Magnus Carlsson
Ablaze My Sorrow
Thank and hi to you. Well its Friday and it means that I´m allowed to take a drink or two although I will work all weekend. We finally got the Among Ashes and Monoliths (AAAM) LP today and that makes me a little exited. I just tried to spread it through the social media and it can be a struggle you know.
It has not been a big problem for us. Ok, we haven't got the opportunity to promote AAAM by having a lot of gigs. But I think we have never been a band on the road, so its ok. A good thing with the Covid-19 situation is that I have got more time for compose new songs. In the last few months we have started to rehearse again and it feels great.
Of course, we hope that this pandemic will start slowing down so we all can go back to our normal lives. We all want to go to concerts and so one. When that's allowed again I think we/people will be more crazy/happier than ever. Most bad things will end up with something good you know.
When everything stood clear that it would not be a new release on Apostasy we felt that it should be nice with some local label yes. Everything is easier as language, distance and so one…. I can't say that I have a lot of connections with people in the scene so it's great not being a one-man army Anders (bass) told us that there is a young guy called Oliver which runs his label with great passion. Oliver also got major contacts outside Sweden and that's something that had caused problems for us if we had decided to do everything by ourselves.
The lyrics on the album delves into the topics of: Misanthropy, depression and the pointlessness of existence. It also touches upon subjects such as: anger at people who do not dare to educate themselves and evolve, thus letting their fear, prejudice, ignorance and preconceived notions rule their decisions and view of life. The title, Among Ashes and Monoliths, refers to a post-apocalyptic world where nothing is left of but a barren waste land where the naked trunks of trees stand as monoliths in a dead, ash covered world - a mausoleum telling the tale of human greed, fear and ignorance. The inspiration for the lyrics is the state of the world, the singer's personal experiences and the band's own old lyrics.
There is no hope for mankind in the long run. We are our own worst enemy. There is no light at the end of the tunnel, only nothingness.
No, there is no connection. The lyrics for the album were written before the pandemic broke out.
It's very easy when all of us in the band still love the early 90s melodic death metal sound. I have to say that I think that we have gone into some in-between the early shit and the new melodic death metal. As you might know we have some disco behaviour on few new songs HAHA. But you got it all right that we still keeping it all up after 25 years. That form of metal music just fits us all in the band and we all prefer the easiness in it.
I think that if we really tried we could go more commercial if we wanted to. But it will never happen as long as we play as AMS. But I have to say that it's easy to stand there pointing fingers to bands that have totally change their sound and performance throughout the years. I really think that the new In Flames album is good for example. Its catchy and well played with great melodies so how can you say its shit? My son listens to that new hip-hop music and I have always thought that it's the worst music until if sat down and really listened to it. Ok, it's not that good but I can see why he likes it.
I think that we have included new elements to our music. As for myself I believe that the composing flows much easier this time than before. I just do not feel that much pressure anymore. What comes out comes out. In some way it's natural for most of us when we grow older I think. This is also the first time I have done all of the music and it's not that we won't include other members, it just felt natural for us this time.
First of all, I have to say that Jonas is absolutely brilliant. His vocal abilities are by far more versatile then most other singers in our genre. It's not that he adds clean vocals and all that shit in the choruses but he uses his voice different trough many of the new songs. While finishing "Black", Kristian was struck by throat cancer. He did 2 successful operations but his voice was never going to get 100% after that. Both we and him agreed that it wouldn't be possible to scream the shit out of his lungs anymore. The first singer that came down rehearsing with us was Jonas and after a couple of minutes we just said "hell yea the job is yours". He was exactly the one we were looking for and he would be the first and only one we tried for replacing Kristian.
Nearly all of the songs on AAAM were already done when Jonas entered Ablaze and the hardest thing for us has always been the lyrics. It just felt that if a new member should come abroad he should have the abilities to write them. And what a success he was even there! Every time it was time to rehearse he had done 2 or 3 poems for the new songs. He was just the injection that we needed.
This one is the one I made in the middle of the progress. I think it had the title (6). All songs were numbered according to when it was written. Easy as that! The first thing that I was thinking at was that the new album should have variations. This one is the most 90s melodic death metal style on AAAM I think. It's easy to play and listen to and that was the focus when I wrote it.
Well, now we start with numbers. This one is (3). "Dark Chasms" and "Grit" (4) were made in the same shape if you what I mean? I can't really see if it is thrash, but I'm happy if you see it that way. For sure thrash is a genre that influences all of us in the band. We all grew up with that kind of music. Early Metallica, Slayer did kill us all with their music at that time. And I would lie to you and myself if I told you that these kind of songs will never be written in Ablaze anymore. It's an honour you mentioned it though!
It starts to get a little bit silly as I'm about to level this guy up one more time. The vocal performance on this song is absolutely Jonas earnings. I remember that we did a preproduction of all vocals at our rehearsal-place. And when I pushed the R-button our jaws just fell down. What the f*ck is this? Can he actually do this after screaming his lungs out for the last hour? It's not that he had to do several takes to nail it, it just came out so natural. So no… it was nothing that he was seem to struggling with.
AMS: We love it. We really like what Jonna has done before both in Project Hate and as Siren On and we knew that she wouldn't only sing beautifully but she would also have great ideas and great feedback in the creative process. We are really pleased with how the duet played out and the song is dynamic and has a sweet development in both arrangement and in the lyrics. Her voice and melodies really adds something ethereal to the sinister atmosphere in the song.
AMS: We love atmospheric slow paced blackened death metal as well as the scorching fast melodic and hard death metal. In this track we tell the tale of Hel, goddess of death in Nordic mythology. Jonna Enckell steps in as the voice of Hel making a tremendous job of finding an eerie and, at the same time, beautiful tone as she sings about giving her last embrace to those who end up in the cold realm of Hel in Niefelheim.
No we do not have any plans to go livestream in this moment.
Yes we have plans and they are already growing rapidly!
Thank you Lior for the interview, all the best
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