Arnd Klink
Darkness
Hello Lior, the honour is from my end. I'm fine so far.
It is a crazy time, you are right. Fortunately, the pandemic didn't strike me that hard. My family and the band are well, no one was infected so far. My financial loss was not too worse either. But it is very, very hard that gigs were postponed or cancelled. This year we would have been to Russia and the USA for the first time and it is so sad that we were not able to play these shows.
I think it is both. Due to the pandemic we weren't able to play concerts. So there were no public activities of the band and a recording was the only possibility to show we are still alive. On the other hand, the recording is a calling card for the next album, that's a nice description. During the last five years Darkness developed a lot. The music is not the rumbling thrash that we played in the eighties any longer. Nowadays we don't fear melodies and it is more elaborated, although it is still fast, brutal and uncompromising. With "Over and out" we want to show that we are able to create more than we did in the past.
With "Over and out" we want to show that we are able to create more than we did in the past. The new songs are something like the "missing link" from the old to the new Darkness.
The cover version is something like a tribute to Heavy Metal in general. With the live recording we wanted to show what happens during a Darkness – show and the Osaka recording is a very good example for the devastation we do together with the crowd. The old song is a challenge, like "Slave to the Grind" which is explained below. I always wanted to do an unplugged version of a Darkness-song and "Faded Pictures" from the first album opens up to be played as an unplugged song.
No, absolutely not. There is nothing behind the "Seven".
Difficult to say! The governments try a lot to curtail the pandemic, but sometimes it seems helpless to me. On the other hand, some people ignore or deny the reality, and personal interests seem to be more important than the health of their fellow man. It is funny to see how different opinions and points of view collide. It is interesting to see how ignorant, selfish and blind most people are. Fact is: there is a virus that, however, threatens us. And we have to cope with that.
Absolutely! But we have developed as musicians, our skills have become much better and our ideas are more elaborated and contemporary. But we don't deny our Teutonic Thrash roots.
The way of songwriting remained the same but the influences changed of course. Every album is a testimonial of the time and the circumstances when it was written and recorded. I think "Over and out" opens the gate to the next step for Darkness.
Very well, I think. In my opinion "fast" does not necessarily mean "hard" and many of the hardest and most brutal songs in Metal-history are played in a mid-tempo. So is this one. Furthermore, the Chorus is interpreted very good by Lee: it is sung like a dirge; accusingly and almost desperate.
Too many people are led by their faith. The bible says that faith can move mountains and that's true: it can make people to be Saints or Monsters. But I think people will never learn or open their eyes, history proved that. Even people's behaviour during pandemic proves that.
I don't have this kind of remembrance when I listen to this song. The guys and myself often talk about the past times, good and bad ones. Nevertheless, we live in the present and not in or from the past.
I am honest, too: Skid Row have never really been part of my taste. Of course I knew the band but I have never been a fan. For me "Slave to the Grind" was the first Skid Row song to deal with. When we decided to record a cover song every one of us suggested a few songs. "Slave to the Grind" convinced me from the first time I listened to it. It has got a very brutal groove and some thrash feeling within.
The other guys shared the same doubts you have; if we would be able to reinterpret this song in a proper way. But that was the challenge! It would have been too easy, too predictable, to cover Slayer or Testament or any other thrash band. So I convinced the band to give it a try, I was sure it would work. In the end we are proud for the result: this song was the right choice to cover, wasn't it?!
The concert in Japan was an overwhelming experience. But there is no certain reason why we chose this song.
Unfortunately, there are no options for an Open Air Show as yet. But I can promise: I'd donate my liver to get back on stage. Playing live is something we really, really miss!
I am satisfied with the result; it is exactly what I wanted it to be. I wondered if it would be possible to play an acoustic version of an old Darkness song; I just played the tune during a rehearsal and the guys were taken from the idea to record it that way. So we just did it. I play acoustic guitar very often; even on the debut album of my musical alter ego Sankt Velten (sorry, I somehow had to mention Sankt Velten in this interview, haha) are many acoustic parts. So it was nothing special to record that. The special thing is that people don't expect something like an acoustic song from us.
No, never. You can't fake up a gig! Perhaps it sounds esoteric, but there is something like a spirit that unites the band and the audience in a gig. That is what a gig is about. Of course we would perform in a live stream but that won't be more than just a "tele recording" and no substitute for a real gig.
Certainly! There are a lot of ideas kept imprisoned in my drawer that want to be uncaged. Hopefully next year there will be a new album – but that is no promise!
I have to thank you, Lior. Hope to meet you soon when the Covid-fetch is over and we all are able to get back to concerts.
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