The CD, called "Now, Diabolical," has won rave reviews in Norway, with one critic calling it "Armani-metal" for its sharp production and hard-hitting pieces tailored for a wider public than just black metal afficionados.
Satyricon has been around for 15 years and forms one of the pillars of the black metal camp in Norway, along with Darkthrone, Emperor, Mayhem and Dimmu Borgir. Satyricon's last album, "Volcano" in 2002, sold 12,600 copies in Norway and was considered the band's commercial breakthrough.
The new album, according to Kjetil "Frost" Haraldstad of Satyricon, wields "incredibly intense energy." He says he can understand that the music seems more aggressive and angrier than earlier CDs. The title cut, he acknowledges, is characterized by "at times, hysterical fury."
Norwegian black metal is also about to be the subject of a film being directed by the American-Norwegian behind the documentary "Moog." Hans Fjellestad plans to start filming in Norway in May.
The film, called "Lords of Chaos" will be based on the documentary book about church burnings and murder tied to black metal players in in the early 1990s. Fjellestad stresses that the film, however, won't be a documentary itself.
He told newspaper Dagsavisen that he's not preoccupied with the facts and that rather, his job is to tell a story.
