The Great Southern Brainfart has issued a new interview, conducted with frontman Erik Danielsson of Swedish black metal act WATAIN. An excerpt follows:

Q: So I have to be honest. Aside from listening to VENOM as a kid, I was never much of a black metal fan and then I gave you guys a listen and I’m really intrigued with your songs and your performances.

A: "That is really good to hear that you made that comparison. I wish I heard Venom and Watain in the same sentence more often. Venom is one of my all-time favorite bands and I think if you have that sort of background you might actually be able to relate to what we do as well. Musically there might be a slight difference. Venom are the originators of the black metal movement that we later became a part and we like carrying that torch onwards and uphold that legacy."

Q: Watain seems to have more of that classic element than most of the other modern bands. Is that something that was intentional?

A: "We never really sat down and discussed how Watain should sound. It’s pretty safe to say though that our own personal preferences when it comes to black metal have always been very traditional. Venom are one of the most important bands ever to Watain and the same goes for bands like MERCYFUL FATE and even bands like EXCITER, RACER, and VOIVOD. We’ve always leaned towards bands like that in our own musical tastes when it comes to metal. I suppose our sound really comes from a mix of those bands and late era black metal such as MAYHEM and DISSECTION and so on."

Read the complete interview at this location.

Right after an extensive North America tour in October/November, Watain will set European stages on fire to present their new opus, The Wild Hunt, live. Those who witnessed the album release show on August 24th in Watain's hometown Uppsala in Sweden will know what to expect - everybody else can be curious about it and shouldn’t miss it.

The band comments: "It will be with the dead of winter that we shall come hunting through Europe again. By then the dry heat of summer will be long gone, moistened by gasoline and tears, ready to explode into a storm of panic and euphoria, death and metal, war and pain, sodomy and lust! So gather yourselves and prepare, forbidden fires and unearthly lights shall illuminate the winter nights..."

The special guests for the tour will be announced soon. Dates include:

December

5 - Manchester, England - Academy 2
6 - Glasgow, Scotland - Garage
7 - Birmingham, England - The Library @ The Institute
8 - London, England - Electric Ballroom

Watain released The Wild Hunt via the band’s own label His Master’s Noise and Century Media Records. The album entered their national Swedish album charts at #1. And in the second week it sits at #5. German fans helped Watain to achieve their first ever German chart entry at #18. In the US the album entered the Billboard Top 200 at #158.

The Wild Hunt tracklisting:

'Night Vision'

'De Profundis'

'Black Flames March'

'All That May Bleed'

'The Child Must Die'

'They Rode On'

'Sleepless Evil'

'The Wild Hunt'

'Outlaw'

'Ignem Veni Mittere'

'Holocaust Dawn'

BraveWords' review of The Wild Hunt can be found here.

The album is streaming in full below:

'All That May Bleed' lyric video:

An interview with Watain frontman Erik Danielsson (featuring fan-submitted questions about The Wild Hunt) can be seen below:

Watain will tour North America this fall with IN SOLITUDE and TRIBULATION.

Tour dates include:

October

8 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza
9 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts
10 - Worcester, MA - Palladium Upstairs
11 - Montreal, QC - Foufounes Electriques
12 - Toronto, ON - Opera House
14 - Detroit, MI - The Magic Stick
15 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge
16 - Minneapolis, MN - Triple Rock Social Club
18 - Denver, CO - Marquis Theater
19 - Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue
21 - Seattle, WA - Studio Seven
22 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw
23 - Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theater
25 - Oakland, CA - Oakland Metro
26 - Los Angeles, CA - VEX
27 - Phoenix, AZ - Rocky Point Cantina
28 - Albuquerque, NM - Launch Pad
30 - Austin, TX - Red 7

November

1 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade Hell
2 - Charlotte, NC - The Casbah
3 - Baltimore, MD - Baltimore Sound Stage

For more info visit Facebook.