There are so many reasons why the Swedish melodic death metal scene has been so well received worldwide throughout the years, but I firmly believe that one of its greatest bands that should under no circumstances ever be left out when discussing this subject, is none other than Gates of Ishtar from Luleå. I still recall when I discovered them by accident when I was an enthusiastic metalhead in high school, being around 18/19 years old while searching for more extreme and underground gems that were somewhat like unsung heroes of their era that later became crowned jewels. Since their initial reunion in 2015, Gates of Ishtar re-released and reissued their first three full-length albums on physical media and digital streaming platforms, and thanks to the overwhelmingly loyal support from their fans, as well as the labels and other personnel helping out with the re-releases, I think it's safe to say that their revival brought them to a better place than they would have ever imagined. During this year, the band teased some bits and samples of their new material for the upcoming album, which still doesn't have an official release date, title or a label at this point in time, but I believe we are all very much looking forward to it with great expectations. A couple of weeks ago, I reached out to the band via Facebook, and I got in touch with their two guitarists, Tomas Jutenfäldt and Andreas Johansson, both of whom I have interviewed live on Zoom. During our conversation, we've discussed about various subjects such as the band's reunion and their upcoming album, but we've also revisited some of their special memories from the 90's and we've even touched on the story about Gates of Ishtar being ripped off by the German label Invasion Records, which later went bankrupt and its owner Maja Majewski eventually disappeared. If you wish to know more about the band's backstory and experience the unearthly delights which surround their music, I hope you will follow me on this Bloodred Path, as we witness The Dawn of Flames and entrance the world unfolding At Dusk and Forever. My noble ones, I present to you, Gates of Ishtar.

Vladimir

Thank you so much guys for coming here. Heartwarming welcome to both of you. How are you guys doing?

Tomas: Well, thank you very much. I'm doing well here in Stockholm. Just came home from work and had some food, so everything's great.

Andreas: Yeah, same for me. I've been home for a couple of hours, making dinner for my wife. Also been working. I'm located like an hour by flight north from Tomas right now. 

So how's the winter season coming along? We already had a very crazy snowstorm here last Friday.

Andreas: Up here, I think that you can notice the global warming or something because, we're in the end of November now, and last Friday, it was around 8 or 10 degrees plus. It's not common right here, at this time of the year. It's supposed to be a lot of snow and degrees below zero. But, it's just a thin layer of snow and not that cold, actually. Winter is coming.

Even in November, we had temperatures about 10 degrees, and all of a sudden, the snow came like it's around the end of December. At least we're not going through the 40 degrees temperature. I know you guys had some issues with that during September, if I recall.

Tomas: Yeah. I think we have Summer here, at least in Stockholm, a bit into September. But then we also went to Mexico and had even more Summer. So, when we got back, it was a bit colder. But there is no snow here in Stockholm. We had snow for two days I think, just a little bit, and then it started to rain, so now it's, like, 10 plus again.

So, the reason why I brought you guys here is because, it's been a while since anybody has talked about Gates of Ishtar, and I recall that a new song sample was released somewhere around this year. So far, I want to know how the new material is coming along as we speak?

Tomas: It's going really great. I think we have 4 songs that are pretty much complete. Maybe they need some arranging, but the general songs are done, and we have a lot of more ideas for new songs as well. Andreas and Mikael, our singer, and the rest of the guys up in Luleå, they get together and rehearse and try out new things. And, they send stuff to me so I can put guitar solos on them and harmonics and stuff like that. So, it's going really good.

Andreas: I agree. We try to come together every Sunday, for a couple of hours, maybe five or six hours, and everyone is bringing their ideas. Markus is coming up with these new and fresh ideas on the bass guitar, and then we just try to put it together, two guitars, bass, and drums. And then when we leave, for the next week until the next Sunday, Mikael is sitting home by himself trying to arrange the vocal parts on the recorded material. And as Tomas says, everything is going really great. We have riffs for a lot of songs. But it's a little bit different from before when we all lived in the same town. It's so much easier to just go to the rehearsal room to sit there with everyone, than to bring up the ideas and to have inputs from other guys. It's not harder, but it's different to do it this way. We don't have any other choice basically right now for the moment. So, it's going great.

It's great to hear that. But so far, what's to be expected of the new Gates of Ishtar album? Will you guys be continuing that classic approach that you had on the previous three albums, or are you trying to incorporate some new ideas along the way?

Tomas: I think when we get together and play music, it just sounds like Ishtar. And maybe it's because we've been on a break so long from the last album that we released, until now when we started playing live again. It's like everything has been frozen in time. So, when we started playing together again, we just picked up where we left off somehow. And I know that, I've been playing the songs that we have finished so far, and we also did them live both in Czech Republic and in Mexico, and the response we've been getting from the fans and from other friends is like "It sounds just like Ishtar. How did you manage this? It's exactly the same". So that's good to hear, but I don't think that we're trying in any way to make it sound like it should sound. This is just what comes out when we play, I think.

It's like muscle memory, I guess.

Tomas: Yeah. Something like that.

So far, have there been any kind of negotiations with any major labels to put out the new album?

Andreas: I think that up to date we have, at least not been speaking, but we have offers from two labels. I mean, everything is so different now, like 25 years later than when we released our other albums. I think about all the deals with the percentages and everything, like the complete contract. We're not really up to date in what to expect when you sign a record deal. So, we are trying to take it easy and to finish our stuff, and then I think we will maybe try to reach out to some other labels as well. But there's an interest and we have offers.

Even though it's been like 10 years since the first official reunion of the band, it did go on hold for a brief moment until it was later reactivated in 2022. During all these years, you already had your 3 albums re-released and reissued with updated artworks and it was released through various labels, one of them being Century Media Records. What can you tell me about the whole decision regarding the rerelease of your first three albums?

Tomas: Well, we were gonna reform the band and do a reunion concert at the 20 years anniversary, I think it was back in 2015. We were gonna play live at Partisan in Germany, but then our drummer Oskar, he died very suddenly, very tragically, and, obviously we didn't do that gig. But then we got an offer from Century Media to rerelease the three records through them and on vinyl for the first time and with updated artwork, so we did that as a tribute to Oskar, our drummer. Everything went on hold again, until we were contacted by the promoter for House of Metal, where we did the gig last year in November, pretty much a year ago today. So yeah, that's what got us started again.

I have to say that even though time goes on, years go by, the reputation of the three albums that you've put out is still very strong. I really gotta ask, do you have the impression that the interest from fans and the media has shifted to an even bigger scale towards the band since the reunion?

Andreas: That's a good question. We got interviewed in Swedish television a couple of months ago, and I think that the reporter had also followed us during the years, and he had some good views on the phenomena about Swedish bands from the 90's that are out in the world, playing festivals and touring, like Bewitched and Gates of Ishtar. I don't know, because a lot of the people in the audience that we see live now, I don't think that they even were born when we released the first album. I don't know, it's hard to compare, but I mean, the response on the gigs that we've been doing and all the response through social media and stuff when we release news and updates are really impressive. And, we are really glad to receive all the great support, because it wasn't obvious to continue the Gates of Ishtar story even though we played in Umeå, but a major decision for that was that the response was so massive, and we had so much fun doing that, I think.

I guess we can easily say that the years have treated you for the better. Even though you're an older band, somehow when a band comes back after 10, 15 or 20 years, they somehow manage to be even more relevant than they were back in the day. I mean, a lot of the bands in that 90's era, they somehow managed to be even more attractive to people. I guess it's somehow that people found something very special and very mesmerizing about the bands. Personally, myself speaking, like you said, some of your fans weren't even born when your albums were released. I was born around when your third album was released in 1998. So, I was lucky to have discovered you way back when I was in high school. It's great that you still see generations like me or even a bit older coming into discovering these bands and finding something special about them. But generally, they don't really know much about you guys, so were there any special memories from the days in the 90's when Gates of Ishtar was relatively new and working on those three classic albums?

