HJALLAHORN is based in Oslo, Norway and took me back too the early days of metal when bands in California or England started what we call HEAVY METAL now. The Norwegians produced their third demo, called "New Wave Of Classic Heavy Metal" and the title is programme for the three new songs. Also we can hear two songs from the former demos "Six Track Metal Attack" and "Trilogy Of Lightning". The band members are Dani Nilsen (v,g), Martin Krogh (g), Kristoffer Berg Haugan (b) and Kjetil Krogvold (d). Normally, the band doesn't make interviews, so I'm very honoured to talk to Dani Nilsen about the past and the upcoming future.

1. Dani, your new Demo-CD is a masterpiece of traditional Heavy Metal. Please tell us something about the three new songs and the possibility to make a video.

The 3 new songs are nothing more than an extension of what we've done in the past. We personally find the material rather strong and we are also for once very pleased with the production job. A video for "The Changling" was recorded in April with a budget of $16000, which was a golden opportunity for us. It will be running on different TV channels hopefully by mid summertime and I have to say it turned out pretty awesome! I believe it will be something special. The song is basically about circumstances, and how opposition to the norm can make a person brew actions against his/her belief system. It's a very personal song to me. If everyone's into tuning their guitars as low as possible, we might just do the opposite. Murder is about how trends kill the artistic integrity of the music scene. Eye of the storm is just about nothing really!! HA HA! Eye of the fuckin' storm! Watch out BOZOS! Why should every song be so fuckin' serious. We have no wish to change the world.

2. You saved the spirit of the glory Bay Area Days like no other band before I've heard the last years. Did you drink that stuff as children or how was the infusion?

Thank you for saying so! The early eighties N.W.O.B.H.M era and the somewhat later Bay Area Thrash movement has been, in addition to 1970's hard rock, the greatest influence on the band. It's been our "bread & butter" so to speak. YES! We did indeed drink this stuff as children. I remember getting into Heavy Metal through Metallica's "Ride The Lightning" back in the day when Metallica was actually a good band. We thought that an album like Kill'em All has been done, but it hasn't been done a lot. That's where we hopefully come in. That's our goal anyway, to make records in the vein of "Kill'em All", "Killers" and "Painkiller"!

3. How is the situation in Norway for you? We all know that the Black and Death Metal scene is very popular there.

Extreme Metal has now for many years been Norway's biggest musical export tool, and we seem pretty protective of it. It seems that people are somewhat less open to other types of metal here. Although most fans are heavily into bands like Iron Maiden and Metallica they have a hard time accepting bands who sound similar. It's a shame, but we still seem to kick they're sorry asses live, which is always is a good thing. They say what we do has been done before, hell, of course it's been done before! We have branded ourselves "New Wave Of CLASSIC Heavy Metal"! How can something be classic without having been touched upon!? Anyway, Black Metal doesn't do anything for me. I totally agree with a recent interview with Slayer on Norwegian national television, they all sound the same. It's virtually impossible to distinguish one from the other. I just had a long talk about it with Gylve "Fenriz" Nagel of Darkthrone. They are releasing a new EP called N.W.O.B.H.M (New Wave Of Black Heavy Metal). Something needs to be done in that era of music and in my mind they are the guys who can do it. It seems they all want to go more and more extreme, but it's an illusion. Extremity in music was already topped 20 years ago with Napalm Death's "The Peel Sessions". In brutality it can't be topped. They are barking up the wrong tree. Musicality should be paramount. Our biggest support these days seems to be Germany, UK, USA and Japan. They love our music. Back home it's just alright.

4. You came to Germany for a tour with THE SHITHEADZ (now MOTORJESUS). Tell us something about your impressions these days.

Our impression of the German mini tour is that people in Germany actually get off their arses and go to gigs even though they don't really know who the fuckin' band is! They are very supportive it seems. Nobody knew who the fuck we were, but the venues were still packed. GREAT! The guys in Motorjesus? Well what can I say, their great people and their music isn't too bad either actually. Drank Jaegermaister 'til the early morning hours. Just want to mention another band we played with on that tour that really impressed me, namely N.R.G. Old school Bay Area stuff. Really good and true to the code. I'm definitively a fan of them. In conclusion, the German gigs were great, the people great, the country great and we would love to re-do it!

5. When will you produce your first full length album or did you think about to put the best demo tracks on a CD?

NO! We are not gonna put demo tracks on an album. We hope to release a long player within a year's time. And we sincerely hope it will hit coz we have a deep passion for this type of music and would love to be able to carry on.

6. Which metal albums are a must? Please, tell me your top 5.

OH! This was a difficult one! I'll have to give you six.

1. Megadeth - United Aboninations

2. Deep Purple - Burn

3. Led Zeppelin - Physical Grafitti

4. Judas Priest - Stained Class

5. Mercyful Fate - Melissa

6. Venom - Welcome To Hell

Thank your for your time and all the best for one of the greatest underground bands in the world.

(Matthias Decklar)