In the black metal world, bands seem to come and go almost as fast as the seasons change. A two or three year lifespan for a band in this genre is considered almost lengthy because so many of the musicians seem to have their own vision for their bands, and that can cause conflict and infighting amongst various band members. Norwegian black metalers Ragnarok, while having had some lineup changes in the past, have managed to stick together for a full decade now. Journey with Metal Coven into the mind of Ragnarok's founding member and drummer, Jontho Pantera, and find out what makes this well oiled, hatred spewing band tick.

Jontho: On the behalf of Ragnarok I can tell you that we are happy to finally get a decent promotion in the States so it is also a big thank you from us. My name is Jontho and I play the drums in Ragnarok.I am also the main man in the band when it comes to answering interviews, booking shows and all that have to be done beside the music making. I am very much into the black metal scene and I have been for the last 13 years now. I can not see a life without the band and the music in general; this is simply what I live for. I do live in Sarpsborg in Norway and I am 26 years old. I have also been involved in many projects and I believe more will come in the future.

The other members in the band are Rym who play the guitar and make all the music in Ragnarok. He is 27 years old, lives in Sarpsborg and is one of the original members as my self. Jerv is the bass player in Ragnarok and is also one of the original members in the band. He is 27 years old and knows his place in the band.

All the three original members have stayed together since before we started the band so you can say that the connection between us is very strong.

The fourth member in the band is Hoest that entered our cave of satanic metal in 2002. He is the main man and the original member of the Norwegian band Taake. He is 26 years old and is a very dedicated man to the genre. He has given the band much after he became a member of Ragnarok and we are very happy about this.

For more info about us and the biography please visit www.ragnarokhorde.com

Jontho: Thank you very much. The reason of why Ragnarok have been around for 10 years now is simply because we love what we do. We are a band that never gives up, and I can tell you if another band would go through what we have gone trough they would have disappeared a long time ago. We have always lived after the "rule" the strongest always survive and as many bands just fade away we stay strong as always. Another reason is also because we keep our style the way black metal was meant to be.

I know that Ragnarok isn't the biggest band in the world but we have always made great music and always got great response from the media and people so it is always a reason for our existence to continue. The ones that haven't listened to RAGNAROK yet have missed something great.

Jontho: Yes that is correct. The album was released officially in Europe the third of May after a lot of delays and also then finally in the States the 11th of May.

The sound on the new album is a lot more aggressive than on the previous albums we have made. It is more technical and professional also in my opinion because we always becomes better and better on our instruments you now.

But the Blackdoor Miracle album is not only that. I believe that we have on this album managed to get everything into the music. We have very fast parts; slow parts, mid parts, melodies and it all together create a very great feeling through the whole album. But the most important is that you will always recognize that this is Ragnarok. The production on this album is also very great and for the people that like real stuff, this is the ultimate album.

Jontho: When we started the band I think we were very early about making black metal with some kind of melodies into the music. But we have always managed to maintain the aggression and the dark feelings. I think that this is just what helps people to recognize Ragnarok's music, the raw and aggressive black metal with dark melodies.

We will always play raw black metal because that is the way black metal shall be played. Black metal is a music style filled with hate and not some fucking tunes that 15 year old chicks can dance after and our structure is simple; Make music after our own feelings.

Jontho: As always it is great to stay in the Abyss studio because we can concentrate 100% about the music when we stay there. The studio is far out in the Swedish woods and nothing does disturb us out there except of the ghosts. The recording studio is in an old building that was used for keeping corpses back in the early eighties….. The whole area where the studio is an old mental hospital or something hehe

Anyway … It is great to work with Tommy. He is a person that really understands our music and what sound we desire. We do work very well together because he has also become a friend of us……A very skilled sound engineer he is.

Jontho: Yes he left after a tour we had with Dark Funeral in the middle of 2002 and later the same year hoest joined. Hoest did join the band after I met him at a festival in Germany where I played the drums for a band called Tsjuder.

I saw his performance with his band Taake at this festival and I really liked his energy on stage. After the gig we got together for some whiskey and I asked him if he was interested into maybe put some vocals on an upcoming cover song on a tribute album for Celtic Frost. He said that he had to think about it and when we came home from the fest I called him up for an answer. He then said yes and we started the recording shortly after this conversation.

After the recording we was asked if we wanted to play at the Xmas festivals in Europe together with bands as Six Feet Under, Marduk, Macabre, Kataclysm, Immolation, Impaled Nazarene and Exodus and Hoest was very interested in to come with us on that tour. After the tour he became a permanent member in the band. All this happened after Lord Arcamous left.

