SWALLOW THE SUN Finland Metal country number one!

I was really enthusiastic listening to the upcoming 3rd album "Hope" of the Finnish band SWALLOW THE SUN as they mix up Melodic Death Metal with great Doom melancholy and enough power to impress your Metal souls, too. The band was totally new for me but really interesting enough to send them some interview questions which have been answered by Aleksi very soon although the album will be officially out in February 2007... Thanks a lot Metalbrother! He we go and don´t forget to check out this cool band when the CD will be out soon!

Iron Pages: "First of all: Please introduce our readers in Swallow the Sun! Your band seems quite new for the German Metal scene although you already played in our country. Your band history is very short, too..."

Aleksi: "Swallow the Sun is slow, dark, depressing, uplifting and melodic Death/Doom -Metal band from Finland. We've been active since 2003, and are about to release our 3rd album called Hope."

I.P.: "The new album is a fantastic mixture of melancholic Doom and Melodic Death Metal. I see connections to bands like Katatonia, Anathema, Insomnium, Greyswan, Amorphis, My Dying Bride. Are these bands an influence for you? How do you manage to create an very own style-mixture of all those influences?"

A.: "My Dying Bride is obviously the main influence; it was the band which is to blame for us being around. The others, well, more or less. I think that most of our sound derives from our different musical backgrounds, which range from 70's Prog Rock to technical Death Metal to electronic music, and I think that all those influences seep into our music. All that combined with a shared vision on how we should sound forms the basis for our sound, I think."

I.P.: "Describe your band process of creating a new song! How often do you rehearse and where?"

A.: "We train at Lutakko, which is a local rock club and one of the best ones in Finland, and how often depends on are we composing new songs or just training for the gigs. Usually anyone who composes - mainly Juha and me, so far - brings an almost ready song to rehearsals, and then we start playing it. We play them quite a lot when composing, so everybody can try their own things there and refine their playing. After everybody has gotten a grasp of the song, we start picking up the good bits from our playing and dropping the bad ones. Usually arranging the songs has been quite painless."

I.P.: "Where did you record the album? Any nice recording-process stories to tell? Who made contacts to get the cool guest musicians from KATATONIA and AMORPHIS for the new record?"

A.: "We recorded it at Seawolf Studios in Helsinki, which is located in this sort of an old fortress island. It was a really cool place to record the album. I can't think of anything really special at the moment - Mikko was drunk for a month, but that's really not that special. I think Mikko met Jonas at Ilosaarirock when we were both playing there, and Tomi we knew from other occasions."

I.P.: "In which other bands do you play or did you play before SWALLOW THE SUN?"

A.: "Pasi and Juha played in Plutonium Orange, which is a really fucking awesome Stoner Metal band and it's a disgrace that they never got a record deal. Me, Mikko and Matti played in a black metal band called Funeris Nocturnum. Matti plays in Atakhama too and there's some other projects for everyone, I think. I'm doing keyboards for Ghost Brigade, who are recording their first album for Season of Mist.

I.P.: "Why did you release the promotional CD without the final artwork? Which surprises are coming?"

A.: "We started with the artwork a bit too late, and we weren't satisfied with it when the promotional CDs had to go to press. No special reason there."

I.P.: "As I just own a promotional CD: Can you describe your lyrical concept?"

A.: "On our first two albums the songs were mostly themed around women - dead women, that is - and the end of the world. Many of them were kind of classic, Victorian ghost stories; we've always thought that approach fitted our songs quite well. On this new one, however, there's some more personal and not-so straightforward lyrics, even though the previous themes are still there. Our lyrical expression has changed somewhat as Mikko started writing lyrics."

I.P.: "What is the reason that the Metal scene is full of great Finnish bands? Is Finland so different from any other country in the world? Are the people in Finland more open minded to Metal acts generally?"

A.: "Yeah, in Finland Metal is really popular nowadays, and the Top 40 -charts feature Metal acts regularly. There's a vast amount of bands, and with such masses there's bound to be some really good bands, even though there's also lot's of crap."

I.P.: "How old are you? What are your regular jobs?"

A.: "Our ages are between 21 and 34, and we work here and there."

I.P.: "When are you coming to Germany again?"

A.: "Probably next April, but that's to be confirmed. Keep an eye on our website."

I.P.: "What do you know about our German Metal scene?"

A.: "Not much, sorry. German Power Metal is way better than Finnish."

I.P.: "Which German bands do you like?

A.: "I like Rammstein a lot and early Helloween to some extent. Heaven Shall Burn sounded quite good too, I'll have to give it a listen."

I.P.: "Mention some bands you are always in good connection!"

A.: "I guess that with most of the Finnish bands. To name a few, for example Before the Dawn and Insomnium are always real fun to play and see."

I.P.: "What is coming from SWALLOW THE SUN in the future? Have you got any plans for a bigger tour etc.?"

A.: "I think that now with a bigger record label our chances of getting ourselves heard outside Finland have risen dramatically. We are going on a tour next year after the record release, but can't say anything definite yet about that."

I.P.: "Which package would be a dream tour package for you and why?"

A.: "For me that would be playing with Katatonia, because it's probably the one band I've been listening to most these last years."

I.P.: "You have a contest right now and fans can make the design for the next shirt collection. Do you have no own ideas or is it a new marketing idea to show unity with the own fans?"

A.: "We do have some , but the contest was just a fun idea we thought of and decided to go through with it. It's not even our record label's idea, just something we came up probably when drunk."

I.P.: "Just your 2003 album was released on Vinyl, too. Are the other albums going to be released on Vinyl, too? Do you like Vinyl?"

A.: "The second album was also released on Vinyl by Firebox too. The best thing about Vinyl releases for me are the covers. It really does justice for the cover artwork to see them on such a physically large format, CDs are so damn small."

I.P.: "When I looked at your website I saw that you have lots of endorsement deals although you are a young and quite new band! How was that going? Who made steps to get contracts like this? Can you tell us something about the equipment you use? Are you satisfied with your instruments?"

A.: "We have been in contact with our local instrument dealer Musapörssi and with Musamaailma, which is an instrument store in Helsinki, and they both have been great help considering endorsements. Juha and Matti play with ESP/LTD -guitars and basses and as amplifiers they are using Krank, Engl and Warwick, if I remember right. Pasi plays with PDP drums and Balbex drumsticks."

I.P.: "Last words are your words!"

A.: "Let's fucking Metal and see you next time in Germany! Thanks for the interview!"

Story and article: Dirk Wettlaufer