In a time where cloning is the norm and originality has fallen by the wayside, it's so refreshing to hear a band that is doing something creative that is their own. Mixing post rock/metal, psychedelic rock, stoner/doom all with progressive sensibility, Spiralism has separated themselves from their peers. Their debut LP "Chakras" will be released worldwide in January. I recently had a chance to discuss, with front man Riku Kuukka, the bands sound, the album and their influences in and outside of the music world.

By Brian Grebenz

What brought you guys together? I hear a lot of different musical styles on 'Chakras', do you all come from different musical backgrounds?

Yeah we all have done our schools. Me personally, I began studying classical piano at the age of 6 and classical guitar came around at the age of 12, at that same time my first "rock" band, the first grunge metal groups with friends and so on. And now at the age of 31 I've noticed that there's a quite big range of different musical styles I've gone through. But anyway, I got to know Juho (the other founding member) in 2010. Shared some similar ideas about occult and music and decided to form a band after I played him some demos. We had a different drummer for few years and a 3rd guitarist also (Jani Marjoniemi) who was along until he had to leave the band due to personal reasons this year. I knew our drummer Oskari through our other previous band and as with Juho we have a similar vision about things, so it was a natural, magical thing that he joined the band in 2012. Tuomo came along in the of summer 2013 when he replaced Jani for one gig, and it worked so good that he joined as a third guitarist/vocalist. When Jani had to leave it was only natural that Tuamo become part of the band. But, anyway, in general I think all we listen to and have listened to music that influences the music we make.

A lot of the album sounds improvised. Did you guys go into the studio with songs fully written, or a few ideas that you expanded on through jamming? Does everyone contribute to the songwriting process or is there a majority songwriter?

The songs were quite fully written. Actually 4 out of the 7 songs is recorded mostly at our rehearsal studio. Live drums, bass, my guitar parts, so the basic beginning point is very organic and spontaneous. Of course, we did overdubs and the vocals afterwards. Most of the time we like to keep the songs playable live similar to as they are on the record. Improvisation... hmmm, well we loop the riffs at our recording place and then the stars align, I guess. "Sophia", "Dust Devils" and "Gnosis" were recorded at our producer Sami Wirkkalas "Moldy" Notkostudios which is an abandoned house in the middle of nowhere. Nowadays it's really easy to produce good sounding stuff just with some mic's & pre amplifiers. But in general, Sami has a really big influence on how the thing comes out, although the building blocks are there. It's just fine tuning of things, I guess.

We all take part in the writing process. On Chakras, I mostly had my own guitar riffs and arrangements (the red line) of the song ready, and the others started to play on my guitar riffs & we start to jam. Gnosis is mostly musically written on the same idea by Jani. We are really democratic band, somebody has the idea that sparks the song, then we take it from there.

The album title 'Chakras' refers to the energy points in the human body. Can you elaborate on why you chose that title? Also, with there being the 7 main chakras and there being 7 tracks on the album, is it a concept album?

It's because of the stories of the songs. Lyrically I had a huge influence from my "pilgrimage" to egypt years ago and studies on Comparative religion and Crowley's Thelema and obviously Left Hand Path. Juho hated the title "Chakras" first (laughs) but then came to understand. Every song has a sparkle of an intuition or a light starts to shine, or a realization of something. Like the energy centers reflect different aspects of life and human beings. The songs on the album also reflect on different things, and that's for the listener to find out what they are. The title "Chakras" actually came to me like the apple fell to Newton's head. Honestly we did not think about a concept album, only the inspiration behind the music was obvious to me and Juho. But it's quite a stars aligned thing, 7 years ago the first riffs were composed, 7 chakras, 7 songs.

Spiralism is a very interesting name and seems to fit the bands sound. Can you elaborate a little on why you chose to name the band that?

Well, from our point of view people follow always some "isms", even if not they are really. Spiral symbols growth and golden ratio and fibonacci. And it's not religious or scientifically narrowed to some category. It's pure and resembles our will to grow as musicians. Music is for us the purest form of spirituality. The will to evolve and create is pure and not restricted to any religion or science.

With Chakras being released in Finland in December and the rest of the world in January, What are your plans? Do you have any tour plans outside of Finland?

There are plans and we are trying to spread our wings and fly away from our beautiful home country, especially since winter is not that appealing to us (laughs). Nowadays it's hard to get any gigs in Finland especially outside Helsinki, but we are ready to do any gigs anywhere anytime. We don't have a booking agent at the moment so any and every booking agents out there feel free to contact us, around the world (chuckles)

You stated that your producer Sami has a lot to do with the finished product. Will you be using him for future recordings? What do you see in the future for Spiralism?

