Nocturnal  Rites

Nils, I listened to ‘Shadowland’ and couldn’t believe it was the same band I’d heard some years back - didn’t you guys play death metal?
Nils: Yes, we have changed quite a bit. In the very beginning we had a death metal type sound, which evolved over the years into what we are doing now. ‘Shadowland’ is our 5th release as you know and we wrote our first record 7 years ago - I was like, 17 or 18 years old at the time. But we have kept the same band name and if it makes you feel better, we still live the same town - Umea (about 700 miles north of Stockholm) ha ha!

How do you feel about those early albums?
Nils: Looking back, “In A Time Of Blood And Fire “ our first album sounds a lot more basic and not as well thought out as our new stuff so yes, a definite change. And I think we will still progress. It’s an ongoing thing that makes sense as we’re evolving too as musicians and people. I think its working as our fan base is growing, especially in Japan so I’m really looking forward to touring there in particular. 

Why did you guys start off as Death Metal? It was huge in those days of course...
Nils: Yes, it was a very popular style at the time and every kid - including myself - was into death metal so that was the style to play then. Also, if you were just starting out as a musician it was also an easier style to play because you didn’t have to get an sophisticated singer to begin with, just the guy next door to howl into the mike ha ha.

So Jonny (Lindqvist) is better than your previous vocalist?
Nils: Jonny’s been on the last 2 releases, and previously we had Anders, but now its a different style so its not a question of which one is better but which one suits the style we are doing now which I guess is power metal except that we don’t have a fantasy image or lyrics. 

You do have a fanstasy art cover though don’t you  - and its a pretty cool one by this Russian artist Leo Hao.
 Nils: Yes its fantasy art, but I think that an album cover should reflect the genre of music you’re in so I wouldn’t want to present a satanic cover as we’re certainly not that style. Yeah, Leo is a Russian guy who came to Century Media’s attention thru samples of his work on the internet. So we had a friend make some sketches and we sent it over and he came up with the cover and yeah, I think its cool too! I wanted it to reflect my favourite song on the album which is ‘Shadowland’ and I also like to have a song which is also the title of the album. And its like you say, we are a mix between 2 styles and this is depicted in the 2 worlds - dark and light - on the cover. I still think we have kept a heavy edge from our past which makes us different to some of the other power metal bands and lyrically we just write what we write and this is how it comes out.

I know power metal itself has changed as a style and I’m thinking of bands like Raven now, so were you ever influenced by anyone in particular?
Nils: As a kid I listened to Iron Maiden, Dokken, Judas Priest and Queensryche  - basically whatever records I could steal from my older brother ha ha! He also liked Metallica and Testament and was big into thrash metal so thats how I got both the melody and the brutality.

Some people have suggested that you’re changing to whats popular, but if you’ve done that you’ve made a success out of it! 
Nils: I don’t think there is a formula, I think you should just have a good time playing music. I think if you try and force your music to suit what the record label says then your music will sound adapted. You have to come up with your own concepts and write what you feel is good for yourself and that way the music will sound honest, natural and good. The other mistake I think bands make and is to try and constantly rewrite their first album rather than moving on and trying out new things.

I guess being an old school metaller I like bands to stick to what the fans want..
Nils: Sure, I mean I was pretty pissed off when Iron Maiden got Bruce Dickenson and I knew they would sound different. But I think they wouldn’t have sounded honest and natural if they’d stuck to the same thing. I think that’s the challenge for bands, to try different things and make it interesting for the fans but to keep it natural.