Watain

Watain is a Swedish black metal band from Uppsala, Sweden, active since 1998. The group takes its name from a song by the American black metal band Von. Its core members are Erik Danielsson, Pelle Forsberg, Håkan Jonsson and C. Blom, with Danielsson handling vocals and bass, Forsberg on guitar, Jonsson on drums and Blom listed as a previous guitarist.

Formation and early releases

Watain forms in Uppsala in 1998 and issues its first demo, Go Fuck Your Jewish "God", that same year. In 1999 it releases the live tape Black Metal Sacrifice, then the EP The Essence of Black Purity through Grimrune Productions in October 1999. The band regards that EP as its first official release and plays a show with Malign and Dark Funeral organised by Watain and Grimrune Productions.

Albums and recordings

The debut album Rabid Death's Curse appears in 2000 on End All Life Productions and Drakkar Productions. A split EP with Diabolicum follows on Spikekult Records. In the early 2000s, a split LP with Malign is planned for Grimrune Productions but is never issued before work on the second full-length album begins. Casus Luciferi is recorded in 2003 and includes lyrics by Necromorbus of Funeral Mist, MkM of Antaeus and Scorn of Katharsis. Necromorbus also produces all of the band’s studio releases from The Essence of Black Purity onward and plays live bass for the group.

Watain tours Europe with Unpure in early 2002, then follows Casus Luciferi with the Stellar Descension Infernal Tour alongside Secrets of the Moon and Averse Sefira. It also tours through 18 countries with Dissection on the two-month Rebirth of Dissection tour in 2004.

Later career

Sworn to the Dark is released in Europe in 2007, after which Watain tours Europe with Celtic Frost, Kreator and Legion of the Damned. The band plays its first North American headlining tour in 2008 with Book of Black Earth, with Eclipse Eternal and Kronosfear joining for some dates.

In 2010 Watain releases the single “Reaping Death” in two formats, each with a cover version as the B-side: “Chains of Death” by Death SS on the vinyl edition and “The Return of Darkness and Evil” by Bathory on the CD edition. The album Lawless Darkness follows later that year.

Filming for the feature film Opus Diaboli completes in 2012 and the film is released on DVD. In 2013 the band completes its fifth album, The Wild Hunt, which is followed by a world tour beginning in Uppsala. The first single from the album is “All That May Bleed”, with “Play with the Devil” as its B-side; that song is originally recorded by Taiwaz in 1988 in Uppsala. The second single is “The Child Must Die”.

Style and controversy

Watain is associated with black metal and is also described as Orthodox Black Metal and religious black metal. The band becomes the subject of controversy in 2006 after members perform a Hitler salute and wear shirts by the NSBM band Absurd after a show in Germany, leading to accusations that it is a Nazi band. Erik Danielsson later says the band treats NSBM as a joke and rejects the worldview associated with it.