Satyricon have signed a worldwide deal with Napalm Records for the release of their new live DVD, “Live At The Opera“. Band vocalist/guitarist, etc. Sigurd “Satyr” Wongraven commented on the set:
“The whole thing started with us doing one song, “To The Mountains” a year and a half before the actual show. We performed at a closed event in the main hall of the opera with the Royal Norwegian Opera Chorus. It was very inspirational. I then said to the conductor that I would love to do a whole show like this. He loved the idea, I was serious about it, and he was serious about it.
We spent approximately one and a half year working with composer and arranger Kjetil Bjerkestrand on the choral arrangements. When I picked songs, I was not necessarily looking at only songs suitable for choral arrangements or typical in the Satyricon live set. For me, it had to be a combination. If you look at songs like “Die By My Hand“, it`s pretty obvious we`ll want to use a choir for that because it has a choir on the record too. On the other hand, there were other things I had to consider.
For example, “K.I.N.G.” is probably the most famous Satyricon song ever – and not necessarily a song I can imagine with choral arrangements. But just because people hear it more or less the same way always, I thought it would be interesting to take that song and give it a totally different vibe for this one time. And it`s also interesting to see if we can work it around the structure of a song that is more or less straightforward.
For something that we planned for so long, put so much work into, and something this unique – of course it would be nice to film it and record it. But I made it very clear to the people around Satyricon that I`m not going to turn this into a recording session where you can buy tickets.When you hear or or watch this recording you should feel like you’re there.
This is not “Satyricon – Best Of from the Opera“, this is a show! The perfect parts need to go in there, but also the parts that are not so perfect. That`s the nature of it, that`s the real deal. It’s not a live album. It’s a celebration of what Satyricon stands for as a band.”
A May 05th North American release date has been scheduled on DVD and 2xCD. Footage of “Die By My Hand” from it has been released below The following European dates have also been booked:
02/21 Bergen, NOR – Blastfest
04/04 Nijmegen, NET – Doornroosje
04/05 Oignies, FRA – Le Metaphone
04/06 Paris, FRA – La Machine
04/07 Manchester, UK – Sound Control
04/08 London, UK – Scala
04/10 Durbuy, UK – Durbuy Rock Festival
04/11 Bochum, GER – Matrix
04/12 Wiesbaden, GER – Schlachthof
04/13 Prague, CZE – Akropolis
04/15 Munich, GER – Bachstage Halle
04/16 Pratteln, SWI – Z7
04/17 Montbéliard, FRA – Impetus Festival
04/18 Pordenone, ITA – Deposito Giordano
04/19 Vienna, AUT – Szene
04/21 Warsaw, POL – Progresja
04/22 Berlin, GER – SO36
04/23 Leipzig, GER – Werk 2
04/24 Hamburg, GER – Markthalle
04/25 Malmö, SWE – KB
04/26 Stockholm, SWE – Nalen
06/19 Clisson, FRA – Hellfest
