ERIK DANIELSSON Believes Not Using Social Media Has 'Benefited WATAIN Greatly'

WATAIN's Erik Danielsson was recently interviewed by Metal Wani. The complete conversation can be streamed below. A few excerpts follow (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET):

On whether he's monitored blog and social media feedback about the group's new material:

Erik: "I'm usually a little bit of a hermit when it comes to these things, because I don't use the Internet so much in general. I don't have social media. I'm a little bit secluded from the world, you could say. That, on the other hand, is something that I think has benefited WATAIN greatly — the fact that we all live like that, and it's music that comes from a little bit of a different side of society, from a different kind of life in general that people are used to in this modern day and age. The reactions, I think, is more something that's going to show themselves more clearly to me when we finally hit the road and go on stage and actually meet the fans face-to-face, which is what I prefer than watching on screen for comments."

On the group's new album, "Trident Wolf Eclipse":

Erik: "I think if you really want to be respectful first and foremost toward yourself, but also to the people who are going to get your albums and listen to them, you have to forget about expectations. What you want to present to people is something that is genuine and pure, I think. To me, that's always been the mindset that we have got into when entering the creative process. With that in mind, I think it's very much about just shutting all the doors to the outside — like, cutting all the bonds that you might have to anything else other than the things that are the most important to you and the group of people that you're doing this with. In this case, for WATAIN, it means as always looking very deep inside and digging in the darkest corners of our beings. I think this time, we were very focused on the idea of empowerment, the attainment of power and the attainment of force. We have often talked about the fire, which we consider to be a diabolical force that runs within WATAIN, and the empowering aspect of that fire is something that we have been focusing a lot on this time, which is perhaps why the album turned out to be quite a straightforward, almost hostile and predatory kind of expression.

"For this album, we had been talking a little about the idea, the scenario, the setting of a predatory attack. I really mean it in the literal sense of the word, like people have probably seen it on National Geographic some time when, for example, a wolf attacks its prey at night. I think this kind of scenario is something that is quite speaking for the atmosphere of the album in general. On one side, it's a very violent and hostile scenario. It's based on predatory instinct, and it's a very dangerous setting. On the other hand, there's also a lot of beauty in it. Usually, I think the music and the lyrics themselves should serve as the guide, but sometimes it can also be good to kind of steer people in the right direction of thoughts when it comes to different ways of how you can perceive the album.

"I would say it's the most fierce and the most powerful and empowering work I have ever been involved in."

On the group's musical evolution:

Erik: "I think the beauty of the path is very much that you don't really see more than a few meters ahead of you. You can know perhaps what direction you want to take things, but ultimately, you never know what the expression will be like, because there are so many boundaries to cross, so many things to experience along the way. You never really know where you're going to end up, which is, I think, the beauty of art in general — you're only in control until a certain extent, and something else takes over."

On what defines a rebel:

Erik: "To me, it has always been a lot about finding out what I want, and the people I care about, what they want. And then do everything in my ability to achieve that. In doing so, perhaps transgressing a lot of borders and a lot of boundaries that were put there by other people because people, at least in our Western society, they're meant to stay in line and follow the patterns. This is something that if you're determined to go your own way and if you have things that you love in your life that you care more about than to fit in, then you will eventually have to face opposition. You're going to have to rebel. You're going to have to place yourself even against the law in order to get what you want sometimes. For me, there's something very beautiful in that, and this is something that I find that heavy metal culture in general encourages and motivates people to do, which is also why I call myself a metalhead for life."

"Trident Wolf Eclipse" is due January 5, 2018 via Century Media. The effort will be made available as an LP, standard CD, limited CD digipak, digitally as well as in a limited deluxe box set of three thousand copies. The album will also be available in a variation of different vinyl colors from selected mailorder/retail stores.