Gorgoroth’s Infernus Sets the Record Straight
By: Darren Cowan
Along with Emperor, Mayhem, Burzum, Satyricon and a host of other hellish entities, Gorgoroth is a name synonymous with Norwegian black metal. Although the group has made slight changes of style in its 17-year existence, they have never lowered the flag of Satan they fly so high. Very few of the original True Norwegian black metal artists have stayed as consistent to their abhorrent style first developed in the late eighties and early nineties Scandinavia.
Even though the band has not intentionally gone out of its way to create chaos in the manner of ex-Mayhem guitarist Euronymous, Gorgoroth never seems able to turn its back on trouble. In addition to drummer Grim committing suicide in 1991 and the group’s ban from Poland for its brutal use of animal carcasses as stage props, no other members have created as much controversy as former singer Gaahl, who made major news when he served a prison term for torturing a man.
More recently, Gaahl sparked a storm of headlines when he and former bassist King Ov Hell issued a temporary injunction against band founder and guitarist, Infernus for his attempt to release True Norwegian Black Metal - Live in Grieghallen in 2008. The two had gone to a court in Sweden to make their claim as owners of the Gorgoroth trademark. The Oslo City District Court has ruled in favor of Infernus.
The trademark debacle began in 2007 when Gaahl and King Ov Hell fired Infernus. Infernus laughed when asked about this episode. He obviously saw his “firing” in a much different light than his former band mates, stating that the two “fired themselves, and they did so quite effectively.” Infernus expounds, “That is according to what I have stated all the time, and that is according to the court verdict from Oslo district court last month as well.
“I do not really care what intentions they had,” he continues. “There are probably many folds, and it is up to them to try legitimizing what they attempted. For me that is irrelevant. However, they should have left quietly, and started their own band—just like I did, not try to get the rights to the band name through a desperate attempt of combined publicity stunts and more or less well-planned and ill-intentioned paperwork. In addition, they should have done so a long time ago.”
Once both factions separated, Infernus began to concentrate again on Gorgoroth. “I went to the studio with my new line-up,” he states unremorsefully. “It was not me running to the media, crying for attention during these 18 months it lasted.”
What spurred the legality of the Gorgoroth name was Infernus’s attempt to release True Norwegian Black Metal - Live in Grieghallen. Regain Records released the album in 2008, and then, “King and Gaahl, Infernus explains, “claiming to be the rightful owners of the Gorgoroth name, managed to get a court in Malmo, Sweden, to issue a temporary injunction to temporarily stop the distribution of the album.”
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