WEBVTT 00:00:00.920 --> 00:00:04.559 Welcome, everyone, to the latest episode of Signals 00:00:04.559 --> 00:00:08.619 from Mars. This is episode 432. I'm your host, 00:00:08.720 --> 00:00:12.279 Victor. And for this episode, we welcome aboard 00:00:12.279 --> 00:00:18.800 Ulf Uffe Pettersson, vocalist of the Swedish 00:00:18.800 --> 00:00:25.019 thrash band, Mezro. My interview with him up 00:00:25.019 --> 00:01:00.259 next. Quick reminder that in addition to hosting 00:01:00.259 --> 00:01:03.100 Signals from Mars, I've also worked behind the 00:01:03.100 --> 00:01:06.200 scenes helping other podcasters. 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If you 00:02:20.110 --> 00:02:23.310 want to connect with a loyal rock and metal audience, 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:26.830 head on over to the sponsorship page on SignalsFromMars 00:02:26.830 --> 00:02:39.039 .com to learn more. So there's an interesting 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:43.099 story behind me interviewing Ufa. Interesting 00:02:43.099 --> 00:02:47.340 to me anyway. So I always go on and on about 00:02:47.340 --> 00:02:50.759 Patreon and how I post music and try to help 00:02:50.759 --> 00:02:54.879 people, you know, find new music that interests 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:57.960 them, find music from bands that they love that 00:02:57.960 --> 00:03:01.060 maybe are putting out new music or bands that 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:04.039 they never knew of before who are putting out 00:03:04.039 --> 00:03:10.259 albums. The latter. is my case. So I tend to 00:03:10.259 --> 00:03:14.759 schedule videos a few weeks in advance. I drop 00:03:14.759 --> 00:03:20.580 two a day and I get turned on to things myself. 00:03:20.979 --> 00:03:24.699 Mesro is one of them. I posted two of their videos 00:03:24.699 --> 00:03:30.259 off of their latest album, which just came out. 00:03:30.259 --> 00:03:35.949 It is Embrace the Awakening. I get turned on 00:03:35.949 --> 00:03:38.449 to new music all the time. And that's why Patreon 00:03:38.449 --> 00:03:42.449 is so great because it kind of makes me go through 00:03:42.449 --> 00:03:45.949 the mechanisms to check out what stuff is being 00:03:45.949 --> 00:03:48.669 posted on YouTube, what stuff I'm being sent 00:03:48.669 --> 00:03:53.150 by PR people and what things I think are interesting 00:03:53.150 --> 00:03:56.830 to me and my audience. And sometimes it's shit 00:03:56.830 --> 00:04:01.250 that we just laugh about. Other times it's really 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:04.099 cool things that, you know, may end up. In our 00:04:04.099 --> 00:04:07.699 year end lists, who knows? I do want to send 00:04:07.699 --> 00:04:10.560 a quick shout out to my patrons, Sean Richman, 00:04:10.699 --> 00:04:15.000 Tony Espin, Anthony Mackey, Ed Ferguson, Johan 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:19.420 Edestrum, Metal Dan, Chris Vaglio, Gabriel Ruiz, 00:04:19.699 --> 00:04:22.939 Mark Striegel from Talking Metal, Brad Dahl, 00:04:23.139 --> 00:04:28.149 Mike Jones, Jeremy Weltman, Steve Hoker. and 00:04:28.149 --> 00:04:31.430 Steven Saylor. Thank you guys so much for all 00:04:31.430 --> 00:04:35.410 of your support. Love all you guys, and I appreciate 00:04:35.410 --> 00:04:40.509 it that month after month, week after week, you 00:04:40.509 --> 00:04:44.329 like my banter, you put up with it, and you support 00:04:44.329 --> 00:04:49.290 me in this way. You can support me just by liking 00:04:49.290 --> 00:04:53.069 episodes and spreading them, sharing them, and 00:04:53.069 --> 00:04:58.370 been getting up there. with uh my youtube shorts 00:04:58.370 --> 00:05:03.389 and uh instagram reels and tiktoks been uh garnering 00:05:03.389 --> 00:05:05.790 some attention i want to thank you guys for that 00:05:05.790 --> 00:05:09.990 as well because it's gone well beyond what i 00:05:09.990 --> 00:05:13.910 expected so i do thank you guys for your support 00:05:13.910 --> 00:05:17.589 that way also so there's there's lots of different 00:05:17.589 --> 00:05:19.509 ways that you can support doesn't always have 00:05:19.509 --> 00:05:23.689 to be monetarily if you can great if not any 00:05:23.689 --> 00:05:27.019 little bit helps So I appreciate you one way 00:05:27.019 --> 00:05:31.100 or the other. Either way, go to signalsfrommars 00:05:31.100 --> 00:05:35.939 .com to keep up with all the episodes, past, 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:40.600 present, and video versions or audio versions 00:05:40.600 --> 00:05:44.779 of those same episodes. You'll find them there. 00:05:45.540 --> 00:05:48.360 Thanks again for checking the episode out and 00:05:48.360 --> 00:06:13.339 enjoy this interview with Ufa. Welcome everyone 00:06:13.339 --> 00:06:17.139 to the latest episode of Signals from Mars. Joining 00:06:17.139 --> 00:06:22.540 me today is Ufa from the band Mezro. The band 00:06:22.540 --> 00:06:25.740 has just released a new album, Embrace the Awakening, 00:06:25.759 --> 00:06:28.180 and we're going to be chatting with him for a 00:06:28.180 --> 00:06:31.319 little bit here. How are you today, sir? I'm 00:06:31.319 --> 00:06:36.939 really good, thank you. Winter just got to us. 00:06:38.009 --> 00:06:41.009 Just yesterday. It's very cold, very snowy, and 00:06:41.009 --> 00:06:43.269 we have some sort of traffic problems, as usual. 