Vintersorg
Vintersorg from Sweden
started their career as a pure black metal band, but little by little they've
started adding some technical passages along with melodic elements that
have an intense scent from their motherland and many atmospheric touches.
Their aim as a band is to explore life and nature through their music and
lyrics. This is why the end result sounds so poetic. Now let's see what
Mister Vintersorg himself told us about the band...
1. HELLO! FIRST OF ALL GIVE US IN SHORT THE
MOST IMPORTANT MOMENTS FROM THE RELEASE OF “THE FOCUSING BLUR” TILL NOW…
Mr V: Well, there have been many important
moments since then but one of the most important ones is when we decided
in what way or direction this, the new, album would go in. It took us some
time to understand what we wanted to do but after that it was kind of a
quick process with lots of inspiration. We’ve been occupied with our other
bands as well during this period so many things have happened. "The Focusing
Blur" was an album that drained our energy for some time as we really dug
deep both music and lyricwise in quite complex terrain, therefore the break
between the albums.
2. WHY DID IT TAKE YOU 3 YEARS TO RELEASE A NEW
WORK? DID THE BAND FACE ANY PROBLEMS IN THE MEANTIME?
Mr V: No, not really problems but we were
occupied with other bands and the fact that we really needed some time
off to digest all the impression that TFB created but mentally and cognitive,
so we just wanted to sit back and let the time be one element of the process
of finding out what we were aiming for. After that I wrote the album in
like three-four weeks but we spent a lot of time for the arrangements and
the making of it into a reality. Our contract with Napalm also ended with
TFB so it took us some time to find a new contract that we both were satisfied
with, but it was never any harsh debate or something but it’s always some
negotiation etc.
3. “SOLENS ROTTER” IS A VERY SPECIAL ALBUM, CONTAINING
A GREAT DEAL OF ELEMENTS SOME OF WHICH USUALLY DON’T GO TOGETHER. HOW DID
THIS SOUND OCCUR TO YOU? HOW DO YOU FIND THE GOLDEN BALANCE AMONG THE FOLK,
EXTREME AND PROGRESSIVE ELEMENTS?
Mr V: I don’t know. I compose songs that I
feel is very natural even if they contain many elements and different kinds
of genres within them, I’m a very open minded person so I don’t feel that
I have any musical boundaries that lock my mind into a certain framework.
I guess that’s a part of it, if you feel safe and honest with what you’re
doing it should be traceable in the result. I like many different kinds
of music myself and always aim to write adventurous music, this is how
it came out this time.
4. IS THERE SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE ON THE ALBUM
OR SOMETHING YOU WILL MAKE SURE TO IMPROVE ON YOUR NEXT ALBUM? ARE THERE
ANY ELEMENTS YOU’D LIKE TO EXPERIMENT WITH IN THE FUTURE?
Mr V: We’re very satisfied with the album
all in all, there’s always stuff that can be executed or presented differently
but those things are very few this time around. We got the atmosphere we
aimed for and the sound we were looking for and the songs came out as we
pictured them, so we can’t be unhappy when all these things came together
on the album. Every new album is a new challenge and a new journey so on
the next album we’ll probably add some new elements but trying to keep
the core intact, we really like to explore and widen our musical impressions
and expressions as long as it feels natural and harmonious with our minds
and souls.
5. WE LIVE THROUGH A DIFFICULT FOR THE HEAVY METAL
MUSIC ERA. I MEAN MANY BANDS AND LABELS ARE OUT THERE, THE CDS COST A LOT
OF MONEY AND IT’S DIFFICULT FOR THE PEOPLE TO BUY EVERYTHING OR EVEN MAKE
THE RIGHT CHOICE… HOW DO YOU SEE THIS SITUATION? WHICH ARE YOUR THOUGHTS
ON THAT?
Mr V: I guess it’s jungle and that’s
of course both good and bad, good for the persons that are in the bands
and get a chance to reveal their craft, bad for the buyers who have a hard
time to pick out the golden grains out of the desert of bands. Things have
changed and we just have to accept that, we don’t just have a couple of
huge bands like Beatles or the Stones and everybody buy their music. So
that of course leads to that we’ll not see these mega-big bands anymore
I think, instead the people will spread around many bands and that changes
the conditions for everybody involved in the bands. It’s very hard to live
off the music these days and that can of course affect the quality of the
musical art.
6. LET’S SAY THAT YOU WERE ASKED TO WRITE A REVIEW
FOR “SOLENS ROTTER”. WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TRYING TO BE AS OBJECTIVE AS POSSIBLE?
