Viking Crown

Ugly Black Metal - United States

Those who contend that NECROPHAGIA is Killjoy and Philip Anselmos most raw, primitive, and blood curdling project have yet to experience VIKING CROWN. Its latest creation, Banished Rhythmic Hate, is the musical equivalent of a runaway roller coaster car hurtling through a dark tunnel. Along with NECROPHAGIA and SOUTHERN ISOLATION keyboardist Opal, the deviant duo have re-imagined the Grand Guignol [the infamous 19th century French horror theater] as music, creating cathartic compositions that move between the raw, crude, and grotesque and the hauntingly beautiful and darkly atmospheric.

“VIKING CROWN was inspired by early, traditional black metal,” explains Killjoy. “That is what the band has always aspired to be. Though most people seem to understand our music, there are still those who dont understand why it has to be so raw.”

Most current Black Metal artists compose music that envisions a gothic 19th century England; the dark, eerie, and foggy streets where hookers provided unsuspecting prey for Jack the Ripper. VIKING CROWNs grotesque creations, however, visualizes the rippers blade making its cut; his meticulously eviscerations and textbook disembowelments.

Interwoven among Banished Rhythmic Hates 11 tracks are lavish, ambient creations by Southern Isolation keyboardist Opal Enthroned. “She plays some of the most depressing, horrific sounding things I have ever heard,” says Killjoy. “Philip and I would just sit and listen back the recordings and marvel over how dark they are. It doesnt sound gothic. It doesnt sound pretty.” Killjoy sums up VIKING CROWNs Banished Rhythmic as “very dark, melancholy, and extremely hideous.” “I am proud to have been a part of this recording,” he says. Later this year, the trio will compose and record the soundtrack to Bloodfeast II: Buffet of Blood, the long-awaited sequel to H.G. Lewis classic gorefest, Bloodfeast.