Darkthrone guitarist and vocalist Ted “Nocturno Culto” Skjellum has announced that the debut album from his new heavy rock and metal band, Avrak, will be released this autumn.
Speaking in an interview with Dev Gohil, Skjellum detailed the origins of the project, which features a collaboration with guitarist Anders Hegna (known for his work in Nød, El Kayenne, and Svidd Grevling). Avrak played its first live show in Norway this past April, utilizing a live rhythm section consisting of drummer Terje Kråbøl and bassist Stian Kråbøl.
“Actually, I’ve known this guy [Anders] for — I don’t know — 12 years or something. And I knew he was in other bands. And we talked about maybe we should do something once and try it out and see what it becomes. We come from slightly different angles, when looking at music, but we have a lot in common. I listened to Kreator up until ’87 max, and he’s likes [listening] to things from ’88 and onwards. So I have a bit more old-school path. But it’s fun,” he stated (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
To test their musical chemistry, the two guitarists isolated themselves in a mountain cabin to write.
“When we decided [to play together for the first time], we locked ourselves into a cabin up in the mountains for, like, five days,” Skjellum continued. “We had a lot of equipment with us, and we had never played together before, and let’s see how this works out. And it could be after the first night that we just [say], ‘Okay, this doesn’t work. We are going to sit here for five more days.’ But we were on to something quite early. And it’s a lot of coincidences on how this is working.”
Those sessions paved the way for the recording of the band’s debut album in February. Skjellum noted that the record highlights the distinct contrast between his playing style and Hegna‘s approach.
“On the album that we recorded in February, [Anders] has the kind of, let’s say, a bit of a more rock guitar sound thing, and I have the more metal guitar sound thing, and they kind of blend together. The music is very… I mean, we play two different things almost all the time on this album, and it sounds really chaotic, but this is the hard part for us to be working with. To get this right, it takes a lot of time, and also our arrangements and small details,” Skjellum revealed.
Regarding the release timeline and the band’s future plans, Skjellum confirmed:
“I think the Avrak album is coming out this autumn sometime. And we’re looking forward to it. For us, it’s like a milestone because all the hours we put into this project, and we also played actually a concert now in late April. So, the goal for Avrak is to play more live. I mean, we have a great band together. So, we got that confirmed in April that, yes, sure we can play live. It’s no problem.”
Unlike his workflow in Darkthrone, the songwriting process in Avrak relies heavily on direct, in-person collaboration.
“Well, it’s different, especially in the most obvious way, is that me and the other guitarist, we are making everything together. He doesn’t live far away from me, so we have a rehearsing space down here, and we are working closely on all the details of this music,” he explained.
Musically, the new project steps away from black metal, pulling direct influence from classic heavy metal and hard rock.
“And the music itself definitely differs from Darkthrone because… It’s a bit more classic heavy metal, hard rock. There could be some doom things there and maybe some black metal elements, but it’s more of a classic — what should I say? — heavy, heavy metal kind of thing. And I think that that’s kind of one of the things that makes it interesting for me because I’m a huge fan of the classic heavy metal from the ’80s and stuff like that, the more optimistic decade somehow, something like that. I mean, heavy metal in the ’80s was very different because the European heavy metal versus the American heavy metal was… It’s very, very far away from each other because the Europeans, of course, have more history. And then their music [is] darker somehow. So the European heavy thing was — not like the party kind of thing, but it was a different thing. Yeah, I like it,” he concluded.