Tomas: Well, there are so many great memories from the 90's. Something that I remember very fondly when I think back of it is when we recorded our first album. For instance, when we recorded in a studio called Tico-Tico in Finland, and we had such a great time. And we were also great friends and just having the adventure of our lives, only like 18 years old. So very fond memories and also, which you can find on YouTube, the gig we did in Umeå as well, back in, I think could have been '96 perhaps, when we played at Galaxen, together with Dissection and other bands, so that's pretty big. Actually, I didn't even know who Dissection was at the time hahah. That came later for me when I started to listen to it. So, it's quite fun to think back about that.

Do you Andreas have any special memories from that same period?

Andreas: As Thomas says, that whole era is just filled with great memories from a really strong friendship between five guys that were very young. We started when we went to the last 3 years in the school system to rehearse together. I think that one of the greatest memories for me was when we received our first record deal with Spinefarm Records. We recorded the demo, sent it out to a couple of labels and then we received a call and an express letter from Finland. I think it was on Saturday; it came in the mail and they told us to not answer any other offers and to be fast to sign the contract with them. I mean, that was a big thing for us, when you're just 18/19 years old and an uprising metal musician. So, I think that was one of my strongest memories from that time. And that was like the beginning of it all. I think a lot of people are talking about A Bloodred Path as the legendary first album from Gates of Ishtar still stands today and that's a really good point for the album, I think. I remember that we sat there in Tomas' apartment, I think, when the mail came through the door and it was a record deal.

Tomas: Yeah. And I also remember another fun thing that I came to think about now when we, when we got the first advance for the record, both me and Andreas went out and bought a PlayStation, the first PlayStation. It was brand new on the market, so we used our money for PlayStation and some games, Resident Evil and Tomb Raider, I remember. Oh. So, really fun memories from that time.

Awesome. What a great way to start your PlayStation experience, am I right? But since you mentioned Dissection and, saying that this was actually your first encounter, that you were not really familiar with the guys, I really wanna know what was the encounter like with that band, since you're both one of the very crucial Swedish melodic extreme metal bands of the time?

Tomas: Well, to be honest, I remember seeing some cool looking dudes backstage at the gig, looking really serious. I mean, we were just kids from the north of Sweden, so I didn't really know what's happening. Maybe Andreas has some more on that hahah.

Andreas: I don't know about that, but when I went to my parents' place, and my mother was cleaning up in the attic, she found a couple of posters from gigs we had done. And I think that we played with Dissection two times, and then there was Katatonia, Dark Tranquility, At The Gates as well. I think, Gates of Ishtar, at least from the beginning, we had, like kind of an expression you say in Sweden when you're not that dead serious. I mean, we got some kind of crappy reviews in Norwegian black metal zines when we released our first album which was like "Gates of Ishtar is like an amusement park metal" and stuff like that from the bone hard Norwegians at that moment, but we were kids, we drank beer, we played music, we had sausages, burgers and pizza. We had like the sparkle in the eye. When we met, we weren't like the dead serious guys, we were like, okay.  By the way, I was familiar with Dissection and all the bands at the time, but yeah, I also think that they were a little bit more serious than us. So, they didn't take the first contact if you understand what I mean.

Yeah, I do. The thing about the Swedish scene, at the time you had a lot of these melodic bands. These weren't just bands that were taking influences from your regular death metal and black metal, but when it comes to melody, they took it a lot from the New Wave of British heavy metal, even the prominent heavy metal bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate, also even classical music. They had like new classical influences that were integrated into their playing. Back then, what bands did you guys look up to and what were your biggest musical influences at the time?

Tomas: For my part, all I listened to pretty much was Iron Maiden. I mean, all the albums from the beginning, or actually from the Bruce Dickinson era mostly. Peace of Mind, Somewhere in Time and Powerslave, I was really into that at the time and still am, but in another way. So that was one thing that I always played when I picked up my guitar. I was trying to pick out Maiden songs. I'm sure that comes through in some way in Ishtar music as well, but Andre, Niklas and Mikael did most of the songwriting. But I think you can pick up some Maiden harmonies here and there when we play, but Maiden mostly for me.

Andreas: I think we all have different music we listen to. I think that at that time, I was mostly into Norwegian black metal, they were early Emperor albums, Limbonic Art, Entombed, Dismember. I mean, all kinds of brutal music, but mostly at that time, I was into atmospheric black metal music, because there was some kind of a certain feeling about that. And, it still is. I mean, I try to fall back to the old classic albums. I listen to Vargrav when I bike to my work. It's a Finnish black metal band of Ville Pallonen and it sounds like he's only been listening to Emperor and Limbonic Art and released the album, I think a year ago. So, the old classic still stands very strong. But, I mean, everything, Maiden, Dio, all kinds of heavy metal bands. There weren't only one or two bands, because there were a lot of bands. Everything that's good, basically.

I'm actually very glad that you gave Vargrav a shoutout because I remember when I discovered their second album Reign in Supreme Darkness that was released in 2019, which everybody said In the Nightside Eclipse - the reimagined version and everybody went fucking crazy, and everybody realized that Werwolf from Satanic Warmaster is part of it. And I guess you could easily say that it is one of the greatest black metal projects of recent years, like you even mentioned the new album which came out last year. I think it was around December, actually. And it was pretty good too, I gotta admit, but that second album is…

Andreas: Yeah. It's brilliant. I thought when I listened to it or when I've been listening to it a couple of times, I thought "Yeah, it sounds a bit like old Emperor" and then I read the comments on YouTube and we're basically just "this is shit because it's only Emperor", you know. I mean, yeah, it might be only Emperor, but it's still good. I don't care, basically.

I gotta ask, since we already touched on the subject of your albums, I got the impression that you guys didn't seem to be that lucky with the two albums, "The Dawn of Flames" and "At Dusk and Forever", because they were initially released by Invasion Records. The problem was that there were these unapproved artworks which were either stolen or plagiarized. Were there any serious legal issues involved at the time because of what happened?

Tomas: I don't really know what happened to him after, the guy's name was Maja. I think we're not the first band that he screwed over, but he's got quite a reputation from what I know. I can tell you that we were not happy when we saw the final artwork on "The Dawn of Flames" at least. I seem to remember that we had an idea for another album cover, and another album cover was discussed and approved or something like that, but I can't remember even what it looked like. It's so long ago. Do you remember, Andreas?

Andreas: No. No, I don't. But, I mean, that guy went underground, and actually just a couple of weeks ago, I saw like some kind of a compilation on YouTube from the most shitty and terrible album covers by Invasion Records, where they'd actually discussed all the people or all the bands that got ripped off by Maja Majewski. And then, "The Dawn of Flames" was there as well. I mean, we were so shocked when that that cover came up, but when you have a little bit if perspective to it today, the updated cover is great, but I mean, I think that the Vision Merch in the US, they printed the old album cover, and I would like to have a long sleeve with the old album cover, it's so tragic-comic in some kind of way, if you know the story behind it. But, I mean, he disappeared. I think that we got ripped on a lot of royalty payments as well. He just went on the ground, that guy.

Tomas: Yeah, I don't think we saw a dime from "The Dawn of Flames".

Andreas: No. We got ripped off.

Honestly, I'm not surprised that all this eventually led to Invasion Records being bankrupt, since obviously disastrous decisions lead to disastrous results, and it's really hard to trust labels when you either have no creative freedom or no percentage income or even bad promotion. Did you guys have a hard time trying to recover from this sort of issue that you have encountered?

