One of the most innovative and significant metal acts of the 90s is the Norwegian band In The Woods... It was among the bands that participated in the burgeoning evolution of black metal in the early 90s, having a large part in shaping the sound of its strong subgenre - pagan metal. In The Woods... was founded in the southern Norwegian city of Kristiansand (in 1991) - considered the bible belt of its country. At the time, the band emerged as an offshoot of the original Green Carnation line-up, which some members were also a part of. The band quickly gained a strong reputation within the underground as an innovative entity pushing the genre's boundaries. With each album, In The Woods..., progressed further into different musical dimensions, and so, the classic albums Omnio (1997) and Strange In Stereo (1999) cemented the name in the metal scene forever. In 2000, the band split up, which marked the end of the first era. After the tragic death of founding guitarist Oddvar A.M. aka. Oddvar Moi on 13 May 2013, drummer Anders Kobro revived the band, and, despite a phase of line-up changes, the band managed to release three significant albums: Pure (2016), Cease The Day (2018), and the latest masterpiece, Diversum (2022). The new line-up consists of Anders Kobro (drums), Bernt Fjellestad (vocals), Kåre André Sletteberg (guitars, keyboards), Bernt Horne Sørensen (guitars) and Nils Olav Drivdal (bass). A new album is in the making and will be released in 2025 by Prophecy Productions. We met with all the guys right after their performance at Prophecy Fest for a nice and long chat. Keep reading and find out what's going on In The Woods...

Interview with: Anders Kobro, Nils Olav Drivdal, Bernt Fjellestad, Bernt Horne Sørensen
Conducted by: Jerneja, Tomaz
Edited by: Jerneja

Jerneja: "Hello guys. It's nice to meet all of you and your manager. It's official - this is our most massive interview ever...
Tomaz: It's been two years since you've released the latest album, Diversum. How do you feel about it now?
Bernt F.: We're proud of it. It was a completely different song riffing and a challenge to sync with and sing. I had a great time making it, a great time recording it, and yeah, it was fun. It was a fun album to do, and I'm proud of the lyrics and vocal lines.
Nils: It was a very turbulent time. We recorded the whole album, and then the previous vocalist quit. But it culminated in a very good time because Bernt recorded the vocals.
Anders: We were waiting for James Fogarty to contribute with his stuff, but at that time, COVID-19 happened. Then he left the band, and we got stuck. The good thing is that Bernt showed up, and we didn't give him much choice. That culminated in an extreme new energy. The creative flow in the band after that was amazing. One negative thing about the album is that we went in the wrong direction with our label, Soulseller Records. I won't go into details, but, you know, the promotional work and those things fell to the ground. We're incredibly proud of the album, but it deserved much more attention. The promotional work should have been a lot more than it actually was. With the new label, we hope to get the attention we deserve. I don't know if it's still a secret, but we've signed with Prophecy Productions. The mixing for the new album is coming soon, and the mastering is done.

Jerneja: So, how exactly did Bernt "come into the In The Woods... picture"?
Nils: All three of us knew Bernt for more than 20 years. We live close by, and I wonder why he didn't join the band long ago. Now, we are in a band that we want to be. He put the vocals and lyrics on everything written. He's an amazing guy.
Bernt F.: We have all known each other since forever. I was in a band called Scariot in early 2000, and Anders played there, too. 

Tomaz: The first song from Diversum I heard was "A Wonderful Crisis", and I was immediately blown away...
Nils: That song was kind of easy, in a way. Anders called me one late evening and presented me with the intro for the song. Everything was so easy from there on.

Tomaz: I guess that is you, Bernt, who can explain to us the album title, Diversum, and the inspiration behind the lyrics?
Bernt F.: The title Diversum came simply from the Latin Diverse. I meant with it something new, something different. At one of the rehearsals, we talked about the album's title, and I said, "What about Diversum - it's Latin for something different".
Anders: In The Woods... never did the same album twice, and I think that was the idea. Yeah, something different.

Jerneja: The vocals are, for sure, different...
Bernt F.: Yes, my vocals are, for sure, different from Jan Kenneth and James Fogarty. Also, the music is different from past albums.
Nils: He has always been a power metal singer, like really high-pitched vocals and everything, but I heard him also growling in the band Susperia. He growled and shrieked really well, so when he came in, it was amazing. Bernt can do anything.
Bernt F.: Susperia came from Oslo. It started in 1999 or 2000 when Tjodalv from Dimmu Borgir left the band and started Susperia. I joined Susperia in 2009, but not on a regular basis. I did one album with them, and according to them, I'm still a part of that band.

Jerneja: And how it's with the chemistry between the members right now?
Anders: Great! We are in a better place than we have ever been. It's friendship and respect towards each other. I mean, the chemistry between band members is amazing right now.

Tomaz: So, I guess, after many years, at least two albums will have the same line-up?
Anders: Yeah! It will be the same guys as on Diversum.
Nils: For now, haha.
Anders: The upcoming album is almost done, and we are already starting to fill up the festivals and tours for next year.

