Gylve Fenris Nagell (born Leif Nagell; 28 November 1971), known professionally as Fenriz, is a Norwegian musician, part-time music journalist and online radio host (with the show "Radio Fenriz") who is best known as one half of the black metal duo Darkthrone, alongside Nocturno Culto. Although primarily a drummer and songwriter, he has also played bass and guitar and performed vocals for Darkthrone and several other metal bands. Fenriz is famed for his encyclopedic knowledge of metal music, his eager promotion of underground bands and the DIY ethic, and his rejection of the "showbiz side of the music industry". Fenriz was also the studio drummer for doom metal band Valhall, and has had several solo projects, including the folk black metal project Isengard and the dark ambient project Neptune Towers.

Biography

Fenriz's first exposure to heavy metal music came when he was a child and received Uriah Heep's album Sweet Freedom from his uncle for his birthday. At age 16, Fenriz dropped out of school and began working full time to support his music. In 1986 he co-founded the death metal band Black Death with Ivar Enger and Anders Risberget. By 1988 they had been joined by Ted Skjellum (Nocturno Culto) and were renamed Darkthrone. After releasing their first death metal album in 1991, the band changed style and became one of the leading bands in the early Norwegian black metal scene. Fenriz said he had a passive interest in Bathory and Celtic Frost, but claims that he did not understand the "darkness" of black metal until hearing a song by the Hungarian band Tormentor. The second album released by Darkthrone, A Blaze in the Northern Sky, recorded in August 1991 at Creative Studios but not released until February 1992, is regarded as one of the most important albums that defined the black metal genre. and Fenriz has denounced the "hype" surrounding it. Fenriz (alongside Varg Vikernes) is the principal focus of the 2008 black metal documentary film Until The Light Takes Us.

In 2016, it was widely reported that Fenriz had been elected to his local municipal council, Oppegård. He was elected for a four-year term as a substitute councillor for the Liberal Party, explaining that he would "have to step in when the usual people who go to the big meetings are sick or something". Fenriz said: "They called and asked if I wanted to be on the list [of backup representatives]. I said yeah, thinking I would be like 18th on the list and I wouldn't really have to do anything". His "campaign" was a photo of him holding his cat with the caption "Please Don't Vote For Me".

Fenriz lives in his hometown of Kolbotn. He is a part-time music journalist and hosts a monthly online radio show on NTS called "Radio Fenriz". He created the "Band of the Week" blog from which the acts for the underground metal festival Live Evil are sourced. He has also appeared on a Norwegian television show about hiking in forests. || Darkthrone || drums

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  • Note: All Darkthrone lyrics are written by Fenriz, with the exception of Transilvanian Hunger tracks 5–8, Panzerfaust track 6–7 and the Total Death album. Songwriting is usually split between Fenriz and Nocturno Culto, but varies from album to album.

Guest appearances

  • Ulver – vocals on "A Song of Liberty Plates 25–27" from the album Themes from William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1998)
  • Satyricon – percussion (tracks 4–5) on Rebel Extravaganza (1999)
  • Aura Noir – additional vocals on Dreams like Deserts (1995), Increased Damnation (2000) and The Merciless (2004)
  • Thorns – vocals and drums (track 9) on Thorns vs. Emperor (2011) (recorded sometime between 1998 and 1999)
  • Red Harvest – backing vocals on "Absolut Dunkel:heit" from the album Cold Dark Matter (2000)
  • Cadaver Inc. – additional vocals on Discipline (2001)
  • Audiopain – additional lyrics on Revel in Desecration (2002)
  • Trashcan Darlings – additional vocals on "Dehumanizer" from the album Episode 1: The Lipstick Menace (2002)

References

  • Fenriz on Encyclopaedia Metallum
  • Fenriz interviewed by Travis Jeppesen