Formed in the late 1990s but becoming largely inactive around 2004, Heathen Deity were given a new lease of life in the late 2010s and haven’t slowed down since. Perhaps because of this unusual background, the band’s aesthetic, sound and unapologetically traditional values set them apart from most within the UKBM canon. Even if their 2021 debut album is unambiguously titled True English Black Metal, they actually have little in common with most of those in the English black metal scene, instead combining the dark aggression of the early Norwegian pioneers, the frosty riffing of mid-90s Sweden and a haunting and distinctively British atmosphere. Now poised to release their follow-up album, Satan’s Kingdom, the group remain as straight-talking as ever, our interview featuring co-founders Dagon and Azrael, as well as an appearance by more recent guitar-slinger Forst. This short excerpt focusses on the latest opus…

…2021 represented a huge leap forward for Heathen Deity, and you finally released a full-length studio album, with True English Black Metal totalling no less than 75 minutes, impressively with no filler songs at all. How has the reaction to the album been?

Azrael: “I haven’t seen a bad review yet, only someone saying it’s too long.”

Forst: “It’s three albums’ worth for Gorgoroth!”

Dagon: “We have had multiple reviews in both digital and printed press, ranging from the most underground zine to Metal Hammer and other more mainstream publications. We have been lucky enough to have two labels release vinyl versions, the standard double gatefold has sold very well so far and the limited edition ‘Infernal Red’ transparent edition released by Cult Never Dies sold out very quickly. The initial tape release was very positive and also sold out quickly. There has been a second pressing on tape on Cult Never Dies and that has sold well also. Cult Never Dies also produced the CD version which sold out I believe. That’s encouraging as CD sales are a strange creature these days, it’s almost like people don’t want them anymore, they go from a digital download and straight to cassette and vinyl.”

2024 sees the release of the second Heathen Deity album, Satan’s Kingdom. The fact that the album was created over a much shorter period of time must have had an impact on the writing process.

Azrael: “It has been exactly the same for this second album. From a musical point of view anyway. You have to remember we wrote the majority of TEBM back in 2002. That writing period for the basis of what the songs were wasn’t that long a process. I just had a few years to change or perfect ideas or parts of songs I wasn’t happy with. With the new album it took most of a year to write and complete the parts for the new songs. I would send Dagon songs and he would suggest some arrangement ideas if he wasn’t too happy with something, much like we did with some of the stuff on TEBM. We are more adept with our art nowadays. We know what we are looking for and what moods and atmospheres we feel we need.”

How do you feel the finished work compares to the debut?

Dagon: “Vocally and lyrically the new material is more blatant and more aggressive in my opinion. But with its own twists and turns. I am looking forward to hearing the reaction, not implying that it was written for a reaction – as always, we are the only ones we need to impress and write for. It’s nothing experimental, just pure black metal the way it’s meant to be.”

 Azrael: “Exactly! We are who we are and do what we do. We are not trying to reinvent the wheel so to speak, just play the kind of music, or the kind of black metal, we enjoy and can stand behind.”

Dagon: “We will never release anything that we are not 100 percent happy with. Music that we can revisit and still feel enthused by. The new material I can put on even in its demo stage and be proud. If you are not proud of what you are creating, what’s the point? Satan’s Kingdom feels like a natural progression to TEBM, and a big step up in the sense of aggression and atmosphere, I personally think it shows a much more aggressive raw side to the band, a definite fist to the face, but at the same time it can be restrained and sombre, there are melancholic moments when it’s needed, it’s all about dynamics and remaining true to ourselves, by not holding back on ideas and elements we want to add into the mix. It’s a very therapeutic process, liberating in a way, knowing you have no restrictions, it’s as it should be with any form of art, black metal is a very personal form of music and Heathen Deity is our life’s work, it couldn’t be more personal.”