Tomaz: Will you continue on the new album in the same direction?
Nils: I think we had more fun now. 
Anders: It will be different, but of course, you can totally hear In The Woods... as we are now. The new album will be more catchy, and some songs are - maybe - not even metal. I think we have some kind of interesting stuff to offer on our next album. We are just now receiving the mixes, and last night, when we were sitting with each other, we were listening to some stuff, and all of us thought we had something really good here. It has some black metal as well, but most of all, it's full of catchy hooks.

Tomaz: Although, you, Anders, are the only remaining member of the original line-up, how come it was you, who kept the band's name?
Anders: It's not a tricky question, but - OK. When we re-started the band with the Pure album, it was, actually, with the Botteri brothers. Why did I take the name? It was because it was mine originally. I had a chat with the former singer, too, many, many years ago, and I gave him a straight-up question about his plans. He said that he was done with being a musician. He is now a booking agent, and he runs a label. He answered that he liked it more on that side of the table, and he was fine with the fact that I continued with In The Woods... He said: "It's yours", and I said, "OK, thank you, cheers".

Jerneja: So, what about the Botteri brothers?
Anders: Yeah, them, too. I won't go into details, but these days, we see each other weekly, and we are on very good terms right now. There are no hard feelings, but they prefer to do things their way. They are not playing live. They are working hard with Strange New Dawn. I think that they are doing great with what they are doing.
Nils: They now have two new vocalists. One of them is from Belgium, from the band Marche Funèbre, and the other one is a local guy.

Tomaz: How difficult is it for you to set up the concerts' setlist? You have many good songs, but they are so very different...
Anders: We certainly can choose. Usually, we have a set of one hour and 20 or 30 minutes. We select a little bit of new, a little bit of old - I mean - we need to find a balance. For my sake, I could just stop playing the old stuff, but on the other hand, I know that our fans want it. We don't play anything from the album Strange In Stereo, which is a good one, but then again, we have a new album and must do some from it.
Nils: Of course, we want to do new stuff.
Bernt S.: The new stuff has our current vocalist, and I guess that next year, we will play mostly new songs.

Tomaz: And how do you look at those times when you began with In The Woods... What everything has changed if compared to today?
Anders: Ah, so much. We have a digital age now. Back then, it was working at the rehearsal place and trying out different things.
Nils: Back then, you had to rehearse a lot before going to the studio. As I told you before, he can call me in the evening now and say that he did an intro for "A Wonderful Crisis" and he just recorded it with a mobile phone and sent me to listen. Today everything is much easier, but you have to know what you are doing; you can make shitty music, too. We all contribute with songs.
Anders: Yeah, the differences are huge. One huge difference is that we were then 19 or 20 years old. Now we are 50 and have many responsibilities like jobs, families and all those things. But - at the end of the day - you still have to record it, the songs must be done, and everyone has to agree that they are ok. Before it goes to pre-production, you make a skeleton, and others put music on it. I did albums where I just pressed record, played the drums and then put music on top. It worked out well.

Tomaz: You played in so many bands...
Anders: Quite a few, haha. Everything works if you want it to. Coherency inside the band is, of course, a good thing.

Jerneja: Norway was and still is a country mainly known, musically wise, for black metal bands. How did your fellow citizens take it when you moved from black metal waters to more progressive/pagan metal stuff?
Nils: I was never in that scene in a way. I played in a band called Drawn, which was one of the first Prophecy Productions artists. It was black metal in a way, but it was always alternative, you know. I don't think that people in Norway care much about the metal scene and don't listen to it as much as somebody would think. Very few people know that kind of music.
Bernt S.: We are not as popular in Norway as in other parts of the world. We are much more popular in Germany, Spain, or Mexico, for example.
Nils: We are not popular in Norway at all.

Tomaz: I was very sorry we couldn't attend any concert of your tour with Saturnus and The Foreshadowing, but you didn't play anywhere near Slovenia. Nevertheless - the three amazing bands together. How was that tour for you?
Nils: Oh, it was fantastic. They are all great guys, and I still have daily contact with some of them. Before we went on tour with them, Kjetil Nordhus of Green Carnation, who I met in one of the local pubs, said that we would love those guys and that they were awesome. They were so easygoing and really good people. The Foreshadowing is an amazing band, and I think it's much underrated. They should be huge. I have never heard of them before. I knew Saturnus but not The Foreshadowing. They kind of surprised me more, actually.
Bernt S.: We knew the live guitarist of The Foreshadowing, Gabriele, but from his band Shores Of Null. We were on two tours with him already. I don't know if he now plays regularly with The Foreshadowing as well, but he did play live. They borrowed him from Shores Of Null.