Evolving. Yeah definitely we will use Sami in the future if schedules match. He plays in a great band Hidria Spacefolk (check that out) also and has produced their latest critically acclaimed album Astronautica which is a fucking awesome space rock album. The basic idea was that we don't want basic heavy max compressed sound because our music has a wide dynamic range. Sami has a third eye for our kind of stuff. When we play live, I think we sound quite more aggressive, so when we record there's a spot to open up those vibes. We have actually 4 new songs rehearsed and the new stuff and the brutal is more brutal and the spacious more spacious. So we spiral up.

You stated earlier that you all come from different schools of music. What bands or musicians have influenced you guys? Is the heavier and more spacious sound on the new songs a direct result of the influences or is it just a natural progression of the band?

I guess it all started for me with Metallica and Nirvana. At least I think those were the main kickstarters for my interest to start playing electric guitar with distorted sound. Also as a growing kid Paradise Lost's "Draconian Times" album had a huge influence on me and as a teenager it was Fields of the Nephilim. I studied classical piano and guitar for long time and that has had a huge role on my understanding of basis of music: melody; harmonies; structure etc... I've played in metal, alternative, avant garde, experimental, post-punk, gothic, hippiefolk, and psychedelic rock groups before.

My influences are from rock/metal stuff that I've always enjoyed the stuff from Tool, Isis, Cult Of Luna, Kyuss, QotSA, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Soundgarden etc... etc... but enjoy everything which has a "soul" or "sparkle" or something, if you know what I mean. Massive Attack & Portishead are great. I also Byzantine, coptic choir music, oriental, asian stuff. Sometimes silence is golden you know (laughs). Latest group I've really fell in love with is Sólstafir, they are really really really awesome group. God damn!

Tuomo has a classical training also, he's actually brilliant drummer and has played in progressive rock bands. He also has his other band Pohjoinen which is more straightforward stoner/doom metal-ish stuff, check 'em out even it's in finnish.

Juho has played punk, groove and rock stuff and also some blues/country stuff.

Oskari is quite honest metal and rock drummer and has always been I guess.

Concerning new stuff I think it's the natural progression of us playing more & more together and and using the influences from subconscious and conscious seas. There's also some old riffs I've composed a long time ago and new stuff. I think Tuomo has a lot more influence on the new stuff because our former member Jani had a big role on Chakras as a 2nd guitarist.

What do you see the future being for Spiralism?

Well I'm no weather man, but wish the best and survival through ups & downs. We have some surprises up our sleeve coming later in 2015 for the likers of Spiralism's music. If everything goes well, we will post the news on our facebook page. Some sonic showers before 2nd album.

In search of information on Crocell I stumbled upon this text in Wikipedia: "In demonology, Crocell (also called Crokel or Procell) is the 49th spirit of the Goetia, manifesting as an angel with a tendency to speak in dark and mysterious ways. Once a member of the Powers, he is now a Duke of Hell who rules over 48 legions of demons. When summoned by a conjuror, he can warm bodies of water, create the illusion of the sound of rushing waters, and reveal the location of natural baths. He is associated with water". After reading this I started wondering if it would be safe to say that this is the one that inspired name of the band? If so, why him? Let’s find out.

Tomek

Thanks for taking time to do this, how are things in Crocell camp right after the release of the new album?

Andreas: Things are great just now! We have been really busy these last months in order to prepare for the release, and at this point it begins to bear fruit, reviews are coming in, and the feedback has been really good so far.

Is Denmark still cold this time of the year?

Andreas: You bet - winter has come, and it isn’t over yet. A couple of days have had this slight scent of spring, but now it’s all freezing again.

What inspired name of the band?

Kussen: Finding a (decent) band name is hard, and almost every name that you can come up with, is already taken by some shitty rapper, German heavy metal band or Japanese techno ensemble. In all honesty I don't remember exactly why we chose "Crocell" but I think it was a combination of a wish for something sinister sounding (Crocell, as mentioned earlier, is a demon) and something not too hard to remember/pronounce.

All of you play or played in a bunch of other bands, what was the catalyst for the creation of Crocell all those years ago, do you even remember?

Andreas: Well, Ken Holst (now in Illdisposed) and I used to play together in the melo-death band, Compos Mentis. In 2007 he decided to start a new band with the explicit aim to play some faster and more brutal stuff. He quickly gathered Magnus, Tommy, Onkel Kusse and I, and it turned out to be a good match, so a year and a half later we released our first album. Since then Asbjørn has taken over the vocal duties, and Rasmus Hexen Henriksen has replaced Ken on guitar.

I was wondering how you handle working on new songs. Is there a decision maker/leader/tyrant that picks and chooses the best bits, or is everything being peacefully agreed on?

Andreas: "peacefully" might not be the right word, and sometimes something is veto’ed through, but usually we don't have any problems discussing our way to the best bits.

How about actual creating of the music - is it a bunch of guys actually in the practice room, files being shared, or is it something else entirely?