Tomas: Not really. Not for me anyway. I mean, we stopped playing somewhere around that time. I can't remember exactly which year, but sometime after everything went kind of on a hiatus, and I moved to Stockholm, and Niklas, our bass player at the time, moved to Stockholm as well. So, the band kind of split up anyways. So, it all fell through.

Andreas: But I also think the first thing that we discussed about new offers from record labels, I think that, all the events that happened during that time has made us a little bit more curious about when we're going to cooperate with the label to release our new album. We want everything to be exactly as we want it so that we don't take the risk of signing a contract for 10 albums in 10 years or something, you know, some stupid contract. So, we will definitely read everything with 10 eyes before we print our names on the paper again.

Tomas: Yeah. Definitely.

But on the positive side, it's evident that you guys did recover because you're still active today, but of course, a lot of bands still have to be very careful about what they're getting themselves into, especially when you have these very shady labels all around, no matter if they're South American or even Central European, they can fuck you up badly.

Tomas: Yeah. Definitely.

When it comes to bands like yourselves who play melodic black or death metal, they usually hail from various parts of Sweden like Gothenburg, Stockholm, Strömstad and so on, you guys are from Luleå in Norrbotten county, and you also had another band from there which is The Moaning. What is the metal scene like in Luleå or in the north of Sweden in general?

Andreas: The current metal scene up here, I think it was really blooming the times when we released our demos and the first records. And as you said, we had The Moaning, we had The Everdawn, we had Scheitan, we had Satariel from Boden, and then in Umeå we had Nocturnal Rites, we had Throne of Ahaz, Bewitched, we have Naglfar as well. Umeå is not considered to be north of Sweden because it's 300 kilometers south from us, but, I mean, up to date today, The Moaning doesn't exist, The Everdawn doesn't exist, Satariel has quit. Pierre is still active with Scheitan, they released a couple of records and he has signed a contract with a Greek label and just put out a new record. The music is not what it was back in the days. It's more like, I think, more doom-ish gothic metal. And then we have Dark Funeral, who also had the origin from Luleå, but Mikke moved down to Stockholm quite fast. So, they were not actually an active band in Luleå, but he is from Luleå. So, I think that it's us and Scheitan that is active today. I don't know too much.

Tomas: Well, I don't really know about the current music situation in Luleå, but I haven't really seen anything about it. I think it's quite dead, unfortunately, nowadays.

Andreas: But, I mean, everything was so different back in the days. I mean, we had a complete school building with 3 stories with all the classrooms that were remade to rehearsal rooms and there was a guy working there, and you could borrow instruments. You could actually practice 24 hours a day. I mean the scene was really kind to young people that didn't wanna play football or ice hockey or basketball or something. You had the opportunity to do that. And maybe there's a demand today as well. I mean, young kids like music. It might be a couple of more bands coming up if they actually have the opportunity, because now you have to search yourself for a rehearsal room. I mean, when you're 16/17 years old, you don't have the money to pay to rent a rehearsal room in the city centre. That's not possible. I mean, I think we paid like 100 crowns a month to rehearse there.

Tomas: Yeah. It was subsidized by the state. We paid like pennies for it, really. And we also have access to a recording studio in the basement. You had to pay a little bit more for that, but still no big money. I think when we recorded our first demo, I think we each paid something like 2 or 300 Swedish crowns per band member for the whole demo. So, you can't really do that nowadays. Not that I know of, anyway. So, we had all the opportunities and the support from the government and all of that. I don't really think it exists in the same way anymore.

Andreas: No and it's quite obvious also when you walk the streets in the town. I mean, sometimes I've been thinking about it like "Wait, I don't see any metalheads anywhere". I mean, back in the days, we were everywhere, there were metalheads everywhere, not only on the gigs. And I think it's like that if you go to Stockholm and Gothenburg, I think you only see them at the gigs as well. You don't see them going around in gangs in the city centre. I mean, basically the connection was so strong in the 90's. It's sad to see. I mean, it's a great culture, and it's a great opportunity for younger people to be able to come out and do what they might like to do. They can't do it, basically.

Tomas: But I think we will probably see it more again. I mean, everything goes in circles, more or less. I mean, look at fashion or whatever you're looking at. The same type of names that people used in the 40's, what people name their children. Everything goes in circles, and I think the same will happen with metal as well. So, hopefully, maybe in a couple of years or in the 10 years period, maybe we'll have that resurgence again.

Andreas: That would be great.

Yeah. I agree, it goes, then it stops, and it goes again, it's just a general circle of life. Things happen this way. But still, even though things change over time, bands like yourselves still play a crucial role in the development of the scene and you're also inspiring others that come after you and that shows that your music stands the test of time. I'm generally curious to know, are there any current Swedish or non-Swedish black or death metal bands that you guys like or that got your attention?

Tomas: Well, one band, I haven't listened to them really a lot yet, but I will. It's a band called Grima. I think they're from Russia, from Siberia, something like that. I really like the sound of that. And, I know they're releasing an album in February or something like that. I actually pre-booked on vinyl as soon as I heard it, I said I have to get this. So, every now and then, you'll come across something that just gets your attention for some reason. But otherwise, for me music goes in period. I play a lot of guitar now, but I don't listen to much music nowadays. It goes in waves. But when I do listen it's a lot of 80's metal and a lot of more melodic metal stuff like Wintersun. I really had a Wintersun period when they released The Forest Seasons, and then I started rediscovering the back catalogue and stuff like that. So, it goes like this for me.

Andreas: Yeah, and if I look at my search history on YouTube, what bands I've been listening to. It's Archgoat, Vltimas, and then we have the American band Morta Skuld from Wisconsin. And then Vargrav, the Netherstorm. I've been listening to Dissection. And, also, the Ukrainian band Sidus Atrum, that's fucking brilliant.

Tomas: Yeah, I love that. I love that.

Andreas: And also, an old Swedish band that I've been listening to maybe in the last 5 days. It's called Internal Decay. They released an album called Forgotten Dream. I think that's all they put out. That's amazing.

Thank you, guys, so much for the interview. It's been a pleasure talking to you, and I hope that I'll see you guys in the near future, and, good luck with the new album. Are there any final words you'd like to say?

Tomas: Oh, thanks a lot for taking the time to speak to us. It's really fun to do these interviews and all five of us look forward to recording a new album and presenting to our fans, and I don't think anyone's gonna be disappointed by that.

Andreas: Hope to see you guys at a venue somewhere in the near future, because we will try to take all opportunities to go out and play, both the old and the new Ishtar songs. Really looking forward to it, and thanks a lot.

Previous Interview Frozen Dawn with Grinder (vocals, guitars)	Next Interview Tryglav with Boris Behara (everything)

Slaughterday from Lower Saxony released one of the death metal highlights last year, if not the best death metal album of the year. After they provided much needed attention with the album "Ancient Death Triumph", "Tyrants Of Doom" will build the hype even further. I had a nice Friday evening chat via Skype with Bernd Reiners (vocals, drums) and Jens Finger (guitar, bass), where we also discussed some other important things (Stallone or Schwarzenegger?). Have fun reading!!

Michael

Hey, how are things in the far north?

B + J: Yes, everything is great!

"Tyrants Of Doom" was released a few months ago and has received consistently good reviews. Were you surprised by that?

B: Yes and no. When we heard the finished album, you do wonder, when you hear it, how it sounds when everything is recorded in the studio, we already thought that it sounds pretty awesome. But you don't know what the feedback is like, and after all, the previous album got such good reviews. We were wondering if we could top that, but it's cool that some have confirmed that we've succeeded to some extent. We were in good spirits ourselves, but were pretty surprised that we were able to top that.

