Grutle Kjellson

Grutle Kjellson
Background information
Birth name	Kjetil Grutle
Born	(1973-12-24) 24 December 1973 Sveio, Hordaland, Norway
Origin	Norway
Genres	Viking metal, black metal, progressive metal
Instruments	Vocals, bass, guitar
Years active	1991–present
Associated acts	Enslaved, Darkthrone, Trinacria

Grutle Kjellson (born 24 December 1973 in Sveio, Hordaland, Norway^[1]) is a Norwegian vocalist and bass player for the progressive viking metal band Enslaved. He is one of only two founding members left in the current line-up with Ivar Bjørnson being the other one. He is the man who appears on the cover of Enslaved's album Eld. Grutle appeared as a guest vocalist on the song "High on Cold War" on Darkthrone's 2006 EP, Too Old, Too Cold.

Views on church burnings

Kjellson clearly stated in multiple interviews including in the film Metal: A Headbanger's Journey his opinion on the church burning in Norway such as the Fantoft Stave Church.

In one interview he said "The church burning as a 'symbolic' act I can understand. I mean kind of a revenge, in a bigger historical point of view. I mean Christianity has been one of the most violent religions of them all. So in a historical point of view a bigger picture I guess they kind of deserve it"^[2]

Views on black metal

Kjellson stated in an interview that black metal isn't one specific genre. He said "Well, black metal pretty much started with Venom in..... What is it '81 or '82? With the album Welcome to Hell. They were actually the first act that actually called their music black metal. And that's why I have this point of view about Black metal. I mean Venom doesn't sound anything like modern Black metal bands. But you know it's still Black metal, same lyrical concept, Satanic lyrics and stuff. Yeah Venom sounded more like punk than.... black metal nowadays. So black metal can be any kind of heavy metal music."

References