Bursting onto the progressive scene circa 2003 with "Ripples in Time," Chrome Shift has been steadily making some waves with their brand of technical prog metal and addictive song compositions. If you are a progressive fan, you have possibly noticed the quality material from DVS Records and Chrome Shift has no doubt caught your eye. Otto Schüett, founding member and guitarist of Chrome Shift was all too happy to depart surplus information on "Ripples in Time" and their upcoming European touring.

Jack 'Odel'


Congratulations on "Ripples in Time." I am very impressed with the record, and it has been receiving quite an amount of playing time recently. You guys must be stoked with how it turned out, considering it is a debut record.

Thank you! Yeah, you are right! Considering that the record was made primarily for ourselves and friends to document what we had been doing for some years in the rehearsal room, and was done so for the prize of a good guitar amp in the run of 14 days, it was a surprise really, both that we got a record-deal so quickly and that we have received a huge amount of fantastic reviews so far.

Earlier this month Chrome Shift played at Sweden Rock 2003. How was it? How did your expectations of Sweden Rock differ from what the reality was?

Well, being an unknown band, we played at a time where most of the audience was sleeping it off, so it was kind of surrealistic playing on a monster stage with only a few hundred people in front. But, really, it was what we had expected. But then again, everyone we met was very friendly and enthusiastic, so it was worth doing it.

I must admit I have not heard too much about this festival. Is this a mainly progressive music festival? What other bands were on the bill for 2003 that you played alongside?

I must admit that we were only on the festival grounds for a couple of hours as we had a long drive home. As far as I experienced Sweden Rock it was a festival for classic heavy-rock and metal bands, with a few exceptions, us being one of them. I got to hear a little Talisman, Sepultura and some metal-bands unknown to me. I know that Queensryche, Whitesnake and Twisted Sister, as well as some other well-known bands were main acts. As a whole it was very well checked and very big (four stages with music simultaneously). Fantastic weather too!

How did it all begin for Chrome Shift? Did you guys have any background in the progressive scene before forming Chrome Shift?

The band was co-founded by JC (bass) and I, after our previous band Shane had dissolved – that must have been around 1997. After looking for musicians without luck for nearly a year or so, we made contact to Poul (drums). That was in many ways the most crucial decision for us. We wanted a no-limits drummer, and that was what we got. Jakob was the next guy we contacted. In my opinion he is the real sensation in Chrome Shift. So the first years we played only instrumentals while looking frantically for a singer. In Denmark it's almost impossible to find someone wanting to try his talent out on the kind of music we play. But then, at last, Rasmus was found.

From a metal standpoint I haven't really heard a lot of music coming out of Denmark. Do you guys have a good music scene in Denmark?

If we are talking about prog-rock or heavy metal we have a lot of would-be bands, but no scene and no audience at all. Concerning other music styles there are a lot of very good musicians, a lot of good bands. Generally speaking I think it's like other countries: the market is flooded mainly with music that appeals to those who have the money, you know?

How hard was it to put together a band like Chrome Shift in such a small country like Denmark, which like every other country is universally subject to mainstream music?

After being involved with heavy rock and the like for many years I must say that the existence of Chrome Shift itself is a little wonder, finding the right musicians took years and keeping the band together for years without having any possibility of getting the music out one-way or another. And it is still very complicated to get the band together to practice. We live far from each other and are involved in a lot of different things...

René from DVS Records is obviously a big fan of all things coming out of the progressive rock/metal field. How important is it for you guys to be associated with a label that really enjoys your music, as opposed to a company that might just be in it for the money?

Well, I met René for the first time at Sweden Rock. We have a very good contract with DVS and he has been friendly and supportive all the way – it is much more than we could have hoped for just a year ago! It seems appropriate to be with a record company that is foremost interested in bringing out new bands – we're in the same boat so to speak. So, until now, there has been no pressure.

You have two non-English tracks in both Danish and French. One is about a dead astronaut and has something to do with the time or life of an assassin. Is this correct?