Jontho: Hahahahahah just send her over and maybe she also can become our personal groupie on tours.

Jontho: The only thing that has been inspired by the Norse mythology in our career was the lyrics on the first album. Also the name is taken from the Norse Myth but the music has always been black metal. Of course in the beginning we played softer than today but that have something to do with our skills on the instruments and so on…. I think we are one of the few bands that have gone more and more aggressive through the years and not as almost every band that have become softer and more wimpy through the years.

Jontho: Shortly explained I can tell that the main themes in the lyrics are about releasing your inner demon and to worship the powers it brings. Since the demon is a big part of man it is a way of worshipping yourself. We are very serious about total destruction and hate against all religions that follow a so called God/Leader and that do come out in the lyrics but not as clear as earlier lyrics .It is also a main theme that we hail the Chaos forces from hell through the lyrics. On this album the primary lyricist is a man called Espen. That was because Hoest didn't have the time to Finnish all the lyrics in time and because the lyrics of Espen was very good. Hoest did write the lyrics for the songs KNEEL, MURDER, and BLACKDOOR MIRACLE.

Jontho: It have been a much better support from Regain than on HNF but to be honest I am not completely satisfied. We need more support from a label to become what we desire. This is between us and the label but we'll see what the future gives us. We are a very hard working band and we want the label to be the same for us.

Yes Regain have some big bands now and maybe that is the problem for us smaller bands… to many labels do not understand the term ; make a small band bigger and have 5 instead of 1 big band on their label. And also the term, Use money to earn money. Too many labels go the easy way and give a shit in the smaller bands that could have been a lot bigger if they got the right support.

Yes it is great that Regain finally release albums in the states because that helps us a lot to reach more people.

Jontho: We have been thinking about to make a dvd but at this moment we will not do it. Maybe in the future, because at this time we have no good material for a dvd.

Jontho: No we have never played in the States before but we hope that we will soon. We know that is we get the chance to show the American people what we do they will be trilled. If anyone there wants to book us it is just to send me some lines in my mailbox and we can discuss it. But as I have heard the American people are more into Death metal and it is very expensive to tour there because of the big distances and so. Anyway we are very interested so do not hesitate to get in touch for booking us.

Jontho: I think that Germany is the country that really has the most die-hard fans at this moment but we also have a lot in the Scandinavian countries as well. We really enjoy playing in every country in Europe but the best is maybe eastern Germany. Hopefully we will get the chance to play in more different countries soon and then I will answer you about that again.

Jontho: Yes that is right and that is simply because we like the logo better without the hammer. The hammer do also symbolize many things that we do not stand for and we then decided that it is better to remove it from the Logo.

Jontho: I think that religion is the beginning of the end of this world. All the wars and shit in this world is first of all because of religion and it is weird that the people are so weak that they just keep on following it and crush all life on earth in the end. I would love to see the fanatics die before my eyes because they are dragging everyone down the drain with them because of their sick, lying so called good religions. Even the societies are built on lies. The whole world have become a lie and the end is closer than we can imagine because of all this.

Jontho: The one that harm me or my family.

Jontho: Yes at this moment I have a job at a factory here in Sarpsborg. I really need a lot of money to start up on my own so for a while you will find me there. But beside the job you can say that Ragnarok is also a full-time effort for me because I do everything besides making the music and that takes a lot of my time. I do also work out in a gym these days and that is what I have the time to do at the moment.

Jontho: Well the homepage can be visited at www.ragnarokhorde.com and there you will find a lot of band pictures and live pictures of the band as well as reviews, interviews and the whole biography as you mentioned. It is also a great forum there for all of you to post a message about different topics. The homepage have over 1000 visitors daily and the number grows each day.

It is also a very professional built Website with the touch of the underground.

Yes it is maybe one or two older websites that is somewhere on the web… But it is the www.ragnarokhorde.com that is THE homepage of RAGNAROK.

Jontho: We where supposed to play in Russia the 27th of May but we had to cancel because Hoest is on a hospital at this time. But we have gigs coming up and you can keep your self updated under the media link at www.ragnarokhorde.com as well. In September we will do 4 gigs in Mexico so then maybe some people from the states have the chance to see us. In October we will do an European tour with Krisiun, Behemoth and Incantation from USA.

Jontho: Thank you very much for the support and for the blackened souls of America I can tell you that the new album is something you just have to check out. It is one of the best albums released in years.