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.