'Kosmonauten er død' (it means 'the cosmonaut is dead') is one of the bands first songs. A real chrome-shifter, grown in the times before we met Rasmus! Here Jakob really sets the cinemascope! The title refers to a note I found about the burning-up of a Russian cosmonaut in space on his way back to earth. It's that kind of feeling, or is it? The other is 'Les temps des Assassins.' This one is my responsibility. It was inspired by the happenings around the World Trade Center. Sometimes I simply have to go against the grain. What is it that makes men go to death open-eyed? Any man? Any idea? How can one be so desperate? So weak? So strong? If the lyrics provoke – that is what they're meant to do!

In a broad sense "Ripples in Time" is about time travel, space and darkness. I don't think this topic has really been explored much in rock/metal so much before. It seems to carry a sort of a science-fiction theme to it. Do you guys have a personal interest in these subjects?

Yeah, you are right, that's science fiction. Jens, our bass player, who wrote "Ripples in Time," has a knack for those kind of things. That we have two tracks concerning space is a coincidence, though.

The four tracks that make up 'Ripples in Time' is obviously one of the biggest talking points of the record. How did the writing process differ for these four songs than the rest of the album? Did you write the songs with an idea that they were going to form part of larger group?

Well, originally Jens wrote the first part as a stand-alone piece. But somehow along the way he considered there was more to the basic idea – the last 3 parts were finished just in time to make it to the record. 'Ripples...' differs from all the other tracks in the respect that it was finished and not worked on in rehearsal as most of the other songs. There was simply no time to work it over if we wanted it on the record.

Are the themes from the 'Ripples in Time' section vastly distinctive in relation to the rest of the album, or still a continuation of the themes that were present on the other 8 tracks?

As stated above, somehow 'Ripples...' is different from the rest of the songs and has no inner relation to them. Musically speaking it relates though, as Jens has supplied a large part of the musical ideas for the whole album. It's the same source.

You guys are on the bill to play ProgPower in October. You must be extremely excited at the prospect to get your music out to a larger audience!

Yes! Our appearance at ProgPower will be part of a tour, which we are planning at the moment. All this is very new to us and we really look forward to getting into the routine of being on stage and playing to different audiences. Also being together as a band for more than a day will be a new experience.

What looms on the horizon for Chrome Shift? Surely, following ProgPower it must be time to start thinking about a follow up record for "Ripples in Time"?

Well, we have yet to see if our record sells, but I think we are ready for the grand ball, if that should be so. I know our record company and our management has a lot of plans for us. So, basically it's the same as always: we are working on a lot of new music (at present time we already have enough material for the next record – a lot of it we already play live). We surely hope to get into the studio again this autumn, if possible with a little more money than last time.

With "Ripples in Time" being a reasonably successful record in terms of media reactions, do you feel a great deal of pressure to up the stakes for your second album?

No, I don't think so, no at the present, anyway. I'm very optimistic about the future, as I think we already have a lot of dynamite material ready. It will be very diverse, just like the first record, but in terms of technique and musical content it will be more adventurous and daring.

Thanks for taking your time out for this chat, man! I greatly appreciate it. Good luck with the future, and I am eagerly looking forward to seeing you guys come out with a record that blows away "Ripples in Time"!

Thank you for you interest! It's a new and uncommon feeling suddenly to be of interest to a lot of people, to share their good will towards our music, and to get some confirmation! That's surely the best motivation to keep working with the music despite a lot of practical, especially economic problems. And yes, you can look forward to something special the next time!