00:06:44.189 --> 00:06:48.490 Yeah. Winter got to us here today, but for me, 00:06:48.490 --> 00:06:51.230 in the north of Spain, winter is a lot of rain, 00:06:51.410 --> 00:06:54.230 some freezing rain, and snow in the mountains. 00:06:55.149 --> 00:06:58.910 And it's, what, eight degrees. I'm sure it's 00:06:58.910 --> 00:07:04.050 a lot colder there. It's like eight below. Yeah. 00:07:04.750 --> 00:07:08.399 Yeah, it's a little colder. See that? Yeah. So 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:10.819 there have been a lot of losses this year in 00:07:10.819 --> 00:07:17.079 the metal world, specifically in Sweden. At the 00:07:17.079 --> 00:07:20.959 gates, Thomas Lindbergh passed away, which is 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:24.040 a huge impact for the Swedish metal community. 00:07:24.360 --> 00:07:29.620 What did that loss mean to you? It was it means 00:07:29.620 --> 00:07:35.800 I was it was terrible. Actually, my. My younger 00:07:35.800 --> 00:07:38.779 brother is the guitarist of one of Thomas' bands, 00:07:39.180 --> 00:07:43.579 Dysphere. So I've been following this quite closely. 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:49.620 And now cancer is a terrible disease, as everyone 00:07:49.620 --> 00:07:54.160 knows. Especially when it hits you like this. 00:07:56.019 --> 00:07:59.800 It's really bad. It was really bad. And Thomas 00:07:59.800 --> 00:08:03.870 had a big impact. on the whole metal community. 00:08:04.269 --> 00:08:08.189 Because he moved around in different genres, 00:08:08.470 --> 00:08:13.290 you know, like Crust, which my brother plays, 00:08:13.350 --> 00:08:15.329 the Indysphere, and then he played death metal 00:08:15.329 --> 00:08:18.949 and melodic death metal. And he was one of the 00:08:18.949 --> 00:08:24.490 front figures from the Gothenburg sound. And 00:08:24.490 --> 00:08:29.170 everyone will remember him in some way, especially 00:08:29.170 --> 00:08:32.539 in our age. It's like for... It was like four 00:08:32.539 --> 00:08:35.179 years younger than me, but we grew up during 00:08:35.179 --> 00:08:38.580 the same period when metal exploded in both Sweden 00:08:38.580 --> 00:08:44.559 and Europe as well. So now it's really sad. It's 00:08:44.559 --> 00:08:48.940 terrible. Okay. And you just kind of alluded 00:08:48.940 --> 00:08:53.860 to it. From what people tell me, metal has really 00:08:53.860 --> 00:08:59.720 never gone away in Sweden. Having said that, 00:08:59.980 --> 00:09:02.240 You're actually in a band that has the tour, 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:08.139 puts out albums. Can a band like yours stay self 00:09:08.139 --> 00:09:11.740 -sufficient just by touring, excuse me, Sweden, 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:16.659 for example, or does the band have to go outside 00:09:16.659 --> 00:09:19.860 of Sweden to be able to stay afloat? We have 00:09:19.860 --> 00:09:23.000 to go outside Sweden, actually. No question about 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:26.769 that. We're trying really hard right now to get 00:09:26.769 --> 00:09:32.490 things going. We restarted the band in 2021 after 00:09:32.490 --> 00:09:37.090 laying low for 30 years or something like that. 00:09:38.090 --> 00:09:42.590 And when we restarted the band, we discovered 00:09:42.590 --> 00:09:45.669 that life isn't that easy. You can't ride on 00:09:45.669 --> 00:09:49.509 an old wave, so to speak. So we had to start 00:09:49.509 --> 00:09:52.870 all over again and we had to establish ourselves 00:09:52.870 --> 00:09:58.490 again. It's been tough, actually. Okay. Does 00:09:58.490 --> 00:10:01.289 Swedish radio help you guys out at all? Because 00:10:01.289 --> 00:10:04.690 from what I'm told, they've, again, never stopped 00:10:04.690 --> 00:10:07.529 playing certain types of metal. But for a band 00:10:07.529 --> 00:10:11.529 like yours, is there support? No, I don't think 00:10:11.529 --> 00:10:14.049 we have too much radio support in Sweden. But 00:10:14.049 --> 00:10:18.169 as you said, metal never dies in Sweden. And 00:10:18.169 --> 00:10:21.230 metal has been around for so, so many years and 00:10:21.230 --> 00:10:28.059 many decades. So the roots go deep, definitely. 00:10:28.539 --> 00:10:31.159 And that's why everything is happening in Sweden 00:10:31.159 --> 00:10:35.259 as well. The progression from the 80s and up 00:10:35.259 --> 00:10:38.679 until now has been totally awesome. And I think, 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:43.460 of course, the culture in Sweden concerning extreme 00:10:43.460 --> 00:10:48.399 music and also playing hard rock or metal is 00:10:48.399 --> 00:10:51.490 very strong. Yeah. And that's interesting because 00:10:51.490 --> 00:10:55.370 it is really kind of a two extremes because you 00:10:55.370 --> 00:10:58.669 do have, you know, you alluded to the Gotham 00:10:58.669 --> 00:11:00.950 Berg sound and you have a lot of extreme bands, 00:11:01.049 --> 00:11:04.669 but you also have a lot of bands that put out 00:11:04.669 --> 00:11:07.850 sleaze rock and glam metal and stuff like that. 00:11:07.950 --> 00:11:12.769 So it's kind of stayed strong across the board. 