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Vice Blog

A FIST IN THE FACE OF GOD VISITS NESEBLOD RECORDS

Neseblod Records

is Oslo's premier metal and punk record store. It is also the most insane shop I've ever been to. Trying to get through their enormous collection of

records

and

merchandise

is crazy--the store could be five times the size and still be over-stocked. I emailed some questions to Kenneth at Neseblod, who answered them all politely and even recommended a track that best represents their store. Swell guy, I am sure you'll agree.

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Vice: You have a seriously large archive of both music and merchandise. Has much of the stock come from your own personal collections?

Kenneth:

When we started the shop, we had some of our own collection. We also have a dig about at home sometimes and bring it to the store.

You are the premier record store in Oslo for metal, punk, and alternative stuff. Was there anywhere you could buy such music between the closure of Helvete in 1993 and the opening of your store in 2003?

There had not been any special store for this kind of music, but there were second-hand stores that had some stuff every now and then.

Speaking of Helvete, you have many artifacts belonging to Euronymous. Was he a personal friend of yours?

No, not really. I bought a lot of records from him and sold him some of my Mercyful Fate records. We would talk about music and stuff whenever I was at Helvete.

Have you noticed a big change in trend in metal over the last few years? I know metal is supposed to be "anti-trend" or whatever but…

Yes, a lot of the old school thrash metal is extremely popular and is getting more plays than it did back in the 80s.

Norway has had a pretty mercurial touch when it comes to producing great metal bands, since the first wave of black metal bands towards the end of the 80s and early 90s. What is it that makes Norway such a breeding ground for great bands?

Not sure, but it might have something to do with us having a big interest for underground music. And I think we are not afraid to try something different. We also have the long cold winter and the forest – that might influence our minds.

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Do you ever get any really odd requests at your store?

Yes, some questions about the t-shirt DREP DE KRISTENE. Er, no comment.

On the website it says : "A BIG THANKS TO UB40 FOR THE BADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD". What?

HA HA HA. Me and Fenriz were talking about the worst band we could come up with. We came up with UB40. Nothing over, nothing under.

Kenneth requested the song to accompany this feature on his shop to be Von's "Satanic Blood." I already posted that a month or two back but hey, it doesn't get much better than Von, so here we go again. There's a bonus Von track too – one I've been blazing a lot to recently.

Von - "Satanic Blood"

Von - "Veadtuck"

†ROCKWELL†