Guitarist Silenoz of Norwegian black metallers DIMMU BORGIR recently spoke to U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2007's In Sorte Diaboli.

"The words that come to mind, if we should even try and attempt at describing [the new material] at this point, would be something like: grand, huge, epic and primal," he said. "It has this eerie and haunting feel to it. Atmosphere and ambience!

He continued, "It's hard to say anything distinct or speak objectively about the new material when you're in the middle of the writing process — we're too close to it at this stage — but we'd be lying if we said it's not good. We're very confident in the new material and we believe it'll raise a few eyebrows. We might even have to trim our own!"

Regarding why the wait between albums seems to be getting longer for DIMMU BORGIR, Silenoz said, "Because we want the next album to be a better and stronger one. We're more critical of each process and we take the time it needs. Quality is, at the end of the day, in the eye of the beholder, but once we start rushing things, like trying to write music while on tour to speed things up — forget about it. We've tried it before and it didn't work. We focus 110 percent on one thing at a time. Plus, if we'd release an album every year, where would the expectation be? Where would the excitement be?"