00:11:12.870 --> 00:11:15.110 It isn't just one side or the other side. They 00:11:15.110 --> 00:11:18.159 both kind of stayed afloat. And that's cool with 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:20.519 metal today because when I grew up in the 80s 00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:25.980 with music or harder music, it was very divided. 00:11:26.740 --> 00:11:29.559 You either listened to thrash and death metal 00:11:29.559 --> 00:11:33.039 and you couldn't listen to it all. Nowadays, 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:36.879 a metal fan can listen to Europe and he can also 00:11:36.879 --> 00:11:41.320 listen to Entombed or Us or At The Gates or whatever. 00:11:42.179 --> 00:11:45.639 That's how it looks like today, I think. And 00:11:45.639 --> 00:11:49.500 that's very cool. Yeah. And that's how I grew 00:11:49.500 --> 00:11:52.840 up as well, where you couldn't listen to the 00:11:52.840 --> 00:11:59.279 stuff that was on TV and like thrash. Even beyond 00:11:59.279 --> 00:12:03.700 that, I always tell this story on the show. In 00:12:03.700 --> 00:12:06.840 my high school, you were either a Slayer and 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:09.700 a Metallica fan or a Megadeth and Anthrax fan. 00:12:09.940 --> 00:12:15.230 Oh. And you get older and you're like. Well, 00:12:15.250 --> 00:12:17.610 that's just stupid. I like what I like, you know. 00:12:17.669 --> 00:12:20.649 It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. So, 00:12:20.710 --> 00:12:26.190 yeah, I lived through that as well. So you just 00:12:26.190 --> 00:12:31.490 mentioned the band took a few decades off. Why 00:12:31.490 --> 00:12:34.789 did you guys decide to take that long break? 00:12:35.870 --> 00:12:41.990 Well, it was due to the... Tough circumstances 00:12:41.990 --> 00:12:45.950 for us back in Sweden in 1991. We lost a record 00:12:45.950 --> 00:12:51.049 deal in 1991 with Active Records. We put out 00:12:51.049 --> 00:12:53.429 an album, then came The Killing in 1990. And 00:12:53.429 --> 00:12:56.450 things were going quite well for us, especially 00:12:56.450 --> 00:12:59.429 in Sweden and in Scandinavia. But then the death 00:12:59.429 --> 00:13:03.570 metal wave rolled in over Sweden and Europe. 00:13:03.889 --> 00:13:05.929 And when we lost the record deal, we tried to 00:13:05.929 --> 00:13:09.840 get a new one, but it was impossible. So we tried 00:13:09.840 --> 00:13:13.399 several times, but in the end, we sort of lost 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:19.399 it. We lost the hunger and we got a bit disillusioned, 00:13:19.399 --> 00:13:23.080 you could say that perhaps. Yeah, yeah. A bit 00:13:23.080 --> 00:13:29.360 like that. And then also, I grew up with hard 00:13:29.360 --> 00:13:35.539 rock and heavy metal in the 70s. When you get 00:13:35.539 --> 00:13:38.379 a bit older, you start searching for your roots 00:13:38.379 --> 00:13:40.919 again. And so we lost thrash a bit, perhaps, 00:13:41.100 --> 00:13:45.360 after 93, after 94, and started looking at other 00:13:45.360 --> 00:13:49.340 things and other more hard rock influences. So 00:13:49.340 --> 00:13:52.019 in 93, when things were going quite bad for us, 00:13:52.059 --> 00:13:59.919 we decided to call it a day. And I started actually, 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:04.940 I was in a band directly after Mesro. I did the 00:14:04.940 --> 00:14:08.639 vocals in a band called Rosicrucian. We did an 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:11.360 album, we released, I did one album with them. 00:14:11.379 --> 00:14:14.759 They did like two on Black Mark. You know, it 00:14:14.759 --> 00:14:19.580 was the Bathory, the Bathory guy's father had 00:14:19.580 --> 00:14:25.230 the label, the boss, Börje Forsberg. So we released 00:14:25.230 --> 00:14:28.009 one album, but then I sort of got tired of the 00:14:28.009 --> 00:14:33.289 thrash and extreme metal business and just quit 00:14:33.289 --> 00:14:39.870 music in 97 or something like that. But the other 00:14:39.870 --> 00:14:43.169 guys in the band right now, I'm the only one 00:14:43.169 --> 00:14:45.929 who actually quit music. The other guys still 00:14:45.929 --> 00:14:49.889 played, and two of them are a bit younger than 00:14:49.889 --> 00:14:56.440 the rest of us. Okay. And how easy or difficult 00:14:56.440 --> 00:14:59.100 was it for you when you put the band back together 00:14:59.100 --> 00:15:04.960 in 2021 to find the right musicians to come back 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:09.340 to make sure that they understood your vision 00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:14.320 of the music? And I'm sure it needed to be important 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.740 for you that you got along with all of them as 00:15:16.740 --> 00:15:19.879 well. Yeah, yeah. me and the bass player connie 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:22.639 it was me and him that started restarted the 00:15:22.639 --> 