SATYRICON To Release 'Deep Calleth Upon Deep' Album In September; Cover Artwork Unveiled

Norwegian black metallers SATYRICON will release their ninth studio album, "Deep Calleth Upon Deep", on September 22 via Napalm Records.

Recorded in Oslo, Norway and Vancouver, Canada, during early 2017 and mixed together with revered studio guru Mike Fraser (who previously worked on SATYRICON's 2006 album, "Now, Diabolical"),"Deep Calleth Upon Deep" is not just a new collection of songs from one of extreme music's most enduring and reliable bands: this is a wholesale reinvention and a brand new era in SATYRICON history.

SATYRICON vocalist Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2015, says: "Approaching this release, what I always kept in mind is that either this is the beginning of something new or it's gonna be my last record. If this is going to be the last, then it needs to be something special. If there are more records, then I'd better make sure that this is so different from the last one that it feels like a new beginning. I think it's really, really dark, very spiritual and filled with confidence and energy."

"Deep Calleth Upon Deep" is a profound statement about the essence of SATYRICON's music and the eternal value of art itself. Satyr continues: "The way that I see it is that for any art, be it SATYRICON or any other form of art with substance, in order for you to be able to inhale and completely understand it, it will take a little bit of you as well. If you get it all after a couple of listens, you know that it probably won't stay with you. So the title is saying, 'From the depth of the people making this record to the depth of the listener...' If you want to take part in this journey, you should be prepared to dig deep down in the darkest corner of your soul with us."

The "Deep Calleth Upon Deep" front cover is an obscure drawing from 1898 by perhaps the greatest Norwegian artist of all time, Edvard Munch.

SATYRICON drummer Kjetil-Vidar "Frost" Haraldstad recently told "The Jasta Show" about "Deep Calleth Upon Deep": "This is an album that we have been really working a lot with for a long time. It's all about getting the right expression for each and every song.

"It has never been anything that we've discussed in the band, but at least I personally feel that every song has a life of its own, a very strong and unique identity," he continued. "This album is really about giving life to those eight songs that constitute it.

"Like with every SATYRICON album, I guess it's very, very diverse, and this is more true than ever with the new one," he said. "In particular, when it comes to this identity bit, I feel the songs, even if they fit extremely well together in a compilation of songs, each and every one, it's very, very different from the others — almost like human beings are different from each other."

According to Frost, the more varied approach of SATYRICON's 2013 self-titled album was a musical precursor to the exploratory nature of the band's upcoming disc.

"I realize that the previous albums opened lots of doors for us," he said. "There was a reason that we chose to name the [last] album after the band itself. Basically, we felt that somehow SATYRICON became a very complete band with that album. We managed to bring that dynamic element into the band that somehow had been missing a little, and we felt that when that was there, it was like we had all the basic components that should constitute SATYRICON. And as those doors were opened with that album, we then found ourselves in a situation where we were, like, roaming about in those different rooms. And this new album is a result of discovering and searching through and basically exploring new territory and making it ours."

SATYRICON has already announced a European tour for September/October to coincide with the release of "Deep Calleth Upon Deep".

Photo credit: Marius Viken