The Croatian black metal band Frozen Forest has been around for nearly 2 decades now, and over the years they certainly managed to uphold their well-deserved reputation with immense respect from their local scene, however it's been quite a while since the release of their first full-length album "Ancient Ritual" in 2016 and unfortunately nothing had come out since. In the meanwhile, new bands come and go, but Frozen Forest still remains amidst all the turmoir, hungry, frosty and anti-christian as ever before. I've spoken with their guitarist and vocalist Mihovil "Frost" Konečni, regarding the band's return on Heretic Feast last year, some plans regarding their second full-length and the potential future of the band, and we also talked about the time when he got the chance to meet Erik Danielsson of Watain. Stick around for this one if you are interested, and I hope you will enjoy it.

Vladimir

The music of Frozen Forest is very serious in the sense that the listener can clearly understand and feel the genuineness of the work that you put into what you create in the end. Are there any personal ideologies/beliefs/philosophies that fuel each and every one of you, some idea that inspires you to craft everything with passion and dedication?

Thank you very much for your kind words! I see that you have really understood what we are doing. We like to get into listeners' minds, get them on a trip and let them travel through our sonic journey. Frozen Forest's songwriting starts from lyrics and then we create the first main riff after which we all build and create story, energy and visuals through sound. Every second of our material is carefully selected and that's the reason why we are slow with recording new albums. Frozen Forest is the Unholy Psychedelic Trinity that despises the new modern world and we try to transfer our vision through the filter of Satanism, although we have many different topics. I think that is the only philosophy or belief that should be in this genre. For other ideologies or beliefs there are many other genres.

Many can clearly tell that you put a lot of effort in making a good show in the end, so I would like to know how significant is the overall performance for Frozen Forest? Also, do you prefer when working on new material or working on your entire band performance?

Our performance is actually one of the most important things for us. We put a lot of effort because this is not just the visual stuff or some "show" to entertain people. We perform rituals, transform the energy into the audience and get them into another dimension. Also, on the musical side, we do not use triggers and modern digital amps so our live sound is as vintage as it could be in today's world. I really love doing new material but that's the thing that I'm, in some way, always doing in my free time. The actual recording process is strenuous, exhausting and it takes time to get it done. If we were not from Croatia, this could be our job and we would have 5-6 albums by now because we have inspiration, but we don't have that much time.

This might be a bit of a comedic and dumb question, but I always wanted to know if you have ever been accidentally mistaken for Necro Forest by some people that aren't familiar with the Balkan metal scene?

It's not a dumb question but luckily we were never accidentally mistaken. They have pagan themes so we are different. We've played one show together in Zagreb and I was singing Mayhem's Freezing Moon with them. Nice memories!

When I went back to listen to Ancient Ritual, I noticed that the songs on that album were heavily influenced by the work of Watain and various other Swedish black metal bands. How come the Swedish black metal scene in particular was such an influence in your music?

I was always into Scandinavian BM but when it comes to making music, I prefer Swedish type of songwriting. At the time when we started playing, older Norwegians started playing much more progressive and symphonic stuff which I didn't like and on the other side, at the same time you have Funeral Mist's 'Salvation' or Watain's 'Casus Luciferi' in Sweden. When we started the band, we were, as well, obsessed by Dissection's magic and we started studying teachings by TOTBL. Watain was the only band that seriously continued this magic through music and that was the time I first saw Watain. Only few people in Croatia knew about the band and one friend said to me that she saw people vomit in the venue because of the stench of death. Of course, I went to their next concert in Slovenia and this was the first true underground black magic moment for me. Life changing experience that pushed Frozen Forest more towards that style. For me that was the only true black metal experience so I knew that was the only way of exposing black metal.

Since we've already mentioned Watain, I remembered that you even got to meet them two times in the past. Have you remained in close contacts with any of them and is anyone from Watain a fan of Frozen Forest?

I have met them many times and they are really great guys in private as they are on stage. They are truly dedicated. Many people in Croatia don't like them for some reason. As you can see – they were never here, but they visited Slovenia and Serbia a few times. Croatians are happy when they get gigs by various Mgla clones or plastic bands such as Dark Funeral. I was only in contact with Alvaro but they are busy and live on the other side of Europe but it would be great to tour with them. I have met many other people from the old school Black Metal scene and one thing worth mentioning was when Incubus from Inquisition told me that Frozen Forest is the part of the ancient Black Metal Cult because next year we mark 20 years since we started playing.

