Even in a scene as boundary-pushing as black metal, Witch Club Satan are radical. While their sound is rooted in raw chaos, it’s fuelled by a unique and powerful perspective: female rage. The Norwegian trio take inspiration from injustices aimed at women over generations, reclaiming words that have been used to diminish them – ‘witch’, ‘hysterical’, ‘whore’, among others – to find empowerment within themselves. “I feel that black metal is a really feminine genre,” says Witch Club Satan drummer Johanna Kleive. “Because women have screamed throughout history. Many people who have seen us perform tell us it feels like we scream not just one woman’s scream, but every woman’s scream.”
The three words that make up the name Witch Club Satan all carry meaning, though it’s the third and final word that’s most associated with black metal. “Satan, for us, represents a kind of joker figure,” says guitarist Nikoline Spjelkavik. “It represents rebellion and freedom.”
