Interview: Dragonlord

Most of you might know Eric Peterson as the guitar player of Testament, but there is Dragonlord, a black metal project formed by the guitarist many years ago. Being absent about 13 years, Dragonlord is back with a brand new album called Dominion. I had the chance to get some questions answered by Eric, about Dragonlord’s new album, the character from the comic book, a new Testament album and others.

Hi Eric, my pleasure chatting with you! First of all, why took so long to release a new Dragonlord album? About 13 years like…
Lots of reasons, the first is some problems in the begining with the original drummer, he disappeared due to personal reasons, then Testament got busy with touring and recording which there’s everything for me upside down, but through problems there were good things that followed, like getting Alex Bent involved and getting Leah too.

Well then, the return of Dragonlord with this new release, Dominion. What is the story behind the album, is this a concept one?
Well, not 100% like a rush record, but the overall theme is close to the world as it is the darker spirit realm and it’s dominion over the world.

Well, some people seems to compare the new album sound with Dimmu Borgir kinda, but in my opinion, Dominion sound is more complex , is darker, there’re symphonic elements, how do you comment it?
It’s the easiest thing to say because of the genre, but that’s like saying Pantera sounds like Metallica or Zeppelin sounds like Sabbath, same eras kinda, but there is a difference. Dragonlord relies on artistic freedom and with no compromising because of financial or lively hood, meaning it’s all based on being a fan of the genre and not relying on compromising because of the sales or blabla.

I gotta say that Dragonlord is a result that the black metal sound is not only in Norway, Sweden, Finland etc. You nailed it!
Thank you! That means a lot. There are lot of haters that think American black metal music doesn’t do it right, but I wear my black heart on my sleeve and it is in my blood.

You have Leah that is featured on the album, actually you have been working with her before, how was it to work with her?
Awesome! She is so easy and very inspiring to work with, she is a problem solver and is a great artist, I’m grateful to know her and work with her, she really added a lot to this release.

You’ve mentioned something about your vocals that you are not a singer and is more like you are acting, why is that?
Well I’m the singer, LOL, but I meant a different way of looking at it, I was struggling with being melodic and confident, I helped to think a different way which was like acting which singing is actually, telling a story with conviction and attitude, I say what ever works to get the job done!

“The Burner“ is a character from your comic book. Can you share more about this comic book and the character?
“The Burner“ is a character from the Red Dragon planet that travels here on a meteor and through different time periods, influences us or takes the side of what’s right holy or not, like defending the pagans against the violence of christianity and also in modern times, he finds me through telephathy, altough I don’t know it…I see his past and write black metal music through his life, so he seeks me out.

But how can you manage to be active with both Testament and Dragonlord? There’s been a busy tour with Testament along Slayer’s farewell shows. Maybe this is one of the reasons Dragonlord isn’t active live aswell…
Yes, but I really want to find some time to tell the tales of the new record and some of the classic songs from the early stuff live, I just gotta figure it out!

But maybe we will have a chance to see Dragonlord on stage soon!
I hope so.

Regarding Testament, a new album is on the way seems. When can we expect the new album to be out?
Mid 2019.

Thanks a lot Eric for this interview! Cheers!
Hailz!