When people think of Darkthrone, their minds immediately jump to the charismatic frontman Fenriz... normal, you'd say, as he's the one who gives most interviews, and who has more "presence".
But to disregard the influence of Ted "Nocturno Culto" Skjellum would be absurd. The solid number 2 man has always been there since the start of the band. Not to mention, he wrote most of Darkthrone's most memorable songs (alongside Zephyrous, who now plays with the Norwegian band Vermin I am told).
Maybe Nocturno Culto's style is less "flashy", but he is the yin to Fenriz's yang. And both are absolutely complimentary in creating one of the "big five" of Norwegian black metal (Darkthrone).
Nocturno Culto: "Metal Has Lost All Contact With Reality"
So for once, it was Nocturno Culto and not Fenriz who gave the promotional interview for the band's latest album - "It Beckons Us All" - with the always entertaining legend of metal Morsay, the man himself responsible for creating the largest underground extreme metal record label.
As you would expect from someone from the black metal "old guard", Nocturno Culto is quite dismissive of trends such as "corpsepaint"... which in his eyes attract trendies and posers. When asked about Darkthrone's relationship to the "black metal look" his answer was straightforward.
Nocturno Culto: You know this whole corpse paint thing it's actually a long time since I wore corpse paint. I think it was back in 1994. So that's a long time ago. [...] In the early days it was very special and we did have some very special meetings which really was much of the foundation that Darkthrone was built on. You know some of the atmosphere there. I think that Fenriz and me are definitely still thinking black metal as we used to do. [...] But corpse paint maybe is over and out for us. When we heard that some people in Oslo actually walked around in Oslo in the middle of the day with bright sunshine and corpse paint and they were sweating we thought that f-ck this because it wasn't getting serious now so f-cking forget the whole thing.
Indeed, nowadays black metal is more of a trend, about a certain lifestyle - a certain "look" - than the music itself.
"Journalists Never Understood Darkthrone"
Uncle Ted of Darkthrone always doesn't spare modern "money-minded" bands that flock to black metal in search of a quick buck.
Nocturno Culto: I must be like 75 years old in my head (laughs). Sorry, but all this circus makes me sick. All these money-minded people who start playing black metal as if it were a popularity contest. The world of metal and rock in general has lost all contact with reality. As for DARKTHRONE, journalists never understood what we were about, whether it was in the 90s or today. They don't understand anything.
While he doesn't point to Dimmu Borgir, Dark Funeral, Watain, Tsjuder and Antekhrist by name... is it really hard to guess who he is talking about?
Nocturno Culto's Relationship With Fenriz and Varg Vikernes
The other interesting part was about his relationship with Fenriz, and specifically the question - that they both find annoying - of "who wrote what" on X album.
Nocturno Culto:Personally, I'd like to have none of us credited for anything; we're a band. But since we're just two, people get hung up on knowing who's doing what and which song is written by whom. It's not so interesting to me, or it shouldn't be, because as a band, we've released something like twenty albums together... we're in the same boat. As I said, Fenriz and I are probably two garden gnomes, but we take music really seriously.
Nice way to dodge the question on everyone's mind... who came up with that riff on En ås i dype skogen? (It was actually Varg Vikernes of Burzum).
And speaking of Varg, Nocturno Culto always has an interesting anecdote to share.
Nocturno Culto: It's funny you say that because people always ask me about Varg [Vikernes, tn.] as if we were best friends. And they are shocked to know that I never even met him once!!! [...] It's Fenriz who's his friend, go ask him.
And on the eternal question of "did black metal die in 1994"... Nocturno Culto also has a hot take, albeit a pretty common one.
Nocturno Culto: You know it's very hard to forget the old days because my vision is that the past contains much stronger material from almost every band and also it was a time when every band was more unique than they are today.
While he knows how to "walk on eggs" around the media, Nocturno Culto is a smart man: he correctly identifies the three major problems black metal faces today: 1) poserdom, 2) commercial - and even corporate - infiltration/subversion, and 3) lack of originality in newer bands.
While he doesn't go as far as Satyricon's frontman, or even Marduk's Morgan - who compared Cannibal Corpse to Madonna - the sentiment is pretty much the same.
It's a bit crazy too. You can talk to Nocturno Culto, Necrobutcher, Varg Vikernes, Fenriz, Ihsahn, Satyr, Samoth, Hellhammer, Abbath, hell even Nergal or Rob Darken, and none of them have anything positive to say about modern black metal.
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