MANEGARM (Eng.)
– Hi, thanks for your time. What are you currently up to? How is everything doing right now with MANEGARM?
Hi there! Everything’s just fine with Månegarm. Right now we are rehearsing for our upcoming gig at Hörnerfest in Germany the 29th of June.
– You will soon (later this month) release your new album, entitled «Legions of the North» so, what are your expectations on it?
We have high expectations for our new album. We’re really satisfied and think it’s a great album so we can just hope for the listeners and fans to think the same.
– You have always created really good albums, also getting superb reviews. Due to this I would like to know if that fact makes you feel some kind pressure or rather pride/motivation.
We absolutely feel more pride and motivation than pressure. Personally I think that we have created better and better albums and Legions of the North is no exception. Now I’m just a bit impatient, and maybe also a little bit nervous, what people will think of our new piece of work 😉
– Have been 4 years since your previous «Nattväsen» came out so, how has the band changed and/or evolved throughout these last years?
Our bass player/lyricist Pierre and our fiddler Janne have left the band so we have made some smaller line up adjustments. Today we’re musically better and 
stronger that ever!!
– This new «Legions of the North» has really haunting sounds and melodies, in fact it seems you have focused a bit more on melody. Is this actually like this or is it just my perception?
You’re right about that. The melodies have always been important to our music but this time we have worked even harder on those, especially the refrains, but also with the arrangements in total.
– Anyway what you have truly done is getting a perfect mix between brutality and melody, so maybe this helps creating more impact and enhancing both parts, so maybe this is the fact why it seems you have put more focus on melody. Is it easy to get a good equilibrium between melody and brutality?
I find it quite easy to get that good mix/blend. Actually it comes natural for us; we never strive or think about creating songs with these components, it just happens…the magic just happens 😉
– You are a band that has always blended different extreme Metal styles in a superb way, so I guess your main influences may be quite diverse. Would you mind to tell us which are some of them?
I can get influences from any kind of music but when it somes to heavymetal music I really like Motörhead and Running Wild just to name a few of my favourite bands.
– Talking about such, how important is diversity for MANEGARM?
It’s very important and I think that deversity is something that has been around in our music since the start. I can’t really say that it’s on purpose all of the time; It just turn out that way when we’re composing music.
– Beside the musical content; what’s the main concept behind this new effort?
The lyrics mostly deal with war and death from different point of views, all influenced by our Nordic mythology. The cover shows Hel, Fenriz and Jormungand and an army of undead viking warriors so I think that the cover sums up the lyric content/concept in a pretty good way.
– And what did you want to depict with its cover artwork?
First we came up with the title “Legions of the North” and we wanted an epic and majestic cover to depict that title in a good “Månegarm way”. We came up with most of the ideas for the cover ourselves but the biggest credit goes to Kris Verwimp who painted it in such an amazing way.
– All this about «Legions of the North» being said; how could you describe it in just 3 words?
Melodic, harsh & diverse
– You have sung both in English as in Swedish. I guess you may feel more comfortable singing in Swedish but, which language do you think fits better your music and mood?
We have mostly sang in Swedish before but this album only contains English lyrics besides one (that is in Swedish) I’m comfortable in singing in both languages; Swedish sounds a bit more harsh but English has a better/easier and more flowing vocal language/melody. I think both languages fits our music in a great way and I’m totally comfortable singing in both too.
– You have been around for 18 years now so, what’s left for you to get into the music world (playing with certain band, etc.)?
Becoming famous rockstars & financially independent!! That’s still left!! J
– You played in Spain last May for the very first time. How did everything go? Any nice memories worth telling?
Everything was great! I got some voice problems the day of the second gig that made my voice pretty bad but besides from that we had a really nice time! It was really fun to play for the Spanish audience, they were amazing J I don’t really have any certain memories worth telling but we are absolutely satisfied with our trip! Thank you all Spanish fans for coming to our shows! J
– And finally, what are your near-future plans?
We’ll play Hörnerfest in Germany the 29th of June and Rockstad:Falun (Sabaton Open Air) in Sweden the 17th of August. We’re planning a tour for this autumn but nothing is booked yet.
– That’s all, thank you once more for answering our questions. If you want to add some final words; feel free to do it.
Thanks a lot, my pleasure!! Keep your eyes and ears open for our new album, you don’t want to miss it! 😉
Rock n’ Roll // Erik – Månegarm
