Zoals sommigen van jullie weten, gaat de bemoeienis met de muziek van huize Kim en Neithan net even iets verder dan alleen wat promo’s reviewen en interviews afnemen. Zo is ons huis in de underground bekend als een bandhotel, zodat veel bands met de schijnvergoedingen van tegenwoordig toch nog een fatsoenlijke slaapplek hebben en op tour kunnen (blijven). Één van de vele interessante mensen die we zo hebben leren kennen is drummer Jonas Lindström, van onder andere de doomband Isole en de Bathory-worship Ereb Altor, en hij gaf ons de CD ‘Into Dust’ welke reeds door college Richard G. is besproken: een zeer verdienstelijk album vol melodieuze Zweedse death metal met een gitaargeluid wat ietwat aan de duistere landgenoten van een Dark Funeral doet denken. Zoals het onderhand traditie is geworden bestaat deze band uit muzikanten die hun sporen ook al in andere bands verdienen of verdiend hebben: we noemden al onder andere Isole, maar ook Withered Beauty en In Aeturnum en nog wat andere bands hebben links naar dit Undivine. Lords of Metal sprak met leadgitarist Erik Kumpulainen over de band Undivine en het album waar men momenteel aan werkt…
First of all: ‘Into Dust’ was released in September of this year: are you happy with the response so far? Yes, we are glad to see that it gets pretty decent reviews. And from the buyers we’ve heard nothing but good.
The music is nor black, nor death, nor thrash yet combines all elements in a genuine balance. As such Undivine is a band really on the borders of different genres. Do you feel that as a bonus or as a handicap when it comes down to drawing attention in a very, very crowded scene? Songwriting-wise it is great having the possibility to add all the parts we want to the music. We wouldn’t want to restrict ourselves to one specific sub-genre. We like writing metal-music, and that’s the one thing that matters to us.
Personally, most death/black bands tend to lean more towards one of the styles, yet Undivine is really one of the few bands that is both. The only obvious sound is that we are dealing with a Swedish bands, as some guitar licks have that typical Swedish sound we know from bands like Marduk and old Dark Funeral. So, the elevator pitch: you run into a metal fan and tell him or her that you are playing in a band: how would you describe Undivine to such a person? We play melodic death metal, with some elements from black metal and thrash metal.
The band has musicians that, like a real Scandinavian musician (:p) play in several bands: we see people from Isole, In Aeturnum and ex-Withered Beauty for instance. Connected to the previous question: which band (certainly not Isole, haha) has musical wise most parallels with Undivine? Good question. I think it’s easier for someone from the “outside” to answer that. But I guess we are more like In Aeternum than Withered Beauty. At least in comparison to the last EP with In Aeternum where I wrote some material. On the other hand, some songs on ‘Into Dust’ are very much in the same vein as Withered Beauty. Next question…
Northern Silence Productions is a known label in the underground, yet with few possibilities for promotion (like most labels by the way): does it help that the musicians play in other bands, thus promoting the band when on tour with their other acts? I think it might help us. For example when Isole goes on tour some of the fans find us interesting and buy our album. And then the word is on the street. So it can’t be bad. All the ways of promoting our band are good.
People are often boasting about the underground, but sometimes it feels as if there is hardly an underground scene on an international basis. I think that Undivine can still be seen as an underground band (no offense meant, au contrary): it is hard for many bands these days. What do you think might help in promoting the newer bands or helping them to a next level. It seems as if the metal scene has gone very conservative the past decade. What is your view on this? We still are a “underground” band. I think the only way is to stick with it and not give up, and if you get a chance to put an album out, do it. If it’s just a couple of hundred copies, it’s better than nothing. Don’t wait for the big labels to come. It’s just a waste of time waiting for the big break. For most bands, of course, and thankfully, that never happens.
I see that the band is working on a third album which is going to be more dark and sinister: why did you go into that direction, or was it a simple matter of “the new material just happened to go that way”? I think that if we want to develop our music in any way, we want to strive in the darker direction. A certain feel is wanted for the next album, not too much happy shit. And also, most of the songs written now happened to go that way.
How many songs are ready at this stage: can you give us some new titles perhaps? No titles yet, the lyrics are not written at all. I think we have about eight songs arranged now, and a bunch of projects with riff work left to do.
So far both albums have been released on different labels: have you already signed to a label regarding the new album? No, we haven’t signed any deal whatsoever.
When reading the booklet of ‘Into Dust’ I see that all music and arrangements are by Undivine: is that an agreement like “we are a collective, so no individual credits” or is it really a collective achievement? In other words, how do your songs generally come to life? All of us help out in arranging the songs and coming up with ideas. In my songs most of the riffs are there, I need some help arranging. Jonas projects are often done, but we help out with the riffing stuff and put the final touches on the melodies. And the other guys come with some riffs or ideas to our songs.
So far I see only one gig, which will be over by the time we have published the interview: a show december 19th at Söderhamn, from the looks of the address near your homebase Gävle: is Undivine a real live act or do the other projects have priority to the individual musicians due to obligations in other bands? We put the priority on the band that has the most important thing going on. For example, when Jonas has a tour booked we don’t expect him to do a single gig at home.
Apart from a third album, what more can we expect from Undivine in 2010? We are working on getting abroad, let’s see what happens. A festival or a mini tour would be nice.
Anything we forgot to ask or that you want to be mentioned in this interview towards our readers? Thank you to all who took the time to read! Hail to you!
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