This is Imhotep’s best work thus far, and E. replies are great, with the result that this is a really good interview.

Imhotep’s Paul Kearns and Roy Kristensen drove to Stockholm to find out what’s hiding behind the (lawless) darkness. This interview was recorded at Watain’s rehearsal place.

In the first part they talk about the band, the Lair (rehearsal place / bar), “Sworn To The Dark”, the growing success and Dissection’s “Reinkaos”.

In the second part they talk about the (black metal) scene and (response) to the new album “Lawless Darkness”.

In the third part they talk about Watain’s lyrics.

In the fourth part they talk about the listeners, Carl McCoy / WATers of AIN and black metal.

Watain (10) part 1/4

Watain (10) part 2/4

Watain (10) part 3/4

Watain (10) part 4/4

WATAIN appears on the cover of the July 2010 issue of Decibel Magazine

Band Devours Baltimore; Nabs Cover Of This Month’s Edition of Decibel Magazine

The wait is now over: Lawless Darkness, the long-anticipated fourth full-length from Swedish black metal battalion WATAIN, is out now through Season Of Mist. The ten-track, hour-plus long work of blasphemy was recorded at Necromorbus Studio (Deathspell Omega, Funeral Mist, Ondskapt, Nominon, Unanimated et al) in Alvik, Sweden and features strikingly detailed cover art by Zbigniew M. Bielak.

The band ushered in the release of Lawless Darkness with a soul-crushing headlining set the first night of the Maryland Deathfest on Memorial Day weekend. Commented frontman E. of the performance: “Back from the States now, still with blisters and bruises from the victorious storm unleashed at Maryland Deathfest. Hail to the legions of WATAIN supporters who came out to partake in our performance; you have truly grown both in number and dedication! We very much look forward to return for a full scale onslaught later this year. More about that later…” Commented Canada’s Hellbound.ca of the spectacle: “With lit candles, militant red flag-like things, and some corpse paint that I’m sure even Tom Savini would compliment, their visual aesthetic was certainly in tow…the crowd enhanced the horror movie like mood as it tossed a Bible around, tearing it to shreds, sending the ripped pages into the air like confetti at a kid’s birthday party…The music: appropriately blasphemous.”

In conjunction with the release of Lawless Darkness, WATAIN appears on the cover of the July 2010 issue of Decibel Magazine which went on sale last week. The eight-page feature was conducted by J. Bennett and is clearly one of the most revealing pieces on the band to date. To order a copy, visit: http://store.decibelmagazine.com/collections/back-issues/products/july-2010-069

“Lawless Darkness shall be seen as a monument erected in honor of that collapse and a dedication to all those brave souls, who have willingly dared to venture the winding paths towards it.” — E. Danielsson, WATAIN

Let there be sacrifice.

………..

“Darkthrone were once ‘for all the evil in man,” but WATAIN turn good men evil.” — 8/10 Decibel

“No band in the ‘troo’ black metal scene carries as much weight as WATAIN at the moment. Sparing the drama of Burzum, and the inconsistency of Dimmu and Mayhem, WATAIN finds itself in the same spot Emperor found itself in at the end of ’90s.” — Blistering

“With this record, E. Danielsson and WATAIN have definitely created a blasphemous juggernaut that is not to be taken lightly. The band are clearly staking their claim to more territory in the battle for the black metal crown.” — Forbidden

http://www.myspace.com/watainofficial

http://season-of-mist.com

This sort of line-up is without any doubts a dream come true for any black/death metal maniac. Two leading extreme metal bands out of Sweden conquering Finland had been anticipated for a while. Before these Swedes led the Finns into the abyss of damnation, both Spearhead and Impiety welcomed the audience to the limbo.

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Watain’s Erik Danielsson

Interview conducted by Robert Williams

Videography courtesy of Sandra Torres

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Wacken Open Air 2008

Once again tens of thousands of lunatic metal freaks travelled from all over the world to the small German village located in the middle of the beautiful northern German countryside. The small peaceful Wacken literally goes upside down when nearly 80.000 conquer the village during one weekend in a year. Wacken Open Air celebrated its 19th birthday from the 31st of July to the 2nd of August, whose biggest headliner ever in the history of Wacken was Iron Maiden. Despite Iron Maiden being the biggest name on the bill, however there were tons of other interesting and fascinating names.

Brat: The mass convergence of catholic youth in Sydney for World Youth Day the week Ray and I left brought a smile to my face and a feeling of warmth as I realised it wouldn’t be long until I was part of a similar pilgrimage but to Hamburg Germany and with two major differences—where Sydney was awash with colourful youth, Hamburg would be invaded by a swarm of black; and the trolley suitcases carrying clothing would instead be trolleys full of beer; songs of the gospel would be replaced by metal anthems. They came to worship at the cross—we to worship at the flaming longhorn but we all would display our nations’ flags proudly.

Tickets for W:O:A 2008 sold phenomenally fast. The special edition X-mas pack with extra goodie bag sold out before I could take a long breath after my 2007 trip. By February the official festival ticket seller was “SOLD OUT”. Suddenly the ebay market was flooded with tickets with one ticket reaching a record price of 800 British Pounds—obscene. Even in July with less than 1 month before the festival, there was an average of 5 new listings a day for tickets, which nullified all “SOLD OUT” credibility. (Brat)

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Kreator / Celtic Frost
Watain
Tavastia Club
The 4th of April 2007
Helsinki, Finland

Both Kreator and Celtic Frost have had, and still have, a major impact on how several different types of metal genres have started and been moulded. Therefore two metal icons or legends on the same bill was as mesmerizing an experience as seeing three Teutonic thrash metal veterans on the same bill back in 2002.  Even though Metal-Rules.com’s British writer had recently attended the show in London, the whole tour is such a historical event in the extreme metal genre that it can’t be ignored. It would be an utter blasphemy to ignore these two extreme metal icons who had released outstanding and remarkable outputs.

The Dutch thrashers Legion Of The Damned had been one of the opening acts on the Central European leg of the tour but unfortunately were never able to arrive at Northernmost territories. However the Dutch thrashers will be witnessed at next summer’s Tuska in Helsinki. However the Swedish black metal outfit Watain was on the bill, for those the Helsinki show was apparently the last one on the tour.

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Celtic Frost & Kreator
with Watain and Legion of the Damned
KOKO Camden, London
18th March 2007

Review By HannTu
Pics by Dave Ingham (view his flickr photo album)
Note: Pics were taken on various dates of the UK tour!

My first ‘gig’, so to speak, for Metal-Rules.com started off freezing cold. London has been relatively warm for the past few weeks, but it chose today of all days to hail and snow and bluster while I was standing in line for 2 hours to watch the mighty Kreator at KOKO Camden. Bollocks to that for a start.

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