00:15:26.500 band and it was it was actually a coincidence 00:15:26.500 --> 00:15:32.139 from the beginning and um our our original guitarist 00:15:32.139 --> 00:15:34.899 the messer stuff he died from cancer in 2018 00:15:34.899 --> 00:15:38.220 so we found an old song that we had done with 00:15:38.220 --> 00:15:45.610 him in 2011 so we decided to you know um fulfill 00:15:45.610 --> 00:15:51.149 some commitments to him and do the song. And 00:15:51.149 --> 00:15:53.649 we did. And it was really fun. We actually discovered 00:15:53.649 --> 00:15:57.610 it was so cool to play thrash again. And when 00:15:57.610 --> 00:16:02.450 we came to that point, I really knew who to call. 00:16:02.610 --> 00:16:06.789 And that was my old guitarist, Ian Rosicrucian, 00:16:06.809 --> 00:16:10.309 called Magnus Söderman. Probably the most talented 00:16:10.309 --> 00:16:14.250 musician I've ever... So he was very talented 00:16:14.250 --> 00:16:17.730 when he was very young. They called him like, 00:16:17.789 --> 00:16:23.830 you know, Yngwie Jr. So he's like that. He was 00:16:23.830 --> 00:16:27.750 very neoclassical back then, but now he's much 00:16:27.750 --> 00:16:31.850 broader and he can play anything. But he's a 00:16:31.850 --> 00:16:36.230 real thrasher in heart. Okay. So I phoned him 00:16:36.230 --> 00:16:41.070 directly. And he said, yes, immediately, actually, 00:16:41.190 --> 00:16:45.230 as he was standing talking to me. So the three 00:16:45.230 --> 00:16:49.250 of us started making new music. And then the 00:16:49.250 --> 00:16:53.289 other guy, we added the other guys. Ronny Bjarnström, 00:16:53.289 --> 00:16:56.929 our other guitarist, he's actually a quite well 00:16:56.929 --> 00:17:02.549 -known producer and technician in the metal community 00:17:02.549 --> 00:17:06.279 in Sweden and Scandinavia and Europe. He produces 00:17:06.279 --> 00:17:12.440 and engineers records. He's done with Suga, for 00:17:12.440 --> 00:17:15.700 example, and other bands. So he's really good. 00:17:15.859 --> 00:17:19.099 The important thing is that we have the same 00:17:19.099 --> 00:17:21.700 roots. He's a bit younger than the rest of us, 00:17:21.740 --> 00:17:26.859 but he loves the old Bay Area style. That's our 00:17:26.859 --> 00:17:30.460 roots, the Bay Area thing. Nowadays, I think 00:17:30.460 --> 00:17:34.099 we have other influences as well. Yeah, and that's 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:36.299 interesting because when you listen to Embrace 00:17:36.299 --> 00:17:39.279 the Awakening, yes, it's a thrash metal album, 00:17:39.400 --> 00:17:42.880 but you hear other things coming through in the 00:17:42.880 --> 00:17:45.880 music as well, where if you really pay attention, 00:17:46.039 --> 00:17:50.200 you get flavors of different styles of metal. 00:17:51.640 --> 00:17:56.779 How purposefully was that done? Were there songs 00:17:56.779 --> 00:17:59.220 where you wanted to focus on certain things or 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:01.400 when you started writing, things just started? 00:18:01.980 --> 00:18:07.859 coming out itself? I think since Ronny and Magnus 00:18:07.859 --> 00:18:12.940 are doing the riffs, they sort of collaborate 00:18:12.940 --> 00:18:17.700 in best case. On some songs, they've done it 00:18:17.700 --> 00:18:22.339 on their own. And they have different influences. 00:18:22.380 --> 00:18:27.160 As I said, Ronny is very old school, Bay Area 00:18:27.160 --> 00:18:31.079 orientated, but Magnus is very broad. So their 00:18:31.079 --> 00:18:35.680 songs sound quite different from each other. 00:18:36.619 --> 00:18:44.440 And Magnus, there is a part in the song Inside 00:18:44.440 --> 00:18:48.640 the Burning Twilight after the second chorus, 00:18:48.740 --> 00:18:51.279 I think. It's sort of almost jazzy. It's thrash, 00:18:51.380 --> 00:18:56.039 but you could hear jazzy or various opeth influences. 00:18:56.200 --> 00:18:59.569 But he just makes the riffs. He doesn't think 00:18:59.569 --> 00:19:03.710 about it. He just, you know, do it. And I think 00:19:03.710 --> 00:19:06.069 that's very cool. If you can turn things like 00:19:06.069 --> 00:19:12.690 that into thrash. Whereas Ronnie is more like, 00:19:12.769 --> 00:19:19.309 you know, riffing like Testament or Metallica 00:19:19.309 --> 00:19:22.430 or whatever. It's interesting that you bring 00:19:22.430 --> 00:19:24.829 up the whole jazz connection. That makes sense 00:19:24.829 --> 00:19:26.769 because the first thing that jumped to mind for 00:19:26.769 --> 00:19:29.750 me was black metal. And there's a lot of influences 00:19:29.750 --> 00:19:33.250 in black metal there. So yeah, I totally got 00:19:33.250 --> 00:19:38.150 that in that part of the song. We've heard that 00:19:38.150 --> 00:19:40.829 before with the black metal thing. We have a 00:19:40.829 --> 00:19:45.150 song on the previous album, a song called What 00:19:45.150 --> 00:19:47.829 Is Dead May Never Die. And the same goes for 00:19:47.829 --> 00:19:51.970 just the lick before the chorus in that song. 00:19:52.029 --> 00:19:54.470 It's also very black metal. Everyone says so, 00:19:54.549 --> 00:19:59.470 but we haven't thought about that. Yeah. Cool. 00:20:00.250 --> 00:20:05.230 The