News | KUOLEMANLAAKSO kommentiert ihr neues Album

KUOLEMANLAAKSO kommentiert ihr neues Album

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15.11.2012 | 12:51

Die finnische Band KUOLEMANLAAKSO hat zu ihrem kommenden Album "Uljas uusi maailma" (VÖ: 23.11.2012) einige Hintergrundinformationen veröffentlicht. Der Originaltext ist auf der Homepage von Inferno nachzulesen. Die englische Übersetzung ist ohne Gewähr und der Autor unbekannt.

1. 'Minä elän'
"This is where it all began in the Spring of 2010. 'Minä elän' is the first
song I wrote for Kuolemanlaakso. The song starts out mellow but ominous, and
it ends in an ultra-brutal guitar guitar rampage, which was obviously a
concious dramaturgic decicion. V. Santura (Triptykon, Dark Fortress, ex-
Celtic Frost) - who co-produced, mixed, mastered, and engineered the album -
sent me an email while mixing the album saying that the opening riff is the
best riff he's heard in years, and he keeps hearing it in his head
everywhere: while cooking, while driving, while doing dishes...everywhere.
The vocal timing of the chorus has influences from French hip-hop."

2. 'Kuun lapset'
"This is sort of my own interpretation of Eino Leino's poem by the same name.
When I was demoing the song, I tried out the vocals with that very poem.
Because some of the lyrics fit rhythmically and thematically very well with
the music, I decided to leave severel lines of Leino's original poem in the
lyrics. The chorus of this song is probably my favorite from the album. It
is dark, rugged, majestetic, and beautiful at the same time. I wrote the
outro originally for Chaosweaver, but it fit this song better than anything
else. The middle part of the track also features a guest spoken-word
performance by my two-year-old son."

3. 'Nostos & Algos'
"The intro melody is possibly the closest thing this band has or will be to
Amorphis. Usva (bass) modified it from the melody of the last chorus. This
track is more or less a live-spirited jamming session without showing off
technically. The lyrics deal with yearning for the past and the pain of
losing the battle against time."

4. 'Roihusydän'
"'Roihusydän' is based on a shamanic chant, which appeals to the primitive
instincts. It is inspired by a Finnish band called Sielun Veljet and 'My
Wild Love' by The Doors. I heard the witch drum-beat in my head a couple of
years ago in an amusement park in Helsinki,Finland. At the same time, I
remembered a poem I had written more than a decade ago. I combined those two
elements on the spot and hummed a demo of the song on my iPhone right there
and then. Later, I recorded the song by myself in my home studio. The track
only features vocals, witch drum, and my son's Moomin maracass. It doesn't
need anything else. It is a spontaneous but functional chant, which ends the
A side of the vinyl and prepares for the forthcoming swarm."

5. 'Etsin'
"This is probably the most Celtic Frost- and Triptykon-influenced track on
the album. The intro is super-cool to play live because of its crushing
heaviness and the feeling of sheer power. A lot of people that have heard
the album have picked 'Etsin' as the best track on it, including Santura.
The song pretty much recaps what this band is all about: heaviness,despair,
juicy melodies, different styles of singing and crushing soundscapes."

6. 'Ikiuni'
"I worked on the arrangement of 'Ikiuni' for a long time. I believe there
were about ten versions of it before ending up with the best one. The other
tracks are quite airy, but this is tighter than a long-distance runner's
ass. We didn't use autotune or other gimmicks on the album, but this track
needed drum triggers because of its fast tempo on double-bass drum-fire. The
lyrics have a lot of inter-textuality in different directions, but they
essentially deal with one particular modern-day phenomenon."

7. 'Uljas uusi maailma'
"'Uljas uusi maailma' went through a facelift in the studio. Santura modified
the arrangement with a hefty hand, and made the wholeness more complete. In
my opinion, the track has a lot of cool keyboard parts, which spice up the
guitar riffs. The all-male chorus features guest shouting by Jules Näveri
(Profane Omen, Enemy of the Sun), Ville Sorvali (Moonsorrow), Aki
Heikinheimo (Ahma, ex- Misery Inc.), and Sami Helle(Dauntless)."

8. 'Aurinko'
"Before we flew to the studio, Santura said that in his opinion the album
needed one more track, because it would have been too short otherwise. He
also mentioned that if we can't come up with a song, we could compose one
together. Well, of course, we didn't complete 'Aurinko' after a comment like
that, haha... The intro and first two verses and the outro were written at
the last or second-to-last rehearsal before flying to Germany. We left the
arrangement wide open on purpose. The chorus was written in the studio. The
other songs are pretty much written by me, but 'Aurinko' was more of a band
effort, where Santura's share was grand. He wrote and played all the leads
on it and sowed all the elements together. I'm glad he did, because
'Aurinko' is probably my favorite track on the album, and Kotamäki had the
opportunity the get all sensitive on the verses, and release the beast on
the chorus."