Lord Belial: End Times and Past Times

LORD BELIAL are pioneers of Swedish black metal and have been since their inception back in 1992. After a hiatus in the late 2010s , the band blasted back with their blasphemous brilliance for live shows and then finally, after fourteen years, the long awaited album Rapture in 2022. Now, the band  return again with the follow up, Unholy Trinity, and its is another collection of pitch black impious fury that combines all that is great about LORD BELIAL. 

We caught up with guitarist Niclas Pepa Green to hear all about it, and its unholy meanings as well as discussing Swedish black metal. Additionally, we reflect on the thirty years since 1995’s Kiss the Goat debut, and how the band has evolved from then until the present day with their blackened sonic assault. 

We start things off with Niclas telling us about Unholy Trinity and how this record will shape the future for LORD BELIAL. “This one is kind of a continuation of Rapture, in a way. I think we have found a way to continue producing in a kind of literary world that we are building, and we hope to continue in that vein for at least three more albums, because we talked about making five albums for Hammerheart.” 

Niclas then goes onto reveal more about the sound that the new album has and how it is not just non stop heaviness. “We have quite a lot of melody, and also we try to work more with dynamics and not just blast away all the time, but to try and have some alteration.” 

With legendary KING DIAMOND guitarist Andy LaRocque producing Unholy Trinity, Niclas tells us about working with him again. “Andy LaRocque is kind of the fourth member, in a way. I have talked to him maybe a couple of times a month for the last 20 years. He has expertise, and he also has all these fancy compressors and effects and digital plugins and he knows how to use them and when to use them. it is very productive for us, because we can focus on what we do and not produce at the same time.” 

Niclas then enthused about having Andy play guitar on the album, reflecting on how much that means to him. “I grew up with him, listening to KING DIAMOND, The Eye and Abigail and all that, so working closely with him and having him play the guitar on our album, it’s an honour.”

Talk then turns to where the inspiration for the songs on Unholy Trinity came from and happily, Niclas’ answer was suitably blasphemous. “We look at Christianity, and in particular this time, certain aspects of the Bible, and dive into, Revelations Chapter 13, the seven headed and ten horned beast and things like that, and then shift it around and not only mock it, but also try to make you understand what makes Christianity such a powerful religion and what made it that way from the beginning, and also try to invert it totally.” 

With Unholy Trinity, LORD BELIAL are firmly in the present but 2025 marks thirty years since the bands debut album Kiss the Goat and Niclas looks back with pride at those early days of the Swedish black metal masters. “It was a glorious time. Everybody was looking for new roots and planting roots and then growing from there and in different directions, and our path led to where we are today.” 

2025 marks LORD BELIAL as being stronger than ever with Unholy Trinity. The band hope to capitalise with the possibility of future live dates  as Niclas reveals. “Hammerheart have talked about tours, and about festivals and gigs, but in order to get Thomas to get to the point where he’s confident enough to stand in front of a crowd and sing and play the guitar at the same time. I don’t know where we will be time wise with that. When we rehearse, he almost never sings these days, so he has to do quite a bit of rehearsing. I know he has the capacity, we haven’t decided anything, but I would really love it to do a small tour, or some festivals, or just a couple of gigs. I prefer small clubs to festivals myself. I like to be in touch with the audience, and not just 100 meters from the crowd.”

Looking back, Niclas the tells of his most memorable live shows that he’s done over the years with LORD BELIAL. “The most powerful memory for me personally was a club in Paris, I think it was called The Garage, and that was the most intense experience of my life, music wise, because the fans, they were absolutely mad! Blood, sweat and chairs flying in the air. That’s what I like. I really like when people are that into it!”

We finish off by discussing the greats of Swedish metal, which LORD BELIAL are, of course, part of the lineage and Niclas declares who his biggest influence is and the answer is truly legendary when it comes to black metal and Swedish black metal in particular. “My personal favourite is, of course, BATHORY. My son has embraced BATHORY now, and he runs around playing the guitar and rehearsing BATHORY, and he never takes off his BATHORY shirt! For me, they are definitely number one.”

Unholy Trinity is out now via Hammerheart Records. View this interview, alongside dozens of other killer bands, in glorious print magazine fashion in DS121 here:

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