Swedish black metal band Watain are performing in support of their fifth full-length album, The Wild Hunt, which was released last year courtesy of Century Media Records. Maximum Metal’s T. Ray Verteramo had the opportunity to talk with Erik Danielsson about the band’s rare US appearance on Sunday, June 15th at the Brooklyn Bazaar as well as his artistic and spiritual awakening.

On performing in the US Daniellson explains, “"Europe right now is in festival season, which is…terrible. I just hate it. But, we were contacted by these guys in Brooklyn at the last minute that invited us to do the full show. And I mean, everything. All the pyro, the whole thing. Everyone is so uptight and nervous; we saw this as a great opportunity we didn't want to pass up." And he added, "And besides, it's not like we're going to be turning right around afterwards, so the going back and forth is not as crazy as it sounds."

In a recent interview by Andrew Epstein (JMT), Nergal of Behemoth stated bluntly, "Extreme music has become stale." But, Mr. Danielsson's perspective is much more generous. "I don't know if I can agree with that," he answered respectfully. "There are a good amount of bands that are around that we're in contact with that are still relevant. It's the same in any art form, in music or horror movies that you'll always get 95% product and 5% real vision. How to tell which is which? The trick is just developing an antenna over time."

It is said that writing about music is about as useful as dancing about architecture. But, he counterpoints, "Why is that? You could write three pages about one note."

"When you can forget what you have been told, let go of the programming, then you can start really creating. To think and create outside the box, you don't necessarily have to see the box – I know I try not to look at it, myself. I prefer to be out of touch. But, it doesn't matter. You first have to know your enemy, which is yourself. It's about taking away everything that keeps you or gives you the illusion that you are safe and leaving yourself in an unpredictable state of mind."
"I know that I have enjoyed intellectual privilege, but we need to always strive for freedom," and then, "I am so tired of people trying to convince themselves and have this idea that they think they are strong with unique vision, but they still compare themselves to other artists or repeat what others say. It's so boring and uninspiring." With conviction, he adds, "It is insulting to Watain to be put together with these people. It just makes me want to crawl…it is extremely troubling. Where are the mad painters, anymore?!"
"Art is meant to be dangerous," he proclaims. "I kind of liken it to the phenomenon of the birthday party…here are all these children gathered around, innocent, at play, and then you give them the knife to cut the cake. At that point, anything can happen."

You can read the entire interview here.