album itself is eight minutes, 38 minutes 00:20:05.230 --> 00:20:09.970 long, which I think is pretty cool in the sense 00:20:09.970 --> 00:20:12.430 that there are so many bands that because of 00:20:12.430 --> 00:20:16.450 technology just start to, you know, they put 00:20:16.450 --> 00:20:20.690 out an album and they'll release 15 songs, 70 00:20:20.690 --> 00:20:23.769 minutes, 80 minutes, 90 minutes. And you get 00:20:23.769 --> 00:20:25.730 to a point where you're like, well, I've already 00:20:25.730 --> 00:20:28.369 heard part of this song in that other song. And 00:20:28.369 --> 00:20:32.109 I, you know, and it kind of gets boring. Whereas 00:20:32.109 --> 00:20:35.049 I was listening to this, I listened to this album 00:20:35.049 --> 00:20:38.950 leading up to the interview and I listened to 00:20:38.950 --> 00:20:41.950 it three times back to back today. It went through 00:20:41.950 --> 00:20:44.690 just smooth and easy. It was a very easy listen. 00:20:45.089 --> 00:20:49.849 And to me, what I got and correct me if I'm wrong, 00:20:49.910 --> 00:20:51.769 but it seemed like you guys were going more for 00:20:51.769 --> 00:20:55.430 the quality in the music. More so in how much 00:20:55.430 --> 00:20:59.269 music was being released. That's very correct. 00:21:00.309 --> 00:21:03.990 And, you know, we had 12 songs written for the 00:21:03.990 --> 00:21:09.529 album. We chose these eight very carefully. And 00:21:09.529 --> 00:21:13.789 the other four songs, we released the other four 00:21:13.789 --> 00:21:17.569 songs during the spring. But these eight songs 00:21:17.569 --> 00:21:23.880 sort of, you know, they mix well together. I 00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:26.059 don't know about the order of the songs because 00:21:26.059 --> 00:21:29.940 that's always a matter of taste. But we think 00:21:29.940 --> 00:21:32.859 we did it on a purpose. We really wanted to start 00:21:32.859 --> 00:21:36.980 the album really thrashy to get things going. 00:21:37.319 --> 00:21:39.980 So we chose Architects of the Silent War and 00:21:39.980 --> 00:21:43.519 Sleeping Cataclysm as the two first songs. And 00:21:43.519 --> 00:21:48.880 you get a bit run over with those two. and then 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:51.599 we we sort of we slow down the tempo with this 00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.019 uh symphony of twisted souls but that's still 00:21:54.019 --> 00:21:57.720 a very thrashy song and with a nice rhythm i 00:21:57.720 --> 00:22:02.940 think and uh those those three uh are also the 00:22:02.940 --> 00:22:06.480 three of the singles that were released so there 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:10.000 are a thought behind behind all this and uh i 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.039 think it's very important how you put out the 00:22:12.039 --> 00:22:15.299 songs on the record in and in which order As 00:22:15.299 --> 00:22:18.339 you said, if everything starts sounding the same, 00:22:18.420 --> 00:22:21.680 you get bored quite fast and then you stop listening. 00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.539 I think we try to keep everyone who listens to 00:22:26.539 --> 00:22:30.400 the album interested as long as we can. But I 00:22:30.400 --> 00:22:35.000 mean, almost 40 minutes of music is always tough 00:22:35.000 --> 00:22:40.019 to listen to, I think. Yeah, and with the three 00:22:40.019 --> 00:22:44.539 albums, the longest one is 48 minutes. So it 00:22:44.539 --> 00:22:50.380 seems like that's almost like a common thread 00:22:50.380 --> 00:22:53.799 with all three of your albums where you've tried 00:22:53.799 --> 00:22:56.700 to get the best of the best onto an album as 00:22:56.700 --> 00:23:00.240 opposed to just throwing everything out there. 00:23:00.700 --> 00:23:04.380 Yeah, and we got some criticism for Summon Thy 00:23:04.380 --> 00:23:07.680 Demons because it was too long. People got bored 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:11.869 and every song wasn't that good. So we thought 00:23:11.869 --> 00:23:15.130 about that really hard when we went for the third 00:23:15.130 --> 00:23:17.809 album. The first album then came to killing back 00:23:17.809 --> 00:23:22.170 in 1990. That's written with a lot of youth in 00:23:22.170 --> 00:23:24.910 mind. We were very young when we did it and we 00:23:24.910 --> 00:23:28.569 did it with a lot of heart. We lived thrash back 00:23:28.569 --> 00:23:33.750 then, but we weren't so skilled and experienced 00:23:33.750 --> 00:23:40.500 back then. We just wrote things. Nowadays, we 00:23:40.500 --> 00:23:49.299 discuss and talk a lot about how we would write 00:23:49.299 --> 00:23:52.539 the songs. It's important for us to do that. 00:23:52.859 --> 00:23:55.740 We're a very democratic band, and we sort of 00:23:55.740 --> 00:23:58.299 get along good. I think that's important also. 00:23:58.579 --> 00:24:01.619 When you're younger, you're more direct in your 00:24:01.619 --> 00:24:05.240 communication, and that could be a trouble sometimes. 