Certainly one of the most ground-breaking and influential bands in the death metal and black metal scenes was Sweden’s Dissection, in spite of their primary career being cut short after just two albums.  Another band that is not as well-known but has certainly proven itself over time is fellow countrymen Necrophobic.  So it is no surprise that the combining of forces between Dissection’s Johan Norman (guitar) and Necrophobic’s Tobias Sidegård (vocals) and Alex Friberg (bass) should produce a band as intense and soul-destroying as Trident.  Rounded out by drummer Jonas Blom and guitarist Ewo Solvelius, the band is about to unleash their devastating debut, World Destruction, on Regain Records this March 22nd.  To prepare us for the onslaught, Alex has kindly taken the time to answer some questions via e-mail… 

According to the bio, you and Johan met up in a pub and decided to start the band. Was that just a random meeting?
Yes, it actually was.  I ran into Johan at this bar in Gothenburg, I saw on him that he was a warrior and from the same school of metal as I am so we started to talk about metal in general.  Later it appeared that he was just then thinking of starting up a new band, I was right away willing to join.  We sat down the next day and talked it all through and decided that it was time to create a band this world has been waiting for.  After some years of struggling and changes in the line-up, we will now finally release our debut album.

For people who haven’t had a chance to hear Trident yet, what would you tell them to expect and what makes Trident unique?
It is very hard to explain Trident in words; you have to listen to the album to understand the greatness of Trident.  But I can tell them to expect very raw and hard blackened death metal, insane blastbeats combined with atmospheric heavy parts.  Trident is unique because we have the old school sound that we all feel familiar with and the only sound we want to hear and we have knowledge on our instruments that is far beyond the common man so we do our death/black metal extremely well played.  That mix is what I think makes Trident unique.

How does the songwriting process work in Trident?
Johan is writing almost all the material in Trident but then I have a look on it.  It is very rare that I want to change anything but still.  Johan is insane when it comes to writing fucking great black music.  When the music for a new song is done, me or Tobias takes it on to write the lyric to that song.

The sound on World Destruction is quite good. What led to you choosing Andy LaRocque and Nico Elgstrand to work with?
"Quite good"!?  It is a very good old school sound if you ask me!  It was Johan that talked with Andy and told him about this band and our vision.  Andy was very interested to help out with the studio and his skills of engineering, so we did both guitars and bass guitar in Andy´s studio, Sonic Train Studio.  Nico was a friend of Tobias (and now a friend of all of us) so Tobias talked with him about this band and he was also interested to be a part of this album.  So we recorded the voice at Entombed´s studio in Stockholm.  And they are both extremely talented guys and know what they are doing; otherwise we wouldn’t work with them.

How did the recording go? Were there any unexpected obstacles along the way?
Actually, the recording went very well.  We all knew our stuff when we entered the studio.  And no technical blunders either so it all went very well.  The only thing that happened, and to be honest, worried me a bit, was Tobias got the flu just before he was supposed to sing.  Luckily, he is very professional and drank a shitload of whiskey to get his voice in order during the recording.  It went extremely good.

Was the material pretty much completed before entering the studio or did you write or change anything during the recording session?
No, everything was done, just to go in and nail it.

I don’t have a lyric sheet but could you talk a bit about the concepts behind the songs “Black Velvet Wings,” “Stockholm Bloodbath” and “Slaves to Anguish”?
"Black Velvet Wings" is a story about a girl taking her life to travel the underworld and look for her fiancé (how he died is not interesting for this story).  Anyways, she more and more turns to the darkness and the forces of that world and finally finds her inner black flame.  You have to read it to understand.  She is the whole time a traveler but she seeks for different things through the story.  This lyric is pure poetry.

"Stockholm Bloodbath" is about the bloodbath that happened in Stockholm 1520. Right in the middle of Stockholm on Iron Square when Kristian II was executing 80-90 people with guillotine.  He took the throne in Stockholm and the power over Sweden.  In 3 days, "Kristian tyrann" had killed all Swedish nobles.

"Slaves to Anguish" is about those fucking week sheep that call themselves Christians!  They are nothing but slaves, and they are so weak-minded that they allow themselves to be undercasted to some god that doesn’t exist and if they don’t do as it says in the book of lies, they apparently get serious anguish.

The album has a very apocalyptic title - do you feel that humanity is pretty much destined for destruction at this point?
Yes absolutely!  It can’t go on like it does now.  Either the earth finds a way to destroy mankind with a major natural catastrophe or it will be a World War III who will clean out a big number of the population of the earth.  It already has begun and we want to be part of the doomsday for all weak and fanatic religions.  It’s about fighting fire with fire!