One of the most unique and "out of the ordinary" bands of the 21st century in the Swedish metal scene and metal in general, is without a doubt Tribulation from Arvika. They're known best for their unusual style of very progressive gothic heavy metal with rock 'n roll and black metal elements, while also heavily influenced by oldschool gothic horror and Italian horror movies from cult directors such as Dario Argento. Aside from their change of genre from death metal to what they are known today, they also had various lineup changes throughout the years, with the recent one being the guitarist Jonathan Hultén who was replaced by Joseph Tholl (VOJD, Tyrann, ex-Enforcer) after the fifth album "Where Gloom Becomes Sound" wrapped recording. However, this lineup change did not affect the band in any negative way, since they released their new EP Hamartia on April 7t, 2023. They kept their consistent musical style and have taken a more progressive approach in their songwriting, which resulted in a very positive reception from the fanbase. Joseph's trial by fire on this release proved his worthiness and it certainly shows a great deal of promise when the time comes for their next full-length album. For this occasion, I had the pleasure to speak with Joseph Tholl about his contribution to Tribulation, as well as his solo album "Devil's Drum" which was released in 2019. So, please join me on this delightful nocturnal journey which I truly hope you'll enjoy.

Vladimir

Greetings Joseph! First of all, I'd like to wish you a warm welcome on behalf of MetalBite. How are you doing brother?

I'm good, thank you. Sweden is at its darkest and coldest right now, but that makes good time for making music.

This year, Tribulation released the new EP "Hamartia" and this is the band's first official release where you participated despite the fact that you joined the band back in 2020 before the release of the fifth full-length album "Where Gloom Becomes Sound". From your perspective, how was the overall experience working on this EP? Were you met with any challenges during the making of "Hamartia"?

I must say it was a very smooth process. It was great to reunite with Adam in the songwriting, almost exactly ten years after he quit Enforcer. We didn't put too much pressure on ourselves in the process, just letting these three songs come to life without analyzing what kind of direction we wanted to take and so on. We just wanted to do something together and we had a great time writing and recording the EP. We recorded drums with Linus Björklund, who I also play with in VOJD, in his studio, and the rest was recorded together with Robert Pehrsson in Studio Humbucker that me and Robert share.

Do you personally believe that this EP is a step forward for Tribulation and a progression from "Where Gloom Becomes Sound"?

Not really, to be honest. To me these songs sound quite classic Tribulation, almost a bit rawer and back to the old at some points. But that's what we wanted to do. We're working on the next album now however, and that's where the new directions are gonna show up.

The overall reception of "Hamartia" was very positive and it seems that the Tribulation fanbase gladly accepted you as an honorable successor to Jonathan Hultén who was the band's longtime guitarist for 16 years. Has the general fan reaction towards your contribution and the outcome of "Hamartia" encouraged or inspired you in some way to work more comfortably on future Tribulation releases?

I feel very welcomed by both the band and the fans and I'm very confident in how I want to contribute to the music. I entered with the mindset of adding a new touch to the compositions rather than trying to imitate what they've done before. It's great that we know each other so well since before, they are not uncomfortable with turning my ideas down if they are too far off for example, and that makes it easier for me to experiment, knowing that they know that I'm experimenting at times. I've always admired Tribulation for their ambitiousness and progressive creativity, there would be no point to contribute with safe cards they've already played.

What I found quite interesting about the new EP was the included cover of Blue Oyster Cult's 'Vengeance The Pact' as the fourth track, which at first seems like an impossible task for a band such as yourselves, but you guys successfully pulled it off and you created a fantastic cover which is still stylistically faithful to the original and also contains the signature traces of Tribulation. How did the band come up with the idea to cover this song in particular and what was your reaction when you settled down to do this? Also, are you guys big fans of Blue Oyster Cult?

Johannes wanted to cover BÖC for a long time so it was his suggestion, we're all big fans and agreed on it pretty soon. If you listen to the gloomy main riff it's easy to imagine Tribulation covering such song, but the rest of it was not as obvious when we began to dig into it, but that was a great challenge and it forced us to push the boundaries a bit in a cool way.

How did you feel personally when you joined Tribulation back in 2020, especially since you reunited with your old friends with whom you were playing back when Tribulation started as the thrash metal band Hazard? Was it a bit strange for you when you stepped in as a replacement for Hulten?

It felt very natural, as you said we're old friends and have played together in other bands during the years so we know each other very well, both personally and musically, and it's the same with Jonathan, it was no weird vibes or anything, and no problem for me to ask him for help learning the songs etc.

