Fenriz

Gylve Fenris Nagell (born 28 November 1971), better known as Fenriz, is a Norwegian musician and politician who is best known as being one half of the metal duo Darkthrone. Although primarily a drummer, he has also performed bass, guitar and vocals for Darkthrone and a number of other metal bands. Fenriz is known for his refusal to play live, his obsessiveness about music listening, supporting other underground bands and his lack of interest in the mainstream music business in general. Fenriz has had three solo projects: the folk metal project Isengard, the dark ambient project Neptune Towers and the doom metal project Red Planet.

Nagell's first exposure to heavy metal music came when he was three years old and received Uriah Heep's album Sweet Freedom from his uncle for his birthday. At the age of five, he would fashion belts for himself out of paper in an imitation of those worn by Mick Box. Other musical interests in his early years included rock and heavy metal groups such as The Doors, Grand Funk Railroad, Steppenwolf, The Byrds, Elvis, Kiss, AC/DC, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath.

Darkthrone was created as a death metal band by the name of Black Death in 1986. In 1987 he got involved with the group Valhall, which practiced in his basement. Fenriz said he had a passive interest in Bathory by 1986, but claims that he did not understand the "darkness" of black metal until hearing a song by the Hungarian band Tormentor in 1989 (he gives similar credit to Mercyful Fate). The same year, Fenriz left Valhall to focus on Darkthrone, which became one of the key bands in the early Norwegian black metal scene. He also began a folk metal project called Isengard, for Darkthrone was at the time a band that opposed stylistic progression and change. Fenriz's solo ambient project Neptune Towers served as an example of his varied musical tastes. It was followed by another quintessential contribution to the folk metal scene with Storm.

Fenriz now claims to be apolitical, remaining non-partisan towards the events of early Norwegian black metal. In one interview, Fenriz said that he was against the book Lords of Chaos, comparing its hype to Oprah. Fenriz prefers to keep Darkthrone out of the spotlight. In late 2004, he turned down a nomination for a Norwegian Alarm Award. He claimed that Darkthrone had "no interest in being part of the glitter and showbiz side of the music industry". Fenriz is one of the main characters in the 2009 documentary film Until The Light Takes Us (filmed in the early 2000s).

Fenriz currently lives in the outskirts of Oslo, and had a record label with his Darkthrone bandmate Nocturno Culto called Tyrant Syndicate Productions, which was a sub-label of Peaceville Records (to which Darkthrone is signed). In late 2004, Fenriz released a compilation album through Peaceville, Fenriz Presents... The Best of Old-School Black Metal, which included selected tracks from such influential artists as Celtic Frost, Hellhammer, Burzum, and Bathory. He is a DJ and has made several online music compilations. He legally took the middle name Fenris in the early 1990s.

In 2016, it was reported internationally that Fenriz was elected as councilman of Kolbotn, Norway for four years after being called by the political party Venstre and agreeing to be placed on its list. "Basically, they called and asked if I wanted to be on the list [of backup representatives]", he tells CLRVYNT. "I said yeah, thinking I would be like eighteenth on the list and I wouldn't really have to do anything. They just need a list to be able to – well, it's hard to talk local politics in another language". His "campaign" consisted of posting signs of him holding his cat with the caption "Please Don't Vote For Me". While the story became popular in 2016, 2016 is not an election year in Norway, and Kolbotn doesn't have its own council. In reality, Fenriz became a vice-councilman in Oppegård council already in 2015.

• Darkthrone – drums, bass, rhythm guitar, vocals, lyrics (1986—present)
• Valhall – drums (1987—1989, 2007—present)
• Fenriz′ Red Planet – guitar, bass, drums, vocals, lyrics (1993—present) – solo project
• Isengard – drums, guitar, bass, vocals, lyrics (1989—1995) – solo project
• Neptune Towers – keyboard, farfisa organ, synthesizers (1993—1995) – solo project
• Dødheimsgard – bass and synthesizer on Kronet Til Konge (1995)
• Storm – drums, vocals (1995) – (with Satyr from Satyricon)
• Eibon – drums, 1999 (with Satyr from Satyricon, Killjoy from Necrophagia, Phil Anselmo from Pantera)
• Fuck You All – bass (2000—2001)

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)
• Aura Noir – additional vocals on Increased Damnation (2000) and The Merciless (2004)
• Red Harvest – additional 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)