WATAIN IS NOT FUCKING AROUND II

Watain is awesome, and no one takes this fact more seriously than um the members of Watain. And for once, a Metal person has something nice to say (indirectly) about the U, S, and A. One of Fall's many must-see shows, Watain's Black Metal Magic tour kicks off on October 3, with openers Withered and Book Of Black Earth. Watain's Erik Danielsson talks to Metal Maniacs:

European audiences are so used to extreme metal shows that they do not acknowledge the vast difference between us and, say, Dark Funeral; they think we are doing the same thing. They are blocked by pride and the false belief that we are just another metal band coming to town. In the U.S. I had the feeling that people saw the difference and were able to fathom the seriousness of our work. 

[Watain is] something real; something passionate and genuine. There are maybe five bands within metal that still do that in these days of visionless fast-food music. Bands often seem to grow old and weary the more time passes. We have done the very opposite — we get hungrier and stronger. And the sight of the sorry fucking excuses for black metal these days… to see these myriads of soulless junk-projects and juvenile nonsense rise and fall like puppets, only makes us more confident that we are on the right path. 

How did club owners react to the band's onstage use of animal cadavers and blood on your last U.S. tour? That's certainly less common here. Were there any venues unwilling to allow the band's full show?

Most venues had not been informed which obviously led to some rather nasty dialogues and confrontations, but in the end, as we all know, the Devil always wins.

It's nice to see a black metal dude calling everybody posers because of sucky music, not for a lack of br00tality or whatever. Watain is into blood-and-guts stuff, but from here, the band is genuinely subversive as opposed to gimmicky. Hunter S. Thompson vs. Nikki Sixx, if you will. Having said that, I'm sure Danielsson will go and embarrass me by spending the rest of the interview calling for more church-burnings. We'll know when the new Metal Maniacs hits stands on September 30.