Tomaz: When it comes to In The Woods... there's always a connection with pagan metal. In The Woods... was one of the first bands labelled as that. Tell me what "pagan" is in your music because I wouldn't label your music simply as that. It sounds more progressive, dark, avant-garde and atmospheric metal to me...
Nils: I think that it's about when the Norwegian black metal scene came about, In The Woods... didn't relate with all that, white make-up, body painting, burning of churches, and still we think that it's really stupid to burn churches, it's a waste of time. The citizens of Norway had to pay to rebuild them. Anyway, it was more about the feeling that In The Woods... had. It was more about getting the atmosphere from the woods. That energy is special, and it's pagan, you know. It wasn't that much about the musical style in a way - it was just getting away from the black metal. Many people were in the band, and not all were metalheads, like, for example, Christer-André Cederberg, and bringing such people together, it couldn't be simply black metal. I think that coming up with the term pagan metal was a good thing to be free, in a way.

Tomaz: And you have been in the band since...
Nils: I've been with In The Woods... since 2018, I think. I did the first show with the band in 2019 but became a member in 2018, yeah.
Bernt S.: I was in a band a little sooner, in 2017. I already did with the band Cease The Day album. At that time, I did one tour with it, and we played a lot of stuff from the Pure album. My first show, I remember it well, was in May 2017 at Maryland Deathfest in the USA.

Tomaz: Where do you find the main differences between your last two albums? Does Anders compose most of the music?
Bernt S.: There are more songwriters on the upcoming album than were on Diversum or Cease The Day. That's different, I guess. We are all doing the music. It's hard to write music if you are a drummer, you know. Most of the ideas come from the rest of us, while he comes later on, and we put the songs together.
Nils: All of us can write music. I can say that all of us did the upcoming album.

Jerneja: How did you feel about playing in the cave today? Namely, it was the first time you played here...
Bernt S.: Probably it was the first time. It was similar to when we once played in church or at the WGT Festival in Leipzig. That one was under a dome, and there were kind of the same feelings. The sound is bouncing forth and back. This cave was pretty good, pretty decent, and it wasn't that hard to play in. The sound was pretty good, better than expected. Usually, when you play under a dome or in a cave, the sound is bouncing, and it's hard to concentrate. Here, it was a good balance, and they managed to make a good sound, at least on the stage was OK.

Jerneja: Many bands are looking forward to performing at Prophecy Fest...
Bernt S.: Yeah, it's a great festival. Very nice one. Good vibes are here.
Nils: And a great atmosphere also. Also, the lighting and everything is really cool.

Tomaz: I don't know how it looked from the stage, though.
Bernt S.: It was fantastic, packed with people, and it seemed they had a great time while we were playing.
Nils: It was kind of weird because we just came here and went straight up on stage. I don't even know how it looks out here. We came half an hour before we began to play the gig. We were very nervous getting here in time. Of course, it's very special.

Tomaz: What do you expect from your new label, Prophecy Proctions? How was your first impression, and how did it come to signing with it?
Bernt S.: These were the manager's affairs. He set us up with Prophecy Productions. They are really nice people. Some of the labels just like to float on the old stuff, but Prophecy wants to push up the new stuff.
Nils: They are really professional towards us. When we were on tour, they came to meet us and talk to us. They gave us money, only to say yes to record one album. They are like an old-school label in this regard. Nowadays, in most cases, you need to have a record fully produced and finished, but not in their case. They gave us money to spend on the making of our next album. There are, of course, a lot of other things, too, that will come. They are just so very professional and nice to us. They give us full creative freedom. They said they would not say anything to us about what we should do and that they knew that we would do something that they could release. It was amazing.
Bernt S.: I have never seen such a professional label.

Jerneja: Did you also have offers from other labels?
Bernt S.: We didn't ask for any. It was our manager who recommended to us this label. I'm so happy that we did this because the old deal was really bad for us.

Tomaz: One more thing - what's the meaning or purpose of those three dots behind the name In The Woods?
Nils: In The Woods is the name of a movie, and I think Anders took the name from it. I don't know exactly. I have been told about that, but I don't know if this is a fact. I think those dots are only to make it a little bit mysterious.
Bernt S.: I don't think there is any deep meaning behind those dots. I guess that Anders put it there to make people a bit confused.

Tomaz: Thank you very much for your time and for explaining and telling us many things. Is there anything you would like to say at the end of this interview?
Bernt S.: Thank you very much for this interview. It was very kind of you. Stay tuned because a lot is coming up from In The Woods...
Nils: I just want to thank people who listen to our music and support us. I hope that they will continue and check out our new music. Without you, we are nothing. Come to our concerts. Don't do drugs, kids - wait until you are 50, haha. Btw... we played in Slovenia at the MetalDays festival some years ago, and I remember that while we were driving there, I got goosebumps when I saw how beautiful country Slovenia is. 
Bernt S.: We would love to play at the Tolminator Fest someday since it is at the same location as the former MetalDays. It's a beautiful place, I love it.

Live photos by Tomaz

In The Woods... links: Facebook, Instagram, Prophecy Productions