25 Facts About Gaahl

Gaahl is best known as the former frontman of Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth.

Gaahl was the focus of the documentary True Norwegian Black Metal and appeared in the film Flukt.

Gaahl was born in 1975 in Sunnfjord, a district in the county of Sogn og Fjordane, Norway.

Gaahl spent his youth living in a sparsely populated valley called Espedal, in the municipality of Fjaler.

Gaahl became involved with black metal in 1993, when he co-formed the band Trelldom with guitarist Tyrant and bassist Taakeheim.

Gaahl joined Gorgoroth in 1998, and was first heard on their fourth album Destroyer, although he only sang on the title track.

In 2002, Gaahl was sentenced to 12 months in prison for an assault which took place in 2000, and was ordered to pay the victim 158,000 NOK.

Gaahl's imprisonment meant that he was unable to record his vocals until January 2003.

In May 2004, Gaahl again received a prison sentence, for aggravated assault.

Gaahl appealed for a reduced sentence, and in February 2005 he was re-sentenced to fourteen months in prison and ordered to pay the victim 190,000 NOK in compensation.

Gaahl was accused of severely beating the man, torturing him for long periods of time and collecting his blood into a cup and threatening to make him drink it.

Gaahl claimed to have given the man the cup "so that he would not make such a mess in my house with all the blood".

In March 2006, Gaahl recorded vocals for Gorgoroth's next album, Ad Majorem Sathanas Gloriam.

In January 2007, Gaahl was the focus of a documentary called True Norwegian Black Metal.

Gaahl was the band's only founding member to appear on the album, which featured guitarist Valgard, bassist Stian, drummer Are and hardingfele player Egil Furenes.

In July 2008, Gaahl revealed in an online interview that he was involved in the launch of Wynjo, an upcoming fashion collection for women, together with Norwegian modeling agent Dan De Vero and designer Sonja Wu.

However, Gaahl denied that anyone had ever "said anything derogatory" to him in person.

King stated in an interview that Gaahl had been spending time in Spain working on lyrics and vocal arrangements for the debut God Seed album.

In January 2010, Gaahl was hired by Den Nationale Scene in Bergen to play the role of the Norse god Heimdall, son of Odin, in Svartediket, a performance for the 2010 Bergen International Festival.

Gaahl appeared in the 2012 Norwegian historical action-thriller film Flukt, starring as archer 'Grim'.

Gaahl has an exhibition of his paintings in the Galleri Fjalar in his hometown Bergen.

Gaahl is an artist, and has had some of his paintings on exhibit.

Gaahl is a practitioner of Norse Shamanism and can often be seen wearing a Mjolnir pendant.

Gaahl has often been mistaken as a Satanist, but objects to being labeled as such.

Gaahl maintains that he has no deep set of political beliefs, and that his circle of friends includes both right-wingers and left-wingers.