Artist: Gaahl
Latest album: Gaahls Wyrd – Braiding the Stories
Genre: Black Metal
Country: Norway
Label: Season of Mist
Released: 6th of June 2025
Introduction
A legend like Kristian Gaahl Espedal shouldn’t need much of an introduction, being the vocalist of Trelldom, Gaahlskag, Gorgoroth, God Seed and now most notably Gaahls Wyrd. So the oppurtunity to pick his brain about his music, art, and the black metal scene in general was one I couldn’t miss.
As me and my wife stayed a few days in Bergen after our weekend at Karmøygeddon we feel greatful to Gaahl that he took the time for this interview.
Interview
Kilian: I’ve enjoyed listening to the first two singles of the new Gaahls Wyrd album in which you incorporate some clean vocals. How did it come about?
Gaahl: It’s probably what the music wanted. So we always try to work with what I feel.
Kilian: To me it sounds really great. It got the vibes of some faster paced gothic rock.
Gaahl: Yeah, as soon as I had selected the songs that we decided to continue to work on, we kind of
thought that combining songs it was natural to bring in, (the) kind of the 80’s energies and then the gothic rock elements just kind of are attached to that sound.
Kilian: I think it sounds really great. In regards to the latest Trelldom album, our head writer Roberto, being a long time Trelldom fan, wanted to know a bit about the evolution of that sound and shift into even more psychedelic territory.
Gaahl: There’s a lot of psychedelic (elements), and what I’m working on now might alienate even more fans, even though I feel that what we’re working on now is kind of (rooted more in) art, the foundation is maybe more musically, maybe more connected, but then what we do instrumentally and vocally, will tilt it into something new, but still with a strong connection to both, both the previous album and, conceptually with the older sound. Now it’s kind of a natural thing when me and Stian (Kårstad, bass & guitar) have been on and off with sharing ideas, and then he took a break from music. After he quit Gaahls Wyrd, he was kind of tired of touring and the whole music industry. So, yeah, but we still threw things a bit back and forth, and then we, for some reason, kind of had this zeitgeist where both were ready to dive into it again. And both of us, had Kenneth (Kapstad) in mind on drums. So I asked him, and Stian asked him, and he said he has to (have an equal strength) vote to join. And still, then Kenneth have had a long yeah, they have a good friendship, and also a strong musical bond. And then we kind of wanted to spar a bit with bringing in the saxophone man (Kjetil Møster), and I’m really like, so first we had the idea to bring in some (outside) folks on some of the tracks. So we had a musician in mind, and then we (planned to incorporate them) on half of the tracks we wanted to master, just to kind of have something (for the vocals) to spar against and also bringing disturbance. But when I got the first track back from Kjetil, I was kind of like okay, he needs to be on all of them. So I kind of put aside some of some of the tracks and then brought in Kjetil, and that created, this kind of universe (to where we ended up in our soundscape) .And now on the upcoming album, we have (brought in) the bass player that’s doing bass for us live. He’s doing bass on the upcoming album, so now we are a five headed monster, all excellent musicians in what they execute. So this also gives us total freedom, there is no limits to what we can do. In that sense, I don’t want to direct that much, because I think the band communicates really well. If you can give freedom,then you can end up with,yeah, something that no one else could.
Kilian: So the songwriting is shared between all of you or is it just you and the guys do what do you tell them to?
Gaahl: We kind of begin with a lot of different elements, but mainly now it’s Stian that starts to throw back and forth riffs, and we communicate a bit. And then on some elements we ask Kenneth to be the first instigator so we kind of put music on his drums, instead of creating everything out from, the natural (way of creating) music, but Kenneth’s skill and creativity kind of allow us to do this. I’ve asked other drummers (in the past) to do similar things, but they never come up with anything. So that’s just about it but it’s good to kind of have that sort of (different ways) to attack making music.
Kilian: That sounds good, because I also believe it’s pretty hard to do it that way, that you start with drums. For us,in my band, we usually need to have the riffs down first. Maybe that’s an approach worth trying, as you said, it brings more freedom and more ideas to go in different directions.
Gaahl: Yeah, this and it turns your perspective. And I think that’s it important for you (to be) really happy with kind of how those songs have turned out, yeah, or what they are turning into, for that matter.
Kilian: What do you generally feel is happening currently in the music scene? Are you still into black metal and metal in general?
Gaahl: I don’t pay attention to anything, I’m terrible at that. So, yeah, no, really, really, really not good at being part of anything.
Kilian: Is there any newer bands that you would like to tour with at some point or to do some shows with together?
Gaahl: It’s usually up to the European agencies. And I say yes or no, basically, it’s like there’s a lot of interesting things. We had a short tour with Furia (polish experimental bm), and Aluk Todolo (french instrumental occult rock); a great instrumental band, in Poland back in December, and that was excellent, but we do have tours with Gaahls Wyrd planed.
It will probably be quite a bit busy next year. Most likely this album (Trelldom) I am working on now will be out early winter, if we manage to keep the schedule, it’s like everyone involved are kind of busy bees, both on the home front and in studio.
Kilian: You’re recording here in Bergen at Grieghallen or somewhere else?
Gaahl: It’s been a long time since then. But I’m currently working with Pytten. But yeah, one hour outside of the city. Normally, I work with Jack Bucha (at his studio), which is basically just
eight minutes walk from here, so through the park. So that’s that’s an easy, easy thing to combine, since I work (with music in the) mornings and then just walk over here to keep the gallery going.
Kilian: Do you still have a lot of people stopping by here just because of your personality, or is it more balanced now with people interested in your gallery and art exhibition?
Gaahl: I don’t know it’s, it seemed to be the same.
Kilian: As I remember, that’s what you told us three years ago; that you started to sell merch just because a lot of people are don’t value the art that much.
Gaahl: Yeah, and also it’s kind of the way to support other artists, so they bring in their own merch and also their own releases. So I try to cater to them (and the more music oriented patreons).
Kilian: Yeah, how do you combine it with the music? Is the music influencing your paintings, or the paintings incorporated into your music.
Gaahl: No, they they do not touch each other, the two are completely separate worlds.
Kilian: Yes, well, I think that’s enough for our small magazine. Thank you so much for taking your time to do this so spontaneous.
Gaahl: Sure! We’re supposed to be in studio (but it was delayed so I had the time).
Watch Trelldom perform live:
Links:
Trelldom:
https://www.instagram.com/trelldom_92/
https://trelldom.bandcamp.com/album/by-the-shadows
Gaahls Wyrd:
https://www.instagram.com/gaahlswyrd
https://gaahlswyrd.bandcamp.com/album/braiding-the-stories
Galleri Fjalar:
https://www.instagram.com/gallerifjalar/
Your thoughts on Gaahls music and art
We’d love to hear your thoughts on this interview, Gaahls music and art. We thoroughly reccomend you to stop by his Galleri Fjalar if you ever are in Bergen! You can share your opinion on our social media channels, or join the discussion on our Discord—where we talk about all things black metal. Don’t forget to follow our Facebook page, Black Metal Zine, for updates on our latest articles, and take a look at our Instagram @blackmetal.zine for concert photos and more!