J: You are always your own biggest critic and, as Bernd already said, Ancient Death Triumph has been received enormously well. That was already sensational for us and we thought that we can't top that anymore. But when we finished recording and listening to it, we were convinced that it was really good and we were very happy with it. That the reactions are so good now is of course great. But it always depends on the situation: who is releasing an album and what do people and reviewers want to hear? That is also still a subjective matter.

I must say that "Tyrants Of Doom" has become my favorite death metal album and I have read a single review that gave 7 out of 10 points.

B: Yes, that was also the case with the last albums. You always have at least one person who writes "this is nothing special, this is pure standard".

J: Yes, it always depends on what kind of music people listen to privately. We once had a review from someone who has nothing to do with death metal. He reviewed the album by default. I mean, if I had to review a Sabaton album now, I wouldn't be able to see it neutrally either.

B: I think you just have to draw a summary and that was mostly positive, even if there are some who say that TOD did not turn out so well or is normal death metal. But that's exactly what it is and nothing else (laughs). That's right. Some people think that you can get further with innovations, but this is little innovative and old school death metal, where there are certain rules of the game and in this framework we move of course.

But I also have to say that I find reviewing and writing about music I don't listen to myself pretty borderline and personally can't relate to it either.

B: Yes, but that's probably the usual agenda.

Okay, maybe if you get paid for it. Fortunately, I choose the things I want to write about and it would be a total waste of time for me to have to write reviews about things I don't like at all.

J: But it's also interesting to see how it affects other people who have nothing to do with music.

B: If people really deal with it intensively, even though it's not their favorite music, that's okay too, sometimes quite interesting things come out of it.

If I put the first letters of the title together, it says TOD (which means "death" in German) - is that, like with Venenum and their "Trance Of Death" album - intentional or was that coincidence?

J: Sure, that was a very well thought-out move. We thought of a lot of profound things (laughs).

B: No, honestly, it looks all pompous and great with "TOD" and so on, but the fact is that only the title was important to us and we tinkered with that....

J: ...and it's also T.O.D. - Temple Of Dread (the band Jens is the singer in; M.)...

B: ...exactly and when we say T.O.D. everyone is irritated about what that has to do with Temple Of Dread. But we had the title and then we noticed only afterwards that the abbreviation also means death. There was nothing planned.

J: We didn't realize it until the moment when I made a rough draft for the layout of the box. We made a special box and I wrote the initials underneath and that's when we realized it.

Who are the "Tyrants Of Doom"?

B: I'm happy to answer that, because I won't tell you! Everyone can think about that for themselves. I had already expected that this question would be asked more often. We are, as far as our music is concerned, apolitical, but of course we thought of something. I think there are enough tyrants, whether in world events, where one looks. I don't want to go further than that - no matter if it's Putin, who is now probably the biggest tyrant for most people right now, but there have always been tyrants of doom, people who bully people with terror and violence and whatever. It's definitely not fantasy characters, it's already influenced by current world events. Also the lyrics are still pretty cryptic, because I still like to work with imagery and I don't want to convey stories and political messages there, but it's more than ever inspired by current events.

Lyrically, you have more than ever, I would say, slightly philosophically inclined lyrics, for example 'Necromantic Visions' or 'Grave Nihilist'. Did you deal a bit more with religious and philosophical references?

J: I find it interesting that you say that, because I remember a review that said exactly the opposite. It was said that we would help ourselves from the death metal kit. I mean, Bernd writes the lyrics, but then I felt a bit attacked, I have to admit, because I know how much work he puts into it. We also talk about his lyrics and I also know what he means or what you can interpret into it. Of course, we don't communicate all that publicly, because that would take away the charm and mystique of the thing.

B: This time we also had a different approach to the lyrics. Otherwise, I always wrote the lyrics and then the title emerged, from the chorus, the phrasing or depending on how the riff was. This time we worked differently and Jens was more involved, at least in terms of choosing the title. This time we proceeded in such a way that we determined the titles and then let me inspire, be it from the title or a picture, what this title could perhaps express and then made me to the lyrics. In addition, we worked out the choruses together, that is, we actually sat here and tried to assign the appropriate title to each song and also made the choruses of the phrasing suitable. I then filled the rest with life.

J: You really have to imagine that we sat together in the rehearsal room with a beer and thought of cool words and put together titles and afterwards thought about what it could be about. Personally, I often look at the title of a record and think "what a cool title, I'll listen to that song!". I always think titles are important and I can't stand it at all when you can't remember them because they're a mile long. Like Carcass... "Descanting...", you have to have a dictionary next to you. It was simply important to us that we have gripping titles on the one hand, but also gripping choruses on the other. This time we put more emphasis on the choruses, especially as already mentioned with the phrasing, but also with the placement.

B: It's also fun to play around with the power of words a bit. English is a great language for lyrics and sometimes it's fun to express certain things with cool words. I think especially in metal, or in death metal maybe especially, and you know this yourself, when you were a teenager and listened to certain albums, there were words that somehow totally grabbed you, because they sounded cool. That's where everything comes together: Background, ideas, inspiration, cool titles that play with language and also provide the whole thing with metaphors, which then ultimately results in the lyrics. It's also important to me that they're not just some flat stories, but also trigger a bit of mental cinema, even if you might have completely different associations than I possibly had when writing.

J: It is also important, at least in my opinion, that music and lyrics form a unity...

B: ...and it is entertainment. The people should just be entertained and if the lyrics still contribute to the fact that it goes in a bit in depth, then that's a good thing. It was not behind it to spread political messages, but every now and then it fits. It is so well packaged that only me and Jens know the intention and the rest I leave to the people listening. I'd be interested to hear what people interpret into it.

Yeah, listen! 'Parasitic' - it immediately popped into my head that you were watching Alien.

B: Alien is also interesting, I had but I but not at all in the back of the head. But of course that also fits super. With 'Parasitic' it was like that, that's probably also one of the most obvious lyrics, that I let myself be inspired by the insect world. There are really interesting stories with parasites that manipulate you or grow in your brain and influence a certain behavior and keep the host alive as long as necessary.

Musically I had attested you to a certain age mildness in the last interview, when I compare "Ancient Death Triumph" with "Tyrants Of Doom", I would take that back and rather speak of progressive elements, which you let flow more and more into the songs. Alone the riff in 'Pestilent Tombs' is almost inspired by classical music....Correct?

J: Yes, that may have two reasons. One is a very simple reason, which is that we always go back to the hard rock and heavy metal roots with the songwriting. Maybe it's also because I listened to a lot more Michael Schenker and music like that during the songwriting process. The other reason is maybe a technical one. I bought myself a new computer at home with Logic, etc. I've always taken the songs we recorded in the rehearsal room home and had to add something for the guitars and bass for pre-production. This time I played around with Logic more because it has more possibilities and I think that's also related to that. You probably mean the polyphonic guitars.

B: On 'Pestilent Tombs' there's this one part that really sounds a bit like classical.

J: Yeah, oh yeah, I really broke my back on that one! That's right, it was a Yngwie Malmsteen move (laughs).But otherwise it is very flattering to speak of classic metal. We are far from it still.

J: Of course, we always try to do something new. At least that's how I feel when I write my solos. I always try to use a technique that maybe I've never done before.

So to sum up, "TOD" has become your most lyrically and musically diverse album?

J: Yes, I think so.

B: Yes, you can say that. I have a bit of a hard time with it, I think the last two albums were created in a relatively short time one after the other and belong together for me. That's why I still have problems today to say where we were more brilliant and where we composed the best. I would definitely say that the album is catchy and very varied, maybe that sums it up quite well. Maybe you can also say that the last album is the most detached from the Autopsy vibe we've always had. I don't want to say that we completely left that out, but it has the least Autopsy-like parts.