WHAT’S THE BEST AND WHAT’S THE WORST PART OF YOUR MUSIC, ACCORDING TO YOU?
Mr V: It’s totally impossible as I don’t see
any weak points..hehehe..it would be a very positive review mentioning
all the high spots..hehehehe..but seriously if we felt that it was filled
with bad songs and weak moments we wouldn’t of course sit here talking
about the album. It’s a very balanced album and very diverse but still
fluent and harmonious…..
7. IF YOU HAD TO COMPARE YOUR NEW ALBUM WITH ALL
YOUR PREVIOUS RELEASES, WHAT WOULD YOU NOTICE? FOR EXAMPLE I SEE THAT YOU’VE
REDUCED THE PROGRESSIVE ELEMENTS QUITE A LOT. DO YOU AGREE? WHY?
Mr V: Well, not reduced but done them in a
different manner this time. The album is more fluent but it has some really
progressive parts that breaths of progression in the words right terms…this
album has a warm atmosphere and an organic touch that’s very obvious but
still you really hear that’s a Vintersorg album. So, it’s a bit hard to
tell what makes this album different, it’s summary of our history and a
glimpse of the future I feel. The contrast between all of our elements
are very carefully handled this time and a continuance in pace and flow
is up front, still it’s a journey that takes you into many types of emotional
realms.
8. I AM ALWAYS INTERESTED IN THE LYRICS. CAN YOU
TELL ME THE MAIN THEMES YOU DEAL WITH? WHICH ARE YOUR SOURCES OF INSPIRATION?
Mr V: The lyrics deal with the relation between
Man and Nature and many aspects of that relation, from the cosmological
to the more “romantic” descriptions of Nature in our surroundings. I get
a lot of my inspiration from excursions in Nature and my studying, my life
in general. It’s hard just to pick out one source as it’s all connected
in one way or another.
9. ONE MORE THING IS THE FACT THAT YOU STOPPED
WRITING LYRICS IN ENGLISH AND YOU USED ONLY YOUR MOTHER TONGUE. WHY IS
THAT? DO YOU FEEL SWEDISH HELP YOU MORE TO EXPRESS YOUR THOUGHTS OR DO
THEY SUIT BETTER TO THE ALBUM’S OVERALL AESTHETICS?
Mr V: It was just because it felt very inspiring
to write in Swedish again, the last album was totally in English and was
a very deep project in questioning life and how it exists. I felt that
I wanted to write in my mother tongue this time just cause I had that notion
in my head, so it’s simple as that and no commercial trick or something
like that behind it.
10. THE ALBUM’S TITLE IS QUITE WEIRD AND IT MEANS
“THE SUN’S ROOTS” IF I’M NOT MISTAKEN? WHAT DO YOU WANT TO SUGGEST WITH
IT?
Mr V: It’s not wired to me. It would approximately
be “The origin of the Sun” and it sums up the lyrics very well as it’s
a journey in the relation between man and nature. Or life depends on our
Sun, all of the beauty in the Nature in my surroundings depends on it and
still we try our best to disturb the balance…so it’s a statement but not
a political more like a philosophical one.
11. THE COVER ARTWORK IS SIMPLE AND YET I FIND
IT VERY BEAUTIFUL. WHO’S RESPONSIBLE FOR IT AND CAN YOU MAKE THE CONNECTION
WITH THE ALBUM’S LYRICS?
Mr V: It’s Mattias who has done the imagery
on the album. It’s and Alchemist holding the sun in one hand and the moon
in the other as a symbol for the duality of man and nature. We have both
positive and negative circumstances and the Alchemist is tweaking the nature
to his/her benefit…but to what cost? Etc.
12. HOW ARE YOU THINKING TO PROMOTE YOUR WORK?
HAVE YOU GOT ANY PLANS FOR LIVE SHOWS? AND DOES YOUR MUSIC WORK OUT FINE
IN A LIVE ENVIRONMENT?
Mr V: No shows are planned as we’re not a
live act at this point. Too complex to make it happen with studies, work,
family and so on and we’re only two guys in the band as well so we have
to hire guys in for every show.
13. WHAT EMOTIONS AND THOUGHTS DO YOU WANT TO
CREATE TO YOUR LISTENERS THROUGH YOUR MUSIC?
Mr V: I don’t know, I don’t think in that
kinds of terms when composing. I do it for my own good health and for the
reason that’s it’s a form of addiction for me to get my visions into a
musical reality. Hopefully people like it!!
14. THANKS FOR YOUR TIME! LEAVE A MESSAGE TO YOUR
FANS…
Mr V: Check out the new album it’s an adventure.
Christine Parastatidou
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