Hi, nice to get the story back to your first VINTERSORG encounter. We're just very excited about the new album and are very proud of what we've accomplished this time around; that's the feeling after every album though, but it's very much a special album in many senses, as it tracks back to the origin of the band and what we were and what we are. We could, of course, have made a follow up much earlier on but this album isn't a part II in that sense as it's just a copy or an album that have a similar sound, it's the continuation.

It just all happened by accident in a way. I was just writing new songs and they just sounded a bit as in the old days and I was quite surprised about it myself. The last years we've revolved back to a more folk music oriented sound but the process of the song was just kind of shrouded even to me who write the songs. I didn't go back to listen to the first album but after discussing the things with my team mates we were all clear about that this would be the Part II album. It's been a great journey and a very pleasant but also hard ride. It hasn't been exhausting or complicated instead it always my own expectation of the songs that are the hard part. I worked on the songs until the last day of the mastering of the album I think. I was keen on really have everything perfected so it would match the vision I had with the album. We are very pleased with the result and I've already composed the next album just out of inspiration.

I'm a programmer. Back then it was quite hard to get a realistic sound but now a days it will be hard for anyone to decide if something is played or programmed, if it's done in a good way. I'm also doing a lot of programming in my daytime job as a teacher working with kids and programming, so I've always been very open to use digital tools. And now so many digital tools in music production are very user friendly and also perfected to really get a professional sound.

Yes, it is with several of the mentioned bands. I've also written several other albums that are recorded and will be out this year, I guess. Music is like a drug to me, I need to write and record new songs and albums to feel at ease and still it's hard to really slow down my inner drive. But.my day time job take a lot of my time and energy, so I have to balance things out from time to time, so for some bands mentioned it has taken a long time to come out with new stuff.

He recorded the bassoon that last album as well and is a good friend of ours. So, we thought it would be nice to invite him into the band instead of asking him every time we'll record a new album to join us as a session member. He's great bass player and have the right mentality to be in this band. Not more complicated than that actually.

Oh, that's hard to remember as I grew up listen to parallel universes. Both hard rock like KISS, SAXON, BLACK SABBATH, and so on as well as progressive Rock from the 70's and also Scandinavian folk music. So, I think some of the inspiration I have captured inside comes from that "mish-mash" out of a musical cauldron. I also take a lot of inspiration form my life and spending time fishing and wandering out the wild.

I've always been an explorer and after we did the first three albums we wanted to dig deeper into who we where musically at that point in time, so we did some more progressive albums that had a broader lyrical frame as well, not just asking the questions of Man and Nature on Earth. Instead we took a deep glance into the existential matters of Man and Nature in Universe. It was a very nice ride and I really like those albums as well.

I was having this accident in late 2014 when I cracked my head, got two brain hemorrhages, lost my hearing on my left ear and so on… so it has been a hard struggle to get back to "Human" again. So, I have a hard time doing live performances and therefore we've not done more that one show in the recent years.

I haven't really thought about it in an analytic way. I just write the lyrics I want and for VINTERSORG they end up in my mother tongue. I also write lyrics in the other bands I'm involved with and in English. But I really like to write in Swedish as well, so I can have the best of two worlds. But it's all about passion and not about calculating what would be the best thing to do for the band commercially and so on.

I don't tour. But my teammates in BORKNAGAR are doing a lot of that and are doing a really great job. We'll see in the future what I can do.

We haven't discussed that in BORKNAGAR but I write a lot of acoustic songs as well so maybe I'll do more released song in that kind of nature in the future in some of the bands I work with, hard to tell actually. It has to come by heart and not to be forced.

We always share the vocal duties in BORKNAGAR. I mean on the last album we were four singers even if I did the lion part. So, we'll have more than me on vocals, which I'm sure of.

I'm all on the inside and have a bit hard to tell what our music sounds like on the outside. I think we are very much folk music oriented in VINTERSORG and have had periods when we were more progressive. But I think we have refined our formula of folk oriented metal music throughout the years, we're not a banal Viking band in any sense. We have never had that kind of lyrics, not that kind of music of the graphical profile either. We have a more nature worshipping style with more dimensions and nuances.

It's all about passion for me. I write the music that comes out of my mind and heart, not thinking about it so much.

We are form different countries. VINTERSORG are Swedish and we live quiet far north in Sweden, actually quite near the polar circle. BORKNAGAR is Norwegian mostly; I'm the only guy that's not from Norway.

Not any in particular. Be yourself and write the music you like; it may not be the most trendy at the time but you'll feel whole as a musician and as a human when you follow your heart.