I gather that Ewo Solvelius was not the original lead guitarist in Trident, it was Mike Hellmaker (correct me if that is wrong). What happened with Mike and how did you manage to find Ewo?
No, Ewo is not the original guitarist.  We had some problems with Mike, he didn’t have his heart in the right place.  He was not aiming at the same direction as us, so we had to replace him.  It was Johan who found Ewo, I really don’t know how, but he did and Ewo was a hell of an increment for the band.  Insane stringbender...

Your blog from January 2009 states that the album would be out in Spring ’09 - what happened to delay it by a year?
Yeah, I know.  We had some issues with our label.  It is all sorted out now.

The cover artwork is very cool.  Can you talk a little about the concept behind it and also how you hooked up with the artist, Marcelo Vasco?
Thank you.  We want that the persons who listen to the album and look at the cover to think of World Destruction exactly as the album’s name.  The cover symbolizes the doomsday with the world’s souls been dragged down to hell.  In the middle, the force of Trident rises as the shape of Phoenix in black flames.  Tobias had seen work from Marcelo before and knew that he is very good, so we checked out on myspace what he had done in the past and it is truly quality work.  I contacted him and he gladly accepted the task, and it turned out great!

Will there be a vinyl release of World Destruction? If so, on what label and when will it be released?
Yes, it will be on vinyl.  It’s going to be released on Regain Records but I don’t know when yet.  Probably later this year.

I get the impression that Trident is a pretty full-time band rather than a ‘project.’ Is that true, is this the main focus of everyone in the band?  Is it difficult at all to balance your time between Trident and Necrophobic?
Absolutely, this is not a “side-projekt,” this is a fulltime commitment.  So far, it has not been so hard to combine.  Necrophobic are not touring so much and we all check with each other before we confirm shows, first goes first you know.  But we will do a lot of festivals and tours with Trident; we are going to take this band to the top!

What can fans expect from a Trident show? Will there be any Dissection or Necrophobic songs thrown in or will it be 100% Trident material?
You can expect a very tight and intense show.  You can expect blackened death metal in world-class.  Not just 5 guys playing their songs but 5 guys who are really putting on a show.  You have to go see it for yourself.  No, there will not be a Dissection or a Necrophobic song.  We do not tribute bands that we ourselves play in or have played in.  If it’s going to be a tribute-song, it’s going to be a tribute to Morbid Angel.

You guys have all been on the scene for quite a while. What is your take on how the black and death metal scenes have changed and evolved over time?
Well, we all love the old stuff in the scene.  To be honest, it is not much nowadays that attracts my attention.  Very few manage to do sincere and honest black metal.  So, I have to say that it has mainly turned to the worse but those who manage, do it very good.

Are you pretty happy with Regain Records so far? Do you think that the necessities of promotion, distribution and tour support will mean that record labels in general will be around in the future or will the whole downloading culture eventually spell the industry’s doom?
I think the labels always will be around but it will be much harder for them thanks to all the assholes that download and steal the music.  But for sure the labels who have the bigger acts are always going to survive, and they have a very important role as well when it comes to promotion, tour support and so on.  So we absolutely need the labels.

Do you have a day job or any favorite hobbies outside of music?
Yeah, my hobby outside the music is training.  I do a lot of gym and kickboxing, I like to stay in shape.  That’s what I do when I don’t do music.

What were some of the bands and musicians that inspired you the most when you first started playing bass?
One band that always inspired me and still does is Iron Maiden.  The greatest band of all time, and of course I chose the bass just because Steve Harris was playing bass.  Later, when I first heard Beneath the Remains, I was just like –“what the fuck is this!? Holy fuck its good!!” And then I right away understood my destined path of Death metal.

Do you have any touring plans lined-up yet?
We have some things going on but I can not reveal anything yet.  I can promise you though that Trident are going to tour a lot, so you all will see us on the road definitely!  To be updated, always check on our sites, we release all our news there:  www.trident666.com  and www.myspace.com/tridentofficial

I know this album is just coming out but do you have any plans or ideas yet for the next one? Is there anything you would like to do differently or that you didn’t get a chance to do with this album?
Yes, of course, we never rest.  We have 3-4 songs already done for the next album.  There are always things that need to be improved but what that is, is very hard to say before we have the demo recording of the songs and can hear what kind of sounds, etc., we want for that particular song.  Expect the next album will be nothing but a complete masterpiece!

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer these questions - it is much appreciated!
Thank you for this interview.  Up the Trident! 666