Photos by Magnus Eklund Izarra
(Today Soulseller Records is releasing the first new In Aeternum album in more than 20 years, and to help commemorate the event we’re now presenting Zoltar’s interview with founding member David “Impious” Larsson.)
No matter what some would say, the late ’90s and early ’00s were when both the black and death metal scenes collided, with various results. In Sweden, despite Jon Nödtveidt landing in jail from 1997 onwards, you could still feel the aftermath of Dissection’s gigantic Storm Of The Light’s Bane and how it redefined a whole scene. If on the old continent No Fashion Records picked up the baton and ran with it, so did Necropolis Records on the other side of the Atlantic. By the time the next millennium was just around the corner, the Californian imprint seemed to mostly put out one future Swedish black/death metal classic after the other: Dawn’s Slaughtersun, Arckanum’s first three albums, Ophthalamia, Nifelheim, etc.
Originally called Behemoth, In Aeternum showcased on Forvever Blasphemy, their debut for the label back in 1999, everything fans of that particular genre could hope for with a massive Fredman production, some ripping Necrolord cover artwork, and songs about the end of the world and the reaper. Even if things went a bit south in between the two parties after the release of their equally great second album The Pestilent Plague, those Swedes nevertheless did carry the torch all the way ‘til the end of the ’00s when they seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth.
After a first attempted yet short-lived reunion in 2016, the band are finally back with a vengeance thanks to …Of Death And Fire, their fifth full-length and first proper material in over a decade. We caught up with founding member David “Impious” Larsson to see if his inner flame still burns bright or not.
David, welcome back! To begin, should we say that IN AETERNUM was initially one of the unluckiest bands around? I mean, in between labels screwing you up, tours being cancelled, Hollywood stars threatening you with a lawsuit (as Mel Gibson himself threatened to sue the band after they had used for an EP a still image of his The Passion Of The Christ movie … without his permission!)… It’s insane how much shit you had to endure!
Well, I couldn’t agree more with you on this matter. Some of these events hit harder than others. We have lost loads of money due to certain happenings. Lessons have been learned. Still, after all the shit we have been through we also had loads of fun through the years of chaos, death and destruction. We regret nothing.
Talking of which, would you say that your deteriorating relationship with NECROPOLIS RECORDS more or less “killed” the band in the early ’00s? I mean, you had everything, a good reputation, and they had a solid catalogue yet things went south pretty quickly… Yet I assume when label boss Typhon got in touch with you guys in ’98, all the stars seemed to align didn’t they? Actually, how did he get in touch with you? Are you aware of his current whereabouts?
It’s close to 30 years since our first contact with Necropolis. I remember sending them our first rehearsal demos back in the day. What finally drew their attention was our mcd And Darkness Came. Upon hearing that one they asked for one more song and we ended up recording The Pale Black Death and got signed after that.
I wouldn’t say they killed the band — they did release two albums and one compilation and also sent us out on two tours through Europe in support of the albums. Then, in 2002, communication stopped from their part which pissed us off. That all fell on Paul (Thind, the label’s founder) and what was going on with NECROPOLIS. I’m still grateful for them signing us and releasing our albums. People are still talking about Forever Blasphemy nearly 30 years later and that is awesome. As of today, I think Paul is running a company dealing with computer games and making good money on that.
If I’m not mistaken, at some point things also went quite really wrong with your following label, AGONIA RECORDS from Poland. Did this pressure you to put the band on hiatus? Does this prevent nowadays the two albums and EP released through them to be officially reissued?
What happened with AGONIA was that when they released our third album Nuclear Armageddon the printing company totally fucked it up, as two songs on the album were skipping like a scratch in a vinyl record. When we got the album, we were supposed to go on tour three weeks later or something. There was nothing we could do about it and it pissed us off. On that tour we got into an argument with Filip from AGONIA, we sorted our differences and kept working together for our next album Dawn Of A New Aeon. AGONIA also sent us out on good tours in support of both albums, so no complaints there.
I can’t really remember what caused us to leave AGONIA, guess it had to do with money at least. That much I remember. The reason we went missing for a bunch of years was that we had some really bad luck with some touring options that affected the members negatively, and also we drew in different directions musical wise. So, we lost our guitar player at that time who is now back in the band after almost 20 years.
Back in 2007, you signed to PULVERISED RECORDS out of Singapore and promptly released the Curse Of Devastation EP, then announcing a future album “soon to be recorded and released”. Yet that didn’t happen. What went wrong this time around?