Aside from Tribulation and your other two bands VOJD and Tyrann, you also perform as a solo musician and you released your debut solo album "Devil's Drum" back in 2019. Has the overall experience on your solo album helped you a lot in later works, including Tribulation? Was there anything new that you learned or achieved when you were making "Devil's Drum"?

I learned a lot from making that album. I was my own engineer throughout the whole album, though I had my friend Robert Pehrsson, who is a professional studio engineer, working on his album in the same building so I could always ask him for advice. I also had to do all the business stuff, signing contracts and taking care of the budget and stuff. There's a lot of work putting an album together and I'm glad I could prove to myself that I can do that all by myself, I'll definitely do it again whenever there's time.

One song in particular which stood out from that album is 'They Fell From the Sky', because the main riff reminded me a bit of 'The Conjugation', which was the song you wrote in Enforcer for "Death by Fire" album. Was this resemblance a mere coincidence or was it perhaps meant to be a nostalgic throwback to that song?

It is actually the same melody but played in 6/8 instead of 4/4 as in 'The Conjugation'. I thought I'd just use it again with a slight variation haha. I have even used it before the Enforcer song too, it was part of an instrumental concert I did as my high school exam. So let's see if it shows up on the next Tribulation album as well haha.

Do any of the songs from "Devil's Drum" stand out as your personal favorites for a specific reason or do you love them all equally as children?

They all mean a lot to me but if I would choose one I'd say 'Follow The Fire'. It's a song that is quite far from what I usually do, maybe it's the least rock one on the album. It represents something that I don't do very often but feel 100% confident in doing.

Something that really caught my eye about your solo music is the diction in your vocals, which reminded me of Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits and a bit of Chris Martin of Coldplay as well. Has any of them been an influence to your vocal style or were there perhaps any other vocalists that served as inspirations?

I dig Dire Straits and I appreciate the reference but I never thought of it myself, and I never listened to Coldplay more than what I heard on the radio. But they both have that kind of mellow, relaxed vocals that I wanted to use for most of the songs on my album. In Black Trip and VOJD I usually sing in a higher register with more intensity.

This year you celebrated the 10th year anniversary of Enforcer's third album "Death By Fire" along with Olof, Jonas and Tobias on Instagram's livestream. This album certainly holds up 10 years later, but more importantly, it was a pivotal point in the band's career and yours as well. Looking back on this album and fast forward to where you are now, do you feel as if "Death By Fire" broadened your musical capabilities, both as a musician and as a songwriter?

It is definitely an important record in my back catalog, just as the other Enforcer records I play on. To me "Diamonds" and "From Beyond" are equally important. But yeah there's something special about "Death By Fire" for sure. I think this is the record where Enforcer found its true sound. We also did a lot of memorable touring on this record.

What are you doing these days when you're not performing? Have you been listening to any new music lately or have you perhaps discovered new bands that caught your attention?

We're currently working on the next Tribulation album so that takes up most of the time right now. If I don't have a specific album to work on I enjoy going to the studio anyways to try out new ideas or just fool around with fun projects and stuff. When music is not my job it is my hobby. I also work part time as a carpenter since a couple years back, and I have a 1,5 year old son, so there's always something to keep me busy. I like to cook and that's my best moment to listen to new music. New Maggot Heart record was great. Got a little revival on Midnight the other day and been spinning their newest record that I haven't got to check out before, good stuff. But I'm also pretty bad at keeping myself up to date with new music, I try, but too often I find myself putting on the same record that I've heard a hundred times before.

So far, what can the fans of both Tribulation and your work overall expect? Will you be making a new solo album in the future and are the preparations for the new Tribulation album already coming in order?

As I said before we're working on a new Tribulation album, so for the next 3-4 months that will be in focus. I want to make another solo album and I have a bunch of songs ready for that, so maybe that will be the next studio project once the Tribulation album is a wrap.

Thank you so much for doing this interview Joseph. I am really looking forward to seeing you perform live some day, especially with Tribulation. Are there any final words you'd like to leave for the fans?

Thank you very much and hope to see you too.