Your music has been a powerful vehicle for your philosophies.

I think the "dawning of a new era" sounds a bit pretentious, and to me it's simply a step closer to my roots, and thus yes - I do feel liberated by this. I know many dislike this move, and I suspect that it is not really the dawning of a new era, but rather a move to a style which sells less records

Out of pure spite we pretty much always said the opposite of what the other said, no matter what they said, only to mark distance. That's how we ended up calling ourselves Satanists, despite the fact that we absolutely were not. There was not a single Satanist in the whole Black Metal scene in Norway in 1991-92.

My own growth comes not (just) individually, but mainly as part of a greater change for the better.

Return to a simpler life, and you will see that behind the expensive cars, the fashionable clothes, the empty celebrities, the fancy houses and the thick layers of make-up life has real meaning. Behind all the lies there is a deep well of wisdom that we can all drink from, and grow wiser, healthier and happier.

My own growth is a part of a group evolution, definitely. It does feel as if the changes in the group are meant to be, and that I am not as much a catalyst, so to say, but rather a result of this.

A man can only grow to a certain point when alone; to grow further you need some "irrational shocks", like a wife and children; a dramatic change to your own life.