00:24:06.829 --> 00:24:11.990 When you get too direct. Nowadays, all of us 00:24:11.990 --> 00:24:16.809 almost are in our 50s. But still has a lot of 00:24:16.809 --> 00:24:20.049 hunger. You have to have that. You have to have 00:24:20.049 --> 00:24:23.329 a lot of heart and a hunger to be able to play 00:24:23.329 --> 00:24:29.750 a genre like thrash. So it seems like there are 00:24:29.750 --> 00:24:32.789 things looking back that you wished you would 00:24:32.789 --> 00:24:35.309 have maybe done differently way back then in 00:24:35.309 --> 00:24:39.829 the 90s? Yeah, definitely. When you look in the 00:24:39.829 --> 00:24:44.029 mirror, you sort of think about how things were 00:24:44.029 --> 00:24:46.529 back then. But you also come to the conclusion 00:24:46.529 --> 00:24:51.509 that, as I said, we were young and we lived thrash. 00:24:51.690 --> 00:24:53.990 We were thrash. Everything was about thrash. 00:24:54.769 --> 00:25:00.950 So it was the whole thing was thrash. And playing 00:25:00.950 --> 00:25:04.769 thrash was one part, but living it is another 00:25:04.769 --> 00:25:10.849 thing. So the important thing was the whole thrash 00:25:10.849 --> 00:25:15.210 atmosphere. Nowadays, we play thrash because 00:25:15.210 --> 00:25:18.250 we like thrash metal or heavy metal or whatever. 00:25:18.410 --> 00:25:20.410 We have a lot of influences, as you said, but 00:25:20.410 --> 00:25:22.990 we also have families and other work. We work 00:25:22.990 --> 00:25:25.569 with totally different things than thrash metal. 00:25:26.750 --> 00:25:30.789 Right. So you get the better balance nowadays. 00:25:33.609 --> 00:25:37.589 Yeah. And I think, as I said, I think from everything 00:25:37.589 --> 00:25:40.970 that you're saying, it really does come out in 00:25:40.970 --> 00:25:45.369 this album. Was there anything else that you 00:25:45.369 --> 00:25:48.730 purposefully wanted to do on this album when 00:25:48.730 --> 00:25:57.829 you went into the studio? Yeah. Yeah. We discussed 00:25:57.829 --> 00:26:00.190 some of the demons, the previous album a lot 00:26:00.190 --> 00:26:03.400 and what was. sort of wrong with that one so 00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:06.819 when we went into the studio we decided to for 00:26:06.819 --> 00:26:10.200 example not use keyboards we use keyboards a 00:26:10.200 --> 00:26:12.940 bit on some of the demos to get sort of a certain 00:26:12.940 --> 00:26:18.220 atmosphere in some songs but you can you we didn't 00:26:18.220 --> 00:26:22.059 do that on this one um and and the reason for 00:26:22.059 --> 00:26:25.200 that it's cool with keyboards and effects i think 00:26:25.200 --> 00:26:30.390 but uh you always had to track it live And we 00:26:30.390 --> 00:26:32.529 really wanted to go for a more live situation 00:26:32.529 --> 00:26:37.589 when we did this record. So these songs, I hope 00:26:37.589 --> 00:26:39.789 these songs will go down well when we play live. 00:26:40.130 --> 00:26:43.170 We've tried Architects and we've tried Symphony 00:26:43.170 --> 00:26:45.309 of Twisted Souls and they went down really well. 00:26:45.869 --> 00:26:48.009 And the more straight ahead thrash, I think. 00:26:48.069 --> 00:26:51.650 Back to the roots. Keep the roots. Keep some 00:26:51.650 --> 00:26:54.490 of the things from Some of the Demons, but definitely 00:26:54.490 --> 00:26:59.839 go back to more old school thrash in a way. Okay. 00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:04.680 And on the deluxe edition of the album, you have 00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:10.599 a live show as well. So you got to revisit a 00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:13.180 lot of the songs that you're mentioning, both 00:27:13.180 --> 00:27:17.640 off the first and the second album. How important 00:27:17.640 --> 00:27:22.200 is it to you to put that out and show people 00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:25.500 that maybe knew the album that came out back 00:27:25.500 --> 00:27:28.950 in 1990? see what you guys are doing today and 00:27:28.950 --> 00:27:32.569 kind of mixing your modern sound with those classics? 00:27:33.750 --> 00:27:37.109 As you said, it was important for us to show 00:27:37.109 --> 00:27:40.049 people that we still play those songs. We respect 00:27:40.049 --> 00:27:43.390 the songs and some of them are really good. Especially 00:27:43.390 --> 00:27:46.509 now when they are played with different musicians 00:27:46.509 --> 00:27:50.910 a bit and they are very skillful. The whole band 00:27:50.910 --> 00:27:53.309 is very skillful compared to back in the day. 00:27:54.170 --> 00:27:57.819 And the songs sound... They sound a bit different 00:27:57.819 --> 00:28:03.279 in that perspective, I think. And it's very fun 00:28:03.279 --> 00:28:05.940 to play the old songs. I love it. I love to play 00:28:05.940 --> 00:28:08.720 these old songs. And when we play live, people 00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:10.920 go nuts when we play the old songs. So we will 00:28:10.920 --> 00:28:15.720 always play this older stuff. And it's good in 00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:17.880 a live set to get up, you know, we're talking 00:28:17.880 --> 00:28:20.059 on balance before, but it's very important to 00:28:20.059 --> 00:28:22.960 balance those things as well. So we get a mixed, 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:28.730 you know, set list. We're always closest to set 00:28:28.730 --> 00:28:32.509 with the old song Frozen Soul. I think it's the 00:28:32.509 --> 00:28:35.410 fourth song on Then Came the Killing. That one 00:28:35.410 --> 00:28:38.529 has always been a fan favorite from the past. 00:28:39.849 --> 00:28:45.130 Cool. What are some of your favorite places to 00:28:45.130 --> 00:28:48.930 play? Sweden is known for several festivals. 