Thank you for your amazing review and thanks for doing this interview with us. In Vain started as a result of a school project back in 2003 when I was a student at a music school. In of the one classes everybody had to record a song in the school's own recording studio. I thought it could be fun to try to record a metal song, and put together some riffs. Guitars, bass and programmed drums were taken care of by me, and my friend Andreas did vocals. The first track we recorded was 'As I Wither', and it actually ended up on our debut album The Latter Rain (2007). Since then we have released two EPs and three full length albums, and our fourth album Currents was released in January this year.

I think we have always been very open-minded and progressive in our music. We have certainly added some elements along the way, but I believe we found our own sound quite early. Our songs have always been very diverse. One change is that there has been more Death and less Black on the two last albums. That might change in the future. Another change is that on the first albums all the songs were very long with up to 15-20 different riffs and sections. On the last two albums we decided to strip things down a little, and also write some shorter songs.

Thank you. We have always focused on diversity and you will find quite big variations between various tracks on our albums. My favorites vary from time to time and I have specific parts in all songs that I really appreciate. Overall I would say the slow and mellow And Quiet Flows the Scheldt (from the special edition), Blood We Shed, Seekers of the Truth and As the Black Horde Storms. We have not decided on what songs to play live yet. We try to pick the ones we believe people would like to hear and songs that work well in a live setting.

Thanks. As a songwriter I have always been extremely focused on contrasts and variety, but still that all the various elements balanced naturally. I trust my gut feeling and try to let a song develop in a natural and interesting way. In addition, I try to avoid clichés and instead to surprise the listener. A easy example; if you have a really slow and heavy riff, it might not make sense to put another slow and heavy riff right after as you would make a much bigger contrast if you add a fast riff. Of course then the challenge is to make that transition work smoothly, if not everything turns into a circus.

So far I, Johnar, have written 90% of the lyrics. I am first and foremost a composer, but at the end of the day, lyrics are needed as well. So far, not many others have been willing to contribute a lot in that area. As with the music, our lyrics are very varied and deal with a lot of different topics, everything from philosophy, nature, personal experiences, views on where the world is headed, etc. We stay away from politics and direct religious topics, apart from that anything goes. For instance, on the special version of Currents there is a track called "And Quiet Flows the Scheldt", which is about my time living in the Belgian city Antwerp and the river Scheldt which runs through it. Kind of like a parallel to the track "On the Banks of the Mississippi" from Mantra (2009).

To me progressive simply means to evolve, create something new (not talking about developing new genres necessarily..), to mix styles, migrate across various genres, etc. I believe that it is reflected in the music in the way we mix all these different styles. On our album you will find elements from many subgenres in metal, but also from other genres, however everything is combined in a seamless way.

I am inspired by all kinds of music and I listen to everything from the softest music to the most extreme metal. In addition I get inspiration from life in general, travels, movies, nature, etc.

Yes we will go on a small European tour as special guest with Orphaned Land from 24 Feb – 4 March. Subterranean Masquerade and Aevum will join as support. If we could tour with any band I guess we would choose one of the metal heavyweights such as Metallica, etc in order to play for as many people as possible.

Well, that is absolutely not true. It seems to me that people also believe bands make money on tours. Most bands lose money because it is very expensive to go on a tour. You need to rent a nightliner, etc. The life on tour is great, however it is not something I would want to do as a full-time job. The band and music is just a passion for me. Life on tour is great when you get along with the other bands and get a real community feeling, have parties on the bus, etc. It is obviously also great to meet fans, to see new cities, etc. I do not have any real scary stories, just more crazy stuff like an open shower cabinet being placed right next to the electricity generator backstage…

Yeah there is no money in music anymore unfortunately. That is an issue, because it costs a lot of money to record music properly and to give it a proper promotion. People seem to forget that and I do not dare to think of the long-term consequences of this. These days people pay more money for a beer than for an entire album that has years of work behind it. It is simply unbelievable that music has become so cheap. Anyway, music is a passion for me and I enjoy composing. I often get the question "why don't you tour more, release music more often, etc". and the answer is that we cannot afford to do it. If the band was our full-time job we would obviously release albums more often.

I work as a portfolio manager in a stock fund. Besides music my big passions are travelling and food/cooking. I also enjoy spending time in nature and I workout quite a lot.

The metal scene in Norway is as strong as ever in my opinion. There are tons of good bands across a variety of sub genres in metal. When it comes to the future I do not have any specific thoughts. I believe the scene is going to stay strong.

I did not know about that. You think it is like that for metalheads as well? USA definitely got a lot of good Death Metal bands but I guess you miss out on some really good bands especially in Black Metal, if you do not look outside your own country.

Continue to release great music, build the band's name and have fun together. Obviously another goal would be to tour outside Europe one day.

Thanks a lot for the interview and keep supporting bands and good music. Norway is indeed a nice country. Lots of space and great nature to enjoy. You are welcome here Dave!