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 THE CHAINS OF FENRISSwedish duo Ereb Altor strikes back on world’s doom scene with their second album entitled ‘’The End’’. The sagas of warriors and folks of Sacndinavia are here again, even more epic than on their debut. This is the one of the few bands which are true mongers of Bathory’s heritage, but yet enough capable to make their own sound. I had opportunity to talk with Mats, so, enjoy the interview.
’’The End’’ is the title of your second album, and you’ve switched from ’’I Hate Records’’ to ’’Napalm Records’’... What’ve been going on since your debut for mentioned ’’I Hate Records’’, and why you abandoned them? This was not a choice at all because we’re bound to Napalm through our signing with Isole and we must present all music we create to Napalm before going to other labels. It’s a big difference between IHR and Napalm when it comes to distribution and promotion of course. I must add that we have nothing against IHR and we enjoyed working with them too, both IHR and Napalm are very dedicated to this kind of music. What kind of concept ’’The End’’ brings, you also have trilogy based track on this record... The overall theme is our Scandinavian inheritance. Scandinavian melodies and Scandinavian topics in the lyrics. Our heritage is what’s fascinates me. I want the stories of Ereb Altor to be connected with our inheritance. Right now I’m studying old ghost stories and myths from the county where we live. On the first album the lyrics were more scattered and I wanted to have more of a red thread. The first story “Myrding” is a myth from Sweden that I came across and it’s about murdered children that can’t find peace, when I read about a particular story I felt a chill in my spine and I knew I had to do something creative in this subject. The three piece story about “The End” is dealing with the Nordic mythology of Ragnarök which is rather popular subject when it comes to Nordic Mythology. Many people are comparing you with Bathory and his (Quorthon’s) Viking period...mainly with Hammerheart/Twilight of the Gods era, how you look upon that? It seems to me that you’ve taken over where Qurthon has stopped. That’s what we aimed for, to keep the legacy and spirit of Quorthon alive somehow.  Atmosphere on this, and on your previous record is pretty much alive, bringing the holocaust of winter and cold grimness to life, in what kind of mood are you, when you composing and writing material, are any books or movies, or even music have influences on your creativity? I often come up with ideas when I am alone on a walk or driving my car. Then I’ll get my acoustic guitar and try to do my ideas into songs, sometimes I steal a riff or two from Ragnar that I think could fit in the hymns. Then I record the songs instrumentally and after that I bring Ragnar into the studio to get his input and let him work on the vocal lines. That’s the most common process when it comes to Ereb Altor’s song writing. I read books about myths and legends from where we come from and there I find my inspiration lyricswise. Our native folk music is also a source where I get inspiration. Where did you recorded the album, and are you satisfied with production work and cover art? Impression I have gained about production is the feeling that is similar to albums released back in 1990 and 1991... Do you agree with me, or you have different point of view? The album is recorded in Studio Apocalypse in Gävle. It’s mixed and produced by Jonas Lindström. Mastered at Tailor Maid by Peter In De Betou. I’m satisfied with the outcome, it’s an old kind of feeling with a modern touch in my opinion. The cover art is made by Robban Kanto, the same guy that did our debut album. The symbol on the front cover is a medallion of mine called Fenris bound, it’s Fenris tied in his chains so the world is safe. Do you planning do any video clips for songs of the new album? Not at this point, but we’ll see. Have you been satisfied with reactions from fans and media, that you’ve received for your debut album? Also, for this record, do you have interesting responses from fans, critics and such...? Nowadays I don’t read reviews so carefully, our old fans seems to like the new one as much as the old one. I think the overall response from media have been really good, it’s a hard task to digest the album, I think the album has to grow on you a bit. What’s the musical background of Ereb Altor Members? We have known each other for ages and we have been making music together since 1990 so we know each other quite good. We played together in folk music band Februari 93 which released an album in 1997 and we still play together in doom band Isole. What do you think of this i-pool formats that labels now offering to journalists? Do you think it’s better than sending the promo disks, like before? I prefer promo disks, I’m an old fashioned guy. I like the way things were. Vinyl is the thing. Why did you chosen doom metal as your musical expression, and why you’ve decided to start band like this, what attracted you to this musical genre? I’ve been doing doom metal for so long now so it’s a part of me that comes natural. I like music to be emotional and doom metal is, and I also like melancholic tunes. At first it was probably Candlemass and Bathory that attracted my attention. Where did you came up for the band’s name? Ereb Altor is the name of the world where an old Swedish RPG „Drakar och Demoner“ take place. It’s a fantasy world similar to the world Tolkien created. We played this game in our youths and at first we planned to write lyrics with fantasy themes, but later on I decided to write lyrics about our inheritance, I want all lyrics to have a connection from where we come from. Nordic myths, legends and mythology. We decided to keep the name anyway, a remembrance from our youths. Have you heard of any Serbian metal bands, and what you think of today’s metal scene? Probably I have heard Serbian metal bands without knowing that they were from Serbia, but I can’t come up with any name. Today’s metal scene… hmmm… as I mentioned I am an old fashioned guy and I often stick with my old classics. Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth have gather for ’’Big Four’’ tour, how you look upon that? Iron Maiden is the big ONE!!!! Well, I wouldn’t mind going to see a show from this tour though. Where you’ve performed live so far, and do you covering any of Bathory’s songs on your shows? Also, I want to ask you what you think about this ’’Day of Darkness’’ fest and tribute to Bathory, will you ever perform on such occasions? We have done a few festival appearances so far, and we have covered Bathory on everyone this far. If we get the chance to pay tribute to Bathory we will cease it. Future plans for Ereb Altor are…? I hope we will do some live shows but I’m not sure about touring. I think the live performances of Ereb Altor will improve in the future though, we are discussing about using three guitars and backtracks of keyboards and choirs live to do the songs more justice, it’s hard to do big choirs with only two vocals you know. And I hope I will find the strenght and inspiration to continue the saga of Ereb Altor with maybe a bit less Bathory sound because Ereb Altor probably needs to change path and not get stuck being just a Bathory tribute. That would be all for now, thanks for your time, with hopes to see you in Serbia one day. Cheers! I hope so too! Interview by Vladimir Petković |
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