00:28:49.369 --> 00:28:52.349 Is there any festival that stands out to you 00:28:52.349 --> 00:28:57.940 as a musician and as a fan? Yeah, I think there 00:28:57.940 --> 00:29:00.880 is a very special festival called Muskelrock. 00:29:01.480 --> 00:29:06.680 And in English, that's muscle rock. It's a small 00:29:06.680 --> 00:29:11.480 festival in a very small place outside in the 00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:19.799 woods, sort of, in the south of Sweden. And it's 00:29:19.799 --> 00:29:22.099 like 1 ,500 people in that festival, perhaps, 00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:24.759 or something like that. But it's very cozy. And 00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:27.059 the bands who play there are very, you know, 00:29:27.180 --> 00:29:32.259 ultra metal. Everyone is, you know, is wearing 00:29:32.259 --> 00:29:37.180 studded leather jackets and, you know, looks 00:29:37.180 --> 00:29:39.700 like, everyone looks like a band who's there, 00:29:39.839 --> 00:29:43.519 even though they're fans. Right. It's a diehard 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:46.740 fans. And we played there the first year when 00:29:46.740 --> 00:29:49.460 we released Summer Night Evens in 2023. So we 00:29:49.460 --> 00:29:51.980 played that summer at this Muscular Rock. It's 00:29:51.980 --> 00:29:56.200 very special. Very cool. So, you know, only diehard 00:29:56.200 --> 00:30:02.279 people. So that's very cool, I think. So in Sweden, 00:30:02.319 --> 00:30:05.519 there are tons of festivals, often quite small 00:30:05.519 --> 00:30:08.559 ones. But then we have Sweden Rock. We haven't 00:30:08.559 --> 00:30:10.799 played Sweden Rock yet, but we really hope to. 00:30:11.559 --> 00:30:17.140 But otherwise, the festivals are quite small. 00:30:18.200 --> 00:30:21.779 Not too many people. So we played in an indoor 00:30:21.779 --> 00:30:24.799 festival up in the north of Sweden from the same 00:30:24.799 --> 00:30:28.900 time as Meshuggah are from, called Umeå. And 00:30:28.900 --> 00:30:32.420 the festival is called House of Metal. And that 00:30:32.420 --> 00:30:35.259 was also packed to capacity and very, very cool. 00:30:35.460 --> 00:30:41.440 It was really awesome. A festival doesn't necessarily 00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:46.759 have to be 20 ,000 people. It's just as cool 00:30:46.759 --> 00:30:51.349 with 2 ,000 people. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I 00:30:51.349 --> 00:30:59.809 think it's very personal for everyone what your 00:30:59.809 --> 00:31:04.210 experience is. And it's much like talking about 00:31:04.210 --> 00:31:08.650 success to somebody. What's successful to one 00:31:08.650 --> 00:31:10.769 person may not be successful to somebody else. 00:31:10.990 --> 00:31:14.869 So, you know, a festival may be enjoyable to 00:31:14.869 --> 00:31:18.599 you for certain reasons. And another festival, 00:31:18.660 --> 00:31:22.420 just because it's huge, you know, is enjoyable 00:31:22.420 --> 00:31:27.799 to someone else. So, I mean, whatever makes sense 00:31:27.799 --> 00:31:30.980 to you is what's important. Yeah, exactly. And 00:31:30.980 --> 00:31:34.299 I think as a musician, you tend to like small 00:31:34.299 --> 00:31:38.940 clubs as well as big festivals. It's just different 00:31:38.940 --> 00:31:42.880 atmospheres, but the feeling is very cool at 00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:47.720 small clubs as well. Yeah, that's interesting. 00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:52.740 We had a discussion recently with some of my 00:31:52.740 --> 00:31:55.819 followers on Patreon where the American band 00:31:55.819 --> 00:31:58.259 Journey has announced that they're going to be 00:31:58.259 --> 00:32:01.940 retiring. And one of the first things that I 00:32:01.940 --> 00:32:04.339 noticed was that they were playing in kind of 00:32:04.339 --> 00:32:09.279 smaller venues for them. And one of my followers 00:32:09.279 --> 00:32:11.359 in Ireland says, well, that's actually better. 