J: That's the most independent.

Technically, it reminds me of Death a lot.

B: Death is of course still one of our main influences. At some point you have Death in the back of your mind and you want to bring in a riff or at least something that is based on "Leprosy". You don't want to steal or copy anything, but you already try to somehow write such a part, because you find those albums so awesome. And you're happy when you somehow manage to write a riff that you think could have been on a Death album (laughs).

J: Or the vocal phrasing is like a song....

B: ...exactly, that goes hand in hand with the riffs. If it's a Death-like riff, the phrasing has to match it. And so it sounds like Death or some other bands.

...or like Carnivore. How did you get the great idea to cover them?

B: Jens, tell me about it!

J: Yeah, but what can I say about that? That was your suggestion to cover the song.

B: Right, that was my suggestion. It was like all the other cover versions. I had put the record on again and thought several times while listening that it would fit and that one could cover a song from it well, because the first album is quite brutal and also the vocals are very close to death metal. They are very extreme, not like on the second album, where it sounds different. I listened to the album again very intensively and thought, the song ('Predator'; M.) I could imagine well in the Slaughterday dress. It was actually like always, it has to be so that you can say, "Okay, you can really make a Slaughterday version out of it without messing it up or it becoming embarrassing." Because it was already musically very close and you could imagine that it would also work with death metal vocals or even more extreme vocals, it was absolutely an option. I suggested it to Jens, he thought it was good and then we did it.

What is your favorite song from the album and why?

J: I find that very difficult, it always changes with me. I don't listen to my own music all the time, but then one day 'Necromantic Visions' is my favorite song, then it's 'Grave Nihilist' and the next day 'Pestilent Tombs'...I don't know... 'Coffined Saviour' I think is good too. It's hard to say.

B: For me it's definitely the two songs that we also play live. This is the title track, I find the whole grip super well done and the opener 'Mauled' I'm also pretty proud of it. I think 'Pestilent Tombs' has a great atmosphere, although it's a bit more difficult to play live, because there are some three-part things, sometimes even a fourth and fifth guitar. We always have to see what can be implemented well.

Yes, live... Markus Bünnemeyer left the band and Ulf Imwiehe joined instead. How did that come about?

J: That's relatively easy to explain. He quit (laughs). No, he explained to us at some point that it becomes too much for him in terms of time, because he is very busy at work and he also plays with Temple Of Dread. It doesn't take so much time, but it becomes too much for him altogether. He lives on Spiekeroog ( a small island in the North Sea; M.) and it's always a bit difficult for him to come to rehearsals, because then it always takes two days. He then said that he would neither do justice to his family nor to us and that he would like to quit after the Eindhoven Metal Meeting. He made some suggestions himself, who we could take as a replacement, but he also said that if we don't find anyone, he would also step in. Who knows, maybe it will happen again when Ulf has no time.

B: Yes, that's what he said. Apart from us, the others are all still active in other bands, Tom with Karloff and Hallucinate and it can happen that a great offer comes along and Ulf has no time. We are allowed to ask Bünne, he just couldn't guarantee that it would go on constantly. There was no stress, we are still super friends, the door is also open and you have to see that you can also save things when someone has no time.

Do you ever come on a club tour? I only see you playing at some - especially Dutch - festivals.

J: Of course it's difficult because of our job, as you know. We can't just take time off, so we only have the vacations. During the vacations there is often no tour and apart from that you might want to spend more time with your family during the vacations. Of course we like to do single and festival shows, we would like to do more, but let's see what comes. You know yourself, the time after Corona is difficult, everything is made up for, many have closed down or no longer take the risk or cannot and do not want to pay, so that is a huge problem at the moment. But touring is out of the question for us, I think, because of the professional situation.

Have you actually landed at District 19 now?

B: Yes, this is now officially our booking agency for about ¾ years.

Cool, they have a lot of good bands on board now.

B: Absolutely. This has also opened a few doors for us. We realized that at some point we couldn't get any further on our own. You can release great albums that get good reviews everywhere and are well reviewed in the metal gazettes, but that's just not enough. It's still not like people ring us up all the time and ask if we want to play here and there. We've been thinking about what we could do and District19 is also pretty happy to work with us. It is of course a rocky road to build up such a band, with all the hassle like the fees and so on, but it was definitely the right decision.

Do you have any plans to release a video for a song?

J: The original plan was actually to do that, but we ran out of time towards the end. Various things like illnesses, working with musicians came in between. At first the problem was that "Mücke" left… We had planned various things, also in the run-up to PartySan we wanted to film or stream a rehearsal room gig, we had already made various plans. Then we had to train a new drummer again and of course it was more important to get him fit so that he could also play the PartySan. We had to set priorities and that was difficult from an organizational point of view.

There is nothing more to come?

B: I would probably like to make a video, but it's always difficult. How do you do it when there are two of you - you always have to think carefully about how to make it cool.

J: Of course it's also a question of cost, you can't forget that either. The last video for Ancient Death Triumph we made for the song 'Malformed Assimilation'. We filmed that ourselves, just the two of us, and it actually turned out pretty good for that (laughs).

B: Yeah, it was a DIY thing.

J: Exactly, only an acquaintance of ours cut it for us in the end. Maybe we'll do something like that again, we'll see....

B: ...but you have to have a good idea, or maybe we'll do something with the whole band, we'll see.

Has anyone actually won the shirt in the meantime for discovering the tank riff?

B: No.

J: Oh, did we have a shirt for a prize?

B: Yes, somewhere we said that once.

In Deaf Forever.

B: Götz (Kühnemund; M.) also racked his brains and was very eager about it, but he didn't get it out (laughs).

Have you ever been to the Köstritzer Brauhaus?

J: No. An acquaintance of mine works in the advertising industry or has something to do with it and he said that he knows the online advertising guy from Köstritzer. He wrote to him once and he also got back to me and said that something could be done. However, I heard that he now works somewhere else and so the whole thing has come to nothing again. Otherwise, we are still waiting for Köstritzer to sponsor us. It doesn't have to be much, maybe a case of beer a week (laughs).

B: Maybe we have to become active ourselves and write to them. Maybe they can sponsor our podcast and we'll advertise for them every time beforehand. We have already infected so many people with it and made them drink Köstritzer...

J: ...that is now called Slaughterbeer in our circle of acquaintances.

B: But since you just asked that, now I have a cool location for the video.

Finally, an either/or question: Maiden or Priest?

J: Oh, I have to say Maiden, of course! I'm a fan club member, so I have to say Maiden.

B: With me also quite clearly Maiden, because that was my entrance into the metal world.

Motörhead or Tank?

J: Oh God!

B: Well, I'll start and say Motörhead. Have I heard more and I also know more songs and albums, Tank I got to know later. They are of course also very cool, but Motörhead have the better back catalog. Tank have also made cult albums, but Motörhead are more cult.

J: Yes, I'm with you on that one!

Carnivore or Type O Negative?

J: Carnivore.

B: Difficult question.

J: Type O is for girls!

B: No, there are quite a lot of guys who post something from Type O. I only see guys who post something from Type O on Facebook and never any girls. So much for that. But in the end I'm a bigger Carnivore fan because the music is harder and more aggressive, that kicked me more. But I also really like Type O, so that's a tough call.

Bathory or Venom?

J: Both, but Venom.

B: My heart beats more for Bathory. Venom is more iconic, but I'm more into Bathory.

J: Venom was one of the first five albums I ever listened to in the mid-80s, so definitely Venom.

