Terrorizers’JamMin caught up with Runhild Gammelsæter of Thorr’s Hammer about their performance at Supersonic Festival.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, or find anything slower than Agoraphobic Nosebleed “a bit dull and uninteresting”, you’ve probably heard that legendary doom troupe Thorr’s Hammer (the Thorr’s Hammer that gave us drone daddys Stephen O’Malley and Gregg Anderson) have reunited to play this year’s Supersonic Festival. Sufficed to say we were a bit excited, so naturally we bombarded the University Of Oslo with phone calls and emails until we got hold of Dr Runhild Gammelsæter to get the lowdown on the whys, whens and hows from the vocalist extraordinaire.

People often have a quite cynical view of bands getting back together (and rightly so), so why was now the right time to do this?
“We didn’t want to do a reunion previously because we thought it sort of cynical, not ‘cult’ and not ‘true’ as we say in metal. All members of TH are old friends, I still call Steve when I have a broken heart. I love those guys to death. But we are getting old, people are having babies, careers, living all over the world, rarely seeing each other. We loved the idea of having an opportunity to fly everyone in, spend time together and experiencing the vibe between us again. It may be the last opportunity we have to do that.”

How were you occupying your time between Thorr’s Hammer and Khlyst? Were you still engaged with music? Have you been working on any other projects more recently?
“When I left the states and TH disbanded, I studied for ten years at different universities getting my PhD. Khlyst came out in 2006, but James and I had been working on that for a year or so before the release. I worked minimally with music while I studied, spending all of my times with books and in the lab. Played some guitar at home, singing Nirvana and Gram Parsons, which perhaps prepared me for my solo record released last year.”
Read the full article at Terrorizer

Thorr’s Hammer play for the first time in a long time at this years Supersonic Festival on Saturday 25th of July and at the Scala in London with Corrupted & The Accused on Sunday 26th Of July.

There is a strong metal presence at this year’s festival as Supersonic embraces Birmingham’s musical heritage.

Home of Metal is a project that has been raising the profile of the West Midlands region as the birthplace of Heavy Metal, citing Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Napalm Death and Godflesh as key players within this genre who all came out the area.

Festival goers will witness the torturous Japanese ‘funeral doom’ band Corrupted who have embraced their heavy metal influence while twisting the genre to a parallel universe where guttural roars follow extensive harp pieces and atmospheric doom accompanies all out head banging sludge. It is fitting that the first UK show for this now cult band will be in the place where Black Sabbath originally discovered their dark ominous sound which still resonates in the haunting heaviness of Corrupted.

The reformation of Head of David is another reminder of the diverse interpretations that can be born out of Heavy Metal. This Black Country band were one of the first industrial metal bands, the tempo is slowed down and distorted. They create a heavy haze that subsequently poured into the sounds of Godflesh and Ministry.

Ex Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris will be playing the festival as industrial dub act Scorn. The sounds of Scorn take those dark, heavy sounds of Heavy Metal and strip them bare, creating a uniquely mucky minimal sound.

The influence of West Midlands’ Heavy Metal can be made out through the thrashing and pummelling of Kylie Minoise. His hectic bursts of noise a reminder of the early Napalm Death tracks that pound into submission. Kylie Minoise’s reinterpretation of the one second long Napalm Death track ‘You Suffer’ was released in 2007 – it’s over an hour long.

Other Heavy Metal influenced performances at Supersonic 2009 will include grunge doom from Thorr’s Hammer, thrashcore from The Accused, power grind from Iron Lung and a wealth of bands embracing dark, psychedelic and experimental sounds – whether they linger gloomily for eternity or smash into you briefly as a burst of noise.

In addition to these crushing sounds, a number of Home of Metal events will be taking place over the weekend. Catch Kerrang! Radio DJ Johnny Doom in discussion with Greg Anderson and Stephen O’Malley of Sunn0))), discussing the influence of West Midlands’ Heavy Metal. Dr Niall Scott of the University of Central Lancashire will be lecturing on the ‘monstrous male figure’ with Heavy Metal and their will be a screening of the Vice film ‘True Norwegian Black Metal’.

Tickets – Weekend tickets – £70 / Friday Ticket – £15 / Saturday Ticket – £35 /Sunday Ticket – £35

available from: www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

Also available from
Polar Bear + Swordfish – Birmingham
Rough Trade East – London
Plugd Records – Cork

Rock A Rolla – May/June 2009

Thorr’s Hammer, the cult doom outfit featuring Sunn0))) duo Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson, have reformed for a very special performance at this year’s Supersonic Festival in Birmingham, UK. The band, active for a total of 6 weeks in 1994/1995, produced an EP and a demo, and disbanded once vocalist Runhild Gammelsæter aka Ozma, returned to her native Norway, ensuring their cult status and remaining the stuff of legend – until now. Runhild fills us in on underground metal’s unlikeliest comebacks.

