...the third album is on it's way. It will be called "Diabolical Age" and contains 8 tracks including a very nice and melodic piano outro. Though it is only 8 tracks on the record, you can still enjoy almost 60 minutes of black metal at it's best.
Jontho / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
...the cover and some other details are yet to be done. In addition we have recently met with Voices of Wonder, and they told us to wait until this summer, in order to arrange everything around promotion etc. There was also something about the international record market, which made it best to release either in the winter or the summer...
Jerv / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
Recorded October 1998-February 1999 and originally intended for an August 1999 release, RAGNAROK's third album - Diabolical Age - was released on this day in 2000 through Head Not Found.
...we have speed up a lot. The riffs are more professional this time in the way that they are more complicated, technical and faster. The music is much more brutal than on the two previous recordings, but we have included the melodic parts in this development.
Jontho / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
We have tried to do this on previous albums as well, but it is hard cause the music always sound more aggressive when you rehearse, than when it is finally on the album. But this time I think we have finally managed it.
Jerv / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
...the synth is there, but it's really minimal. The only thing we have used synth for on this album is to give some of the riffs more body. There is no dominance of the synth with the exception of on one riff in the song "Diabolical Age". In other words you won't find any Dimmu Borgir synths on this album, rather the drums and guitar is dominating to the extreme.
Jontho / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
The lyrics are much more antichristian than before. On the first album we were more into vikings and pagan mythology. The second album was more affected by our satanic views although it too was very spiritual. The lyrics on the upcoming album are more about individual human feelings. Humans as creatures born from nature and with natural instincts. We are botn as animals and should live as them in order with the nature and by its laws.
Jerv / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
The meaning of "Diabolical Age" is simply that we have reached the satanic times and that christianity finally is falling to pieces. It has nothing to do with the new millenium, but it is a vision about the future.
Jontho / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
There is rebellion within the norwegian church. Just consider the gay priests and we even have a gay bishop. The church is getting more liberal, and it is ruining it. The church is trying to separate itself from the state, and it cannot live on collect along, which means it will be very reduced. People are beginning to discover themselves as thinking individuals, and it is the downfall of religion, and at the same time they are beginning to accept us - so it's the diabolical age. All the fuss about the new year 2000 is made up by judgement day profiteers. What is it really? It is nothing more than that according to our timetable 2000 years has passed since jesus was born, so it definitely has nothing to do with the diabolical age. But I think the new millennium will bring us victory, and by that I mean that people turn away from what we are opposing, not that they join us.
Jerv / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
This time we decided to use Endless Studio in Oslo. It was a lot of fuss and shit in the beginning of our recording session, but after a while we got a result we are pleased with. I would not say it is good enough for us to use in the future though.
Jontho / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
We have only used x-ray studio so far, so it was a new and interesting experience. Though I think Endless let more small mistakes through than Pål-Espen at x-ray would have, he has always been a perfectionist. Also the sound turned out a bit different. X-ray has in a way created the usual Ragnarok sound, you know. So I am not sure how it will be received by people, but I am satisfied, and I can not complained about the studio. The people there were ok too, and nice to work with.
Jerv / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
...my visions are that it will be very well accepted and high priority on the buy lists of people who like aggressive black metal, but another thought it that it won't be as well received by the typical Dimmu Borgir fans, since it is very brutal and with little synth. These days there are unfortunately too many in that group of metal people... But for those who want a real piece of metal, Ragnarok is really something to check out in the future.
Jontho / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
We have just made the music we like, and we don't really give a damn whether people like it or not.
Jerv / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999
We have a piano track as outro on this album, and it is made by a friend called Jørgen Andersen. The reason we used this song is not because we want to dwell in the past, but rather because it damn great and suits perfect as outro.
Jontho / Ragnarok interview, Warthog #4, 1999