Slaughterday or Autopsy?

J: If you take the last two discs of the bands, Slaughterday.

B: Yes, that's right. Otherwise it is always Autopsy. If I was going to a desert island and was allowed to take only one album, I would choose Autopsy, but when it comes to the last album, I would actually take our own (laughs), because the last Autopsy album didn't kick me.

So, I have one more. "An Der Nordseeküste" in 1985 or the remake from 2022?

J: The connection is breaking up right now!!!

B: Yes, you are very hard to understand. No, seriously, always the original. I don't know of any remake where I said this is better. Unless some remake of a movie in the '80s from the '60s or something.

J: Exactly- "The Thing"

B: Right, so everything that I perceived as a teenager in the 80s and 90s and these things that came out as remakes from 2000 onwards - "Total Recall" and stuff like that - I found them all terrible. And another point about the remake of "An Der Nordseeküste" is little Klaus is not the original guy and that's a very important aspect. That was the original voice of "Werner" (an animated film from the 90s; M.) and he's so iconic and also in Torfrock. That's why this is not Klaus and Klaus for me, but just a cover band (laughs).

J: Do you have another either or question, that's funny!

No, but I could come up with quite a few more!

B: Stallone or Schwarzenegger?

J: I knew this was coming!

Schwarzenegger!

B: Difficult! If you take the late work, I'd have to say Stallone. 80s and early 90s I would have said it's a tough call, but if you think about what else Stallone did with his Rambo movies, he came out on top.

J: That's still good toxic masculinity!

So, I have one more question. When I look at the last results of your soccer clubs....

J: I have to go!!

Perfect, that's a good closing. Thank you very much for this Friday evening chat and have a nice weekend.

J+B: Jep, likewise!!!

Previous Interview Frozen Dawn with Grinder (vocals, guitars)	Next Interview Tryglav with Boris Behara (everything)

The Swedish two-piece band Century is currently regarded as one of the real sensations of contemporary traditional heavy metal acts, and it all comes to the overwhelmingly positive reception surrounding their debut full-length album "The Conquest of Time" from 2023, but there will be an even greater shift in the climate once their second full-length album "Sign of the Storm" is released on January 25th, 2025 via Electric Assault Records. Without any major spoilers, I can assure you that this is one of those follow-ups that surpasses its predecessor and sets the bar even higher with more epic and progressive moments that dominate on the album, with some interesting twists here and there that will surely win you over instantly. Not long after I had heard "Sign of the Storm", I had the pleasure to chat with both Staffan and Leo of Century, where we primarily discussed about their upcoming second album which will most certainly take on the heavy metal world by storm, but we also talked about the overall songwriting process and band chemistry as a two-piece band with session members with whom they perform live. I hope you will stay along for the ride and enjoy this conversation, as we explore the heavy metal majesty of Century.

Vladimir

Hey Staffan!

Staffan: Hey! How are you doing?

Well, not so bad. I'm doing great. I just came from work, and it's all good. My first question would be: Hur mår du Staffan?Allt bra med dig?

Staffan: Hahah, tack så mycket. Ja, mycket bra. Do you know Swedish or?

Ja, jag pratar pyttelite Svenska, men jag förstår inte så mycket.

Staffan: Yeah. It's very good. Mycket bra!

Tack så mycket. I started basically like last month, and my wife and I have been learning Swedish, and so far, it's been doing good. What can I say? I prefer your language more than German because it's in between English and German in terms of difficulty, but also in the way you speak the language itself.

Staffan: Okay. Cool. But what's your first language?

It's Serbian. It's my mother language, but I also know German and English, but I was much better with English throughout my life because I was more in touch with the language itself, but because of German, it got easier with learning Swedish. Plus, I've been to Sweden this Summer, so I'm kind of familiar with the language itself.

Staffan: Yeah. Cool. Well, I mean, it sounds like you had been speaking for much more than a couple months. So good so far.

Thank you. It's because I've been practicing my accent, and I always pay attention to how people pronounce the words themselves and generally how they communicate. I'm trying my best, but I'm still new with that. Is Leo also gonna be joining us here?

Staffan: Yes. He's right here.

Leo: Yes, I'm here.

Staffan: We just met up today to finish the setlist and stuff for the upcoming shows and everything, so I figured it's a good time to do so. Also, our live bassist came in here, but he's not participating. But he's here in spirit.

Well, he's free to join in as well. You guys are already planning shows for the new album already?

Staffan: Yes. We have a release show that we announced this morning, which is going to be already next month in Stockholm.

That's awesome. You're pretty much on a good way to kick start the next year because last night, I was actually listening to "Sign of the Storm". It's coming out on January 25th, and this is a great way to kick start the next year. It was such a major surprise for me because, not only is it a great follow-up to your previous album "The Conquest of Time", but it's also an excellent collection of heavy metal anthems with each song being better than the other. You guys performed very well with the previous album, but you also had a very crucial task to live up to the expectations of your fans. And in my opinion, you did not disappoint. How did the overall preparation process go for Sign of The Storm from the songwriting to the recording and onwards?

Staffan: I think, actually, many of those songs we had already started writing way back. I don't know if some of them are, or at least some of them have started before we recorded.

Leo: Yeah, like half of the songs maybe, we started on when we did the first album and then we just worked on them a little bit more after we had half of the album done.

Staffan: Yeah. It's because we're writing music all the time. I think since we've started recording that album, we've already recorded demo versions for listening to the next album. So, we're always kind of a few steps ahead. I think, the title track side of the storm, I think we have our earliest demo version from, Summer of 2021 or 2022. So, 2 years ago, we had written that song. Some of the riffs from Fly Away and The Chains of Hell, I think were from even before the first album. So, probably back in 2020 or something. So, it's very spread out, it wasn't like one focused effort to write the album, but it's a collection of many different ideas that's been spread out.

The interesting thing is that there isn't a big-time gap between the two albums. And, you can tell that this album has a much more epic feel to it and objectively more powerful songwriting. Was there anything that you wanted to improve from your previous album or was there anything that you wanted to incorporate more frequently on this new album?

Leo: I mean, the first album is always when you make the first album, you can have songs from like 5 years ago or whatever, but now we have a fresh start with mostly new stuff. So, I think at least we had more of a goal of what we wanted to achieve. The first album was just like to get the songs we have and just finish them. I think it's basically the same style as the first album, I would say, but then it just happens to be a couple more epic songs on it.

Staffan: I think it's really hard to analyse it from that perspective since, like I mentioned before, we were writing some of those songs from even back then. So, it's not so much of a big difference for us. But I think, one thing that I remember going into writing this album was that I wanted to do longer and more progressive sounding songs, and then when we recorded it, it turned out to be only pretty straightforward songs anyway. It didn't become like 10-minute songs that I had in mind, but maybe some of those ideas turned into the more atmospheric or epic parts that were left in there.

Leo: When we wrote the so-called longer songs, the more epic songs I thought "Yeah this is an 8-minute song", but then it's only 4 minutes, but yeah it just turned out that way.

Speaking of songs, I still have a hard time choosing the best song out of the bunch because all of them are great on their own. Plus, I'd say that Sacrifice, Children of the Past, Fallen Hero, Sign of the Storm and Fly Away are definitely some of the highlights on this album. What tracks did you guys personally relate to the most from the whole tracklist and for what reason?

