LETHAL STEEL (EN)

– First of all, thank you so much for answering to our interview. And tell us, how is the band currently doing?
The band is currently going well, we are really doing our best to keep Lethal Steel going forward in a faster pace than the past four years, we are rehearsing weekly and we have found the happiness in doing this once more, everyone has matured musically and we have found two great new members in Isak and Valle who make rehearsing fantastic. 

-You will soon release the «Running from the Dawn» EP, your first release with the new line-up. Does it somehow feel like a new chapter?
Personally I would say it feels like a new chapter but musically we are still going down the same lane, with the same musical direction as before. Much because the main writers are still in the band, and we are pretty conservative with how Heavy Metal should sound.  

-How was the process of having members going and having to find new musicians? What do the new members bring to LETHAL STEEL?
Of course this affected us very much around 2017-2018, when we at some point acually didn’t play together at all, this was very frustrating, knowing what this band could deliver if we just worked in the same direction. 
Valle joined the band full time around that period aswell, and it’s acually much thanks to him that we decided to give this another chance. 
Isak whom we have known for many years offered himself to play with us in 2018 when the talked about this EP came up, and this felt great, knowing he has some really fantastic guitar-skills and really good taste in music.
Valle brings much more energy to the band than we have had before, and that is one of the reasons he fits in the band so well, alongside his guitar playing. 
Isak on the other hand, brings his fantastic guitar solos to the songs and he has also a lot of experience playing gigs and shows, and he fits in perfect in the cocktail that is Lethal Steel aswell.
Totte, me and Leo have been a part of Lethal Steel for quite a few years now and it feels like we now have found two members who make Lethal Steel more complete.

-This 4 track EP is coming our four years after «Legion of the Night» was released. When did you start working on these songs? Has it been an ongoing process throughout these last years?
Ge Allt is actually a song we have released once earlier, as an internet release. I think that song was written in 2012-2013 sometime, however we never really liked the outcome of that release so we decided to give it another try. 
City of Sin is a song myself and Leo begun working on in early 2017, I acually think Leo wrote the riffs much earlier than that, but we almost had it finished in 2017, when we stopped rehearsing, but as we started to talk about this EP, City of Sin felt as a natural choice.
The two other songs (Stay Away and Weekday Refugee) were written in 2018.

-Musically you follow the same pattern as on your previous releases. What differentiates the LETHAL STEEL of 2016 from the LETHAL STEEL of 2020?
Musically, I would say not much.
We try to sound like Lethal Steel and with that, not much changes in order of sound or image. 
I believe we write music more fitting my style of singing, customizing the songs for my lower register. 
But maybe for the next release you will be in for a surprise or two!

–  You also keep certain trademarks. If on your debut you had «Nsattsvart», this time there’s «Ge Allt». Obviously having a song in Swedish in each release is something conscious. Why?
I think it’s important that you stay with your roots, and from the soil that Lethal Steel came to grow out of, Jonah Quizz and Onyx were constantly on repeat.
I wish more bands would get this, the new heavy metal scene would be so much rich if bands decided to at least write some of their songs in their native language, instead of only thinking about taking the easy way, because it is much easier writing songs in English.

-In fact even though your country has a strong Heavy Metal traditional, most Swedish bands had English lyrics, except a few like JONAH QUIZZ, and precisely I’ve always thought, specially vocally, you are quite inspired by them. Are they actually an influence for LETHAL STEEL? And are there any new bands (let’s say from the last 15-20 years) that have inspired you?
Jonah Quizz is a BIG inspiration source for Lethal Steel, and for me personally. 
I’ve never had that high pitch voice that is common among most of the Heavy Metal bands around, and I fell for them instantly the first time I heard them, aswell as «Epicus Doomicus Metallicus» of course. 

-Besides music, what does inspire you?
Haha, a nice walk in the forest maybe. 

-You also provide an evil vibe, specially on lyrics, giving them an evil twist. A kind of earthy vibe. A real one, not as an unknown entity from beyond. Is real life more inspiring than horror fiction?
I would say so, I love writing lyrics, thinking about something pretty ordinary to me, and giving it a darker, more twisted vibe.
If you describe the feeling you get after a late night out, I think the closest comparison is pretty similar to what we write in some of our lyrics, with of course some events that are unique from that night or incident.

-This adds a certain underlying dark vibe to what do you. Do you put conscious effort on trying to capture an imagery of your own?
Yes and my choice of words are often deliberately placed to remind you of the first feeling you get, about the day before and about life in general, when you are waking up after partying several days in a row.

-All this about «Running from the Dawn» beind said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Pounding Heavy Metal.

-I think we all already know Metal tends to be a quite nostalgic «community». When Simon Reynolds researched on the cult of retro he wondered if: “Is nostalgia stopping our culture’s ability to surge forward, or are we nostalgic precisely because our culture has stopped moving forward and so we inevitably look back to more momentous and dynamic times?”. Applied to the Metal world, what’s your opinion? Do we use to look back because we feel there’s something missing on most of today’s music?
I really do believe so, music today has in general gone totally down the drain, it feels like every song you hear is just another version of the same song.
What we need is to stop the greed in the music industry, which is poisoning 90% of all new music coming out. 
If the music industry cared more about talent than for money rolling in, we would have a very different situation, and this applies to other things in society aswell.

-And what do you think are the elements an album of the style needs to have to pass the test of time?
Originality, is the simplest answer, but it needs to have a solid ground to stand on musically in the first place.

-Before we wrap this interview up, what are now your near-future plans?
Our near future plans are to do some gigs, and finish the songwriting for an upcoming full lenght album.
But this is something you surely will hear about in the future. 

-That’s all from our side, thank you once more for answering our interview. If you’d like to add some final words; feel free to do it.
I hope this EP will give everyone what they hope for, and I promise it won’t be 4 years until our next release.
//Viktor

Tania Giménez
tania@queensofsteel.com