We had been gone a few years so this EP was really important. We did a few gigs and a mini tour with Root in Finland. However, the chemistry of the band wasn’t the same with the new guitar player we had and the musical industry sucked. I made the decision to stop all band activities since I was pissed at the whole music industry and wanted nothing to do with it anymore. So, for many years, I only rode my Harley Davidson and traveled the world, hardly went to any gigs at all. I was burned out from it all.
In between 2000 and 2006, you recorded all your albums and an EP at Studio Abyss, with Tommy Tägtgren, brother of Peter Tägtgren from HYPOCRISY, at the helm, to a point where it felt as if Tommy was almost a full member of IN AETERNUM. Did the fact that he retired from the music-business in 2008 also weigh on your decision to put everything on hold?
That had nothing to do with it. You are right though about Tommy, he became a personal friend of mine and was also important for the band. He was the easiest guy to work with that I have ever met, very welcoming and friendly.
What was the goal of 2016’s The Blasphemy Returns? To ignite the machine? Why didn’t it work?
The idea was to go full on with the band and we tried that. We had a new guitar player once again and we were eager to get out and play all over. A week before Metal Magick Festival in Denmark the same year I was involved in a serious motorcycle crash that nearly cost me my life. We still managed to play the festival even though I was totally fucked up in my back and neck and popping pills like it was candy. We kept up band activities for two years before I had to realize that I couldn’t continue anymore due to serious back and neck pain. That’s the sole reason we stopped again.
How important was it to get back together, for this new album, the line-up that recorded the Dawn Of A New Aeon album? This being said, the album was recorded as a three-piece wasn’t it?
I met Daniel, our old guitar player, at Nordfest festival in October 2024 and we started talking about maybe doing new music, since 2025 would mark 20 years since the last full album. About a month later he phoned me up saying he had written some riffs and I mentioned that I had some new stuff as well. At the beginning of 2025, we met up and started recording the stuff we had and pieced it together little by little. It felt like we had come home working together again after all these years with the three of us.
I would say that this would not have happened if it wasn’t the three of us doing it. We tried to get the old bass player on board but he had personal issues stopping him from being part of this reunion, so to speak. A shame it wasn’t possible to have him on the record since he’s been with the band since 2005.
How do you feel your sound has evolved since you last put out a release? In 2025, has IN AETERNUM officially become an old-school band?
It’s still IN AETERNUM and to some extent the new album sounds a lot like the Forever Blasphemy album but with a new touch as well. However, the sound hasn’t changed that much to be honest. We have our way of writing music and putting it together, I guess that will never change. After all we have been doing this for over 30 years now.
Are all those songs new or are there some leftovers, so to speak, of the 2007 sessions?
Everything you hear on the new album has been written in the last year, so it’s all new and nothing old. We do have some old reh. recordings with material from around 2017. Maybe some cassettes with riffs and stuff somewhere as well.
What did Erik from WATAIN bring to the table? I guess it did matter to have him sing on the last song of the album, isn’t it?
Indeed, it was important to have him contribute to come full circle with this album. Erik also wrote ‘Seven Storms Of Doom’ 20 years ago for us on Dawn Of A New Aeon. This time, I asked him to contribute vocally as well. The song in question, ‘To Those Who Have Rode On’ is a tribute to friends and family who are no longer with us. They are now in the afterworld awaiting our arrival. So it’s a very personal song on so many levels for all of us. It’s also one of the heaviest that we have done. It reminds us of BATHORY around the Hammerheart and Twilight Of The Gods era.
Is it me or does, on purpose, the new album cover give a sort of nod to the one displayed on your second album from 2000, A Pestilent Plague, already featuring the reaper on its cover?
We wanted a figure just like on the two first albums; in a way it’s a nod to the past. It also feels fitting to have the reaper once again rising up through death and fire just like the band is doing right now. We are very happy with the cover artwork.
Spiritually speaking, IN AETERNUM has always more or less walked that fine line in between satanism and pure antichristian stance. Where does the band stand in 2025?
Nothing has changed on that matter. Some have learned more about the dark arts, but it’s still antichristian in every aspect. The whole album is about death and darkness.
Back in the early ’00s, you were part of a vivid scene. Yet would you rather say that twenty-five years later, you now more or less stand almost alone in Sweden, carrying the black/death flag?
I have no idea, let’s leave that to others to decide.
https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/of-death-and-fire