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Satyricon & Munch out now

Photo credit: Morten Andersen

13-06-2022

In a unique collaboration with the world famous MUNCH museum in Oslo, Norway, SATYRICON have created a musical composition in album format, entitled Satyricon & Munch, now available on all digital platforms! The album is also now available to be ordered in physical formats at Napalm Records.

The new music, created by SATYRICON mastermind Satyr, is written in the shape of a so-called musical work, it is 56 minutes long and transcends any genre barriers. Although the music was written for the art exhibition, it clearly has the emotional depth to take on any environment outside the exhibition room. The new, astonishing and critically acclaimed art exhibition of the same title is on display at the MUNCH museum in Oslo until August 28, 2022. 

The album is now available for streaming

‘I don’t paint what I see, but what I saw‘, was how Munch explained his own artistic approach,” says SATYRICON frontman Sigurd “Satyr” Wongraven. “While working on this music, I have approached this series of Munch‘s works in the same way. ‘The feeling they have left behind in me’, as he put it, is what I have been trying to evoke, and that’s what the ‘Satyricon & Munch’ exhibition is all about for me.

The Munch artworks selected for this exhibition draw on existential themes, and are carefully curated in order to create rhythms and waves that work in tandem with the music.

“In this show, the public can look forward to an incredible meeting between music and art,” says Munch director Stein Olav Henrichsen. “Munch will continue to offer challenges and surprises with these types of untraditional and exciting culture clashes.”

Watch Satyr‘s conversation with Munch curator Trine Otte Bak Nielsen about the exhibition above.

Munch museum in Oslo is one of the most famous museums in the world, dedicated to the works of famous Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The museum holds paintings such as “The Scream”“Madonna” and “Anxiety”. It re-opened in October 2021 with an impressive building in the heart of Oslo that gained even more attention worldwide. The collaboration between one of the world’s most well-known black metal bands and the museum is unique on a worldwide scale.

Satyricon & Munch is now available for pre-order in the following formats:
Deluxe Box
2LP Gatefold PICTURE LP – limited to 500 worldwide
2LP Gatefold MONOLITHIC GREY – limited to 300 worldwide
2LP Gatefold TRANSPARENT – limited to 300 worldwide
2LP Gatefold BLACK
1CD Mediabook

“Deep Calleth Upon Deep” was released in September 2017 via Napalm Records. The disc was recorded in Oslo, Norway and Vancouver, Canada, during early 2017 and mixed together with revered studio guru Mike Fraser (who previously worked on SATYRICON‘s 2006 album, “Now, Diabolical”).

SATYRICON‘s first two albums, 1993’s “Dark Medieval Times” and 1994’s “The Shadowthrone”, were released as remixed and remastered reissues with altered cover artworks, in May 2021 via Napalm Records.

Satyr on Satyricon & Munch: “In the musical work Satyricon & Munch, you will find my musical response to the emotions that the works of Edvard Munch instilled in me when working on the art exhibition. One could therefore say that the album release is not only a consequence of the making of an exhibition, but also a reflection of my studies of Edvard Munch’s life and philosophy on the making of art  –  and my eagerness to push myself as an artist. I deeply appreciate his emphasis on feeling over technique, his will to experiment and his determination to walk his own way. Of course these are also core values to SATYRICON, which in this particular case becomes even more important.

To make this into what it is, it became clear early on that we needed to reverse the roles in the instrumentation: What has been complimentary in the past must now perhaps take more of a lead role, what is given in a regular song is perhaps not needed at all for this project – these types of reflections. To create the layers of emotion and atmospheres that we aspired to, the instrumentation needed to be rich in diversity. That is why we have a wide range of old school analog synthesizers, electric guitar, baritone guitar, bass guitar, drums, theremin, cello, viola, bass clarinet, contrabass clarinet, jouhikko, Hardanger fiddle, grand piano to name some. Some of these instruments are particularly receptive to the personal input of the musician and very suitable for creating the depth of layers that was necessary for this project. It has been important to us to break away from formatted approaches and focus strictly on what this project needs. 

Black metal’s true nature is being limitless and while the format is unlike anything you’ve heard from SATYRICON before, the tonality and personal signature is highly recognizable to those who know their SATYRICON. We encourage everyone to refrain from trying to label the music and just accept that there is no need to. It is certainly not film music, it is not ambient and it is not something you have to make up a word for. It is SATYRICON.”

SATYRICON - Satyricon & Munch cover art

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