Staffan: I think for me, I'm really happy with how "Sacrifice" turned out as an opener because it's one of those that we weren't really sure with, like when you had a bunch of those riffs for a while and we never really finished it. But then, I wrote the pre chorus part and I changed that around a little bit and it just fell into place and felt like a good opener. But, other than that, I think "Sign of the Storm" turned out good because it's kind of different from what we've been doing, but still fits in the broad definition of our sound or whatever. And, I think the one that I listened to the most, now that I'm finished, the one that I wanted to go back and listen to is the closing track, the instrumental one, "Sorceress". I'm not sure if it's just because I don't have to listen to myself singing, which might be a part of the reason, but I also just thought it was fun because that one is very different from the other things we've been doing, like it doesn't have a verse and a chorus or whatever. It's just new parts following each other.

Leo: It's really spontaneous when we made it. You have the first half done, and then the last part of the song, we just made up in the studio like "Yeah, let fuck it. Just go make up a bunch of stuff".

Staffan: Yeah. So, I think that one's probably my favourite, but also Sign of the Storm and actually, also Fallen Hero because that was one of those that you have been having for a while, but we never really finished it and we didn't know what to do with it like "Whatever, like okay, time to record the album. Let's finish this one, I guess", but now it's also one of the ones that I like to go back to and listen to the most. What about you? What are your favourites?

Leo: I would say "Sacrifice", like Staffan said, I'm really happy with, then the title track, I think is one of the best songs we ever made because it has perfect build up to the chorus and everything, and then the calm part after that's really good. And then I'm really happy with "Possessed by the Night". I think it's like it could have been on the demo. It's more raw sounding.

Staffan: And you had those riffs for a while?

Leo: Yeah. Exactly. I mean, it's hard to say. I mean, we live with these songs for like one year now or something. So, you overplay them and then it can get boring after a while.

Staffan: But I have to say that "Possessed by the Night" too was fun though, because we had started playing that one live on the tours we did this year, and without releasing it. So, no one had heard it, which is always hard to know then how people are going to react to it. I guess in the beginning when we started playing, we hadn't even released anything except the demo. So then most of our songs were like that, but now that we can actually introduce new songs into the setlist, it was fun to do that one and see that people seem to enjoy it and understand what we were doing even though they hadn't listened to it before.

When you spoke about the instrumental track "Sorceress", that is actually my next subject I was gonna bring up because it's really a powerful outro that brings out this album to one epic conclusion with this strong heavy metal attack that transitions to that mesmerizing acoustic section. What was the story behind the making of this track alone? Was it on the flight the way it was done or did you have a mindset about doing it like an Iron Maiden instrumental piece?

Staffan: I've always wanted to do an instrumental piece like that, like the Iron Maiden ones, and also just lots of bands have those, I guess. When I was growing up, when I saw there was an instrumental track, I was just really excited because I always wanted to hear what that was like. So, I've been wanting to do one of those for us, and I think maybe that's one of those things for the longer progressive songs that we didn't really end up making for this record. At least we have that one, which is kind of more expansive and that transitions into a lot of different things. And like I said in the earlier question, it was also fun to actively try to write something with no parts coming back into the song. So, it basically only transitions to new things also and the outro part with the acoustic guitar was nice too because it doesn't really sound like much of the other stuff we have on the album because I'm playing one 6 string acoustic guitar and one 12 string acoustic guitar, which is layered, and then I also played the synthesizers on it and the chord progression is kind of different from what we do usually. So that was good. And I also like how it turned out on the album because we took those parts and ran them through a reel-to-reel tape machine and took them back again. So, it's kind of off key in a cool way that I really like. So, it's really fun to do things like that that kind of break out of the usual sound. Even though we had acoustic parts and synthesizers already on the demo, so it's not new, but it's refreshing or whatever.

Leo: Yeah. I think that song in contrast to the other nine songs is pretty cool. Just one song that's maybe kind of different, but I think it still works. It's a good end on the album, I would say.

Staffan: Yeah. And that was also fun because we didn't plan it to be the closing of the album. I mean, originally when I started writing it, I figured it might be a B-side or something, but then we were just kind of doing the track list. It just kind of made sense to put it there and now I really liked that the last one is an instrumental. It's like on the last album we had this "Servants of the Iron Mask", which is a longer song with a big chorus and all these different things. So, this is kind of different to just have "Possessed by The Night" be the last vocal performance, and then there's the more spaced-out last part. That's how it came about.

Interestingly, what I think is very important for traditional heavy metal bands, they have the tendency to write a title track. And a lot of them could either make it a hit or a miss thing, but you guys really did a good job on both albums, that both of your title tracks "The Conquest of Time" and "Sign of the Storm" are pretty good. They're very well executed. Do you guys go on that mindset "If we're gonna make a title track, it has to be good. It cannot be lacklustre at any point whatsoever"?

Staffan: I think we try to think like that with most songs.

Leo: Yeah, I know what you mean, when it's the title track, it has to it has to be like the epic of the album or the song representing the album, and I think this song has been around for like 2-3 years and when we decided to call it "Sign of The Storm", it was mainly because the title "Sign of The Storm", it was used on the song that sounded the most epic. So, it's like we named it after the song, basically.

Staffan: Yeah. So, we didn't really decide before that it was a title track, I guess. I mean, we had it for quite a while before. We knew that we wanted it to be either a single or something to stand out from the record, but it wasn't. It was pretty late in the stage that we decided that the song was going to be the title track. So, we don't really go into it deciding or we haven't at least yet gone into deciding that this song is going to be the title track to write the other ones around, but it's more like a few songs.

Leo: And it sounded the most epic of all.

Staffan: Yeah. And I also think it fits pretty well, like it kind of sums up the album pretty much because it has both the more direct and straightforward, like verse-chorus, a regular catchy metal song, but it also has some of the most weird and atmospheric parts too. So, it's also a little bit different from the other stuff we've done just because we haven't had a song in that kind of tempo really.

Leo: And that something we also try with this album, like doing new stuff from the first album, like different tempos. Like "Fly Away" or "Fallen Hero" or "Chains of Hell", just trying new stuff. We're just going through all the tempos.

Staffan: Yeah. I mean, we try to make sure that not all the songs in a row are the fast ones, but more the triplet ones that "Neon Warrior" is but whatever. We still try to have a good mix. And that one was the one that we haven't done before really in that tempo. It felt good too.

Speaking about the songwriting part, there are a bunch of great bands in this so-called "New wave of Traditional Heavy Metal", but what separates you from the majority is that you're a 2-piece band, basically like Darkthrone as a commonly known example, although you guys have session members with whom you do live gigs. Since there are two of you, I assume that the whole band chemistry in the studio goes on very smoothly when working on new material and while also practicing that material before recording. Is this the case with Century?

Staffan: Yeah. I mean, most of the time before tours and everything, we rehearsed with the full band and we go through the set list and all that, but most of the other time when we rehearse is just Leo and me, and what we usually do is like one of us has a song idea, usually we both write on guitar to begin with. Sometimes I start with a vocal line or something like that, but so we get together in the studio and we just show each other that. And usually, we just put on some simple mics, mic setup, and then we usually just record drums and guitars.

Leo: Like the demo of the song.

Staffan: Yeah. Once we listen to the drums and guitars, then we go back, we'll add some more guitar and bass, and I do some vocals, and then we have a new song. So, since we rehearsed in the same studio that we record albums in, every rehearsal is like a recording session too. So, that's the way we kind of rehearse just as a duo. I think like you were saying, it's definitely a very smooth process because both Leo and I like pretty much the same things and we know already when we show an idea, we probably know if the other one is going to like it or not, but then sometimes you come there and you have a song that's half finished or whatever, and then it helps just be the two of us and piece things together and record demos from week to week. And then after a while, we have a few new songs and we can start recording them with the other guys or rehearsing them with the other guys.

