not the best picture of him. IIt’s a really low quality resolution picture of him with a forest. Yeah, OK…that’s not what we wanted.” So fuck it! I drew the fucking goat towering over London *laughs*! Now he has what he wanted.
To get back to your question, the painting for Armoured Bestial Hell was something that…I was inspired by the lyrics to make that one. I wanted something that was a bit in that Flemish painting style from that period, late Renaissance, which was not easy because that’s not my style of painting at all. That’s why it took so long *laughs*. I’m pretty happy with the result personally. At least now we have the artwork that fits the lyrics and that we are happy with. 23 years of frustration ended up with that.
To commemorate the release of this collection, has the band considered performing a setlist of only 1995-2001 songs?
N: The funny part is we said we’re not gonna do that because that’s what everybody would do. But today, funny enough *laughs*, at 3 o’clock this afternoon, we had a meeting because now I live in Norway. I don’t live in Belgium anymore. I met up with some of my friends here and ended up talking with some guys from Kampfar, who are from the same area as I live in. They are also celebrating their 30 years of existence, so we were thinking of maybe doing something together.
We were thinking of performing, maybe, some retrospective shows, but it’s in the discussion. It’s really fresh because I just saw them at 3 o’clock this afternoon *laughs*. No promises, but it’s in the discussion. People will love that because they’ve been asking us to do that for the last 10 years, maybe more? We always said, “No.” *laughs* “We don’t want to be like everybody else. We just want to play what we want to play.” I can tell you man, after 30 years of playing “Evil Church” every week, I’m a bit fed up with that song *laughs*. But, if we need to make a little sacrifice for the people…it’s in the talks.
In closing, what can Enthroned fans expect from the band going into 2024?
N: Finally, we’re gonna start recording the next album. The recording should take place in January. There was a long time between the last two albums because moving to different countries, it’s not as easy as when everybody lives in the same town. We have to find ways to meet each other *laughs* and to compose. We like to do that the old school way, of course. It’s always better when everybody’s in the same room than through a webcam. Basically, that’s it.
We’re gonna record the new album in January and February and see with Season of Mist when the album will come out. From there, we have a few shows being planned. Party San is the first one we made public, which is confirmed. There are talks of a tour in New Zealand and Australia, maybe Japan. If everything goes well, maybe a few dates in the US if we can do that. For European bands like us, it’s a bit tricky to come to the US. Always with the visas and all that shit, especially since the Biden administration became a fucking nightmare. You agree with me *laughs*!
Unfortunately, we’re all too aware here in the States!
N: *laughs* Alright, so we understand each other. Well, those are the plans!
The new Enthroned boxset, Hadean, is available now on Dissonance Records. For more information on Enthroned, visit www.facebook.com/Frater.Silurian.