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Black Metal Cult Legend Elected To Norwegian City Council, Must Serve Four Years Despite Campaign Ads With His Cat Saying ‘Please Don’t Vote For Me’

By Alicia Bayer
Published on: 06:28 PST, Sep 13, 2016

Norwegian black metal legend Fenriz has a new job whether he likes it or not. The Darkthrone figurehead was recently elected to the city council in Kolbotn, Oslo, despite running a campaign asking people not to vote for him.

Fenriz, whose full name is Gylve Fenris Nagell, told Clyrvnt that he never expected to be elected when he agreed to be on the ballot as a substitute member of the town council in his current hometown of Kolbotn, a suburb of Oslo with a population of about 9,000 residents.

“Basically, they called and asked if I wanted to be on the list,” he told the interviewer. “I said yeah, thinking I would be like 18th on the list and I wouldn’t really have to do anything.”

In fact, Fenriz was so reluctant to take on the position that he ran a campaign asking people not to vote for him. He held his cat, whose name translates roughly to “Peanut Butter,” in the ads.

https://www.facebook.com/oppegardvenstre/photos/a.1378997889089577.1073741828.1378521139137252/1473426769646688/?type=3&theater

Unfortunately, the ads had the opposite effect. Fenriz was elected as the backup city council member against his will. Norwegian politics dictate that he can’t refuse the position once elected, so he will have to serve for the next four years.

“Basically, I have to step in when the usual people who go to the big meetings are sick or something,” he explained about his new city council role. “Then I have to go sit there and feel stupid among the straight people.”

Pitchfork reports that Fenriz’s band, Darkthrone, is set to release their 17th studio album, Arctic Thunder, in October.

Some of the Darkthrone’s previous albums include Total Death, Plaguewielder, Goatlord, Hate Them, and Ravishing Grimness.

Dorfdisco interviewed Fenriz in 2003, saying, “Darkthrone’s 1991’s ‘A Blaze in the Northern Sky’ was the album that helped kickstart modern Norwegian black metal.”

The music site says that Darkthrone is “a cult band in the true sense of the word.”

“Darkthrone’s members are as elusive as they are music savvy. They’ve refused to play live for most of their career and persistently refute any claims to originality, unwittingly assuming a heroic stance by refusing to submit to their own legacy.”

Darkthrone originally formed 26 years ago as Black Death, when they played technical death metal. Their music eventually evolved to primitive black metal, the genre they helped to define.

Stereogum has this to say about the notorious culture of black metal bands in Norway.

“If you didn’t know, Norwegian black metal musicians are unusually prone to things like suicide, murder, and incarceration.”

The band is best known for what has been called the Unholy Trinity — three consecutive LPs that came to define black metal: 1992’s A Blaze in the Northern Sky, 1993’s Under a Funeral Moon, and 1994’s Transilvanian Hunger.

Fenriz is also notorious for his many idiosyncrasies, including his refusal to play live concerts, Darkthrone’s lack of rehearsal time (they reportedly rehearse once or twice a year, if ever), and his irreverent interviews.

He told an interviewer for C.O.T.I.M. zine in 1992 why Darkthrone had stopped playing live shows.

“We don’t play live anymore because of sound problems, silly trend audience, stagedivers (shoot em) and other financial and equipmental problems. In Finland we had to kick people off the stage down to the audience because they were just standing there or they were about to stagedive… But we don’t wanna play live anymore. We’ve played 20 gigs and all sucked!!!”

Fenriz ended that article saying. “[P]lease tell everyone how much you hate our new stuff! If you do not hate this, then your not a true deathmetaller!”

Judging by how most people feel about politics, he’ll probably get plenty of that kind of feedback in his new gig.

[Image via Oppegard Venstre/Facebook]

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