Morten Odgaard

Fairytale Abuse

Morten Odgaard (guitars) was eager enough to answer a few questions regarding FAIRYTALE ABUSE's brand new album, Perversions Of Angel VI. The Danish sextet has put out an interesting album of 'melodic' Black Metal and - in the usual case you've not crossed this band's name so far - maybe it's time to take your chances now.
By Grigoris Chronis
November 4, 2008
Morten Odgaard (Fairytale Abuse) interview
Hello from Metal-Temple.com mag!

Hi there! Thanks for talking to us.

First of all, it'll be interesting to give us a quote on FAIRYTALE ABUSE's history. Many metalheads may not be familiar to the band. Even I was surprised to see you have more than 10 years of existence!

Yes, this year signifies the 10th aniversary or our demo recording entitled Catharsis which formed the basis for what we do today. In those days we were troubled by a lot of bad luck regarding getting signed. First we couldn't get a deal, then we got one but the company went under, all the usual stuff. We fought hard with this in many years until our first album The Spirit Tower finally came out in 2006.

How difficult is to find six people to build up a lineup, really? Sometimes even three or four people cannot agree/get along easily.

That's a good question. Being six people in a band certainly poses its challenges but it works well for us. As you suggest, the biggest problem is building it up and agreeing on the basics and we did this along time ago.

On to 2008: Perversions Of Angel VI has long now been released. What's the feedback so far?

The album has been received really well. We've gotten an enormous amount of good feedback and the reviews are very positive as well. Obviously there are exceptions, but those are the game rules.

Really, what does the VI extension mean? Does it have a special meaning to you, as a band, or it's connected to the album's title?

Angel VI is a fictitious character that the album's lyrics revolve around. It's not a concept album as such, but still most of the songs feature this character in some way. The lyrical universe is too comprehensive to describe here but I can highly recommend diving into the lyrics to suck up the atmosphere of the album for oneself.

Judging from the cover, I'd expect maybe something more brutal. Still, you seem to have a fine balance between'goth' atmosphere, brutality, pomp-ness, gloom and - even - Death Metal. Did you have a specific aim while writing the songs for the new album?

Yes, we did and it included most of the things you mention. We've tried hard to create a hard and atmospheric album that draws the listener into a disturbing universe. We're pleased with the result and with the fact that a lot of people also seem very positive.

Are there any tracks written in the long past but now used for an album? Also, it's been some time since your previous album - The Spirit Tower - was released. A summary of any differences between these two CDs?

No, I don't think we'll be re-recording old songs for the time being. We have done that before - in fact we did a few oldies for The Spirit Tower. It's a lot more liberating to start from a clean slate, so I'll think we'll stick with doing completely new stuff, at least for a long while. The main reason is that it tends to show when you redo an old song in comparison to new tracks. Especially with our kind of music, it's important that everything fits together well. In that way, we think the new album is more coherent.

Truth is the band's sound style may bring other bands in mind but - somehow - you can also unveil your specific personality. I'd like to ask, how difficult is to filter your influences (bands, styles etc) in a way that you just have the base and then build up your own identity? Is songwriting a'team' work for FAIRYTALE ABUSE, where everybody contributes something?

I don't find it so hard, really. We've been doing this for many years and I think our most important influences were founded in the beginning. Our style has always felt natural to us and we feel very confident about it. Because our genre is relatively small, I think people sometimes tend to forget how similar bands in other genres sound. In regards to the songwriting, we try to get everyones opinion, but usually 2 or 3 of us make the final decision.

Not to forget:'FAIRYTALE ABUSE' is a very clever name! Who came up with this title?

An old band member came up with the name 15 years ago. The band style has changed a lot since but we always thought the name was catchy so it stuck with us.

OK, to the new album again: it seems that - at times - keyboards can act as the main factor for a band's sound. Other people say - mostly 80s metalheads - that with keyboards somehow omit the power off a song. Your opinion?

I would agree that in Death Metal very few bands have found a good use for keyboards, but in our genre it's an absolute must. We work a lot with creating different moods and emotional settings that are not possible without it.

Would you ever consider playing something more into'primitive' Black Metal? Or you're fully dedicated to this specific style?

While I don't think we'll do a classic Black Metal kind of song, we do have themes on the album that are heavily inspired by it. We are aware of our roots and we try not to stray too far off most of the time.

Anyway, the musicianship is in very high level. How hard do you work in rehearsals? The songs should be rather demanding onstage, too.

Thank you. We try not to get too drunk before a live set - that usually helps!

Do you share the belief that only by seeing a band live someone can draw a conclusion if it's worth it? What's FAIRYTALE ABUSE's opinion on live gigs?

Not necessarily. I think it's only about half of my favourite bands that I've had a chance to see live. We love playing live but we don't have the size yet to do cross continental tours.

Have you shared the stage for any 'big' names? I saw in your website you have no dates scheduled yet. Are you working on it?

We've played with the two big Danish acts ILLDISPOSED and HATESPHERE. We are currently working on setting up dates with ILLNATH and COMPOS MENTIS and the first date in Copenhagen has been set.

Hailing from Denmark: has your homeland been supportive all these years? Most of the world knows Denmark's Metal scene only via 80s bands like KING DIAMOND, MERCYFUL FATE or ARTILLERY (or even PRETTY MAIDS). How would you describe the situation in Denmark's Metal music (any sub-genre) the 21st century?

In fact it's going very well for the popular Metal genre at the moment, with many bands getting international contracts. Since Denmark is so small we don't really have our own sub-genre here, like Sweden and Norway have Thrash and Black respectively. We're very proud however that we currently share label with KING DIAMOND that you mention.

Hope you did not waste much time on these questions, honestly, thanks a lot! Anything you'd like to add?

We're looking forward to support out new album live in the coming months. Hopefully we can even reach Greece next year.

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