00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:14.400 because it'll be small and more intimate and 00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:18.200 you'll be able to be close to the band. So it's 00:32:18.200 --> 00:32:22.359 similar to what you're saying. Yeah. I remember 00:32:22.359 --> 00:32:25.200 it's very, it's very long time ago when Metallica 00:32:25.200 --> 00:32:29.000 was very moving up. I think maybe during the 00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:30.819 black album period or something like that, they 00:32:30.819 --> 00:32:35.380 played just as a surprise. They played in London 00:32:35.380 --> 00:32:39.119 at the hundred club, you know, with like, it's 00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:42.559 like four or 500 people. He just showed up and 00:32:42.559 --> 00:32:47.980 played. It was probably one of the coolest gigs 00:32:47.980 --> 00:32:51.839 they've ever done. It was very cool. And I saw 00:32:51.839 --> 00:32:54.759 Metallica actually, for us it was, you know, 00:32:54.779 --> 00:32:57.880 since it's an American band, I saw Metallica 00:32:57.880 --> 00:33:01.680 in 1984 in a small theater in Stockholm. It was 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:04.220 like 900 people or something like that. Oh, wow. 00:33:05.039 --> 00:33:07.019 And they were, you know, on the Ride the Lightning 00:33:07.019 --> 00:33:12.079 tour. I mean. I think that's the best era, uh, 00:33:12.680 --> 00:33:14.460 right. The lightning and master puppets when 00:33:14.460 --> 00:33:19.259 it played in these smaller venues, uh, there's, 00:33:19.380 --> 00:33:22.400 uh, you can say that it's more, it's more, you 00:33:22.400 --> 00:33:24.819 know, the feeling is that you get closer to the 00:33:24.819 --> 00:33:28.400 band. You hear, hear things a bit differently, 00:33:28.559 --> 00:33:35.039 uh, in a positive way. Right. Um, speaking of 00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:38.700 some of these classic bands, your new album, 00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:42.660 Praise the Awakening in the press is being compared 00:33:42.660 --> 00:33:46.859 to the New Testament and the new Coroner. How 00:33:46.859 --> 00:33:50.859 does that make you feel? Totally awesome. Two 00:33:50.859 --> 00:33:54.180 bands that are really cool from my opinion. And 00:33:54.180 --> 00:33:58.220 Testament has always been a big influence on 00:33:58.220 --> 00:34:00.960 us. Whether you like it or not, we sound a bit 00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:04.400 like that. And Coroner is, we played with Coroner 00:34:04.400 --> 00:34:08.940 down in Bulgaria in August. So we met those guys 00:34:08.940 --> 00:34:13.639 and they were totally awesome live. Really, really 00:34:13.639 --> 00:34:16.039 good. So when people compare us to bands like 00:34:16.039 --> 00:34:21.699 that, we just get sort of a bit honored by that, 00:34:21.739 --> 00:34:27.679 I think. Right. Cool. Okay. Where should people 00:34:27.679 --> 00:34:34.139 go to keep up with the band? You know, do you 00:34:34.139 --> 00:34:40.710 mean... On social medias or do you mean in a 00:34:40.710 --> 00:34:48.530 live situation? Both. Well, our social media 00:34:48.530 --> 00:34:52.070 is always updated because I personally take care 00:34:52.070 --> 00:34:55.230 of that. So if you want to find out anything 00:34:55.230 --> 00:34:58.389 about the band in any way, you must check out 00:34:58.389 --> 00:35:01.449 our social medias, especially Instagram and Facebook. 00:35:05.130 --> 00:35:07.230 When it comes to the live situation, we haven't 00:35:07.230 --> 00:35:11.389 actually booked so much yet. We have a small 00:35:11.389 --> 00:35:16.090 tour in Germany in April, I think. But as I said, 00:35:16.210 --> 00:35:19.670 if you want to keep up with us, just follow the 00:35:19.670 --> 00:35:22.829 social medias and you get every information that 00:35:22.829 --> 00:35:27.730 you want, actually. Okay. And where can people 00:35:27.730 --> 00:35:32.690 go to buy? um, embrace the awakening so that 00:35:32.690 --> 00:35:35.010 it makes sure that you guys get the most amount 00:35:35.010 --> 00:35:38.809 of money back from that sale. Uh, you can buy 00:35:38.809 --> 00:35:41.650 it from a band shop actually from our homepage 00:35:41.650 --> 00:35:47.030 is, it's like, it's Maslow dot black on, on the 00:35:47.030 --> 00:35:50.409 internet. And then you, you just choose the shop 00:35:50.409 --> 00:35:53.989 and they can buy everything, everything from 00:35:53.989 --> 00:35:57.550 t -shirts to the records to, you know, everything 00:35:57.550 --> 00:36:01.719 more or less. So that's the best thing to do 00:36:01.719 --> 00:36:07.960 to support us. Excellent. Well, I want to thank 00:36:07.960 --> 00:36:15.000 you for your time. I've been lucky enough to 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:19.360 interview some great thrash bands recently, and 00:36:19.360 --> 00:36:24.369 I would put this album up there with... Some 00:36:24.369 --> 00:36:27.110 of the ones that we've mentioned. If people don't 00:36:27.110 --> 00:36:28.909 know the band, I hope that this interview will 00:36:28.909 --> 00:36:31.550 help draw some people to the band. Thank you 00:36:31.550 --> 00:36:36.429 very much. I love being here. Super. Excellent. 00:36:36.489 --> 00:36:39.130 Well, I hope you have a great rest of your day. 00:36:39.710 --> 00:36:43.690 Same to you. Take care. All right. See you. See 00:36:43.690 --> 00:36:57.929 you. You can subscribe to the show on all your 00:36:57.929 --> 00:37:01.030 favorite podcast platforms like Apple Podcasts, 00:37:01.030 --> 00:37:04.730 Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon and more. Go 00:37:04.730 --> 00:37:07.190 to signalsfrommars .com for more information. 00:37:07.409 --> 00:37:08.630 This concludes our show.