How did this reunion happen?
We have talked about doing a reunion on and off for the last 10 years. Earlier I was negative, as I didn’t like new versions of bands who did ‘reunions’ years after. Sometimes the imaginary, epic memory of an old band can be disturbed by waking it back up to life – and the once handsome musicians are now old and wrinkly. But I am older now, and a bit more flexible in my thinking, and perhaps more nostalgic. Last year, Stephen brought up the reunion idea and all of us felt it was a good idea, that it, most of all, would be fun to play together again. Stephen really likes Supersonic festival and approached them about it. So it’s not like we had offers to play for big money or anything. Actually, I would like to point out that we are making no money on this.

It’s almost the same line-up: yourself, Stephen, Greg, Jamie Sykes and Guy Pinhas. What happened to original bassist James Hale?
Frankly, I don’t know. I lost touch with him when I left the states.

Why, do you think, given such a short lifespan and hardly any recordings, did the band go on to be such cult favourites amongst the extreme metal underground?
Four things. One: the music is quite good, if I may say so. Our stuff was different from other metal bands then and I can’t think of another band with the same sound since. I don’t believe we would be cult today if people didn’t enjoy the music. Two: a small teenage girl with very long blonde hair growling like a man is very noticeable amongst the bands composed of dudes in black t-shirts. Three: being in the right place at the right time. TH is a child of its time, and a cross-cultural band. We made a new mix of different genres: grungy doom, which was born in Seattle at the time by bands like Earth and Tad, together with Norwegian vocals about Vikings, which was used by the Norwegian black metal bands. To sum it up, we were into Norwegian black metal, from all parts of the world, and lived in Seattle when grunge and doom were born. Four: Steve and Greg went on to become big rock stars with Sunn0))), so people started looking into their other projects. That being said, the surprising thing for me is that the record has sold evenly through all these years. It hasn’t sold a lot, but we keep selling copies after 15 years, without any promotion or touring, which I think is quite rare. I am very grateful to the people who like our music and have kept the word of mouth of TH alive for all these years.

Are you planning to do anything more after Supersonic? Any new music maybe?
We might make some new music, I don’t know yet. TH is friends having fun; we’ll do whatever we like. But we will never be a tight band doing tours. Our jobs and other projects don’t allow it, and TH is and always will be old school and low key. I like that we are cult, it makes me proud.

Thorr’s Hammer play Supersonic Festival on Saturday 25th of July alongside Corrupted, The Accused, Iron Lung, Monotonix, Skullflower and many more
Tickets: https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

We have now released a limited number of day tickets for Supersonic Festival 2009 and put up a basic timetable of whom is playing on which day (please note there are still bands & artists to add to these timetables).

https://www.capsule.org.uk/supersonic/

Supersonic Tickets

Weekend tickets – £70

Friday 24th July 9pm – 2.30am
Ticket – £15 – includes Venetian Snares + Scorn + PCM + Drumize + Atomized + more

Saturday 25th July 4pm – 3am
Ticket – £35 – includes Corrupted + Thorr’s Hammer + The Accused + ZU + Iron Lung + Monotonix + more

Sunday 26th July 2pm – 12.30 am
Ticket – £35 includes Goblin + Head Of David + Jarboe + Caribou + Earthless

available from:

www.theticketsellers.co.uk
24 hr order line – 0844 870 0000 – Calls cost max 5p per min from BT landline

Also from:
Rough Trade East – London
Swordfish + Polar Bear – Birmingham
Plugd Records – Cork

SUPERSONIC have confirmed very exciting news  that Italian legends, GOBLIN will be part of this year’s line-up, their first show in the UK in 20 years they join the likes of Corrupted, Head Of David, Thorr’s Hammer…

Throughout their career which spans from the early ‘70’s, Goblin have soundtracked around 20 films, with ‘Profondo Rosso’, ‘Suspiria’ (a film that became the benchmark in 70’s gore flicks) and ‘Dawn Of The Dead’ that really form the basis of their legendary reputation as they perfectly showcased their vast stylistic repertoire from the prog-flavoured rock they’re best known for, through tribal rhythms, electronics, orchestration which seamlessly fitted and added to the impact of the on-screen action.

Recent years have seen a huge resurgence of interest in the band’s work, particularly  amongst the alternative rock, goth and horror film communities, with very well received reissues of their classic soundtracks and DVDs of the films they worked on, plus the compilation cd ‘The Fantastic Voyage Of Goblin – The Sweet Sound Of Hell’. 2005 also saw the publication of the book “Goblin – La musica la paura il fenomeno”, written by Giovanni Aloisio, and there is even a band in the US made up of Goblin fanatics and calling themselves Zombi.