Andreas: usually one of us brings a handful of ideas or a half-finished track to the rehearsal room, and then we finish the rest as good old fashioned heavy metal hippies in the rehearsal room.

Was there anything that you did differently in the writing process of Relics compared to the previous albums?

Andreas: Maybe we have started up some more songs via file sharing this time, and most of the songs on Relics have been composed by only two or three of us, before all five of us finished them during the pre-recording sessions. I think you can actually hear that on the album, in so far as the single songs are really focused.

How did you make your decision when choosing the album cover - tell us about the process?

Andreas: Actually we didn't do much to choose the design ourselves, apart from insisting that our C icon should be a central element. We talked to BF.B, who had previously made some cool stuff for Metal Magic Festival, Vomit Angel, Ligfaerd and Departed Souls, and we left it to her to come up with something. A myriad of crayon dots later, we had the perfect sinister artwork to complement the music.

Whose work do we see on the album cover, how does it correspond to the lyrics and music?

Andreas: I would say that the music is the darkest and aggressive stuff that we have ever made, and therefore the artwork should be dark and dismal as well. The connection between the lyrics and the artwork lies in the album title, Relics, a word which shows up a couple of places in the lyrics.

I don't own the album just yet and there's no lyrics sheet, so can you tell me about the words a bit?

Asbjørn: Well… the lyrics are a sinister view into the future based on today's planet-choking agenda. All of the lyrics, in one way or the other, take its shape in the world that the humankind is creating through wars, tyranny, religion, politics, etc. We use a lot of references to both ancient history of religious laws and how this still affects modern politics and the affairs between world leaders. I think that this is one of the reasons why we chose the title Relics for the album.

Andreas: The title can either be understood in its literal sense (as supported by the album cover), or as a symbol of all the destructive and life-denying values that have been handed down to us through the history and that we for some reason can't let go of.

In your opinion, is 'Once Called Slaves' the best representation of Relics and the new album? Is it why it ended up being your promo video?

Asbjørn: We decided to use 'Once Called Slaves' because it holds both fast blast parts and grooves from the world of death metal combined with an eerie intro of rhythmic power. I think that these elements capture a lot of the stuff that forms the album, and that this makes a great prime for Relics. So yeah, 'Once Called Slaves' is definitely one of the best tracks to represent Relics.

Who is the axe swinging chick in the video, what is the whole thing about?

Andreas: the whole video storyline is written by the director, Lasse Frisk from Frisk Film. We met with him to discuss some ideas, and after that we gave him our music, lyrics and graphics and let him loose. After spending hours and hours creating the puppets and shooting and editing around 15000 stills, this was the result - and needless to say, we were stoked when we first saw it! As for the chick, my personal interpretation is that she is the hero of the story, in so far as she succeeds in revolting and turning her back on all the lies and horror that is fed to her - and all of us - by the powers that be, the priesthoods and the mass media.

While we are on the subject of your videos, what is being shared throughout the entire 'Tyrant Of Iron' video and how can I get in on it [laughs]?

Andreas: Ha, that would be Onkel Kusse's infamous schnapps, flavored with all kinds of secret stuff. Should you ever get to see us live, you will surely get the chance to have a taste.

Will you follow the release of the new album with some touring; are there shows on the agenda yet, and most importantly - any USA dates?

Asbjørn: Yes, we've got some shows in the calendar and there are still more to come. We will be doing shows in Denmark and hopefully some shows around Europe as well. We don't have any shows in the USA but if the opportunity comes up, we will be glad to take the trip across the pond.

As I mentioned before, most of you are currently members of other bands; between all the bands you are in, all the things that you do, and all the promotion you do for all of it - what do you do to unwind?

Onkel: We all have jobs. Nothing better than a bit of nine-to-five relaxation to unwind from the busy heavy metal lifestyle...

[laughs] Now from a slightly different angle: Andreas, on the latest Phantom album you're credited with drums, keyboards and ….. Cello!!! Do tell more please!

Andreas: Well, I have always been "musically curious" and at some point in the mid-twenties a friend and I got the idea to start playing the cello. After having spent years playing metal drums (faster, harder, louder!), it was a great challenge to try to play classical music on a cello. I think I got to being ok, but it has been way too long since I have played the cello, so it would most likely sound terrible if I gave it a try these days.

What other instruments do you play; can they be heard on any of the other Crocell albums?

Andreas: I can get sounds out of a lot of instruments, but I wouldn't say that I can actually play any other instruments than drums. I do write some guitar riffs, and on the Crocell albums I have played a few piano things here and there, but that's about it.

Thanks for your time and good luck with everything. Last line belongs to you.

Andreas: Well, thanks for taking the time to talk to us. We are really looking forward to going out there to present the new material live, and my fingers are crossed that we will get the opportunity to visit the States at some point.