It's great that you keep that you're actually keeping a good band chemistry there, because usually when there are more members there's also more artistic differences, but it's good that you're keeping it good and it shows. It really shows in the overall album because you can definitely say these songs are executed without one's idea interfering with the others. There are cases when you can see that this song was written by two different people with two different mindsets. I assume that you guys usually have very similar mindsets, without conflicting with each other.

Staffan: Sometimes I forget who wrote the song if it's you or me. And sometimes I go "That's the one that I wrote", but then I realized that I only wrote the solo riff or whatever and the rest of it you wrote hahah.

Leo: Yeah. Same same here. I mean, sometimes I go "I wrote that riff and vice versa", but it just works.

Staffan: I think the reason for that is, I don't know how other bands do it if they also do it like this, but you and I write a lot of music. Since we always send each other new song ideas. We have so much new stuff that we don't get around to actually recording because we always have so many new ideas.

Leo: I was sitting on like 20 riffs and then "Oh, I forgot this".

Staffan: Yeah, and you piece it together or whatever. In some cases, like I wrote "Sign of the Storm", you wrote "Fallen Hero", and stuff like that. Then it's a bit clearer. But most of the time, at least I don't really think about it like it's different.

Leo: No. I mean, as long as it sounds good. I mean, I don't care who wrote the song or whatever, as long as it's just representative and sounds good, I am happy.

Staffan: Yeah, and usually when we feel like something didn't turn out good enough then we both kind of agree. There was supposed to be an 11th song on this album that we recorded and had everything done for her, but we felt that it wasn't good enough. So, we just saved it for the next one, I guess. Then there was no conflict about it or anything. We just both recorded it and thought we could do better than this.

Leo: Yeah, something was missing.

Staffan: Yeah. So, we'll just save that and have it later. So that's usually how it goes.

Just to go quickly back in 2023, aside from your first full length album "The Conquest of Time", you also put out the two-track split with another great Swedish heavy metal band, which is obviously Tyrann. I think this is perhaps a match made in heaven, or hell depending how you prefer to call it. I personally would really love to see both bands go on tour together, because it would be one killer combo to see live. Have both bands at some point discussed the possibility of doing this in the near future?

Staffan: Yeah. I talked to Tobbe about it a couple of times actually, and we did play the release show for that split with them, and we also played for them at Metal Magic Festival earlier this year. But I think the problem with them in general is that they're not really a touring band at this point, partially because most of the members are involved in Tribulation and other things. They're like really busy guys and they don't really have the ability to take a month off and do a tour like that, especially if half of them are already on tour several months of the year. But, if the opportunity arises from their part, then it would be great. Hopefully, maybe. We'll see. They're great guys too, to hang around with. On that trip to Metal Magic, I think we'll listen to like 10 Maiden records in a row and no one complained. So that's a good trip.

Leo: That's a good sign it's gonna go into work.

Oh, it's like spending the time with the Nifelheim twins, just listening to Iron Maiden records and discussing Iron Maiden records hahah.

Staffan: Yeah. It was exactly like that, but there were like 9 twins or whatever hahah.

Did you ever actually meet those guys from Nifelheim in real life?

Staffan: I really don't know any of them.

Leo: No. I've met them, but I don't know them. I've run into them at some Iron Maiden shows around there.

Staffan: I really don't know them, but they seem like good guys.

What many other fans, including myself, found so great about Century is that you're one of the crowned jewels of traditional heavy metal bands from the newer generation, like Amethyst from Switzerland, Helvetets Port and Tyrann as some common examples, because you really provide such an authentic old school heavy metal feeling that throws you back to bands like Heavy Load, Gotham City, Jonah Quizz, even New Wave of British heavy metal bands like Holocaust, Angel Witch and Saxon. Do you guys ever feel surprised by your own output to the point where you even can't believe that you made something so great?

Leo: I think we just do the music we want to do. I mean, all this stuff around making the music and the shit that goes with it. I mean, I'm just happy to put out great heavy metal. I don't wanna stand on a fucking hill and screaming hahah.

Staffan: No. But I mean, of course, there's been times that when we recorded something, we both feel like "Yeah. This is fucking good". But you never know. A lot of people like things that I think are total shit and I just don't understand what bands people like or don't like. But, obviously it's very fun and very great that people are connected to us in that way. In that way, it's a privilege too. For example, we just released the tickets for our release show next month and already this morning, we had people just writing to us having already gotten plane tickets to Sweden to come to the show and stuff like that. And this of course is very humbling and it feels very good obviously to see that people enjoy what we're doing.

Leo: It's not like we were not thinking about it, I would say.

Staffan: Oh, yes. Actually, I expected it all. I said we are the best band and everyone's going to like us hahah.

Leo: I mean, I just think, we don't compare to different new bands that supposedly play old heavy metal in that style. I've never been a big fan of anything new. I can maybe count like five new bands since 2001. I'm not that big of a fan, because I think people try too hard. At least in my ears, I hear people trying too hard to sound like the 80s.

Staffan: I think they don't try as hard enough. I think a lot of the stuff is just like people write music and they record it in a certain way and sometimes it turns out with a really digital modern sound.

Leo: I mean, for us, I would say music is 100% serious and not anything bullshit. So, I think that is like one point why it sounds the way it is, I would say.

Staffan: I mean, yeah, I think you could probably summarize and say that, we're both really passionate about the kind of music we listen to, and we want to make music that makes people feel the way that we feel about the records that we like. And we try to really make sure that both the songwriting and the production style and the artwork and all of it kinda fits this entire thing so that we can be proud of it because we don't want music to sound awful.

Leo: So sincere on the way it's only in the 80s.

Staffan: Yeah. I mean, it's supposed to sound like the things that we really like and it's supposed to sound honest and real.  That's all we're trying to do. If that comes through and people understand what we're trying to achieve, then that's great. We weren't expecting it, but obviously, it's a big honour that people appreciate it in the way that we're doing and the way that you're saying it too. So, it's very flattering and we appreciate it. Honestly, sometimes when we write songs, we're devoting a lot of time, work and energy into it, but it's not like we have a formula on how you're supposed to do things and like we always have a plan on how it's supposed to sound. We just do what we like and then it turns out the way it turns out. So, it's a long and complicated answer.

When you work on something, you want to do it as best as you can, so it doesn't sound like anybody else could have done it. In my personal view, I think most of the Swedish bands are very passionate when it comes to music, and in any subgenre of metal, it counts. From old school 80's heavy metal to even some of the most melodic and extreme metal, it's always the case. Actually, speaking of which, I just remembered this year, we actually got too many good Swedish metal albums. It's good that your album won't be included in this year's list because we have so much great stuff from Hellbutcher to Necrophobic to Tribulation and Opeth. So, what are your predictions for the next Årets hårdrock/metal at the Grammis?

Staffan: Oh, yeah. Well, of course, Årets hårdrock next year is going to be "Sign of the Storm" by a Century or something like that, out on January 25^thhahah.

Leo: Of course, of course.

Staffan. Other than that, no general predictions, I think. I don't even know. I don't really keep up with what's going on. Both of us and also our bassist in the back here, we're all going to see Iron Maiden on the tour start.

Leo: In Budapest.

Staffan: Yeah, for the Run for The Hills tour. So, we're looking forward to that. But otherwise, I haven't really kept up.

Leo: I have no idea what's about in Sweden when it comes to newer stuff. So, I don't know.

Staffan: I mean, let's hope that every album that comes out after January sucks ass hahah.

Thank you so much for this interview. I mean, it's been a real pleasure talking to both of you. Highly looking forward to the release of "Sign of the Storm", and I hope to see you guys perform live someday. Are there any final words you'd like to say?

Staffan: Thanks for the support and also thanks for all the kind words. I'm really glad you liked the music and everything. Hopefully, we'll see you on the road next year.

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