“The legacy of Goblin is vast and full of surprises, and they’ve had a great influence on how rock music can be used in film scores. And, as such, Goblin can claim to be not only one of the most important of Italian rock bands, but also creators of some of the finest Italian film soundtracks alongside the redoubtable Ennio Morricone!” Alan Freeman

CONFIRMED LINE UP:
Head Of David (first show in 23 years) / 65 Days of Static / The Accused / Arbouretum / Atomized/ Berg Sans Nipple / Caribou / Corrupted / Chris Herbert / Diagonal / Earthless /Flower & Corsano Duo / Goblin/ Growing / Iron Lung / Jarboe / Khyam Allami / Kim Hiorthøy Kylie Minoise / Master Musicians Of Bukkake/ Nancy Wallace / Pontiak / Pram / PRE /  Scorn / Skullflower/  Taint / Theo / Thorr’s Hammer / Venetian Snares / Zu / ZzZ

Weekend Tickets: http://www.theticketsellers.co.uk
Rough Trade East – London  / Polar Bear – Kings Heath  / Swordfish -Birmingham / Plugd Records – Cork City

Further info on artists/hotel deals etc
http://www.supersonicfestival.com

THORR’S HAMMER + THE ACCUSED + CORRUPTED will all be performing at this years Supersonic Festival, we are over the moon with the news that we’ve finally got this confirmed and can announce these guys to join the line up for what we are sure will be our best festival yet…whoopee!!! Tickets go on sale on Thursday 2nd of April no April Fools, I tell you:)

Greg Anderson & Stephen O’Malley presents their maiden voyage into darkeness: the cult recordings by the black doom act THORR”S HAMMER. Thorr’s Hammer is raw nihilistic doom featuring the unbelievable vocals of Norwegian goddess Runhild Gammelsæter. Presented in her native Norwegian tongue, Runhild Gammelsæter’ gutteral dark vocals are contrasted by beautiful singing creating a huanting atmosphere. Funeral dirge is provided by the collaberation of Stephen O’Malley (ex-Burning Witch/SUNN0)))) and Greg Anderson (ex-Engine Kid/SUNN0)))/Goatsnake). Jamie Sykes (ex-Burning WitchWardrums, ex-CODENAME F.A.D.G.E.) and Guy Pinhas (Beaver, The Obsessed, Goatsnake, Melvins, etc) (Subharmonics). This union is raw, low and heavy as fuck, reminiscent of elder gods HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST,SABBATH, AND VENOM. The material contains the original three demo tracks (from 1995) and a recently unearthed live recording (“Mellom Galgene”) all originally created in the stoned winter of 1994-1995….. grim melancholy.
http://www.myspace.com/thorr39shammer

Corrupted from Osaka Japan THE absolute reference in terms of monolithic and experimental funeral doom.

The band has become legendary: consistently refusing interviews and photo shoots, the band has only been seen in Europe during a discreet tour in 2000 and a couple of appearances last year, this will be their first show in the UK.

Corrupted’s music is bleak, monumental and slow as a pachyderm… Extraordinary brutal riffs-drones played in a very low guitar/bass duo, as well as a drummer who maintains a brontosaurus like striking force on improbable slow tempos serve as a morbid box for a singer with an inimitable tone: guttural and abysmal at will, he declaims apocalyptic texts in Spanish (!!!). The band sometime uses long instrumental, melancholic breaks that admirably contrast with the force of their sound.
http://www.dxmxtx.com/corrupted/

Formed in 1981 in Oak Harbor, Washington by bassist Chibon ‘Chewy’ Batterman, Dana Collins and guitarist Tom Niemeyer. John Dahlin was the vocalist from 1982-1984. The addition of Blaine Cook (frontman of Seattle hardcore punk group The Fartz) fit nicely into the group’s migration towards a more heavy metal-based sound. In 1984, The band dubbed their style “splatter rock,” in homage to their favorite genre of horror films. Their hybrid musical formula was distinguishable by Blaine’s unusual choking-sound vocals, Niemeyer’s muted, choppy, buzzsaw guitars, dark metallic riffs, and rapid-fire drumming. The band are also responsible for creating the wild, zombie mascot Martha Splatterhead, whose likeness (created by Niemeyer) adorns most of their albums and many of their promotional items. The Accused recorded five albums, three EPs, and over 100 songs between their 1981 inception and 1990s hiatus.
The current line-up consists of Brad Mowen (also a member of Master Musicians of Bukakke and former member of Burning Witch and Asva), Dorando Hodous (also a member of Lesbian), Mike Peterson and Niemeyer.
http://www.myspace.com/kingsofsplatter

Line up for Supersonic Festival 2009:
Head Of David (first show in 23 years) / 65 Days of Static / The Accused / Arbouretum / Atomized/ Berg Sans Nipple / Caribou / Corrupted / Chris Herbert / Diagonal / Earthless /Flower & Corsano Duo / Growing / Iron Lung / Jarboe / Khyam Allami / Kim Hiorthøy Kylie Minoise / Master Musicians Of Bukkake/ Nancy Wallace / Pontiak / Pram / PRE /  Scorn / Skullflower/  Taint / Theo / Thorr’s Hammer Venetian Snares / Zu / ZzZ

Tickets on sale from Thursday 2nd of April from:
https://www.theticketsellers.co.uk

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