The word legend gets bandied around a lot these days, but have no doubts Dark Funeral are well and truly legends of the black metal scene. Founded in Sweden way back in 1993 the band have conquered the world for the decades following – wowing audiences across the world as they have.
Now Dark Funeral return to our shores for Direct Underground Fest 2019 which will see them take to the stage with the likes of Immolation, Abramelin, Christ Dismembered and Reaper. HEAVY Mag recently caught up with Dark Funeral guitarist Lord Ahriman for a chat.
“We are really excited to be able to come back to Australia, it has been a couple of years for us,” he says as we talk about the fact that this will be the band’s first visit to Australia in awhile. “We’ve been talking about coming to Australia since our last record, Where Shadows Forever Reign, and to be honest I’m not sure why it has taken this long because we have been ready to come over but sometimes things take time I guess. But now finally we have been able to secure a deal and make it happen. The coolest thing about being able to play at a festival is that you get to meet a new crowd and most likely you play for new people… that is always cool. It’s great to play for your diehard fans but it is great to meet new people also.”
Our talk turns to the difficulty of putting together a set list for a band that has now been around for so many years. “It is tricky,” he says laughing. “But we always like to try and put in songs for each record. That way the older fans get their songs and also there is something there for the younger fans, but it is tricky and it all depends on how long we get with stage time… stuff like that. But we do always try to put together a decent mix and give the old school fans and the younger fans what they want.”
I mention to Lord Ahriman that it seems so many people are excited that they will get to see Dark Funeral on the same stage as Immolation and he admits that he is excited as well. “I think it is great, we haven’t seen those guys in ages,” he says. “It might have been in New York and we hung out a bit, but I think it is great because it is always great to be able to share the stage with other great bands. It is good to have two strong bands together, and also not to have two bands that play the same style of music because it gives the crowd a more interesting time also. They get the experience of us and a different experience as well.”
The one thing that you can take from talking to Lord Ahriman is that it certainly won’t be as long before they hit our shores again.