You celebrated 7 years since the release of your debut full-length album Ancient Ritual at the Valhalla Festival, but in the meantime, I heard that there is a rumor that a new album is in the works. What can we expect so far from the new album and are you perhaps negotiating with some record label for a potential contract?

New album is almost finished with the writing process and next year we are going to put it out because it's 20 years of the band, as I mentioned, and we have many other plans. It's gonna be on a record label and it's gonna be one long epic Psychedelic Black Metal journey. We are going to put out an epic cover like from the 90s, booklet is going to be interesting as well and we are trying to sound as analog as we can in these modern times. I don't know what's with these new bands that accepted the new modern digital sound and 7-string guitars.

You've been absent for 5 years, but your show on both the Heretic Feast and Valhalla Festival marked a triumphant return of Frozen Forest. How was the atmosphere on both of these shows? Did the crazed fans miss seeing you perform live?

We were only absent from live shows because of the covid situation that fucked up the whole music scene. We have finally got the call for Heretic Feast and Valhalla Festival and eventually got the chance to perform in Split. Every show was great but Zlostavljanje festival in Split was really chaotic and the main reason is that we have had many fans down south since the beginning of the band and this was our first time in Split. Few promoters tried to get us there, but we were only in Trogir 12 years ago and many people from Split came to that show. People there are much more passionate about this kind of show.

From what I've seen you've had no trouble whatsoever during the Heretic Feast show in Kutina, especially amidst all the satanic panic caused by local Catholics that were trying to ban the whole show, including television channels that were also very much alarmed about the whole thing. Were you relieved in a way or perhaps a bit disappointed that not a single one of those angry mobs showed up to your show?

For me this whole situation was really funny. Few small minded persons were trying to ban this festival which was actually a great promotion for this event. On the other hand, the only thing that bothered me was actually that everyone who was involved was denying that this is the Satanic event. Why would you deny something that you stand for? Or do you? We were performing a Satanic ritual in Kutina so that was the lie. If someone asked me about this festival, I would tell everyone what's this festival about. But as I said, it was just a bunch of small minded people who you can mock and it's not ok to mock dumb people! Just ignore them. I saw that this year's edition of Heretic Feast was in Zagreb in a bigger venue but there were not so many visitors. I think that the problem is the high ticket price in combination with many bands that don't fit in this story if you ask me. This was supposed to be a Black Metal open air festival. We will see what will happen in the future.

When the angry Christian mob called you out on social media, did that bring any significant changes to your performance and did it help to better promote the show?

Many people asked me if I'm afraid to perform there, but I was not bothered by any of this. We are always doing our thing - our ritual and with our energy we possess bodies and minds of the people who are there. For example, many people don't even know that we are using real blood on our shows. It's really great when people come to me after the show and say "oh, you spilled fake blood or wine". I just put a smile on my face! So, no more or no less, we are always putting on the same show but we are building it through the years. It's going to be much more massive in the future.

So much has happened since you were on hold between 2018 and 2023, new bands come and go and all of a sudden, you're performing on the stage again. What is your view on the current status of the Croatian metal scene? Have there been any new artists/bands that drew your attention?

Actually we were never on hold. We've had some gigs in 2017. and 2018. with a drummer that played with us at the time and in 2019. We started seriously working on our second album and we've had rehearsals all the time. Then came the pandemic and series of earthquakes in Croatia and some personal problems that slowed things down. Danijel and I were still working on our new material despite everything and started to prepare for live rituals and then Klanje came back. Now the things are finally coming together and we are going to deliver one interesting Psychedelic Black Metal chaos. I was always into the Croatian metal scene, bought many albums/demos and tried to support many bands, some of them I invited to Zagreb to play and never got anything in return so I gave up with new bands. I just see many bands that are using AI covers, digital amp simulators and drum computers. In my opinion, Black metal is not the place for these things. Black metal is a primordial genre, you have to do everything by yourself and analog as much as you can and be totally devoted.

Thank you so much for doing this interview! Are there any final words you'd like to leave for all the fans of Frozen Forest?

Thank you very much for everything! I just want to tell people – beware!

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.

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.